Gov. Rick Perry: The truth about 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle

    I'm pretty sick about the latest writings that defame Marcus Lutrell and Chris Kyle. Jackasses like Michael Moore and others who write misleading articles about real American heroes who do the things for us we wouldn't do for ourselves do not deserve recognition. Their lies should not even be given merit. It is almost always a case of misrepresentation and shoddy journalism. They practice revisionist history based on the words of a dissenter or an enemy of that person and call it journalism. It's a sad fact that American is now in decline because of our penchant for being self-serving and defaming those who gave their all even to the cowardly ungrateful. Thank God there are still men of honor who are willing to stand up for right, no matter how unpopular in a culture praising perversions and calling it heroic.

Rick Perry: The truth about 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle

 by Gov. Rick Perry

Despite the high regard in which Americans have held the military for generations, there is a lot about the military that those who haven’t served don’t quite understand. Veterans speak a language peppered with acronyms like DD-214, jargon like “watch your six “ and recollections of shared hardship that can leave others scratching their heads.

That gap of understanding between the protected and their protectors is typically bridged by mutual respect, but can also be a gutter in which liars and character assassins slither.
The most recent snake to peek its head up from the muck is a writing team for a leftwing publication whose only knowledge of the military was likely acquired while Googling derogatory slogans to scrawl on protest signs.

In a stunning display of inadequate research, slanted interpretation of valid data and some overly dramatic language, The Intercept, little more than a click-hungry website, took aim at the reputation of a bona fide American hero. Unfortunately, more mainstream publications lofted their accusations into the national consciousness with little thought.

The guiding premise of the article was that Chris Kyle, known to a grateful nation as its best-ever sniper in multiple combat zones, was a liar. The writer’s assertion is that Kyle laid claim to more medals than the military had awarded him for his valor in combat. At issue was a disparity between Kyle’s account in his book, “American Sniper,” records obtained from a seemingly indifferent Navy through a Freedom of Information Act request and Kyle’s official DD-214. The first mentioned two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars, the Navy recalled one Silver Star and 3 Bronze Stars and the DD-214 credited him with TWO Silver Stars and SIX Bronze Stars.

If there is any inaccuracy in Kyle’s account it’s that he didn’t take ENOUGH credit for his awards.
As any veteran will tell you, a DD-214 is THE definitive record of a person’s time in the military, used to prove the authenticity, duration and character of said service.  The official name for the form is Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty and veterans learn early on to keep a copy handy. In separation briefings, service members are carefully coached to review it thoroughly because, once it’s filed, it’s filed.

This article is part of a disturbing trend in the left-leaning press to undermine the heroism of men and women who are willing to risk their lives in the defense of our nation’s freedom.My good friend, Marcus Luttrell, known to many as the Lone Survivor for his experiences on a hilltop in Afghanistan, has also been a target of similarly unscrupulous reporting.For Viet Nam-era veterans, this casually gleeful character assassination is an unpleasant reminder of a time when our military was attacked and undermined by critics on the left.

Perhaps it’s a byproduct of nearly eight years of an arch-liberal in the Oval Office combined with an American population increasingly disconnected from the men and women who serve in the military.
I hope all of us will take a moment on this week of Memorial Day to seek understanding and take action that honors one of our nation’s great warriors.

I am calling on people of conscience to join me in calling for the retraction and deletion of the offending article and reprimand of the Navy personnel who have fed this misperception with their lackadaisical handling of the original information request. Both also owe an apology to Taya, Chris Kyle’s loving widow, and to service members, past and present, for disparaging one of their own.
This request might seem odd from someone who is committed to the constitutional freedoms our military fights to defend, but freedom of speech and deliberate libel are two entirely different things.
To honor the memory of an American hero, the latter cannot be tolerated.

Rick Perry is a former successful governor of Texas.

May those whose sacrifice for the good of all never go unspoken! God bless our heroes of yesterday, today, and the future!

See you next blog,
Ted

Messy Faith

OK I know this blog is supposed to be written by me but once again Pastor Ray Pritchard has come up with a topic I can't pass up. From a Christian standpoint the world is in a real mess, especially the US under the idiotic regime at the top! I'm gonna get camel knees praying for those fools. Fortunately we still have some states fighting back...reminds me of Sodom and Gomorrah. I know that no one likes to be preached at and I am not doing that. I do believe the Bible and I believe in an afterlife that consists of two ways to go, heaven or hell. Jesus died for all of us, but we must believe what he did is because God the Father had a plan for the salvation of mankind all along-through Jesus Christ. The story doesn't end with his death, because HE is ALIVE and HE IS LORD. He was in creation, He is eternal, He is our Saviour. My desire is that everyone who reads this realizes that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. I want all who read this to be counted in as believers and destined for heaven...sorry guys no 72 virgins you'll have settle for a wonderful eternal destiny! (Besides do you know how long it would take to go through 72 virgins...not very long! I mean come on). This life we now live is just a warm up for eternity. How you live it matters.

Anyway back to the subject at hand:

Messy Faith

“And in the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different route? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:25-26).

Some stories in the Bible don’t quite fit.
This is one of them.

Daniel in the lion’s den fits.
Rahab the harlot doesn’t fit so well.

We admire David for killing Goliath.
We’re not so sure about Rahab telling a lie.

We teach our children to sing “Joshua fit the battle of Jericho.”
I don’t know any songs about Rahab.

And yet . . . Rahab hid the spies and sent them on their way.
That meant Joshua got the crucial information he needed.

She ended up saving her whole family.
She gave birth to a son named Boaz who married Ruth.
She was David’s great-great-grandmother.
She shows up in Matthew 1 as part of Jesus’ genealogy.
She made it to the “Hall of Fame of Faith” in Hebrews 11.
She becomes an example of living faith in James 2.

Did I mention she was a prostitute and a liar?

Faith can be messy at times. True faith is rarely as neat and clean as we make it out to be on Sunday morning. Real faith is always mixed with very human imperfections. If you doubt that, just take a look in the mirror. You have faith, or at least you try to have faith, or you muddle through as best you can. How close to perfection are you?

That’s my point.

Though Rahab was far from perfect, her name shows up in an honorable way in the Bible. Messy faith is better than no faith. Let’s start there as we think about Rahab. What can we learn from her story?

# 1: Faith Can be Found in Unlikely Places

Rahab had at least four things going against her:

First, she was a Gentile. That meant she had no part in the covenant God made with Israel. To use New Testament terminology, she was a foreigner to the grace of God, literally and spiritually. She had no connection with the promise God gave to Abraham and his descendants. She starts this story as a complete outsider.

Second, she was a woman. That meant she had little legal protection and no real standing in her society.

Third, she was a pagan. Her family had no doubt been raised with the idol worship common to all the Canaanites. She had no knowledge of the Torah and thus no understanding of the sacrificial system.

Fourth, she was a harlot. The word refers to a woman who sells her body for sexual uses. It is sometimes translated as prostitute. We have a variety of words in English to describe what has been called “the world’s oldest profession,” but they all go back to the same place. Rahab sold her body for money. There is no need to cover it up or pretend it means something less offensive. In fact, it’s important for this story that we know the truth. Rahab might seem to be the last person in whom you would find saving faith. But that judgment (which church people make almost without thinking about it) reveals how little we understand about the grace of God.

A woman guilty of repeated sexual sin might not seem like a good candidate for salvation, but appearances are often deceiving. Not every church member is as righteous as they appear on Sunday morning, and not every sinner is as far from the kingdom as we sometimes assume.

Though Rahab did not realize it, the Holy Spirit had been working in her heart, preparing her for the moment when the spies would show up at her door. There is a lesson here if we will only pay attention. God has his people everywhere, even in the most unlikely places. You wouldn’t think a “fallen woman” in Jericho would end up in Hebrews 11, but that’s exactly what happened.

Let me put it this way because I need to remind myself of this truth: God often saves people I wouldn’t save if I were God. Which is yet one more reason why I’m glad he’s God and I’m not. My “grace” has definite limits; his does not. He will save the most notorious sinner who turns to him. That even includes self-righteous church people like me. As Philip Yancey points out, if we say, “There is grace even for people like Rahab,” we have unconsciously put ourselves in a different category. The real truth is, there is grace even for people like Ray Pritchard.

That’s my plan, by the way. The grace of God for people like me. It’s the only way I’ll ever get to heaven.

# 2: Faith Shows Itself in Unusual Ways

We find the heart of Rahab’s story in Joshua 2.

As the Jews entered the Promised Land, the walled city of Jericho stood directly in their path. There was no way around it. They could never live in the land unless they somehow conquered the Jericho with its system of double walls that repelled all invaders.

Joshua decided to send out two men to enter the city and spy out the situation. When those two men entered the city, they made their way to Rahab’s house. Because she was a prostitute, it would not have been unusual to see men coming and going at all hours of the day or night. But they weren’t as discreet as they thought. Someone saw them, realized they weren’t from Jericho, and reported them to the king. He sent a message to Rahab ordering her to turn over the spies.

But she lied to the king.

She sent word that the men had already left the city and she didn’t know where they had gone. But that wasn’t true. Instead, she hid them among the stalks of flax on the roof. Believing Rahab’s lie, the king sent soldiers on a fruitless chase into the surrounding countryside. Meanwhile, Rahab gave a powerful statement of her faith to the two spies still hiding in her house.

First, she declared God had given them the land (Joshua 2:8)
Second, she said fear had fallen on the people of Jericho (Joshua 2:9).
Third, she recounted the miracles God had done at the Red Sea (Joshua 2:10).

Fourth, she declared her faith in the sovereignty of Israel’s God. The heart of her confession comes in Joshua 2:11, “The Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.” 

Fifth, she asked that her family be spared during the coming invasion (Joshua 2:12-13).

The rest of the chapter tells how the spies agreed to her request, how she hid them and sent them out of the city of Jericho with specific instructions about how to avoid the king’s soldiers. Eventually the spies made it back to their lines and reported to Joshua the entire land was filled with fear.

What sort of faith is this? Rahab’s faith did not involve what we might call “religious” acts. Sometimes we read James 2 and think the “works” he calls for start and end with religious habits, such as Bible reading, prayer, church attendance, giving, and so on. While those things are vital for a growing Christian life, Rahab’s example shows us James is thinking about things like kindness, generosity, hospitality, and caring for those in need. Nowhere in the Bible do we read that Rahab said a prayer, learned the Torah or offered a sacrifice. She must have done that later when she joined the people of God, but it is never mentioned.

Rahab was a hero because of her “non-religious” acts. She heard the truth about God, she believed it, she testified to it, and that faith led her to act courageously in the face of great danger.  

She hid the spies, lied about it, and then sent them out secretly.

We may debate about the morality of her lie (and that’s a useful conversation to have), but neither James 2:25 nor Hebrews 11:31 raise that issue. In a moment of great crisis, she became a traitor to her own people and joined the people of God. If discovered, she would have been immediately put to death. Debating about her lie is a luxury we have 3500 years later. In the most important moment of her life, she didn’t hesitate and didn’t debate anything.

She took her stand for the Lord.
She protected his people.
She made provision for her whole family.
She risked everything in the process.

That’s why James uses her as an example of living faith. Her faith was not dead. It was very much alive. Rahab wasn’t the only one who knew about the advancing Jewish army. The entire land had heard the news and was in a state of panic. They knew what Rahab knew but did nothing about it. The Canaanites were like the demons who “believe and tremble” (James 2:19). Only Rahab had true faith that moved her to action.

God bless Rahab.
We could use more courageous believers like her.

There is one more lesson we can learn from her life.

# 3: Faith Receives an Unexpected Reward

We can list the results of her faith this way:

First, she was justified. That means God declared her righteous. James 2:25 says she was “justified by works.” Don’t be confused by that. Her faith in God, as simple and uninformed as it was, led her to take action. We can just as easily say Rahab was justified by faith because her faith was so alive that she risked everything to save the spies, herself, and her family.

Second, she was spared when the battle came. We all know how Joshua “fit the battle of Jericho” because we learned that song when we were kids. We know how the Jews marched around the city for seven days and how “the walls come a-tumblin' down.” But Joshua 6:25 adds this detail:

“Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy on Jericho, and she lives in Israel to this day.”

At God’s command, the city was totally destroyed and everyone in it was put to death. Everyone, that is, except Rahab and her family. Her faith saved her whole family.

Third, she was added to the nation of Israel. As a result of her heroism, a Gentile woman, a Canaanite who had been a prostitute, was added to the people of God. She lived among the Jews for the rest of her life.

Fourth, she was included in the line of Christ. Matthew 1 contains a genealogy that starts with Abraham and ends with Jesus. Here is Matthew 1:5-6:

Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab,
Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth,
Obed fathered Jesse,
and Jesse fathered King David.

We don’t know much about Salmon except that he married Rahab. Some think he was one of the two spies. That may be true, but we can’t be sure. What matters is that Rahab not only left her life of sin, she married a godly man and then gave him a son named Boaz. You can read his story in the book of Ruth. If you follow the genealogy on down, it means Rahab the former prostitute became the great-great-grandmother of King David.

A thousand years later, Jesus was born. Rahab is part of Jesus’ family tree. If you know Jesus, one day you will meet her in heaven. And there at last she will be no more Rahab the harlot. She will forever be known as Rahab the child of God.

Fifth, she was honored as a woman of faith. We’ve already seen what James said about her. But don’t forget Hebrews 11:31:

 By faith Rahab the prostitute received the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.

She not only made the book, she was listed along with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the other great heroes of Israel. Both James and the writer of Hebrews note that she was a prostitute. Did they do this to shame her? No, they did this to magnify her faith, thus showing that no one is beyond the grace of God.

Why Abraham and Rahab?

Why did James choose Abraham and Rahab as his two examples of living (James 2:21-26)? Abraham is easy to understand; Rahab not so much. Perhaps James wanted to pick examples at the extremes:

One was a man; the other a woman.
One was a Jew; the other a Gentile.
One was a revered patriarch; the other was a redeemed prostitute.
One was ready to sacrifice his son; the other hid the spies.

Though different in many ways, and separated from each other by hundreds of years, they had this in common. What they did, they did by faith.

Abraham offered Isaac. Rahab hid the spies. Both events were largely hidden from public view. Only Abraham and Isaac knew what happened on Mount Moriah. Rahab hid the spies and sent them off in another direction so they wouldn’t be caught.

Neither knew the outcome of their faith before they acted. Abraham didn’t know about the ram in the thicket when he raised the knife. Rahab wasn’t expecting Jewish spies to drop by for a visit.

Both were heroes in the eyes of God.

Two Enduring Lessons

We can learn two lessons from this:

First, you never know when the test will come. Abraham couldn’t have foreseen what God wanted when the Lord told him to take his son and go to the region of Moriah. Likewise, when Rahab awoke that day in Jericho, she had no inkling that two men were about to show up who would change her life forever.

Second, living by faith is always risky business. It’s not as if Rahab thought, “If I hide these spies, I can become David’s great-great-grandmother” or “I’m going to be in the Messiah’s line.” Life doesn’t work like that. She probably never lived to meet David. She never read Matthew 1. She simply did what she did and ended up saving her whole family.

When I read this story, I’m reminded of Todd Beamer and the other heroes of Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. That morning all the passengers boarded the flight in Newark, expecting an uneventful flight to California. But fate intervened in the form of terrorists who took over the plane. Then came the split-second decision and the declaration, “Are you ready? Let’s roll.”

You never know when the test will come.
You won’t have a lot of time to decide.
You can’t foresee the results in advance.

True faith trusts God, takes action and leaves the results in his hands.

So we are left with the story of Rahab. It’s rare to meet someone with that name. It’s almost as if “Harlot” is her last name. In the eyes of God, Rahab is an honorable name. She made the book precisely because she was a woman of faith. Her past did not define her future.

I cannot end this sermon without remarking on the miracle of God’s grace. The Canaanites built a thick wall around Jericho to keep people out, but no wall can keep God out. No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. Even in the midst of judgment, God reaches out and saves a harlot who turns to him in faith.

But think of all the men she had slept with.
Think of all that sin.
Think of her stained reputation.
Think of her past.

God says, “I know all about her past, and it doesn’t matter because she believed in me.” Not that sexual sin doesn’t matter. It matters greatly. After all, she is still called Rahab the harlot. But she is free now, and forgiven, and on the road to heaven.

So what’s your sin? You may be reading this sermon and right now you feel unworthy to go to heaven. If so, I have wonderful news for you. Only unworthy people go to heaven. The people who think they are “worthy” end up in hell. So if you’ve been sleeping around, or messing around, or fooling around, or making one stupid mistake after another, I’ve got good news for you. Your sin makes you an excellent candidate for salvation.

Remember . . . If God can save Rahab, he can save anyone. That includes you. And just for the record, I would rather be Rahab the harlot on my way to heaven than to be Sally the Sunday School teacher on my way to hell.

We started out talking about messy faith. That certainly describes Rahab, and it describes the rest of us too. If you wonder why there are so many messed-up people in the Bible, it’s because that’s all God has to work with. All the perfect people are in heaven. Let me end by calling to mind one sentence from a familiar gospel song called To God Be the Glory. The second verse goes like this:

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood.
To every believer, the promise of God.
The vilest offender who truly believes
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

How true it is. Rahab proves it, and you can prove it too by coming to Christ right now. Don’t let your past keep you away. Come to Jesus! Your sins will be forgiven, you will be saved, and your life will never be the same.

When the old-time preachers would give an invitation, they would say, “Won’t you come?” “Won’t you come to Jesus?” Let me make that same invitation to you right now.

Won’t you come?
Won’t you come to Jesus?
Copyright © 2016 Keep Believing Ministries, All rights reserved. 
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See you next blog,
Ted

Today's blog is a copy from my pastoral friend Ray Pritchard. His sermon addresses one of the most important areas of our Christian walk...sometimes a crawl...other times a sprint. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have. Ray is a very human pastor and makes no bones about his vulnerability to the world, the flesh, and they devil, but his walk with Christ is impeccable. My friends we all struggle in these three areas but our faith must grow in order to serve the Jesus we profess to love.

I have placed this in segments on the published page because there are specific areas that you may want to copy and put somewhere on your computer, phone, or tablet where memory serves you best.

How Faith Grows

James 2:21-24

A few days ago I posted the following quote as my Good Words for Today:

 

If my love for Jesus never leads me to take a risk, how much do I really love him? If my faith never causes me to do things that make no sense to others, including my Christian friends, perhaps I’m playing it too safe. If everything I say and do seems perfectly comprehensible to the world, then I need to do some soul-searching. That quote got a number of encouraging responses. Then there was this comment from a man in Nigeria:

 

My sincere question is "Why does it take us so long after being a Christian to get to this stage when the disciples got there in 3.5yrs?" Am I missing something here? His question is both honest and very common. I would say to my friend, “You aren’t missing anything.” We all wonder from time to time, “Why is it taking me so long to get better?” Here are a few examples:

 “I thought by now I wouldn’t struggle so much with anger. Why is it taking me so long to get better?” 

“I still get tempted by pornography. Why is it taking me so long to get better?”

“I go to church every Sunday but I still have doubts. Why is it taking me so long to get better?”

 “I thought I’d be a better person by now, but I’ve got so many bad habits. Why is it taking me so long to get better?”

“I’m a bitter person even though I cover it up most of the time. Why is it taking me so long to get better?”

 

Many of us wish we had an answer to that question. We might assume that upon conversion, we would rapidly sprout wings and fly to heaven. But it doesn’t happen that way. God has ordained that even though we are being made like Jesus, it only happens a little bit at a time. And sometimes that “little bit” seems very little indeed. 

There is victory to be had but it will not come easily or quickly. We are in a war with spiritual foes who will not easily yield their ground. In our series on James, we have come to a passage that helps us understand how God builds our faith through the trials of life. As opposed to a dead faith that produces nothing, Abraham’s dynamic faith was made complete when he offered his beloved son Isaac on the altar. 

Would you like to see your faith grow? Then let’s study together James 2:21-24 to learn from Abraham how trials can make our faith complete.

 

Faith Tested

“Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?” (v. 21).

This was a masterstroke by James because the Jews traced their spiritual lineage back to him. As far as the Jews were concerned, Abraham was the ideal man of faith. After years of walking with God, he is put to the supreme test of his life. It was such a dramatic moment that James says he was “justified by works” when he offered Isaac on the altar.

Rather than retell this familiar story, I’d like to make some observations on the larger context:

First, the test came after many years of walking with God. In some ways, Abraham’s whole life was one test after another. It started when God called him to leave Ur of the Chaldees. Hebrews 11:8 points out that he left “not knowing where he was going.” That in itself was a huge test. Genesis 15:6 spells out the moment when Abraham believed God and his faith was counted as righteousness. If we ask, “When was Abraham ‘saved’ in the New Testament sense?” the answer would have to be Genesis 15:6. That’s the point Paul makes in Romans 4. That took place approximately thirty years before he offered Isaac on the altar.

Second, the test came after Abraham had experienced both victories and defeats. We see his faith shining when he left Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 12:1-3). Yet when he took Sarah to Egypt, he lied about her (Genesis 12:10-20). He won a great victory and was blessed by Melchizedek (Genesis 14), received a great promise from God (Genesis 15), and then got into trouble by having a child with Hagar (Genesis 16). He was circumcised in Genesis 17, then he lied about Sarah again in Genesis 20. Abraham was a man of faith, but he was also a man of human weakness.

Third, the test came in a most unexpected way. When God called him to go to Mount Moriah, Abraham had no idea what God intended. He had no reason to imagine God would want him to sacrifice his own son. Nothing in his experience with God could have prepared him for this moment.

Fourth, the test was never repeated anywhere else in the Bible. This is the only time God ever asked anyone to sacrifice his son. As such, it stands alone in the scriptural record.

 So how should we view it in light of Abraham’s life? It certainly stands as the supreme and most extreme example of his faith. God meant to put Abraham on the spot by asking him to yield to the Lord the son who was himself the embodiment of God’s promises. Hebrews 11:19 tells us Abraham believed that even if he put his own son to death, God would raise him from the dead:

"Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”

 In this verse we learn something that is only hinted at in Genesis 22. Twice in that chapter Abraham intimates that he expects that somehow, some way, God was going to work things out so Isaac would live. When he saw Moriah in the distance, he gave this instruction to his servants:

 “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you” (Genesis 22:5).

Did you get that? "We" will come to you. Not "I" will come back, but "we" will come back. Abraham believed he and his son would somehow return together.  Then as the two of them walked along, with Isaac carrying the wood for the sacrifice, the son asked his father, "Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" (Genesis 22:7). Abraham's reply has become a synonym for the man of faith speaking faith into what is a humanly hopeless situation. "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son" (v. 8).

The writer of Hebrews tells us why Abraham could talk like that. He believed God could raise the dead.

Didn't know how.

Had never seen it happen.

He reasoned from what he knew about God to what he knew about the situation. And the only thing he could come up with was, "I'm going to put my own son to death, and then God will raise him from the dead." That's pretty fantastic if you think about it, especially since no one in history had ever been raised from the dead, and this happened 2000 years before Christ.

 

Faith Perfected

“You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected” (v. 22).

 What was at stake on Mount Moriah? It wasn’t just the life of Abraham’s beloved son Isaac. When Abraham raised the knife to kill his own son, he was also in effect killing the promise of God. If Isaac died, the promise of a great nation would die with him. We might call this the reverse of the temptation Abraham faced when he slept with Hagar. That was an attempt to fulfill God’s promise through purely fleshly means. In that case, Abraham refused to wait for God’s solution. In this case, Abraham doesn’t try to reason out how God will fulfill his promise if Isaac is dead. He determined to obey God without asking how it would all work out.

Now we can stand back and see the story in clear perspective. Did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac? Yes. Was it a legitimate request? Yes. Did Abraham know in advance how the story would end? No. Specifically, did he know about the ram in the thicket? No. Well, then, what was it that Abraham knew? He knew what God had asked him to do, and he knew God had promised to give him a son through whom he would bless the world. What he didn’t know was how God was going to reconcile his promise (to bless the world through Isaac) and his command (to offer Isaac as a sacrifice).  

It is at this point that we see Abraham’s faith at its highest and best. Even though the command made no sense from a human point of view, Abraham intended to obey it anyway. He meant to obey God’s command even though it meant killing God’s promise. 

Herein lies a lesson for all of us. When God makes a promise, it is folly and disbelief to wonder how he will keep his word. Faith does not reckon with “how.” Faith believes and leaves the “how” in the hands of Almighty God. If we spend too much time trying to figure out “how” God will take care of us, we are likely to talk ourselves into a corner.

 

Faith Affirmed

 “So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, and he was called God’s friend” (v. 23).

A little Bible chronology will help us here. When James mentions the Scripture, he quotes Genesis 15:6. In that chapter God puts Abraham to sleep while the Lord walks alone between the carcasses of the slain beasts. In ancient times, two people made a covenant official by walking together between the pieces of a slain animal. But why does God walk alone? Because the fulfillment of the promise ultimately depends on God, not Abraham. The sequence looks like this:

Abraham believed God.

His faith was credited to him as righteousness.

Abraham falls asleep.

God walks alone between the pieces of the slain animals.

Nothing could be clearer. Abraham was “saved” or “reckoned righteous” on the simple and single condition of believing what God had said. The offering of Isaac came many years later, perhaps 30 years later. We can lay it out this way:

Abraham believed God (Genesis 15).

Abraham offered Isaac (Genesis 22).

 So it is perfectly fair to say Abraham was justified by faith. That’s the argument Paul makes in Romans 4 and Galatians 3. It’s also true Abraham was justified by works because the offering of Isaac demonstrated the reality of his faith.

 

Faith Clarified

Faith has more than one meaning in the New Testament. It can refer to a body of doctrine (“the faith once delivered to the saints”) or it can refer to a living trust in God (“faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen”). When we talk about “faith” today, we sometimes mean something like “a positive feeling things will work out” (“I’ve got faith the Cubs will win the World Series this year”). That last sentiment may in fact finally come true this season. Who knows? It’s a hope based on the team’s good start leavened by more than a century of disappointment. While I don’t deny it takes faith to believe the Cubbies will win it all this year (I hope they do), whatever you call that sort of faith, it’s not the same thing as saving faith. True saving faith springs from a transforming trust in the eternal promises of a God who cannot lie. Said another way, the faith that saves us starts with God, not with us. It is a conscious choice to reach out and trust the promises of God that come to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

That sort of faith is alive because it rests on the living words of the living God of the universe. It’s not as if James is saying, “You should let your faith change you.” He’s going further than that. He means to say, “True faith will change you.” That faith will be seen sooner or later.

 

Abraham and Jesus

For 2000 years Christians have seen in this story a picture of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Genesis 22 we see what a man would do for the love of God.  But at Calvary we see what God would do for the love of man. Abraham was only asked to sacrifice Isaac; God actually sacrificed his only Son. More than that, Jesus endured physical death and spiritual death to obtain redemption for sinners. When God’s hand was raised at Calvary, there was no one to cry out, “Stop.  Do not harm the child.” There was no ram in the thicket to offer in his place. So God’s hand fell in judgment on his own Son, and Jesus died for you and me.

Abraham offered his son.

The Father offered his Son.

Isaac carried the wood.

Jesus carried the cross.

 Isaac was laid on the altar.

Jesus was nailed to the cross.

Abraham was willing to put his son to death.

The Father willed his Son should die.

The ram was offered in the place of Isaac.

Christ was offered in the place of sinners.

Abraham received his son back "figuratively."

Jesus literally rose from the dead. Conquering death and hell and giving the gift of salvation to all who would believe that he was the sacrificial lamb sent from the Father to save the world.

What are we supposed to take away from the story of Abraham and Isaac? As I studied Genesis 22, I was struck by something God said to Abraham after the great trial was over, the ram sacrificed, Isaac spared, the promise reaffirmed. It comes as part of the happy ending to a very great trial. God commends Abraham by saying, "You have not withheld from me your son, your only son" (v. 12; see also verse 16).

"You did not withhold from me."

God says, "I asked for your most precious possession and you gave it to me."

 

The real lesson for all of us comes down to this. God intends to bring our faith to completion. The only way that happens is for us to go through a time of trial. Think of it this way. Suppose you like to play chess. Suppose you buy one of those computer games that teaches you how to play chess. You work at it, you study it, you play simulated games day after day. Eventually you get so good you never lose. You are undefeated in your own basement, playing against the computer program. That is indeed a kind of mastery. But it is something else entirely to sit down at a table and play against another person. That’s when you find out how good you really are. In a sense, walking with God means that eventually our faith must become more than theoretical. At some point, we’ve got to get “out of the basement” and into real life.

Sometimes we win.

Sometimes we lose.(God redeems our losses)

Look at Abraham. Even though he is the “father of faith” in the Bible, he lied about Sarah twice and got involved with Hagar (at Sarah’s instigation), a situation that came about because his faith was weak and he thought he needed to “help God out.” My point is, God tested Abraham over and over again. He does the same thing with us. That’s the only way our faith can grow stronger.

A beloved hymn contains these lines:

Take my silver and my gold,

Not a mite would I withhold.

Abraham’s ultimate test was not about money. It touched something much deeper. Would he withhold his own son from the Lord? I’m not sure how well I would have done in that moment.  I’m not sure I would have been as strong as he was. But that’s okay. His tests and mine are different. God constantly brings us back to the same place in life where we are asked, “Will you yield what you hold dear to me?”

Just as Abraham didn’t know what God was about to ask, we have no idea what tomorrow may bring. But we do know this. God puts us in hard places so our faith will grow under pressure. In that sense, we are justified by faith when first we believe in Christ, and we are justified by works as our faith is put to the test over and over again. We shouldn’t be surprised to discover the road to heaven is filled with danger, toils, trials, and challenges. It’s all part of God’s plan to bring our faith to completion.

The hymn I mentioned earlier ends with these lines:

Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.

Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.

May that be our prayer today and every day. Lord, do whatever it takes to bring my faith to completion. Help me not to doubt or to hold back, but to yield all I have to you. Amen. 

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Keep Believing Ministries

P.O. Box 257

Elmhurst, IL 60126

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See you next blog,

Ted