When was Abraham justified?! Last time, we saw in Genesis 15 that Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness – it was counted to him (or imputed to him) as righteousness.
So you might say that Abraham was justified in Genesis 15.
But, of course, Abraham had believed God many years earlier, back in Genesis 12. So Abraham was justified at least by Genesis 12.
In Romans 4, Paul will talk about the episode in Genesis 17 in terms of Abraham's justifying faith. And in James 2, James will point to Genesis 22 – the offering of Isaac, as a part of Abraham's justification.
This is because the one act of justification – whereby God declares you righteous in his sight, forgiving all your sins, only because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, imputed to us and received by faith alone – that one justification – is experienced by us over and over again.
You see – justification is not a "more and more" sort of thing. You can't be any more justified. You either are justified or you are not.
And walking by faith means that we continue to exercise justifying faith even when it's hard – even when it's impossible!
Abraham was 99 – Sarah was 90 – when God told them that Sarah would bear a son. But Abraham believed God...
Featuring a sermon puts it on the front page of the site and is the most effective way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands including all mobile platforms + newsletter.
Text-Featuring a sermon is a less expensive way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands on the right bar with optional newsletter inclusion. As low as $30/day.