Sabbath School Today, Volume 9 - Paul E. Penno
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Genesis 15:6 tells us that Abraham "believed in the LORD; and He<br />
counted it [Abraham's faith in God's promise] unto him for righteousness." It<br />
was only when Sarah also surrendered herself and came to live by faith in the<br />
promise of God, that she was able to conceive-when she finally believed that<br />
God was faithful to fulfill His own promise to them. "By faith even Sarah<br />
herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive<br />
offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the<br />
One who had promised was faithful. Therefore from one man--in fact, from<br />
one as good as dead--came offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and<br />
as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore" (Heb. 11:11, 12,<br />
Holman Christian Standard Bible).<br />
God gave Abraham circumcision as a sign of the fact that "we have<br />
nothing and are nothing, and He has everything and is everything and gives<br />
everything." [8] Circumcision "had a special meaning to Abraham,<br />
continually reminding him of his failure when he tried by means of the flesh<br />
to fulfill God's promise. The record of it serves the same purpose for us. It<br />
shows that the 'flesh profiteth nothing' and is not therefore to be depended<br />
on." [9]<br />
It should be forever settled that mankind's attempts to produce<br />
righteousness through any amount of "works of the law" can only result in a<br />
self-centered sense of achievement assumed to merit reward. Such has been<br />
the idea of paganism from the building of the tower of Babel. However, the<br />
biblical truth is vastly different. "If you would gather together everything<br />
that is good and holy and noble and lovely in man and then present the<br />
subject to the angels of God as acting a part in the salvation of the human<br />
soul or in merit, the proposition would be rejected as treason." [10]<br />
Many today argue that "faith is my work"-it is human effort put forth in<br />
believing the promise of God to save us from sin. Is this true? "There is<br />
danger in regarding justification by faith as placing merit on faith. When you<br />
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