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[0:00] We saw Abram returning from victory, rescuing Lot and his family and the people of Sodom.

[0:15] ! This is the subsequent history.! After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid, Abram.

[0:27] Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward. But Abram said, O sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?

[0:42] And Abram said, You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir. Then the word of the Lord came to him, This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.

[0:59] He took him outside and said, Look up at the heavens and count the stars, if indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be.

[1:14] Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness. He also said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.

[1:31] But Abram said, O sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? So the Lord said to him, Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.

[1:48] Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

[2:02] As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

[2:24] But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.

[2:38] In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here, for the sins of the Amorites have not yet reached its full measure. The sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.

[2:50] When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.

[3:02] On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river of the Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephites, Amorites, Canaanites, Gergashites, and Jebusites.

[3:26] Well, this morning we saw how fascinated the Babylonians were with stars and in what ways we're not supposed to be.

[3:39] Stars are powerful, aren't they? And I'm not talking about just how big they are and what they're made of. They're awesome, awe-inspiring.

[3:49] They were awe-inspiring before we ever knew how big they were or what they were made of. They move us in a certain way.

[4:01] They're more than pinpricks of light on a dark sky. In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is the third book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace, three children from our world, meet a star in the world of Narnia.

[4:25] And Eustace is a very scientific boy. And he says, in some amazement, In our world, a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.

[4:38] And Rebendu, the star, who's in this man form, he corrected him and said, Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of.

[4:53] What something is made of isn't always what it is. Stars are more than big, huge balls of flaming gas.

[5:05] God calls them his spokesmen. Remember Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory of God. The heavens declare the glory of God.

[5:16] The skies proclaim the work of his hands. So they're heralds. They speak for the Lord. Job 38 says they're singers. When God was laying the cornerstones of the earth, the cornerstone of the earth, it says the morning stars sang.

[5:34] It's a picture of the angels, but the stars sang. In Genesis 15, the stars become promise holders. Just like the rings that married couples wear in a certain way.

[5:51] They're symbols of covenant love. And so when a woman or a man who's about to cheat on her spouse, they'll often take off their ring because the ring is a symbol.

[6:04] It holds the promise, so to speak. And in Genesis 15, we see God under the stars with Abraham making a promise.

[6:16] Making a great promise. Genesis 15 is a remarkable chapter for a lot of reasons. It's a wonderful picture of God's love, his covenant love for his people, for me and for you.

[6:35] Abraham was a man just like you are. He knew fears. He knew doubts. He had questions. He wrestled with those things. And so we can relate to Abraham.

[6:49] You can relate to Abraham. You can relate to what he's going through in this in chapter 15, because I'm certain that you have gone through these things. So he's just like you and me.

[7:03] Let's look at look at verse one. After this. After rescuing Lot and fighting the kings after this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.

[7:15] Do not be afraid, Abram. Now, this is the very first time that this very well-worn phrase, the word of the Lord came. It's the very first time that it's used in the Bible.

[7:26] If you were to do a word search, you would see it. It shows up a lot. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel. The word of the Lord came to whoever, Elijah.

[7:39] Again and again, it comes. And this is the very first time. So what is the first prophetic message, so to speak?

[7:49] What is one of the first things that God says that. In the prophecy. Says, do not be afraid.

[8:01] Do not be afraid. Do you know what the most frequent command in the Bible is? Do not be afraid. More than any other.

[8:13] Why? Well, because we need to hear it more than any other, don't we? Again and again, fears, doubts overtake us. And again and again, God comes to us.

[8:26] And in love, he says, don't. Don't be afraid. In a few chapters, Hagar, Abraham's concubine, is running away with Ishmael out into the desert.

[8:37] She's sad. She's miserable. She's afraid of the future. She's afraid for her son. She runs out of water. And now she puts her son under a bush because there's nothing else to do.

[8:51] They're going to die. And mothers, can you imagine that? How terrifying. How frightening that would be. We're all made out of the same stuff.

[9:05] And she thought, I cannot watch the boy die. And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob. God heard the boy crying.

[9:17] And the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said, what is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid. We're the same stuff.

[9:28] Fears and doubts, questions. They live at the bottom of our hearts a lot of the time. And is God going to really do what he says? Is God going to really protect me?

[9:42] Or what am I going to do? I don't know what to do. But look how sweetly and compassionately God deals with our fears.

[9:54] Do not be afraid, Abram. So if you do a word search on do not be afraid, you're going to find a pattern, another pattern. And it's again and again. There's a personal name attached to this command.

[10:08] So do not be. What's the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid, Zachariah. Do not be afraid, Mary.

[10:20] Jesus says, do not be afraid, little flock. Do not be afraid, Daniel. Do not be afraid, Paul. God knows you. Dear saint, by name.

[10:34] You're not faced in the crowd. You're not lost. He knows each one of us personally. And so he says, do not be afraid, Jason. Do not be afraid, John.

[10:46] Do not be afraid, Roger. Do not be afraid, Krista. He knows us. He knows how we're made. In Psalm 31.7, David says, I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction.

[11:01] And look where the affliction was. And you knew the anguish of my soul. God can look past the exterior and he can see the interior of our hearts.

[11:15] When no one else knows the anguish and the fears that are storming and the trouble and just these doubts and the questions, God knows. And so when we pretend like we have it all together and we're a calm lake on the outside, but a storm on the inside, we're torn apart by sin.

[11:36] We're torn apart by guilt. We're torn apart by doubts. How can God forgive me again? I'll never change. What am I going to do? When you say, I just can't do it.

[11:49] I can't meet that person. I can't go through this day. This is too much. I don't know how it's going to be. I don't know how I'm going to make it through. Everyone wants me to be spectacular.

[12:01] Everyone wants me to sell myself and be fabulous and good, but I'm not. And when you come to church and you're alone. Asaph in Psalm 73 came to church and he felt alone.

[12:15] He said, no, I couldn't tell anyone my trouble. I couldn't tell anyone. God knows. You saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.

[12:28] Abraham was a real man. Not a superman. A real man. And he was probably thinking, great. Now I've made enemies with Ketelamer and those other kings.

[12:42] I've probably offended the king of Sodom. And he's probably upset with me. And who knows what they might do to me. And more than that, I'm still here. And God still hasn't done anything.

[12:54] He still hasn't done what he's promised. Will anything ever happen? Do you ever say that? Will anything ever change? Am I doing the right thing?

[13:05] Am I nuts? Am I living for the wrong thing? God knew that those questions and the anguish of his heart. And with great love and gentleness, he said, do not be afraid, Abraham.

[13:16] I am your shield. So you're afraid of the kings. But there's nothing to be afraid of because I am your shield. Now we all know what a shield is for.

[13:27] The arrows are coming down on our position. And the shield gets in the way between them and us. The arrows and us. That's what God is. He's this good shepherd that stands between the wolves and the sheep.

[13:42] They have to get through him to get to us. So Abraham, don't be afraid. And God comes to you and says again and again, beloved, don't be afraid.

[13:54] They have to come through me to get to you. All things, everything must work together for your good. If it does not work, if it cannot work for your good, it won't happen.

[14:09] It won't happen to you. One of the most precious verses of my early Christian life was Isaiah 41.10.

[14:21] Still a very precious verse. Maybe you know what it says. Do not fear. So do not fear. For I am with you. Do not be dismayed. For I am your God.

[14:32] That was one of the first verses that I really learned to live on. And that I am with you. That nearness.

[14:44] A shield is near the person. And God is near us. And so, brothers and sisters, young believers, God is with you. God is with you.

[14:55] The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. The angel of the Lord encamps around them. That doesn't mean he sets up his tent. It's not like he's pitching a tent for a weekend at Potato Creek or something like that.

[15:10] It means he encamps like an army around a city. And so, if an enemy is going to invade, I mean, this is a far stretch, but if an enemy is going to invade Washington, D.C., they're going to have to fight through the entire U.S. Army to reach and take the city.

[15:29] In the Civil War, Lee and the Confederate Army, they never once attacked Washington, D.C. They never even came close to taking it. And the easy answer of why is because it was brimming full, overflowing with Union soldiers.

[15:47] And around the city were defenses that would be impossible for an army to get through. Attacking Washington was never even a hope in the Confederate mind.

[16:01] It was just, it was too well protected. But look at your shield. Look at your defense. Look at Abraham's defense.

[16:12] So, Abraham's worried about these foreign kings, these enemy kings, but they're nothing to God. They're nothing to him. He raises up kings for the sole purpose of so he can tear them down in front of everyone.

[16:27] To just show how great he is. So, I raise up Pharaoh so I can tear him down. In Joshua 12, we're not going to turn there, but maybe in your quiet time some week, it's not one of those chapters that you naturally gravitate towards.

[16:43] But in Joshua 12, you actually get God's military record against the kings of Canaan. Now, maybe you've been to a football game this year.

[16:54] I haven't, so I'm sort of guessing. But a lot of times in the programs, they have your record for last year, how you did. And so, maybe you went to a football game, maybe you got a program and you have this last year's record.

[17:09] Bremen was 13-1 last year. 13-1. And so, you sit down, you have the program, and you read Plymouth, Tive Valley, New Prairie, Triton, Culver, Knox, Jimtown.

[17:22] And next to each one, it says one, one, one, one, one, one. Maybe another one. In Joshua 12, you get to see God's record against the kings of Canaan.

[17:38] And it goes right through them. And we're not going to read them, but it's just king after king after king, one after another. God wasn't 13-1 that year. He was 31-0.

[17:51] Every king he met, he defeated. Every king. They don't even give names for these guys. They're just going down, going down, going down. And so, before we get all afraid about governments, and kings, and governors, and the power that they have, and what they might do in the future, or what might they do in the present, we need to remember, our God is undefeated.

[18:18] He didn't just have a good year back then in Canaan either. Just kept right on going. We sang it. Where are the kings and the empires now? His kingdom is still going.

[18:31] And so, God says to Abram, don't be afraid. I'm your shield. Then he says, I am your great reward. Great reward.

[18:44] Abraham must have been saying in his heart, I wonder if this is ever going to happen. I've been giving up things for this.

[18:56] I gave Lot first chance of the good land. I told the king of Sodom, I'm not going to take a stitch, a throng, a thong of your sandals.

[19:08] You're never going to be able to say to me that I made Abram rich. And I've been living for what God will give me. But is it going to be worth it?

[19:20] Is this going to happen? And the Lord comes and he says, Yes, Abram. It's going to be worth it. It's going to be worth it.

[19:31] I'm not going to just give you stuff. I'm going to give you me. And brothers and sisters, that's what I want.

[19:42] I hope that's what you want too. Because all the knickknacks and the furniture and the houses and the barns and the horses and the cars and the bank accounts and everything, this whole earth, God's going to roll it up and throw it away.

[20:06] And I don't want that. I don't want my whole life invested in these things and everything I'm living for is that and then what happens is it gets all rolled up like a dirty old piece of carpet and thrown out to the curb.

[20:20] And God says, I'm your very great reward. You want to live for something? Live for me. You're waiting for something?

[20:30] You're waiting for me. And I'm going to give you me. And so brothers and sisters, God is that kind of God.

[20:41] We sort of have a legalistic bent sometimes in our hearts that twist him into nothing but a lawgiver and a judge and where if he wants to see us scratch and claw and then maybe if we can pry something, this is what we think, if we can just pry something out of his hands, then we can have it.

[21:02] But that isn't God. That's not the biblical God. Sometimes in our own wickedness, we think that about him and our hardness of heart.

[21:12] But those kind of thoughts are the exact opposite of faith. Faith is not thinking, I have to do and do and do and maybe, maybe I can, maybe then God will bless me.

[21:23] God wants us to see him as generous, as willing to bless those who earnestly seek him. So do you remember Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6?

[21:35] Without faith, it's impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

[21:49] So what does God want you to believe about him? Well, there's lots of things, but in this verse, that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

[22:02] And what does he reward us with? Himself. He gives us himself. I am your very great reward. God doesn't give us the stuff and then withhold him.

[22:14] Some parents are like that, aren't they? They give their kids lots and lots of stuff. But what do the kids really want? They want their parents' love and they want their parents' attention and their parents' affection. God doesn't give us the stuff.

[22:27] He doesn't spoil us and then keep himself back from us. All that stuff without him would be worthless. And he says, I'm not withholding anything from you.

[22:41] I'm giving you myself. And so he gives us himself and all of his infinite greatness. His infinite righteousness and his love and his affection and his tenderness.

[22:53] And we want intimacy with him and he comes and he has intimate relations. And God isn't slow. He's not a half-hearted giver. He's not withholding the best.

[23:04] And he's not just giving us begrudgingly. He's all in. And he wants you to look for that reward. He doesn't want you to piously, and I mean that in a bad sense, that time, piously say, oh, I don't want anything.

[23:25] I'm just happy. Just give me whatever you want. I don't deserve anything, so I'll take the scraps. Whatever you give me will be enough. No, he wants you to say, God, I want you.

[23:40] I want you. God, I have this gaping hole in my heart and I know only you can fill it. I want you. He rewards those who earnestly seek him.

[23:55] And so he comes to Abram. Abram, I'm your very great reward. So brothers and sisters, Jesus has made you rich.

[24:06] He has made you rich. He's put down the payment. He's won this for you. He's made you rich. And now the poor can say, I am rich because of what the Lord has done for me.

[24:22] God is our very great reward, and it's all because of Jesus. Now, this next part could almost be surprising because we would think, isn't that enough?

[24:34] Doesn't that answer all of your problems, Abraham? Doesn't that answer all of your concerns? And the answer is no. Does that take away all your fears? No.

[24:47] Abraham says in verse 2, But Abram said, O sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and Eleazar is my heir?

[25:08] But God, you promised me descendants. God, is Eleazar what you mean? Is that what you're saying?

[25:20] One of my servants is going to be one of my heirs while I remain childless? In chapter 12, the Lord said to your offspring, to your seed, I will give this land.

[25:35] And so Abram was looking for a son, for an heir. And now, is Eleazar it? Because Eleazar is a nice guy.

[25:47] He's dependable. He's reliable. But, you know, he's really not connected to me. He's not my son. He's not attached to me. He doesn't carry my name. He doesn't really carry my fortunes.

[26:03] And Abram is saying, if Eleazar is it, then these promises that you're making, Lord, are just kind of meaningless to me. Because I'm going to die in a few short years.

[26:14] And my line is going to be over. And so what can you give me that's really going to last? If Eleazar is it, then there's really nothing for me. Now, Abraham doesn't complain about God.

[26:31] But he is making his complaint to God. He's saying, and those are two far different things. He's not griping about God's ways and what he thinks about God's ideas and God's timing.

[26:44] But he is bringing this complaint before him and saying, I don't understand. This doesn't make sense to me. I don't see.

[26:56] I don't understand. We like to pretend like we never have questions like that. But Abraham did. And God quickly answered him.

[27:08] Verse 4, This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir. And then look at verse 5. Then he took him outside. And he said, Look up at the heavens and count the stars, if indeed you can count them.

[27:24] So shall your offspring be. Now see, this is a window on your father's heart.

[27:36] This is a window in your God's heart. See him in action. Then he took him outside. Abraham needed a visual lesson. God didn't, bam, come down on Abraham.

[27:48] he's so gentle. Abraham needs a visual lesson. And so the Lord takes him out under the stars. And so there they are in the dark together.

[28:01] Have you ever been out in the stars, laid out in the stars with someone? There's something very intimate about it and quiet about it.

[28:14] James says that Abraham was God's friend. You don't just lay out and look at the stars which is anybody. Abraham was God's friend. And so there they are in the dark, in the quiet.

[28:29] Two friends together. One whose heart is full of doubt and confusion and one whose heart is full of love and grace. And then out of the quiet, look up, Abraham.

[28:46] And Abraham looked up. Count the stars. So Abraham's counting. So shall your offspring be.

[28:58] Now, if we were there, what would we see Abraham doing? Well, he'd just be looking. Just be looking. But in that moment, something amazing happens.

[29:14] Abraham believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness. Now, I don't want to argue or I don't even have an answer for it.

[29:27] Is this the very first time that Abraham believed in a saving way? I don't know. I wouldn't think so. But this is the very first time that it says Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness.

[29:40] And so this is the great doctrine of justification by faith alone. And so if you were there, what would you have seen?

[29:53] Nothing but a man looking. But that man was looking not just with human eyes at the stars, but he was looking with the spiritual eyes of faith.

[30:06] And maybe for the first time, Abraham saw that what was at the end of all these promises was Jesus Christ. And so perhaps for the first time, Abraham understood that these promises of a seed and an offspring, God was promising him more than just a son.

[30:26] He was promising a Messiah that would save him and promising forgiveness and mercy. And so there was there was something there.

[30:37] Jesus says in John 8, your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. So he rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. And then the next phrase says he saw it and was glad.

[30:50] That night under the stars, Abraham was gazing and looking upon Jesus Christ and upon looking he believed.

[31:02] And he understood that what God had been promising him all of this time and I think we'll get into this more maybe next week or next time, but that all that God had been promising him was nothing less than the gospel.

[31:20] Galatians 3.8 says the scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham.

[31:31] All nations will be blessed through you. That was a gospel promise. And so all these promises for land and seed and offspring and blessing, they're gospel promises.

[31:42] And so maybe for the first time Abraham understood that and he saw Jesus at the end of them all. Abraham believed God. He believed what God was announcing to him.

[31:53] And God credited it to him as righteousness. So Abraham put his trust in Jesus. Abraham arrested himself on God's promise.

[32:08] And then when he did that, God credited him with righteousness. Now, we're going to imagine that we, that you, you come from a very wealthy family.

[32:22] Very wealthy. And you're a college student. And you're in Europe, you're, you know, doing sort of the grand tour, taking a whole summer to go through Europe and live the life and enjoy the sights.

[32:36] But one day you run out of money. And so you called your dad and you said, dad, um, got a problem. I don't, I need some money.

[32:47] I'm broke. And dad says, well, what happened to that $20,000 I gave you last week? Well, it's gone. I spent it.

[32:58] And so him being so rich and so kind said, okay, no problem. I will wire some money into your account. I, you just need to go down to the bank and when you get to the bank, there's going to be money there.

[33:13] I'm going to put money in your account. And so you go down to the bank and you go in and you ask for your account balance and they type it up on the computer and they pull it up and they print out the receipt and they give it to you and it says $20,000 in your account.

[33:27] Now what happened? How did it get there? Well, one bank credited the other bank, one, the bank credited your account $20,000.

[33:42] They put $20,000 to your name. Why? Well, because your dad was good for it. Your dad gave it to you. There was enough there to cover you.

[33:54] And when Abraham believed God, God credited him with righteousness. So Abraham went from bankrupt, broke, zero, to being righteous.

[34:10] He received righteousness. Now where did that righteousness come from? Well, in our illustration, you didn't work for it. And Abraham didn't work for it. It wasn't his own doing.

[34:22] It says he simply believed. Believe. Believing is the opposite of working. Trusting someone to give you something is not the same as going to work and getting it yourself.

[34:40] And it says that Abraham believed. Believing is just believing. it's not accomplishing anything. And so faith are those spiritual eyes of the soul.

[34:50] And by faith, Abraham saw that what was in Christ was exactly what he needed. Everything he could ever want was in Christ.

[35:02] And God gave him everything in Christ. And so where did that righteousness come from? That God put to his account.

[35:12] Well, it didn't come from Abraham working. It was Jesus' perfect life. Abraham was saved. Christian, you are saved by works, just not yours.

[35:29] Jesus works. And so we're saved by Jesus' perfect life. At six years old, Jesus was a perfect little boy because we weren't.

[35:42] And at 15, he kept himself pure and undefiled. And he honored his parents because we didn't.

[35:55] And at 23, at 30, he obeyed God perfectly. And so at the end of his life, not the end of a day, or the end of an hour, or the end of five minutes, but at the end of it all, he could say, I always do what pleases him.

[36:12] I've always pleased him. If you look back through my record, I've always, always done what pleases him. And so he completed it. He completed that life, and he finished that righteousness, he consummated it, sealed it up, wrapped it up, put it in a box, perfect for us, in his death.

[36:31] And it was finished. It was final. A perfect life. A perfect righteousness, meeting all of our needs. So God is holy.

[36:45] He is blazingly good. And I've said this many times, that's our biggest problem because we're not. We're not holy. We're not good.

[36:56] He's loving in all that he does, and we are so selfish in all that we do. And if we're ever going to have fellowship with him, if we are ever going to be able to be with him, we need a righteousness that is as blazingly good and perfect and complete and finished as his own righteousness.

[37:14] And that's what Jesus did for sinners. He accomplished a perfect righteousness. And so the question is, again, how do we get that righteousness?

[37:27] Is there anything to do? Do you have to clean yourself up to come? Do you have to prepare yourself to receive that righteousness by, you know, by getting rid of the big sins and kind of dusting yourself off before you come to Jesus and say, Jesus, will you give me that righteousness?

[37:47] Do you have to do that? No, there's nothing. Paul answers that question in Romans 4. What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

[38:01] Now, when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift. So when you get a paycheck, people aren't saying, oh, look, look what the boss gave him.

[38:17] What a gift. If you work, you get paid. However, to the man who does not work, but trust God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited to him as righteousness.

[38:28] righteousness. So now, how does the perfect life of Jesus Christ, that complete life, that six-year-old life, that 30-year-old life, that death for sinners, everything that he did, how does that get put to our account?

[38:44] How does it get wired there? Well, it's not by being a good person because Romans 4 says God justifies the wicked. Are you prepared to put yourself in the category of the wicked?

[38:56] Because you cannot be justified until you are prepared to say, I am wicked. But on the other hand, it's not by feeling bad and rolling around.

[39:09] Some people like to beat themselves up and think, I'm so bad, and rolling around and groveling in your sin. And if you throw enough egg on your face, you think, okay, now I'm ready.

[39:20] Now I'm worthy. It comes to us simply by faith. What would you have seen Abraham doing there that day? Nothing except looking and in his heart he was resting in God's promises.

[39:39] He was relying on everything that Jesus would do for sinners. And the gospel is that good. Brothers and sisters, that should comfort you in your fears.

[39:53] Abraham needed the promises of God. He needed to hear the gospel in his fears. That should comfort you in your fears. Just think about how God has so loved you. You're going to have bad days this coming week.

[40:08] You're going to fall. You're going to face these trials, these temptations that are frightening. People that are frightening. But just think, look how God has loved me. My biggest problem is taken care of because look what God has done for me.

[40:26] A perfect righteousness for me. And I didn't work for it. He gave it to me when I looked to him. So freely given. And so brothers and sisters, when you're troubled, when you're afraid, go outside sometime.

[40:44] Look up at the stars and remember that one night God preached the gospel to Abraham by starlight. God and they were just there. And God made a promise under the stars.

[40:58] And as sure as those stars are in the sky, God is going to fulfill those promises. From that point on, do you think the stars were ever the same for Abraham?

[41:10] From that point on, he can go out every night and remember, God promised me. God promised me. And so from night to night, he lived by faith in God's promises.

[41:22] And that's the way we were meant to live. God will fulfill all of his promises to you in Jesus Christ. And so the words of Philippians 4, Paul's instructions are fitting for us.

[41:36] Rejoice in the Lord. And again I say rejoice. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I do pray that you would please give us grace upon grace, more and more grace every day to look upon Jesus Christ, to live in the goodness of the gospel and the freeness of the gospel.

[42:00] And out of that, to live a life that's pleasing to you, trusting in your goodness, trusting in your promises. And as we rely upon you, I pray that you would work the fruit of the Spirit in us.

[42:19] That we would find love and joy and peace and all the rest bubbling out of us because we are so filled with Christ. That as we believe upon him, he would dwell in our hearts by faith.

[42:34] That we would have that power through the Spirit. I pray, Lord, that you would transform us and change us, make us to be more Christ centered, gospel focused, believing your promises.

[42:49] Take us out of our fears. Take us out of our doubts and put the rock of your salvation under our feet and let us learn to stand upon you and stand upon your word and stand upon Jesus Christ and all that he has done for sinners.

[43:08] And I pray that you would make faith clear to the heart of the unbeliever. There's only so much as men that we can do and so much of what we say can be turned into making faith into something that it's not.

[43:26] And so I pray, Lord, that you would show the unbeliever, the lost person, what it means to trust, to fall into the arms of Jesus.

[43:38]  Pray these things in his name. Amen. Let's stand and say