Genesis 12-15

Genesis 15:6,

"Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness."

This is a hard teaching. It is easy to get confused.

It's no secret that I believe in the total depravity of man. When I say, "man is totally depraved," I do not mean that every man on earth is as bad as he can be. What I mean is that every facet of every man is inclined towards sin and not holiness. When left to himself; a person's personality, emotions, decisions etc. are all bound and constrained by sin. They are marked by one major characteristic: not honoring to God.

Scripture says in Romans 14:23 that,

"...everything that does not come from faith is sin"

This statement has, at least, one huge implication to it:

1: Those with zero faith have only sin to occupy their time.


The statement above is a difficult thing to understand. Am I saying that someone with no faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is sinning when they sit down with their family to eat a meal? Am I saying that a person with no faith in the Lord Jesus Christ sins when they walk their dog?

The answer is yes, a person without faith is sinning in everything they do because:

"...everything that does not come from faith is sin." (Romans 14:23)

Do you believe that? Do you recognize that, because a non-Christian has no faith, all they have is sin? This is a hard teaching. It is difficult to understand. Why is everything that a nonbeliever does sin?

The answer, as always, is within Scripture.

The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that,

"all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God."

Here we see that sin, in its raw form is a falling from the Glory of God; a rejection of God's Glory.

In 2 Corinthians 4:6, we see Paul dive into the explanation of what happens in a person's heart when he is born again,

"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

So here we begin to understand that when a person is born again, when God shines in their hearts, He gives them the ability to see the Glory of God through Jesus Christ.

God turns on the light switch in a dark room and everything is lit up. Maybe you remember the day you were saved. One moment Christ was nothing but a swear word to you and the next moment you were captivated by him. You could agree with the man in Matthew 13:44 who found something so worthwhile that you'd sell everything you own just to get it. You found the most valuable treasure: Christ.

You were blind to God's Glory and now you are able to see. You rejected the value of Christ and therefore rejected God. You cannot reject God and honor God at the same time.

So now we can begin to understand why everything not done from faith is sin:

faith = seeing Glory and giving God glory
no faith = blind to Gory, not giving God glory

Faith pleases God. Unbelief dishonors God. Unbelief is ungodly and cannot honor God; cannot please God. Unbelief is unrighteousness. Unrighteousness is sin.

Before you became a Christian, you were hostile to God.

"...you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds..." (Colossians 1:21)

So how does one get to please God? How does one become non-hostile towards God?

We finish the passage in Colossians 1 to find out:

"you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith..." (Colossians 1:21-23)

Genesis 15:6:

"Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness."

Abraham believed the LORD. He believed what God said He was going to do was actually going to be done. He was trusting in God.

Romans 10:4 says,

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."

As Christians we believe that to believe in Jesus Christ is to have Christ's righteousness given to us in order to become a child of God.

Why? Because, "For our sake he made Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

So take hold of that promise today, call on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness of your sins and like Abram,

Believe God and have it counted to you as righteousness.