Gaining Joy Like Abraham

Abraham’s Life Summarized: A Call To Joy

We conclude our study of Abraham’s life today…
Heb. 13:7 ¶ Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.
Psa. 102:18 ¶ This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.

Piper: God ordains that we gaze on his glory, dimly mirrored in the ministry of his flawed servants. He intends for us to consider their lives and peer through the imperfections of their faith and behold the beauty of God. [p. 17; Legacy of Sovereign Joy, 2000]
If we grasp the faith of Abraham, we may taste the joy he knew.

Joy: how do we get there?

I. Abraham’s story of joy…warts and all:
1. His first crisis: he left the land of promise, to which God had directed him.
2. His first words, revealing his character:
Gen. 12:13 “Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.”
3. His first error, he repeated later, as if he had learned nothing.
Gen 20—deceived Abimelech, king of Gerar, in the same sort of way,
4. He passed on this pattern to his son, Isaac, who repeated his failure in Gerar.
Gen. 26
5. His evaluation in Romans and Hebrews, however, is surprisingly affirming.
a. Gen. 15:6 Remember the startling statement
Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

b. Romans 4
i. Rom. 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham Believed God, And It Was Credited To Him As Righteousness.”
ii. Rom. 4:12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.
iii. Rom. 4:13 ¶ For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.
iv. Rom. 4:16 ¶ For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham,
v. Rom. 4:17 (as it is written, “A Father Of Many Nations Have I Made You”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.
vi. Rom. 4:23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, Rom. 4:24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Rom. 4:25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

c. Hebrews 11
i. Key verse: Heb. 11:13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
ii. Heb. 11:39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, Heb. 11:40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

6. Ultimately, he received the son of promise, though he did not live in the city with foundations, the same city we seek.
a. Isaac brought true laughter to the couple and grandchildren to the family.

What sort of means might we find to OBTAIN JOY OUT OF SORROW?
II. We obtain joy just as those who have gone before us.
Follow the lessons Augustine learned:
i. Love first then obey: John 14:15
1. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
2. If you love me, THEN you will obey, “keeping Christ’s commandments results from loving Christ (Piper).
ii. Love to the point of ease in obedience. 1 John 5:3
1. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
2. Piper: loving God means keeping his commandments in such a way that his commandments are not burdensome.
iii. Love God for His own sake.
1. “I call ‘charity’ [i.e., love for God] the motion of the soul toward the enjoyment of God for his own sake, and the enjoyment of one’s self and of one’s neighbour for the sake of God.” [On Christian Doctrine, III, x, 16].
2. “If those things delight us which serve our advancement towards God, that is due not to our own whim or industry or meritorious works, but to the inspiration of God and to the grace which he bestows.”
3. Piper: So saving grace, converting grace, in Augustine’s view, is God’s giving us a sovereign joy in God that triumphs over all other joys and therefore sways the will.
4. Piper: The will is free to move toward whatever it delights in most fully, but it is not within the power of our will to determine what that sovereign joy will be.
5. LOVE GOD BY THE LOVE GOD GIVES US: Rom. 5:5 …and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6. If we do not respond to that implanted love, we have replaced it.

APPLICATIONS
1. Prayer in the pursuit of Joy.
a. Every sentence in Augustine’s Confessions, all 350 pages, is addressed to God. …Augustine is utterly dependent on God for the awakening of love to God.
Psa. 27:4 One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple.

John 16:24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.

[It’s not merely to answer that brings us joy, IT’S THE DIRECT CONNECT WITH JESUS—as we know from writing letters, texting messages, then having someone RESPOND IN KIND.

b. On Confessions: “You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace till they rest in you.”

2. Study of Scripture in the pursuit of Joy
“…loving, or delighting in, what we know of God in Scripture will be the key that opens Scripture further. So study and preaching were, for Augustine, anything but detached and impartial, as scholarship is so often conceived today.” Piper, Legacy of Sovereign Joy, 69.

3. Enjoying the beauty of the world as a means of pursuing joy:
BETROTHED = PROMISED IN MARRIAGE, ENGAGED

“Suppose…a man should make a ring for his betrothed, and she should love the ring more wholeheartedly than the betroth who made it for her…Certainly, let her love his gift: but, if she should say, “The ring is enough. I do not want to see his face again: what would we say of her? …The pledge is given her by the betrothed just that, in his pledge, he himself may be loved. God, then, has given you all these things. Love Him who made them.”

Psa. 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.