Remembering a Legacy of Faith

Scripture: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 9:2-9

Introduction

So, then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.   Romans 10:17

• Wednesday night we had a great missions dinner and a wonderful slide presentation by our Chairman of Deacons and Missions Director, Barbara Jean.
• It was a time for the long-term members to reminisce about familiar people and places from years gone by.
• And, it was a great opportunity for the newer folks to connect with Biltmore’s past.
• For 95 years, Biltmore Baptist church has faithfully studied, taught, and preached the Word of God.
• This started with a vision for a new church plant that would bring God’s word to a new community.
• Because we have remained faithful to God’s Word, we have been blessed to survive.
• So many around us have seen a very different fate and there are more that are at risk.
• Lakeside Baptist is about to close for good, Bethlehem and Hatcher are barely hanging on
• It’s tough to have faith when you see so much around us that is working against it.
• Isn’t this when it means the most? Isn’t it easy to have faith when things are going well?
• The real test is keeping your faith in God when everything is crumbling down around you
• And with all the uncertainty and hate and evil in this world, don’t we need FAITH now more than ever?
• As we progress through this Lenten season, I want us to reflect on our faith as a church body and our faith as individual believers by considering these three points:

1. The Origins of Our Faith
2. Justified by Faith
3. A Timeless Legacy

1. The Origins of Our Faith

• As far as we know, the God of our fathers, Jehovah chose to reveal Himself to only one tiny spot in all His creation.
• We believe that all mankind originated from a single pair of humans: Adam and Eve.
• From that single point, humanity branched out and populated the whole planet.
• God started out in the Garden of Eden walking with Adam and Eve,
• After the fall, God closed down the Garden and retreated to His place in heaven.
• Sadly, this created a great separation between God and His creation.
• In an effort to reinstate His presence on earth, God found a man named Abram.
• But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There were 1656 years between Adam and the flood.
• At the time of the flood, mankind had become so wicked in God’s sight that He again narrowed the field to a single pair of humans: Noah and his wife.
• In Genesis 6:8, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
• God looked into the heart of ONE MAN and found someone He could work with,
• It was from Noah’s three son’s: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives that all of the world was once again repopulated.
• It was by faith that Noah obeyed God and built the ark, and it was by faith that he was saved.
• Descended from Noah’s son Shem’s line came a man named Abram who had a wife named Sarai. God renamed them Abraham and Sarah.
• God chose this one couple to use to make an example and build a nation of examples.
• In Genesis 12:1-3, God asks Abram to take a big step of faith:

Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.  I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

• Abraham was faithful and obedient and left his family home in Ur of Chaldea and followed God’s leading to what would eventually become the promised land: Canaan.
• At this point, 2078 years have passed since Adam.
• All the descendants of Israel, the chosen people, came through Abraham and Sarah.
• They had to leave Canaan because of a famine and moved south into Egypt.
• 430 years passed with the Hebrew descendants of Abraham living in Egypt.
• It was then that God heard the cries of His people in bondage and sent Moses to save rescue them and bring them back to the promised land of Canaan.
• At this point, 2508 years have passed since Adam.
• It was another 480 years until the building of the first Temple in Jerusalem and 2988 years since Adam.
• Another 419 years led to the Babylonian exile which lasted 70 years – now 3477 years since Adam.
• Another 483 years pass until the birth of Jesus Christ – 3960 years since Adam.
• In this case, God couldn’t find even one human worthy of working with to rebuild, so He sent His Son to take on human form and be the single point of life for the rest of eternity.
• No longer will human genealogy be used by God to repopulate the earth.
• God is now focusing on populating heaven, and it will only be through one man.
• Based on our faith in God’s Word, we conclude Adam was created 5984 years ago.
• This is the origin of our faith as chronicled in the Word of God.

2. Justified by Faith

• Paul is notable for his theological doctrine of Justification by Faith.
• There is nothing we can do to achieve or to earn salvation and eternal life in heaven.
• Our salvation unto heaven is only accomplished (or justified) by FAITH in Jesus Christ.
• In his letter to the Romans, Paul connects the church in Rome to Abraham’s faith.
• This is much like our presentation Wednesday night connects the new people to the old.
• He is saying that it’s not through legalism that we obtain salvation. Paul says:

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.  Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

• Paul wanted to make it clear at the time that there are no other criteria for becoming saved by Christ.
• Back then, others tried to confuse believers by telling them that they had to be circumcised, and under Jewish law, to be in Christ and Paul fought against this.
• This was a problem for Paul then and it’s a problem for us today.
• So many people have been turned off by church these days that the church is struggling.
• We have churches nearby – Baptist churches – that deny membership to divorced people and place women in secondary roles subservient to men.
• Openly homosexual people need not apply.
• If you are homeless, impoverished, addicted, or otherwise troubled, you may have a hard time finding a church.
• Not so at Biltmore which is a very welcoming and tolerant fellowship, but this is unusual.
• Has Biltmore always been this way? Probably not.  Our faith has set us free.
• We have been studying at the feet of the Master spending time in His Word and we obey.
• When you see someone panhandling on the street or someone who is handicapped or struggling or clearly troubled, tell yourself “There but for the grace of God, go I.”
• Because my friends, it is by the grace of Almighty God, justified by our faith in Jesus Christ that ANY of us have hope of escaping eternal doom.

3. A Timeless Legacy

• Mark’s Gospel describes the Transfiguration scene with Peter, James, and John on a high mountain with Jesus.
• Jesus was transfigured and His clothes became dazzling white.
• And then there with them was Elijah and Moses as big as day.
• At this point, Elijah had been dead for about 880 years and Moses over 1400 years.
• As we have discussed many times, for God there is no such thing as time – it only applies to human reality.
• Just as Biltmore was relevant and needed 95 years ago, nothing has really changed today.
• Why Jesus met face-to-face with Moses and Elijah is not important.
• The importance of the meeting was the timeless connection of God’s servants.
• The importance of the meeting is the demonstration that no human EVER dies.
• Our church has struggled through many changes and challenges over the years.
• And many people have come and gone, but their legacy lives on today.
• And one thing never changes: God’s Word and our faith in it.
• And as long as we never turn away from that faith in God’s Word and faith in God’s Son, we will continue to be blessed by God and most of all: USED by God.
• We may find new ways to present God’s Word, but the Word is timeless.
• We may find new ways to sing praises to God’s Name, but He deserves all praise and glory.
• As we move through the Lenten season and celebrate our 95-year legacy serving the Biltmore and Richmond community may we never lose sight of our connection to those who have gone before.