11

11 “He believed in the Lord, who credited it to him for righteousness.”

 Genesis 15:6

 There are no works of merit or righteousness that we can give to the Lord as a sufficient offering. We are thoroughly contaminated by sin and must be cleansed by something on the outside of us. Good works can never save us for we are full of sin and are so used to it we don’t even realise. Only when God starts to impress upon us our sin do we see our need and therefore our need of a Saviour. It is very difficult to preach the gospel in these days for we do not want to hear anything that undermines our personal confidence, but we cannot be saved until we see our need.

 It is painful for us to come to God because we must understand our position before Him and it is not good. We are unacceptable to God and need daily forgiveness and cleansing. Mostly we do not want to hear this for it is offensive to us as people, however we cannot bow our knees to the Saviour of the world unless we first grasp our need.

 Abraham saw His need and responded in faith to God. This is what pleases the Lord, obedience, repentance and faith. These are not on our agenda, and we need a mighty work of God in our life to allow us to see this need. Abraham did many good things but the crown of it all was his faith and this is what he is commended for. So likewise with us, we must put all our faith and hope in the sacrifice on the cross if we are to be cleansed from our sin.