This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, How to Be Strong in Faith.
Abraham is called the “father of the faithful.” If we believe as he believed, we can receive as he received.
Abraham left a legacy of faith for future generations—but that began with his own personal great faith in God.
In the Old Testament we read that Abraham disobeyed God on several occasions and played with halfway obedience on others. But when we read about him in the New Testament, we do not read about his failures; we read about his faith.
What did Abraham do that pleased God? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3b).
Parents, before you can pass a legacy of faith to your child’s life, you must have Christ Jesus in your own lives.
Why did Abraham have faith? Because God spoke to him. (See Romans 4:16-18.)
Without a promise from God, there can be no faith. Faith is not some way that we superimpose our will on Heaven. You have to hear from God in order to have faith.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:7).
Faith is a response to the Word of God.
Abraham knew not only the promise, but the Promiser.
…in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did…(Romans 4:17).
Abraham believed God because he knew the character of God, who makes something out of nothing.
Do you want God to make something out of you—to give you a legacy of faith for future generations? Just bring your deadness to Him, and He alone will give you life.
Learn to cooperate with God.
He [Abraham] did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God… (Romans 4:20, Word in brackets added).
To believe is to obey. Even our English word “believe” comes from the old English “by-live.” Works are the proof, and the product, of faith.
Raising children in faith and building a Christian home requires work. You must cultivate, and God will give the increase. (See 1 Corinthians 3:6.)
When you see the promise, praise God. When you see who He is who has made these promises to future generations, praise Him. When you see that He will use you to do it, praise Him. And as you praise Him, you will find faith growing in your heart.
Your faith goes beyond you. Parents, grandparents, God has given you the responsibility of teaching children the Word of God and passing our Christian faith to the next generation.
Fathers, what is your responsibility as a dad? It is to shape, sharpen, and shoot arrows at the enemy. Grandfathers, you have skills for this as well.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth (Psalm 127:4).
Your highest ambition should be to be a good husband and a good father. If you have to choose between your profession and your family, you have a duty before God to choose your family.
As a matter of fact, if a man does not practice his Christian faith in his family life, he will not be able to do it outside the home either—“For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” (1 Timothy 3:5).
The archer of these arrows must be strong: “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior.” Be strengthened in the Lord so that you can pass on the legacy of faith and equip your children to serve Christ Jesus.
Men, consider: who has passed down a legacy of faith to you? With whom do you have the opportunity to share your legacy of faith?
Fathers, you will leave a legacy of some kind—that is unavoidable.
The most important thing in your life, other than your relationship with God, is your family. God brought you out of your bondage, sorrow, and night, that He might bring you into His land of glorious fruitfulness and light.
The best thing most of us fathers could do is ask, “Oh, God, teach me how to walk in victory. Lord, get me out of this wilderness. I want to be a Spirit-filled Christian living in victory.”
Too many families have spiritually come out of Egypt—they are saved, they are going to Heaven—but they haven’t gone into Canaan. They are going around in circles.
Do your children see God’s love? Do they see you living in Christ Jesus’ victory? Have you taken possession of the spiritual gifts God has given you? Do your children see the spiritual fruit that Canaan represents—the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Or do they only hear sermons about it on Sunday?
The best thing you can do for your children is to teach them to worship God, and to worship in the right way. You do this by the way that you worship.
Wrong worship is sin.
…You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me…(Exodus 20:5).
The fathers’ false worship shows up in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons.
There was a godly king of Judah named Uzziah. “But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the LORD his God by entering the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense” (2 Chronicles 26:16). That was not his right. No matter his motive, he worshiped God in the wrong way.
Fast forward to Uzziah’s son, Jotham. “And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done (although he did not enter the temple of the LORD)” (2 Chronicles 27:2a). Uzziah did not worship God in a proper way. Now here is his son—“My father didn’t go; I don’t see why I ought to. We don’t have to worship God with other people.”
Then comes a grandson, Ahaz. “He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made molded images for the Baals. He burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel” (2 Chronicles 28:1-3).
But what about for the man who does teach his children the Word of God and the Christian faith?
God is a jealous God, visiting the curse of the wicked on their children for three and four generations—
…But showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:6).
Thousands of generations.
Right now, we can live for our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, and beyond. The greatest gift you can give your children is to teach them to worship the Lord, to love the Lord, and to serve Him at any age. Your greatest lasting legacy is a legacy of faith.
Romans 4:3,16-18,20, 10:17; Exodus 20:5-6; 1 Corinthians 3:6; Psalm 127:4; 1 Timothy 3:5; 2 Chronicles 26:16, 27:2
Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed (Psalm 112:1-2).
When your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?” then you shall say to your son: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us (Deuteronomy 6:20-25).
