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Good morning friends,
Have you ever considered how much of our lives are lived by FAITH?
As you and I go to sleep, we believe our hearts will keep beating, our lungs breathing, the blood pumping through our veins, while we sleep, right? And when we wake up, aren’t we glad our faith paid off, and God kept us alive as we slept?
We buckle our seat-belts in an airplane with great faith that this huge, heavy jet will somehow fly, and then land safely, and when we get off, we’ll be at our intended destination, right?
But what kind of faith is saving, life transforming, Christian faith? That’s the focus of our chapter today, Romans 4.
Abraham, and his great faith, is held up by Paul, as the model for us in this chapter. Abraham’s remarkable story is found in Genesis 12-25. I think his famous faith was most seen in these four things…
1. He was willing to leave home and follow God’s invitation to relocate. . . but God did not tell him where he was moving to! God simply said “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (12:1) The trip was more than 1000 miles in all, and lasted many months, with a stop in Haran. At no time does it appear Abraham was told where this trip was taking him, or how he would know when he arrived to his unnamed destination.
By faith he traveled, not following a cloud as Moses did… just traveling, until finally God said “To your offspring I will give this land.” (12:7), when Abraham had arrived in what we today know as Israel. Oh, and did I mention Abraham started this journey at age 75 years old?
Now, how many times have you packed up everything and moved?
How long did it take you to make your plans, research the place to which you were going, make your housing arrangements, find the schools your kids would attend, determine how big a truck you’d need for all your belongings, when the right time to move would be, who would help you with all the loading and unloading etc. etc. Right? Now really, how much faith was involved in your moves, as compared to Abraham?
2. Abraham was promised by God that he and his aged wife Sara would have a son, in their old age, even though they’d never had children and were by then old. Paul uses this as major proof of Abraham’s faith. In Romans 4 vs. 18-22 Paul wrote, “Without weakening in his faith, Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about 100 years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promises of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised.”
And as you may know, even though God made the promise of a son in Gen. 15:4 when Abraham was apx. age 85, it wasn’t until Gen. 21, when he was 100 and Sarah 90, that Isaac was born! Now that’s faith, would you agree? So… look back in your life. What has been the biggest faith step you’ve ever taken?
3. God also promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. So many descendants that they would outnumber the stars in the sky! That’s also found in Gen. 15, “God took Abraham outside and said, ‘look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can… so shall your offspring be.” Now, of course, for an 85 year old man with no children, this sounded ridiculous, however as we know, there are two huge people groups who trace their lineage directly to Abraham. . . the Arabs through his son Ishmael, and the Jews, through Isaac. Now think of how many people that has been in the 4000 years since Genesis 15!
4. Finally, of course, I just have to mention one more…the ultimate test of faith for Abraham. You remember, it’s found in Genesis 22. Miracle son Isaac was about 13 or so, the pride and joy of old Abraham and Sarah. And then God asked the unthinkable, the unreasonable. In fact Scripture says “God tested Abraham…’take your son, your only son whom you love, and go the region of Moriah and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on the mountain I will show you.” (Gen. 22:1-5).
For Abraham, and all of us who are parents, this rips our hearts out, doesn’t it?
Verse 3 is the anchor verse of Romans chapter 4, it’s a direct quote from Genesis 15:6 “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” It means God did in Abraham, what God has done in your life and mine, when we trusted Jesus to be our Savior. God credited to Abraham the forgiveness of sin and holiness (that’s what righteousness means). But the big difference between you and me and Abraham is this: For Abraham, Jesus had not come, no Jesus truths were known, Jesus had not died & rose again. Abraham lived 2000 years before Jesus.
For Abraham and others like him, God ‘credited to them righteousness’ in response to their faith in God and their obedience to God’s instructions. For people in, and since, the days of Jesus, God credits righteousness to us, in response to our faith and trust in Jesus and God’s promise that Jesus’ atonement sacrifice on the cross, is payment enough for our sin.
Paul knew full well that his declaration that sinners like you and me could be forgiven of our sin by Holy, Almighty God, and drawn into a life-transforming relationship with God. . . simply through great faith, seemed illogical and beyond reasonable. So, this entire 4th chapter of Romans is aimed at helping his readers, then and since, understand the life-saving power of true faith in God alone.
You’ll see in vs. 4-8, Paul begins with the contrast between wages earned by hard work, and our salvation from sin, attained by faith in Jesus alone. Can you grasp the significance of this?
Then in vs. 9-12 Paul helps his Jewish readers understand something that was mind blowing. You see Jewish men felt strongly that their mark of circumcision was an irreversible mark of superiority. They were confident of God’s blessing, God’s favor, and if anyone was going to get into heaven, of course, they were sure it would be them, with the mark of God’s covenant, as seen in Genesis 17.
But here, in Romans 4:10,11, Paul shocks his Jewish readers by reminding them of the timing of when Abraham experienced God crediting to him righteousness by faith. Genesis 15:6 says “Abram believed the LORD and God credited to him righteousness.” There it is! Notice Abram’s name had not yet been changed to Abraham, that didn’t happen till 17:5, about 15 years later.
Paul felt it was vital for us to understand God did not credit righteousness to Abraham because he observed certain any laws, nor because he gave the males in his family the mark of circumcision, not even because he abstained from idol worship, unlike, many people in the place from which he had moved. Abraham received a standing of righteous before God ONLY because he had great faith in God and He acted on that faith by doing what God told him to do and believing God would do the impossible things God had promised. That’s what we see in Romans 4:18-25.
Then Paul ends with this powerful statement for you and me. . . “The words, ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for Abraham alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (4:23,24) What do you hear my friends? Do you hear it is the very same saving faith in God, that you and I have today, that God rewards with righteousness in us?
Then Paul hits the home run . . . “He (Jesus) was delivered [by God His Father] over to death for our [you and me] sins and He was raised to life (resurrection) for our justification.” Do you see God’s salvation plan here? God delivered over His Son. God poured out His wrath on His Son. God raised Him from the dead. And God did all this for you and me, and any person who would recognize their sin problem, their inability to save themselves, and would trust God with life saving faith.
Finally, the very last word of Romans 4 is a new word we haven’t see yet in Romans. “Justification” It’s a legal term. “Justified” is a legal term. The judge declares a guilty criminal ‘justified’ when the charges against him are proven to be false OR when his ransom price has been paid, and he is declared “forgiven”, and he’s free to walk out of the courtroom a free man. An easy way to think of Justification is the phrase, ‘just as if he’d never sinned’! That my friends is what Jesus has accomplished for us. That’s what ‘righteousness” means! And it will be the focus of tomorrow’s chapter 5.
Now here are some closing questions for us to ponder. . .
1. How much faith do you think it takes for God to be satisfied that your faith is enough, and He will extend to you, or anyone, salvation from your sins?
2. When you trust God for your salvation… exactly what are you trusting Him to do as He saves you?
3. When God credits you with righteousness, as He did with Abraham, what difference should that make in your life?
Tomorrow, we’ll find some more answers to these and other big life questions. Have a great day my friends… “walking with Jesus” and trusting God with your life today.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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