GRACE AND GLORY - PART TWELVE

FULLY CONVINCED

Romans 4:17–25 (NLT)

17 That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

18 Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” 19 And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.

20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 23 And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded 24 for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.

VERSE SEVENTEEN

God spoke to Abraham in the past tense about his destiny. When God ordains it, it’s an established fact. It isn’t what you earn; it’s what you allow to be done in you and through you by faith.

Abraham didn’t limit God. He wasn’t afraid of what he saw in the natural. He believed in what God said, whether that meant resurrection life or creative miracle.

VERSE EIGHTEEN

Hope is a good thing. It’s not a lesser man’s faith. We have to keep hope for the future alive in our hearts.

Even when there’s no good reason to believe what God said except the fact that He said it, we have to stay in a place of expectation for the future. Our faith is the now belief with accompanying action that propels us to the object of our hope.

VERSE NINETEEN

Because he had his eyes on the hope of the promise of God, he didn’t allow his faith to weaken. What he saw in the natural was irrelevant to what a supernatural God had said and made to be truth.

VERSE TWENTY

How did Abraham’s faith grow in spite of not seeing anything natural to affirm him?

He chose to remain faithful to the Word. We often lose sight of what God’s done for the sake of skepticism about what He is capable of doing next. Abraham saw what God had done and found no reason to doubt anything He could do.

VERSE TWENTY-ONE

Abraham was fully convinced. What has fully convinced you?

Is it what you’ve seen or what God has said? If God promised it, He not only can do it, He WILL do it.

VERSE TWENTY-TWO

This faith was the basis for Abraham’s right standing with God.

Not his perfection. His faith. Walking out the process might not be perfect, but choose progress over perfection. Choose humility and repentance in pursuing God’s plan for your life. This sets you up to receive the righteousness of God.

VERSE TWENTY-THREE

Heaven made eternal note of the fact that Abraham was in right standing with God and used the template he created to set the standard for us.

We stand on the shoulders of all kinds of faith giants tracing all the way back to Abraham. We’ve been taught to believe that God will do what He promised, so we have to live this Bible without excuse or wavering.

VERSE TWENTY-FOUR

Our righteousness is given to us by an act of faith in the finished work of the Cross and the King.

We have the Word as a guide to teach us to believe in God and His power to bring dead things to life and create something from nothing.

VERSE TWENTY-FIVE

Jesus took upon Himself the punishment for our sins. He took what He didn’t deserve so we could have what we didn’t deserve.

His resurrection makes us righteous, because it gives us access to God. We’re not seen as sinners anymore. We don’t identify with the world anymore. We identify with the finished work of Jesus, which makes us right with God and righteous in His sight.