How to Have God’s Blessing on Your Life - Romans 4.16-19

INTRODUCTION:

Question:

What’s something you like to control?

(money, relationships, car, thermostat, etc.)

What’s something out of your control?

(politics, taxes, other drivers, the thermostat, etc.)

Did you know that God’s in control of everything?

He keeps really bad people from being even worse

And he keeps you from being really bad people

In fact, He even has a plan to make you really good people

That includes blessings

And that’s called grace

Answer: Grace isn’t a maybe, it’s a guarantee.

Cultural opposition point

“The world says you earn what you get. Work hard, get paid. Hustle, get rewarded. Perform, get approval. But grace? Grace says, ‘You didn’t earn this—God just gave it to you.’”

“This is why grace confuses us. We’re skeptics!

If you tell a kid, ‘I’ll buy you ice cream if you clean your room,’ they’ll work. If you tell them, ‘I’ll buy you ice cream just because,’ they’ll ask, ‘What’s the catch?’ And that’s us with God. We keep looking for the fine print.”

Big idea: Blessings come through faith.

We want God’s grace (God’s sure promises), and the way to receive it is through faith.

Two components, grace and faith.

Spoiler, next week I’m gonna show you what faith looks like more in depth

Passage: Romans 4:16-19

Romans 4:16–19 NKJV

16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) 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; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

1. What is grace?

Romans 4:16 NKJV

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure

Grace = God’s promises made sure

“God’s grace isn’t like a warranty—where you only find out what’s covered after something breaks.”

“It’s not like ordering online—where the picture looks amazing, but when it arrives, it’s 3 sizes too small and smells weird.”

“And it’s definitely not like a man promising to fix something around the house—where he says he’ll do it, and six months later, it’s still ‘on the list.’”

So what are God’s promises?

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Types of Promise

Divine promises in Scripture assure their recipients of many spiritual and temporal benefits,

Grace = God’s promises = a future for you

You’re not in control of what happens to you in the future

God is…

“And that’s a good thing, because if it were up to you, your ‘best life’ would’ve peaked in high school.”

James 4:15 NKJV

Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

Grace is God giving you this or that

Truth: Grace is God’s promises made sure, not our effort.

Why We Resist:

We like control. We trust what we can measure—our effort, our work, our checklist.

Grace removes our ability to take credit, and we don’t like that.

We want to feel like we “deserve” what we get—grace says we don’t.

We’d rather work ourselves to exhaustion than admit we can’t save/help ourselves.

Grace removes the world’s counterfeit beliefs, but we like to keep them.

Conviction:

“You’re not rejecting grace because it’s unclear—you’re rejecting it because it makes you powerless.”

“Grace strips away our excuses.”

“You don’t need manifestation, positive energy, or a self-care journal. You don’t need some crystals—you need the Word of God.”

“The world wants you to believe you control your destiny. But let’s be real—you can’t even control your Wi-Fi connection.”

So, just trust in God’s grace—meaning His promises for you today and in the future.

2. Who’s grace for?

If I promised someone a million bucks but not you, then it wouldn’t matter very much would it?

Romans 4:16 NKJV

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

1. Those under the law

The Jews, WHO WORSHIPPED A FAKE COW WHILE GOD WROTE THE LAW

“God gave them the Ten Commandments, and before Moses could even finish getting them engraved, Israel was already out here melting jewelry like they were launching an Etsy store.”

“I wrote ten laws for you. Apparently that wasn’t clear enough, so here are 613 more.”

If you had to follow 613 laws, you’d need grace too. And a life coach.

Can we all agree, these guys clearly need grace?

2. Those not under the law

This is everybody else not a Jew

These people have a different kind of law called the conscience, Rom 2.14-15

Romans 2:14–15 NKJV

14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)

“Meanwhile, the Gentiles didn’t have the Law. So what did they do? They made up their own rules. That’s always a great idea.”

“It’s like giving a five-year-old a credit card and saying, ‘Just make wise choices.’”

Who are the gentiles?

Like this guy, whose conscience is seared

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEDX0vExy-w/?igsh=cXc3bTBzbTFjcGIx

Like this guy, whose conscience is seared

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEFMVxXxrmk/?igsh=MzA3OGx5Y3ByZTgx

Like this woman, whose conscience is seared

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDc2XWvpKch/?igsh=MTR3cmFhNmFzYXRhcQ==

Like this guy, whose conscience isn’t seared but is in serious need of grace (me)

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCPIfbQJOZS/?igsh=OHhneHJ0M2VsY2Nt

We’re all in need of God’s grace.

Truth: Grace is for all—Jews and Gentiles alike.

Why We Resist:

We like exclusivity—deep down, we want grace to be for “people like us.”

We compare ourselves to people worse than us so we don’t feel as bad.

We don’t actually believe some people deserve grace—because we still think we “earned” it more than them.

Conviction:

“Grace is free—but some of you think you got a ‘discount’ because you were already a ‘good person.’”

“If God’s grace was only for the ones who got it right, heaven would be empty.”

3. Why does grace through faith matter?

1. Because the quality of the promise matters

A promise only has value if it comes true

My “cousin” Kyle promised me a Gameboy when I went to visit him. It was his sister Anna’s, but he promised it. He was supposed to give it to me before church. He didn’t. He then changed it to after church. He didn’t, because, “I can’t find it,” he said. So we looked in the church playground until dark. He had me digging in mulch for a Gameboy that—now that I’m older I know—didn’t exist.

Promises don’t matter if they don’t come true.

“Who wants a million dollars?”

I work at a school…

I’m lucky if I can afford name-brand cereal

“But when God makes a promise, it’s as good as done.”

In fact, His promises are so good, He uses past tense verbs for future tense promises

Look at v. 17

Romans 4:17 NKJV

(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”)

God τέθεικά (tee’th-e-kuh’) Abraham

Perfect tense in Gr.

Means God did it in the past, and you can still see the effect of it today

God τέθεικά Abraham a father of many nations, and this happened a year BEFORE ABRAHAM HAD ISAAC

When God makes a promise, it’s because HE ALREADY KNOWS THE FUTURE

A promise is good when it will come true, and to God, it already has.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS BELIEVE GOD’S NOT A LIAR!

That’s called faith!

How easy is that?!

Truth: Faith is the only way to access grace.

Why We Resist:

Faith requires surrender, and we’d rather be in charge.

We trust what we see, not what God said.

We’d rather “do something” than simply believe.

Faith requires patience—we want instant results.

Conviction:

“Faith is hard because it removes your backup plan.”

“Some of you won’t trust God because He didn’t show you the whole plan. But let’s be honest—you wouldn’t follow it anyway.”

“If we believed in God’s promises as much as we believe in our fears, our lives would look a lot different.”

2. Because of the God of the promise

Romans 4:17 NKJV

(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) 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;

You need God’s grace, but Satan’s gonna try to cause doubts…

Satan wants you to believe the world is out of control so you’ll forget that 

God is still on the throne.

But when you realize who God is, you won’t need to doubt any longer…

a. God gives life to the dead

1 Samuel 2:6 NKJV

“The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up.

John 5:21 NKJV

For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

2 Corinthians 1:9 NKJV

Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead,

1 Timothy 6:13 NKJV

I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things

Why would you doubt the God who made you?

b. God names what doesn’t exist

Romans 4:17 ESV

17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

This isn’t just creation

This is naming things that haven’t existed before, meaning it’s giving a name to the future

I remember a bunch of people coming up to me, saying “I can see you being a preacher someday.”

But their words didn’t mean anything unless it happened

But God doesn’t say anything about how He could see someone doing something, He says someone will do something

This is the intersection of God’s sovereignty and God’s provision

That future you haven’t seen already has a name in God’s book

I’ll start it, you finish:

Defeat of the Spanish (armada)

1940s was World War (two)

Every four years there are these worldwide games called the (Olympics)

Today New Orleans is hosting the Super (Bowl)

These are times of history that get names

But God already knows the events of the future and foreordains their names

How does that apply to you?

He predestined you to the image of Christ

The New King James Version Chapter 8

29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,

You have a future that’s foreordained by God!

HE NAMED THE FUTURE SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO DOUBT

Truth: God’s promises are guaranteed—because HE’S GOD

Why We Resist:

We’ve been lied to before, and we assume God operates like man.

We confuse God’s timing with His faithfulness—if it’s delayed, we assume it’s denied.

We don’t actually know God’s promises because we don’t know Scripture.

We are so used to disappointment that we lower our expectations instead of raising our faith.

Conviction:

“You doubt God’s promises because you keep comparing Him to people who failed you.”

“God’s Word is more reliable than anything you see, feel, or experience—but some of you check your bank account more than you check your Bible.”

“Faith isn’t pretending your circumstances don’t exist—it’s believing God’s promise is bigger than them.”

4. What does grace through faith do?

Romans 4:18 NKJV

who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”

It makes you who God says you are.

“You don’t need a new identity. You don’t need a personality test. You don’t need a self-discovery journey. You need grace.”

“If you let the world name you, they’ll call you oppressed, privileged, marginalized, problematic—but if you let God name you, He calls you saved, His child, a coruler with Christ, a joint-heir of heaven, an inheritor of His Kingdom.

Three choices:

Trust the world—which lies, manipulates, and changes its mind every time there’s an election.

Trust yourself—which is inconsistent, emotional, and often wrong.

Trust God—who never changes, never lies, and never fails.

“Culture says you’re a victim. The Bible says you’re more than a conqueror.”

“The world says you were born this way. Jesus says you can be born again.”

“Society says truth is whatever you want it to be. God’s Word says truth is a person—Jesus Christ.”

You’re gonna need Him if you want God’s will for your life

And the way to get Him is through faith