27) God's Promised Heirs
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Pastoral Reminder: Head Heart Hands
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Please open your bibles to Romans 4:13. We will read our passage this morning.
13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified, 15 because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. 16 This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to the one who is of the law but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. 18 He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. 22 Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, 24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
The bible is filled with promises from God. Promises that bring blessing and curse. Some promises that man has a role to play and many that only depend on God alone to fulfill them. The Jews had taken the promises and covenants to Abraham and merged them with the promises and covenants given to Moses and Israel. The result was a false assurance in the works of the law and a danger of never truly knowing what God requires for justification and salvation.
Chapter 4 is part of Paul’s argument to correct the falsehoods that the Jews had developed in regards to being justified before God and receiving the promises to the patriarchs.
Here Paul explains to his readers how the promises to Abraham are fulfilled and who will receive the blessing that God has promised.
God’s Promise
God’s Promise
13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified, 15 because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
The promise to Abraham is the promise in question. In Genesis we find multiple promises that are given to Abraham. The one that Paul speaks of here is the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world.
1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
and
5 He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
The promise that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the sea shore. Generations and generations of his offspring would be so numerous that they could not be counted. Here Paul phase this promise as “that he would inherit the world”.
Paul says this promise to Abraham was not through the Law. The covenant that was made with Moses would come 430 years later and would establish the law. The Jews had come to trust that by following the Law of Moses that they would receive the promise that was made to Abraham through Isaac. Paul contradicts this thought process.
14 If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified, 15 because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
If, if you make the claim that it is those that are under the Mosaic Law are the heirs that God speaks of to Abraham, then doesn’t this make the faith of Abraham empty and the promise is nullified or void. Why? Because the law produces wrath.
Wrath is the punishment for the wicked and the guilty. For those that violate the Law. If you put your trust that you will receive the promise by following the law, you condemn yourself. For no one can follow the Law without transgressing it. If you base your reward on the Law then you are assured to never receive it.
10 For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.
You have set yourself up for failure. As you are found to be a lawbreaker and are guilty of it all. And by the way the law came after Abraham received the promise that you are trusting in. The law brings forth right and wrong and cannot be broken if it was not given. My children cannot be found guilty of breaking rules I have never given them. But once I establish the rule then they are held to that rule and can either obey it or transgress it.
Here basically Paul is saying, God gave the promise to Abraham at a time when there the Law had not been given. So if the promise comes through the law than how was Abraham justified. You claim the promise is dependent on things that God had not given yet.
17 My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.
So the promised blessing given to Abraham will come through the righteousness that comes through faith.
32 And we ourselves proclaim to you the good news of the promise that was made to our ancestors. 33 God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second Psalm: You are my Son; today I have become your Father.
If the promise come through works then faith is not required. No belief is required. Because it now depends on my effort and not my faith. The faith of Abraham is how he received the promise, not by his works and effort.
God’s Grace
God’s Grace
16 This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to the one who is of the law but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.
He continues with the follow up question. Why? Why is it by faith? So that it may be according to grace. Grace. Unmerited favor. Another central part to the gospel Paul is arguing for. The faith of Abraham did not earn him anything. Because he heard God and believed God’s promise, he was credited with righteousness. It is God’s gracious hand that is extended to men with the grace that credits men with his own righteousness.
Who is righteous? There is only one.
14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus, the Word became flesh. Dwelt among us. God the Son, emptying himself, taking on a nature of humanity, born as the one who will save. And it is in his nature and character to be full of grace and truth. John the Baptist would herald the one who grace would come.
15 (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ”) 16 Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, 17 for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
The saving acts of God crediting people with his own righteousness is a truth that takes away all boasting. This is what the early Church taught.
11 On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.”
In our passage Paul says that there is a reason for God grace to be through faith. God’s gift to be through faith.
16 This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to the one who is of the law but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.
The reason is so that the promise it guaranteed to all of the descendants. The only way to the promise can be guaranteed is if it is not dependent on men, who always prove themselves unfaithful. The promised is guaranteed because it is dependent on the one who is always faithful, who cannot, lie, who cannot change, the one and only Lord and God.
If it was up to the Jews they would be only the ones that would receive the promise. Unless the gentiles joined them under the Law. But Paul speaks here again of the spiritual descendants. Both the one who is of the Law, the Jew, and also the one who is of Abraham’s faith. For he is the father of us all.
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
The greater the promise the more powerful the one must be to accomplish it. The promise was given by one who was completely capable of fulfilling it.
17 As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.
Abraham was given a promise and he believed that he would fulfill it for he was also the one who gives life and creates all things. He believed that this was not a task that was outside of God’s power.
Abraham’s Example
Abraham’s Example
18 He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.
What does faith look like? This may have been the question that they were asking or that Paul wanted to answer. We know what works look like but how about faith? It is a question that many people will ask, what does saving faith look like?
Paul encourages them once again to look to Abraham. He believed, but what God promised wasn’t easy to for him. He believed hoping against hope. A strong desire for it to come true. God promised him that he would be the father of many nations. God promised a son to Abraham in his old age to a barren wife. He promised that he would accomplish this through a future son named Isaac.
19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”
This is a great promise but he is kind of an old man. I don’t know about you, but having kids at 100 years old doesn’t seem like the easiest thing to believe in. But he believed and God’s own words say that he did not waiver in unbelief. Even waiting for so long for the promise would be so hard but his faith did not weaken or waiver. Instead his faith was strengthened and in throughout all of it gave glory to God.
This is in contrast to Israel as they came to the promised land from Egypt and sent in the spies. The spies returned and they rebelled and complained and groaned. God had promised to go ahead of them but they waivered and were filled in unbelief, so they would wander for 40 years until all but Caleb and Joshua would enter into the promised land.
Abraham shows a different faith. One that is not dependent on man but one that waits and trusts in the character of God. Abraham would be tested beyond this and still would not waiver. When he was asked to sacrifice the son of promise.
15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn,” this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies. 18 And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”
God glorifying honor and faith.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, 18 the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.
Abraham believed that God could and would do what he said he would do. He wasn’t a sinless man by any means but he was a man that exemplifies trust in the Lord. Because of his faith he receives God’s gracious gift.
Our Hope
Our Hope
22 Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, 24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Paul then encourages them that this grace was not for Abraham alone, but for them and us as well. All men and women can bank on the promise to be heirs of Abraham and to be heirs of the promise. That we too will be credited with righteousness if we believe. If we believe in God, in the God that raised Jesus from the dead.
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
This is a promise. Is it one you believe in? Does it give you confidence that your eternal destination of one of peace and reward? The promise to Abraham extends to all who believe.
Isaac is called the son of promise and through him would come Jacob, and Israel, the line of David, and the promised seed Jesus Christ. Though whom all nations are blessed. They are blessed by becoming not physical descendants of Abraham but spiritual ones.
25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.
It was through the Jews that the promised blessing would come in the form of God in the flesh. As they were the sons of the prophets and of the covenant.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Jesus who was delivered for our transgressions and raised for our justification. When we look to the tree on which Jesus hung. As he gave his life as a payment. He put it forward as the payment for our sin. His sinless life was offered on our behalf. As he called “it is finish” the ransom had been offered. His life has been given, it was weighed measured and found righteous, meeting God’s justice. So death could not hold him and he ascended to take his place as high priest, prophet and king.
The resurrection is the proof that it is accomplished.
30 “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
This is our living hope
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
The final statement of this section reflects the writings of Isaiah and the suffering servant. As he was delivered for us.
25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The 4th chapter of Romans is Paul’s argument for justification by grace through faith. The Jews had taken the promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and interpreted that as Abraham’s physical descendants and that the promise would be received through the law. However, Paul argues that God is speaking of spiritual offspring.
That the promise to Abraham is through the righteousness that comes by faith. This was so that is would be a work of God’s grace guaranteed to both the Jew and Gentile. This faith lives in the hope that God will be faithful to his promises.
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this our ancestors were approved.
Abraham’s life demonstrated a man that was willing to follow God no matter how crazy the request. He lived in a reality of what was to come. His life today was in preparation or God’s tomorrow.
When we read about martyrs and missionaries that have these God filled lives. They overcome great obstacles in ways that can only be God. They give their lives in the ministry of God to advance the kingdom, to share the gospel, care for the poor. When you read about their lives many times you will see that they know the promises of God and they fully trust in them. They pray for food, or plant seeds of hope in places that take many years after they have passed on to see the results. They demonstrate their faith in God’s promises.
Therefore, this faith is credited to him for righteousness. And it is the same for all who will receive the promise to be heirs of Abraham.
We must become familiar with the promises of God. Men over the centuries have become experts at distorting the promises of God. Like the serpent in the garden it starts with “did God really say”. But today we are in danger of not even knowing the promises to begin with. We have come to a time where we have not been shown the promises of God like Paul does in his letters.
Instead we rely on men’s interpretations and distortions to give hope. People are convinced they must earn the favor of God. Especially related to salvation. People are convinced that God has promised them things that he doesn’t promise. Health, wealth, prosperity, success and not guaranteed.
We need to be people who know what God has and has not promised or our belief is in false things. It is a false faith. We open the word, hear his words of promise and we believe in them and we live in the reality of receiving them in God’s timing. The whole while having our faith strengthened.
Let be a people who seek to know his promise, believe in them, and live in light of them.
Let us pray.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Blessing/Benediction
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
