Faith: In Hope, Against Hope, and for the Glory of God.

Introduction:

Recap:

Last week we saw that Abraham was justified through faith.

Faith justifies the person, but his work will justify his faith.

The opinion of God matters most.

Righteousness is so much more than the absence of evil or guilt it is a positive good.

Grace has to do with receiving the freely given gift of God. Works has to do with earning merit before God.

Circumcision like baptism was merely an outward sign in the flesh that had been justified by faith.

[13] The argument continues relentlessly on as Paul chases every possible objector, refuting them with logic and Scripture.

Since all God’s dealings with Abraham. Isaac, and Jacob happened before the giving of the Mosaic Law, we can’t say they were based on the law.

Instead, they are based on God’s declaration of Abraham’s righteousness through faith.

Faith is the foundation of God’s blessing. Abraham was a blessed man, for sure, but he would become the “heir of the world” on another principle entirely- simply faith.

[14] We should know by now that the law cannot bring us into the blessings of God’s promises.

This is not because the law is bad, its because we are unable to keep it.

[15] Our inability to keep the law, which leads to our transgression (An act that goes against a law, rule, or a code of conduct; an offense) against God.

The law becomes the vehicle of God’s wrath towards us, especially if we regard it as the principle by which we are justified and relate to God.

Paul’s statement, “Where there is no law there is no transgression” might be confusing to some. Transgression conveys this idea of “overstepping” or to “cross the line.”

Where there is no line, there is no actual transgression.

Example of the speed limit. Because there is a speed limit there is a line that can be crossed.

God gave the law so that sin might be seen as transgression, or to put it another way, so that sin might be seen in all its sinfulness.

God never intended it to be the way of salvation for sinful transgressors.

In the example of the speed limit, the law would be the speed limit sign.

We have been given an incredible gift through the death and resurrection of Jesus, to be free from our transgression and sin. To live in a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, to no longer be enslaved to sin, but slaves to righteousness.

And guess what is so good about that?

Nothing pertaining to justification, redemption, or propitiation resides on your shoulders. It is all done through and in Christ.

It is all to easy for us to fall into the mindset of works = God’s favor. We have recieved all the favor of God through the righteousness that is imputed to us through Christ Jesus.

We do not work to receive that. But because we have recieved that we work.

V 16) Faith and Grace

Faith and grace go hand in hand, much like works is related to the law. Grace and law are principles, and faith and works are the means by which we pursue those principles for our relationship with God.

To speak technically, we are not saved by faith. We are saved by God’s grace, and grace is appropriated by faith.

It is not incorrect to say that we are saved by faith. We just need to realize that faith comes through God’s grace, unmerited favor.

Grace cannot be gained through works: past, present, or future promises of works. Grace by its definition is given without regard to anything in the one who receives it.

Grace and faith go together and are going in a singular direction while, the law and works are going in another direction. That is the reason God chose not to yoke them together.

What is beautiful about this principle is that God determined, before before the foundation of the world, that He would save men through faith.

He would give eternal life as a free, undeserved gift to ungodly sinners who receive it by a simple act of faith.

“Guaranteed “and “all:” This should mean a lot to us. Because if justification depended on you working to keep the law, how could you ever be sure that you have done enough good works to be saved or even the right kind of works.

Most people in other religions struggle with this every ideology.

No one who seeks to earn salvation enjoys full assurance.

YET! isn’t that a good word here… YET! when salvation is presented as a gift to be received by believing, than a man can be sure that he is saved on the authority of the word of God.

Thats not all!

God wants the promise to be guaranteed to all of the offspring- not just the Jews, but to Gentiles who place their trust in Lord in the same way that Abraham did.

This fulfills the promise in Genesis:

Genesis 17:4–5 ESV

“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Abraham is the father of us all- that is, of all believing Jews and Gentiles.

Vv 17-18) Abraham’s Belief

To confirm that Abraham’s fatherhood is overall true believers, Paul injects Genesis 17:5.

God’s choice of Israel as His chosen, earthly people did not mean that His grace and mercy would be confined to them.

The apostle quotes verse after verse from the Old Testament to show that it always was God’s intention to honor faith wherever He found it.

It took a supernatural life-giving work to make Abraham the physical father of many nations, it also took a supernatural life-giving work to make him the spiritual father of many nations as well.

Let’s look at something incredible about our God. “Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”

These works of God demonstrate His ability to count things that are not (such as our righteousness) as if they were (as in counting us righteous).

If God could call the dead womb of Sarah to life, he call call those who are dead in their trespasses and sins to new life in Jesus

Ephesians 2:4–7 ESV

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

We should find great encouragement when God speaks about us. Calling us: righteous, justified, glorified, holy, pure, and saintly. God can even talk about such things before they exist, because he knows they will exist.

This is so for Abraham and Sarah, for although they were not dead physically, they were childless and beyond the age when they could have children. God calls those things which do not yet exist as already existing.

“In hope he believed against hope:” This statement might be a little confusing.

Remember in the preceding verse Paul has emphasized that the promise came to Abraham by fait hand not by the law that it might be by grace and that it might be a guarantee to Abraham’s offspring.

God promised Abraham prosperity as numerous as the stars and the sand. Yet contrary to human hope, Abraham believed in hope that he would become the father of many nations, just as God promised.

Human hope is filled with uncertainty, and in Abraham’s case he believed in God rather than placing his hope in human means.

Paul understand the importance of using Abraham as an example here because; Abraham’s example also helps us to understand the nature of faith.

The conception of Abraham’s son Isaac was a miracle, but it was not an immaculate conception. Abraham’s faith did not mean that he did nothing just waited for God to create a child in Sarah’s womb.

Abraham and Sarah had marital relations and trusted God for a miraculous result. This shows us that faith does not mean doing nothing, but doing everything with trust and reliance on God.

True believers obey God. Obedience is faith in action. We are to walk in the steps of faith like our father Abraham.

His faith didn’t sit still, it took steps; and you must take steps also by obeying God because you believe Him.

That faith which has no works with it is a dead faith, and will justify no one.

Sense corrects imagination. Reason corrects sense, but faith corrects both.

Sense says, “It will not be.” Reason says, “It cannot be.” Faith says, “It can and will be, because of the promises of God.”

Vv 19-22) Abraham’s Character

When God first promise Abraham that his descendants would be numerous, Abraham was 75 years old.

Genesis 12:2–4 ESV

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

At this time he was still physically able to become a father, because he had Ismael (Genesis 16).

What Paul is referring to in this verse is when Abraham was about 100 years old and the promise was renewed.

Genesis 17:15–21 ESV

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

By this time the possibility of creating new life apart from the miraculous power of God had vanished.

God had promised Abraham a son, and he believed God’s promise. Not weakening in the faith he had.

[20] What is neat about this verse is that the apparent impossibility that the promise would ever be fulfilled didn’t stagger Abraham.

God had said it; Abraham believed it; that settled it.

As far as Abraham was concerned there was (is) only one impossibility, and that was (is) for God to lie.

His faith was strong and vibrant. He gave glory to God, honoring Him as the One who could be depended on to fulfill His promise in complete defiance of all the laws of chance and probability.

Like Abraham, we also need to grow strong in our faith. Charles Spurgeon knew this is especially needed by pastors. He sometimes shared his own struggles in this area from the pulpit, but wanted to make it clear that his struggles in faith should never be indulged:

“Whenever, dear hearers, you catch any of us who are teachers doubting and fearing, do not pity us, but scold us. We have no right to be in Doubting Castles. Pray do not visit us there. Follow us as far as we follow Christ, but if we get into the horrible Slough of Despond, come and pull us out by the hair of our heads if necessary, but do not fall into it yourselves”

What will help us to avoid the trap is to not look at the circumstances but to the promises of God.

Abraham didn’t look at his body claiming, “I could never have a child.” He looked to the promise of God that he was going to have a child.

[21] Hear me family, this would have been difficult for Abraham to do. He wasn’t perfect. He just remained steadfast in faith.

Abraham had no more idea then a goat, how God would fulfill His word. All he knew was the fact that God had every confidence that God was fully able to do what He had promised.

In one way it was wonderful faith, but in another way it was the most reasonable thing to do, because God’s word is the surest thing in the universe, and for Abraham there was no risk in believing it!

It is so disappointing when i see some believers never live in the promises of God. They think, “It is fine for them but it won’t work for me.”

That ideology must be rejected.

[22] God was pleased to find a man who took Him at His word; He always is. So God credited righteousness to Abraham’s account.

Where once there had been a balance of sin and guilt, now there was nothing but a righteous standing before God. Abraham had been delivered from condemnation and was justified by a holy God through faith.

Vv 23-25) It’s for us too!

Abraham wasn’t the only beneficiary that God declared him righteous through faith; He is an example that we are invited to follow- it is for us too.

This is insanely awesome! We get to partake also.

The only difference is this: Abraham believed that God would give life to the dead (That is, to his weak body and Sarah’s barren womb). We believe God has given life to the dead by raising Jesus Christ.

When we talk about faith and saving faith in Jesus, it is important to emphasize that we mean believing that His work on the cross and triumph over sin and death is what saves us.

There are many false-faiths that can never save, and only faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross and through the empty tomb can save us.

Faith in the historical events of the life of Jesus will not save.

Faith in the beauty of Jesus’ life will not save.

Faith in the accuracy or goodness of Jesus’ teaching will not save.

Faith in the deity of Jesus and in His Lordship will not save.

Only faith in what the real Jesus did for us on the cross will save.

The resurrection has an essential place in our redemption because it demonstrates God the Father ‘s perfect satisfaction with the Son’s work on the cross.

It proves that what Jesus did on the cross was in fact a perfect sacrifice made by One who remained perfect, even though bearing the sin of the world.

“delivered up:” Is a term used of casting people into prison or delivering them to justice.

Here it speaks of the justices of God the Father delivering God the Son to the justice that required the payment of the penalty for human sin.

If Jesus remained dead, He would have failed to do what He sought to do, save men.

Yet because of His perfect life, having no sin, being fully God and fully man, His sacrifice sufficed, God then set His seal upon it by raising Him from the dead.

In this chapter Paul’s goal was to clearly demonstrate that in no way the Old Testament contradict the Gospel of Salvation by grace through faith.

Instead the gospel is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, and Abraham- justified through faith- is our pattern.

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.