Untitled Sermon (24)

It’s not the Law, It’s Faith...

Good morning everyone, i hope and pray you all are well today.

It’s been a busy week, I know it has been for each of us here, that seems to be the course of our days.

But in the midst of busy days, kids and grand kids going in so many different directions, don’t forget to remember your purpose along the way.

You are to be salt and light so that you can encourage, help and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others around you.

I know at times that seems intimidating, but you have the greatest message ever told...

Today we come back to the book of Romans, chapter 4. Remember Paul, he has been teaching in this letter, leading the Jewish people there in the church at Rome that salvation is by faith and not works.

If you remember last week, Paul shared the life of two great patriarchs from their lives, Abraham, who essentially is their spiritual father and then David, the great King who lead the nation in a mighty way.

Both, Abraham and David lived by faith in the Lord their God.

Now as we walk into the text today, faith is still the topic, Faith leads us to realize our sin, the blessing of a Savior, the need for Salvation and the Promise that awaits every person in Christ Jesus.

So today lets begin thinking about this point as we walk into our text today. Here is the first point...

1. The Promise came by Faith, not the Law...

Paul, He really is a champion of the Word, and here we see that He continues to teach those Jewish believers more and more about faith. A faith is moves us to trust and believe God.

Listen to Paul as we read the first portion of our text this morning...

Romans 4:13–15 ESV

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

So Paul reminds these people of the promise God made to Abraham, but not only him, Paul says “...and his descendants that would come after him…"

So what is that promise? Lets look at Genesis 12:1-4

Genesis 12:1–4 ESV

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 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. 3 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.” 4 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.

So God called him, and verse 4 Abraham went… How? By faith...

Listen to those 7 promises again..

1. I will make you a great nation - effects those after him

2. I will bless you

3. I will make your name great

4. I will make you a blessing

5. I will bless those who bless you.

6. I will curse those who curse you

7. I will bless the whole world because of you. - effects those after him..

And Paul says that Abraham didn’t do this because of the law… He followed God by faith.. that is the point of verse 4

And by the way, the law (10 commandments = 2 Tablets ) hadn’t been given to man yet. So the law, and with it works, are not even present. Instead, God called and Abraham went....by faith.

And it was that faith, and his continued faith was counted to him as righteousness.

Now as Abraham followed God, walked with God by faith, do you remember what happened?

This man who has walked with God for 25 years and is now a 100 yrs old and his wife 90, God gave them a son, Isaac.

All this was by faith, and God blessed that faith. When you get to the exodus from Egypt by Moses, God’s servant, the population of the children of Israel, that came through Abraham, is what we estimate at about 6 to 8 million people.

God’s promises keep growing, the people kept seeing God at work and while many would never see or understand that 7th promise, we do today, we know that the world is blessed because of Abraham, through His lines Jesus would come… And Jesus has indeed blessed the world.

Listen, if it was the law, the promise you claim would be null and void.

The law doesn’t make promises, the law they hoped in, it didn’t bring life, it didn't bring hope, it only pointed out their sinful state before God.

The law never elevated man, brought hope to man, No! The law tells us why we need a Savior.

The promise came by faith my friends, nothing else, and certainly not the law.

Now remember what faith is....Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith isn’t positive thinking. In faith, God speaks over our life and we trust him.

The Jews were guilty of a practicing a lot of self help… Self help is where we tell ourselves, “look how good we are doing...” The Jews worked hard to keep the law in the hopes that works make the difference.

That isn’t faith. That’s the counterfeit to faith. We practice self help, we speak good things to ourselves, over our lives and we trust those positive words that we are saving to ourselves... This is self-help. We don’t need self-help, we need God’s help.

We must have faith...

Now lets move to our second thought today...

2. Your Life Depends on Faith....

Faith is the first necessary ingredient when following God. Why? Without faith, you cannot believe.

The lostness of man says we don’t need anything, then the Holy Spirit comes and speaks to us and we begin to believe and that is faith. And it is through that faith that we act and call out to God.

So lets jump back to our text for today.. Verse 16-17

Romans 4:16–17 ESV

16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who 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, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Paul opens, in those who have a KJV Bible it says therefore, you know the importance of that word. Because of what I’ve just said, pay attention to this....

Because, Paul says we see Abraham’s life employed faith as the means by which he lived in front of God. We know that faith has to be the center of our response to God.

We are saved by faith… how does that work.. it is through grace.

God’s promises flow through his very nature, He desires the very best for us as His children. His grace is the Best...

Faith enables belief, we act on the love of God and are saved, because of His grace, Grace is where we get what we don’t deserve and what we deserve was bore by Christ and not us.

Paul says in verse 16, this was for the Jewish person (adherent of the law) and the Gentile who also shares that faith. So no matter who we are in this world, it is meant for all, it is the free gift of God that we receive.

Abraham took God at his word, he believed God and that is faith.

And look again to verse 17.... Romans 4:17

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.

God fulfilled his promised to Abraham! God gave him a son, and there began the process of Abraham being the father of many nations. Abraham couldnt see it physically He saw only Isaac, but He knew God could and would do that in the days ahead.

I love that phrase that He gives “life to the dead...” Abraham was a good as dead when God called him, he was old, no children, his family line was about to stop.

But it all changed when God intervened in his life. Listen friends, it changed when God intervened in your life and called you… he helped you have faith, and what happened, you were set on the path that was broad. He were set for hell, but God gave you life.

How wonderful is that...

God calls it a gift, friends it is! We certainly didn’t deserve His love but we received it.

And we were no longer the same…

Listen your life depended on faith. Faith is what you believe is true while having never seen it. I took God at his word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.. I acted on it.

Our lives depend on what we do with faith. We either believe or we don’t..

I couldn’t rationalize it or figure it out, but I knew it was real, God’s salvation is true.

I really like Pascal’s wager, Pascal was a 17th century mathematician, he said this essentially if you believe in God and it turns out to be false, you’ve lost nothing… But if you believe and it is true, you have gained everything...

Our life depends on what we believe.....

Now, just one last thought my friends.

3. We can take God at His word.....

We can take God at his word, this is what Abraham did all this days, from the moment he decided to follow until He left this world, and opened his eyes in His presence.

Let’s hear Paul reflect on Abraham.... look at verses 18-25

Romans 4:18–25 ESV

18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Here is a beautiful passage my friends.

In this passage, verse 20 is key. No unbelief, he never stopped believing concerning the promise made to him (v20a).

What happened? He took God at his word.

I love that Paul says “ he was fully convinced....”

When you look at Abraham and his bride Sarah, about 70 years before we would have said… there goes that young couple, they are going to have a great big family… God is gonna bless them..

But you know as they years passed and man, they did pass most people who saw them, their thoughts were changed… Poor couple, look at them, they are so old, no chance of having any children now.

But at 75, when God first called… he believed.

Now at 100, Yes 25 years have passed we see He still has faith. He believed God could take him and Sarah, and no matter how vibrant or not they appeared to be on the outside… God was at work on the inside.

It is that faith, not empty thoughts or words, it is His faith that was counted or credited to him as righteousness.

He knew God could, He knew God said he would, He never stopped believing… He was just waiting for the time God planned for them to enjoy His many blessings.

But listen to Paul as he carries it from Abraham to to them (and us by the way). Romans 4:23-25

Romans 4:23–25 ESV

23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Those words where not written for him alone, No! for us as well.

Why So that we might believe, so that we might have faith just like Abraham did...

And Paul tells them… Look to Jesus.

Just as you know how Abraham believed and his faith benefited him, so your faith can benefit you as you believe in the one who died and rose again, the Lord Jesus.

And the purpose of His death, Paul says was to delivered up for our trespasses, our sin, and was raised for our justification.

You see it was Jesus who was delivered up to death as Isaiah the prophet told in Isa 53:12

Isaiah 53:12 ESV

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus lived, died and rose again, This was God’s entire redemptive plan.

You see my friends, without his death for our sins there would be no acquittal, no basis for the sin to be forgiven.

And without the resurrection there would be no proof of the redemptive reality of his day. His resurrection proves that God was at work, His gracious provision for the sins of all mankind.

And here is the truth, those who reach out by faith and experience the power of God grace.

It is the grace of God my friends, he loved us, forces Himself and his plans on one, but calls each to come and see and know that He is good.

Do you know Jesus as Lord and Savior?

Are you living each day for Him?

Is He yours....

Pray