The Faith of Father Abraham - Romans 4:13-25

0:58It's always foggy when they mention this concept of faith. And if you were to press that person in a debate saying, what do you mean have faith? What is faith? Faith in what? If they don't interrupt you before the question is over, they're likely to give you a foggy answer, right? Always foggy. They'll say, oh, just have faith in something. It's the faith that's important. You just got to have faith. And as Christians, if we're not careful, we can let that vague fog kind of settle down over our concept of faith.

1:46But the Bible does not do this. The Bible does not allow this. The Bible, over and over and over, is clear. It cuts right through the fog to show exactly what faith is, to show exactly what faith is not, to show exactly what faith should be in, to show what faith looks like. Over and over and over, the scriptures cut through the fog. For example, in Matthew 8, do you remember the story of the Gentile centurion who believed that Jesus could heal his daughter, who believed that Jesus had the power to command the natural world, that with a word, Jesus could affect sickness and health, disease, and death and life. With a word, those things were at his command. Jesus looked at that Gentile centurion and said that he had not found such faith in all of Israel.

2:49Or another chapter, Hebrews 11. In Hebrews 11, we get this definition of exactly what faith is. It's so clear. And then for the whole rest of the chapter, we get to see over and over. Over and over, exactly what that faith looks like in the life of Old Testament saints. There's no fog around it. This is what it is. This is what it looks like. Well, in our passage today, we'll get the same kind of idea.

3:16It's another passage, Romans 4, verses 13 through 25, another passage that just cuts through that fog and says, This is exactly what faith looks like. This is what real faith looks like. Romans 4, verses 13 through 25. Now, it's been over three months since we studied Romans together. So, a little bit of review. Remember that so far in Romans, what we've seen is that the entire world is under sin. Do you remember? That's Romans 1 through 3, saying the whole Gentile world is under sin. But not only that, the whole Jewish world is under sin. All are under sin. Everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But then we get this key verse near the end of Romans chapter 3, verses 21 and 22. It says, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

4:22The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Righteousness is by faith alone. And so back in June, we saw that it's not by circumcision. That's not how you get righteousness. And today we'll see that it's not by the law either. Both of these in Romans 4, Paul gives Abraham as the example. And he's the perfect example, right? Because he's the one that we have recorded in Scripture that he believed God. He had faith. He received the promise all before he got circumcised. He had faith. He received the promise then he was circumcised. He had faith. He received the promise. And then, well later, the Jews received the law.

5:14He's the perfect example to show that it's the faith that matters, faith in what God says. Listen to the end of the passage we studied last time. This is Romans 4:10 through 12. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. And to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. So, yes, he is the physical father of all who are ethnically Jewish. He is the physical father of those we call the circumcision. But he is also the spiritual father of all who would have faith, whether they're Jew or Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised. And that leads us right into where we are in verse 13.

6:24The main idea of this passage as a whole, of Romans 4 as a whole, is that the righteousness of God and the promise of God are received by faith, not by any kind of work or any kind of deed. The righteousness of God and the promise of God are received by faith. And so last time we saw that it's not by circumcision, it's by faith. This time we'll see that it's not by the law, it's by faith. Last time we saw that righteousness is received by faith. This time we'll see that the promise is received by faith.

7:01Last time we saw three characteristics of this righteousness that's by faith alone. This time we'll see three characteristics of that faith. That's our outline this morning. Three characteristics of faith like Father Abraham's. First, faith guarantees the promise. Second, faith takes God at his word. And third, Faith counts for anyone. Faith guarantees the promise. That's verses 13 through 17. Faith takes God at his word. That's 18 through 21. And faith counts for anyone. That's 22 through 25. Follow along as I read Romans 4, verses 13 through 25.

7:50For 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. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. 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. 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. Verse 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.

8:53He 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, no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.

9:28It will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Pray with me as we begin. Father, as we study this text, we pray that you'd help us understand, that you'd help us see the main point of what you're saying in this passage, what you're speaking through the Apostle Paul. We pray that we would learn about your character. We pray that we would have soft hearts that are eager to apply what we're learning, eager to change where we need to change.

10:06Help us be challenged. Help us grow. In Jesus' name. Well, first, faith guarantees the promise. Faith guarantees the promise. That's our first characteristic. And Paul begins by giving the negative side of this, that the law can't guarantee the promise. Faith does, but the law can't guarantee the guarantees. It is not by the law that Abraham received the promise. Look at verse 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. So Abraham received a promise, but it was not because he obeyed the law.

10:52It was because he believed what God said. And this promise in verse 13, he says, This promise is that Abraham would be the heir of the world. It's kind of a unique phrase. We don't see it a lot spoken of Abraham, that he would be the heir of the world. It sounds kind of like that beatitude. Remember, blessed are the weak in Matthew 5, not the weak, the meek. In Matthew 5, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. But here it seems to be some kind of summary phrase that Abraham would be heir of the world. And we have a pattern in some Jewish writings before this that they had begun to say this as well. And it makes sense, right, if you put two and two together. If Abraham is going to eternally inherit this land for the nation of Israel, and he's also going to be the father of many nations, if you put those two truths together, then effectively you can say he is the heir of the whole world, right? I think they were doing that correctly. There was a Jewish writing from about one or two hundred years before Christ came that spoke. Of the inheritance of Abraham and the Jews, the inheritance as being to the ends of the earth, not just the land, but being to the ends of the earth. Now, that same writing gets part of the reason wrong. That's Syrik chapter 44. It gets part of the reason wrong. It says that Abraham kept the law of the Most High, and that's part of why he was given this promise. And that ties directly back into our passage because that's exactly what Paul is talking about, right? That it's not because he kept the law. In fact, Paul is going to say that that's not just wrong. It's actually impossible for you to say that. That it is by law-keeping that we inherit this promise. Look at verse 14. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

12:56So if the inheritance depended on keeping the law, then it would have contradicted that faith. It would have canceled out that faith that Abraham originally had. He had faith and he received a promise, and the law was not a part of that equation. And if you try and add the law back into that equation, it nullifies the original agreement. We've used this example before, but if in the morning I told my children, I promise you. I'm going to take you out to get ice cream tonight. But then, halfway through the day, all of a sudden I say something like, Now, if you're very good the rest of the day, we're going to go get ice cream. Don't forget.

13:42Well, that's a little tricky, right? I nullified what I had said in the morning. In the morning, I just said, I promise you, I'm going to take you to get ice cream. Halfway through the day, I added some rule. Of course, they're not going to be good the rest of the day. I cancel out my original promise when I say that, whether they're good or not. I nullify that original promise, I changed it. That's what he's saying, can't happen. He's saying you can't add the law back to this promise that Abraham already received by faith. John Stott says, What God said to Abraham was not, obey this law, and I will bless you, but I will bless you, believe my promise. What God said to Abraham was not, obey this law, and I will bless you, but I will bless you. Believe my promise.

14:33This was unconditional. And it was different. It was separate from the covenant that the Jews received about the law. Listen to this. This is Deuteronomy 5, verses 1 through 3. And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. So remember, this is Moses speaking to the people before they enter into the land. He's speaking to the people. That had received the law at Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai, they had received this law. Listen to what he says, verse 2. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.

15:20You see what he's saying? He's saying, this is something different. Yes, Abraham received this covenant by promise. But the Jews in Moses' day received a covenant at Mount Sinai about the law. And he's saying, our fathers didn't receive this covenant. These are separate things. You should not try and cram them together. He's not clarifying the same arrangement that they had before when he gives them the law. They're separate. And therefore, to try and add this law onto the original promises that were given to Abraham, it nullifies those promises if you're trying to add those stipulations.

16:01Why? Because the law does not earn you anything positive. You think about that for a second. The law does not earn you anything positive. The law is only moving in the negative direction. Here's what I mean. Look at verse 15. For the law brings wrath. But where there is no law, there is no transgression. Now, it's not like he's saying that the law has failed. That's not what he's saying. He's saying that he's reminding them, this is what a law is.

16:49A law is something that moves in the negative direction. It's not something that earns you this positive righteousness. The law brings wrath. For example, Exodus 21, 15 says, whoever strikes his mother or his father shall be put to death. That's something that they should not do, and there's a negative consequence if they do it. Whoever strikes his mother or his father shall be put to death. The law does not say whoever does not strike his mother or father should receive a reward. That's already expected, right? That's already what your life is meant to be. The law only moves in the negative. So when you damage your neighbor's property in the law, you must pay the restitution. If you do not damage your neighbor's property, it's not telling you you should expect some free oxen because you've done so well, not damaging your neighbor's property. No, that's just the expectation, right?

17:47Just this weekend, we were sent a rebate check because we installed, we had installed an AC that had a certain energy rating. So they sent us this rebate check. And so you might be tempted to say, you see, that's the authorities. They're rewarding you for doing what they wanted you to do. There is a reward for doing well. But I would say that that actually proves the point, doesn't it? Because if it was a law that I had to get that AC, they wouldn't have sent me the check. They would have just said, you have to do this. And if you don't, you'll be punished. In fact, the fact that I got a rebate check shows you that it wasn't a law.

18:34And so the law does not say, congratulate and reward those who do not practice sorcery. Instead, it says, Exodus 22:18, you shall not permit a sorceress to live. In this theocratic society where God was king and he's reigning over his people, he gives them this law to execute his wrath upon his nation when they disobey. The law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. So if there was no law to transgress, then there wouldn't have been transgressions of the law. It's obvious, right?

19:17You can't trespass on something if it's not even there. A law, by definition, only works in a negative direction. It cannot earn Abraham the promise. And that's the point. He's saying the law has nothing to do with this promise that Abraham received. You do not do works of the law to get the promise. The promise is by faith. And so now he's going to speak about that positively. He said the law can't guarantee the promise, faith guarantees the promise. That's our first point. Look at verse 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 in the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. So the promise must depend on faith and not the law.

20:12If it depended on the law, it would not be settled because we could break the law. It would not be guaranteed. In fact, you might say if it depended on the law, it would be guaranteed that you wouldn't get the promise. It can't depend on the law. But since it depends on faith, he says it's settled. It rests on grace. It is guaranteed to all of his offspring. There's no stipulation of keeping the law because the promise was given first, depending on faith. And you can't just cancel that out.

20:55Verse 16 again: 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. So God wanted to make a guaranteed, unconditional covenant that could not be broken, and he did, and it's done. And now all of his spiritual descendants can share in the promise of being children of Abraham by faith, whether they're adherents of the law or not.

21:35That's his point. It rests on grace. Now, listen closely to verse 17. Verse 17. He goes on to say, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. This is our trickiest verse in this passage. He says, As I have written, I have made you the father of many nations. It's tricky because we usually read that as proving what just came before that Abraham is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations.

22:14But I think he's actually trying to prove this concept that he's just brought up about the guarantee. He's already established in the text that Abraham is the father of many nations. What I think he's trying to emphasize now is the fact that this process. Promise from Genesis 17 is given in the past tense. I have made you the father of many nations. This is a done deal. It's already guaranteed. No matter how well your descendants follow the law, I have made you the father of many nations. Now, before you call me crazy, let me explain why I think this is the point. It's clear in verse 16 and 17 that at some point he starts a side note. He uses language that doesn't continue on that main flow of thought in a sentence. He kind of breaks off and uses a side note. So, for example, if you have an ESV translation, it'll have the big dash that shows you it has a side note. Or if you have an NASB translation, it'll have parentheses on that first part of 17, showing that they think that's where the side note is. Does that make sense? And so it's telling you that he's giving more details. He's filling in some of the blanks of what he's just said.

23:34And so the question is: where does that side note end? And if we look at the rest of verse 17, so look at verse 17 again. 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. I think from the very beginning of verse 17, he's back on the main point. That he's not still on the side note, if that makes sense.

24:05He's back on the main point, saying, talking about that guarantee, saying, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. And the reason is the last part. Look at the last part of verse 17. He says, Who gives life, speaking of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Now, the tricky part about this last part is that it doesn't actually have the word into in the original language. That's kind of how we've glossed over it. So it doesn't have the word into. So where my translation says, calls into existence the things that do not exist, which he certainly does, right?

24:47He certainly does that. He calls into existence things which do not exist. We know that from the rest of Scripture. But what I think it's saying here is something more like, he calls the not existing as existing. Or he calls the not existing as if it were existing. So I think he's making the point that there is this astounding reality about God, that his promise is so sure that he can speak of things that don't yet exist as if they already exist. I think he's making a point about this promise to Abraham. He said, I have made you. You, the father of many nations, even when those nations do not yet exist.

25:36Isaac hasn't even been born yet when he says this. I have made you the father of many nations. Though these nations do not yet exist, the matter is so guaranteed that it's a done deal. God has already done it because the promise is by faith, not by law. That's the point. There is no extra stipulation. It's a done deal. Abraham had faith. He received the promise. It's done. It's guaranteed forever. Before we move on to the next point, it's worth noting the parallel with our own promises, right? As Christians, we've believed in certain promises. That those who call upon the name of the Lord, that those who repent and believe, are guaranteed eternal life, full forgiveness, our penalty paid on the cross of Jesus Christ. Our promises are received by faith. Our promises are by grace.

26:46And therefore, they are settled in the same way Abraham's was. They're settled. They rest on grace. They're guaranteed. They're not performance details. We can't mess it up. Therefore, as one commentator writes, a soul awakened by the thunderings of the law surely should flee back to the promise, not try to scale the quaking, fire-bathed sides of Sinai. As Christians, when we are convicted of our sin, the answer is not to just arbitrarily add some other rule to our life, to try and do some good deeds to make ourselves right with God again or something like that.

27:43The answer is to flee back to the promise. It rests on grace. We have true peace with God, unshakable, everlasting peace with God, because it rests on promise, which was granted to us because of faith, not because we keep the law so well. So the first characteristic of faith like Father Abraham's is that faith guarantees the promise. Faith guarantees the promise in a way that the law can't. Faith guarantees a promise. The second point is that faith takes God at his word. This is more of a definition of what faith is. What does it look like? Faith takes God at his word. No matter what. Look at verse 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. 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. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

29:10Isn't that an amazing passage? Fifty years ago, one commentator wrote, Had Abraham looked at his own dead body, he would have found it impossible to believe. But he looked up to the stars. He continues, this same author, he wrote, Abraham, he weighed the human impossibility of becoming a father against the divine impossibility of God being able to break his word, and decided that if God was God, then nothing was impossible. Isn't that good? Listen to that again. He weighed the human impossibility of becoming a father.

30:00Against the divine impossibility of God being able to break his word and decided that if God was God, then nothing was impossible. Yes, Abraham was as good as dead. Yes, Sarah was barren. Either one of those things would have made it impossible to have children, and yet both were true. He was as good as dead. His wife was barren. They had no hope of offspring. Zero chance. And yet, God said that they would. And so Abraham did have hope.

30:52And as time went on, Abraham grew strong in his faith. That's what verse 20 says. Abraham grew strong in his faith so that he was filled with the conviction that this would certainly happen. That's verse 21. Filled with the conviction that this would certainly happen, that God was able to keep his promise, verse 21. God was powerful enough, he was able to do this. This is what mature, godly faith looks like. This is what mature, godly faith looks like. A conviction. That God keeps his word, no matter what. No matter how unlikely it seems, God keeps his word.

31:42Look at verse 20. It says, No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God. That word waver is the word for divided. He's not divided between two positions here. He's not split between worry and trusting God. He's not vacillating. He's not split between fear and peace. In his heart, his attitude is, God said it, that settles it. God said it, that settles it. And likewise, we should be people that are growing strong in our faith, shouldn't we, as believers? Circumstances will cause us to be tempted to weaken in our faith, as it says in verse 19. We'll be tempted to weaken in our faith, but we should press on to grow strong in our faith. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

32:48When we're anxious about our soul, when we ask questions like, How could God save me, so vile a sinner? How do I know he hears me? How do I know he won't give up on me? Well, for the believer, God said it, and that settles it. Faith takes God at his word. Finally, our third point, faith counts for anyone. Faith counts for anyone. Verse 22. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words, it was counted to him, were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

33:49So we've already seen this initial point here last summer. We've already seen this idea that Abraham had faith and therefore it was counted to him as righteousness. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. So his faith does not only guarantee him that promise, it also reckons him as righteous in God's eyes. Literally, it counts him as if there is a ledger in heaven, and he is counted as righteous, even though he's lived a sinful life.

34:27But here, the apostle takes this truth and applies. Applies it directly to himself and to his audience, and I think by extension to us. He says in verse 23, but the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. So he's saying these words were not just written as a shout-out to Abraham. These words were not just written to say, Great job, Abraham, or something like that. These words were written to be instruction for future generations.

35:00Instruction that it is faith that matters in God's accounting. It is those who have faith and trust in him that are counted as righteous for all of history. This is not something new that just showed up on the scene in the New Testament. This is something in Genesis that was from then on what mattered, faith in God. He's saying that we can learn from these words in verse 24: it will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. So it can be counted as righteousness to us if we believe what God has shared with us, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and was raised again.

36:01Our faith can be counted to us as righteousness. Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses. He was punished and he died on the cross for our sins to pay our penalty. But he also rose again, and it says that he was raised for our justification. Did you catch that? It says that nowhere else in Scripture. He was raised for our justification. Usually, scripture says he died for our justification, right? He died so that we can be forgiven, but here it says that he was raised for our justification. I think he's saying this is part of the picture. This is a necessary whole. It all wraps together that Jesus died and was resurrected. And if he wasn't resurrected, then he wouldn't have been vindicated as the one who can forgive and can justify and can pay for our sins.

37:02And now, since he was resurrected, we have a specific content of our faith. It's not vague, foggy, mystical faith. We have a specific content of our faith, that just as Abraham believed the impossible because God said it, so we believe the impossible that God Has done the impossible in raising Jesus from the dead, and that he will do the impossible in raising us from the dead, in perfecting us. Romans 10, 9 says, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

37:53So, if we are saved, this is the content of our faith, that God raised Jesus from the dead, the very one who died for our sins. God raised Jesus from the dead. And if this is the content of our faith, then no matter what we've done, God counts it to us as righteousness. Faith counts for anyone, not just Abraham. So, in this passage this morning, we've seen that Abraham is this true example of faith, a mature faith, a deep faith, an undivided faith.

38:39And in his example, we see the effect of faith, that it guarantees the promise. We see a definition of faith, that it takes God at his word, and we see the availability of faith, that faith counts for anyone, not just Abraham and not just the law keepers. And so, as this text cuts away the fog that can surround our idea about what faith is, I think that perhaps the chief application for us is to say that anyone and everyone should take God at His Word and receive the guaranteed promise that depends on faith. Anyone and everyone should take God at His Word and receive this guaranteed promise that depends on faith. If you have never trusted God in this way, I invite you to do so this morning.

39:37To think about it, God did raise Jesus Christ from the dead. And God has made it very clear that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was enough to pay for all of our sins for all of eternity. You can be washed white as snow, no matter how scarlet your sins have stained you. You can be clean. You can be washed spotless. This may seem impossible to you to get these stains out. It may seem impossible to you, but nothing is impossible with God. And he said he would do it. You can take him at his word.

40:34Take him at his word. You can be forgiven whether you're eight or eighty. Confess your sins to the Father and believe in his promise to save you from the wrath to come. For those of you who are already believers, this is still perhaps the chief application for you. Take God at his word. Be undivided. Grow strong in your faith as you trust him over and over and over. He will keep his word to you, even in death.

41:16He gives life. He does the impossible. You'll keep his word. And in this life, Christian, remember that for you, the matter is settled. If you have believed, the promise rests on grace, you can't mess it up. You can live with confidence that it is guaranteed. Paul will go on immediately into chapter 5, telling us the implications of this. He says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, since we have been justified by faith, since these things are true, we have peace with God through our Lord. Jesus Christ. Through him also we have obtained access by faith into the grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings.

42:14So enjoy your peace with God. Enjoy your access into this grace in which you stand. Rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Even rejoice in your sufferings. All of these attitudes and these convictions are possible because our righteousness before God is already a settled matter. It rests on grace. And so we can be at rest. There's no surprise stipulations that are going to be added in some other generation. There are no works of the law that you need to perform. God said it, and that settles it. Pray with me.

42:59Father, we can't thank you enough that you made Abraham's promise depend on faith and not the law. We can't thank you enough because that guaranteed it for him. And we can't thank you enough that the promises that we've believed. The hope that we long for. We can't thank you enough that those promises are guaranteed by faith. If we could mess it up, we would. And so, Father, I pray that you would make us like Abraham, that you give us faith that is strong, that has an unwavering conviction that no matter what you said, you will do.

44:12We don't need to change it. We don't need to find a way to give you an out from keeping your promises. We can know that if you said it, that settles it. We can trust you. Help us have that kind of faith. We thank you, Father, that you have been so merciful to us and kind to us to forgive us of our sins. Help us grow. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.