(An audio version of this post can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/romans-4-verses-13-25-faith–58800570)
Amidst the ruins of World War II Germany, a woman named Basilea Schlink brought together a small group of women in a faith community. They believed God wanted them to build a chapel, but they had nothing more than prayer, faith, and the encouragement of Scripture. They prayed, and land was donated, but repeatedly the building authority said, “You can’t build on that land.”
One morning she read this passage from Colossians 2:10: “(Christ) is the head of all rule and authority.” She decided to walk 45 minutes into town to visit the building authority and, on her way, a car slowed to offer her a ride. The driver was the town’s mayor. “This man is the high official of our town that the Scripture spoke about,” she realized, and in five minutes she was able to explain her request. The building permit was granted, and a prayer tent was erected on the property as the women asked God to provide the missing $61,990 of the $62,000 needed to build. The funds came in. Schlink wrote that “this experience deeply etched into our hearts our responsibility to hang on in faith when a situation seems hopeless, for then the name of the Lord can be glorified before many people. “
In Romans 4:13-25, Paul analyzed Abraham’s faith so that people would know what constitutes faith. God’s promise is independent of the law and rests squarely on the principle of faith. Abraham’s faith was based on confidence in God. When God’s people look to the law for justification instead of looking to God, failure to keep the law makes them guilty and they face death instead of life. The object of faith is that which really matters more than anything else.
Abraham’s faith was exemplary not because of its strength or lack of it, but because its object was God. Throughout history, people who had faith in their own abilities perished. They believed that God was dead, and they found out that they were wrong. Their faith was sincere, but it was sincerely wrong.
The Mosaic Law has always been a means of pointing the way toward God, an instrument that helps us to know and do God’s will. It is meant to liberate, but when the means is mistaken for an end in itself, the result can be a state of confusion in which all hope is obscured. God’s promise of the law is uncertain. His promise of faith is certain. The promise given to Abraham has not expired nor become the private possession of any one race. It permeates the entire world.
Paul experienced more calamity and disasters in his life than we can begin to imagine. He was shipwrecked three times, once having to spend a day and a half in the sea. He was beaten three times. He faced danger not only in the city, but also in the country. He was attacked by robbers, went without food and water, and suffered from exposure. None of these disasters was able to persuade Paul that God would not deliver him; nor were they able to affect his confidence in God’s unconditional love for him. Paul was convinced and boldly declared that nothing is able to separate us from God’s unconditional love.
Paul was saved from despair by a simple revelation: that the God of creation, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist could not be fully approached by relying on the traditions of his ancestors.
In Romans 4: 19 we read that Abraham’s faith did not ignore the practical realities of the situation. Years earlier, God promised Abraham that he (Abraham) would be the father of the Jewish nation, and through his descendants all the world would be blessed. Biologically speaking, Abraham’s and Sarah’s bodies were dead as far as being able to have children. On the other hand, God can give life. He can breathe into corpses and make them come alive again, just like He did in the valley of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37, and just like He raised Christ from the dead. Paul argues that the phrase “his descendants” refers specifically to Christ and that this promise really constituted the Gospel. All believers, through Christ, become heirs of the promise.
Abraham refused to be intimidated by his circumstances. Instead, he demonstrated the faith for which he was famous. He did not despair when God’s promise was not fulfilled immediately. He patiently trusted God to work through many delays and disappointments.
Abraham’s faith conquered impossibility, improbability, inadequacy, inconsistency, insecurity, and infidelity. Abraham believed in the God of creation, who calls those things which do not exist as though they did. This is the essence of faith. The same God of Genesis 1-2 who brought forth life and the earth and sky out of nothing also brought forth Isaac, the son of promise, from the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Later, at the altar, standing over that same son with a knife in obedience to the Lord, Abraham again believed that God could give life to the dead. How that is centered on God is contrary to the world’s hope.
Abraham did not waver in his faith at the time of testing. God’s ability to perform His promises was the foundation of Abraham’s faith’s stability. Faith looks past the gift to the Giver and past the promise to the One who promises. God never promises anything that He can’t deliver. Do we believe that? If we do, then it only makes sense to put our complete trust in Him, regardless of how dark our circumstances might appear. God’s salvation is available to anyone who opens up his or her heart in faith.
As with Abraham, God has put dreams in our hearts. He has spoken promises over us. Deep down we believe it will happen, but in the natural world, it looks impossible. The odds are against us. The key is to follow Abraham’s example and praise God while we wait. That’s how we grow in faith.
Some people still believe that salvation is earned by our own efforts after all. Perhaps it is because of pride. Perhaps it is because of arrogance. Perhaps they are in denial that the human condition in a sinful world is as bad as God seems to think it is. Whatever the case, we hear the message that it is all by grace alone, and we can’t believe it. We want to insert ourselves into the salvation equation and say that God loves us because we are so moral and so good.
If Abraham’s relationship with God was founded on works then Abraham would be in a position to boast about what he had achieved. Instead, he trusted in the promise he had received. Any relationship with God which is grounded in and lives out of the law is not a right relationship. In that situation humans receive divine wrath rather than divine promise. The right relationship is grounded in and lives by faith for both Abraham and us.
Martin Luther said that in Romans 4:23-25, “the whole of Christianity is comprehended.” These words were not just for Abraham’s sake alone, but also for us-every believer in every age. If Abraham was justified by faith, then all others are justified on the same basis. We can’t accept God’s gift by good works; we have to accept it by faith.
Because of Jesus’ death to pay the price of our sin, God credits us with Jesus’ righteousness—making us justified—when we believe in His promise to save. In this way we become the spiritual descendants of Abraham, who believed “that God had the power to do what He promised.”
What does it mean to believe in Christ? It means to trust in God like Abraham did, not wavering or doubting but firmly believing that God could do what He promised. That is what faith is: to believe that God can do what He has promised. What is faith? It is believing in the promises of God, even before there is a sign or miracle. Like Abraham, we want to become people who can trust God when the momentum of our lives seems to be taking us toward God and when the circumstances seem to be saying there’s no way even God could do this. Just as God kept His promise to Abraham, making him the father of many nations, God will keep His promises to us. He is ever present, so we don’t have to be afraid of world events. He is with us every moment of every day. We can be confident in His presence, strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.
What are the things in our lives that are mere possibilities? What are the mountains in our lives? Are these there in order to build our faith in the one who can enable us to ascend to the peak? Once we know that it is God’s will for us to pursue, we can do it with faith. Faith requires action when we know it is Him who is leading.
Faith is simply believing that God tells the truth. Faith is like a muscle. We have to use it. If we neglect it, it will atrophy. If we use it, it will get stronger. We have to apply our faith, which means taking risks. Our faith has to speak if we’re going to see results. When we become people of faith, people who depend on God for everything, then we honour God for everything in our lives.
God’s perfect will for us doesn’t begin where we would have been if we’d never made bad choices. It always begins where we are right now. We might have got into an uncomfortable place through a wrong decision. As far as God is concerned, this is the right place for us to start the next part of our journey with Him.
Bibliography
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Sermons From My Heart 