Post by arete on Apr 24, 2014 22:47:37 GMT
Introduction:
The ShockWave Jet Truck runs over 300 mph, racing airplanes at airshows; it holds the world record in a quarter mile for trucks at 256 mph in just 6.36 seconds; and holds the world record for full size trucks at 376 mph as recorded by Guinness Book of World Records. At 36,000 horsepower, the ShockWave has enough power to accelerate at three Gs vertical, which is as much as the Space Shuttle! The Bible teaches us that we are "strengthened according to His glorious might!" That means there is more than enough power to spare for all the issues we face. In the same way that 36,000 horsepower is more than enough to propel a truck on land, Christ's power is more than sufficient to enable every believer to live the transformed life. Unfortunately, we can confuse the situation and try to work to earn Christ’s favor & power – but Paul has something to say about that
Context:
Earlier in Romans Paul has thoroughly explained that the only avenue left to man to avoid the penalty of his sin is the free gift of salvation in Christ – and that is by faith in Christ alone to save us. Anything else or anything less or adding anything to Christ – all these lead only to hell. Salvation is by faith alone, by grace alone, and in Christ alone. We cannot earn it or add anything to it. So there is nothing to boast about – except boasting in Jesus. Since this is such a difficult teaching, especially to many Jews who tried to earn God’s favor by keeping the Law, Paul moved on to talking about Abraham. Abraham was not saved by keeping the Law – but because he had faith, God declared him righteous. This same salvation by faith is open both to Jew and Gentile – which does not lessen the Jews or Abraham, but should increase their joy. Now we continue in Romans 4
Body – Romans 4:13-25 – ESV
The Promise Realized Through Faith
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.
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. 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 distrust 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.
The Limit of the Law vv. 13-15
Paul moves to discussing the covenant God made with Abraham. God as a covenant making God is central to Jewish belief and to the Bible and our belief
The covenant God cut with Abraham (cut being literal as the animals were cut in half) was not a conditional covenant. Abraham’s keeping of the Law was not a requirement for the fulfilling of the covenant. All of the responsibility for the fulfillment of God’s promise to make Abraham a father of multitudes and to bless the whole world through Abraham – that responsibility is on God. He took it on himself
The faith required then is faith that God himself does what he says and that God is able to do what he says. Remember – what God says and what God does are always in agreement
Even further – we should want it exactly as God has determined it – for if it is by our keeping the Law that God keeps his promise – we are in a bad situation. Our faith would be worthless because it would be faith in our ability to keep the Law. See instead of believing what God said and how he said he would be responsible for keeping his promise, works based faith is really faith in oneself.
Further still – if our faith is in our ability to keep God’s law – God’s promise is void – because no one can keep the Law perfectly – except the Messiah.
The fact is that the Law without grace can only lead to wrath. For the breaking of the Law requires God to punish the Law breaker. But if the Law is not the saving part of our faith (and it isn’t) then transgression can be and is wiped away.
Illustration:
I love eating fresh fish. I grew up eating fresh caught catfish fried up by my grandmother. I love eating salmon. But I also remember learning how to clean the fish – what a messy job that is. It’s not like the fish bought at the store – all cleaned up and laid out in a Styrofoam tray – good thing too. Fresh caught is best. Fishing is used to by Jesus to explain how we would share the good news with the world. We need to remember that when we fish, the fish don’t come out all clean.
Application:
Too often we get God’s revelation laid out in the wrong order. We can place Law before grace. We see that when people think they need to get their life right before turning to God. The fact is that we can’t get our life right without turning to God. As Christians we need to be careful about giving the impression that someone has to be cleaned before turning to the only one who can actually help them clean up. In our own lives, we have to be careful not to live as if the Law saves us or our ability to keep it makes us special above others. The law is important. We who belong to God need to know how he wants us to live because we enjoy pleasing him. But any ability we have to keep the Law is only because the Holy Spirit lives in us and empowers us.
The Life & Faith of Abraham vv. 16-21
Paul again moves to Abraham. Jewish readers already respect Abraham as their forefather. Now Paul is going to point that Abraham is not the father of the just the Jews. In fact, there will be some Jews by birth that are not children of Abraham.
Faith is the unifying trait of Abraham’s true children. Not just any faith – but faith like Abraham’s – in the God who is
Those children are far broader than many Jews might believe. Abraham is the forefather of the adherents of the Law – the actual Jewish people who received the Law – but also Abraham is father to all who have faith in God – the God who calls himself the God of Abraham
Abraham believed some important truths about God.
1. God gives life to the dead – not only raising the physically dead to life, but who raises the spiritually dead to eternal life
2. God is the creator – and not some weak brand of god that people believe in today who made the universe out of things that already existed – God creates out of nothing
3. God believes that God keeps his promises. Hoping against hope – Abraham hoped in God when there was no physical hope left in his & Sarah’s bodies. Abraham knew that God keeps his promises & can always be trusted
4. Abraham believed in God even when Abraham wavered in distrust. This passage does not say that Abraham had no doubts. What it says is that those doubts were part of what grew him in faith. We all have doubts at times. At those times we have to ask ourselves if we believe in our doubts or believe in God who never lets us down
5. Abraham grew in faith until he was totally convinced that God’s word is as good as done. God is able to do everything he said he would do.
Illustration:
A missionary in the Hebrides islands was working one day in his home on the translation of John’s Gospel—puzzling over John’s favorite expression pisteuo eis, to “believe in” or to “trust in” Jesus Christ, a phrase which occurs first in John 1:12. “How can I translate it?” Paton wondered. The islanders were cannibals; nobody trusted anybody else. There was no word for “trust” in their language. His native servant came in. “What am I doing?” Paton asked him. “Sitting at your desk,” the man replied. Paton then raised both feet off the floor and sat back on his chair. “What am I doing now?” In reply, Paton’s servant used a verb which means “to lean your whole weight upon.” That’s the phrase Paton used to translate to “believe in.”
Application:
To believe like Abraham – to have faith like Abraham is to believe about God what Abraham believed. We have a tendency to want God in a more manageable size – we like him boxed up with a handle for easy use. But any so called God that fits in any of our boxes is not worth wasting time on. Yes we have doubts. When we doubt, we should pray those doubts to God. It doesn’t surprise him & doesn’t change how he works in us – it changes us and grows our faith as he proves himself to be true all the time.
A word of warning: God can only be trusted to do what he said he would do. I know, that sounds terrible to say out loud. But people try to put words and theories into God’s mouth and expect him to follow their plan. That is not faith in God! That is faith in ourselves and that faith is worthless. Only what God has said can be fully leaned upon. The only way to know what God has said and promised is to spend time with the Scriptures. He has given us everything we need to know to live our lives of faith.
The Lord Himself Is Our Prize
Paul then moves to explain that the faith of Abraham that had truth as it content and was fully acted upon by leaning his full weight upon it – that is the faith that is counted as righteousness.
The issue of “counted as” means that God’s grace applies Christ’s righteousness to our account. That we are saved by faith in what God has said (specifically about the Lord Jesus Christ) and by grace – in that he gives us the righteousness that we do not deserve
This phrase found in Genesis and now here was not just about Abraham – but is intended for us
The same faith & belief of Abraham when found in any man, woman or child – that faith & trust that God did exactly what he said and provided Jesus as our Savior – a living Savior and not a dead man – that faith is saving faith
That faith also has necessary content
1. We must believe we are trespassers – sinners deserving judgment for our crime
2. We must believe that Jesus Christ was given up to pay our sin debt
3. We must believe that Jesus raised from the dead
4. We must believe that because Jesus died for our sins & rose again – we are justified before God – that we are saved by Christ, to Christ, and in him alone can God look on us and declare us right
Illustration:
I remember when doing jail ministry, one of my helpers started complaining about how often I explained the Gospel. His main reason for complaint wasn’t that the inmates needed more meat. Most, if not all, of them were nowhere near spiritual maturity. His main complaint was that he found the Gospel message boring.
Application:
Many of us can probably explain to someone what must be believed about Jesus to be saved. Our AWANA workers might list the verses called the Gospel wheel. Someone else may refer to the verses of the Roman’s Road. It’s good for us to know what we believe, why we believe it and how to share that belief. But does it excite us anymore? The Lord Jesus himself is our Prize! I know all too well that our faith can grow common and dry. I am not suggesting that we need to be seeking experience at the expense of truth. What I am saying is that Jesus should be exciting to us. Our relationship with him should be growing in grace and truth. We should be eager to talk about our faith with others who share it and to share it with others who need it. Our interests and passions are seen by how we spend our time and what we talk about. Let us spend time in prayer asking God to help us past any dry times we may be experiencing – knowing that such a prayer honors him and he will respond.
So What Do We Do With This?
We cannot confuse Law for grace or grace for law. The Law convicts of sin, but cannot save. Grace saves & empowers God’s children to keep his commandments. When we confuse these, we add to the heartache of the lost – as they cannot clean themselves up for God, but must turn to God to be cleansed from all sin
We also need to pursue the faith God gave us when he saved us. We will never be free from doubt until we are safely at home in heaven – but doubts do not mean a lack of faith. It is how we deal with those doubts that speaks to faith and growing faith. When in doubt – trust the one who is trustworthy. We know our doubts often lead to nothing. We also know that God always keeps his promises. Who God is, what he says and what he does always agree. Also, we must be careful that we are trusting in God as he revealed himself and not in any false ideas of God man can make
Finally, I want us to be as excited about our Jesus as my son would be (and maybe you would be) to see a truck like the Shockwave from the introduction. Jesus is so wonderful that we cannot exhaust his love, mercy, and grace. If that excitement has ebbed in your life – turn to him in prayer – he is our treasure and our prize. Ask him to rekindle the fire of love for him and his people. We all can cool down and often do – but Jesus is faithful when we pray for him to reignite us – he will do it.
Benediction
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3 NRSV)
The ShockWave Jet Truck runs over 300 mph, racing airplanes at airshows; it holds the world record in a quarter mile for trucks at 256 mph in just 6.36 seconds; and holds the world record for full size trucks at 376 mph as recorded by Guinness Book of World Records. At 36,000 horsepower, the ShockWave has enough power to accelerate at three Gs vertical, which is as much as the Space Shuttle! The Bible teaches us that we are "strengthened according to His glorious might!" That means there is more than enough power to spare for all the issues we face. In the same way that 36,000 horsepower is more than enough to propel a truck on land, Christ's power is more than sufficient to enable every believer to live the transformed life. Unfortunately, we can confuse the situation and try to work to earn Christ’s favor & power – but Paul has something to say about that
Context:
Earlier in Romans Paul has thoroughly explained that the only avenue left to man to avoid the penalty of his sin is the free gift of salvation in Christ – and that is by faith in Christ alone to save us. Anything else or anything less or adding anything to Christ – all these lead only to hell. Salvation is by faith alone, by grace alone, and in Christ alone. We cannot earn it or add anything to it. So there is nothing to boast about – except boasting in Jesus. Since this is such a difficult teaching, especially to many Jews who tried to earn God’s favor by keeping the Law, Paul moved on to talking about Abraham. Abraham was not saved by keeping the Law – but because he had faith, God declared him righteous. This same salvation by faith is open both to Jew and Gentile – which does not lessen the Jews or Abraham, but should increase their joy. Now we continue in Romans 4
Body – Romans 4:13-25 – ESV
The Promise Realized Through Faith
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.
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. 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 distrust 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.
The Limit of the Law vv. 13-15
Paul moves to discussing the covenant God made with Abraham. God as a covenant making God is central to Jewish belief and to the Bible and our belief
The covenant God cut with Abraham (cut being literal as the animals were cut in half) was not a conditional covenant. Abraham’s keeping of the Law was not a requirement for the fulfilling of the covenant. All of the responsibility for the fulfillment of God’s promise to make Abraham a father of multitudes and to bless the whole world through Abraham – that responsibility is on God. He took it on himself
The faith required then is faith that God himself does what he says and that God is able to do what he says. Remember – what God says and what God does are always in agreement
Even further – we should want it exactly as God has determined it – for if it is by our keeping the Law that God keeps his promise – we are in a bad situation. Our faith would be worthless because it would be faith in our ability to keep the Law. See instead of believing what God said and how he said he would be responsible for keeping his promise, works based faith is really faith in oneself.
Further still – if our faith is in our ability to keep God’s law – God’s promise is void – because no one can keep the Law perfectly – except the Messiah.
The fact is that the Law without grace can only lead to wrath. For the breaking of the Law requires God to punish the Law breaker. But if the Law is not the saving part of our faith (and it isn’t) then transgression can be and is wiped away.
Illustration:
I love eating fresh fish. I grew up eating fresh caught catfish fried up by my grandmother. I love eating salmon. But I also remember learning how to clean the fish – what a messy job that is. It’s not like the fish bought at the store – all cleaned up and laid out in a Styrofoam tray – good thing too. Fresh caught is best. Fishing is used to by Jesus to explain how we would share the good news with the world. We need to remember that when we fish, the fish don’t come out all clean.
Application:
Too often we get God’s revelation laid out in the wrong order. We can place Law before grace. We see that when people think they need to get their life right before turning to God. The fact is that we can’t get our life right without turning to God. As Christians we need to be careful about giving the impression that someone has to be cleaned before turning to the only one who can actually help them clean up. In our own lives, we have to be careful not to live as if the Law saves us or our ability to keep it makes us special above others. The law is important. We who belong to God need to know how he wants us to live because we enjoy pleasing him. But any ability we have to keep the Law is only because the Holy Spirit lives in us and empowers us.
The Life & Faith of Abraham vv. 16-21
Paul again moves to Abraham. Jewish readers already respect Abraham as their forefather. Now Paul is going to point that Abraham is not the father of the just the Jews. In fact, there will be some Jews by birth that are not children of Abraham.
Faith is the unifying trait of Abraham’s true children. Not just any faith – but faith like Abraham’s – in the God who is
Those children are far broader than many Jews might believe. Abraham is the forefather of the adherents of the Law – the actual Jewish people who received the Law – but also Abraham is father to all who have faith in God – the God who calls himself the God of Abraham
Abraham believed some important truths about God.
1. God gives life to the dead – not only raising the physically dead to life, but who raises the spiritually dead to eternal life
2. God is the creator – and not some weak brand of god that people believe in today who made the universe out of things that already existed – God creates out of nothing
3. God believes that God keeps his promises. Hoping against hope – Abraham hoped in God when there was no physical hope left in his & Sarah’s bodies. Abraham knew that God keeps his promises & can always be trusted
4. Abraham believed in God even when Abraham wavered in distrust. This passage does not say that Abraham had no doubts. What it says is that those doubts were part of what grew him in faith. We all have doubts at times. At those times we have to ask ourselves if we believe in our doubts or believe in God who never lets us down
5. Abraham grew in faith until he was totally convinced that God’s word is as good as done. God is able to do everything he said he would do.
Illustration:
A missionary in the Hebrides islands was working one day in his home on the translation of John’s Gospel—puzzling over John’s favorite expression pisteuo eis, to “believe in” or to “trust in” Jesus Christ, a phrase which occurs first in John 1:12. “How can I translate it?” Paton wondered. The islanders were cannibals; nobody trusted anybody else. There was no word for “trust” in their language. His native servant came in. “What am I doing?” Paton asked him. “Sitting at your desk,” the man replied. Paton then raised both feet off the floor and sat back on his chair. “What am I doing now?” In reply, Paton’s servant used a verb which means “to lean your whole weight upon.” That’s the phrase Paton used to translate to “believe in.”
Application:
To believe like Abraham – to have faith like Abraham is to believe about God what Abraham believed. We have a tendency to want God in a more manageable size – we like him boxed up with a handle for easy use. But any so called God that fits in any of our boxes is not worth wasting time on. Yes we have doubts. When we doubt, we should pray those doubts to God. It doesn’t surprise him & doesn’t change how he works in us – it changes us and grows our faith as he proves himself to be true all the time.
A word of warning: God can only be trusted to do what he said he would do. I know, that sounds terrible to say out loud. But people try to put words and theories into God’s mouth and expect him to follow their plan. That is not faith in God! That is faith in ourselves and that faith is worthless. Only what God has said can be fully leaned upon. The only way to know what God has said and promised is to spend time with the Scriptures. He has given us everything we need to know to live our lives of faith.
The Lord Himself Is Our Prize
Paul then moves to explain that the faith of Abraham that had truth as it content and was fully acted upon by leaning his full weight upon it – that is the faith that is counted as righteousness.
The issue of “counted as” means that God’s grace applies Christ’s righteousness to our account. That we are saved by faith in what God has said (specifically about the Lord Jesus Christ) and by grace – in that he gives us the righteousness that we do not deserve
This phrase found in Genesis and now here was not just about Abraham – but is intended for us
The same faith & belief of Abraham when found in any man, woman or child – that faith & trust that God did exactly what he said and provided Jesus as our Savior – a living Savior and not a dead man – that faith is saving faith
That faith also has necessary content
1. We must believe we are trespassers – sinners deserving judgment for our crime
2. We must believe that Jesus Christ was given up to pay our sin debt
3. We must believe that Jesus raised from the dead
4. We must believe that because Jesus died for our sins & rose again – we are justified before God – that we are saved by Christ, to Christ, and in him alone can God look on us and declare us right
Illustration:
I remember when doing jail ministry, one of my helpers started complaining about how often I explained the Gospel. His main reason for complaint wasn’t that the inmates needed more meat. Most, if not all, of them were nowhere near spiritual maturity. His main complaint was that he found the Gospel message boring.
Application:
Many of us can probably explain to someone what must be believed about Jesus to be saved. Our AWANA workers might list the verses called the Gospel wheel. Someone else may refer to the verses of the Roman’s Road. It’s good for us to know what we believe, why we believe it and how to share that belief. But does it excite us anymore? The Lord Jesus himself is our Prize! I know all too well that our faith can grow common and dry. I am not suggesting that we need to be seeking experience at the expense of truth. What I am saying is that Jesus should be exciting to us. Our relationship with him should be growing in grace and truth. We should be eager to talk about our faith with others who share it and to share it with others who need it. Our interests and passions are seen by how we spend our time and what we talk about. Let us spend time in prayer asking God to help us past any dry times we may be experiencing – knowing that such a prayer honors him and he will respond.
So What Do We Do With This?
We cannot confuse Law for grace or grace for law. The Law convicts of sin, but cannot save. Grace saves & empowers God’s children to keep his commandments. When we confuse these, we add to the heartache of the lost – as they cannot clean themselves up for God, but must turn to God to be cleansed from all sin
We also need to pursue the faith God gave us when he saved us. We will never be free from doubt until we are safely at home in heaven – but doubts do not mean a lack of faith. It is how we deal with those doubts that speaks to faith and growing faith. When in doubt – trust the one who is trustworthy. We know our doubts often lead to nothing. We also know that God always keeps his promises. Who God is, what he says and what he does always agree. Also, we must be careful that we are trusting in God as he revealed himself and not in any false ideas of God man can make
Finally, I want us to be as excited about our Jesus as my son would be (and maybe you would be) to see a truck like the Shockwave from the introduction. Jesus is so wonderful that we cannot exhaust his love, mercy, and grace. If that excitement has ebbed in your life – turn to him in prayer – he is our treasure and our prize. Ask him to rekindle the fire of love for him and his people. We all can cool down and often do – but Jesus is faithful when we pray for him to reignite us – he will do it.
Benediction
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3 NRSV)