God Keeps His Promises As Given

Transcript

GR 2217
09/22/2019
God Keeps His Promises As Given
Romans 4:13-25
Gil Rugh

We’re in Romans chapter 4 in your bibles. As we talked about in our studies, this book follows a pattern, in that first Paul lays out a clear and rather extensive doctrinal foundation. And it won’t be until we get to chapter 12, that he’ll then begin to apply it. And he’ll say, “Therefore I beseech you, brethren….” We’ll wait until we get there, but there’s the same pattern. We noted in the book of Romans, where there aren’t many commands given in these first 11 chapters, but when we hit chapter 12, then he’ll begin to pile up the commands, if I can put it that way. There will be a markedly increased number because he’s telling us what we must do, how we are to live in light of this doctrinal foundation. Very important that we appreciate that God is explaining to us clearly, how He is working His work of salvation. That we have clarity in understanding it. Not just assuming a superficial knowledge, this is what is important for eternity. He’s unfolding the truth of the Gospel, in an orderly way.

We started out basically through chapter 3, verse 20, looking at the fact that we are all sinners, Jews and Gentiles alike, and as sinners under the condemnation of a righteous God. Now he’s moved into the section that deals with the justification of ungodly people. I’ve been reading some commentators, and particularly one, Alva J McClain, noted in chapter 4, verse 5, perhaps the most marvelous statement in all the New Testament. Verse 5, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly….” That remarkable statement, “…Him who justifies the ungodly…” Our situation couldn’t be any worse, but the provision and the grace of God couldn’t be any greater! He justifies, declares righteous the ungodly. So, it’s not by works, and this is a great verse for you to have impressed on your minds and ready to share with others. “But to the one who does not work, but believes (has faith) in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness...” That’s what he’s unfolding, the provision of God’s righteousness for us, through the finished work of Christ.

This section began in chapter 3, verse 21, and will continue down through chapter 5. He’s using Abraham as an example, because of the prominence and importance of Abraham in all the Old Testament history. Because the bulk of the Old Testament is about the nation Israel, and the father of the nation Israel is Abraham. So, to clarify how righteousness can come to sinful people, including sinful Jews, Paul is using Abraham as the example. And the basic verse is Genesis 15, verse 6. We’ve looked through these opening verses where, “‘…Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’” That word credited, that’s a Greek word, logizomai. Some of you have taken Greek, and logizomai is basically translated here, credited. It keeps coming up. It’s mentioned in verse 3, it’s mentioned in verse 5, “…his faith is credited as righteousness….” Then he used David as an example, and part of that is, that word credited is used. “… just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits (there’s our word again) righteousness apart from works…”

And then he quotes in verse 7, “‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not (credit to him) take into account.’” We have it translated, “take into account”, but it’s the same word. His sin is not credited to him. God’s righteousness is credited to him. Because the sin has been paid for. We saw that up in the verses at the end of chapter 3. So, that word again, credited. “‘Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not credit to him (take into account).’” We can use that word credit here, so you see it repeated again. Then verse 9, at the end of the verse, “‘…Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.’” Verse 10, “How then was it credited?” Then you come down to verse 11, just the last part of the verse, “…so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them…” Then as we get down toward the end of the passage, it will be stated again. In verse 22, “Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness.” It was written so that we might know that it will be credited to all who believe. That putting to the account, something that we didn’t earn or deserve, but we are credited with. I had my sin, but God credited me with His righteousness and, as we noted in verses 7-8, which David spoke, our lawless deeds have been forgiven.

You have to deal with sin. God just can’t overlay our sinful condition with His righteousness, because He is a righteous God. As we saw up in chapter 3, the point is, that God would be just and the justifier. In verse 26, “…for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” That word, just, justify, righteous, they all come from the same basic root Greek word. That He might be righteous and the one who declares righteous or justifies. He had to bring the provision, by having His son step in, take our place, pay our penalty. Forgiveness is inseparably linked to the provision of God’s righteousness. They are almost used interchangeably in verse 7 of chapter 4. “‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered.’” They are taken care of. Verse 8, “‘Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.’”

But what does he do? Verse 6, “…David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness…” His righteousness, God’s righteousness credited to us. He’s using Abraham as the example because, he’s not only the father of the Jews, he’s the father, so to speak, of all those who have faith for salvation. That’s what he’s going on to develop. We pick it up at the end of chapter 3, verse 30, there is only one God, the “…God who will justify (declare righteous) the circumcised (the Jews) by faith and the uncircumcised (the Gentiles) through faith is one.” The connection is, since God is one, there’s only one God. There’s only one way of salvation, for the Jew, for the Gentile. Now we’re using Abraham as the example. He’s not the first person to be saved by faith, we noted that in Hebrews 11. There are men, individuals who preceded Abraham who were saved by faith. But he’s the first one about whom it is stated clearly. Abraham believed God, God credited it to him as righteousness. So, he’s viewed as the father of those who have faith for salvation. Not only the Jew but the Gentile. But be careful, that does not mean that now we merge the Jew and the Gentile, so that the Jews have lost their identity as Jews. It won’t be until chapters 9, 10 and 11, where the doctrinal foundation of understanding God’s program for Israel will get fuller development and how that fits into the program of salvation.

The Jews are not replaced by believing Gentiles. Abraham, to give you the preview, is the father of those who have faith for salvation, and there’s two aspects to that. His physical descendants, Jews who have faith for salvation and nonphysical descendants, Gentiles who also have faith for salvation. That’s where we’re going in chapter 4. So, Abraham believed God, he’s demonstrating, the Jews need to realize this. Circumcision is not necessary for salvation. Because Abraham was declared righteous 14 to 15 years before he was circumcised. In Genesis chapter 15, he was declared righteous when he believed God. It wasn’t until years later, after he’d conceived and had a son who was 13 years old, that he got circumcised. You can’t say circumcision is necessary for salvation, otherwise God made a mistake.

Abraham couldn’t be credited with righteousness until he was circumcised. The point is, remember, there’s only one God. We’re finding out how He saved one man. Because he’s going to go on and say, the 10 commandments and the Mosaic Law cannot be required for salvation either. That’s where he’s going with the next part of the chapter, chapter 4. Because the law wasn’t given to Moses on Mt. Sinai until 500 years after Abraham. So, Abraham was long dead and buried before the Mosaic Law was given. How could you say keeping the 10 commandments is necessary for salvation? Or all 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law? That’s the point he keeps driving home. Verse 10 of chapter 4, “How then was it credited? (righteousness to Abraham) While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised…” That’s what we’ve spent some time looking at the passages and the passing of years in our previous study. Verse 11, “…and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised...” Circumcision was just an act of obedience, because when you really believe God, you obey Him. And it just was a seal confirming that he had righteousness by faith, and God had set him apart for Himself. It was a seal that he had while uncircumcised. Why? Verse 11, “…so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be reckoned to them…”

Keep in mind, the battle going on in the early period of the church, was some Jews were getting saved by believing in Christ as their Messiah. That’s in Acts chapter 15, the Jerusalem council. Remember they claimed to believe in Christ, believe He was the Messiah, believe in the death and resurrection, but said that is not enough. You also have to be circumcised and then they would add also the Mosaic Law. That’s why he’s going into this. But in answering that question, he deals with the question of anything someone might add to faith. Because, at the end of verse 11, he’s “…the father of all who believe without being circumcised…” But you could also say, as you carry it down to our day, without being baptized, whatever you add. Nothing is required, you’re saved by faith alone. It seems clear in scripture, but it’s not.

One of you gave me a letter from a Roman Catholic Priest. I left it on my desk, or I would have brought it. But he makes the point, arguing that you cannot be saved by faith alone. There are many other things that are necessary. You can’t be saved without faith, but if all you have is faith, you can’t be saved. He’s in to purgatory and baptism and a host of other things, you have an incomplete salvation. That’s answered here; you don’t add anything. Abraham wasn’t circumcised, Abraham wasn’t baptized, Abraham wasn’t confirmed, Abraham…you could just add anything you want. Abraham didn’t keep the ten commandments and the Mosaic Law, which is where we are going. That’s for our benefit, we realize we can be saved today, we don’t have to convert to Judaism, we can be saved by faith. Verse 12, “…and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.”

Circumcision was required of the Jews, not for their salvation, but as an identifying mark of the nation that God had set apart for Himself, the fulfilled promises given to Abraham. We’ll look at those in a moment. The Jews mixed things. There’s a place for baptism, the great commission as we call it, go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations, and you’re to be baptizing them and teaching them. This is a verse that the Roman Catholic Priest used. Wait a minute! Just because you grab onto a verse. That’s why I say, the doctrinal portions of scripture are so important. People don’t have a real grasp of that. We think, well how broad is that? Well, we had a book written, Roman Catholics and Evangelicals Together. We can work together. We can be together. WE CANNOT! I’m just using Roman Catholicism because they’re so clear on their doctrine and in their statement. But that’s true of others, if we’re not clear on the foundation, we end up compromising the gospel, washing it out and leading people to think they’re saved, when they are not.

That’s why he is driving home for these Jews, being a physical descendent of Abraham, was necessary to be a recipient of many of the promises given to Abraham and his physical descendants. But just being a physical descendent of Abraham was not enough, you had to have the faith of Abraham. So, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because he had other descendants, for other nationalities, but the promise comes from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You also have the faith of Abraham to be credited by God with His righteousness and be one in whom the promises would be realized. He’s the father of the circumcision, not only to those of the circumcised but those who follow in the faith. So, what he’s making is, circumcision is not what saves you. That could be a seal, a sign of your special relationship to God as a physical Jew, but the salvation came through faith. You have to follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had while uncircumcised.

He keeps driving this home. We can be slow. God is gracious. He keeps reminding us, go back. Keep in mind, we’re blessed, we went back and looked at those passages, and I reminded you, that these Roman believers didn’t have their own copies of the scriptures. They just couldn’t go back there and find that in the Law. They had to listen and pay attention to be taught. How much more blessed and how much more responsible are we for being accurate! Alright, so verse 13, “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Everything else depends on this, a right relationship with God through faith. That’s what he’s saying. The promises that Abraham, and we’ll look at the Abrahamic promises, that they are part of the Abrahamic covenant, that make that covenant important. That didn’t come through the Law.

Verse 14, “For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.” The Jews are held accountable; there is no excuse for the Jew’s confusion. Putting us back in the days that Paul is writing, it’s true to today. But back there, it was to understand the Law. It was never given as a way of salvation. It was to govern the conduct of God’s people. But their salvation came through faith. They became basically a nation primarily populated by unsaved, unrighteous people that God found repulsive and brought them under judgement. The Law brings about wrath, and all you do when you add the law, is add violation. We know about that. The more laws that are passed, just talking about general laws now for us, the more laws we have the potential of breaking, right? Every law they pass adds another thing we could be guilty of if we don’t do it. Every addition brings responsibility.

That’s what the Mosaic Law did. People think they’ll keep the 10 commandments; all the 10 commandments are a summary. There are 613 commandments. We could stand up and recite the 10 commandments perhaps, but I say well, recite the commandments of the Law, beyond the ten? Yes, of course, all 613 of them. Well, what did that do? Verse 15, “…for the Law brings about wrath...” Because all it did is, brighten the light, shine the light more clearly to show how sinful and how guilty the people are. So, that they would understand they have to cast themselves upon God’s mercy and believe in Him and His provision for them. Now, keep in mind, what they believe, what Abraham believed was the promises God gave him. That doesn’t mean he had the full revelation of what we believe. The coming of His Son to be born into the human race, to be the God Man who then would die on the cross to pay the penalty of your sin and be raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of the Father. He didn’t have all that detailed information.

What salvation came through, and as revelation increased, we have progressive revelation, we have to believe what God has revealed. What God had revealed to Abraham, was not as much as what God has revealed to us. Some people say, well salvation is by faith in Christ, therefore we can assume that Abraham believed the gospel, the truth about Christ and all of that, because God would have had to have made it known. No! All it was, he was to cast himself upon God. I believe you God. I’ll multiply your seed. He’s a barren father with no kids. He and his wife had no children. God promises him to multiply his physical descendants like the stars of heaven, like the sand of the sea. Abraham believed God. It’s a matter of, I believe God. I believe what He says.

Now what He has revealed to us, is even clearer, more to the point. But the response is still the same, I believe what God has said, and the revelation He’s given in its fullness now, is Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and so on. So, all the Law did, was show how sinful, it can magnify. All the sacrifices did, was remind them what? The penalty for your sin is death. You’re going to sacrifice that animal and you put your hand on the head and then the animal is executed. That reminds you, God is accepting this as a substitute at this time, taking your place. All this, to prepare them for the time when the Messiah, the Savior would come. They’ve got time to think, well going through the religious motions are what saved me. It’s like people going to church, going through the religious motions, that’s what’s required. Tom shared his testimony, of being an altar boy. But people are depending on that, or whatever they choose to believe these days. That’s my faith and you shouldn’t question it. Just want to tell you, the only saving faith is what God reveals.

That’s the point in verse 15, all the law could do, was show you are guilty. You could make all the effort, all the attention, you could make a list, carve it in stone, not just the 10 commandments, but all 613. I’m going to do my best to keep every one of them, every day, but no one could, no one would. Because the standard is, remember what God told His people in Deuteronomy, you shall be holy for I am holy. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, the completeness of His perfection. I’ve already failed because I’ve sinned. That’s what David said, that’s why he could be identified with the promise given to Abraham, remember. Because he spoke of those whose sins are forgiven, verses 8-9. His sin wouldn’t be accounted for, that’s where we all start. We act like, now I’m going to clean up my life. It’s too late! Guilty, Guilty, Guilty! And you couldn’t clean it up anyway. But even if you could, what about everything you’ve done? I’ve murdered 35 people, but I’m never going to murder another person, so that absolves me from everything. Wrong, it doesn’t! So, that’s the point. “…for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there is also no violation.” Doesn’t mean we weren’t guilty sinners. We saw that in Romans 2, even apart from the Law, there is sin. But the point is, all the Law did was multiply the violations.

Verse 16, “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace…” Now, you see all these theological words, words that we connect together. It is by faith, in order that it might be in accordance with grace. Well, what does it mean, by faith? It’s just by believing, it’s not by works. What is grace? Something unmerited, underserved. We’re dealing with people who are guilty of lawless deeds in verse 7, who have sins that need to be taken care of. Verse 5, God justifies the ungodly; we’re dealing with ungodly, lawless sinners. “…it is by faith, in order that it might be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed…” And the promise, is the Abrahamic promise, the covenant made with Abraham, and “…will be guaranteed to all the (seed) all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all...” Verse 16.

Then he makes a quote. This is important, we talked about covenant theology, disagreement on the understanding of what the Scripture teaches on this, is a major distinction. Covenant theology blurring the distinction. You have to understand the details, it’s important here, “…not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all...” Some take that to mean, see now it’s a spiritual relationship with Abraham, and the physical aspect, the physical descendants, is not important. It all blends together, it’s just if you were a spiritual descendant. The element of truth is that you have to be a spiritual descendant of Abraham. But the Abrahamic covenant, which we’ll look at in a moment, has promises given to the physical descendants of Abraham who are also believers. So, you don’t want to cancel out major provisions of this covenant because you read something. Abraham is the father of us all. Gentiles can claim Abraham as their father. Well then, he’s the father of us all, there’s no distinction anymore, in the church there’s not. But that does not nullify the promises.

Then he quotes, verse 17 “…(as it is written, ‘A father of many nations have I made you’) in the presence (sight) of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.” It’s all being done in the context, remember Abraham has these promises given to him, of a seed. There are promises in there for the physical seed who are believers, and the nonphysical seed who are believers. Abraham has a problem, he doesn’t have any physical seed. But that hasn’t been cancelled out here. The whole point of what he says in verse 17, “…even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.” What did the promise center in? You are going to have physical descendants. So, He gives life to the dead. Abraham and his wife Sarah are good as dead as far as having children. But God “…calls into being that which does not exist.”

You have both being brought here. The promise of a father of many nations I have made you, and we’re going to look at the Abrahamic covenant. Then we’re going to go back, we’ve looked at these before, but they have dug out the charts for me. So, if we could bring up that first chart, the Abrahamic covenant. We’ll go over it, then we’ll go back and look at some of the provisions. Here’s what it includes, the Abrahamic covenant, land, seed and blessing, the three areas. While that’s up, why don’t you come back to Genesis 12, just in case you haven’t been there on these. It’s a good refresher for us all. This is the first time we have the Abrahamic covenant recorded. There are many, many times it’s repeated. At least 13 times I have in Genesis to Abraham, then Isaac and Jacob, just passages I wrote down that have the whole covenant or provisions of it.

Note what God says to Abram, that his name will be changed to Abraham. In verse 1, “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you…” That becomes a key part of the promise. “…and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” He’s going to the land, and we read some other passages that focus on the land. The land he’s going to is promised that it will be his land and the land of his descendants forever. The elaboration is, I will read in a little bit. His seed, I’m going to make you a great nation, your name will be great, I’ll bless you and so on. Blessing, and the blessing goes beyond just his physical descendants; all the families of the earth will be blessed in you. That part of the verse is quoted in the book of Galatians, we’ll look at that in a moment.

Come over to chapter 17, that’s what he quotes in Romans 4:17, where he says, “…(as it is written, ‘A father of many nations have I made you’)…” In Genesis 17, here God is reiterating His promise to Abraham. He did it in chapter 13. He did it in chapter 15, but we’re here in chapter 17. Abraham is ninety-nine years old and God says, verse 1, “‘I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.’” Here, Abraham falls on his face and God talks with him. What a relationship! Verse 4, “‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.” That’s what’s quoted in Romans 4:17, “…‘A father of many nations have I made you’)...” And that had the spiritual dimension that Abraham would not have understood at that point. The point is, in his line was to come the One who would be the Messiah of the nation. He would father that and he didn’t even have one child yet.

And then, that blessing, and it’s a salvation blessing. It would be beyond just the physical descendants, but it doesn’t cancel out the physical descendants. Important, while we’re back here, that you read and I was going to put all these references up, but you can just start reading Genesis from chapter 12 and read through chapter 35, and you’ll keep coming to the Abrahamic covenant being reiterated. To Abraham, then to Isaac, then to Jacob, and it will include the land. It will include seed. It will include a blessing. People say, look if the blessing is for all the nations, and we Gentiles experience that by having faith, like Abraham had, are we really, spiritual descendants of Abraham? Because he’s the father of the faithful, the first one to say it with clarity. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. You know what they do then? Well, then we’ll just wipe out the rest of the promises. The physical land, and I’ve read you from writers, who say the physical land is fulfilled in Christ. He’s the One in whom we dwell now. We abide in Him, so it’s a spiritual thing. And the seed, well, we’re the spiritual. We are, but that doesn’t cancel out the physical. Why would you take that one aspect of the covenant and now say we’re going to just change all the rest? God doesn’t do that. He honors His word.

Land, seed and blessing, and if that’s not enough, take slide 2. Each of these is elaborated in its own covenant. So, the basic covenant, that’s what the promise is in Romans 4 when he refers to the promise to Abraham, that’s the covenant. Then each aspect of this covenant is elaborated with its own covenant. The Palestinian Covenant is mentioned in Deuteronomy 29, verse 1 and then elaborated in Deuteronomy 30 in the first 8 verses. The Palestinian Covenant, the land of Palestine as we call it. The land of Israel. Then you have the dimensions of it given. The physical makeup of the land. I don’t know how people can go there and say, well, since there’s a spiritual blessing coming, we can just wipe out all that. I hope not! I want to have everything God has promised me. We saw at the end of Revelation, He’s promised an earthly kingdom, and we’re going to be part of it. You just wash that all out and say, it’s just heaven and none of it. So, we have the Palestinian covenant.

The seed, which will focus in the line of David with the Davidic Covenant, given with David in 2 Samuel chapter 7, and the king will come from the line of David. But it’s all in the physical line of Abraham, as you’re aware. Then the blessings are elaborated in the New Covenant, and that includes the physical nation Israel, in Jeremiah 31. God promises, I’ll make My covenant with Judah, with Israel, all 12 tribes. It will be a salvation aspect of the covenant, with the salvation Abraham enjoyed. When they have the New Covenant, that includes the provision of Christ, we have the communion service. This is the new covenant in My blood, Jesus said. It’s the shedding of His blood that provided for all the provisions of the New Covenant which are the salvation aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant, which include the physical descendants of Abraham.

But now the church is revealed, hadn’t been revealed before. It was part of God’s plan, but He kept it to Himself. Didn’t even reveal it to the angels. And now it’s revealed, and that’s what Paul’s talking about in Romans 4. This includes Gentiles, but it doesn’t include the physical descendants. They maintain their identity, and now we are incorporated into one body. But when we get to chapters 9, 10 and 11, Paul will make sure we haven’t gotten confused along the way. Has God cast away His people? May it never be! (meganoito) Such a thought is inconceivable, it cannot be! And he’s talking about the physical descendants because he says, I’m a physical descendant. So, be careful, that’s why it’s important we work through these doctrines, like Romans 4 and be clear what it’s saying, what it’s not saying. It’s not saying now all the physical promises to Abraham, we can go back and rewrite those. They’re not physical at all. No!

The book of Hebrews tells us, once a contract has been signed, you can’t go back and change it. You sign a contact to buy your house, then you go back and say, you know, I decided to pay you $10,000 less. No, you signed the contract! People say, well, God signed the contract with Abraham, but then with the coming of Christ, He went back and rewrote it. These are serious issues. I have serious, serious disagreements with those who are Covenant Theologians, who really blend Israel and the Church, and you lose the distinction and uniqueness. Everything God has promised will be as He promised it. Now, there are things that were later revealed. We’ve revealed that before Israel enters into the blessings that have been promised to them as a nation, the church is in the plan of God. That’s the period of time in which we live. But some of that we have to wait until we get to chapters 9, 10 and 11. Alright, while we’re here, next, the third slide. The individual promises to Abraham. There are things that go to him: he will be the father of a great nation, he will experience God’s blessing, he will have a great name. I will make your name great. Here we are. Abraham was 2,000 years before Christ, we’re 2,000 years after. 4,000 years later, we talk about Abraham, that he’s well known, his name is great. And he is great in a special way to believers and to the Jews. And he will be a blessing, and he is. We are blessed with our spiritual father, Abraham. So those were to him.

There are national promises to Israel, slide 4. National promises to Israel, these are physical descendants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not enough to be a descendant of Abraham, he has other physical descendants, but it’s Abraham and the child with Sarah, not the child of Haggar, Ishmael. And then coming through that line, it’s Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the 12 descendants of Jacob, the 12 children of Jacob that form the 12 distinct tribes of Israel. So, to be a great nation, he’ll be an innumerable people, and he will possess the land permanently. We’re not going back to look at those, since we’ve done that on other occasions, but it's important, these promises. Is God going to renege on that promise? Is He going to rewrite the Abrahamic Covenant? Again, the testament tells us, we don’t even do that in the human realm. We’re dealing with the God who cannot lie, He does not rewrite the contract. Fix that in your mind.

I’ve read you from hermeneutics books on interpreting Scripture, that says of the coming of Christ. We can go back and re-interpret the Old Testament. So, like the land, God says He’ll give you this land, He even tells them, walk around the land. He tells them how far out it will go to the east, and then the north, and to the south. That is not fulfilled in Christ. The provision for it to be fulfilled as He gave it, depends upon the finished work of Christ on the Cross, but Christ is not the land. One person reviewing a book, which was recommended to me, incidentally by a former Indian Hills attender, that had helped him understand things more clearly. And he had gotten it for someone who taught in an evangelical church in town here, until he converted to Catholicism. Possessed the land permanently, so that is an unchangeable provision. So, nothing changes here in the provision, there’s just clarity. You note, we understand, and go to the next slide, when He said all the nations will be blessed, that would include Jews and Gentiles, and particularly, we see it with the establishing of the church in a way that had not been made known or revealed. In the Old Testament, there are Jews that are saved and there is anticipation of Gentile salvation even in the Kingdom, but that’s in connection with the nation Israel. But this uniqueness of what God has now revealed of the church. But all the nations will be blessed, Jews and Gentiles. That is universal seal. We looked through these different categories, we can’t cancel one category out with the other.

The salvation blessings come to Jews. Today they are incorporated into the church and they are in evidence. The salvation of Jews today as we’ll see Paul uses himself as an example, of God isn’t totally done with the Jews, because He’s still graciously saving some. But their ultimate national salvation will come after He completes His work in the church. Again, we’ll see that later in Romans. Come back to Romans 4, at the end of verse 16, “…Abraham, who is the father of us all…” These salvation blessings are there, and don’t get confused when someone says that Abraham is the father of us all. You’ll get some people who take it, and say look, we are experiencing the fulfillment of all the Abrahamic promises, He’s the father of us all. Don’t let them make you think, yes, that must mean there’s a spiritual fulfillment, not a physical fulfillment. God walks us through as He reveals it to Paul here, exactly what’s going on. How are we the descendants of Abraham? We have the faith of Abraham. So, the physical promises are unique. But the Jews have to be the same way. Now, that wasn’t revealed to the church, but now we’re taken back. And if we went to Galatians 3, Paul in writing to the Galatians quotes the portion of Genesis 12 that we read, in you all the family of the earth will be blessed, to show that’s now happening with us Gentiles being saved. So, don’t mix them, don’t confuse them. We’ll talk more about the Law, when we get to chapter 7.

Just look down through the rest of this chapter here. Verse 17, “…God, who gives life to the dead…” and that was Abraham’s body, and He would provide children that didn’t exist. “In hope against hope he believed…” And that’s again, the Greek word, for the noun faith and the verb faith, have the same basic foundation, so you would have it, we believed in faith. We understand the verb to believe is just, you could translate, have faith. Romans 4, verse 18, “In hope against hope he believed, (in order) so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’” You see, that’s what Abraham believed. He believed God. He tells us what he believed, again. Those that read that back and say, no the gospel had to be told. No, he believed God, your descendants will be like the stars. Look at that, on a clear night, they didn’t have lights like you do when you’re in a place where you don’t have city lights and you look out and you see the stars. Then you say, I didn’t realize there were so many! Could you count them? When you’re in the right place and the right night, not a chance!

Abraham didn’t have one, and God’s saying that’s what you’re going to have for descendants, amazing! He believed Him! Verse 19, “Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb…” That’s faith! God does the impossible. Now if it wasn’t necessary for Abraham to have physical descendants, why did he go through all this? He could have just had spiritual descendants who believe like he believed. But God’s going to a lot here to make clear, these physical descendants are important. One of them will be the Messiah, who had to be in the line of Abraham, to fulfill the promises of the coming Savior. But, I’m a hundred years old, Sarah’s long past having a womb that could carry a child. Doesn’t matter, God said it, I believe it. I mean, it’s done. God said it, that’s good enough for me.

That’s why we come to the word of God and claim His promises. He’s promised me a glorious future. Promised me I’ll stand in His presence, declared without blame, spotless. One clothed in the righteousness He provided. I believe it. We take those promises, Abraham is the example. Verse 20, “…yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God…” Now, not this, this tells you what faith really is, “…and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.” That’s what it means to have faith. I believe what God promises, He’s able to do. And He wouldn’t promise it if He wasn’t going to do it. I don’t know, I don’t understand how, I don’t have to. Abraham didn’t have to understand how, because there’s no way he could. God was going to do a miracle. Enable him to conceive a child with his wife, Sarah. We could prove medical evidence that that’s not going to be possible, doesn’t matter. He was fully assured that what God had promised, He was able to perform. That’s why we can’t get away from the fact, my faith is based on the word of God. Not my feelings, not my emotions, not what I think. It’s the word of God. It’s why we want to be grounded in it. Eternity depends on it. We can’t take it casually. Verse 22, “Therefore it was also reckoned to him as righteousness.” There’s our word again, the Greek word, logizomai. It was credited to him, it was applied to his account. It wasn’t for his sake, but for our sake. So, He’s turning it back around to us. As we had in Romans 3:21 and following, now we’ve illustrated it, that there’s one God, there’s one way of salvation, it is by faith. Why did God write that in the Old Testament? He didn’t just state that and have it preserved for Abraham’s benefit. It preserved by God right down to this day, so we could know, when we believe the promises of God. If you will believe in My Son, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him, would not perish but have everlasting life. Believe it! We understand how the righteousness of God is applied to us. And it was written there, so down the road, whatever the promises of God, whatever the revelation further developed, believers believing God, and now the faith is in Jesus Christ. We’re back to where we were in chapter 3, verse 21, and following verses, how God provided it. Christ was delivered over to death, because of our transgressions, was raised because He had provided righteousness through His death. Now we have the clarity of the picture. How God made a promise to Abraham, God made a promise and he believed God was able to do what He said. He’s a God to be trusted.

We have clarity that they didn’t have. It’s the same simple way, faith. What God has revealed is clearer, now we have that explanation, up in chapter 3, how God provided Christ to be the propitiation, to turn away His wrath. As with God’s promises to Abraham, His salvation blessings are promised. He’s my God, He promised, I believe. Now we have clarity how His righteousness can be applied to us, and that’s where we’ll pick up. It leads us into chapter 5, where he can talk about, “Therefore, having been justified (declared righteous) by faith, we have peace with God…” But that example of Abraham is foundational. You ought to have it fixed in your mind, because people who are trusting works, who talk to you about their church membership, their baptism, their keeping the 10 commandments, their leading a good life. Let’s go to what God’s word says. Some people who claim to believe the bible, don’t have a clue what it says. Well, you may say, one time I believed like that myself, but let me just read you a verse. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who declares righteous the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. That says something about our works. So, a very important chapter. I encourage you to read over it and be sure you have it in hand. We’ll pick up there, next time, two weeks from now. We’re having fun next Sunday night in a different way.

Let’s pray. Thank You Lord, for Your grace, the blessings of salvation. Thank You, for Abraham. Lord, the unique place that you gave him in the Scriptures, in Your plan. You set him as an example, Lord. He had no way of knowing the impact of his life down through millennial of time. And Lord, in a much different way and yet a very important way, we too have been called by You. And are to be instruments that You use, and that we are ready to be used, as those who believe in the salvation and the Savior You’ve provided. And walk by faith and demonstrate that that faith that we have placed in You is ongoing faith. It’s not a passing faith and trust. That faith we placed in You was the beginning of a life of faith. A life trusting You, believing in Your word. Taking in the truths of Your word. Building our lives upon them. We are fully confident, what You have promised, You are able to carry out. Bless the week before us, wherever You place us, whatever situations we are put in, however You choose to use us, may our lives be a light. May we be faithful. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.