INTRODUCTION
• Rango Video Clip
• SLIDE #1
• Everyone needs to have something to believe in. We need hope.
• For hope to be real it needs to be based in reality or put another way hope needs to be based on something obtainable.
• There were many things in life that I HOPED for when I was younger, to play in the NFL or to pay Major League Baseball as a pitcher (or any position).
• These hopes were not based on reality or something that I would be able to obtain.
• There are others things we can place our hope in that are obtainable but can only be obtained with a lot of hard work and some blessings along the way.
• Last week we looked at the attack on hope and we examined some of the promises that God made to Abraham. Abraham left everything because of the hope and faith he had in God and God’s ability to fulfill His promises.
• In the book of Romans Paul throughout the fourth chapter goes back to the example of Abraham to make his point with the readers.
• By the way we will start our look into the life of Abraham for the next six weeks in our Life Groups!
• The gist of chapter four is that justification by faith (or being made right before God) has been taught even on the Old Testament.
• We are told in verse 18 of the text we will examine together this morning that Abraham hoped against hope that he would be the father of many nations.
• This hope sustained Abraham.
• How could hope in a promise that took over 25 years to begin to take form and another 60 for the first grandchildren to be born?
• As you live your life how can you place your hope in God? How can you place your hope in His promises?
• I mean we do not see God; He does not hang out with us at the Mall. He does not text, email, call or Facebook us. Although I did get a Facebook message from God the other day, at least that is what the message said.
• When we follow God sometimes it will not make sense.
• Sometimes people will not understand.
• SLIDE #2
• 1 Corinthians 1:18 (ESV) For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
• Hoping against hope means to still be able to place your hope in God even though your eyes may not tell you that you can hope in God.
• Sometimes we must hope against hope but to do that we need something to base that hope.
• Let’s start our examination with verse 16.
• SLIDE #3
• Romans 4:16 (ESV) 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,
• SLIDE #4
SERMON
We can hope against hope because:
I. God’s promises rest on His grace, not OUR perfection.
• In the first part of chapter four Paul speaks on the issue of the Law verses grace.
• Now for us today, we do not think of the issue of the Law of Moses. WE would think more in line with the thought of getting to heaven by being a “good” person.
• In verses 13-15 the discussion deals with the fact that Abraham’s promises were realized through faith, not because of the Law of Moses.
• Abraham could place his hope in God because Abraham did not have to be sinless perfect in order for God to be faithful to His promises.
• If man were innocent on his own, then it would make it impossible for God to be gracious.
• SLIDE #5
• Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
• The Old Testament Jew was in a bad way because for them to have salvation, they had to be SINLESS perfect 100% of their lives. In other words they would not need to have sins forgiven because they would have none to be forgiven.
• It was easy to see why the religious leaders of the day took Ten Commandments and turned them into over 700 laws. They were really trying to help people to not sin.
• Abraham was promised he would be the father of many nations, he was promised that the world would be blessed through him and he was promised his descendants would be as the number of stars in the sky in Genesis 15:5.
• For Abraham this was a great promise because when God asked him to leave him homeland he would leave and lose everything.
• To Abraham this could not make a lot of sense from a human perspective. He would lose his everything from honor and esteem he would get in his homeland to being torn away from his family back home.
• Yet Abraham trusts God, Abraham was justified before God because of his obedience.
• SLIDE #6
• Romans 4:2–3 (ESV) For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
• God’s promises were based in His grace, not in man’s perfection.
• Paul asked the question concerning when Abraham was counted as righteous, in verse 10 Paul states that the answer was BEFORE he was circumcised.
• It was his FAITH that pleased God.
• SLIDE #7
• Romans 4:11 (ESV) 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,
• The promise of God was not based on man’s perfection but rather God’s grace.
• Since we will NEVER be sinless perfect the only way we can enjoy God’s promises is through His grace.
• Verse 16 reminds us, That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace
• Abraham was able to soldier on in faith as he waited over 25 years to have is first child by his wife and another 60 before he saw his first grandchild.
• Because of Abraham’s hope we today get to enjoy God’s promise. If God’s promise was based on our perfection only very small children would have the chance to be a part of God’s family.
• This great promise is guaranteed to those who exercise the exercise the same type of faith Abraham had! A faith that loves Jesus to the point of wanting to be obedient to Him!
• Where we fall short, God’s grace covers!
• Let’s look at verse 17.
• SLIDE #8
• Romans 4:17 (ESV) 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.
• SLIDE #9
We can hope against hope because:
II. God can and has done the impossible.
• Ok, think about this, we talked a little about this last year. You are 75 years old, your wife is 65, no children, and then God tells you that you are going to have all these descendants. Now a man of his age can father children, but for the wife, that gets a little harder.
• If you are Abraham and Sarai (Sarah) given their ages at the time you would think that God would move fast.
• Not God, He waited 25 years until Sarah was 90 to begin the process of populating the earth with Abraham’s descendants.
• The ONLY way Sarah’s barren womb would be opened was by God being able to do what seemed to be impossible.
• Genesis 17:5 is what Paul quotes from.
• SLIDE #10
• Genesis 17:5 (ESV) No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
• Notice the quote in Genesis is God speaking BEFORE Abraham has ANY children yet God spoke it as it had already happened.
• Abraham stood faithfully before God in Genesis 12, 15, 17, 22 as God spoke to him.
• Abraham’s hope was not hopeless because he served a God who can and has done the impossible.
• Our verse says God gives life to the dead. In the context Paul could be speaking of the womb of Sarah. But also realize that God gives spiritual life to those who were spiritually dead when they come to Jesus!
• SLIDE #11
• 1 Corinthians 15:22 (ESV) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
• God makes us alive in Christ!
• Paul also alludes to the fact that God calls into existence the things that do not exist.
• God SPOKE creation into being.
• If God can make something out of NOTHING, if His very voice can cause the heavens and earth to be created, why is it strange or weird to place our hope in Him?
• Where else would you put your hope?
• No matter what your situation God is with you. We do not always get what We want as far as outcomes, but God will always do what is spiritually best for us.
• Let’s finish with verse 18
• SLIDE #12
• Romans 4:18 (ESV) 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.”
• SLIDE #13
We can hope against hope because:
III. God is the basis of our hope because of who He is!
• What better place can you place your faith that in God?
• Because Abraham knew that God was a God who gave life to the dead and calls in to existence that which did not exist he grounded his faith upon the hope of God’s promise.
• He KNEW God, the all-powerful, all-loving God!
• Contrary to all HUMAN expectations concerning hope, Abraham in hope believed against hope.
• Put another way, given the timing of and the content of the promise to Abraham, human logic would tell you that it was crazy for Abraham to place his hope in God fulfilling the promise.
• BUT God defies human logic! Abraham was able to believe in that which God had promised.
• Abraham had NO hope in what man can do but total hope in what God WOULD do!
• What are you dealing with now? Where are you placing your hope?
• Are you placing your hope in the things and people of the world?
• As far as our nation is concerned, placing hope is a political figure or party will only let you down.
• Hope placed in God will bring you though what you are dealing with.
• God does not lie, God keeps His promises.
CONCLUSION
• The key to being able to have the type of hope that sustains you is to know God well enough that you will trust Him.
• God will keep EVERY promise made!
• My prayer is that your hope is not miss-placed.
• Our God is faithful and our God is strong!
• We can rely on God because of who He is.
• Thank God for His grace in which His promises rest!
• Do you think it might be time to rest in His grace instead of your works?
