WHAT DOES FAITH LOOK LIKE?
Romans 4:16-25
Guiness Book of World Records: Sports facts, longest mustache, fingernails, hair
Heaviest person: 1069 pounds, buried in piano box
Tallest: 8’ 11” 37AA shoe Woman: 7’ 7”
Thomas and Elizabeth Morgan(UK) were married for 81 years 260 days until Elizabeth's death at age 105 and Thomas was 104.
Most Children: Russian peasant had 69 kids in litters (16 twins, 7 tripletts, 4 quadruplets
Oldest Mother: According to the Guinness Book of World Records Ruth Alice Kistler gave birth to a daughter at the age of 57. Another woman named Ellen Ellis reportedly gave birth to a child at the age of 72 in the year 1776. The book calls her case “unauthenticated.” Another woman puts both of them to shame by decades
Sarai(contentious) who name would change to Sarah(princess) would give birth to Isaac(laughter) at age 90. He was named ‘laughter’ because that is what Sarah(and Abraham) did when they were told that God would do this through them.
Every time she called Isaac by his name it would remind both of them of how they initially reacted at the news. I wonder what the child would be called if Lynne came and told me she was expecting our 7th child? Where is ‘pick me off the floor’ today?
‘Have you seen ‘there goes my retirement’?
When Sarah realized she was truly pregnant and put in her dentures to tell Abraham “guess what’? They might have contacted Medicare and asked for a maternity plan. Maybe they looked to buy a combination STROLLER/WALKER or DIAPERS in a multi size pack for the entire family
The name Abram literally means ‘Exalted Father’. He had no kids until he was 100. He must have had many visitors by the campfire ask him his name and then look around and wonder ‘Where are they’? It became even worse when God changed his name to Abraham(father of a multitude) He was a father of nobody on the way to nowhere
God likes to call us who we are before He makes us who He wants. God’s name for us has less to do with who we now are and more to do with whom He plans us to be. Gideon hiding in a wine press from enemy means ‘mighty warrior’ Peter was originally very unstable but his name mean ‘rock’ God names us by what he puts in us not by what is lived out of us. I am afraid that many of us might be ashamed when we get to heaven and discover what God’s name for us was. The name which describes the life we were to live if we had lived by faith in Him.
Abraham did a lot of things as a response to God’s communicated will but only one thing made him righteous in God’s presence. He was justified by FAITH Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. 4:3
Amazed at what God asked of Abraham and yet Abraham trusted God.
Age 75: Gen 12 ‘Leave the only place you know as home to a far away land and I will make you a great nation’ Maybe Florida? Arizona? South Texas?
Age 85: Gen 15 ‘You shall be a dad of the child I promise to give you’
Age 99: Gen 17 ‘Sarai shall be a mother at this time next year’.
What do you want for your 100th birthday?
Biological clock or not God’s Time Zone
Abraham & Faith: Jews mistakenly lift up Abraham as an example of works righteousness but Paul shows in Romans 4 how he was actually the very opposite. His life demonstrated a life of faith and acceptance by God by that faith and not his works.
What does your life demonstrate? Faith? Works? Doubt? Trust? Commitment? Apathy? Lukewarmness?
HEB 11:6 Without faith it is impossible to please God –Abraham’s faith pleased God
How exciting it would be to wake up each morning and center you thoughts upon the promises of God. 7000+ in the Word of God!
It is filled with hope and joy and excitement which renews our mind with all the possibilities of a life lived for Him.
DIVIDE THIS PASSAGE IN THREE WAYS
THE OBJECT OF FAITH WE SHOULD HAVE
THE OBSTACLES TO FAITH WE FACE
THE OBJECTIVES OF OUR FAITH
(16) For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to 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, (17) (as it is written, “A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.
Behind the words of the promise is the God Who promises: even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. Possibilities are amazing with God: conquers both death and purposelessness
Things impossible with man but not with God: walk on water/stand in fiery furnace and have a baby at age 100.
Human hope = impossible but heavenly hope = walk on water/stand in furnace/sleep with lions/child at 100
What miracle of faith do you need? Where are you struggling and with what?
What has died in you or needs to be revived in your walk with God?
Maybe your walk with God is on its deathbed? – hard to detect any sign of a spiritual heartbeat?
Faith is an evidence of a healthy spiritual life and without it you have no spiritual pulse or heartbeat or signs of life.
A better word to use today might be TRUST
Where is your TRUST in God today?
Ask yourself, ‘Where do I need to begin living by faith right now?
Where can I start trusting God at His Word and adjust my life accordingly?’
Man named Mr. Yates lived for years on some land in West Texas.
Year after year he raised a sheep herd on his property and squeaked by on a modest lifestyle. An oil company eventually bought his land and discovered that under the surface was one of the richest oil fields in Texas.
Average believer: Eaking out a modest Christian life by keeping busy with surface things and having no idea about the true riches that come from a deeper walk of faith in Jesus Christ. You will never tap into the fullness of God’s grace and realize that the DRILLING BIT is faith.
Favorite line in movie Bravehart: Amassed men on horses and Mel Gibson/Braveheart rides along in front of them and then starts to head in the direction of enemy. ‘Where are you going?’ ‘I AM GOING TO PICK A FIGHT”
Great thing to decide each morning: Not going to sit around and wait to be tempted or for a trial or problem but take a beeline against whatever Satan is about that day. PICK A FIGHT with what he is doing…fix a problem…encourage a discouraged person…. strengthen a brother in Christ… pray for a need you are aware of…. study God’s Word to sharpen your skills…
Faith is deciding to step out into the grace God offers. Step into His fight.
Grace is the vehicle but faith is the key that starts it
Abraham/Sarah are a picture of taking God at His Word…believing His promise.
Accepting His promise as a sure thing…acting upon those promises
Living by faith is different than living by religion:
One is waking up each day and thinking ‘don’t do this. Don’t do that…’
Other is waking up and placing our mind upon the promises of God and then aligning our thoughts and actions accordingly.
Chariots of Fire: A favorite movie of mine. Won Best Picture in 1981. Future Scottish Missionary Eric Liddell who was a very fast runner in 100 meters and was to run in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Found out that the preliminary races were to be held on a Sunday so he switched his race to the 400 meters. Ran and won before eventually going to China as a missionary.
His sister thought that all the running was a distraction and encouraged him not to pursue it. FAVORITE LINE AGAIN:
‘God has made me fast and when I run I feel His pleasure’.
God has made each of us for a purpose and His pleasure is when we pursue and fulfill that purpose. Living within the parameters of God’s pleasure is one of the greatest enjoyments of life. GOD HAS MADE YOU, GIFTED YOU, PURSUE HIS GIFT AND LIVE A LIFE PLEASING TO HIM and not just filling up each day with your own pursuits and agendas and self fulfillment
David woke up one morning and God had a giant waiting..Joshua woke up and needed to believe that God could defeat a great walled city….Abraham had to believe God could make it possible for him to have a child at 100 years of age…
I woke up and knew God would make me able to speak today.
At one point in my life I would have preferred the Giant or the Walled City
These are the CONTACT POINTS OF FAITH which are the places our relationship with God connects. Without them there is no healthy relationship! What are you trusting Him for that is bigger than who you are to pull it off?
If you are living a typical, bland, predictable religious existence then I expect that it has little to do with the calling to faith that God has placed upon your life.
Hebrews 11:6 Without faith it is impossible to please God.
1 John 5 This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.
Romans 14:23 Whatever is not of faith is SIN
Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not yet seen.
Faith is a life acting upon the promises of God in spite of conflicting circumstances. Abraham demonstrated that kind of faith and that is why Paul points to his life as a life of faith.
Abraham and Sarah both struggled humanly in trusting God.
Gen 15: Abraham brought Eleazar before God: Let Eleazar live before you…
Gen 16: Sarah brings Hagar to Abraham: ‘ Let my handmaiden be used to bring about God’s will’
Gen 17 Let Ishmael live before you - Use him God to make this happen.
God I am 100 she is 90 the warranty has run out on both of us
God let this be before you as an alternative to truly trusting you.
Is God calling you to some task and you go get somebody else to talk to that person, teach that class, share their faith…..
God let my deacon live before you, my Sunday school teacher, my pastor
God said no to all these alternative solutions and Abraham accepted it and chose to believe God taking Him at His Word.
The problem with Faith is that it takes us to some pretty scary places. God will set the stage with some seemingly impossible things and ask us to trust Him.
Faith is understanding that although this may be impossible without God that is it very possible with Him.
God has laid out some places in your life and mine where He is calling us to trust Him. To believe Him for something bigger than we could ever experience without Him. It is not just an option for life but it is why we are here.
It is where we will enjoy Him to the fullest in this life. God is challenging you with something….stop long enough today to focus in on it and hear His voice and let Him lead down a path of obedience and joy that will have amazing results.
CIRCUMSTANCES would have said, Noah your are an idiot to build that boat,
Moses no way you can walk through that sea on dry land, not get water out of rock, no way for 40 yrs wake up with food from heaven, no way river split apart, Joshua no way defeat Jericho(30 foot thick wall), no way raise dead boy to life Elijah, no way pot not run out of oil for widow, no way deaf hear, blind see, lame walk, 13,000 fed,
Noah must have struggled when God told Him to build a boat far away from water. God was going to bring the water to the boat.
Anything is possible when faith is part of your life. Shepherd boys kill giants and become kings. Old men don’t get eaten by lions, walls fall down, seas split open, sickness is conquered, and graves can’t hold the dead
And even BABYS ARE BORN IN THE OLD FOLKS HOME
YOU DON”T KNOW MY CIRCUMSTANCES: how bad I am, my past, problems I have. There is always a multitude of reasons or a crowd telling us it can’t happen in our life.
STRETCH through you circumstances with the reach of faith: Like lowering a man through a roof or a sick woman pushing through a crowd, Dynamic life altering FAITH MAKES ITS WAY TO JESUS REGARDLESS
We may struggle to trust God but he will never break under the weight of anything we must trust Him for.
When God is the object of our faith we will obediently trust in His Word and do His will no matter what the cost.
OBSTACLES TO OUR FAITH: (18) In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be’. (19) And 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;
Hope against hope: Hope because of God’s promise but no hope considering the circumstances. Which view would he choose?
Hope that he might become a father, even a father of nations: so shall your descendants be’. Like the stars and the sand.
This was a huge promise considering the obstacles: own body as good as dead deadness of Sarah’s womb Abraham knew he was beyond having kids.
HOPELESS CIRCUMSTANCES:
Abraham faced the facts of real life and yet he chose to believe bigger facts.
Many think that faith is the opposite of facts. Abraham knew the facts but he believed that God had a greater set of facts. God had all the facts…we only have a partial set. PRESS BOX verses Coach on the FIELD
Abraham did not let it bother him that he might walk out of the maternity ward with his cane and shout, ‘its A BOY’.
Or that his newborn might have more teeth than he did. But this was God’s plan.
Hopeless circumstances just set the stage for God to do something that only He can do and will give all the glory to Him.
God is looking for people who get to the point of saying, ‘I have no strength, I can’t do this on my own, it is impossible for me to pull this off in life or ministry, BUT I am willing to believe You, trust You for whatever it will take to bring about the kind of end to it all that will leave no doubt of God’s powe’.
STAGGERING PROMISE: (20) yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.
Without faith God’s plan for our lives would be a cruel hoax.
God loves to do the impossible.
Not one of us will experience what is impossible until we learn to trust God completely. Amazing things are possible when we do.
ABRAHAM DID NOT STAGGER/WAVER IN UNBELIEF:
What God calls us to might knock us off balance.
Abraham steadied himself and let faith take root.
He grew strong in faith by giving glory to God.
KEY THOUGHT: Get our minds off our selves and our circumstances and focus on God and Who He is and what He can do. Faith will only grow stronger.
THE OBJECTIVES OF OUR FAITH: (20) yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God. (21) and being fully convinced/assured that what He had promised He was also able to perform
What is God trying to accomplish when He works through our faith?
What are His goals and objectives. At least three.
STRENGTHEN OUR FAITH: (4:20) grew strong in faith
God is trying to make us grow stronger:
Faith is like a muscle that grows in size whenever it is exercised.
Some people try to build better bodies without exercise: creams/ electric stimulators/tummy wraps. Refuse to break a sweat.
Can’t build faith if you never put it to work.
GAIN HIS GLORY(4:20) grew strong in faith, giving glory to God
DOXA in Greek: doxology Literally means ‘an opinion that we have’.
It is an opinion about Him and not us.
The spotlight is to shine on Him and Him alone. He alone is One Who can save.
He is the only answer in life and uses our lives to draw attention to Himself.
MAKES US FULLY PERSUADED: 21) and being fully convinced/assured that what He had promised He was also able to perform
FULLY: Literally ‘to the brim’ in trust towards God.
How far are you from there?
No room in you to trust Him more. No place for doubt to take root.
When there is no hesitation to believe and no doubts then anything is possible with God. Step by step and struggle by struggle God is trying to build into you a heart of trust.
(22) Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
That kind of faith is the real deal.
(23) Now not for his sake only was it written, that is was reckoned to him, (24) but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
The same God works in our lives in just as powerful a way as He did in Abraham and Sarah’s.
In the Spring of 1990 Lynne and I had just had our third child Shiloh. I was partially done with Seminary and was driving every Monday to Springfield Missouri and back to continue classes. No online back then. 6 hours of driving and 6 hours in class. I was working for my father, preaching in various small church and also teaching a young adult Sunday School at Eastwood Baptist. That Spring I sensed that God wanted us to move on up to. I put a for sale in our yard. My father saw it and asked what was going on. After I told him his response was, ‘You will go up there and starve’. I did not want to go without my dad’s blessing so I prayed that God would change his heart. A month or so later I woke up in the middle of the night in intense pain. I felt like I had been hit in the back with a baseball bat and instead of the pain subsiding it was getting worse and spreading. I crawled off the bed to the floor. Lynne called my parents and they came over. They loaded me in my Dad’s van and we went to the hospital. It was a large kidney stone which they treated by putting me out and using IV’s. I woke up the next morning in a hospital room. A doctor came in that I didn’t know. The hospital had called the wrong doctor but he still sent us a bill later. In fact I knew we would get lots of bills. I knew we could not pay them without God doing something. We had no health insurance and I made very little money. I lay there in that bed realizing God had told me we were moving but now everything seemed to be making it impossible. A strange thing happened in that moment. Instead of growing depressed or worried I had this huge sense of joy and peace flood through me.
My thought was, ‘There is no way I can make God’s will happen so now it is all on Him’. It was the most freeing moment.
Many of the bills we incurred we were able to negotiate down or I think some were might have been written off. And my father came up to me after that and said, ‘You need to go to Missouri, this is your time’. He gave me his blessing and even sent me off with a small severance. Neither he nor I knew that within 6 months he would die of cancer. Our home still needed to sell. It did just when it needed to. A couple walked in and the wife said ‘This is it, I like it’. You know it sold then. We moved to the Kansas City area and Lynne and I began working and within months I was pastoring a small church.
God waits in all of our lives to show Himself as amazing as He promises to be.
His faithfulness is meant to fill our memories and strengthen our faith but we must be a people that choose to live each day trusting Him.
God’s offer still stands. Take Him at His word and it be credited to you as righteousness. Accept what He says about Jesus and the forgiveness that can be yours. Take Him at His word and it will be credited to you as righteousness.
