Hi, I am Scott Maze and have the privilege of serving as pastor. Since we have opened our new building here in North Fort Worth, we have had so many new guests. We are so glad you are here and we invite you to complete the guest card in your worship guide, if you will.
Today, we continue our series on1of the most important men in all of the Bible as well as all of history: Abraham, the father of the faith (Romans 4:11b). Abraham is the pattern and the paragon of faith for all believers of all time. If you have your Bibles, would you turn to Romans 4 with me. If you didn’t bring a Bible, then you’ll find one under your seat in front of you. We’ll return to Genesis next week, but I thought we’d pause for a moment to see how the New Testament speaks of the importance of Abraham.
Did you know that your New Testaments mention Abraham more than seventy times? Your New Testament wants to teach you this simple truth: Abraham believed God and God calculated Abraham’s belief as if Abraham had never sinned. Abraham’s experience can be yours. Abraham gazed at his problems but remained glued to God’s promises. And you can be a child of Abraham.
Today’s Scripture
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…”
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 unbelief 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” (Romans 4:1–6; 16-25).
If you grew up inside a church, then you may have sung “Father Abraham.” Anyone sing this? It goes like this, “Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham. And I am one of them and so are you.” I remember us singing it a version with our kids years ago. Essentially, who is Abraham and why would I want to be his son? How does being a son of Abraham benefit me?
I want you to remember five things this morning. Look with me at …
1. The Person
Verse 1 begins by asking what Abraham discovered. The question is answered in verses 2 through 5.
1.1 Who Was Abraham?
“What’s the big deal about Abraham?” you might ask. If you were a Jew, then you would know who Abraham was. Abraham is to our Jewish friends what George Washington is to Americans. Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation. Abraham is the first person who is chosen by God and Abraham is the founder of the nation, Israel. Abraham married Sarah and the two were really old but didn’t have any children. Abraham’s real claim to fame is this: God chose him and made some very special promises to him.
1.2 Abraham and the Gold Jacket
I’ve been telling you just how important Abraham was for Jews, Christians, and even Muslims. But did you know that many Jews felt Abraham was so good, he essentially saved himself? Yes, if morality were a sport, then Abraham would wear a Hall of Fame gold jacket because of his good deeds. He would be in Cooperstown for his life and banquets would be thrown in his honor. Let me show you have the average Jew thought about Father Abraham when your New Testament was written. The third division of the Jewish Mishnah make this statement about Abraham: “we find that Abraham our father had performed the whole Law before it was given” (The Talmud of Babylonia) And then another Jewish book written around one hundred years before Jesus, called the Jubilees, says this about Abraham: “Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord and was pleasing through righteousness all of the days of his life” (Jubilees 23:10). But your Bible gives an altogether different opinion on Abraham: “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God” (Romans 4:2).
1.3 Abraham and the Calculator
Listen to how The Message paraphrases the first three verses of Romans 4: “So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.”
Now, Romans 4 has an accounting theme running through much of it, so I will switch by metaphors for a moment. For most Jews’ thinking of the day, God puts on his accounting visor and grab His big celestial calculator and adds up Abraham’s good acts. For most Jews, Abraham’s tale of the calculator tape was so long, he earned his way into Heaven.
By the way, if God went into accounting mode and began to calculate your good deeds, how long would the tape be? How long would your tape be? And if he were to get a separate calculator out for your things you’ve done wrong, how long would that tape be?
1.4 “Do It Yourself”
“For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God” (Romans 4:2).
DIY is popular for many. Standing for Do It Yourself, there’s “Do It Yourself” in flipping your homes, “Do It Yourself” in renovating your bathroom, or “Do It Yourself” craft projects. But there’s “Do It Yourself” when it comes to safe and secure before God. The Apostle Paul (also a Jewish person) says, “Yes, Abraham was a good man but he didn’t save himself.” Does God make life and the afterlife, a “Do It Yourself” project? Abraham’s life has something to teach us. You don’t become a child of Abraham by your “Do It Yourself” good deeds.
1. The Person
2. The Promise
Remember, Abraham’s claim to fame is this: God chose him and made some very special promises to him. God’s promise to Abraham is immensely big inside the pages of your Bible.
Skip ahead to verse 17 to see God’s promise to Abraham: “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’” (Romans 4:17-18).
Paul quotes from Genesis 17:5 as recalls the promise God made to Abraham 2,000 years from Paul and 4,000 years from us. The people of Israel would write poems about the Promise and sing songs about the Promise: “For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant” (Psalm 105:42).
2.1 Political Promises
George W. Bush promised to change the tone of Washington D. C. rhetoric. Listening to the talk out of Washington DC in recent days, how well do you think he did? Politifact tracked 533 of President’s Barack Obama’s promises and found he managed to keep 48% of the promises while braking 24% of them. Many of us remember John F. Kennedy’s promise/challenge on May 25, 1961 of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. NASA backed up the President because Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon by July, 1969. Pretty impressive promise, wouldn’t you say?
But do you know THE Promise? “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies…” (Genesis 22:17). Now, verse 3 mentions that Abraham believes God’s promise: “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’” (Romans 4:3). Abraham is the model of your Old Testament for believing the promise of God.
For many of you, it wouldn’t be a big deal if God promised you a child or even many children. But Abraham’s wife, Sarah, had gone through menopause, and her womb was past reproduction. But Abraham pushed through the obvious doubts to really and clearly see the character of God, the qualities of God, and the capabilities of God. Abraham pushed through the obvious doubts to really and clearly see the character of God, the qualities of God, and the capabilities of God.
2.2 Trusting God’s Character
True faith begins and ends with God. You see, unbelief denies the very person of God. Unbelief denies His character. Unbelief denies His integrity. Unbelief denies His reliability. Unbelief denies His truthfulness. Abraham believed the one “…who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” (Romans 4:17b).
If you’re going to really be serious in trusting God, then you must know the God who specializes in resurrection and creation. Our God specializes in raising dead things to life and bringing things into existence. You cannot trust someone you do not know and you can know someone if you don’t spend time with them. You cannot trust Jesus Christ is you don’t know Him and you will not know Him if you do not spend time in His Word. You met Abraham, the Person, and you know a little about the Promise made to Abraham. You have a choice today between unbelief and believe – which will you choose?
1. The Person
2. The Promise
3. The Problem
Abraham is faced with two seemingly insurmountable impossibilities. Impossibility #1, “Abraham, you’re going to have a son.” Impossibility #2, that God cannot lie. Did you hear about the 90 year old man who married a 90-year-old women? The couple immediately began looking for house next to an elementary school. That is faith, wouldn’t you agree? Look at just how hard it was for Abraham to believe in verse 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’” (Romans 4:18).
Abraham is a 99-year-old man and Sarah is an 89-year-old woman. Imagine you’re walking down the grocery aisle behind an old couple. She is on a walker and he is in a scooter and the two doddle along. Of all the aisles, these two are ambling their way down the baby aisle. They pick up …
• pampers
• formulae
• bottles
• baby shampoo
• infant toys
• and baby powder
You would think to yourself, “These two are having a grandchild,” right? Faith isn’t really faith until it is tested. Faith isn’t really faith until it is tested. With God all things are possible. When problems raise up their ugly head and they will for you… …you will need to glance at your problem but remained glued to God’s promise. That’s an importance sentence for our church family to remember and encourage with one another with in the days to come. Glue yourself to the promises of God. Glance at your problems and glue yourself to God’s promises. Abraham was glued to God’s promise during the most difficult days of his life.
1. The Person
2. The Promise
3. The Problem
4. The Performance
“No unbelief 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” (Genesis 4:20-21).
There were some bumps along the way that we will see in the weeks to come… … yet, Abraham and Sarah had Isaac. Remember, Abraham was “fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Genesis 4:20-21).
4.1 DNA Testing
I saw another one this week. I wonder if you saw it too. A California woman was reunited with her son… a son she thought had died at birth 30 years ago. Tina was seventeen years old when gave birth. Raised by an abusive mother, she was told that her baby died 15 minute after it was born. The baby was sick and the baby did not make it. Tina moved on from this horrible event to marry her husband, Eric. Eric and Tina went on to have five children. Thirty years passed and Tina would become depressed around the date of the first child’s birth every year. Every year, her husband and she would celebrate the baby’s birthday. Somewhere along the way, her daughter encouraged her to take a DNA test and that’s when Tina received an email. The email went like this, “I think we need to talk, it says we’re related, and it says you’re my mom.” At 47, Tina discovered her mother had lied to her about the death of her baby and her child was alive and well. She had been adopted five days after her birth, she lives in New Jersey, and is 29 years old with her own son.
4.2 Children of Abraham
Now, Abraham father’s Isaac who has 12 children and they have many more children. Can you imagine if Abraham were around in our day with DNA tests such as 23 and Me? Can you imagine if Abraham had his cell phone number listed in public in the day and time with all these genetic tests? Yet, the real children of Abraham are not the Jewish people by blood, but believing children. Abraham learned that blood may be thicker than water, but blood is not thicker than faith. God gave Abraham a promise and God keep His promise. How many children does Abraham have today who have placed their faith in the very one Abraham believed? See all the way down to verse 24 with me: “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” (Romans 4:24–25).
It is by faith that we are children of Abraham. Instead, it’s about race, but God’s grace. How many children are there who believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection? “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29).
The Message paraphrases verses 13-15 of Romans 4: “That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God’s decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an iron-clad contract! That’s not a holy promise; that’s a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and God’s promise at that—you can’t break it.”
It’s not about blood type, it’s about faith. Blood is not thicker than faith. Abraham’s life has something to teach us. You don’t become a child of Abraham by your “Do It Yourself” good deeds. And you don’t become a child of Abraham by being a part of Abraham’s bloodline. When God sits down in the accounting room of Heaven, He will not look at the calculator tape of your good deeds. God will not look at your 23 and Me DNA test. God will look for faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
1. The Person
2. The Promise
3. The Problem
4. The Performance
5. The Praise
Your Bibles says at the end of verse 20: “but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God…” (Romans 4:20b). Faith and praise are two sides to the same coin. As faith trusts the character of God, praise thanks the greatness of His character. If salvation were a “Do It Yourself” project, I’d congratulate me. But salvation is a turnkey project professionally done by God Himself. Faith leads naturally into praise and worship. Remember, strong faith is built by knowing God’s great character. The way you know His character is to spend time inside His Book, the Bible. You look beyond your problems to the promises of God. You glance at your problems in life, but you stayed glue to His promises for your life.
Conclusion
Whose child are you? The Lord says to you this morning, “My child, take a step of faith and believe in My Son, Jesus Christ.”
