Faith In A Promise -- Romans 4:9-25
by Pastor Lee Hemen
October 29, 2006
Fred Bowlby, owner of a west London pub, The Pig and the Whistle, had become famous for his Doomsday Chair. It was an old cane chair with gold cushions, chained to a fixture in the pub. Any who dared to sit in this chair were offered free liquor. A city slicker had accepted the challenge and allegedly died on the spot. A town drunk unknowingly sat in the “killer chair” and his body was later found in the river. Father Duddleswell maintained that the absence of faith leads to superstition, and so he was challenged by the pub’s owner to sit in the chair. Bowing to public pressure and the offer of 100 pounds, the priest agreed to sit in the chair every day for a week at a designated time. When the week was over the father proudly took the chair home and displayed it in his study. Later, the father confessed that he had found an identical chair in a local antique shop, and with the help of the pub owner’s wife, had switched the two chairs. The real chair was buried in his garden. However, the pub owner came to the father to make a confession as well. “As you know, father, that is not the Doomsday Chair,” he said, pointing to the chair displayed in his study. “You see, father, after Charlie Skinner drowned I found an identical chair at the local antique shop and replaced the killer chair, for fear someone else might die.”
“And what did you do with the real chair?” the father inquired. “Well, I would have buried it in my garden, but my wife being a keen gardener, I knew she’d find it. So I took the real chair back to the antique store and told them I must return it since it didn’t suit the decor of my place.” The owner commended the faith of the priest, for even though it was not the real killer chair, he had acted with courage in accepting the challenge of the pub owner. When he left the priest collapsed into his armchair, ashen-faced. Quickly he instructed his associate to dig another hole in the garden! – (Adapted from ‘The Doomsday Chair’ by Neil Boyd, Reader’s Digest, April, 1978, pp. 100-104.) Faith that is motivated by works, ritual, or a faulty ideal that regulations can save you is mere superstition.
Last week I shared how Paul masterfully argues that works could never save a person. However, the Jews with whom he was arguing would immediately begin to try and pick apart his argument by retorting, “Well then, what about the rituals we were given to follow? What about God’s law given to us to live by? And what about the promise God has given only to the Jews?” Paul responds by relating each argument and putting it to rest with both logic and Scriptural examples. He reminds us that our salvation is based on faith in a promise. That promise has not changed. Let’s discover what he means this morning…
READ: Romans 4:9-25
Did you ever sing the children’s ditty, “Step on a crack and break your mother’s back?” Or there are those who think that breaking a mirror brings about seven years of bad luck. Recently, we saw a Friday the 13th, which fell in October this year, come and go. Sadly, there are those who place a great amount of superstition on these kinds of things. In fact, there are those who will go through great rituals in order to get rid of any kind of “bad luck” they may have acquired. Paul relates that the Jewish law was just mere ritual now. His faith was squarely placed in a promise. It was…
I. By faith not ritual (4:9-12)
1. Abraham’s age when he was declared righteous (Genesis 15:6) is not stated. However, later when Hagar bore him Ishmael, he was 86 (Gen. 16:16). After that, God instructed Abraham to perform the rite of circumcision on all his male descendants as a sign of God’s covenant with him; this was done when Abraham was 99 (Gen. 17:24). Therefore the ritual of circumcision of Abraham followed his justification by faith by more than 13 years! Paul’s argument is that circumcision was a seal of Abraham’s being declared righteous because of his faith which he received while he was still uncircumcised. Circumcision, as a “sign” or “seal,” was an outward token of the justification Abraham had already received. Technically, then, Abraham was saved as a Gentile, and not as a Jew, for he did not enter Judaism by the ritual of circumcision, nor did he have the Law to keep. God’s purpose was that Abraham be the father of all who believe and are thereby justified. This included both the uncircumcised Gentiles and the circumcised Jews. Jews must do more than follow a mere ritual of circumcision in order to be right with God. They must walk in the “footsteps of faith,” like Abraham did. Obviously, then, the rite of circumcision, which many Jews rely on for salvation, contributes in no way to one’s status before God. It gives them no special standing before Him because they must be declared righteous on the basis of faith in God. Paul teaches us that the promise is by faith not ritual!
EXAMPLE: The other night as I watched the World Series I saw several batters enter the batter’s box, only to cross themselves, lift one leg each time, or swing their bat exactly the same number of times before taking their stance. What I was observing was ritual. Each of these men thought that by doing certain things, the same way each time, they would have a better chance in hitting the baseball. Nothing could be further from the truth. People may also face a certain direction when they pray, genuflect to an alter, whisper set prayers over beads, or burn incense all in an attempt to follow ritual rather than faith. Some try to justify their actions by saying it is an outward act of their inner faith. Then why do any of them at all if you have faith? Ritual never saved anyone. Heightened religious activity does not necessarily honor the Lord. In fact, it can mean you are only out to please yourself! We confuse our selfish ritual with sacrifice. There is no sacrifice that any man can do that would grant salvation, except that of Jesus Christ. In fact, Paul would say that the promise is by faith not ritual.
We all know that ignorance of the law is no excuse, but did you know that on the very last day when President Clinton left office he signed into effect 30,000 pages of new laws we are all supposed to know! Paul would cringe, as we all do, when faced with such a daunting task of trying to follow every manmade rule and regulation. This is what he tries to tell his readers as well. Paul relates that the promise is…
II. By faith not the Law (4:13-17)
1. The Jews considered the Mosaic Law, a special revelation of God’s standards for human conduct, as the basis for their special standing before God. They had the law, no one else did. Yet Paul bluntly relates that faith that saved a person “was not through Law!” God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 preceded the giving of the Law by several centuries! God has imputed righteousness, Paul repeats again, by faith! Paul makes it plain that just as justification is attained by faith, so are the promises of God realized by faith. In fact, Paul boldly states that “if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless!” Why? “Because,” Paul explains, the “law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression!” We learned that no one can keep the entire law. It is impossible to do so. The law was not given to be kept but rather as a means to make us aware of our sin! Make us aware we are lawbreakers! People were to live by the law not as a means of keeping score of being good, but by living a godly life! This is why Paul relates that “the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.” For Paul it is the object of our faith that makes all the difference between heaven and hell: It is “God who gives life to the dead (because of faith) and calls things that are not as though they were.” Paul teaches us that the promise is by faith not the law!
EXAMPLE: We all try to push the limits of the law. We travel just over the speed limit in order to get a few extra seconds of time shaved off our travel. We may even run a yellow light or two, knowing that it could change to red any moment and that the law really states that you are to always slow down before entering any intersection, even if the light is green. If the light is yellow before you enter the intersection, you are supposed to stop. It’s kind of like the story of the young salesman who approached a farmer and excitedly told him about the great book he was selling. He said it had all the information he needed to run a profitable farm: when to sow, when to reap, how to predict the weather, how to care for livestock—everything that would make any farmer a success. Patiently the farmer listened and then replied, "I know everything that's in your book. My problem is doing it." Paul is saying basically the same thing here. Our problem with the law is doing it, and the law was never meant for that purpose anyway! For Paul the promise is by faith not the law!
I read several years ago about a woman who hurriedly purchased 50 Christmas cards without looking at the message inside. She quickly signed and addressed all but one, and then dropped them in a mailbox. Just imagine her dismay when later she glanced inside the one unmailed card and read these words: This card is just to say… A little gift is on the way. No doubt there were a lot of people wondering what happened to their presents! Paul related to his readers that the promise was…
III. By faith in God’s promise (4:18-25)
1. Abraham may have thought his linage was “dead,” but with faith in God, all things are possible. Though humanly there was no hope of ever having a child, the old patriarch believed God’s Word. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. God honored his faith, and he became the father (ancestor) of many nations. In spite of the humanly impossible situation, Abraham did not waver through unbelief. He was old, his wife was old, and what hope did they have? The hope of God’s promise! The patriarch was strengthened in his faith (lit., “was empowered)! God, responding to Abraham’s faith, empowered him and Sarah physically to generate the child of promise. Also he gave glory to God, that is, he praised God by exalting or exclaiming His attributes. Abraham was fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. What confidence in God this spiritual forefather possessed! He “in hope believed” (Rom. 4:18); he was not weak in faith despite insuperable odds (v. 19); he was not divided in his thinking by unbelief (v. 20a); he was empowered by faith (v. 20b); and he was fully persuaded God had the ability to do what He had said! This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness!” The words “it was credited to him,” Paul relates “were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead!” It is by faith in God’s promise realized in Jesus Christ that we are saved! Praise the Lord!
EXAMPLE: The Radio Bible Class tells us that “Promises are the hope of our heart. A child's security depends on a parent's promise to keep him or her safe. A spouse can live with confidence because of a mate's promise of fidelity, loyalty, and love. Businesses depend on promises from employees, vendors, and clients. Countries remain safe when neighbors keep their promise to honor their borders. Unfortunately, hearts and relationships are broken in all of those situations by unkept promises. There is one Promise-Maker, though, who can be trusted completely and without fear. That one is God. Paul reminds us that if anyone had reason to wonder if God could or would keep His promises, it was Abraham. But "contrary to hope, in hope [Abraham] believed" (Romans 4:18). We know that what God had promised him—that he and his wife would have a child when they were both past 90 years old—could not have happened without divine intervention.” Abraham believed (had faith in) that promise and it was credited to him as righteousness! In fact, Paul tells us that “The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us… who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” For Paul the promise is by faith in God’s promise!
Conclusion:
Paul teaches us that our righteousness is by faith not ritual, by faith not the law, and by faith in God’s promise! Do you live by faith?
by Pastor Lee Hemen
October 29, 2006
Fred Bowlby, owner of a west London pub, The Pig and the Whistle, had become famous for his Doomsday Chair. It was an old cane chair with gold cushions, chained to a fixture in the pub. Any who dared to sit in this chair were offered free liquor. A city slicker had accepted the challenge and allegedly died on the spot. A town drunk unknowingly sat in the “killer chair” and his body was later found in the river. Father Duddleswell maintained that the absence of faith leads to superstition, and so he was challenged by the pub’s owner to sit in the chair. Bowing to public pressure and the offer of 100 pounds, the priest agreed to sit in the chair every day for a week at a designated time. When the week was over the father proudly took the chair home and displayed it in his study. Later, the father confessed that he had found an identical chair in a local antique shop, and with the help of the pub owner’s wife, had switched the two chairs. The real chair was buried in his garden. However, the pub owner came to the father to make a confession as well. “As you know, father, that is not the Doomsday Chair,” he said, pointing to the chair displayed in his study. “You see, father, after Charlie Skinner drowned I found an identical chair at the local antique shop and replaced the killer chair, for fear someone else might die.”
“And what did you do with the real chair?” the father inquired. “Well, I would have buried it in my garden, but my wife being a keen gardener, I knew she’d find it. So I took the real chair back to the antique store and told them I must return it since it didn’t suit the decor of my place.” The owner commended the faith of the priest, for even though it was not the real killer chair, he had acted with courage in accepting the challenge of the pub owner. When he left the priest collapsed into his armchair, ashen-faced. Quickly he instructed his associate to dig another hole in the garden! – (Adapted from ‘The Doomsday Chair’ by Neil Boyd, Reader’s Digest, April, 1978, pp. 100-104.) Faith that is motivated by works, ritual, or a faulty ideal that regulations can save you is mere superstition.
Last week I shared how Paul masterfully argues that works could never save a person. However, the Jews with whom he was arguing would immediately begin to try and pick apart his argument by retorting, “Well then, what about the rituals we were given to follow? What about God’s law given to us to live by? And what about the promise God has given only to the Jews?” Paul responds by relating each argument and putting it to rest with both logic and Scriptural examples. He reminds us that our salvation is based on faith in a promise. That promise has not changed. Let’s discover what he means this morning…
READ: Romans 4:9-25
Did you ever sing the children’s ditty, “Step on a crack and break your mother’s back?” Or there are those who think that breaking a mirror brings about seven years of bad luck. Recently, we saw a Friday the 13th, which fell in October this year, come and go. Sadly, there are those who place a great amount of superstition on these kinds of things. In fact, there are those who will go through great rituals in order to get rid of any kind of “bad luck” they may have acquired. Paul relates that the Jewish law was just mere ritual now. His faith was squarely placed in a promise. It was…
I. By faith not ritual (4:9-12)
1. Abraham’s age when he was declared righteous (Genesis 15:6) is not stated. However, later when Hagar bore him Ishmael, he was 86 (Gen. 16:16). After that, God instructed Abraham to perform the rite of circumcision on all his male descendants as a sign of God’s covenant with him; this was done when Abraham was 99 (Gen. 17:24). Therefore the ritual of circumcision of Abraham followed his justification by faith by more than 13 years! Paul’s argument is that circumcision was a seal of Abraham’s being declared righteous because of his faith which he received while he was still uncircumcised. Circumcision, as a “sign” or “seal,” was an outward token of the justification Abraham had already received. Technically, then, Abraham was saved as a Gentile, and not as a Jew, for he did not enter Judaism by the ritual of circumcision, nor did he have the Law to keep. God’s purpose was that Abraham be the father of all who believe and are thereby justified. This included both the uncircumcised Gentiles and the circumcised Jews. Jews must do more than follow a mere ritual of circumcision in order to be right with God. They must walk in the “footsteps of faith,” like Abraham did. Obviously, then, the rite of circumcision, which many Jews rely on for salvation, contributes in no way to one’s status before God. It gives them no special standing before Him because they must be declared righteous on the basis of faith in God. Paul teaches us that the promise is by faith not ritual!
EXAMPLE: The other night as I watched the World Series I saw several batters enter the batter’s box, only to cross themselves, lift one leg each time, or swing their bat exactly the same number of times before taking their stance. What I was observing was ritual. Each of these men thought that by doing certain things, the same way each time, they would have a better chance in hitting the baseball. Nothing could be further from the truth. People may also face a certain direction when they pray, genuflect to an alter, whisper set prayers over beads, or burn incense all in an attempt to follow ritual rather than faith. Some try to justify their actions by saying it is an outward act of their inner faith. Then why do any of them at all if you have faith? Ritual never saved anyone. Heightened religious activity does not necessarily honor the Lord. In fact, it can mean you are only out to please yourself! We confuse our selfish ritual with sacrifice. There is no sacrifice that any man can do that would grant salvation, except that of Jesus Christ. In fact, Paul would say that the promise is by faith not ritual.
We all know that ignorance of the law is no excuse, but did you know that on the very last day when President Clinton left office he signed into effect 30,000 pages of new laws we are all supposed to know! Paul would cringe, as we all do, when faced with such a daunting task of trying to follow every manmade rule and regulation. This is what he tries to tell his readers as well. Paul relates that the promise is…
II. By faith not the Law (4:13-17)
1. The Jews considered the Mosaic Law, a special revelation of God’s standards for human conduct, as the basis for their special standing before God. They had the law, no one else did. Yet Paul bluntly relates that faith that saved a person “was not through Law!” God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 preceded the giving of the Law by several centuries! God has imputed righteousness, Paul repeats again, by faith! Paul makes it plain that just as justification is attained by faith, so are the promises of God realized by faith. In fact, Paul boldly states that “if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless!” Why? “Because,” Paul explains, the “law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression!” We learned that no one can keep the entire law. It is impossible to do so. The law was not given to be kept but rather as a means to make us aware of our sin! Make us aware we are lawbreakers! People were to live by the law not as a means of keeping score of being good, but by living a godly life! This is why Paul relates that “the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.” For Paul it is the object of our faith that makes all the difference between heaven and hell: It is “God who gives life to the dead (because of faith) and calls things that are not as though they were.” Paul teaches us that the promise is by faith not the law!
EXAMPLE: We all try to push the limits of the law. We travel just over the speed limit in order to get a few extra seconds of time shaved off our travel. We may even run a yellow light or two, knowing that it could change to red any moment and that the law really states that you are to always slow down before entering any intersection, even if the light is green. If the light is yellow before you enter the intersection, you are supposed to stop. It’s kind of like the story of the young salesman who approached a farmer and excitedly told him about the great book he was selling. He said it had all the information he needed to run a profitable farm: when to sow, when to reap, how to predict the weather, how to care for livestock—everything that would make any farmer a success. Patiently the farmer listened and then replied, "I know everything that's in your book. My problem is doing it." Paul is saying basically the same thing here. Our problem with the law is doing it, and the law was never meant for that purpose anyway! For Paul the promise is by faith not the law!
I read several years ago about a woman who hurriedly purchased 50 Christmas cards without looking at the message inside. She quickly signed and addressed all but one, and then dropped them in a mailbox. Just imagine her dismay when later she glanced inside the one unmailed card and read these words: This card is just to say… A little gift is on the way. No doubt there were a lot of people wondering what happened to their presents! Paul related to his readers that the promise was…
III. By faith in God’s promise (4:18-25)
1. Abraham may have thought his linage was “dead,” but with faith in God, all things are possible. Though humanly there was no hope of ever having a child, the old patriarch believed God’s Word. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. God honored his faith, and he became the father (ancestor) of many nations. In spite of the humanly impossible situation, Abraham did not waver through unbelief. He was old, his wife was old, and what hope did they have? The hope of God’s promise! The patriarch was strengthened in his faith (lit., “was empowered)! God, responding to Abraham’s faith, empowered him and Sarah physically to generate the child of promise. Also he gave glory to God, that is, he praised God by exalting or exclaiming His attributes. Abraham was fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. What confidence in God this spiritual forefather possessed! He “in hope believed” (Rom. 4:18); he was not weak in faith despite insuperable odds (v. 19); he was not divided in his thinking by unbelief (v. 20a); he was empowered by faith (v. 20b); and he was fully persuaded God had the ability to do what He had said! This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness!” The words “it was credited to him,” Paul relates “were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead!” It is by faith in God’s promise realized in Jesus Christ that we are saved! Praise the Lord!
EXAMPLE: The Radio Bible Class tells us that “Promises are the hope of our heart. A child's security depends on a parent's promise to keep him or her safe. A spouse can live with confidence because of a mate's promise of fidelity, loyalty, and love. Businesses depend on promises from employees, vendors, and clients. Countries remain safe when neighbors keep their promise to honor their borders. Unfortunately, hearts and relationships are broken in all of those situations by unkept promises. There is one Promise-Maker, though, who can be trusted completely and without fear. That one is God. Paul reminds us that if anyone had reason to wonder if God could or would keep His promises, it was Abraham. But "contrary to hope, in hope [Abraham] believed" (Romans 4:18). We know that what God had promised him—that he and his wife would have a child when they were both past 90 years old—could not have happened without divine intervention.” Abraham believed (had faith in) that promise and it was credited to him as righteousness! In fact, Paul tells us that “The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us… who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” For Paul the promise is by faith in God’s promise!
Conclusion:
Paul teaches us that our righteousness is by faith not ritual, by faith not the law, and by faith in God’s promise! Do you live by faith?
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