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19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." ~ Romans 4:19-25
Today, we come to the conclusion of our study of Romans 4 wherein the Apostle Paul establishes that even though rebellious and sinful man has been found helpless and hopeless due to his sinfulness, God sent His Son to earth to remedy our problem. And, as a result of placing our faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, we have been fashioned to be able to spend eternity in heaven with Him.
In Romans 4-5 the Apostle Paul explains how we are saved by grace through our faith in the God of the Bible and the promise that He made to Abraham and to all who are humble enough to believe in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith has always been the means by which anyone enters into a personal relationship with God. It was Adrian Rogers who aptly once said: "When your eye is right, it responds to light. When your ear is right, it responds to sound. When your heart is right, it responds to God, and that response is called faith. Unbelief comes out of the heart. Faith honors God and God honors faith."
In v.19 of today's passage we read, "Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead."
The phrase, "Without weakening in his faith," is a challenge to understand but when we think of it from a realistic point of view, we begin to see that like you and me, Abraham was at times weak in his faith. Struggling with our faith is a significant part of the strengthening of our faith. In the same way that the muscles in our bodies are strengthened through tearing, so our faith is developed when it is stretched and even torn. We think that pain and hardship is the enemy of our hearts ability to see God, but to the contrary. Our faith is developed best and most completely through those dark moments when we lose sight of God with our eyes. It is through those dark moments that our faith in the God of the Bible whom we can't see is developed best.
Twenty-five years passed after God first gave to Abraham the promise of not only a son but of descendants. Undoubtedly with the passing of each year, Abraham struggled to understand God's plan. But, this is the context where the God of the Bible shows up the best in the lives of those whose hearts are tilted toward Him. The impossibility of a 100 year old man and a 90 year old woman conceiving a child just underscores that Isaac was the result of God's power. That impossibility points us to another impossibility: the salvation of those humble enough to believe in the One born to a virgin.
In v.20-22 of today's passage we read, "20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness."
God does not judge our faith in a single snapshot. No, He looks at the whole. We have thought, just seconds after our failures, "God has given upon me." Such a statement is made by the one who does not understand the nature of faith or of our sanctification. You see, it isn't our faith that saves us. No, it is the Savior who saves us. Of course, our faith plays a role, but when we think that it is the quality of our faith that accomplishes the great exploits of our God, we reveal that we simply have a puny view of this God who mastermind our eternity.
Full persuasion of the heart is the product of greater uncertainty of the eyes. Mike Yaconelli once said, "Life is a kind of unraveling of the mystery of ourselves, a never-ending search for clues about the stranger that resides within. The older we get, the more complicated the mystery becomes. Our identity weaves its web into more intricate and sticky patterns. The more we know about ourselves, the less we know...and yet...yet there is, at the same time, a new kind of knowing." Through the diminishing of our greatest god, ourselves, we gain a greater vision of the true God, the God of old Abraham.
Those who desire for themselves the glory that the Lord deserves reveals perhaps they are not born again or that their faith hasn't been languished enough for them to be convinced that it is only God who can accomplish these great feats.
In v.23-24 of today's passage we read, "23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."
Amazingly, the believer in Christ is on par with father Abraham. This is only possible due to the fact that it was the goal of the Lord Jesus to share His glory with all crazy enough to believe in Him as our Savior. Think of it, the Lord Jesus has made us fellow-heirs with Himself. We will spend eternity with Him because He chose to stoop to our level to bring us up to His. And, as a result, we will be like Him in heaven; we will be for eternity bondservants.
In v.25 of today's passage we read, "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification."
The moment we believed in the Lord Jesus as our Savior, the humility of heaven came to reside in our souls. His humility will fuel us for eternity. We think the greatest gift is that our sins are forgiven us but we are wrong. The greatest gift that was promised to Abraham was the very presence of God in our lives. In Galatians 3:14 we read, "Because of the price Christ Jesus paid, the good things that came to Abraham might come to the people who are not Jews. And by putting our trust in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit He has promised." When the very presence of God arrived in our lives, He brought with Him His humility. It is this humility that is gradually moving our gaze from self to our Savior. To Him be the glory!
