10/1/23 - The Object of Our Faith - Romans 4:13-25 - Pastor Jason Fritz

"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,” Romans 4:16

What exactly is the faith of Abraham? Paul explains…

In hope he believed against hope, (that’s another way of describing a seemingly impossible situation) that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 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. Romans 4:18-19

Paul is describing the strength of Abraham’s faith in light of the massive challenges to what God promised. Centenarians don’t have children. Abraham says to himself, “My body is as good as dead. Not capable of reproduction. And my wife, well her womb is also barren.” The Greek word for barren is nekro and literally means dead. It’s the same Greek root word used to describe Abraham’s body. They are way beyond child bearing years, but his faith in God is strong and he believed that God can bring dead things to life. Abraham weighed the impossibility of him and Sarah producing a child together and the impossibility of God breaking his promise and the result is that his faith grew. 


This is a massive concept: Our faith is only as good as the object in which we place it. 


Do you think Abraham really believe this was possible? Or was it just talk? He really did believe. Here’s how we know…Abraham would have a son named Isaac. Later, when the boy is about 13 years old God tells Abraham to sacrifice the boy. It’s a test of his faith, and a big one. There had been no recorded resurrection at this time in history. God promised a son and the son was delivered and now God says, “Take his life.” But if he takes Isaac’s life then what about the promise? Abraham has the knife in hand and what was going through his mind? The author of Hebrews tells you…

He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. Hebrews 11:19

In other words, in Abraham’s mind the death of his son was a foregone conclusion and yet he believed that God had the power to bring Isaac back from the dead in order to keep his promise. Just before the act, God stops Abraham and provides an alternative sacrifice. This is all a foreshadow of Jesus’ own sacrificial death. You see, in order to save the world God would do with his own son what he asked Abraham to do and yet God would follow through to the end.

But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification Romans 4:23-25

It’s pretty cool because what Paul says is that we share the same faith Abraham had. We also believe God has the power to raise a man from the dead and that man is Jesus.

How do you perceive the object of your faith? The challenge is that we say we have faith and then we rely mostly on what we can do ourselves. A good measure of your faith in God is to ask yourself this question - How long is my list of anxieties and worries and where is my distrust in Him?