Rom. 4:14-25 “Learning From Abraham As An Example Of One Whose Faith Was Reckoned As Righteousness”

 

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1.     INTRO:

 

1.1.            In our last study, we looked at verses 4-13 of chapter 4

 

1.1.1.  Paul continued to detail for us how that it was by Ahraham’s faith that he became one of God’s people and inherited all of the great promises given to him by the Lord.

 

1.1.2.  Paul appealed to the Jews as he asked them if these promises were inherited by Abraham after he was circumcised or before, when he was living in the promised land as one of God’s people or before when he lived in Ur of the Chaldees?  Abraham received those promises and acted in faith upon them when he was an uncircumcised pagan idolator living in the land of Ur of the Chaldees.  The resultant point was then that a person doesn’t have to be circumcised or keep the Mosaic Law to be saved.  The gift of eternal life is received by faith.

 

1.1.3.  We looked at the lives of both Abraham and King David as examples to us of men whose faith was reckoned to them as righteousness.

 

1.1.4.  We studied each of the four great promises made to Abraham:

 

1.1.4.1.      A land (Gen. 15:18-21).

 

1.1.4.2.      A people so numerous that they could not be numbered (Gen. 13:16; 15:5).

 

1.1.4.3.      Make Abraham a blessing to the entire world (Gen. 12:3).

 

1.1.4.4.      The giving of a Redeemer as a descendant (Gal. 3: 8-9;  Gen. 12:3).

 

1.2.            In our study today, we are going to look at verses 14-25 of chapter 4.

 

1.2.1.  In this study, Paul again uses Abraham as an example of one whose faith is reckoned to him as righteousness, and in so doing several points are made, including:

 

1.2.1.1.      If salvation could come because of law-keeping then faith and obtaining God’s promises through faith is made void or nullified.

 

1.2.1.2.      Salvation is received by faith so that it can be by grace.

 

1.2.1.3.      Jesus was delivered up because of our transgressions and raised up from the dead because of our justification.

 

1.2.2.  We will look at the faith in God and His promises that Abraham had which was a hope against hope, or in other words, Abraham’s faith was opposed to all of the odds of God’s promise being fulfilled.  We will see that our God whose great promises we trust is not a “god of the odds,” for He has a huge tendency to defy all odds.

 

2.     VS 4:14  - “14 For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified;” -  Paul tells us that if those who are keeping the Law are heirs of eternal life then there is no need or purpose of having faith in Christ

 

2.1.            In this verse, Paul makes the point that if there were any who were justified before God based upon law-keeping and good works, then the promise of God would be revoked and ‘nullified.’  It would made unnecessary and of non-effect.  If salvation would be able to be received by law keeping then not only would all of the New Testament epistles be errant but even Jesus’ ministry would be bogus and He must be considered deranged or a liar for He stated often that salvation comes from believing in Him.  For instance, John 3:16 is a scripture we Christians surely are aware of, “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

 

2.2.            Paul speaks here of those who receive eternal through Jesus Christ as being ‘heirs,’ and this probably refers to the Christian becoming an heir of Abraham and thus being one of God’s people along with Abraham the believer who is our spiritual father.  All Christians are ‘heirs’ of Abraham and inherit Abraham’s promises and His Savior.

 

2.3.            One person could not be saved by works and another be saved by his faith because God is God and He cannot be a respecter of persons and have one standard of righteousness for some and another standard for others.

 

2.4.            We Christians must get it completely out of our mind that we must somehow mix with our faith works in order to become justified before God.  God’s Word in this verse clearly teaches us that salvation is either received on the basis of works or on the basis of faith, and if it is one then it cannot be the other or a combination of both.  One nullifies the other for the two methods for receiving salvation are mutually exclusive.

 

3.     VS 4:15  - “15 for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there violation.” -  Paul tells us that the Law causes God’s wrath to be poured out but if Law does not exist then no one can break the Law and incur God’s wrath

 

3.1.            The Law of Moses cannot be an agent of bringing justification because it is an agent of bringing about God’s ‘wrath.’  As we have seen before, the Law of God is a line in the sand concerning what is right and wrong and as such it was designed to show man that he cannot keep it.  Therefore, the Law’s purpose is to bring condemnation upon those who are living under it because no one can perfectly keep that Law.  The Law was never meant to be the instrument of salvation.

 

3.2.            In Gal. 3:10, Paul wrote about the curse of the Law that keeps it from being an agent that could bring about a man’s justification, “10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.””  THIS IS THE CURSE OF THE LAW:  If a person kept the entire Law and yet made just one single violation, then he would not be able to be justified before God based upon the Law and his good works!

 

3.3.            Paul writes also in this verse that where there is no law, there is also no violation.  This is reminiscent of what John wrote in 1 John 3:4, “4Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law,”  If there is no divine command to breach, then there can also be no sin that can be committed.

 

4.     VS 4:16  - “16 For this reason it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain 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,” -  Paul tells us that salvation is by faith in order that it might be in accordance with grace

 

4.1.            Paul writes in Galatians 3:23-24 about how that the purpose of the law was to bring us to Christ, “23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor,”

 

4.2.            The Law came so that man would realize that he can’t keep God’s Law and that if he is to be saved that it shall be because of God’s mercy and grace.  For that reason, in this verse Paul writes that salvation is ‘by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace.’

 

4.3.            It is not that a man’s faith is itself righteous, nor that faith makes a man righteous.  Rather, a man’s faith in Christ as Lord and Savior is reckoned to be righteousness by God, and that can only be possible by God’s ‘grace,’ which is “undeserved merit” which we received because of our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. 

 

4.4.            If salvation is ‘by faith,’ then man has not deserved it at all, and therefore it must be obtained because of God’s ‘grace.’

 

4.5.            In the book of Galatians, Paul was refuting the Judaisers who were teaching that there was something else that had to be done besides believing in Jesus in order to be saved.  They taught that one must be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses plus trust in Jesus in order to be saved.  They were perverting the gospel and actually teaching a “new gospel,” one which would be destructive and lead people to bondage, not to salvation in Christ.  In Galatians 3:1-3, Paul wrote to the Galatians about how that they had received the Spirit through faith, and thus in order to grow in their spiritual life, they must continue to walk in faith, not in trying to justify themselves based upon their works, “1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. 7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. 8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. 10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 15 Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. 17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. 19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. 20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. 21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”

 

4.5.1.  Christians become spiritual descendants of Abraham by faith in Christ as their Lord and Savior, and by doing so Abraham, the believer, becomes their father, as Paul writes in Gal. 3:29 , “29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

 

4.5.2.  Not only does the believer in Christ become Abraham’s descendant through faith, but he also inherits the promises made to Abraham which pass to his descendants, as Paul wrote in Gal. 3:14, “14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

 

4.5.3.  In Galatians 5:4 Paul will go on to say to the Galatians, “4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

 

4.6.            As I had mentioned earlier, Christians are to do good works (we were created in Christ Jesus for good works—Eph. 2:10), however the only works that will really be pleasing to God are the ones that are done just out of love for Him, not those which are designed to gain His favor.  If we are to grow in our walk with the Holy Spirit leading, teaching, and gifting us, then we must walk trusting only in our faith in Christ to make us righteous before God.

 

5.     VS 4:17  - “17 (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you” ) in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.” -  Paul tells us that Abraham believed God and thus was made a ‘father of many nations’

 

5.1.            Abraham believed that God was able and willing to fulfill all that He had promised to do for him, and since He placed His faith in God and His Word to him, he was reckoned as righteous, justified because of his faith in God’s promise made to him.

 

5.2.            Some think that it is a strange for Christians to think that they will be saved by believing in Jesus Christ, as the scriptures tell us.  However, when we understand the true nature of mankind as being sinful and as having fallen short of the glory of God, and as we understand the nature of God that He is merciful and loving but also holy and just and must punish sin, then salvation being by the grace and mercy of God and as a result of believing in Jesus Christ is not a strange concept at all.  In fact, it makes perfect sense.  Besides, since we have all sinned our only hope to ever be saved would have to be by believing in Jesus Christ and His substitutionary death for us.

 

5.3.            Abraham believed that God was able to fulfill His promise to cause him to be the ‘father of many nations’ even though at their old age, his body nor Sarah’s body was able to function in the way necessary to procreate.  In the first place, in their eighty years of marriage Abraham and Sarah had never been able to have children, so this fact must have made Abraham’s faith even more remarkable.  Also, Sarah would have been perhaps 50 years or more past menopause. 

 

5.4.            In Gen. 15:2-6, God made the promise to Abraham that he would conceive a son and that as a result of that son that Abraham would become the father of a multitude, and it was because of Abraham’s faith that God would fulfill that promise that the Old Testament scripture records that Abraham’s faith was reckoned as righteousness., “2 And Abram said, “O Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since Thou hast given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

 

5.5.            We Christians need to learn to live by faith and not by sight as our father Abraham did.  We need to not limit what we believe God can do based upon our own abilities or limitations.  We need to trust in Him and all of His promises to us even when it seems as if there is absolutely no way that the Lord could fulfill His Word.  If we will live our life in this way, then we shall be blessed in the same way as Abraham was blessed.

 

6.     VS 4:18  - “18 In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”” -  Paul tells us that ‘in hope against hope’ that Abraham believed God and thus became a father of many nations

 

6.1.            The language of ‘in hope against hope’ in this verse is kind of difficult to decipher, however it seems to mean that Abraham had “confident assurance” that God would fulfill His promises to him even though at the age of 100 he looked at his circumstances and calculated the odds of what God had promised him and Sarah coming to pass.  Using logic and common sense he realized that under natural law that he and Sarah could never be able to conceive and give birth to a son.  He realized then that only the completely miraculous working of God could ever bring him a child, and he chose to believe God’s promise made to him rather than trust in his own common sense.

 

6.2.            It is OK for us as Christians to use common sense and calculate the odds of God’s promises coming to pass under natural law.  However, we must be careful of using common sense in our decisions also because we serve an uncommon God. 

 

6.3.            We Christians need to constantly be reminded that nothing is impossible for the Lord to do, no matter what it may be.  As He did for Abraham, God will do whatever it takes supernaturally in order to fulfill every one of His promises He has made to us.  We need to never give up in our praying unless God reveals to us that what we are praying is not according to His will for us.

 

6.4.            Abraham and Sarah knew that every single one of God’s promises to them could only be fulfilled if they were to conceive and give birth to a son, for those promises all had to do with Abraham’s descendants.  Note though that God did not give the son to Abraham and Sarah right away after giving them the promises.  The faith of Abraham and Sarah was tested when days and months and even years passed before the fulfillment of a son.  After some time had passed and God hadn’t come through with a son for Abraham and Sarah they decided to help God out and take matters into their own hands and thus Abraham took Sarah’s maid Hagar and she conceived and gave birth to Ishmael.  However, God’s promise was not to come through Ishmael.  God waited to give them a son until the point came that Abraham and Sarah gave up on their own scheming and rested in faith upon the fact that this child who would be their heir would only come as a result of the miraculous working of God. 

 

6.4.1.  Isn’t it the case always for us as Christians also that when we pray that God waits in answering our prayer until we realize that if our prayer is to be answered that it will only be because God has miraculously intervened.  God does this so that we realize that it was He who has answered our prayer and because He is always wanting to grow our faith in Him.

 

6.4.2.  Just as with Abraham, it is usually when we give up trying in the flesh and start trusting God that we see God work in our lives. 

 

7.     VS 4:19-22  - “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; 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 assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” -  Abraham considered his body and his chances of conceiving a child with his wife Sarah, however he chose to believe God’s promises in spite of great odds against his ever having the ability to have a child

 

7.1.            As any man would do, Abraham looked at his aged old body and the womb of Sarah which in all of her many years of life had never been able to conceive a child.  He must have calculated the odds of  Sarah conceiving a child apart from a supernatural intervention.  He knew that apart from a miracle of God that what God had promised had no chance of coming to pass.  Yet, in spite of that knowledge which he had he did not ‘waver in unbelief,’ but instead chose to have faith in God, and as a result his faith even grew even stronger.

 

7.2.            Paul says here that it was in faith that Abraham gave ‘glory to God’ for what He was going to do in order to fulfill these promises made to him.

 

7.3.            Abraham was ‘fully assured’ that God was completely able ‘to perform’ this supernatural work to cause Sarah to conceive a child.

 

7.4.            As a result of Abraham’s choosing to have faith in God’s promise, his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness,’ and he was made “right with God” through God imputing the righteousness of Christ who was to come to him.

 

7.5.            We Christians need to learn from the faith of Abraham and not allow ourselves to have our faith ‘waver in unbelief.’

 

7.6.            Aren’t you glad that being a Christian that you are not serving ‘the god of the odds” or that our God is not a “god of the odds.”  We can throw out the odds makers when it comes to believing God’s promises.  Verse 20 is translated by the King James Bible as, “He staggered  not at the promise of God  through unbelief,” and we Christians sometimes stagger at the promises of God ourselves, yet we do so to our own peril. 

 

7.6.1.  There is an incident recorded in Isaiah 36-37 which reveals the fact that our God is not “the god of the odds.”  Righteous king Hezekiah was king of Judah when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, brought a huge army of 186,000 of his army (the world’s best fighting army) and surrounded Jerusalem.  This army had already conquered nation after nation throughout the world and had already even taken the northern kingdom of Israel captive.  However, when Hezekiah took his situation to prayer God overcame all of the odds and removed his enemy.  Isaiah 36-37 states, “1 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field. 3 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him. 4 Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this confidence that you have? 5 “I say, ‘Your counsel and strength for the war are only empty words.’ Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me? 6 “Behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7 “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? 8 “Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 “How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 “Have I now come up without the Lord’s approval against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’ ” ’ ” 11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?” 13 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 “Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 ‘Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 ‘Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20 ‘Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the Lord would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ” 21 But they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh. 1 And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. 2 Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke and rejection; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver. 4 ‘Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ” 5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 “Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ” 8 Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has come out to fight against you,” and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 ‘Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared? 12 ‘Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 ‘Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’ ” 14 Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, 16 “O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 “Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. 18 “Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20 “Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.” 21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: “She has despised you and mocked you, The virgin daughter of Zion; She has shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem! 23 “Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel! 24 “Through your servants you have reproached the Lord, And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest. 25 ‘I dug wells and drank waters, And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of Egypt.’ 26 “Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 27 “Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb, As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up. 28 “But I know your sitting down And your going out and your coming in And your raging against Me. 29 “Because of your raging against Me And because your arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back by the way which you came. 30 “Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 “The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 “For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” ’ 33 “Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, or throw up a siege ramp against it. 34 ‘By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the Lord. 35 ‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ” 36 Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38 It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.”  King Hezekiah sought the Lord and trusted the Lord for his deliverance and He was delivered by the Lord.

 

7.6.2.  Earlier in Israel’s history, in 2 Kings there is related another story in which the king of Aram decided to beseige Samaria (the northern kingdom), and he surrounded it for a long time.  As a result of being contained there in Samaria, a great famine broke out in Samaria and the people ate just about everything that was eddible in the land, with some even eating there babies.  When the king of Israel sent a royal officer to the prophet Elisha to obtain help from God, Elisha prophesied against incredible odds that the Lord would end the famine over night, however the royal officer ‘staggered’ at the promise of God and as a result he did not reap the blessing.  This story accents the great consequences of not believing the promises of God.  2 Kings 6:24-7:8 states, “24 Now it came about after this, that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 There was a great famine in Samaria; and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. 26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” 27 He said, “If the Lord does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” 28 And the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 “So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.” 30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body. 31 Then he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.” 32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from his presence; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door shut against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” 33 While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him and he said, “Behold, this evil is from the Lord; why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”7:1 Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord, ‘Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’” 2 And the royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of God and said, “Behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” Then he said, “Behold you shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.  3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die? 4 “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we shall die there; and if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.” 5 And they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there. 6 For the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.” 7 Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp just as it was, and fled for their life. 8 When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also, and went and hid them.  9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” 10 So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor the voice of man, only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.” 11 The gatekeepers called and told it within the king’s household. 12 Then the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone from the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’ ” 13 One of his servants said, “Please, let some men take five of the horses which remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send and see.” 14 They took therefore two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.” 15 They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king. 16 So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. 17 Now the king appointed the royal officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18 It happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria.” 19 Then the royal officer answered the man of God and said, “Now behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it.” 20 And so it happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.””  How important it is for us to never stagger at the promises of God but rather to act in faith upon them.

 

7.7.            Whenever we take our eyes off of the Lord and His ability to perform what He has promised and instead look at our circumstances and our own abilities and possessions, then we will stagger at the promises of God.  We must instead keep our eyes focused on the Lord, and then we will never stagger but know that God is able and willing to do all that He has promised to us that He will do.

 

8.     VS 4:23-25  - “23 Now not for his sake only was it written, that it 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, 25 He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” -  Paul tells us that Abraham had his faith reckoned to him as righteousness not just for his own sake but also for the sake of us who believe in Christ for salvation today

 

8.1.            No scripture was ever written just for the people of the period of time in which it was written, but rather all scripture has relevance and applies to all people of all eras.  Paul writes in verse 24 that Moses not only wrote down what happened to Abraham for Abraham’s sake, but also for ours sake (all people subsequent to Abraham), since all people of all times shall be justified through their faith, just as was Abraham the believer.

 

8.2.            Paul relates how that Christians must place their faith in different promises than the promises that Abraham placed his faith in.  Christians must ‘believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.’  The faith of Christians is inextricably related to the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and thus Paul writes that it was Jesus who was ‘delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.’  Jesus was delivered up to crucifixion to pay the debt of sin owed by every man, woman, and child because we as sinners have broken God’s Laws and incurred such a debt.

 

8.3.            The phrase here that Jesus was ‘raised because of our justification’ brings to mind two points: 

 

8.3.1.  First of all, if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then Christians would be worshipping and believing in a dead Savior who could not forgive their sins nor give them eternal life through faith in His Name. 

 

8.3.2.  Secondly, the resurrection of Jesus is demonstrated proof that everything that Jesus said He was, He is, and that everything that He said He would do as mankind’s redeemer He is able and willing to do.

 

8.4.            We Christians must realize that we have come into a relationship with Christ by placing our faith in Jesus, and by believing that He has died in our place for our debt of sin upon the cross of Calvary, and that because of His sinless life He has been raised from the dead and has all power over death, hell, and the grave.

 

8.5.            We serve a living Savior who is here with us at every moment of time, and if we will look to Him and be obedient to Him, we shall forever have victory over every enemy that we have.

 

9.     CONCLUSIONS:

 

9.1.            What an incredible blessing it is to us who are Christians to know that the promise of eternal life that God has made to us is by God’s grace and that all that we have to do is place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior and we can be assured that we have eternal life.  We can’t earn and we will never deserve such a great gift as that which Jesus procured for us on Calvary’s cross, it comes all by the grace and mercy of our God.  If God’s word didn’t promise it, no one would ever believe such great news as this to be true.  Lets rejoice in such a great salvation as we have giving thanks to God for His grace.

 

9.2.            Are you trusting in God against the odds?  Do you truly trust God only when you see and understand what He is doing with your life?  If you are doing that you are not believing in God with the faith that Abraham had when he trusted that God would give him and Sarah a son of promise.

 

9.3.            Are you keeping your eyes on God instead of your circumstances?

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