God's Promise and Gracious Fulfillment
Romans 4:13-25
Faith in God to fulfill His promises by grace is the only way by which we can be saved
#God
#promise
#Christ
Published July 19th, 2018
Main point summary
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notes
Main point summary
The fulfillment of the promise of God to justify His people depends on the gracious action of God. Any attempt to fulfill this promise on our own and on behalf of God are carried out in vain, because we are not God and because we fail His holy standards. Thus, the only option for us is to place our hope and trust in God to fulfill His word, as Abraham did, and we can be sure that He will and has fulfilled it, because His character requires it, because only He has the ability to do so, and because He gave His own Son to ensure it.
Arc
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NT
Romans 4:13-25
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For e the promise to Abraham and his offspring f that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law
BECAUSE God's promise to Abraham/his descendants did not come from Abraham's already established righteousness
but through the righteousness of faith.
BUT from his faith in God who credited him righteousness
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g For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs,
BECAUSE, IF you are justified and shall inherit by obedience to the law
faith is null
THEN faith does not matter
and the promise is void.
AND AS A RESULT, God cannot fulfill his promise (since it would be up to man to redeem himself)
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For h the law brings wrath,
BUT THE REVERSE IS TRUE, the law condemns (not saves)
but i where there is no law
BUT IT SERVES A PURPOSE BECAUSE IF no law exists
j there is no transgression.
THEN no one can know their sin.
That is why it depends on faith,
CONVERSELY, the righteousness of sinners depends on faith
k in order that the promise may rest on grace
IN ORDER THAT we might know that God fulfills his promises not by anything we do, but entirely on who He is (promise keeper)
and l be guaranteed to all his offspring—
AND IN ORDER THAT, their inheritance would be assured (by a perfect God) to Abraham's descendants
not only to the adherent of the law
NAMELY, his offspring are not only those who obey the law
but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham,
BUT also those who believe in the promise of God as Abraham did
m who is the father of us all,
IN OTHER WORDS, Abraham set the example for all people
as it is written,
AS EXPLAINED in scripture
n “I have made you the father of many nations”—
"Abraham shall be the father of many nations"
in the presence of the God in whom he believed,
BY 1)* God's acting as a witnesses - the very God whom you believe shall keep His word
o who gives life to the dead
AND 2 )** BY RAISING the dead to life
and calls into existence p the things that do not exist.
AND 3)*** BY CREATING creating ex nihilo
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In hope he believed against hope,
TO EXPAND, 1)* Abraham believed in God despite his own frailty and the doubts of his wife
that he should become the father of many nations,
IN OTHER WORDS, he hoped that God would fulfill His promise
as he had been told,
AS God told Him
q “So shall your offspring be.”
"You will have children that are innumerable"
He did not weaken in faith
AS A RESULT, 2)** Abraham held to the resolve that God would fulfill His promise
when he considered his own body,
EVEN WHEN he looked at his own frailty
which was r as good as dead
IN OTHER WORDS, his body looked like he was about to die
( s since he was about a hundred years old),
BECAUSE he was 100.
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or when he considered t the barrenness 1 of Sarah’s womb.
AND, 3)*** EVEN THOUGH Sarah had nothing in her, and knew God would have to create ex nihilo, he still believed.
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No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God,
THEREFORE, Abraham did not doubt God's faithfulness
but he grew strong in his faith
RATHER, THE RESULT OF GIVING GLORY TO GOD is that he became increasingly more resolute that God would follow through
as he gave glory to God,
He gave glory to God by believing
fully convinced that u God was able to do what he had promised.
MEANING that he believed with absolute confidence that God would keep His word.
That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
IN OTHER WORDS, Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness, because he understood that it was God alone who could fulfill His promise (not something Abraham could work to achieve).
But v the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone,
FURTHERMORE, the credit to Abraham was not only to Him and Israel
but for ours also.
BUT also for the Gentiles
It will be counted to us w who believe in x him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
MEANING, those who have faith in God shall be credited with righteousness by the same God who brought Christ back from the dead
y who was delivered up for our trespasses
IN OTHER WORDS, the Christ who paid the penalty and atoned for our sin
and raised z for our justification.
AND THEN was raised so that His righteousness might be imputed on us
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Abraham's faith was threefold: 1) In the power of God to fulfill His promises; 2) In the power of God to raise the dead to life; and, 3) In the power of God to bring something out of nothing.
Abraham's threefold faith explained here: 1) God is the God of hope, and His ability trumps our human doubt; 2) God is the God of life, and His nourishment is sufficient to raise up the dead; and, 3) God is the God of creation, and His power creates something where there was nothing.
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Disclaimer: The opinions and conclusions expressed on this page are those of the author and may or may not accord with the positions of Biblearc or Bethlehem College & Seminary.