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passage from verse 17 through verse 25 focusing on verses 17 through 24. I'm going to read the the whole section actually starting in verse 16.
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and I'd like to ask Justin Mathis if he prayed for the ministry of the word this morning Romans chapter 4 beginning in verse 16. for this reason it is by faith
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that it might be in accordance with Grace in order that the promise may be certain to all the seed not only to those who are of the law but also those who are of
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the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all as it is written a father of many nations I have made you in the sight of him whom he believed even God
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who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist in hope against hope he believed in
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order that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken so shall your seed be and without becoming weak in faith he
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contemplated his own body now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb yet with respect to the promise of God
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he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully assured that what he had promised he was able to perform
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therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness now not for his sake only was it written that it was reckoned to him but for our
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sake also to whom it will be reckoned as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our lord from the dead he who was delivered up because of our
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transgressions and was raised because of our justification our justification let us pray
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yes if we uh faithful to listen States the things that are taught in their
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I was asked by a teacher in the school that was then here at the at the church building as to whether or not it was necessary to be a Christian to believe in a literal historical
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interpretation of Genesis chapter 1 through 3. I think a better question is that if those passages are not historically true
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is there anything to believe in at all so an article this week that was forwarded to me about the bio logos Foundation
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heavily um funded by the Templeton Foundation some of you will be familiar with that with that promoting in the churches a theistic
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evolution a teaching that God uses evolution to bring about his will that in fact there were there was not an original couple Adam and Eve but rather
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10 to 15 000 humanoids or hominids perhaps two of which God chose to elevate to become the status of of his
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image one of the leaders of this Foundation says that churches that support evolution will be more effective Witnesses in a culture that reveres
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science and will help college students avoid a crisis of faith when biology professors argue for evolution and this is
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brilliant This truly is brilliant because we're going to prevent our teenagers from having a crisis of faith when they go to college by making shipwreck of their faith now
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isn't that brilliant we'll just destroy it now so that we don't have to worry about it being destroyed later destroyed later and this is being spewed out as Evangelical wisdom
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the church will be a better witness in a in a culture that reveres science clearly Paul and Peter blew it they should have gone full bore into the
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Pagan lifestyle so they could have been a better witness in a culture that revered pagan gods and we think we're smarter than they
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were and it's amazing that this again is is is being is being perpetrated in our allegedly Evangelical
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seminaries you'll be careful folks especially you young people and parents of young people who are sending them off to college to college you send them to a Christian College
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you better be careful that they are still Christian still Christian because many of them are not and they have they have definitely bought the LIE
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but how important is literal creation to the doctrine and practice of Christianity it is evident and admitted by all that
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Jesus and Peter and Paul and John and John accepted the biblical account as literal and historical and historical that in the beginning God created the
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heavens and the Earth but does it matter to us in this great scientific age in which we live with all the knowledge that we have of biology and genetics and astronomy
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does it matter that we hold to a literal historical interpretation of Genesis well Paul uses the language of creation
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to a remarkable degree in his letters and if in fact he was merely tainted by his culture his culture believing in a Superstition that we have
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since proven is not true then what does that what does that do for what else he has written if he draws lessons and not merely
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examples but lessons but lessons from the first three chapters of Genesis are they not empty if those chapters are
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false in fact we'll see here in Romans we've already been seeing but we will continue to see that Paul actually develops his doctrine of Christ his christology along
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two lines two lines up to now he's been developing what is called his abrahamic christology and that is the the lineage that one of
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the gospel writers Luke I believe no it's one of the other traces the lineage of Jesus back to Abraham I think it's Matthew but then there is the adamic christology
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that we're going to see it actually begins here begins here but is going to be developed in chapter five and that's the other lineage that traces the birth of Jesus Christ all the
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way back to Adam and in those lines the adamic and the abrahamic Paul is encompassing all of creation
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in the Redemption that God has wrought in Jesus Christ but if those people never lived if Adam was not the first human the
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first man first man than in what sense is Christ the last Adam if we did not fall in Adam in what sense
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are we raised in Christ years ago we were in a Sunday school class we were newly married attending a church in Oklahoma City
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and the Sunday school teacher one of the Elders of the church said forthrightly clearly forthrightly clearly we have no need of the Old Testament
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and even then as young as I was I thought that doesn't sound right and it isn't right because what we learn about in the Old Testament is God himself
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and what we learn about in the passages of creation is so close to the nature of God that Paul that Paul treats it as as obvious he's already
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told us in chapter one that by the creation around us his invisible attributes are clearly seen let that sink in what is something that is invisible
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is something you can't see right so how is it that his invisible attributes are clearly seen the point being that
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what we don't see of God we still know of God of God what we don't see of his work we still know is there we know in our hearts we
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know in our consciences because we were created in the image of God and so when we look to Paul Jesus John and what they teach
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we need to understand that they're building upon a foundation of Revelation that holds the whole structure together
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and up and up and if with these brilliant people at biologos Foundation we take out that Foundation the rest of the building is going to
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come crumbling down and that is what is happening in much of evangelicalism today evangelicalism today for Paul the pattern of creation is the pattern of recreation
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and it's important to be in the Old Testament especially in the pentateuch to be able to hear the Echoes of God's revelation in the New Testament
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and when Paul in second Corinthians 5 talks about a new creation he's using the language of the old creation and he does the same thing here
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so he uses the language of creation to teach us about God's Recreation and to deny the one is to destroy the other
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Paul not only uses the language of creation he uses the language here in Romans 4 of creation X nihilo creation out of nothing verse 17 even
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God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist
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I think it's one of the most important passages in this whole section because it is a description of God we have a few of these types of description for example we have the description that
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God cannot lie but here we have a description of what how God does what he does this is the way God works
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bringing life out of death and calling into being that which does not exist not exist Martin Lloyd Jones calls this the
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omnipotence of Grace and I think that's a concept that we would all do well to meditate upon what does omnipotence mean it means all
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powerful it means Brooking no opposition suffering no defeat it means the ability to do all that one
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intends to do and what was Abraham's Faith which by the way is the subject here Abraham's faith in verse 21 he was fully
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assured of what that what God had promised he was able to perform that is the omnipotence of Grace
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because the promise was not given through any Merit on Abraham's part the promise itself was pure divine grace but
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would he be able to bring it about well that's where the omnipotence of Grace comes in comes in that there be no doubt among God's people that what he has promised he is
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not only able to bring about he will bring about and that is a fundamental message that Paul gives us in all of his letters that he who has promised will bring it
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to completion to completion and so and so looking at the omnipotence of Grace is one of the most powerful because one of the most biblical arguments against the Armenian view of
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salvation now I want to draw an analogy here because much of what we've been reading addresses that particular soteriology in modern evangelicalism modern evangelicalism Armenian teaches arminianism teaches
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that men have the ability to believe and so the purpose of evangelism is to persuade Sinners to accept Jesus
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Christ but that ability to believe is inherent in every human being now that is analogous to theistic evolution
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because what theistic evolution teaches us falsely us falsely is that God works with material that was already here
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and he forms it according to his will but the point being is that God is working with something he's working with eternal matter he's
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working with clay and he's working with water and he's working with wind and he's he's creating out of something well the Armenian believes the same
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thing that in Salvation God is working with some primeval matter called the ability of the human heart to believe
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to believe and he's working by his spirit and you'll hear this in Armenian servants sermons that he's he's seeking he's wooing he's convincing he's arguing this
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is the background of much of modern apologetics if I only can convince you that Jesus rose from the dead that that tomb was empty lord of the Virgin birth
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or of God's love or of any of the truths of scripture pertaining to the Messiah you will believe see God's working with something
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but is that how God works no in fact it is completely against the nature of God to work that way because to work that way is to give part
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of the glory to something else and he will not share his glory with another and we read then that that Abraham did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in
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faith giving glory to God taking none for himself and how does God bring this about well in the beginning
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he brings it about by creating ex nihilo from nothing from nothing Hebrews tells us very clearly in chapter 11. let me read that Passage
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I didn't write it down but it's one I think that is very familiar to you in chapter 11.
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by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible well that sounds very much like what Paul says here in verse 17 he calls into
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being that which does not exist and what is our position what is the sinner's position well we
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are analogous to Abraham before Isaac was born we are hoping without hope
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that's what Paul says in verse 18 in hope against hope he believed
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without the omnipotence of divine grace all men all men are hopeless are hopeless and so Paul develops an analogy and I want to try to bring that to your attention this morning between the unbelieving heart
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unbelieving heart and the condition of the universe or whatever we call it before God spoke let there be light
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and the most powerful passage that ties these two events together is once again Paul in second Corinthians chapter four for God who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in
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our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ there's that language again that creation language
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creation language so Abraham hoped against hope in a promised seed
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was Abraham hoping only for a son I mean there have been a lot of people throughout the ages who have not been able to conceive what makes Abraham so special
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there have been a lot of people throughout the ages who whose Heir was a servant in their household or a distant cousin or a son of a brother whom he didn't
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like things don't always work out the way we desire is that what this is all about an old man sad because he doesn't have a son no there's something deeper than that
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and this is what you get when you when you read the Old Testament you realize that what Abraham was looking for what God was promising through Abraham
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through Abraham was not first promised to Abraham it was actually first promised to Eve in the garden after the fall and so he was not looking merely for a
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son but for a seed and that's why both the Old Testament and the New Testament do not use the word son word son but Robert he's rather spermoy seed
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that is the point here is that the promised seed of woman who would redeem Mankind and crush the Serpent's head was an underlying theme of the Old Testament even before the
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flood and then afterwards in Abraham Genesis chapter 12 where it all begins God calls Abraham out of Earth the cold ease and he says and I will bless those
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who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse and in you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed
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that sets the scope of the promise and that's what Paul's trying to bring out especially to his Jewish countrymen
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that the scope of the promise was never to be limited to Abraham's biological heirs through Isaac and Jacob Israel but from the very beginning
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even before the Covenant was cut in Genesis 15 God said in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed then again in Genesis 15
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and he took him outside and he said now look to the heavens and count the Stars if you are able to count them and he said to him so shall your seed be
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and then finally in Genesis 22 after Abraham has offered up Isaac and God has intervened and given us that
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wonderful promise wonderful promise that in the Mount of the Lord God will provide that sacrifice we know who that is we read by myself I have sworn declares the Lord because you have done
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this thing and have not withheld your son your only son indeed I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens
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and as the sand which is on the seashore and your seed shall possess the Gate of his enemies and in your seed all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed
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what must Abraham have thought he had but one son and the promise was perhaps too great to even
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contemplate and yet Paul says he did not waver an unbelief but grew strong in faith but again he wasn't the first person in Biblical history
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to expect this seed Eve herself anticipated the seed even at the birth of her third son as far as we know Seth
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for in Genesis 4 we read God has appointed to me another seed in the place of Abel for Cain has killed him but I think one of the most
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significant and lesser known is from lamech the father of Noah now don't get hit confused with the lamech of the cane line because he was a
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braggard of how many people he'd killed but lamech the father of Noah was apparently a righteous man of the lineage of Seth a man who had seen the horrible descent
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into Corruption of the entire human race a man who unusually died before his father signifying that perhaps he was murdered
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but a man who said when his son Noah was born now he's called his name Noah saying this one shall give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands
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from the ground which the Lord has cursed you see all the way at the very beginning of the flood mankind has corrupted to the point where
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God has repented even making man and yet there were still men who were remembering that promise that God gave to their ancestor
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Eve and Adam that he would raise up the seed of woman to crush the Serpent's head and to redeem creation that's what Paul is talking about
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talking about see if if we are like Paul then our minds will hear The Echoes of the Old Testament whenever we read Paul and we'll see how important creation is
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but God's promise as we read through the rest of scripture we find that God works in this way his promise will be fulfilled when all hope
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of that promise has gone has gone it is it is very significant that the prophecy is that the branch who is the
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Messiah would rise out of what the stump of Jesse of Jesse what does that mean it means by the time the Messiah comes
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that magnificent Oak of the davidic dynasty will have been cut off at the ground and there will be no Hope from that
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quarter but from that quarter will come the branch the Messiah the Son of David and so this is the way God works hoping against hope
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when there is nothing but formlessness and void God says let there be light he doesn't work with material that's already there already there he brings into being that which does not
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exist and that is how he's going to work with Abraham this is not about Abraham's family this is about Abraham's faith and about Abraham's Faith as he says
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this is not written just for him but for us as well who have the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all so if we're said to have the faith of Abraham
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might it not be well for us to figure out what that Faith looks like because that's the faith that saves is not a faith that we have
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it's a faith that is given to us it's a faith that we hope for against hope and so and so we read in hope against hope he believed
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we read he contemplated his own body now as good as dead we read he's he contemplates the deadness of Sarah's womb The New American Standard rendering of
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oh Genesis excuse me Genesis 18 11. which talks about this promise right before Isaac is born The New American Standard has Sarah was past childbearing well literally the Hebrew reads she was
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she was no longer making eggs okay she was not just past the age of childbearing you know where it might be dangerous child might have Downs or something like that no her womb was dead
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okay we read the same phrase you remember the story of Rachel who stole her father's idols and when Laban came looking through Jacob's Camp he came into Rachel's tent
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and she had hit him under his saddle and was sitting on it and she said may not my Lord be angry with me but the way of woman is upon me and we all know what that euphemism
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means and Laban said oh that's fine like the rest of the men have all in history have said during that time of the month that's fine that's fine not gonna mess with you
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Sarah's not having that anymore okay she's post-menopausal and that's when God Acts okay She's Not Just unable to Bear children
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like Hannah was for so long or Rebecca no she couldn't physically bear a child it would be a miracle for her to conceive and she treats it as
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such she she doesn't believe and yet this is when God Acts so the problem
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Paul says that Abraham contemplates his own body as good as dead but you know the problem was really with Sarah because as we read the Old Testament Abraham had more children later
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with his wife Katura so he was apparently able he was fertile she was not and we see that so often that it's the
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woman it's the woman it's Hannah it's Rachel it's Rebecca it's Mary in whom the miracle of conception will
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bring the seed of woman okay and so here we have Sarah's womb dead but God as Paul writes gives life to the
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dead and calls into being that which does not exist again he's not talking about Abraham's family he's talking about Abraham's
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faith he did not waver in unbelief even though he looked at this situation Adolf Schlatter writes he believed against hope and on account of Hope
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against hope because that which was promised was altogether removed from his ability on account of Hope because the promise
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offers him something wonderful and great this is the way God works he comes in a time when the Fulfillment of the promise is all
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together beyond our ability and yet we hope because what is Promised is wonderful and great we are promised not only the Forgiveness
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of sins were promised the adoption of sons were promised joint Heir with Christ the inheritance of the heavenlies were promised the blessings and the love
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of God of God And yet when we contemplate our own heart we realize it's as good as dead
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in trespass and sin this is the sinner's true condition Paul when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus
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was a devout pharisaical Jew devoted to the Torah considered himself to be righteous in the sight of God as he tells us in Philippians 3 Philippians 3 . according to the righteousness which
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is in the law he was blameless and when he met the Messiah of Israel and then was filled with the Holy Spirit of promise of promise he did not simply jettison all that he
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had learned and been brought up in he didn't found a new religion called Christianity to him what God had done in Christ was the Fulfillment of what God had promised
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to the fathers it was the Fulfillment of Judaism but all that he had learned now had to be reoriented around the fact of its
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fulfillment the prophecies have now been answered in this man Jesus and the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit has now been given and so how do I read the Old Testament
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now we don't read the Old Testament this is a mistake that Christians who do spend time in the Old Testament they make it all the time and that is they still read it like it's the Old Testament
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and they still think they need to be a Jew and they need to follow the dietary laws and observe the feasts and no you need to read the Old Testament
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through the lens of the Fulfillment in Jesus Christ Jesus Christ yes we need to be in the Old Testament but not leaving the New Testament behind and so Paul reorients his understanding
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of Abraham never ever even for a moment denying that Abraham was a real historical person historical person but the meaning of Abraham's story
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now must be understood through the fact that Abraham's seed has finally come finally come that which was promised to Abraham in which Abraham hoped
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has now come to pass and so Abraham being fully assured that what he had promised he was able to
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perform Jesus could say Abraham saw my day and rejoiced and Paul understood that and we need to understand that because this is the essence of the faith of Abraham whose
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faith we must have if we're to be the children of Abraham and being the children of Abraham is synonymous with being saved or being in
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Christ or being Christians or whatever other word you want to put to it Paul is very clear very clear that whether you're a Jew or a gentile doesn't matter whether you're circumcised or uncircumcised doesn't
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matter what matters is to have the faith of Abraham of Abraham and again that Faith this is what's remarkable that Faith really doesn't have any reference to Abraham's sins
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it has complete reference to Abraham's God and to the promise that God gave to Abraham for the benefit of the whole world now don't get me wrong
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our sins are very important because they have made a separation between God and us our sins as Paul will clearly teach us in Romans 5. they are what brought
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death into the world so sin is not irrelevant as some have taught it is very relevant but forgiving our sins is part of what
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God is doing forgiving our sins is a necessary part but it is part the bigger part is the Fulfillment of the Reclamation
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the restoration of God's creation and there is one enemy that is even greater than sin and that is death
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and that is where the victory truly lies is Christ's victory over death the resurrection we will see is a central part of of Paul's theology
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but it is crucial also to understand Abraham's own condition and this is where the context of Paul is important because Paul is living in an era when Abraham himself has been glorified
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very much like Mary within the Roman Catholic confession right I mean Mary was a righteous woman Mary was a humble woman Mary was not the Mary that the Roman
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Catholic church has created Abraham was not the Abraham that the Jewish teaching he was not a law abiding circumcised righteous Jew
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righteous Jew he was an old man with a Barren wife and he was an uncircumcised Gentile when the Covenant was given to him he was a man who hoped against hope and
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yet believed yet believed he was not a man who could say has been put in his mouth by later writers because of my obedience and my righteousness God has
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done this this and this for me no he contemplated his own situation and saw that it was hopeless
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and any gospel that is preached to any sinner that does not establish that foundational Bedrock principle that in and of yourself you are hopeless
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that you have no ability and even no desire to come to God on his own terms you do not even have the ability to
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believe that is a gift of God lest any man should boast that is the sinner's condition he's not you've heard this phrase interested in spiritual things
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no I mean we Are Spiritual creatures and you've probably encountered people who will gladly talk to you about spiritual things adenosium never actually coming to the knowledge
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of the truth okay we're able to do that he's not receptive to persuasive arguments of apologetics if you could convince Somebody That
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Jesus raised from the dead their response would be well strange things happen things happen you you cannot convince or persuade a person into the kingdom of Christ
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you cannot convince a person into salvation The Sinner is not filled with remorse because of his or her Rebellion against
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God no they're more like the fool who says in his heart there is no God or the other fool who says where is God things keep going on as they have since the beginning
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the beginning nothing happens nothing happens that's what we hear that's what men think that's what sinners believe they're dead in trespassing sin they're living
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in darkness they are blinded by the ruler of this age their condition is presented to us in Romans 3 all through the scriptures the scriptures as as utterly hopeless as Sarah's womb
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as utterly lifeless as the formless and void creation before God spoke into it and so this is the gospel
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to recognize in your mind and to hope against hope because of the omnipotence of Grace that God will speak into that dark and
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dead lifeless heart that Barren heart and he will say let there be light and as Paul prayed for the Galatians Christ will be conceived and formed
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within you within you as Isaac was in Sarah's womb but of that even those who have the privilege
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of directing someone to that point of salvation will take no credit Abraham did not boast in the birth of his son but rather gave glory to God
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we do not boast in the salvation of our children oh yeah we did it right no we give glory to God knowing that
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knowing that he doesn't work with the material we give him here's my child you know would you please mold him and make him and work with his his you know that that little spark of Divine Light that's with
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him no here's a dead blind dark sinner lifeless as Isaac was almost but Hebrews tells us that Abraham knew
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that even if he slew Isaac God would raise him again that was Abraham's faith God has promised that those who are his he will not lose
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and so we hope against hope because it was not for his sake only Paul writes but it was reckoned to him for righteousness but for our sake also
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as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our lord that is the fundamental
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that God would not allow his holy one to see decay Romans 10 gives us what is often used as a formula for bringing people to Christ
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if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and what believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved
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because God is the one who gives life to the dead God is the one who calls into existence that which is not existing what he has promised for Abraham was not just a son but a seed in whom all the nations of
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the world will be blessed not just an ethnic localized Nation called Israel but a worldwide people of God from every tongue tribe and Nation
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but God has also promised a redeemed creation in which God will give his people rest from their labors that was lamex prayer
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what he has promised he has performed through the omnipotence of his grace through the person and the work of Jesus
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Christ he's presenting that hope to the Hopeless to any anyone who understands the hopelessness of their condition before a holy God
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says let there be light God says Let There Be faith believe that what I have promised God says I will perform
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believe that I promise that my Holy One would not see Decay and I raised him on the third day confess him as Lord
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and you shall be saved let us pray father we stand amazed at the work of your hand
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just your creation is enough to Astound us that the immensity of it and the minutia of it of it that we cannot find out your ways
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with our most powerful telescopes or our most powerful microscopes that the more we look the more we find the more we learn the more we know we don't know
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don't know because we are peering into the mind of God as it is reflected in your creation and father when we peer into our own Hearts we see nothing but darkness and
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sin we do not see that light that you deposited in your image that light that you intend to reflect to all of creation that light that reflected in your son our Lord Jesus
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but you have spoken light into many of our hearts our hearts and we give you all the glory and pray that we would not waver in unbelief but grow strong in faith again giving glory to you
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and that the circumstances that we may face that are hopeless would only remind us that you who have begun a good work in us will bring it to Perfection unto the
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day of Christ it is all you and all glory and honor belong to you so we asked father that you would fill
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our hearts with gratitude and adoration humility and praise and praise for you are indeed a great God and worthy of all praise
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and we give you that Glory through our Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we pray please rise for the benediction this morning from first Thessalonians chapter
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5. now may the God of Peace himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
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Faithful is he who calls you and he also will bring it to pass
