Fact or Fiction - Romans 4 (3)

 continued from previous post...

13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; 15 for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.

When we get to Romans chapter 7 we will dig deeply into what our relation with the Law ought to be – and it will probably shock us. But for now I simply want to point out that the Law brings wrath, that no one can be justified by the Law, the Law cannot produce righteousness.

Are we living with the fiction that the Law can produce a good and holy life? Or are we living with the fact that the Law is an instrument of guilt and death?

And for those of us who teach our children – what is our methodology in our teaching? Our we teaching our children the fiction that the Law produces righteousness? Or are we teaching them the fact of living in a relationship with Jesus Christ? Are we modeling that relationship as we spend time with our children? Are we sharing Jesus – not simply sharing about Jesus, but actually sharing Jesus with our children?

 

16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed 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, 17 (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

If we are living in insecurity in our relationship with God then we are living in a fiction, we have a false idea of justification and of His love for us. God wants us to know that His promise of eternal life, of fulness of life in Christ, of an eternal future, is guaranteed to us if we have believed in Jesus Christ.

There is true guilt and there is false guilt. Some of us here this morning may have true guilt, and we need to stay here this morning until we have repented of our sins and allowed God to restore our relationship with Him.

Some of us here have false guilt, we have repented of our sins, we have confessed them to God, but we won’t let go of them – that’s living in a fiction – that’s refusing to believe the fact that Jesus paid it all on the Cross.

And some of us probably need to have some real guilt because there are things in our lives that are sin, habits in our lives that are sin – but unless we acknowledge sin as sin, as long as we think that we are the exceptions to the rule of holiness and righteousness…well…that is a delusional fiction.

The fact is that God wants us to live in relational security so that we can worship Him, encourage one another, and share the Gospel with others – explicitly share the Gospel with others. This idea that others are going to come to Christ through osmosis is a fiction and a copout – the fact, as we’ll see in Romans chapter 10, is that people need to actually hear the Gospel from us – that means you, that means me, that means us.

 

18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 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 God had promised, He was able also to perform.

A couple of weeks ago we saw what happened when Abraham and Sarah decided to take things into their own hands and not wait on God to fulfill His Word in His Way. When we attempt to take charge of God’s work and to make things happen on our own terms the result is heartache and sorrow and damaged relationships – and sometimes we live the rest of our lives with the consequences of our sin.

God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah when Isaac was born, about 14 years after Ishmael was born. Abraham was about 100 years old – from a biological -reproductive perspective Abraham and Sarah were both dead. God was going to make sure that there was no doubt whatsoever that Isaac’s birth was miraculous.

Sarah and Abraham had lived in the fiction that they could fulfill the Word of God and the result was Ishmael. God was going to teach them to live in the fact that only God can fulfill the Word of God that only God can bring life out of death.

to be continued...