Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family.
Almost everything in life feels transactional to us. You do the work, and you get paid. You study, and you make the grade. You train, and you make the team.
Even our relationships can feel transactional. What can you do for me? What am I willing to do for you?
It’s not surprising that we try to approach God in the same transactional way. What must I do to be saved? How can I earn this?
In the first few chapters of Romans, Paul is trying to dismantle this transactional approach to God, and in chapter 4 he’s been using Abraham as our example. The promise of God does not rest on our ability to earn it. Romans 4:
[13] For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
Abraham was not the father of the Jews only. He was the father of all believers. The promise started with one family and one piece of land, but it extended outward to many nations.
And once again, that promise came through faith in Jesus, not through keeping the law.
[14] For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
Good works do not make us recipients of God’s promises.
Scripture does connect faith and works, but they stand on opposite sides of the equation. We receive God’s promised salvation by faith alone, resting in Christ’s finished work, not by anything we do.
Paul says explicitly that any other arrangement would invalidate the promise. Why?
[15] For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
You can’t be saved by keeping the law because you can’t keep the law. The law itself is not bad, it’s just not the way we get to God. Trying to get to God through the law brings wrath.
Think of the path to salvation as an obstacle course that looks like something from American Ninja Warrior, except no one has ever completed it successfully except Jesus.
That’s the point of verse 15. If you try to get to God by keeping the law on your own, you’re going to wipe out. Your only hope is to trust Jesus to carry you through it.
[16] That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
[17] as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
In other words, God has removed the obstacles so that anyone who believes the Gospel can get to Him. And Paul gives two rapid fire illustrations there at the end, to tie a bow on the concept of grace.
The first is resurrection – life from death. The second is creation – something from nothing.
Those are both clear examples of the same principle – you and I contribute nothing to our own salvation. Literally, nothing at all.
The promise is actually guaranteed, according to verse 16, BECAUSE it rests on grace and not on our own performance.
And now, Paul deepens the connection between us and Abraham.
[18] In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
That phrase “in hope he believed against hope” is an odd phrase. Paul uses hope in two different ways to say that Abraham trusted God in spite of human hopes or circumstances.
In other words, this isn’t just positive thinking. Abraham knew the circumstances were bad. It’s ok to be realistic about hard times and still trust God in the midst of them.
[19] He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.
Abraham and Sarah were the perfect recipients of grace, because God’s promise to them was humanly impossible. It wasn’t just unlikely. It was physically impossible.
Abraham knew that he and Sarah were far too old to produce a child, and yet:
[20] No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
[21] fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
What’s interesting about this argument is the fact that Abraham’s faith did seem to waver at times. It grew over time, but there were some moments of doubt.
In Genesis 15, he questions God about the promise of a child. In Genesis 16, he and Sarah try to use Hagar to fulfill the promise on their own. In Genesis 17, he literally falls down laughing at the thought of Sarah having a child at her age.
All of that happens before and after God credits his faith as righteousness!
That’s not a contradiction of Paul’s argument. It actually reinforces his conclusion. The quality of Abraham’s faith was never the point. The object of his faith was the point.
The phrase “grew strong” in Greek is passive. It’s a strength that was given to Abraham, not something he produced on his own. His faith was strong because the God providing that faith is strong.
In the end, Abraham was fully convinced that God was able to do what God had promised.
[22] That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
[23] But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone,
[24] but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
[25] who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
There’s a significant difference between Abraham’s story and ours. Abraham had to wait a long time to see the fulfillment of God’s promise. And many of God’s promises were fulfilled long after Abraham was dead.
The true child of promise was not Isaac… it was Jesus. And for us, it was in the past. The object of our faith is something God has already done, not something we hope God will do.
Abraham was counted righteous by faith in something that wouldn’t happen for 2,000 years. By faith, we are counted righteous on the basis of something that happened 2,000 years ago.
And that’s why the relationship between faith and grace is so important. There’s nothing we can do today that contributes to the perfect, finished work of Jesus 2,000 years ago. It’s completely out of our hands.
Paul keeps using the word “counted” which is an accounting term. He’s talking about a ledger of deposits and withdrawals. God is adding a deposit of Christ’s righteousness to our ledger and none of our own righteousness is being counted.
But the obvious objection then is this: if our works don’t count, then why bother? Why should we try to be better people at all if our relationship with God is a gift of grace?
Imagine someone handing you the keys to a brand-new car. It’s a gift. You didn’t earn it. You didn’t pay for it. It’s a gift. All you have to do is reach out your hand and take the keys.
That’s faith. Faith is the open hand that receives the gift. The salvation God promises is the car. Jesus paid for it all, and you don’t add a penny.
Now, what happens after you take the keys? Would you park the car in your driveway and forget about it? No. You would drive it, take care of it, give your friends rides in it, and you would say thank you to the person who gave it to you.
Nobody made you do those things to get the car. You do them because you have the car and you’re grateful.
Those are good works. Good works are what a person with the gift naturally does. They’re the fruit, not the price.
But if someone took the keys but never drives the car, leaves it parked and neglected, never thanks the giver, and acts like nothing changed; you’d wonder if they ever really took the keys at all. Real faith changes how you live, because God is at work in you.
That’s a simple way to explain the relationship between faith and works. We respond to God’s grace in ways that show we have received it.
In verse 20, Paul says that Abraham grew strong in faith and gave glory to God. His faith also became a blessing to others.
That’s a great way to summarize how saving faith transforms us. We respond to it in worship. We grow spiritually. It changes the trajectory of our family and our future, just as it did for Abraham and Sarah. And our faith becomes a blessing to others.
There will certainly be struggles and doubts along the way, but in the end, we trust God will do what He said He will do.
This leaves us with open hands. Abraham couldn’t produce a son, and you and I can’t produce our own righteousness. We have nothing to bring, and everything to gain from the gift of God.
And look at what Paul says he gives. Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Our sins were dealt with at the cross, and the empty tomb is God’s declaration that the debt is paid in full. There is nothing left for you to add.
That’s good news if your faith feels small this morning. You don’t need to be strong enough, certain enough, or consistent enough. You don’t need to be concerned with having the right kind of faith… You need to be looking at the right God. A trembling hand can receive a gift just as well as a steady one.
And if you’re learning to rest well in the finished work of Jesus, then your faith will grow and your fruit will increase for the glory of God.