Father of All Who Believe: Romans 4:9-17 (Sermon)

 

WELCOME / TODAY 

Good morning, church. We are continuing our series in Romans. The apostle Paul has been writing to the church in Rome. Some recipients had Jewish heritage, and others did not. Some were religious and others were not. The cultural divide between the two was vast. Strict Jewish people grew up not eating with non-Jewish people. Their rules were prudish compared to those of the Greeks and Romans. Paul, being Jewish, was well aware of this historical divergence, and so was God. He had something new in mind. Times were-a-changin'. Paul began his letter to this diverse Body of believers by sharing good news about Jesus. The church had heard it before. Jesus was the foundation of their faith community. But there was a way that the truth of the gospel could sink in and smooth out the differences between people and round the rough places. In Chapter 3, Paul established that everyone, including the religious, needed the gospel. In Chapter 4, he unpacked how the founder of the Jewish faith, Abraham, was a model and father of all who believe. 

TEXT 

I am going to ask R.C. to read for us. Would you please stand with me in honor of God’s Word, if you are able? 

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 

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. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 

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, 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. (Romans 4:9–17, ESV) 

PRAYER 

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word, it is light and life for us. Please help us to comprehend what you are saying by the power of the Holy Spirit. Conform us more and more into the people you want us to become. Give us a faith to move mountains, a faith in you, a pure faith that trusts in the good times and bad. We pray this in Jesus’s name, amen. You may be seated. 

STRUCTURE & MAIN IDEA

Our passage this morning is a response to a question Paul asked in verse 9, “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised?” In Romans, Paul raised questions to prove his points. His point here was that Abraham’s blessing came by faith, not works, making him the father of all who believe. Thus, 

• No matter what you have done or not done, 

• No matter how young or old, 

• No matter your strength, intelligence, beauty, or resources, 

• No matter where you call home or the color of your skin, you can enjoy some of Abraham’s blessings. 

VERSE 9

Paul was continuing his train of thought. Jump back to Romans, Chapter 3, verse 29: 

“Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith” (Romans 3:29–30 ESV).

A distinguishing mark of the Jewish man was circumcision. The non-Jewish man often didn’t undergo this procedure. It was a religious rite for the Jew. Yet, we read in Chapter 3 that through faith, non-Jewish people were justified as were Jewish. God made a way for all people, not just the chosen children of Israel, to become right with him. Paul had inclusion in mind in his question, which we read. However, there is more to this blessing. Let’s keep reading:

“Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness” (Romans 4:9, ESV). 

God saw Abraham as righteous or right. He was just and right before God. If we look at the preceding verses, Paul described the blessing, quoting King David in Psalm 32. David described the blessing he experienced from God as forgiveness. God saw him as right and just and forgiven, which he desperately needed. You see, he had slept with his bodyguard’s wife, got her pregnant, unsuccessfully tried to cover it up, and then had her husband killed. That is reprehensible. For a season, David went through the motions of being the King of Israel and pretended to be a follower of God. He buried his shame, faked it, and did nothing to change. Consequently, he was dying inside. But God was not finished with David or willing to let him ignore the wrong he had done. He confronted him through a friend who was willing to jeopardize their friendship for God’s sake. It was a surprising come-to-Jesus moment that David faced. Rather than get defensive or justify himself, he admitted his sin and became broken over the harm and destruction that resulted from his illicit behavior. Sometime later, he used his musical talent to pen a song Paul quoted in Romans 4, which extolled God’s forgiveness and the practice of confession. Paul connected the dots between the blessings David and Abraham experienced. In what way? In both cases, God took sinful people and made them right with him. And the similarities continued. 

VERSE 10

Look at verse 10: 

“How then was it [the rightness with God] counted to him [Abraham]? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised” (Romans 4:10, ESV). 

In both cases, God made Abraham and David right before they obeyed the law, not afterward. Obedience was not a prerequisite for blessing. Instead, it was a byproduct. It was evidence of faith, not the cause. That is good news for all of us. 

RESULT OF FAITH IS OBEDIENCE 

Consider what God asked Abraham to do in Genesis. Unless you are a masochist, circumcision was not some over-the-counter, let’s get circumcised and spend the rest of the day participating in a badminton tournament. It takes days to recover. Yet, Abraham obeyed at the age of ninety-nine. Not only that, he would perform this on his eight-day-old son. What would it have been like? Some of my children were tongue-tied when they were born. When a baby is tongue-tied, the doctor clips the frenulum under the tongue to extend its reach. I watched one of those procedures and cringed at my child’s screams of pain. Do you think the newborn Isaac screamed when he was circumcised? What was that like for the parents to obey God’s call? To follow God like that took grit. It took living faith. How vibrant is your faith? Abraham is an example for all of us who believe. 

VERSE 11 

Jump to verse 11: 

He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. (Romans 4:11, ESV)

Paul told us this act was to make Abraham the father of all who believed. He was already a person of faith, but this act modeled and made him a spiritual father to us who believe.

EARTHLY FATHER

Some of us have great dads, others do not. God is the perfect Father. On top of that, in this verse, we discover another father: Abraham. He believed God’s promises to him. We can go back to see the first example of this in Genesis 12. God said to him: 

Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 12:1b–3, ESV)

Abraham demonstrated his faith through obedience. He left his land and his extended family. What would that have been like? Have you ever done that? I have. It was hard. For some, it may be a blessing to get away. "Going" for Abraham came at a cost. He didn't know where God was taking him. He didn't have Google Maps or GPS, an itinerary, or a clearly laid out plan. God didn't give him a blueprint or a five-year plan. Abraham just heard the Word of God and obeyed what he could. He had grit and enough faith for the journey ahead. How old was Abraham when he first obeyed God? We read in Genesis 12 that he was seventy-five years old. For some of you, you are well into retirement or hope to be at seventy-five. Araham was starting a second career. He was going to follow God for fourteen more years and then some. Can you picture packing up your things and moving at seventy-five?  

ELDERS 

A side note, today, we are dedicating our elders. We have three pastors at the church: Mike, Joe, and me. Mike and I are the co-Lead pastors of our two church locations. We have ten volunteer elders who the membership elects for a one-year term. You can look at the insert in your bulletin. We have some young guys like Justin. It is great to have younger people in our leadership. But you will also see names like Tom Jacobs, Doug Carlson, and Rich Sullivan. Two of them are retired. But they are not too tired to keep serving and following God. Not everyone will serve as an elder, but all of us have a spiritual purpose. I don’t care what age you are or what your ability is; God has a plan for your service. He had a job for Abraham, and he has a job for all of us. He called him to go. And he obeyed. 

ABRAHAM AND SARAH’S OBEDIENCE 

Abraham probably wondered how he would become a great nation, a blessing, and bless every family on earth with no kids. His wife and he had tried for decades, and they had no luck. Her womb was as good as dead. She was infertile. And four thousand years ago, in Abraham’s day, infertility was a liability. Not only were children needed for subsistence, male children provided protection and the hope of a future provision for widows and orphans. Psychologically, this could have gnawed at Sarah’s ego. What did she feel every time those around her got pregnant and welcomed new babies to their homes? Likely, she felt alone, inferior, afraid, angry, confused, and hurt. But God promised her a nation would come from their union. And she and her husband believed. And through that faith God counted them as right with him. And God repeated his promises to Abraham supernaturally again and again. 

VERSE 12 

Thus, God gave him this sign and seal of circumcision so he would become the father of the circumcised people, and he gave him this seal for another reason. Look at verse 12: 

“And to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised” (Romans 4:12, ESV). 

This rite was given to him so that he would become the father of all those who walk in faith. Is he your spiritual father? Do you walk in faith? Do you trust God? Do you? What does it look like to rely on God at work, at school, and in the home? Do you let him speak to you through the Bible? Or, do you go through the motions following everyone else, giving into your appetites and impulses? Have you been expecting God to do the miraculous and not seen it, so you doubt? Do you struggle with frustration at unanswered prayers? Where does God want us to go with our desires and disappointments? He wants us to talk to him, share with him, follow him, and trust him. Waiting on him and going along with his plans can be difficult. It isn’t always easy. Sarah struggled. An angelic group met Abraham over a decade later, after no children had come, and said that the following year, they would have a child. When Sarah heard this, she laughed. They asked her why. She lied and said she didn’t. Everyone knew she did. Embarrassing. And so how appropriate that her miracle child would be named laughter or Iaasc in Hebrew. Why did she laugh and lie about it? Part of her doubted that God could do the impossible. But another part of her believed. Why do I say that? Hebrews 11:11 states that, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised” (Hebrews 11:11, ESV). God was able to do the impossible, like bringing a child from a barren womb, or taking a sinful person and making him right with God, or taking an adulterous murderer and forgiving him. Do you believe God’s promises? Perhaps you doubt God can forgive or guide you. You have wrestled in life and lost too many battles. You are hanging on by a thread, exhausted, and it is a wonder you are at church. God has you here at Converge for a reason. A strand of faith is enough for God to rescue you and resuscitate you. Please don’t give up on him; he hasn’t given up on you. The Spirit of God is alive and at work in New Buffalo. Even if we are talking about fourteen years, God can answer those prayers. He can fill this room with trophies of God’s radical grace that rescues people from the clutches of sin. Have faith in God, church. 

VERSE 13

Look at verse 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” (Romans 4:13, ESV).  

God promised and blessed Abraham with land. He had an inheritance. God was going to give him and his people the entire world, in a sense. One day God will create a new heaven and a new Earth. And that blessing was a result not of circumcision, or law, but by faith. Why?

VERSE 14

Paul continued his thought, not with why, but why not. 

“For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void” (Romans 4:14, ESV).

If following the law, people became inheritors of God’s blessing, then the promises would cease to be in effect. Why would that be? 

VERSE 15

Go to verse 15: 

“For the law brings wrath” (Romans 4:15, ESV). 

The law brings what? []

• Does it bring an inheritance? No. 

• Does it bring land? No.

• Does it bring a child? No.

• Does it bring hope? No.

What does it bring according to Romans 4:15? [] What is that? [Anger] Why? Because people can’t keep the law! They break it. They are lawbreakers. 

NEWS 

Do you want proof? Look at the news. I check it at least once a day. And each time I find an article that makes me boil. There are stories of injustice that make me furious. People keep doing evil, wicked things and getting away with it. When caught, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. If I am angry at some stranger and injustice a world away, how wrathful will God be at a people he gave the simple command to love him and others, and they don’t, again and again? God is holy, and we are not. God is perfect, and we are not. We are sinful and deserving of his wrath, not his inheritance. 

VERSE 

Paul was making the point that if getting the blessing was based on law keeping, then his people wouldn’t get the blessing. 

“For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void” (Romans 4:14, ESV).

15B

But what was he saying in that second statement in verse 15? 

“For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15, ESV). 

Paul was teaching his Jewish readers. The law puts the standard out there for them, and they deserve God’s wrath. For those who don’t have the written standard, they may not be aware of transgression. However, he has written his standard on their hearts by the conscience and what is plain, so they too are without excuse. Everyone should be damned to hell. The only hope is God’s grace found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.   

CONSEQUENT 

That is why the next verse begins, 

“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” (Romans 4:16, ESV). 

So, the promise of God rests on our faith in God’s grace, not some inherent gumption to fast and pray and give to the poor. Our hope certainly is not in keeping all the Ten Commandments or being circumcised. If you have ever sinned (which is all of us), this verse should help us take a deep breath and relax. God is our hope. 

VERSE 17

As we look at the last verse of our passage, Paul reminds us of what the first book of the Bible says: 

“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” (Romans 4:17, ESV). 

Paul was quoting Genesis, where God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and made him the father of many nations. The Hebrew symbolism should not be lost on us. Abram means “Exalted father,” which he was, but Abraham means “Father of a multitude.” And he would become that too. But he wasn’t instantly. It was a promise. He had to wait. Fourteen years later, at ninety-nine years old, Abraham found that God was faithful and kept his word and gave him a son whom they named Laughter. From him came Jacob and Esau. From Jacob came the nation of Israel, and by faith, from him, came all who have, are, and will believe. 

POETIC

Paul reminded us of what kind of God we worship and serve. God is the God who brings something out of nothing. God doesn’t operate on our timetables. He does the unexpected. He sent a baby kicking in utero to a ninety-year-old. A heartbeat, a little foot protruding in the distended belly of a woman who should be a great-grandmother. And then birth. Something from nothing, like the creation of the world, ex nihilo. Hebrews 11:12, 

“Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore” (Hebrews 11:12, ESV).

Some of you women probably do not want to be pregnant at ninety. But back then, after all those years, this was like winning the Powerball. This was evidence of God’s faithfulness to his promises. 

QUESTION 

God has spoken. We have many promises and blessings in the Bible. Here, we see justification, rightness, and forgiveness are for the taking. There are other wonderful promises here to strengthen us. Some will come true in our lifetime, others in the one to come. Will you put your faith in God? Will you walk the path of faith like Abraham? Will he be your father, model, and example?  

APPLICATION 

As we come to the end of our text, we are not at the end of the book. Our passage continues to encourage us that the blessings of a specific people are for all who believe. God gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that aren’t. As I have had nearly forty-eight years around the sun, I have seen many people pass away. It is hard to say goodbye. I have also had dreams shattered, hopes deferred, and pain. Yet, God can bring good out of bad. He will conquer our sin once and for all. He will beat back death with the resurrection of heavenly bodies fixed up and whole. Injustice and suffering will be no more. The Bible says so. Do you believe it? Will you trust God? I will conclude with this quote from hundreds of years ago: 

“No greater honour can be given to God than by sealing His truth by our faith. On the other hand, no greater insult can be shown to Him than by rejecting the grace which He offers us, or by detracting from the authority of His Word. For this reason the main thing in the worship of God is to embrace His promises with obedience. True religion begins with faith.” (Calvin 1960: 99)  

Church, believe in God. 

PRAYER 

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word. Help us believe and strengthen us when we doubt. Give us faith in you. Guide us and direct us. Lead us in the way everlasting. AMEN!