Read Romans 4:16. The first thing we see is promise comes by faith. We obtain what we desire: approval, acceptance, right standing before God, forgiveness of our past, eternity with the King; ALL through faith not by seeking to earn it. Promise comes by faith, that which works can't do - faith does! It is a fantastic promise, we see in the next 13 verses that the promise includes: Personal righteousness before God and it also makes us the heir of all the world. The second thing we see about the promise from verse 16 is ".... so that it may be by grace and be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring." What is grace? It is the enrichment we don't deserve, God's riches to us at Christ's expense. When grace came in it guaranteed the promise. It is by God alone, therefore it IS guaranteed. God doesn't fail, God won't fail, God can't fail!
Read Romans 4:17-20. God is the object of Abraham's faith and our faith. The quality of our faith depends on the object of our faith, not the amount. Jesus told us we just need a little faith, that of a mustard seed, the object of our faith is God. Our God can move mountains, he calls the stars out by name, tells the sun when to rise and set, tells the waters they can go no further. There is nothing our object of faith cannot do, NOTHING. We shouldn't talk about our faith, we should talk about the God in whom our faith is fixed. The question is not how big or little your faith is? But, how big or little is your God? How big do you think he is? The passage tells us two things about God: He is the God who gives life to the dead. He is a God who calls things that are not, as though they were. He calls things into existence that don't exist. He is creative.
When we are called to exercise our faith, we will face obstacles. ".. against all hope, Abraham in hope believed." (vs. 18) "... yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God." (vs.20) God's promise itself was an obstacle of faith, it seemed too good to be true. God flies in the face of logic, our entire Christian life is too good to be true, and it is why so many people struggle. That is the God we serve: he promises us things through hopeless circumstances and gives staggering possibilites. Just imagine the conversation between Abraham and Sarah when God tells them they are going to have a baby, and that through that baby all nations will be blessed and through this child will come THE seed - the Messiah, the King of Kings. The promise of God hung on the fact that Abraham and Sarah had to have a baby. Faith isn't ignoring the facts. Abraham did see the facts, but he chose to focus on the fact of how great his God is. Our obstacles exerise our faith.
What is the objective of faith? Where does that take us? Read Romans 4:21-25. We can exercise the same faith as Abraham. Through our faith we are made afresh and anew daily. Like Abraham we are righteous, heir's to the world, full of the Holy Spirit, and a friend of God. We should have more faith than Abraham; we have the Bible God's written word, we live in a post-resurrection world, the Holy Spirit lives in us, what more do we need?
Discussion Questions:
1. Who or what is the object of your faith?
2. Where is your focus? Are you focusing on the facts? Doctors? Friends? Or a God that can speak change?
3. What obstacles have you faced in the past or are you facing now to your faith?
4. Where do you need God to call something into existence? Where are you hopeless?
Romans 4:1-15
Our human mindset is that of "earn this", we need to earn the life that was given to us; so in sports, career paths, school, family, music, religion. It is pervasive. Now, look at the message of the Gospel. God says, "You could never earn this. I will send my Son to earn it for you, to be your substitute to die on the cross so you can receive this free gift by faith."
Romans 4 talks about Abraham and Abraham's faith. Abraham was not saved by works, circumcision, or the law, he was saved by faith. Read Romans 4:1-5. These verses were very important to the Jews because Paul was referring to the founder of their religion. That Abraham was seen as righteous in God's eyes because of his faith, not anything he did to "earn it" by following customs but because he believed. Read Romans 4:6-8. Now Paul gives an example of David, the greatest king; he was seen as righteous in God's eyes apart from works. Again, no works, he did not earn it.
Circumcision was huge back then, the Jews felt it guaranteed salvation. Read Romans 4:9-10. Abraham was saved in Genesis 15 and was circumcised years later in Genesis 17. Read 4:11-12. The issue was not circumcision it was faith! Not by works, the law, or circumcision was he counted as righteous but by faith. Read Romans 4:13-15.
Why was God so emphatic about being saved by faith? He mentioned it four times in 1:16-17, nine times in 3:21-31, nine times in 4:1-15, and more in 4:16-5:12. Why so focused and riveted on faith?
Romans 4 talks about Abraham and Abraham's faith. Abraham was not saved by works, circumcision, or the law, he was saved by faith. Read Romans 4:1-5. These verses were very important to the Jews because Paul was referring to the founder of their religion. That Abraham was seen as righteous in God's eyes because of his faith, not anything he did to "earn it" by following customs but because he believed. Read Romans 4:6-8. Now Paul gives an example of David, the greatest king; he was seen as righteous in God's eyes apart from works. Again, no works, he did not earn it.
Circumcision was huge back then, the Jews felt it guaranteed salvation. Read Romans 4:9-10. Abraham was saved in Genesis 15 and was circumcised years later in Genesis 17. Read 4:11-12. The issue was not circumcision it was faith! Not by works, the law, or circumcision was he counted as righteous but by faith. Read Romans 4:13-15.
Why was God so emphatic about being saved by faith? He mentioned it four times in 1:16-17, nine times in 3:21-31, nine times in 4:1-15, and more in 4:16-5:12. Why so focused and riveted on faith?
- Earn this mindset so pervasive: Self-reliance, earn your way, do it yourself mentality in deep-rooted in the human heart. Every religion is focused on it, cults, and even much of the Christian church sadly. But not Jesus, not in Romans, not in the Bible does it focus on this "earn this" mentality.
- Stakes so high: World War II was thought to have high stakes, rescue europe from evil, racist, oppressive dictator and nazi regime. But the gospel is much bigger than this. World War II was 50-60 years of life and freedom instead of bondage. The Gospel is Eternity of life and living a life in Heaven instead of hell.
- Difficult Passages: The difficult passages, passages like James 2, Acts 2, and even Romans 2 they can confuse and are hard to understand. Why does God include those in the Bible? He's God and we're not! His ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. On one hand we have a handful of difficult passages and on the other there are tons of passages that are so clear, let the clear passages interpret the unclear. Not by works but by faith in Christ Jesus.
- Message of the Gospel counters of spiritual pride: If we were saved by works, if we contributed anything to our salvation, we would raise one hand in praise to God and the other and pat ourselves on the back. We would become proud, self-righteous, self-reliant people; that's just human nature. The way God planned everything, we have nothing to boast about, we did nothing. Jesus paid it all!
- Believers need to hear the gospel over and over: We need to be reminded frequently that it is a grace plan and not a performance plan. That it's not be works but by faith that we are saved. Just the blood of Jesus!
Discussion Questions
1. Do you have the "earn this" mentality? Are you still striving to earn God's grace and salvation? Are you on the performance plan or grace plan?
2. Are you still relying on your self , do you have a "do it yourself" mentality or are you completely trusting God?
3. Do you give God the glory he deserves are you generous with the praise you give him and the honor due his name or are you stingy and still "patting yourself on the back" thinking that you helped make something happen?
Romans 4:1-5
Read Romans 4:1-2. The question is asked, "What about Abraham? Was he justified by works?" Paul goes back to scriptures, Read Romans 4:3. Paul does what Jesus did, he appeals to the scripture. He quoted Genesis 15: Abraham believed God. Not Abraham obeyed, did good works, and therefore was good enough. Consider the text of Genesis, Abraham was told by God that his old barren wife was going to give him a child. Abraham believed and trusted in God's promise and that belief is what made him right in the eyes of God, it was credited to him as righteousness. It was not when he obeyed God, but when he believed that he was made righteous. This is the first time in the Bible that we see how to get right with God. By faith! By faith! By faith! How much faith does it take to sit on a stool? That's what God requires of us, enough faith to just sit. Faith is all about God, not about you. It requires humility, "I cannot do it, I need you Lord."
Read Romans 4:4-5. Verse 5 is the strongest statement in the New Testament on salvation by faith. All four of the clauses makes the point:
Discussion Questions
1. What is faith? What does it require of us?
2. Have you completely transfered trust in yourself over to God? What are you still holding onto that you don't want to give up?
3. Discuss this quote in your group: "How is it possible for the righteous God to declare the unrighteous to be righteous without either compromising his righteousness or condoning their righteousness?"
Read Romans 4:4-5. Verse 5 is the strongest statement in the New Testament on salvation by faith. All four of the clauses makes the point:
- And to the one who does not work: does not rely on works at all
- But believes in him: believes, puts all faith, not works
- Who justifies the ungodly: God justifies ungodly people? YES!!! It's a good thing too, because we are ungodly people. Romans 1-3 so clear of that.
- His faith is counted as righteousness: God sees our transfer of faith and trust from ourselves to him and counts that as righteousness for us. God wipes out our sin and then gives us righteousness on top of that.
Discussion Questions
1. What is faith? What does it require of us?
2. Have you completely transfered trust in yourself over to God? What are you still holding onto that you don't want to give up?
3. Discuss this quote in your group: "How is it possible for the righteous God to declare the unrighteous to be righteous without either compromising his righteousness or condoning their righteousness?"
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