Our Rescue Requires Trusting God's Promises Regardless of our Circumstances...

Yesterday, we saw the Apostle Paul point the readers of a letter that he wrote to the members at a church in Rome to a story that is recorded for us in the very first book of the bible called the Book of Genesis. To understand what happens in Genesis 17, however, we first need to understand the context in which this story takes place. Some 13 years before this story, in Genesis 15, we see God remind Abraham, who was 86 years old, of His promise to make Him a great nation that would leave a great legacy.

However, 13 years later, Abraham is now 99 years old. And Abraham still has had no children. For 24 years Abraham remembered God’s promise that he would be the father of many nations. For 24 years Abraham remembered God’s promise of being the forerunner and example that a multitude of nations would follow. For 24 years Abraham remembered the promise of having an amazing legacy. And for 24 years that promise had remained unfulfilled. And it is in this context that we enter into this story in Genesis 17:1:

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. "I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly."

Now imagine yourself as Abraham in this story. How would you respond? You have waited for 24 years as a promise remained unfulfilled. How would you respond? What would you say? What questions would you have? “Really God? Because I am 99 years old it has been 24 years since you first made this promise to me. What are you waiting for”. Notice Abraham’s response:

Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. "No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. "I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. "I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

Abraham fell on his face in an act of faithful and obedient worship. In Romans 4:17, Paul explains that Abraham fell on his face to demonstrate that he was entrusting himself in complete confidence to God. The God who Abraham recognized as the One who created the universe from nothing and who had the ability to bring that which was dead back to life. When Paul uses the phrase “in hope against hope he believed”, this phrase literally means that Abraham, contrary to all human expectations, looked forward with complete confidence to God fulfilling His promise. Abraham, despite all evidence to the contrary, placed His confident trust in God’s promise that he would become the father to many nations.

And there was a great deal of evidence to the contrary. You see, Abraham had heard this promise before. This promise had rung in his ears for 24 years. There was also additional evidence, which we see Paul reveal for us in verse 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;

When Paul uses the word contemplated here, this word literally means to examine in a reflective manner. And as Abraham examined his body, here is what he saw. Abraham was 99 years old. And in Abraham’s day, there was no such thing as Viagra or Cialis. Abraham looked at his body and viewed it as good as dead, which literally means worn out. Then there was Sarah. Sarah was approximately 90 years old. And Abraham also had to reflect on the deadness of Sarah’s womb. When Paul refers to the deadness of Sarah’s womb, he is revealing for us the reality that not only had Sarah not had any children during her child bearing years, but Sarah had already passed through menopause.

Yet despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Paul explains that Abraham did not become weak in faith. His confident trust in God and His promises did not waver. His confident trust in God and His promise was not limited by the evidence that his circumstances presented to him. As a matter of fact the exact opposite occurred. And it is in Abrahams’ response to his circumstances and God’s promise that we see revealed for us a timeless truth that is essential to embrace if we are to experience rescue from the insurmountable problem that our selfish rebellion and sin creates for us. So let’s at Abraham’s response together, beginning in Romans 4:20:

yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Instead of responding to the overwhelming evidence of his circumstances by being unwilling to commit to God and His promises, Abraham leaned into and placed his confident trust in God and His promises. Abraham was devoted to follow God and trust God. And as a result of leaning into God and trusting God in the midst of his circumstances, Abraham responded in two specific ways that demonstrated his confident trust. First, in verse 20, we see that Abraham’s confident trust in God’s promises resulted in him giving glory to God. Abraham’s confident trust in God produced honor, praise and devotion to God.

Second, in verse 21, Paul explains that Abraham, “being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.” Abraham was fully convinced that God would give them a child. And because he was fully convinced that God would keep his promises in spite of their circumstances, he was also able to perform. And yes, this is referring to sexual performance. Who says that Bible does not talk about sex? Remember, Abraham is 99; Sarah is 90 and is on the other side of menopause. I imagine that sex was not what it once was for Abraham and Sarah. Now in case you thing I am making more about this than what Paul is talking about here, just look at Sarah’s response to the idea of having a child that is recorded for us in Genesis 18:11-12:

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"

This phrase literally means, “after my wearing out, have I had sexual pleasure?” You see, God did not promise that He would provide them a child, by just placing a baby in Sarah’s belly. No, Abraham and Sarah were going to have a baby the old fashioned way. They were going to have to perform. Without Viagra or any other pharmaceutical aids. They were going to have to get past their age; they were going to have to get past Sarah’s menopause; apparently, they were going to have to get past the fact that intimacy between them was not as pleasurable as it used to be. Abraham was going to have to act on his confident trust in God and his promises.

And it as at this point that Abraham had a decision to make. Was he going to focus on his circumstances? Or was He going to trust in God’s promises regardless of his circumstances. And the decision that Abraham made was to trust in God’s promises regardless of his circumstances. And it was Abraham’s confident trust in God’s promises that enabled him and empowered him to perform. It was Abraham and Sarah’s willingness to act with confident trust in God and His promises that demonstrated their faith by which God graciously intervened in a supernatural way to provide for them a son, named Isaac.

And it is here that we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us a timeless truth that is essential to embrace if we are to experience rescue from the insurmountable problem that our selfish rebellion and sin creates for us. And that timeless truth is that Rescue requires trusting God’s promise regardless of our circumstances. You see, Paul’s point to the members of the church at Rome, and us here this morning, is that Abraham confidently trusted that God was a promise maker and that God was a promise keeper. And as a result of Abraham’s faith, as a result of his confident trust in God’s promise, it was reckoned, or credited to him as righteousness. To reckon or credit literally means to put credit to ones account who has no credit or account. God gave credit to Abraham, who had no credit or standing before God.

And what God gave Abraham was righteousness, which as we discovered earlier in this series is the quality or state of being right with God. As a result of his confident trust in God’s promise, Abraham was given credit by God as being right with Him.
And in the same way today, for us to receive rescue from selfishness and sin requires that we trust in God’s promise regardless of our circumstances. Tomorrow, we will see Paul reveal this reality for us as he concludes this section of his letter to the church at Rome.