The Faith of the Gospel

The Faith of the Gospel Rich Nathan October 20, 2013 Romans: The Gospel of God Series Romans 4 I want to begin with a question today. Is Christian faith more difficult to sustain in the 21 st century than it was in the 20 th century, or the 19 th century, or 18 th century, or 17 th century or the thousand years before that? I believe that faith in Christ has always been hard and that Christians in every age have faced faith challenges peculiar to their own time. But I do think that faith in Christ is particularly hard in the 21 st century. Why is Christian faith so difficult given that we American Christians have more material resources than any group of Christians in all of history? We have more Bibles, more translations of the Bible, more Christian books, more access to Christian teachers and preachers via the Internet, more conferences and training events, and counselors than any group of Christians ever has had. We always need to reflect on the times we re living in. That s part of my job as a Christian pastor to continually reflect on the time that our church is living in and to ask which way the wind is blowing; what are the headwinds that make forward progress in Christian faith particularly hard work today. I think there are two challenges to faith that are peculiar to our time. The first is pluralism. In virtually every urban area of America, we are thrown together with multiple cultures representing a remarkable diversity of people and beliefs and religions. For most of human history, most communities lived in isolation from each other. But we find ourselves today thrown in with so many different people, who have so many different beliefs - at our jobs, in our neighborhoods, in our schools. And, for the first time in history, because of the growth of communication technology, the Internet, TV, and films, we are constantly exposed to a continual flow of information communicating different beliefs and different perspectives. In most times and places in human history, pluralism was the exception to the rule. And where it existed, it operated within the framework of a strong dominant culture. That strong dominant culture is no longer the case. We have multiple cultures offering differing beliefs and differing perspectives. So pluralism makes Christian faith more challenging today. The second thing that marks our time is the absence of a supportive community that would assist people to believe. So individual Christians find themselves on their own in the workplace, in classrooms, on sports teams, and on their own they are trying to 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 1

navigate all these different perspectives on sexuality, and family life, and meaning and money, sickness and death, and a hundred other items. Individuals find no cultural support for a generally Christian perspective on any of these things. Jesus Christ is not the inevitable answer that the culture offers. So how do I find meaning in life? Jesus Christ is not the obvious answer that the culture offers. What will heal my marriage? How will I face sickness? What comes after death? Simply put, Christ is less obvious than he once was. And for many people the idea that Jesus Christ provides answers is not obvious at all. James Davison Hunter is probably America s leading commentator on modern culture from a Christian perspective. Here is what Hunter wrote in his wonderful book called To Change the World: While it is possible to be a faithful Christian believer, it requires an act of will much greater than in the past because the reminders of God s love, or his judgment, or his purposes in daily experience all those things that reinforce belief may not have disappeared, but they have receded from shared public life. Consider, for example, God-talk. In a predominantly religious culture, it is relatively easy to integrate the language of faith into the discourse of everyday life commerce, education, civic life, and so forth. But in a culture that is characterized by the simultaneous presence and interaction of different communities, this kind of speech becomes less probable because it is indecipherable to those outside of the community of faith. God-talk becomes more strange and archaic, less natural and more foreign, spoken awkwardly, if at all. Hunter argues that Christian faith is more difficult today than in the past because a person has to exert more will to believe. You are not carried along by the currents of culture. In the regular course of life you don t hear that many people outside of church talking about God. And if you start talking about God in your workplace, in the classroom, at the gym, it seems weird to a lot of other people, out of place, foreign, sometimes embarrassing. So, if you want to grow your Christian faith today, you have to work at it really, really hard. You can t cruise; you can t coast. You must make regular intentional decisions to be faithful and to exercise faith. I m doing a series from Paul s letter to the Romans, a series that will take us all the way to Christmas. My series is titled The Gospel of God. And today I want to consider the issue of faith, particularly as it confronts us in the 21 st century. Faith is central to the gospel message. I ve tilted this talk, The Faith of the Gospel. Let s pray. 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 2

Romans 4:1 8 (NIV) What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about but not before God. What does Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, So shall your offspring be. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why it was credited to him as righteousness. The words it was credited to him were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. As a preliminary matter, the first thing I want to point out is that: Faith does grow The Bible teaches that there are degrees of faith. You see that here with Abraham. Romans 4:19 20 (NIV) Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, There is strong faith and weak faith. The gospel of Matthew records the story of the Apostle Peter, who got out of a boat and tried to walk on water like Jesus. When he began to sink, the Lord corrected him and said, You of little faith, why did you doubt? 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 3

There are degrees of faith. Take the case of the Syro-Phoenician woman, who kept holding on and pressing Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus turned to her and said, Woman, great is your faith. And in one other case involving a Centurion, who sent a message to Jesus about his servant, who was sick. The Centurion said Jesus didn t need to come to his house, but only had to speak the word and his servant would be healed. Jesus said, I have not found so great a faith in all of Israel. So there are degrees of faith. Faith does grow. There is mustard seed faith, a little bit; and there is great faith, there is strong faith, and there is weak faith. Here is the question: How does faith grow? The first think I think we see in this text is that faith: Faith relies on the Word of God Romans 4 is all about the Old Testament example of Father Abraham, the man through whom God said he would bring salvation and blessing to the whole world. Why do we Christians care about what the Old Testament says? Let me make a simple point here and then we ll go into Paul s argument in detail. My simple point is that to grow you faith as a Christian requires you and me to rely completely on what God says in the whole of scripture for life. I mean all the Bible the parts you like and the parts you don t like, the parts you agree with and the parts you struggle with. To grow your faith you have to take the entire Bible seriously including the parts that cause you tension. So many people today pick and choose. They say, I like what the Bible says about forgiveness, but I don t like what the Bible says about sex. I like what the Bible says about mercy, but I don t like what the Bible says about divorce. The principle upon which Jesus staked his life was his submission to Holy Scripture. I m told that there are 1800 verses of Jesus actual words in the New Testament. 1800 verses. If you have a red-letter Bible you can count them up. 1800. Of these 10% or 180 verses are scripture quotations from the Old Testament. Jesus frequently says, It is written. Let me put it this way. To say that you are a follower of Jesus, but you disagree with Jesus approach to the Bible is to deny the very principle upon which Jesus based his life It would be like saying, I agree with Rich on most things, but I just don t get this Christianity that he is into. I personally think that it doesn t matter what you believe, so long as you are a decent person. And I don t think it really matters what you believe about Jesus whether he died on a cross for sin, or rose from the dead. After all, those things happened 2000 years ago and they are pretty irrelevant to us today. But, 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 4

otherwise, apart from that, I really agree with Rich on the whole way that he thinks about life. I would respond and say, You don t understand me at all! The entire basis on which I have staked my life the way that Marlene and I have arranged our marriage, the way the we arrange our finances, my career choice and what I do in the morning, what I do during the day, what I do in the evening, my friendships, my choices, my future it is all rooted, it is all staked on my view of Jesus! So to say that I m a follower of Jesus and deny the principle of his life which was his confident embrace of the whole of scripture is to simply conjure up a Jesus of your own imagination. It is simply the crudest form of idolatry which is always about re-making God in our own image. To grow your faith in Jesus means that you follow the real Jesus approach to the Bible. That s what Jesus whose life and example we follow did. He stakes his life on what God said in scripture. Let me make this really practical. At the depth of Jesus sorrow and suffering, he quoted scripture. While he was on the cross, we read in John 19:28: John 19:28 (NIV) Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, I am thirsty. Why did he say, I am thirsty? To fulfill scripture. In Luke 18:31, Jesus is going to Jerusalem. What does it say? Luke 18:31 (NIV) Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. And in Luke 23:27-30 here s Jesus carrying the cross. He sees women and quotes scripture to them: Luke 23:27 30 (NIV) A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed! Then they will say to the mountains, Fall on us! and to the hills, Cover us! 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 5

Jesus based his entire life on scripture. Growing in faith requires us to do the same thing. Notice that when Jesus was facing the hour of his greatest need, when he was suffering, when he was overwhelmed, when he couldn t possibly move forward in his human strength when he faced the cross and when he was hanging on the cross, what does Jesus rely on? He relied on scripture. Over and over, especially as he approached the cross, Jesus quoted scripture. When you are at bottom, friend, when you are facing your own cross, when you are out of resource, when your world is collapsing, when your marriage is collapsing, when you face severe health problems, or financial problems, when you are overwhelmed you are out of work, your daughter is pregnant out of wedlock, your son is in prison, your family members are using drugs, you are wrestling with a problem, life is going entirely in the wrong direction and you have reached the end of your rope and at the end of your wisdom, how do you find faith? How do you grow faith? You rely on Scripture. In Scripture I find God s promise. In Scripture I find God s plan. Here is God s person. I might not be able to feel anything right now, or experience anything right now, but I am relying on the Word of God. Friends, I tell you in good times feed yourself with Scripture so that in bad times when you are squeezed and pressured and at the end of your rope, what comes out of you is the Scripture. How do we grow our faith? Faith grows by relying on the Word of God. Faith grows by relying on the grace of God. Faith relies on the grace of God Here is what we read in Romans 4:1-3: Romans 4:1 3 (NIV) What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about but not before God. What does Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Verse 3 is a direct quote from Genesis 15. Now in Genesis 15 we read this is verses 2-6: Genesis 15:2 6 (NIV) But Abram said, Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir. Then the word of the LORD came to him: This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. He took him outside and said, Look up at the sky and count the stars if indeed you 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 6

can count them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. And in Romans 4:3, Paul says: Romans 4:3 (NIV) What does Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. But then this incident of Abraham looking up at the stars and believing God is followed up by a very strange ritual that speaks to us about God s way of salvation. Here is what we read: Genesis 15:7 8 (NIV) He also said to him, I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it. But Abram said, Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? You need to understand in the Old Testament world the land was the place of salvation; it was the inheritance. It was the sign of God s blessing. To have the land was to be saved, to be secure, and to be provided for. So Abram is saying to God, How can I know that your salvation is sure for me and for my descendents. Show me the way of your salvation. Show me how people like me get saved. God says, OK, and we read these instructions. Genesis 15:8 11 (NIV) But Abram said, Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? So the LORD said to him, Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. You say, This is really weird. What s going on with the cutting up of all these animals? In ancient times the way that people would make an agreement with each other was they would cut an animal in half and they would set the animal up with one half on the left side, a space between, and one half on the right side. And they would walk between the pieces identifying themselves with that cut up animal and they would take an oath saying: If I don t fulfill my side of the bargain, may I be cut in two, may I be treated like this animal, may I be killed if I don t fulfill it. We see this, for example, in Jeremiah 34:17-18: Jeremiah 34:17 18 (NIV) 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 7

Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD freedom to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth. Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. God was pronouncing judgment on the people in Jerusalem. And here is the judgment. So, typically, both parties would walk through the cut up animals. In ancient times it was called cutting the covenant. They would walk through the animals and then they would call this curse down on themselves. Now, let s look at how God s plan to save the world differs from this ancient approach of making a covenant. Genesis 15:12 (NIV) As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Genesis 15:17 18 (NIV) When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates Darkness descends and Abraham falls into a deep sleep. Abraham doesn t walk through the pieces. Instead, there is this fire, like a burning torch hanging in the air and this fire which represents the holiness and presence of God goes through the pieces alone. What do we get out of all of this? We get that the plan of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament to save the world through Abraham is the story of God s unconditional unilateral grace. God not us See, if God said, Abraham, you walk through first and then I will go through after you, that would be a conditional promise. And that is the way most covenants are in the Old Testament. If you do this, God says, then I will do that. But God s promise regarding salvation is unconditional and unilateral. God is literally saying, I will walk through the cut up animals by myself without you, without anything you are doing. You are asleep. You add nothing to this at all. God walks alone through the cut up pieces. And God in his unbelievable condescension is saying, May I be cut up like those animals. May it be 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 8

done to me as has been done to these animals if I don t fulfill my oath to save any who have the faith of Abraham. Wow! And do you know there was another moment in history when darkness did come. It was 2000 years after the incident in Genesis 15. It was the time we call Good Friday when God in the person of his Son, Jesus, hung on a cross and he said, It is being done to me; I m going to take all your broken promises and your whole broken life and I m going to allow my body to be cut apart to save you. Pure grace! Friends, the story of the gospel is a story about what God has done to accomplish salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who he has appointed Lord of all. The story of the gospel is not about you and me. The gospel has a single actor; it is a solo act. It is about God and what God has done. God walked through the cut up animals alone. Remember, Abraham was asleep. Thos gospel is not about your good stuff, or your bad stuff. The gospel is not about your past, your present, your future, or your good intentions because the gospel is not about you, or me. It is about God and what God has done by himself on the cross. The gospel is a solo act. Faith grows when you stop looking at yourself and you start looking at Jesus Christ. Faith grows when you stop introspecting and examining all of your emotions and your thoughts and you fix your eyes on Christ. Here is what Paul says in v. 4: Romans 4:4 (NIV) Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. The fact that we need to rely on the grace of God means that salvation is a matter of: Faith not works See, the Rabbis taught that Abraham because of his good deeds gained standing with God. That Abraham s good deeds were meritorious. They stored up a big account in heaven s bank with God. In fact, the Rabbis taught that Abraham s account in heaven, because of his good deeds, was so full that it was enough for all of the Jews who followed after him in circumcision. Paul is very concerned that we understand that Abraham got right with God only by faith and not by works because if it were by works, he would have something to boast in before God. Something he could pride himself in. Something that he could march up and down before God and say, Look at how good I am, God. Even God is forced to recognize and to reward me for my goodness. Friends, let me tell you something. You know a good test for how well you or someone you are talking to understands Christianity is what you boast about. What you take pride in. A Christian is someone who fundamentally stops boasting about themselves 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 9

and their own accomplishments. The characteristic of someone who has not met Christ and not really understood the cross of Christ as the sole payment for their sins is that they boast about themselves and their own accomplishments. A really good test for whether you understand Christianity and have committed yourself to Christ or not is to listen to what you boast about. If you look at Paul, before Paul became a Christian, what came out of Paul s mouth was boasting about himself. About his heritage. About his family background. About his religious accomplishments. About his schooling. About his knowledge. About his religious activity. Read Philippians 3. It is a litany of boasts. He was born of the tribe of Benjamin, of the people of Israel, a Pharisee. He obeyed the law scrupulously. But after he came to Christ, Paul says: Galatians 6:14 (NIV) May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. The Christian is someone who boasts entirely about what God has done in Christ. Christ is the hero of Christian stories. Let me tell you what Christ did. He took someone like me, who didn t believe anything at all, who was so cynical and empty and hard, and made me care about other people. He gave me meaning in life. He softened my heart. It is because of Christ that I ve been able to sustain a marriage. It is because of Christ that I ve been able to be a decent father to my kids and a decent grandfather to my grandkids. The hero of the Christian story is Christ! Faith keeps us from boasting. And it is important that we not turn faith into a work. Paul says, What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. But you keep boasting out from the front door and you say, Okay, I am not going to talk about my goodness or my works. And boasting comes right in through the back door. We are so full of pride. You know how it comes through the back door? Because we turn faith into a work. We start taking pride in our faith. Many people have these theologies that say, Well, you know, God tried to save people through good works, but they couldn t do it. So he established a lower bar. He made it easier for people. He established the way of faith. You must never turn faith into a work. And by a work I am talking about something that would catch the eye of God. A work is something that because you have done it, you have accomplished something in God s sight and merited something from God. Faith is not some meritorious thing that gains standing with God. Christ gained you standing with God. His shed blood on the cross and gained you standing with God. It is Christ and his cross that merited any favor you may have with God. Faith just relies on Christ and receives God's favor. 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 10

What is faith? Faith is simply a channel, a means, by which we receive righteousness, that is right standing, from God. Paul says this in verse 3: Romans 4:3 What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. It was not as if God looked at Abraham s faith and said, Okay, Abraham, your faith merits righteousness. No, faith received the righteousness, the right standing, that God gave as a gift. Faith is a channel. Faith is an instrument. Faith is a way to receive the gift. Faith doesn t save us so much as faith receives God s salvation. God does all the work in saving us. And faith trusts God and what God does. It is the object of faith that saves us. So we never boast about our faith. Let me try to explain this by one simple analogy. You know, in the Bible one of the ways that faith is described is by using the analogy of the human body. Sometimes the author will say that faith is like the eye that looks to Jesus. Faith enables a person to stare at Christ who saves. Faith looks at Christ. Faith looks at the cross with the eye of faith. Now, if you have ever been in love and stared into the face of your lover, did you immediately think, The only thing I can concentrate on now is my eyes? Thank God that I have eyes. or did you rather think, like most people, The only thing I can concentrate on now is my beloved. See, faith always draws attention away from itself onto the object. It doesn t boast in itself. The Bible says that faith is like a hand that grips Jesus and the gift of salvation. When someone hands you a gift, do you say, Oh, aren t I great because I have hands to receive the gift? Or do you say, Thank you for the gift and your focus is on the gift. John 6 says, Faith is like the mouth that takes in the Bread of Life, eats the Bread of Life. If you are sitting before a great meal, do you say, Well, right now as I look at that meal, the only thing I can think of is I am just so glad I have teeth. When I hear people boasting about their faith, as in some of the faith movements, and talking about how great their faith is and what wonders their faith accomplished. Or even when I hear people say, Oh, I wish my faith was like yours. I realize the person doesn t understand faith at all. Because faith doesn t talk about itself. It is not a work. We don t boast in faith. We boast in the object of faith, God. At the end of the day what Christians want people to say is not what a great faith we have, but what a great God we have. Not look at your faith, but look at God s faithfulness. Faith receives, faith eats, faith looks at, but it does this as an instrument and in no sense a meritorious way. 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 11

And finally the reason Paul says that it cannot be works, but it must be faith alone is because if it were works, we would be putting God in our debt. Because we re relying on God s grace, salvation must be: Gift not debt Romans 4:4 (NIV) Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. Listen, faith alone secures grace alone. The only way for salvation to be a gift, the only way for salvation to be sheer grace and not to be a debt owed is if salvation came simply by trusting God and not working for God. You know, if you work for someone, then at the end of the day, they owe you. And when you present your bill and they pay you, they are only giving you what you deserve. If a plumber comes to work at my house and repairs the pipes and at the end of the day presents me with a bill, when I pay him, I am not giving him a gift, I am giving the plumber what he deserves. I am meeting an obligation. I was in his debt and am simply paying off the debt. God is never ever your debtor or my debtor, not at the beginning of the Christian life, nor in the middle, nor at the end. But you know, somewhere along the line, I believe that we move away from the idea that everything comes to us as a matter of grace, God s free gift to the undeserving, and we start believing that somehow God owes us something. After all, I have been a Christian now for 40 years and I am working in ministry and I am trying to do this and that for God, surely I deserve a certain amount of help. You have been a Christian for five or eight years, or ten years, you have been praying and you have tithes and gone to church, you put yourself on the line. Surely, you deserve something from God an answer to prayer, a provision for your finances, a loving partner to do life with. Let me tell you, friends, one of the most dangerous views you could ever adopt is that God has suddenly gotten in your debt because of your Christian activity. That God owes you something. You know, I believe that a good deal of peoples' anger towards God is based on this faulty idea that they have become God s creditor. I believe that some of us need to repent today, especially if you are angry with God. Some of you are frustrated with God, God is delaying too long in answering one of your prayers for a job, or for a marriage partner, or for a healing or some other blessing. Or God has recently disappointed you. I believe a huge amount of folks' anger and disappointment with God is based on the fallacious notion that you have become God s creditor. We must never 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 12

say, not even in a veiled way, You owe me, God. Not at the beginning of the Christian life and not at the end. It doesn t matter what kind of service you have done for God. It doesn t matter how much you put yourself on the line. How much you risked. How much you have given up. Always, always, always you come to God as the greatest debtor in the world. Always you say to God, God, you owe me nothing. You don t have to answer one of my prayers. The fact that I get to draw one more breath is sheer grace. If you gave me what I deserved, I'd be in hell right now. You don t have to do anything for me. And any little thing that you do, God, you do as a matter of sheer grace to someone who deserves absolutely the opposite. Faith grows as you recognize it is all about God, not us. It is all about faith, not works. It is all about gift, not debt. Faith relies on the Word of God. Faith relies on the grace of God. And: Faith relies on the forgiveness of God Lets look at Romans 4:6-8: Romans 4:6 8 (NIV) David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them. The Apostle Paul loves this word credit in v. 6: Romans 4:6 (NIV) David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: The Apostle Paul loves the word credit. We see it in v. 3: Romans 4:3 (NIV) What does Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. We see it again in v.4: Romans 4:4 (NIV) Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 13

And we see it in v. 6: Romans 4:6 (NIV) David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: And it is the same word in v. 8: Romans 4:8 (NIV) Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them. It is the same Greek word. The word credit or reckon is an accounting term. It refers to a deposit put in your name, a deposit in your account. Now, there are two ways to get something in your bank account. You earn money and you put your money in your bank account that s one way. A second way you get money in your account is that someone gives it to you a gift; the money is transferred to your account from someone else. We simply receive it. It comes from outside of us. Most of us are constantly looking at our balance sheet and thinking we have earned all that s in our account. The gospel is based on something entirely different. Its what God has place in your account. He s put righteousness in your account. He s taken sin out of your account. He doesn t reckon your sin to you. He s put right standing before him in your account. He s put forgiveness in your account. Now, why does relying on God s forgiveness help to grow you faith? I can t come to God; I can t look at God; I can t rely on God, if I don t first lay hold of the forgiveness of God. If I think that God has something against me, that if I approach God he does not have an open hand, but has a stick, if I am filled with shame before God, I am not going to believe that God would give me anything. Friend, if your conscience is bad before God, you are going to run from God. You can play the religious game; you can do church, but you are not going to come to God believing that he wants to bless your life, if you think he is holding your sin against you. You are always going to be apprehensive. Many folks live as if they are just waiting for the other foot to fall. This is the way the world lives apart from Christ. My friend, Mark, has a bumper sticker that reads: Grace not karma Most of the world lives with a sense of karma what goes around, comes around. The general law of the universe is that you reap what you sow. You get paid back in the same currency that you use. This is a general law of the universe. 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 14

But is there anything that stops this law? Is there anything that s like stick in the spokes of a wheel, that stops this law of sowing, reaping, of going around and coming around, of karma anything at all that stops it? Yes the grace of God. God not reckoning your sins against you, but forgiving your sins. The cross of Jesus Christ is the stick in the spokes. It stops this law of inevitable connection between sowing and reaping. And until you re really grasped the forgiveness of God God does not hold confessed sins against you - you are always going to struggle in faith. Psalm 103:12 reads: Psalm 103:12 (NIV) As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. How far is the east from the west? You know, if you start due north on any point on earth you will eventually cross over the top of the globe at the North Pole and you will start going south again. But that s not true if you go east or west. If you start going west from Columbus and you continue in that direction, you are always going to be going west. North and south meet at the North Pole; but, east and west never meet. In a sense, they are of infinite distance apart. God says he removes our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west. He is saying that our transgressions have been removed an infinite distance from us. How does he do that? God laid our sins on Jesus Christ. God took on himself the penalty that we should have born. Because of Christ s death in our place, God s justice has been satisfied. God can now without violating the moral law of the universe of what goes around, comes around, God can now forgive us freely, completely, absolutely. The Bible says that God puts our sins behind his back, a place where he can t see it anymore. We see it; God doesn t. Scripture says in Micah 7:19: Micah 7:19 (NIV) You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. God has taken our sins and has hurled them to the depths of the sea. He is not going around with a trawler to dig them up again. Our sins are lost forever because they ve been paid for and dealt with by the death of Christ. Faith grows by relying on the Word of God. It grows by relying on the grace of God. Faith grows by relying on the forgiveness of God. And finally, Faith relies on the character of God Romans 4:18 21 (NIV) 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 15

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, So shall your offspring be. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Look at Abraham. He had no hope. It says in v. 18: Romans 4:18 (NIV) Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, So shall your offspring be. Everything in Abraham s life was hopeless, and he faced a double death: Romans 4:19 (NIV) Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah s womb was also dead. God made Abraham a promise and when Abraham was 100 and his body was as good as dead, Sarah s womb was also dead she was 90 years old, barren and could not produce children; Abraham could not produce any children when the situation was hopeless, Abraham grew strong in faith. Now notice faith is not a matter of denying the evidence. It is not escapism. Verse 19 says: Romans 4:19 (NIV) Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah s womb was also dead. You know, the sign of a cult is that they close their eyes to the facts. We are going to pretend that reality is the way that we want it to be. Cults are all escapists in their orientation. They pretend that sickness doesn t exist. They pretend that pain and disappointment are other than pain and disappointment. Abraham looked at the facts. He looked at his body. He looked at Sarah s body. He knew that their bodies were worn out. He didn t close his eyes to that. He didn't pretend he was 25 years old and Sarah was 18. Some people think that faith is unreasonable. Faith is not trying to believe what you know is not true, as one Sunday 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 16

School boy put it. Closing your eyes to the evidence as atheists would have it. Faith is listening to all the evidence before you reach a decision about God. I want you to hear this. You know, unbelief, doubt, is essentially escapist and unreasonable. Unbelief is creating your own world. Unbelief says that this world exists the way my mind thinks it exists without God in control; without a Father who cares; without someone who is at the center of the universe whose heart is good and whose heart is love toward me and my family. Unbelief creates its own world. Sin is escapist because it creates its own illusory world. Sin says that my way is better than the way that God has said. That getting a divorce, even though God says not to do it, is going to turn out for my blessing over against obeying God. Sin says running from your vows and running from your commitments makes more sense than obeying God and keeping your vows and your commitments. Faith takes the universe the way that it is. Faith takes reality seriously. But faith takes into account all of the evidence not only whatever it is we are going through and all the problems and all the obstacles. Faith takes into account all of the evidence, and, you know, all the evidence includes God. All the evidence is not just what the doctor said. It is what the doctor said plus God. All the evidence is not just what you are currently looking at in your marriage. It is what you are looking at in your marriage plus God. All the evidence is not just your financial situation currently. It is that plus God. It is not just this incredible disappointment. It is the disappointment plus God. I love verse 20: Romans 4:20 (NIV) Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, Do you want to know the secret of growing in your faith? In every situation you weigh in God and you give glory to God. Another way to put it is the secret to a strong faith is a deepening knowledge of God. You face an obstacle, sickness, trial, but then you weigh in God and you start saying, God, you are omniscient. You know everything. This little obstacle that you are facing didn t catch God by surprise, did it? Do you think God promised you something to provide for your needs and then God was surprised by something utterly unanticipated a surprise move by your company, so God is now in heaven wringing his hands? Oh my gosh! I didn't plan for that when I made that promise about providing. It caught me totally off guard. Now I have to scramble to make something happen. Friends, let me share a little secret with you. God is not scrambling, trying to improvise a solution for you and God is not sweating the outcome of His activity. He's totally in control even though we are not and we're frantic and panicked. He's in control. 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 17

You say, Well, yeah, but the problem I am facing is due to my bad choices. I did this deliberately. I walked away from God. Do you think that God didn t know that? That you would do that? If you turn back to God, God can and will bring blessing back into your life. Take into account that God is the master of the universe. When you are struggling with faith, take into account that nothing is too hard for God. Take into account God s power. Abraham was fully persuaded that God had power to do what he promised. He lays that out in verse 17: Romans 4:17 (NIV) As it is written: I have made you a father of many nations. He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. God s power is evident by resurrection, bringing life to the dead God brought life to Christ, who was dead; God gives life - life to dead marriages; life to dead emotions; life to callings. And calling things that were not as though they are. Some of you think your calling into ministry is dead. It s over because of life circumstances, because of bad choices, because of whatever, your calling is over. Remember the God who brings life to the dead. Remember the power of God displayed in the resurrection. Faith grows by considering the character of God. He is omniscient; he knows everything. He is omnipotent; nothing is too hard for him. He is trustworthy. Romans 4:20 (NIV) Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, It could be standing on a word that God has spoken to you personally by the Holy Spirit as you have prayed. I mentioned before the issue of calling. There are many, many, many people who have gone through great delays in having a calling in their life finally fulfilled. Some of you may have been called into ministry as young people. And there have been a lot of delays along the way. Maybe you took a side track and maybe you took a different job. Maybe you got involved or had a family and you financially couldn t see how you could get the training for ministry. But I will tell you, if the Lord has spoken to you and he has put a promise in your life about something, faith clings to that and holds onto it. Has the Lord made you a promise about something? A promise about marriage? A promise about your kids? A promise about a calling? A promise about ministry? A promise about healing an emotional or physical problem in you or your kids or your spouse? Has the Lord said something to you? 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 18

God wants to grow your faith. He wants to give you a greater capacity to lay hold of the greatness of God. Let s pray. 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 19

The Faith of the Gospel Rich Nathan October 20, 2013 Romans: The Gospel of God Series Romans 4:1-8, 18-25 I. Faith does grow II. How does faith grow? A. Faith relies on the Word of God B. Faith relies on the grace of God 1. God not us 2. Faith not works 3. Gift not debt C. Faith relies on the forgiveness of God D. Faith relies on the character of God 2013 Rich Nathan www.vineyardcolumbus.org 20