The Law of Faith - Part 5

Romans 4:9-22

Preached March 15, 2009, Grace Family Church of Americus

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Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

What is it to believe God? To believe God is to believe Him for who He claims to be. This is why faith cannot be separated from the Word of God….God reveals Himself…His character and nature….His divine attributes and wills….to us through the Scripture….and so to believe the Scripture is necessary for salvation. God is One who cannot lie. If He says of Himself that He is merciful and gracious …then we can trust that He abounds in these in such as way as to always see our faults, yet in His grace, always forgiving them and in His mercy always restoring us to Himself. If He be abounding in lovingkindness, then He always has in His provisions not only those things which meet the needs of the slave, but also those things which a loving Father desires for His own children. If He be longsuffering, then He will surely meet our needs in exactly the right time, patiently enduring our rushing and lovingly correcting us back on the right path. If our God be abounding in goodness, then we can be sure that all of His purposes for each and every thing we go through are good, and perfect…that we can say to all His providence yes and amen, for all things do indeed work for the good of those who love Him. If He abounds in truth, then there can be no falsehood in Him, nor any degree of turning, that He be not like we are, but a God in whom all of His ways are truth, and can be trusted completely and followed unwaveringly. If He keeps mercy for thousands, and if I be in those thousands, then surely His mercy can be kept for me. If He is One who is a forgiver of iniquity and transgressions and sins, then I can believe and know that He can do so completely, even in such a wretched wretch as I. If He by no means clears the guilty, yet is said to be the One who is just, AND the justifier, then I, being one who has faith in Christ Jesus crucified, can know that because Christ is the victim for my iniquity, transgressions and sins, then I can never suffer for them.

I can also believe God by treating Him like who He is in truth. Scripture tells us here in our text that we grow strong in our faith as we give glory to God (Romans 4:20). Believing the things above, and acting as if we believe them to be true, even in the teeth of circumstances that seem completely to the contrary….as the Scriptures say of Abraham…in hope believing against hope….we give glory to God, and God therefore gives us more faith. No distrust….this means that this faith is through and through, not just on the surface….

Does God save you to the uttermost, and you follow Him in religion, yet not in practical life? Can God save your soul, yet is His hand short when it comes to the salvation of your children? Of course not….then give glory to God and believe God that He will do it through the means by which He has prescribed in His word….through YOU having the Scriptures on your heart, and YOU teaching them to your children and grandchildren, speaking of the truths of Scripture when you lie down, when you rise up, and when you walk along the way. Can God give you the ability to worship Him on the Lord's Day, to pray and sing and do all things well that day, but not rest of the week? Of course not…then give glory to God and in everything you do, in word or in deed, do all to the glory of God in your workplace, with your friends and neighbors. Go your way, and give glory to God by making melody in your hearts all week long, in hymns and songs and spiritual songs. Has God given you reason to thank Him for salvation? Then thank Him for bread too, always giving thanks to Him in EVERYTHING in the name of the Lord Jesus.