Against All Hope We In Hope Believe
(based on Romans 4:18)
God’s Message to Abraham.
“You are the designated father to a multitude of nations before God. In whom thou hast believed; who quickeneth the dead, and calls those things which are not, as if they were. Without hope Abraham believes. In the promise of becoming the father of a multitude of nations.”
This is God’s promise to Abraham:
“So will thy seed be.” (Rom 4:18)
The patriarch was not sickly in his faith. It would have been easy to doubt while contemplating his sluggish body. (for he was a hundred years old.) And the torpid womb of Sarah. Abraham stayed faithful. He did not ignore the realities. Abraham never once hesitated. He embraced God’s Word as God’s promise. The promise of God, is where Abraham shows us he is not one lacking faith. But he was strong in faith, and gave glory to God; (Rom 4:17-20, Murdock, paraphrased)
The promise (or covenant) God gave Abraham stated that Abraham would be the father of many nations. (Gen 17:2-4) And that the entire world would affected , blessed,through him (Gen 12:3). This promise being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus was from Abraham’s line, and the whole world is experiencing the blessing. God kept His promise to Abraham.
Abraham never once doubted that God would fulfill his promise. Abraham’s life reveals many mistakes, sins, and failures. I see many similarities there with myself. As well as amazing examples of wisdom and goodness. Abraham trusted God. His faith being strengthened by the obstacles he faced, and his life was an example of faith in action.
One look at his own resources and strengths would spell doom. Subduing Canaan and founding a nation demands undying faith. Complete trust. Looking to self, he would have given up in despair. He would have failed. But Abraham looked to God, obeyed him, and waited for God to fulfill his word.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope, believed. And so became the father of many nations. As it is is written
“So will your offspring be.”
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead. Since Abraham was about a hundred years old. And that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Abraham still did not waver through unbelief about the promise of God,. Abraham strengthened in his faith. And gave glory to God. Being persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it “attributed to him” as righteousness.”
The words “attributed to him” are 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 obedient unto death for our sins and experienced resurrection. For our justification. (Rom 4:18-25)
Paul explains that Abraham had pleased God through faith. IN CHRIST alone. Before he had ever heard about the rituals that would become so important to the Jewish people. We, too, have salvation by faith IN CHRIST plus nothing. It is not by loving God and doing good that we experience salvation. Neither is it by faith plus love or by faith plus good deeds. We experience salvation by grace, only through faith IN CHRIST. Trusting him to forgive all our sins.
With great clearness and power the apostle presented the doctrine. Justification by faith in Christ. He hoped that other churches also might receive help. By the instruction sent to the Christians at Rome. But how could he foresee the far-reaching influence of his words! Through all the ages the great truth of justification by faith has stood as a mighty beacon. To guide repentant sinners into the way of life. It was this light that scattered the darkness which enveloped Luther’s mind. And revealed to him the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse from sin. (Eph 2:13). The same light has guided thousands of sin-burdened souls to the true Source of pardon and peace. (John 14:27)
For the epistle to the church at Rome, every Christian has reason to thank God. {AA 373.3}
The prophet Isaiah looked down through the centuries. And saw the rejection of prophet after prophet. And finally of the Son of God. By inspiration, Isaiah accepted the Redeemer. So too did those who had never before counted as among the children of Israel.
Referring to this prophecy, Paul declares: “Esaias is very bold. He saith: “they found me who sought me not.” I was manifest unto them that asked not after Me. But to Israel He saith, All day long I have stretched forth My hands. Unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.”
Even though Israel rejected His Son, God did not reject them. Listen to Paul as he continues the argument: “I say then, Hath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew. Do you not realize what the Scripture saith of Elias? He makes intercession to God. Against Israel. Saying, Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, and digged down Thine altars; and I am left alone. And they seek my life.
But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
Israel had stumbled and fallen, but this did not make it impossible for them to rise again. In answer to the question, “Have they stumbled that they should fall?” the apostle replies: “God forbid. But rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles. To provoke them to jealousy. The fall of them be the riches of the world. The diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles. I magnify my appointed office. If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what must the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?”
It was God’s purpose that His grace reveal itself among the Gentiles as well as among the Israelites. This had been outlined in Old Testament prophecies. The apostle uses some of these prophecies in his argument.
“Hath not the potter power over the clay?” he inquires, “of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, was willing to show His wrath? And to make His power known. And endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? That He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy. Which He had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
As He said: I will call them My people, which were not My people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it will come to pass. In the place where God said unto them, Ye are not My people; there will they known as the children of the living God.” (See Hosea 1:10).
Who against hope believed in hope
The faith of Abraham. It bore an exact correspondence to the power and never-failing faithfulness of God. In the ordinary course of things, he had not the best foundation of hope. Yet he believed that he should be the father of many nations. All according to that which God promised. That his posterity should be like the stars of heaven for multitude, and like the dust of the earth.
When Abraham was too old. Beyond any hope of having a child, he based his hope on God’s promises instead. He believed that his offspring would be as many as the stars of the heavens. Because the all-powerful God had promised it.
Notice the remarkable alteration made by the R.V. in Rom 4:19. The A.V. suggests that Abraham refused to consider the physical disabilities. Which seemed to make the fulfillment of God’s promise impossible;.
the R.V. says that he looked them all in the face. As though taking into account all their significance and force. Then he looked to the promise. After balancing one against the other. He decided that the Word of God must stand. Great and forbidding were the difficulties in the way. He realized that what God had promised, God was able to perform.
Let us remember. From the time we trust Christ. Whatever may have been our present frailties and temptations. We being reckoned as righteous in the sight of God still have the promise. We may count on absolute deliverance from the power of sin. Do not look down, brooding over your weakness! Do not look back upon your past, strewn with failure! Look up to the living Christ! All the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus, 2 Cor 1:20.
Christ says “Yes” to all God’s promises. That’s why we have Christ to say “Amen” for us to the glory of God. And so God makes it possible for you and us to stand together with Christ. God is also the one who chose us and put his Spirit in our hearts to show that we belong only to him. (2 Cor 1:20-22, CEV)
God alone can give us a settled and established position. He anoints us for service. Seals us with His Spirit for safety, likeness, and authentication. And in this way gives us the earnest and foretaste of heaven. you what to believe. We are working with you to make you glad, because your faith is strong.” (2 Cor 1:24, CEV)
Paul did not ever desire to have dominion over other people’s faith. Christians everywhere are learning that the Holy Bible, alone, contains what is necessary. to faith and practice. No person, society, church, council, presbytery, consistory, or conclave is in control. No human source , has dominion over any other person’s faith. The word of God alone is the Christian’s rule, and to God alone we are to give account of the use we have made of it.
In matters of “faith” Paul was only a “fellow helper of their joy” in believing, (Rom 15:13; Phil 1:25)
The transformation made by God in the spirit of the believer will be evident in the daily life. Christian doctrine must lead to Christian ethics. Doctrines lead to moral purposes, even with, especially with, Bible prophecy. In Rom 12:1 and Rom 12:2 is the basic commitment required of the Christian in light of all that God has done.
Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God. Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him. (Rom 12:1-2, CEV)
Spiritual transformation starts in the mind and heart. A mind dedicated to the world and its concerns. Will produce a life tossed back and forth by the currents of culture. But a mind dedicated to God’s truth will produce a life that can stand the test of time. We can resist the temptations of our culture by meditating on God’s truth. And letting the Holy Spirit guide and shape our thoughts and behaviors.
We see by experience that in our own human strength, resolutions and purposes are of no avail. Must we, then, give up our determined efforts? No. Our experience testifies that we cannot do this work ourselves. Help from One who is mighty to do it for us. But the only way we can secure the help of God is to put ourselves wholly in His hands, and trust Him to work for us. As we lay hold of Him by faith, He does the work. The believer can only trust. As God works, we can work, trusting in Him and doing His will {6BC 1080.6}
How should we respond when we struggle to obey? God has not left us alone in our struggles to do his will. He wants to come alongside us and be within us to help. God gives us the desire and the power to do what pleases him. The secret to a changed life is to submit to God’s control and let him work. Next time ask God to help you desire to do his will.
God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him. (Phil 2:13)
To be like Christ, we must train ourselves to think like Christ. To change our desires to be more like Christ’s. We need the power of the indwelling Spirit (Phil 1:19). The influence of faithful Christians. Obedience to God’s Word (not exposure to it). And sacrificial service. Often it is in doing God’s will that we gain the desire to do it (see Phil 4:8-9). Doing what he wants we trust him to change our desires.
God Himself is at work in our lives and all that He does in our lives is for His good pleasure (Rom 8:28). It pleases God to do good for us. But He can only bless obedience to His will (John 15:10). Our ultimate goal should be to please Him in all we do. God supplies both the desire and the enablement to do His will. We only need to ask and receive what Jesus supplies.
The yes to all God’s promises is in Christ. And that is why we say “Amen” through Christ to the glory of God. (2 Cor 1:20)
His divine power has given us everything we need for the Christian life. Through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises. Through them you may take part in the divine nature. Having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Pet 1:3-4, NIV)
Great and precious promises. Refers to the many offers of divine provision found in Scripture. These promises offer us the glory and virtue of Christ. As the basis for our growing participation in the divine nature. We have Christ within us, as He promised (John 14:23), to enable us to become Christlike (2 Cor 3:18). Because we have become new creatures in Christ. We have escaped the corruption (the moral ruin) that is in the world through lust (perverted desire). We should make our escape from this world evident to all by our behavior and the renewing of our mind (Rom 12:2).
And now I pray that God, who gives hope, will bless you with complete happiness and peace because of your faith. And may the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope. (Rom 15:13)