The Things That Were Not

 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[c] 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.~ Romans 4:16-17 (NIV)

The Promise comes by faith;

So it is through faith that we enter into the promises of God (by grace), and it is in this regard that Abraham is the father of all; The father of faith.

It is interesting to me that after we are given Abraham as a model of faith, Paul slips in yet another role model in faith.

have you spotted from the verses who that is?

the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Now, I understand this seems to be stretching it, to say that God acts in faith, but there is certainly a sense in which he does.

Knowledge of himself, his power and his attributes, causes him to speak in full faith that what he says will be done. 'Let there be light', he says, and there is light.

That God acts in faith is even more evident to us in the person of Jesus. Do you remember the miracle of the man with the withered arm? What did Jesus say to him? "Stretch out your arm".

Uh, hello Jesus, what arm?

And yet he calls it into being.

And the man's faith as he complies, mirrors Jesus' faith as he obeys and attempts the impossible.


I love that God is the best boss ever. He doesn't seem to ask us to do that which he has not done himself.


The things that are not;

And it is this creative miracle of faith that heartens me in the same way it heartened Abraham. "I will make you the Father of many nations", God says (His wife barren and his body as good as dead). He could have said, 'no way. This thing shall never be'. But he believed God who spoke of the impossible. No wonder it was credited as righteousness.

This is how the Lord works.

God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did (NKJV)

I like the New king James versions way of putting it. He calls that which is not as though it were. And guess what? When God does that, then what was not, becomes.  It becomes what he calls it.
That is why there is such power in a name.

Think of Peter.

Peter was called Simon, but the Lord called this impetuous hot head "The Rock".

And what Peter became, typified what The Lord Jesus had prophetically named him.

And what of you and I?

I am sure that Jesus has secret prophetic names for us too. They are found throughout scripture, as God describes through his apostles and prophets, the identity of the children of God. Search them and see what God says about you.

So what you see right now, is not what you will be. The whole of creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. I think what we will be and what we can be in him is truly awesome and worship inspiring.

And he is calling it into being.

You may not see it yet, but it is coming.

Stretch out you arm, he says.

What arm?, we say.

You cant call this an arm.

It has no muscle. it's a flap of skin filled with dead bones.

Yeah, but stretch it out anyway.

The Chicken and the Egg

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. ¹⁰ Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! ¹¹ And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. ¹² And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised~ Romans 4:9-12

It's the age old question of what comes first.

Ok, not so much chicken and egg here, but you get the idea. The debate as to what came first here (Circumcision or belief) could not have a clearer answer.

It is interesting that if we look at James, faith and works must be simultaneous , and never mutually exclusive. In fact, quite the opposite. True faith can only be proven if it bears fruit in good works (like an egg bears the fruit of a chicken).

And, yes, that is a separate issue, but it is also the same issue.

You see, circumcision is a work.

It is a work that is born out of faith. At least it certainly is in the case of Abraham.

But faith will always out itself in works.

As James so astutely observes; faith without works is no faith. It is a dead faith.

And of course the converse can be stated as truth too. Works without faith are also dead.

So to be pedantic, although faith seems to come first, it is perhaps better to say that  they come together, the inward reality and the outward expression.

Let us just take a step back to Romans 2:29

No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God.

 And we see that this work of circumcision of the heart (which will itself bear fruit) is done not by human hands, but by the Spirit of God. It is God's work.

Faith is a gift of God, not that we should boast.

If your heart is alive to God then that is a divine and sovereign work of the Living God. We are God's own workmanship, his masterpiece, his poema, created for good works in Christ which he purposed in advance for us to do.

We just have to stand in awe that God is at work in us. We are receiving SO great a salvation.

How majestic.

How humbling.

How marvellous, How wonderful,
And my song shall ever be,
How marvellous, How wonderful,
Is my saviours love for me.

Blessed Is...

David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷ “Blessed are those
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
⁸ Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

 

 

 

On the day of judgement,  I try to imagine standing on my own merit. I try and imagine how that would feel, even if I had lived the life of someone truly good and faithful, were I a Jackie Pullinger or a John Wesley, or if I had lived a quiet and humble life of a cleaner who shared their  bread with the homeless and their simple faith with all they came into contact with. I try to imagine that I was truly good, instead of a man who is largely fake, whose goodness is so intermittent and fickle whose faith wavers with every wind of thought, who lives to be seen to be good, rather than actual goodness. A man who did justly, rather than what ever he pleased and then asked for forgiveness later. A man who loved mercy rather than one who held onto his resentments long enough that they should embitter him and bring damage into the lives of those around him. A man who walked humbly before his God, who thought of himself with sober judgement rather than with puffed up notions of self importance.

I try to imagine what it would be like to stand before God with such a record behind me, but with no advocate to speak for me and no blood spilt in my defence.

How would I stand?

How would you?

 

If I were better than the best saint who ever lived, but stood apart from justification by faith,

 

 

I would still have nothing to make a case for me when compared to God's righteousness and holiness.

I would be speechless and utterly lost before his majesty.

And I would be cast from his presence.

David who wrote  Psalm 32, from which Paul is quoting, was a good man in many respects, but he was deeply flawed too.

I am so heartened by God's love of David. David pleased the Lord, somehow, in his earnest faith and passion. He was a tender hearted man in so many regards, and of all the sons of Jesse who were greater in stature and social standing than he was, God chose the youngest , the shepherd boy, to become his appointed King and the ancestor of Jesus.

And those wonderful words , which we love so much, were uttered about him; Man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.

I have no idea if Psalm 32 were written before or after the Bathsheba incident, where he committed both adultery and murder, but in a sense it does not matter.

He was still called a man after God's own heart.

David's life-time long walk with God taught him the value and need of God's forgiveness.

As the psalms say elsewhere;

 

 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,

Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness,
Ps 103:3

 

Even if I lived the best life I could I could never stand apart from mercy.

To not have my sin counted against me, now that is truly amazing.

My sin is atoned for, not by my tears of repentance, or my life of penance, but by Jesus glorious sacrifice and precious shed blood.

Everything I have ever done or ever will do, is covered, beneath the blood.

I am white as snow.

I would take one drop of that blood, and that one moment of forgiveness, over a lifetime of righteousness and good deeds.

I need not defend myself or plead my case.

Here I stand with but one plea,
That thy blood was shed for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nature of Trust

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~ Romans 4:4-5

Paul, who has been arguing between  the justification of faith and the work of law keeping (as means to righteousness), makes a huge and critical distinction in  the transaction that takes place through both.

If you are working then you get what is due to you. And you have failed to keep the law, even though you have worked at it. Because if you break the law at any point (and we all do) then you are a law breaker and guilty of breaking the whole law, certainly in regards to righteousness. Then you will get what you are owed.

And what you are owed is nothing.

But the virtue of the other system, of Justification by faith, is that it is not merely a cold legal, contractual obligation from your employer, but rather a free gift, from a loving God.


"The wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"~ Romans 6:23


The key words for me this morning, here in these verses are these; To the one....who trusts God who justifies the ungodly.

You see, it is in God's character. He justifies the ungodly. That is who he is and what he does. Our part is to trust in the nature of that same God.

The nature of trust in God, is to trust the nature of God.

It takes faith to see this nature, and the God you believe in, to some extent, is the God you get.
To those who see him as a tyrannical judge....well, they will never please him, and they get nothing from him, ultimately.

But to those who see his true nature, that he is a Justifier of the ungodly, a merciful and loving God who bestows freely, well then how much easier is it for us to trust the nature of this loving father?

And we are rewarded infinitely. He credits this faith (which in itself is a gift, not that we should boast in it) as righteousness.

It is so much easier to trust in this God.

Seeing his nature opens our eyes to the possibilities of his love, and we even dare to fearlessly believe in him.

We see him as he is, and we turn to him, not in fear and obligation, but in love and gratitude, and the rich nature of his righteous merciful love opens up to us like the locked gates of a secret garden , the pleasures of which we can enjoy from this moment and into eternity.

And as David the Psalmist said,

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me, all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.


 

Father of Faith

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."~ Romans 4:1-3

Paul has been talking about justification by faith. To the ears of many of his hearers the idea of God's approval being something that was not to be earned, but simply believed in was going to be a shocking one.

As one of my good friends says, "We don't need to earn God's love because he already loves us".

It's pretty simple really, when you look at it like that.

But Paul seeks to prove and illustrate his point to Jewish readers by embodying this abstract concept in a person. And not just any person, but the person that the Jews regard more highly than any other.

Abraham.

You think this is a new truth? (Paul seems to be saying). No this is one of the oldest truths. It was present right at the beginning starting with the founding father of our people!

Abraham discovered.

That means 'learned'.

He discovered that when he walked in faith, in relationship with God, it was credited to him as righteousness.

1. Without faith

It seems superfluous to say, but when we are looking for role models, Abraham himself may not always seem like a good choice. Fathering Ishmael with Hagar. Passing off Sarah as his sister......Twice!! He had his flaws.

But he had faith. Remember that without faith it is impossible to please God. Because anyone who comes to God must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

Faith is the spark that starts the fire. It is an enabling thing. Without faith it is impossible!! But with it, we can begin to trust and seek GOD, and embark on the most rewarding adventure ever.

Abraham becomes a father of a great nation, and his descendants, Naturally through Isaac, and Spiritually through Jesus, outnumber the stars.

He IS a rewarder of those who seek him.

There is always a reward for those who have faith in God, but none greater than the reward of a relationship with God himself. that he should take our beliefe in him, and credit it to us as righteousness. How incredible?!

 He will walk with us, just as he walked with Abraham.

And as a footnote, we all need people we can look to.

Good and Godly examples of faith.

Hebrews , which I have just been quoting, tells us to imitate those who through patience and faith receive what God has promised.

My own father has been a great role model for me in this matter, when I look at his long history of faithful service in the church, and how his desire for God, and his commitment to him has not waned over the (many) years of his life (sorry dad). He is still longing and praying for revival and to see God move in our little community. Even now, after most of his life is passed, walking with Jesus, he is still hungry for him.

We need Fathers and Mothers in the faith.

Paul sets an example in this, that he draws inspiration from people who showcase this living faith in God.

And I think we too will do well, if we can look for those people who through patience and faith receive what God has promised, in order that we may imitate them.

The Law of Love

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.~ Romans 3:31

Paul stood at a critical juncture in that there were many different voices vying for ownership of the gospel. Romans can be seen primarily as a defence of, and a laying out of the essential tenets of the faith.

Justification by faith alone was absolutely central and pivotal to Paul's understanding.

There were voices calling for strict adherence to the law, as though faith were not enough, demanding such things as circumcision of gentile believers.

And then there were those who were calling for a complete abandonment of the same law, citing grace as the overriding principle and having licentious freedom in mind.

Paul addresses them both here.


Under law, not that most of us have ever felt we have been, we strive to please God and keep the commandments because we are afraid of him and terrified of the consequences of breaking them.

The law makes us conscious of our sin, and of our inability to meet God's standard. It makes us aware of sin but renders us imprisoned within it.  Paul iterates in Galatians 3 that the law was a custodian. a jailer, if you will;

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ~v23

But the purpose of this was really so that we would understand our need for a saviour, yes, our need for God himself.

So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.~v24-25

You can see the relationship has changed from prisoner to liberated son.

William Barclay says in his study guide to Romans;

"Up to this time the Jew had tried to be a good man and keep the commandments because he was afraid of God, and was terrified of the punishment that breaches of the law would bring. That day has forever gone, but what has taken its place is the love of God."

He goes on to say that the purpose of the law for a free man is not that they fear Gods punishment but that they want to 'strive to deserve that amazing love'. Because of this change of relationship with God, through Christ we do this not because we are afraid of him, but rather because we love him.

This quote from Barclay is one of my favourites. It lays out our new relationship with the Father in such great simplicity and cuts through our pretentions like a hot knife through butter.

"He knows that sin is not so much breaking God's law as it is breaking God's heart, and therefore it is doubly terrible"

And so the purpose of the law, and even it's righteousness is upheld in those who are justified by faith alone. They are legally made righteous, but also the pathway of sanctification of the heart, the turning of our emotions and lives back to God and his standards, has begun to be walked.

We know the cost of sin.

We know the price of love.

We love our rescuer, and in that love, both his for us and ours for him, we are changed forever.

The God of Both

Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.~ Romans 3:29-30

I love that Paul is arguing from this standpoint. There is what he considers to be (and in fact is) an indisputable premise underlying his argument. That God is God of all people, and his salvation is available both for Jew and Gentile alike.

There is no racial basis for discrimination with God.

We see it time and again in scripture that he wants to populate the new heaven and the new earth with people from every tribe and tongue. He is a God who loves variety and diversity. Humanity reflects his creativity and in doing so it brings him glory.

The covenant and the law were always a means to lead us all to God. His purpose from the beginning was to bless Abraham so that through him, all peoples would be blessed.

And that means you and I, be we white, black, brown, orange, or blue. His love is accessible through these two simple access points.

The crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

Faith in the same.

Faith raises the bar, but opens the door.

That all who go in may be saved.

Hallelujah.

Basic Spiritual Maintenance

Prelude:

Speaking of maintenance, before I start into the text I just want to apologise for my failure to maintain this blog over the last few months. I found the daily effort to make time to squeeze in my blog writing, (which would inevitably run on and on as I got more into my subject) was proving difficult at best. I took a week off due to some tricky personal circumstances at that time  but found I had little will to return to making that effort again.

I have resolved that I will continue here, hopefully on a daily basis, but in (slightly) reduced form. These blogs will hopefully now be a bit more 'bite sized' .



For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. ~ Romans 3:28

I think those of you who have followed my blog and/or share my theological leanings will understand the concept of justification by faith. I have already unpacked it several times in this series in Romans, but here I just want to take a moment aside to focus on one word. That word is 'Maintain'.

If a car is not maintained it is liable to break down, as I found out to my detriment when my cam belt snapped and took out 12 valves from the engine of the most expensive car I have owned, thus writing it off. The cost of replacing the cam belt was negligible. The cost of not replacing it was thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Why does Paul state that he maintains this truth? He returns to it. He services it. he tweaks his thinking to ensure it is in line with it.

Because, though only one small part of the overall doctrine of faith, it is a vital one. Like the oil I neglected to put into my little Ford Fiesta (and killed it) it ensures the smooth running of everything and stops our faith from breaking down entirely.

I can testify, after many spells in the wilderness, that we 'who place no confidence in the flesh' need to rely on this truth more than anything else. That Jesus Christ is 'all our righteousness'. That apart from his work on the cross and his grace by which we have been saved into, through faith (which is not from ourselves that we may boast) we are lost sinners unable to set one foot into his presence.

The moment we lose sight of that it all starts to fall apart.

And if we do, in our arrogance, if we start to trust in our own goodness, it turns to pride. And pride sets us up for a fall. God opposes the proud.

But God's grace keeps us humble.

It struck me recently, after having 'blown it' in some way or other, how having been caught up in sinful behaviour, I felt like such a wretch and I longed to feel good about myself again, like I did before, that truly this was arrogance, that in my 'goodness' I felt alright, but truly I was just as dependent on grace then as now, only now I was more conscious of my sin. And which, I asked myself, is the more dangerous state of affairs.

In some ways, better to be a wretched sinner who knows it, than  a saint who thinks they have arrived.

No, I do not set aside the grace of God.

I am justified, not by my works but by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself before me.

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

I  maintain this truth because it maintains me.

If I start to drift from it, I need to secure my moorings.

Keep this truth because it is keeping you.

You are made holy and acceptable to God through Jesus' blood alone.

Nothing you can do or add to please or atone.