The Heritage of Hope – Part I
This is an exegetical sermon on Romans 4:18-22 titled, The Heritage of Hope – Part I and looks at the hope of faith that began with Abraham and finds its culmination in Jesus Christ. This sermon was originally preached by Pastor Duane Smets on March 26, 2006 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA. Audio unavailable.
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::The Resolved:: Sunday, March 26, 2006
“The Heritage of Hope – Part I”
Romans 4:18-22
Duane Matthew Smets (elder)
Romans 4:18-22
ESV (English Standard Version)
18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
Intro
Good evening church. Tonight and next Sunday night we are in Romans 4:18-22 looking at the “heritage of hope” from Abraham, the ancient Chaldean. Let’s read the text.
The other day at work I found myself in a conversation with a friend at work who was asking me about our church and was asking me about what we preach and what our sermons are like. So I was explaining to him how we rotate the preaching between Nate and Justin and I and how each of us kind of has our own sort of style and then I was trying to think of how to explain to him what we preach on and I realized something. I realized that because of our commitment to preach through books of the bible, right now Romans, and that because we work in our sermons at really looking at the words and trying to understand them…I realized that what we are doing when we do that is escaping what can so easily happen when a sermon is focused the individual preaching as if the preacher has the secret, that he figured it out, the meaning of life, as though the preacher has some sort of capital on the one true religion. We escape that because we seek to understand something outside of ourselves.
so when we come to a text like tonight’s, the way I see my job of preaching is to help make sense of the text for you in order for you to consider the world and your life and what text says and decide for yourself whether you think it is true or meaningful for you. Let’s pray.
God of grace, hope, faith and the promise of righteousness. You are the One from whom all things have come. Give us eyes to see your glory tonight I pray. Open these words up to us that trust and conviction and strength might flood our souls. Would you act in such a way tonight that we could understand what is being said in the words of this book and that as a result our hearts would spring with holy affection for you. Build us up, teach us, and draw us unto yourself. AMEN
Context
So first let us think about where we are in the book of Romans. The first two and half chapters were mostly devoted to the condition of human beings. Paul, the author of Romans, argued that we are all really messed up, everyone. I am reading this book right now by Douglas coup land called, “all families are psychotic” and I think Paul would agree, deep down all of us are really screwed up. Then half way into chapter 3 he dove into explaining the significance of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross and how because of that messed up people can be made right. And here in chapter four he has been using one of his star witnesses, Abraham, to illustrate the truthfulness of his claim. So when our passage tonight in verse 18 begins, “in hope he believed against hope…” the “he” is referring to Abraham.
Now notice something with me. Look at verse 22, “that is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness.’” Now look at verse 3, earlier in chapter four, “for what does the Scripture say, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’” now if you follow all the connective words, you know the ones like, “for” and “but” and “that is why,” what you notice is that everything in this chapter is about this phrase “counted to him as righteousness” and tonight’s text looks at a significant time in Abraham’s life to illustrate how this “counting” or “crediting” worked out for him. Since Abraham is being used as an example for all of us and since we phrase this passage in the form of a question, you could say it is “how do humans experience this counting or crediting?” Paul, acknowledges that faith is counted as righteousness, now he says “okay” and asks how did that play out with Abraham?
Hope against hope
“In hope he believed against hope.” It is the first time Paul has used this word in Romans. So what is hope? We’ll get to hope against hope, but what is hope?
Hope is simply defined is expectation, but hope in the bible is different than the way that the word “hope” is commonly used today. I found out last week that I filled out my W-2 at my last job wrong and it turns out that we owe about $1200 dollars and I was telling a friend of mine and he said, “don’t worry man, it’ll work out” and I said “yeah, I sure hope so.” But that is not what hope is in the bible, it is not just a human and earthly wish, it is an assured confidence. Hebrew is a very picturesque language and in Hebrew the word hope means to be stretched out towards, to long after or wait for. Like someone who would receive a message from the battle lines that the fight had been won and now the soldiers were coming home. The families would stretch out and eagerly await their return, hope. There is no question about whether something will happen or not but it is the expected waiting and longing for the day to come.
So if hope is an assured confident expectation, then what is hope against hope? If hope is having good reason for an assured confident expectation, then against hope is when there is no reason to have any assurance or confidence to expect that anything will happen. So what Paul is doing here is wordplay. He is saying Abraham had an assured, confident well reasoned expectation when from another perspective, namely the purely human one; there was no reason to have such a thing, everything pointed against that.
So Paul makes this statement, in “hope [Abraham] believed against hope” and then launches into Abraham’s story. So let’s just follow him and do that as well. He references two different points in Abraham’s life. First, vs.18 says he believed “that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ‘so shall your offspring be.” And then he references a second point in Abraham’s life in vs.19, “he considered his own body, which was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.”
Let’s look at the first reference. The story occurs in 15th chapter of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Let’s read from verse 1 (read until vs.6). In chapter 16 of Genesis, after who knows how many years, we learn Abraham and Sarah were having a problem because she couldn’t get pregnant. Believing that God’s promise was true but it not working out, Sarah comes up with this idea that Abraham should just have sex with her servant and get her pregnant and then Abraham would have children and God’s promise would be fulfilled.
Dumb idea, I know…and just a side note for you men out there, if your wife ever thinks you just having sex with one of her friends would be a good idea, its not. So God shows up on the scene again in chapter 17 of Genesis and repeats his promise to Abraham and then God just tells Abraham straight out how he is going to do it. So let’s pick up the story right there and read from verse 15 of Genesis 17 (read until v.17).
So that is the story. God shows up, in a vision (I don’t know if literal or just in his mind, the text doesn’t say), and tells this unsuccessful poor guy that he and his wife are going to have kids and that they will develop into this great nation. Some years go by and since his wife can’t get pregnant he figures what God said was true so he should do is just have sex with his wife’s servant. but then God shows up again and tells him that’s not how it is going to happen, that he just needs to keep believing and Sarah will have a child. Good story huh? You see the bible isn’t boring, it’s got all the great elements of a good R rated movie…sex, hot women, and a hero. It’s awesome.
Now that we know the story let’s go back to Romans and see what Paul says about it. in the passage of Romans we are studying tonight there two main theological points Paul makes about the hope of Abraham’s faith, one has to do with the form of faith and the other has to do with faith’s foundation. Or you could say one is about the nature of faith and the other is about the means of faith.
The form or nature of faith
Let’s look at the form or the nature of faith in this passage first, there are four phrases that describe it. The first is in verse 19, “he did not weaken in faith.” The second is in verse 20, “no distrust made him waver.” The third is in the last part of verse 20 “he grew strong in his faith.” And the fourth is in verse 21, “fully convinced that God was able…” let’s look at them one by one.
He did not weaken
To become weak is to become sick, without strength, where you are feeble and unable to stand. And it appears that Abraham was in a position where that could have happened. Think about the story we read about. “God” comes to him in a vision and tells him he will have children and the will become a great nation, many many offspring. He considers his body, he is a hundred years old, and he considers his wife who is ninety-nine and has never been able to get pregnant, and his faith does not weaken. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be this old dude in this impossible situation with everything against him. Think about it. He has no money because the only people who had money in those days where those who had lots of children to help them work. Who knows how well his action worked, no viagra available. And he has this old lady wife who in all their years together just cannot get pregnant. How would you feel? What sort of thoughts would go through your head? Think about the most impossible situations of your life and then multiply them times 100 years of life teaching you who you are and what you can and cannot do in this world. What would you think about God?
No distrust made him waver
Here is what Abraham thought. He did not become weak. And verse 20 tells us more, “no distrust made him waver.” We’ve explained at the resolved that there is one Greek word that gets translated three different ways in English and that is the word for faith, belief, and trust, they are all the same word. So no distrust is like saying no unbelief. So no unbelief made him waver. He had very good reasons for not believing, but he did not waver. He did not give up on God but held on. This word “waver” could also be translated “doubt” or to “be at odds with oneself.” so whatever reasons he had for becoming weak and for having distrust it wasn’t enough to throw him over and give into all out doubt. Instead the opposite things happened, let’s look at them.
He grew strong
The latter half of verse 20 says, “He grew strong in his faith.” Growing strong is the opposite of becoming weak. To grow strong here is to be endued with power. This phrase is used in ancient literature where rules would be put in place and given power or when the mythological Greek gods with give superhuman powers to individual men. As we pointed out earlier, there had to have been at least a few years maybe more between the times when God first made this promise to Abraham and between the time that it actually happened and during that time, rather than becoming weak he became strong. And rather than wavering he became “fully convinced.”
Fully convinced
Look at this phrase in verse 21; “fully convinced that God was able…” this is an interesting phrase. bible commentator Matthew Henry notes that those two words, “fully convinced” comes from one word which means to be “carried on with the greatest confidence” and that this word is a metaphor taken from ships that would come into the harbor with full sail. so the picture of faith here is one that does not get sick and feeble, it does not waver or continually vacillate, but instead is endued with power and flies into the harbor with full sails…fully convinced.
So here is my question, how did this happen for Abraham, how could it? It seems crazy. The form of the faith exhibited by him and laid out as an example for us does not seem to make sense. How could he not become weak, how could he not waver, how could he grow strong, how could he be fully convinced? The form or nature of this faith had to have something behind it. so let’s go back to each of these phrases and see what it was that gave rise to such a faith…what sort of foundation or means was given for Abraham to have a faith like he did.
The foundation or means of faith
He did not weaken – as he had been told
The first one, “he did not weaken in faith.” how? Look at the end of verse 18 right at the end before it says “so shall your offspring be” it says “as he had been told.” So God tells Abraham something, and then in verse 19 as we read, he considers his situation. So on one hand he has what God told him and on the other he has his situation and then he considers them. He weighs them out. He counts things up. And when he does that, God’s Word is too powerful in his mind, too convincing, too trustworthy, too awesome for him to give into weakness. When the God of the universe makes himself known, the God who made everything, the source of all beauty and truth, when he opens his Word up to you, there is no question about the scales. It is very similar to the response bible prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 17. the nation of Israel that did in fact come out of Abraham’s line and around at least 500 or so years later it had been conquered by another nation and God comes to Jeremiah and tells him that though Israel had been taken away as captives that they would return and Jeremiah responds “ah Lord God, thou has made the heaven and the earth and by thy great power and outstretched arm, nothing is too hard for thee (Jeremiah 32:17).” When we recognize who God is, weakness can be overcome no matter how stark or painful or hopeless our lives may seem.
He did not waver – concerning the promise of God
Let’s look at the second phrase, “no distrust made him waver…” why? Keep reading, “…concerning the promise of God.” Again the apostle Paul points out God’s word, the promise. Surely there were points when Abraham questioned himself, had moments of hesitation, but the decisive authority of God’s word won him over from wavering. Whatever feelings and thoughts he had were overcome by the trustworthiness of the one who made the promise. John Stott says this, “faith goes beyond reason; it always has a firmly rational basis. Faith believes or trusts a person and its reasonableness depends on the reliability of the person being trusted. It is always reasonable to trust the trustworthy.” Abraham must have reasoned that when you have a promise from the God who continually holds gravity and the solar system together, making the sun rise and set for his whole life that this God has proved himself trustworthy to fulfill his promise.
Grew strong in his faith – giving glory to God
How about the third phrase, “grew strong in his faith.” How did he grow strong? Douglas Moo notes that becoming strong takes time and training through meeting and overcoming opposition like one trains their muscles in a gym. So how did Abraham do this with his faith? Let’s read what comes after this phrase, “He grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.” He gave glory to God. Last summer we were studying Romans 1 there it says this, “what can be known about God is plain because God has show it. His invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceivable since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so humans are without excuse (somewhat paraphrased). And that passage of Romans 1 goes on to say that all these things are to cause humans to honor and thank God which brings him glory. So how does one give glory to God and therefore grow strong in faith? By recognizing that everything comes from him and thanking him for it and honoring him as he ought to be. It seems that Abraham’s whole life must have got caught up in this thing. He didn’t section different parts of his life out where God had something to do with some things and not with others. No, God was everything, and he was giving his life for that, not becoming weak, not distrusting or wavering, but instead growing strong by seeing God in everything.
Fully convinced – God was able
Lastly, let’s look at this phrase, “fully convinced.” How was he “fully convinced”? Is that even a possibility? Let’s read what means Paul identifies here. “Fully convinced that God was able to do what he promised.” So here we have promise again, God’s word, and here Paul particularly notes whose promise it is. It is God’s and he is a God who is able. Remember Abraham’s situation. He was convinced that since God is the one from whom life comes that he could control the functionality of human beings biology. It made sense to Abraham that if God was really God then he could open his wife’s womb up and enable her to have children. and not only that but he was convinced that God was able to determine and control and enable how many more children he would have and how many children his children would have to the point that they would become a great nation. He must have reasoned that if there is a God then he must not be like humans since he makes such promises, he must be able to make the promises come true. He must have a unique control over the events of the world and human history. You see I think Abraham had seen too much. I think that after 100 years of living that he must have realized that if there is no God then the world really is just chaotically spinning out of control and there is no reason for meaning or happiness or anything. He became convinced that the God, who first appeared to him in a vision and then other times in various forms, was in fact real and that his word was true and that he could be trusted.
So what is the means or the foundation that makes this kind of unweakening, unwavering, strong and convinced faith? Abraham and Paul’s answer, God’s word, God’s word, thanking and honoring God, recognizing that he is God therefore can fulfill His word.
Conclusion
So what about us? Where do we fit in all of this? I said in the beginning of my sermon that this whole passage looks at a significant time in Abraham’s life to illustrate how the “counting” or “crediting” of righteousness in verse 22 worked out for him. I said the question is trying to be answered here is “how do humans experience this counting or crediting?”
First we experience it as hope. When life is hopeless, when we get down and discouraged and don’t know which way to turn, faith gives us hope. A confident assured expectation. We try really hard to be a community as a church, to know what is going on in your lives. But we are only able to do that so much and beyond that are hard to have a real conversation sometimes. But whatever you are going through, whatever stage in life you are at, the Bible says to you tonight that there is reason for hope.
There is reason for hope because God’s word enables us to not weaken. There may be inward, directly opposing motions moving us to give way to the way of sin but as Jonathan Edwards says, in response to these motions we may become hardened and hostile and weak or we may become soft and resist temptation to give in and therefore be strong. We have the opportunity to consider God’s word and weight its truth against the weight of the world and all its trouble and in the end not become a sick and weak soul.
There is reason for hope because the rational evidence and reliability of the faith God grants can enable us to securely pass by moments of hesitation and doubt. There may be doubt for sure, but faith when it is tested will produce an unwavering trust.
There is reason for hope because the more we study creation and God’s word the more we will become strengthen and the more we will honor and thank God for what he has made and for revealing himself in human words. As we meet oppositions and trials our faith will be purified and strengthened and set firmly in the pursuit of eternal glory.
There is reason for hope because when you believe in a God who is able, who is unlimited in His power and knowledge, there is a security and a convincing that comes. You can rest because of a full sail convincing that occurs and what happens in life is not dependent upon you but in the divine one who governs His universe and His people with a careful loving hand.
Those are the reasons for hope. This text comes to us tonight and asks us what type of faith we have or want, it asks what type of faith we will follow. John Calvin in his study of this text rightly recognized that there are two kinds of faith presented here. he sais this, “[there is] one that…by succumbing to trying adversaries, occasions a falling away from the supporting power of God – the other arises from imperfection, but does not extinguish faith itself…the heart is never so strengthened, but that much doubting cleaves to it…the faithful have a continual conflict, and in this conflict their faith is often dreadfully shaken and distressed, but at length it comes forth victorious; so that they may be said to be strong even in weakness.”
You see there is a faith that weakens to the point of giving up; there is a faith that is constantly doubting and distrusting and never ends up making a decision one way or the other. There is a faith that does not give God honor or thanks, that doesn’t glorify Him and therefore never becomes strong. There is a faith that is never eventually convinced that God is real and that His word is true and that he is able to do anything at all. 1 John 2:19 teaches us that there are those who may appear in all manners to be Christians, to be people of faith and that they eventually abandon it which shows that they never had any real faith at all.
The mood of this passage of Scripture we studied tonight is one that is hopeful, exciting, encouraging, uplifting, promising, it is happy. And I believe it is in the Bible to joyously move you and inspire you to a real faith in God. Whether you are at a point in life like Abraham in the beginning when God first came to him or whether you are years down the road…the promises of this passage stand there for you today. You can have hope! Hear me tonight, there is hope for those who put their faith in the provision of God and they receive the rich inheritance of righteousness.
I am going to pray in a moment. Next week we are going to look at this passage again and look at some stuff we haven’t talked much about yet but that is in this fourth chapter of Romans. Stuff like fathers…a lot of us never really had fathers; this chapter has something to say about that. We want to talk about tradition, and other religions and philosophies and cultural ideas that are about today that this text is directly related to. And I want to open us personally a little bit and share how I experience these things called hope, doubt and God’s word. Sometimes it is good to step back and look at things as a whole and look at life today and look at what all of Scripture has to say about it. If you have a friend who is not a Christian or one who is considering the faith or whether that is you, this will be a great night to come and hear the hope of the gospel.
Tonight’s message is simple. I said it earlier that “there is hope for those who put their faith in the provision of God and receive the rich inheritance of righteousness.” As we move to communion we are reminded that Jesus Christ is God’s provision for us. His righteousness for our unrighteousness counted or credited to us freely through faith. Let’s pray.
