06/06/10 Isaacs and Ishmaels

Last Sunday we finished our study

of the 3rd chapter of Romans.

It took us a number of weeks to study our way

through the last 11 verses of Romans 3,

and now we’re going to pick up the pace again

and move through the whole 4th chapter this morning.

The chapter we’re going to look at during the next few minutes

is one that requires us to step back

into Old Testament history.

To understand and appreciate what’s going on here

we need to remind ourselves

of the strong Jewish roots

of the 1^st century church.

For those of us who have come to Christ

from a non-Jewish background,

hearing what Paul was saying to us

in those last 11 verses of Romans 3

certainly raises some questions

about what God is saying to us

and what it means.

But they would most likely

not be questions about Abraham,

or David,

or some other Old Testament personality.

But for the first century Jew

it would have been a very different matter indeed.

The first century Jew

brought to God’s message of Good News

a strong heritage of life with God

under what we now call the Old Covenant or Old Testament -

the agreement that God made with Israel

when He freed them from slavery in Egypt

and began to form them into a nation.

At that time

God made a covenant

or an agreement with them

that said simply,

“If you obey Me and My Law

I will accept you, and bless you,

and if you break My Law,

I will reject you and bring pain and misfortune on you.

Deut. 11:26-28 "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.

If you’d like to read God’s presentation of this agreement

in its expanded form,

spelling out in detail

exactly what the blessings would be

and what the curses would be,

you can find it in Leviticus 26.

It could not have been more clear.

The promise part of the agreement if they obeyed

told them that the greatest problems they would face in life

would be how to manage all the surplus bounty God would pour out on them.

The curse part of the agreement for disobedience

told them that they would face famine and starvation so severe

that they would be eating their own children to survive.

Now, those first century Jews

knew that there were also certain people in their history

who pleased God,

people who were accepted by God

and who were obviously blessed by Him.

The two names at the top of that list

were Abraham and David.

And the full weight of their law-based heritage told them

that those two men were accepted by God and blessed by Him

on the basis of their performance under that Old Covenant.

They had somehow managed to obey God

and produce a level of performance

that motivated God to accept them and pour out His blessing on them.

And so, what we have here in Romans 4

is Paul taking us back to the life of Abraham,

and to his relationship with God,

and revealing to us

what was really happening and why.

Let me say, too,

before we get into this study,

that even though the specific answers Paul offers us here

may not seem as crucial to us as they did to the 1^st century Jew,

yet we are going to find

that the application of those principles hits us right where we live.

OK, let me begin by showing you

where Paul goes in this chapter.

Paul takes the life of Abraham

and makes 3 major statements

on the basis of his life.

And for those of you who want to study this on your own in more detail,

I’ll give you a 3 statement outline for the chapter.

First, in Romans 4:1-8 Paul shows us

that both Abraham and David

prove that salvation is by faith, not works.

Second, in Romans 4:9-16

Paul uses the life of Abraham to prove

that salvation by faith

is for both Jews and non-Jews.

Then third, in Romans 4:17-25

Paul uses Abraham to show us

that salvation by faith

has the power to bring life from death.

Now, let’s look more closely at that first section.

Rom. 4:1-8 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? " Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: " Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. " Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account."

In this passage

Paul takes two quotations from the Old Testament,

one from Genesis 15:6 concerning Abraham,

and the other from Ps. 32:1-2 concerning David.

He uses these to show us

that it was not their works,

their performance that brought God’s blessing to these two men,

but rather it was their faith,

their simple belief in the truth of what God had said to them.

I want us to look a little more closely

at this Genesis 15:6 quotation,

and we’ll need a little more background to do this.

As most of you probably realize,

Abraham was the man

that God selected to start the Nation of Israel.

Genesis 12 records for us

how God simply stepped into Abraham’s life and said,

‟I have chosen to bless you and make a mighty nation of you.”

God went on to tell Abraham,

Gen. 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. "

This was undoubtedly a real high point in Abraham’s life.

Here he is,

suddenly singled out by God Himself

to begin God’s special nation.

And God immediately fulfilled the material blessing part of His promise in abundance.

Abraham prospered incredibly

until he held the position of being

one of the richest men in the world.

But there was a major problem

with that “becoming-a-nation” part of God’s promise...

Sarah, Abraham’s wife was barren.

She could not have children.

Now, after God had been busy blessing Abraham for some considerable time

we come to the event recorded for us in Genesis 15.

Gen. 15:1-6 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." Abram said, "O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Let me explain

exactly what’s happening here.

God communicates to Abraham again

and reconfirms His special protection and blessing of Abraham.

Abraham responds by saying,

“Lord, you’re doing fine on the protection and blessing part,

but if I could be so bold...

I think there is one detail You’ve overlooked...

how can I become a great nation

when I don’t even have one child?”

At that point God did two things.

First, He told Abraham very specifically,

“You will father a child,

one from your own body will be your heir.”

Second, He took Abraham outside at night

and told him to look up at the stars.

Then he told him - “If you can count the stars,

then maybe you’ll be able to count your descendants.”

OK, now that brings us to Genesis 15:6

and Abraham’s crucial response to God

and then God’s response to Him.

In the face of what appeared to be

overwhelming evidence to the contrary,

Abraham chose to believe God -

both to believe He was telling the truth,

and to believe He was able to pull it off.

But then came that one phrase

that seemed to be completely out of context-

...and He reckoned it to him as righteousness...

God said to Abraham,

‟Abe, because you have chosen to trust what I say at this one point,

I hereby declare you RIGHTEOUS!”

For several thousand years

that statement went unexplained,

and probably even unnoticed,

until God turned His spotlight on it

through Paul here in Romans 4.

Now, at first glance,

Abraham’s situation

and our situation

seem to be totally different.

Abe’s big issue was whether or not he would have a son.

Our big issue

is how can we be free from the wrath of God

and the heavy load of our own sins?

Yet in reality

exactly the same issue

is involved in both cases -

will we believe and trust what God has said to us?

Abraham was asked by God

to believe that God would give him a son.

WE are asked to believe

that Christ’s death was an adequate

and complete payment for our sins.

But the crucial issue in both cases is -

will we believe what God has said to us?

Let me see if I can show you

why I think this is so crucial

both to us and to God.

How did man’s rebellion against God begin?

Do you remember -

God asked Adam and Eve

to trust Him at just on point.

He placed that one tree in the garden,

and then He said,

‟Trust Me! Believe Me when I tell you

that eating this fruit

will be bad for you.”

Now listen!

If you would have told Adam and Eve

that their one act of un-trust

would result in endless hurt,

and misery,

and suffering,

for hundreds of millions of people

for thousands of years to come,

they would have probably responded,

“Oh! come on!...I don’t think so!”

But then look at how our God balances His scales.

He says, “You, my creation, severed yourself from Me by disbelieving Me at one point,

and you can now return to Me

by believing Me at just one point.

All I ask is that you simply believe

and trust Me when I tell you

that the death of My Son

restores you to an eternal,

righteous standing with Me.”

And look at this!

When we tell a new Christian

that their simple faith in Christ’s sacrifice for them

will result in them

being perfectly recreated in righteousness at the heart level,

and becoming a future world ruler with Christ,

and in their becoming an ambassador of God Himself on this earth,

and in their becoming a kingdom priest of God,

and in their being literally indwelt by the Spirit of God Himself,

and in Christ Himself living His life through them on a moment-by-moment basis,

and in God displaying the riches of His kindness to them in the endless ages to come,

they would probably say,

‟Oh, come on now! All of that for just one act of trust in God?”

But, you see,

that is what Paul is seeking to illustrate for us here with the life of Abraham.

God does not ask for our total commitment

to a complete and perfect theological

and doctrinal system

before He brings us into His family.

He certainly doesn’t ask for a totally together life

in which we hear and follow the voice of the Spirit with perfection.

Rather, he sets one single, clear point of trust.

With Abraham it was,

“Believe I will give you a son.”

With us it’s,

“Recognize your own rebellion against Me,

and believe that Christ’s death

has paid for that rebellion in full forever.”

And God responds to that belief

by declaring the believer righteous.

There are two other points I want us to see here with Abraham

before we move on.

First, even with that root foundation of trust,

Abraham still struggled with trying to fulfill the promise FOR God

just as we do today.

And let me show you what I mean.

In Genesis 15 God promises Abraham a son.

It is impossible to read God’s promise to Abraham without seeing

that God was promising Abraham

a legitimate son

through his only wife, Sarah.

But by the time we get to Genesis 16

10 years have passed,

Sarah is just as barren as ever,

and now she’s not just barren

but she’s certainly gone through menopause as well,

and Abraham decides maybe he had better rethink the whole thing.

And look what he does...

He continues to believe the promise

that he will have a son,

but he now assumes that,

since God has not yet, after 10 years,

fulfilled the promise for him,

it must then be God’s intent

that Abraham fulfill the promise FOR God.

So He takes Sarah’s maid,

has relations with her,

and she gives birth to Ishmael.

At this point God again steps in and says,

“No Abraham!

This is not the son of My promise,

and you do not have to fulfill My promises for Me.

I am very capable of fulfilling them Myself.

All you have to do is trust Me.”

And we so often repeat the same pattern

in our own lives.

God begins His life with us

by assuring us that He can and will

recreate us in righteousness,

and fill our lives

with purpose and fruitfulness.

And we wait a few months,

or a few years,

or 10 years,

and our lives still look

just as barren to us as ever.

So we, like Abraham,

assume that we must have misunderstood,

and we decide that

what God really promised us

was that we would be able to make ourselves righteous,

and we would be able to perform great works for Him.

So we summon all of our fleshly energy

and give it all we’ve got for God.

And all we do is to produce an endless stream of little Ishmaels

that harass and irritate

the real son of promise -

all sorts of man-made projects and techniques

that conflict with the true work of God within us.

And every Christian knows at some point in his or her life

what it is like to have an Ishmael running around -

those projects born out of the flesh

that drain us of our time,

and our energy,

and produce nothing of lasting value,

and deprive us of our ability

to see and appreciate

the true work of the Spirit of God within us.

And the second thing I want us to see in this Romans 4 passage

is that God only remembers and records our right choices.

Did you notice that there is no mention of Ishmael

anywhere in this 4th chapter of Romans?

Certainly Ishmael harassed Father Abraham

and his descendants throughout history.

(Do you know what people group Ishmael started? - The Arabs!)

But God does not remember our Ishmaels

or hold them against us.

He records only

that Abraham believed God

and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

For those of us who are in Christ

our God has a highly selective memory.

I want to read you a statement our God makes to us

from the last chapter of Revelation

to show you what I mean.

In Revelation 22:12 Christ says,

“Behold, I am coming quickly...”.

And many of us hear those words

and take them as a threat!

We hear our human father saying,

‟I’m going to be home in two hours

and those chores had better be done!”

But listen to the rest of that verse -

“Behold, I am coming quickly, ...

and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.

The only thing He’s bringing back to His people

is His reward

for all those things we did right.

But how about all our Ishmaels?

They, like all our other blunders,

are dumped onto Christ

Who then removes them from us forever.

The rest of this 4th chapter

then goes on to show that,

because Abraham believed God

and was declared righteous by God

before he himself was circumcised,

it was God’s way of showing

that this offer of righteousness

in exchange for our belief

is offered to both Jews and Gentiles alike,

since Abraham was at that time

a Gentile himself.

Then, in 4:17-25,

Paul uses Abraham and Sarah

to illustrate that our faith in God

has the power to bring life from death,

since Abe and Sarah were both “as good as dead”

at the time Isaac was born.

His point is that our faith in Christ

has the power to bring us into new life

from our death in sin.