Foundations of faith Romans 4 :16-25 Romans 4 Abraham and good works (v1-8). Abraham and circumcision (v9-12). Abraham and the Law (v13-17a).

Foundations of

faith

Romans 4 :16-25

Romans 4• Abraham and good works (v1-8).• Abraham and circumcision (v9-12).• Abraham and the Law (v13-17a).

Abraham and good deeds. Abraham and religious rituals. Abraham and law abiding.

Common foundations of most religions

Abraham and good deeds. Abraham and religious rituals. Abraham and law abiding.

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God is for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Romans 10:1-3.

“The way to see by faith, is to shut the eye of reason.” Benjamin Franklin

• You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Gal 3:1a

• Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Tim 4:3

• Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. Col 2:18a

Faith is not the absence of reasoning.

• v 19 “He faced the fact…”.• v 21 “being fully persuaded…”

Faith is a reasoning trust.

Our reasoning is colored by our cultural and personal experiences.

Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles

1 Cor 1:22-23

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Romans 1:18

A reasoning trust.

“ Prayers said in sincerity and spoken in full trust go not unheard in by the cosmos.”

Joey Yap ( www.joeyyap.com )

What saves you-the object of your faith

or your act of faith?

v3b Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Faith is maintaining your hope in the promises of God.

v16 Therefore the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham’s offspring-not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

v17b He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed- the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

v4-5 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

• Secular hope-what man has done.• Spiritual hope-what God has done through

Christ. (v24)

The gospel as foundation of faith

Journey of faith

•reasoning

Journey of faith

•reasoning

•conviction

Journey of faith

•reasoning

•conviction

•commitment

Journey of faith

Gospel explained •reasoning

Gospel accepted •conviction

Gospel living•commitment

Journey of faith

•Abraham called to leave his homeland on journey of faith.

•Abraham struggles with God’s promises.

•Abraham’s faith grows until he is prepared to sacrifice his own son.

Faith is not the absence of doubt.

V18 Against all hope, Abraham believed..

Faith is trusting in advance God’s plans for your life.

God reciprocates when you take a step of faith.

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathaneal approaching, he

said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”

John 1:46-47

• Abraham believed, then responded with good works.

• Abraham believed, then was circumcised as a sign of his seal with God.

• Abraham believed, then the Law came.

Abraham never really fully realized the extend of God’s covenant with him.

V17a As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed- the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

V18 Against all hope, Abraham believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it has been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

• Faith is a reasoning trust.• Faith is maintaining your hope in the promises

of God.• Faith is trusting in advance God’s plans for

your life.

He is jealous for me,Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.When all of a sudden,I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,And I realize just how beautiful You are,And how great Your affections are for me.

I thought about you The day Stephen diedAnd you met me between my breakingI know that I still love you GodDespite the agonySee people they want to tell me you’re cruelBut if Stephen could singHe’d say its not trueCause you’re good(How he loves me, John Mark Mcmillian)

This is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love; not that we loved God but that he loved us and

sent his Son as atoning sacrifice for our sins. I John 4: 9-10

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Romans 4:25