Romans 4:17-18 ( NKJV )
(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”
This week we have been looking at Abraham and how he became right in the eyes of God. People in general and the Hebrews in particular are most comfortable when we have a law to obey. We know we are either righteous, in right standing, or unrighteousness, out of right standing, if we obey or disobey the law. Israel’s identity depended on the fact that they had the law. Their whole religious structure was based upon it. Now Paul tells them that the father of their faith as well as their race did not earn his righteousness on the basis of the law. It was credited to his account because of his faith alone.
Abraham was right with God because he responded in faith to a promise. In his case it was the promise that he would be a father. He was too old to have children. His wife was not only too old but had been unable to conceive her whole life. It was impossible for the promise to come to pass. In our case the promise that made us righteous was the Gospel. When we responded to the message of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus we were made right with God. Once this occurs we need to access the sense of righteousness lost to Adam in the garden. We have a promise for this as well. Actually there are many, but let’s focus on 2 Cor. 5:21.
2 Corinthians 5:21 ( NKJV )
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
I am right with God and I can feel right with Him. No matter what voices from my past or present tell me I am not, I am. No matter how I feel I am the righteousness of God because I have been made so by the work of Jesus in my life. I will access the power of this truth the same way Abraham accessed the power of his promise.
In vs. 17 above we are shown a God who gives life to the dead and calls those things that are not as though they were. What does that mean to us. Prov. 18:21 tells us that life and death reside in the tongue. In Genesis 1 God created with words. We can create the reality of the promise in our lives by speaking what God says about us as opposed to what we feel or what others say.
We need to fill our mouths with the promise. When we feel unrighteous we need to declare, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.” We may feel that we are being dishonest by speaking as true what we don’t feel, but that is exactly what God does according to Rom. 4:17. When we speak the Word of God we are declaring the highest truth. What we feel may be true but the word is a higher truth. The more we declare the higher truth the more our feelings and even our actions will be conformed to the Word.
The next thing it says is that Abraham hoped against hope. This tells us that Abraham had no natural hope that the promise could ever come to pass in his life. In the face of that natural hopelessness he chose to hope anyway. His hope was centered in the power of God. What is hope? It is many things but I like this definition. It is possibility.
In the face of natural impossibility Abraham decided to believe that with God even the impossible is possible. Maybe it seems impossible that you could ever feel “normal.” Maybe it seems impossible that you could ever overcome the sins and weaknesses in your life. I challenge you to look at the promise to day and accept the fact that whatever God says is possible. Change in your life is possible. Let go of hopelessness today and grab onto the hope of the Word of God. If you do you will create the atmosphere in your life that will enable the promise to work and the power of truth to change your life.
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