Romans 129: Romans 4 - If You Have Faith

Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a worldwide Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.  I am committed to helping you see the Lord Jesus Christ for the Person He truly is and to helping you see the Word of God from His point of view. 

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART LORD

 

Let’s begin our worship of the Lord in song.  Please stand and join June Murphy in singing the opening song… OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART LORD.

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART

 

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART..

 

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART

 

To see You high and lifted up

Shining in the light of Your glory

Pour out Your power and love

As we sing holy, holy, holy

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART

 

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART..

 

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART

 

To see You high and lifted up

Shining in the light of Your glory

Pour out Your power and love

As we sing holy, holy, holy

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART..

 

To see You high and lifted up

Shining in the light of Your glory

Pour out Your power and love

As we sing holy, holy, holy

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART

 

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART..

 

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART

 

To see You high and lifted up

Shining in the light of Your glory

Pour out Your power and love

As we sing holy, holy, holy

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART..

 

To see You high and lifted up

Shining in the light of Your glory

Pour out Your power and love

As we sing holy, holy, holy

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART

 

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

I want to see You

I want to see You

I want to see You

I want to see You

I want to see You

 

OPENING PRAYER

 

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful Heavenly Father for the privilege of studying the absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Strengthen our faith…help our unbelief…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name...

Amen.

 

TODAY’S STUDY

Romans 4

IF You Have Faith…

 

Abraham and Sarah, two Old Testament saints, demonstrated faith, and it’s worth a look back at their story to get a perspective on how to live with faith in our own lives. Matthew, Chapter 17, Verse 20 says…

 

MAT 17:20

“…if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain (any obstacle), ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

 

To the resident and non-resident members of Barah Ministries,to our guests who join us from time to time, and to all those who have been called to the privilege of salvation, who are loved unconditionally by God the Father, who are empowered to make great decisions by God the Holy Spirit, and who are the possessions of God the Son, who became flesh and tabernacled among us, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, may God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s peace and God’s unconditional love be yours in super abundance… and may mercy, grace, peace and unconditional love be manifest in your life as you serve others.  John, Chapter 10, Verse 10 says...

 

JOH 10:10

The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (the Lord Jesus Christ) came that everyone may have the eternal life, and have it abundantly.

 

The voice of God’s enemy, the thief, questions God’s existence…questions God’s faithfulness to you…offers you uncertainty…inspires doubt in you…

encourages intellectualization of spiritual things…promotes fear…picks at emotional burdens…complicates simplicity…causes depression…offers nothing when something is needed…digs a well of emptiness in your souls… instigates loneliness…exploits weakness…whispers “stinking thinking” … he wants you to be “realistic” … he wants you to think only of the possible…in short, the thief wants you to be…

 

EPH 4:14

…tossed here and there by the waves and blown around by every gust of wind from the teaching of men in their cunning and deceitful scheming…

 

Yet we believers are the Lord Jesus Christ’s sheep…we hear His voice and

we follow Him…and we ignore the ramblings of the thief and the deception from the kingdom of darkness, who look to steal our mental serenity…who want to steal our very lives…in John, Chapter 10, Verse 5, the Lord Jesus Christ says...

 

JOH 10:5

“A stranger my sheep simply will not follow, but my sheep will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

 

We may be much smarter than sheep, yet in this matter we can follow their lead.  Welcome to a place where you can hear the voice of your Master and be edified by it.  We continue our study of the fourth chapter of the book of Romans.  The subject matter of the passage under study is righteousness and justification and faith.

 

THE BOOK OF ROMANS

Chapter 4

RIGHTEOUSNESS

Your Justification is ONLY by Faith in Christ…

and is never by means of your own works

Passage

Romans 3:21 to Romans 4:25

 

Righteousness is your admission ticket to heaven.  You have a choice…you can choose the wrath from God or the righteousness from God.  Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 21 says…

 

ROM 3:21

But now, apart from the Law, the righteousness from God has been

Manifested (made clearly visible)…

 

God has given His righteousness as a gift to put away the sin problem once and for all.  His righteousness is available to whosoever wants it.  Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 20 says…

 

2CO 5:20

God the Father made the Lord Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in union with Him.

 

When the wrath of God the Father toward sin was being poured out onto the back of the Lord Jesus Christ for our benefit, it was as if the Lord Jesus Christ had committed your sins.  He became your sin substitute because the Lord agreed to take on the wrath that was due to you.  When you opt for righteousness, you are being credited with the full body of work that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished at the Cross.

 

You have another choice…condemnation or justification.  You are born condemned.  Romans Chapter 5, Verse 12…

 

ROM 5:12

Therefore, just as through one man, Adam, sin entered into the world, and spiritual death through sin, and so spiritual death spread to all men, because all were considered to have sinned when Adam sinned…

 

The condemnation of spiritual death can be resurrected by spiritual life…you can be born again by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.  When you choose to have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father justifies you…God the Father keeps on making an announcement concerning you throughout the halls of heaven declaring that you are righteous in His eyes forever because you are depending on the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to wash away your sins.  Oh Happy Day!  Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 28 says…

 

ROM 3:28

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

 

Your justification is ONLY by means of the faith you express in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.

 

You have another choice…unbelief or faith.  What is faith?  Faith is a gift given to you by God, a privilege granted to you that you can express by simply saying “yes” to everything God asks of you. Matthew, Chapter 17, Verse 20…

 

MAT 17:20

“…if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain (any obstacle), ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

 

Turn in your bibles to Romans, Chapter 4…let’s look at Verses 13 to 25.

 

ROM 4:13

For the promise made by God to Abraham and to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not (never…absolutely not nohow) given through the (performance of the works of the Mosaic) Law, but the promise was given by God to whomever desires it through the righteousness that is credited by God because of faith.

 

ROM 4:14

For if, for the sake of argument, those who are the heirs of the world become so because of keeping the Law, then faith is made void as a principle, and the promise of God to Abraham is nullified…

 

ROM 4:15

…for the Law brings forth God’s wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation of non-existent law.

 

ROM 4:16

For this reason, righteousness is given by God as a gift by faith, in order that righteousness may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants of Abraham, not only to those who are of the Law (the Jews), but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham (the Gentiles), who is the father of us all…

 

ROM 4:17

…(as it is written in Genesis 17:5 “THE FATHER OF A MULTITUDE OF NATIONS I WILL MAKE YOU ABRAHAM”)…the father of all in the sight of the God whom Abraham believed (Jehovah Elohim…God the Son), even in the sight of God the Father, who gives life to the dead ones and who calls into being that which does not exist.

 

ROM 4:18

In hope against hope (wanting something to happen when you know it is not likely) Abraham believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken to Him by God, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.”

 

ROM 4:19

Without becoming weak in faith Abraham contemplated his own body, which was now as good as sexually dead since he was about a hundred years old, and he contemplated the deadness of Sarah’s womb (she was barren)…

 

ROM 4:20

…yet, with respect to the promise of God, Abraham did not waver in unbelief but was strengthened inwardly by God in faith, giving glory to God…

 

ROM 4:21

…and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

 

ROM 4:22

Therefore FAITH WAS ALSO CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

 

ROM 4:23

Now not for Abraham’s sake only was it written that righteousness was credited to him by means of faith…

 

ROM 4:24

…but for our sake also it was written, to whom righteousness also will be credited by means of faith, as those who believe in God the Father who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead…

 

ROM 4:25

…the Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and who was raised from the dead in resurrection because of our need for justification.

 

Righteousness and justification and faith…key elements of the Christian Way of Life…key elements of a relationship with God.  Abraham and Sarah demonstrated faith, and it’s worth a look back at their story to get a perspective on how to live with faith in our own lives.  Turn in your bibles to Genesis, Chapter 16.  Take a five-minute break and we’ll look at Abraham and Sarah’s story.

 

BREAK

Your Touch

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

 

Welcome back!  Let’s face it…as humans, we believe the easier message… you can’t…you won’t…it’s not going to happen…be realistic…we don’t exercise faith…we choose unbelief…so did Abraham and Sarah…and the Lord delays the fulfillment of a request of ours to build spiritual muscle in us so we are happy to patiently wait for Him in faith…Genesis, Chapter 16, Verse 1…

 

GEN 16:1

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

 

Sarai and Abram…their names before the Lord changed their names.  They were wondering, “How can the heir of promise come through a barren woman and an impotent man?”  Sarai was beyond child bearing age.  Abram was 86 years old.  Abram and Sarai decided to take matters into their own hands rather than waiting in faith for the Lord to fulfill His promise.

 

GEN 16:2

So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

 

Isn’t this just like us?  We want children, and rather than waiting for the Lord, often we take matters into our own hands.  All we get for our troubles

 is experience and a bill.

 

GEN 16:3

After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave Hagar to her husband Abram as his wife.

 

This was both legal and customary in Abram and Sarai’s day…a barren woman could give her maid to her husband as a wife, and the child born of that union was regarded as the first wife’s child, then the child could be the adopted son and heir of the family.  Genesis, Chapter 16, Verse 4…

 

GEN 16:4

Abram went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when Hagar saw that she had conceived, Hagar’s mistress Sarai was despised in Hagar’s sight.

 

Like Adam, Abram followed the lousy advice of his wife.  Let the problems begin…men often make decisions they think will please a woman only to create a host of problems.

 

GEN 16:5

And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me (the conflict this caused between my maid and I) be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

 

The blame game.

 

GEN 16:6

But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated Hagar harshly, and Hagar fled from Sarai’s presence.

Abram threw up his hands to the matter, and the problems this caused went on for years, even to this very day.  The Arabs came from the line of Abram and Hagar, and they have a burning enmity toward the Jews that will last many more years.  Turning from the way of faith to take matters into our own hands never works.  Genesis, Chapter 16, Verse 7…

 

GEN 16:7

Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur (toward Egypt, her homeland).

 

Hagar was going home.  It was a long walk.

 

GEN 16:8

The angel of the Lord said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And Hagar said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

 

GEN 16:9

Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.”

 

GEN 16:10

Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to Hagar, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”

 

Her descendants would be the Arabs…wild and hostile people living in the desert of Arabia…hostile to the Jews to this day.

 

GEN 16:11

The angel of the LORD said to Hagar further, “Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael (which means “God hears”), because the LORD has given heed to your affliction (misery).”

 

GEN 16:12

“He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of all his brothers.”

 

GEN 16:13

Then Hagar called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?”

 

GEN 16:14

Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

 

Beer-lahai-roi means, “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.”

 

GEN 16:15

So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

 

GEN 16:16

Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

 

The message of this lesson to Abram…Sarai…Hagar…and to all Christians…is a simple one.  Wait on the Lord…use your faith and not your unbelief…because with the Lord, a promise made is a promise fulfilled.  Taking matters into your own hands is never the solution.  Ask yourself a simple question…IF you have faith…what’s possible?

 

MAR 10:27

Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”

 

Have faith!

 

The Promises of the Lord Jesus Christ

 

When God makes a promise…

it’s a guarantee!

 

When God makes a request do it…

It’s for your good!

 

PSA 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.

 

PSA 37:5

Commit your way to the Lord…and He will do it.

 

PSA 37:7

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him…

 

PHI 4:7

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in (union with) Christ Jesus.

 

CLOSING SONG

I Surrender All

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

          THANKS- INTERCESSION- PETITION

 

We pray You continue to shape messages from this pulpit that reflect Your unconditional love, Your Magnificent Person, Your perfect thinking, Your impeccable work, and Your indescribable essence... we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s name, Amen.

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

 

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