The Promise

Please turn with me and your Bibles to Romans chapter four taking a break from 1 Timothy For the next two weeks and we're going to be looking at the promise of God Verses 13 through 25 of Romans chapter four and as you're turning there Unvite you to look at your bulletin As you after you turn there look at your bulletin I'll just draw your attention to a congregational meeting that is called for Sunday May 6th in the sanctuary at 10 a.m The meeting will be to elect bus secret ballot Dr. T Murray Garrett and the Reverend Ed Norton J Edward Norton as Associate Ministers of IPC What in the world is that some of you may be asking there's a difference between an associate minister and an assistant minister the reason I know is because I've been both An assistant minister is called by the session that is the Elders of the Church And their call is kept with the session They are not voting members of the session although they are voting members of our Presbyteria Which is made up of our churches in our region When you move from an assistant pastor to an associate pastor you've been recognized by your congregation Because of the longevity of your time there because the wisdom that you've displayed Because the agreement that the session has had as we've had with with Murray But also the the years of service with with Ed is an encouragement to both of these men that they will become voting members of our session There'll be more information forthcoming but this is an extremely important time in the lives of these men and lives of our church That we recognize our ministry in our midst And that we will recognize them as associate ministers so you will be voting on moving these men from assistant pastors to associate pastors That was clear as mud But you'll have plenty of time to understand more about that. It's really pretty simple. Just new for us Romans 4 verse 13 through 25 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring That he would be the heir of the world to not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith For if it is the adherence of the law who are to be the heirs faith is null and the promises void For the law brings wrath But where there is no law there is no transgression That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed All his offspring not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all as it is written I have made you the father of many nations in the presence of the God in whom he believed Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist 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 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 beariness of Sarah's womb No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God But he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness But the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone But for hours also it will be counted to us who believe in him who raised From the dead Jesus our Lord who was delivered up for our trespasses And raised for our justification Let's practice Heavenly father We so desperately need your son Everyone needs Jesus There's no hope without Jesus And so would you make him clear to us today But the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened To what he did for us Then our strength made our faith maybe strengthened There are those here today that Do not trust in Jesus. I pray that you would give them saving faith that you give them new life soft in their hearts Do what you alone can do We humbly come in bow and we ask that you pour out your spirit upon us Jesus precious name we pray on the end

What's his palm Sunday if you didn't know Palm Sunday is the day that we recognize the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ as he rides in on the cult of a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9 That the king comes and behold he is riding on the cult of a donkey that the son of David is riding on the fall of a donkey The donkey that had never been written written before The Jews of the first centuries saw this passage in Zechariah to be a messianic passage the fulfillment Of the Messiah coming he will come on the cult of a donkey just like Jesus is And these people are gathered around Jesus and they put their cloaks on the ground and Jesus rides across them And they have palm leaves in their hands and they are singing hosanna to the son of David They are recognizing the claims of Jesus not all of them As we will see later believe the claims of Jesus but clearly Jesus was claiming to be the chosen Messiah Why is he riding into Jerusalem? He has come to keep a promise

You think of this scene of Jesus Christ Riding into Jerusalem. I want you to realize and think about this that Jesus is there because of an ancient promise This is a showdown Between the forces of darkness Between the seed of the serpent and Genesis chapter 3 15 and the seed of the woman. This is an ancient promise that Jesus has come to keep This passage Today has been a tremendous personal encouragement to me. I have for the past month or more poured over it in my own private devotion And I have been reminded that God's promise is true to day Some of you have come in here And you've come in here with the weight of the world on your shoulder and you're discouraged You come in here with a guilty conscience you come in here just beaten up by life So if you come in here and your bodies are beaten up by illness and you need to be reminded that God is good and that Jesus kept his promise for you And so I think you'll find this tremendously encouraging on our prayers that you will if three points today about the promise The first what is the promise? The first point is what what promise? What does this mean? What does the promise to Abraham? Then secondly, how do we receive it? To remind us of how do we receive the promise? We receive it like Abraham Then third, what does the promise look like now in my life? That's the so what? What does this promise look like now for me? How do I live in light of this promise now And we'll see how this passage has everything to say to us now As people love the promise Look at verse 13 with me for the promise to Abraham and his offspring That he would be the heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith For if it is the adherence of the law who ought to be the heir Faith is null and the promise is void and also look at verse 20 No one belief made him waver concerning the promise of God But he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised This word used here for the first time in the book of Romans is the word promise extremely important word in the Bible We're told in verse 13 that the promise was that the offspring that Abraham and his offspring Would be the heirs of the world What did this promise mean to Abraham as it was given to him in the book of Genesis all those centuries ago First thing it meant is that Abraham was called out of ear of the Caldeans That is modern-day Iraq he was called To to ultimately to fulfill what Adam and Eve had lost Avenue were called to be vice regents of God to to rule and subdue the earth to the ends of the earth to fill the earth and to multiply The earth to to multiply God's dominion over the earth And so Abraham is being reinstated to carry out this very important function That we're given that was given ultimately to Adam and Eve That that Abraham and his descendants would be heirs of the world the way Adam and Eve were supposed to be It's dominion the second thing is that Abraham Was that was was promised to have Descendants as many as the sands on the seashore and as numberable as the stars in the sky that is Without number beyond Our ability to count that's how many people that were promised that's the second part of the promise the third part of the promise is that Abraham And his lineage his people were promised to be a blessing to the nations that this this promise was to To come to Abraham and to be a blessing through him to the nations But ultimately that he was to be the father of many nations as as Paul referred to the father of many nations to be the father of The faithful those who trust like Abraham did This folks the promise Is the promise of the rescue of God This is the rescue story This is the story that's given the promise that's given in the story of Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 after the fall God promises do you remember maybe have heard this story it's called the first gospel God promised to send a Redeemer that would crush the head of the serpent And the seat of the serpent would strike the heel of this hero This is the gospel Abraham's promise is the gospel of our salvation Here's the storyline Richard Pratt gave it to us and we stopped at one of these Palaces and Israel and I will give it to you too This is followed the story of promise that it comes through individuals it comes through people all the way down Ultimately and fulfilled in the person of Jesus it starts with Adam and Eve It starts all the way back in Genesis this promise does They got me to promise to Adam and Eve but then remember Adam and Eve had a child That it was through her seed that this promise would come but remember what happened Kane killed able That the promise was to come through able but ultimately it was to come through Able's replacement who was a man named Seth Seth didn't get a lot of press, you know

So the promise goes from Adam and Eve to Seth But then there's someone that follows Seth. It's a man named Noah. He was in the line of Seth Do you remember what happened to Noah? Look like everything was gonna be totally destroyed except Noah and his family were going to be preserved through this boat This promise that he built he believed God's promise you remember the promise seed was he and his family were all saved from the enormous flood the entire earth was destroyed except Noah and his three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth Japheth settles in Europe and Asia Minor Ham settles in Africa. You see that the world is being expanded through the settlement of these two people but Shem settles in Mesopotamia in the Middle East Shem becomes the father of the Shemites where we get the word Semites the Semitic people Shem has a descendant whose name is Tara probably don't know about Tara the Tara has a son whose name is Abram Abram lives in a place called Er as I said earlier is modern-day Iraq The promise is being given to Adam and Eve then to Seth then to Noah now to Abram Abram leave your country and go back to the center of the earth as Richard Pratt says what so what so great about Jerusalem is because Jerusalem is where the Garden of Eden was what he said we'll find out go back to the place where your ancestors were taken from where they were forced out of and so Abraham does one of the Semites Abraham goes back and he goes back to the promised land and he enters into the place where God had forbidden the people he had cast them out and he enters in from the East and Abraham who has no children ultimately is given a child of promise and his name is Isaac the seed of promise continues Isaac has two sons Jacob and he saw Jacob is the seed of promise Jacob becomes Israel Israel has twelve sons the seed of promise comes through one of those sons his son Judah in the line of Judah now from Adam to Judah in the line of Judah there is a man whose name is Jesse and he lives in Bethlehem and he has a youngest son who smells like sheep the run son is going to be the chosen one the the anointed one the king David now from Adam to Seth to Noah to Abram to Jacob to Judah to David and then all those years pass Israel was taken into captivity and then brought back all these years pass and then one day Jesus who is of the line and tribe of David of Judah is writing into Jerusalem on the cult of a donkey to keep a promise as the pastor in the delta said if that won't light your fire then your wood is wet this is not some fanciful science fiction story this is the promise of God given an ages past and Jesus the great rescuer appeared on the scene to keep a promise and what is this promise I don't know how it's better to say it than this way this is the happy ever after you've always wanted that every human being so deep down wants everything to be okay but they know that there's a war within themselves they know there's a war within our cities and our families they see the disruption and the decay and the fear and the cancer and the condemnation that we want to ride off into the sunset and we almost think it's silly now because we're cynical generation but the promise of God and the reason Jesus Christ descendant of Adam descendant of David is writing in on the cult of a donkey is because he is the king of the universe and he has come to fulfill the promise for you promise of rescue and restoration this is the end of history how do I receive that great promise how do I receive this promise if we're people you know Christian that you're defined by this promise that the one that will come in and the line of Abraham will be the king of the world and he will be a Jewish king Richard Pratt looked at us when we were in Israel and he was on the microphone and he said you do realize that the plan is for everyone to bow to a Jewish king and if you're a Christian you're subject to a Jewish king the Jew rules you're subject to King Jesus how do I receive that that's good news how do I how am I part of this people of promise look at verse 13 with me the promise to Abraham in his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith this is not a genetic deal for it if if it is the adherence of the law who to be heir faith is null and the promise is void this is not something you earn for the law brings wrath but where there is no law there is no transgression that's why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring not only to the adherence of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all here's what it means the only way that you receive the happy ever after the rescue promise is by grace you can never ever do anything to earn it it was a gift to Abraham and it was by grace that Abraham received the promise not by his keeping of the law because the law came as Galatians 3 tells us 430 years after the time of Abraham it was not because he was circumcised or because a part of a group of people who were circumcised because circumcision as Paul tells us comes after the promise that is he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness he was given the happy ever after he was given the rescue story he was given the restoration not because he did anything or was anything he was given this promise because he believed God's promise all sand and fallen shore of the glory of God that sums up Romans 1 through 3 no one keeps the law not even one so there could be no promise there could be no great rescue story if it were by law because the law brings wrath and condemnation the law brings a knowledge of sin the law the promise would be null and void if it came by works it comes only by grace faith not works made him the father of many nations and if you want to receive the promise too if you want the promise too you cannot be good enough or have enough or do enough to get it John stop puts it this way the fixed point is that God is gracious and that salvation originates in his grace alone but in order that this may be so our our human response can only be faith grace gives and faith takes what does that mean God is giving you this enormous promise of his grace and his mercy of restoration of salvation of forgiveness he's giving you this great promise and the only way that you can have it is to receive it by faith that is to trust him not to depend on your own righteousness not depend on your own goodness but to trust him and to follow him the promise maker and the promise keeper faith is trusting God in his promise it means to rest in his mercy faith is not a work faith is a gift it means to turn from your sin and self-reliance and cry out to him it comes from the new birth that God gives John chapter 3 Jesus tells us that this new birth is like the wind that blows the Holy Spirit blows into your life and reveals that you desperately need to receive this promise and this promise is given to you and God gives you actual the faith to apprehend and to have this promise faith itself as a gift how could I possibly illustrate how good the grace of God is for this promise how good it is how wonderful it is I think of I think of growing up I know I use all my vacation stories as a kid sorry it's just they're stuck in there you know as I've grown up and I have my kid my own kids there's a difference between a trip and a vacation I didn't know that when you're when you're a kid just everyone's a vacation right when I was growing up my dad sometimes with my mom and dad will put us in the van the middle of the night and they would just start driving driving to the beach I was like this was great I made my PJs I'm just going to show up at the beach not realizing until now that he had worked he had gotten time off he had packed the van he will unpack the van he will repack the van with sand your packed a van your packed a van with sand in it and he will drive back there and every part of that vacation has been wonderfully blissful for me I literally wake up at the beach and he's carrying their carrying cheap chairs and toys and a hundred and sixty degree weather and they're lugging everything down there and they're and we wait hour and a half at captain dades to pay four hundred dollars for frozen fish and into the best memories of my life but I'm thinking of my dad driving through the middle of the night and we're sleeping in the back of that van and we're going on vacation that is a picture of a promise of grace that the great promise of God was planned before you were ever ever even a thought before you were ever on this earth it was planned before you ever came here before you were ever a blip on the screen it was planned before time even even formed before history itself and it was carried out when you and I were still sinners while we were just sleeping back in the van not only were we asleep but we were running away from God and God did every single thing Jesus was stripped and beaten and he was killed because of the promise for you and what are you supposed to do enjoy the beach let's talk into a woman years ago in another city she struggled so much with guilt and really appreciating the gospel she said one day she was with her grandchildren as they were walking and she said it was such a beautiful day it was a perfect it was a perfect day whether it was perfect you did it was so nice outside you didn't even notice if it was hotter it was cool and I had my grandchildren with me and everyone was laughing and everything was great and she said I just couldn't enjoy it and I said why not she goes because I know I didn't deserve it I just can't enjoy anything I can't enjoy any good thing because I know I don't deserve it and I stood back and I said isn't that just what we're like then we look at the gospel and we look at this is how to don't deserve this but do you see that is the point listen to me people as you grow you begin to realize that you never deserve any good thing that God gives you you haven't you haven't even deserve your next breath but it's as you begin to understand and live knowing that you don't deserve the promise of God but it is your gift to receive by faith and then he wanted it to he wanted to give it to you as you begin to understand and rejoice both that you don't deserve it but that you have it that is when you begin to grow as a Christian that you look at a beautiful day and you walk out here and say I don't deserve this folks do you realize that you're going to say that in heaven do you think you're going to deserve heaven that you're going to somehow reach some plateau that you're going to you're going to deserve to sit around a table with Jesus Christ the second person the Trinity and have supper with him because somehow you've attained this no folks this is a trip to the beach you're on his tab and as you just listen and drink in how much he loves you folks that is where worship comes from that is where joy comes from that is where obedience comes from that is where evangelism comes from do you want to see passionate people about Jesus then folks we become like children that enjoy his extravagant grace we have been given a promise that Jesus kept what does that mean for us now our third point verse 17 the promise and the problems as it is written I have made you the father of many nations the presence of the God in whom he believes who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist in hope he believed against hope is that not a great phrase in hope he believed against hope that he should become the father of many nations as it had been told to him so shall your offspring be 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 beariness of Sarah's womb no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God but he you're strong in his faith as he gave glory to God fully convinced that God was to able to do what he had promised what does that mean that great richy point 1.2 that sounds so wonderful that sound that's great that that that that encourages me that excites me but but there's there's another thing I have to I have major problems in my life Richie I don't I realize that I hear your sermon but I have major problems in my life and their major loose hands I have sin in my life I've all these other things I really can't just imagine what that promise means to me now maybe when I die and go to heaven that'll be great and I'll have that promise but I can't really think about it appreciate it now because I'm such a mess now because things look so hard now well guess what cheer up so did they look they look the same way for Abraham you're almost supposed to laugh thank you

he's been given the great promise he's a hundred years old he's been given the great promise that he's going to be the father of many nations yeah no kids don't you think they tried people had tons of kids back then Abraham and Sarah can you imagine hey we've been promised to be the father of many nations we're gonna have many nations that's great great you have finally lost your mind Abraham

you don't think he had problems problems with this promise not only was he too old but his wife was totally old too and they were barren how could he ever to probably face this those are two major whannies when it comes to the promise but here's the good news for us we face the same kind of impossibilities and the same kind of problems in the face of the promise for us listen what John Calvin said in his commentary on the Romans let us remember that the condition of us all is the same it's the same as that of Abraham all things around us are in opposition to the promises of God God promises immortality and we're surrounded with mortality and corruption he declares that he counts as just and we're covered with sins he testifies that he's kind to us and his outward outward judgment seemed to threaten wrath what do we to do IPC what do we to do he says we must we must with closed eyes pass by ourselves and all the things that are connected with us that nothing may hinder or prevent prevent us from believing that God is true here's what that means week after week you come in here and you hear the gospel while so would you come here if you don't want to hear the gospel and it's good news to you you come here week after week and you hear the gospel and then you go home and you get in your car and you go to pick a daily or somewhere or you go home and eat lunch you just think to yourself like I do that's great that's good news but then there's me that's great the promise is good news but they're than me and the good news is it's always bit that way there's always been the promise and then you how do we not give up you see what happens to Abraham he didn't weaken in his faith verse 19 when he considered his own body which was good as dead since he was a hundred years old or considered the bear and he considered the bear in necessary as womb no unbelief made him waver concerning the promises of God because verse 21 says he was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised here's how you're encouraged today there's the promise that then there's you what are we going to do about that what matters is what you're focusing on if you are only focusing on the fact that you like Abraham or a hundred years old and it doesn't look like you could possibly have all these wonderful gifts that you could have the happy ever after because you're still a sinner that you could ever have these promises of God because how is God going to make something something great with someone like you how is God going to restore the earth when it looks like there's someone who wants to blow it up all the time and it seems like it's polluted and miserable and horrible how is God going to do it if you focus on your circumstances you will always be discouraged the reason Abraham became the father of many nations and it was Canada him his righteousness is because he believed in the God who made the universe that his trust was not in his circumstances but in God's character nothing has blessed my soul more than that if anyone's supposed to get it it's supposed to be the guys in the black robes right the only way that we can keep going and hope against hope is that we root our faith in God verse 17 says he roots his faith in a God who gives life to the death to your life to dad and calls into existence things that do not exist what does that mean Abraham realized that he was a hundred years old not fortunate he wasn't faking anybody he realized that his wife had never had kids but the reason he went to the promised land is because he knew the God that he was following had spoken the universe into existence do you have big problems and a little God to be people of the promise we were to have a big God dwarfs our problems folks he is the powerful one for you here's how powerful he is the same God who made this promise rode into Jerusalem on the cold of a donkey and was betrayed by those very worshippers even as close as followers there was a kangaroo court he was betrayed he was stripped he was beaten he was hit in the face with a stick they spit in his face he carried a piece of wood down a very long bumpy road and then they nailed him to that same piece of wood and he died dead dead dead and they put him into a tomb where he lied where he was laying there for three days the most horrible thing that had ever happened was made the most wonderful thing that had ever happened and you look at your life and you think how was God going to make something great with my little rinky date life look at the cross God wins through a cross and he will win through your crosses to

nothing beats this God he's undefeated your life makes no sense without Jesus you and I are incomprehensible without Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the cold of a donkey believe it's bright but we ask that you would sear this truth upon our hearts that we would not only be hearers of the word but doers of the word that we would hear this promise and it would sink deep into our lives and produce fruit produce gentleness and humility and produce hope and produce love because that's what you want more than anything else love for you and love for neighbor Lord don't just let us be people that like to hear about the promise let us be children of the promise we ask in Jesus name Amen