"Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken "SO SHALL THY SEED BE". And being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded, that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness." Romans 4v18-22.
The true nature of FAITH: Faith is not just a casual mental assent to certain tenets of doctrine, along the lines of, "oh there must be a Supreme being somewhere out there". Faith is a deep-rooted heart belief in the living God, who is not only "out there" but is everywhere and is involved in my life whether for ultimate good or bad. God being God is not about to explain Himself in everything He does , rather does He expect His creatures to believe even when they cannot see. There are three statements in these verses, concerning Abraham's faith and they are summarised as follows.
Abraham had his eye on three things, the first being the hopelessness, humanly speaking of the promise; the second is the helplessness of his own situation; and the third is that his eye was on the honour of God. Despite the seemingly impossibility of what was being said to him he had a desire to honour God.
"Against hope he believed in hope."
"He considered not the deadness of his own body."
"He staggered not at the promise of God but was strong in faith giving glory to God."
Taking the first of these, Abraham believed in the impossible. What was impossible naturally, becomes possible to faith. Humanly speaking it is futile, all the facts, based on everything we know, are not there, but because he believed in the God of the impossible, against all his natural inclinations, he believed. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11 v 1 He believed exactly what God said to him, notice the language of verse 18 "he believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken." Faith is taking God at His word no matter how seemingly impossible it is. You say "I couldn't have faith like that." This betrays a common human independence, almost arrogance, that only what you see you will believe. Later on Paul gives the recipe for faith "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10 v 17 So then such faith is possible to all of us and it simply has to do with hearing God and obeying Him. Faith is obedience, lack of it is disobedience. This same faith was exercised by Mary the mother of our Lord " behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to Thy word."
In the second of these aspects of faith there is what is known as a double negative "being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead." A double negative is just a positive and what is being said here is that Abraham considered the helplessness of his own situation. The amplified version of the Bible puts it like this "he did not weaken in faith when he considered the utter impotence of his own body which was as good as dead, because he was about 100 years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb." This is not blind faith as people often say. This is a true consideration of the facts and in spite of his own helplessness put his trust in the word of God. You may be today a helpless sinner totally held captive by your ungodly nature and you may feel that you are beyond any help. There is not a human being no matter their situation whom God cannot save, there is no one beyond His help.
Thirdly, "He staggered not at the promise of God, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." He took his eyes away from the hopelessness and the helplessness of his own situation and placed his trust in the God who had revealed himself to him. The word "strong in faith" is actually "strengthened in faith". It is passive, he could not muster it himself, he fixed his eyes on the God who can do anything and he allowed that strength to flood his inner being. The enormity of what God was saying to him was entirely beyond human reason but he believed God, he fully trusted God's promise, God's power, and God's purpose. Today thousands of years later there are multitudes of people who have the same faith as Abraham.
If we were to read the Old Testament story in Genesis 17 from which these quotes are taken, you would get the impression that actually Abraham did stagger at the promise of God when he said "Oh that Ishmael might live before thee." This seems to be a lack of faith on Abraham's part, but we must understand the enormity of what God was promising here, coupled with the fact that Ishmael his son through Hagar was now thirteen years old. Thus faith does not mean the absence of doubt, or the inward struggle and tensions in the face of such a promise, but God graciously bypasses human weakness and records what was the deep feeling of his heart. God looks deep within a man and sees what we cannot see. He does this many times in scripture, e.g. David was said to be "a man after God's own heart.": Reading the history of David you might question that, but God saw differently. Even in the case of Abraham when it said in Hebrews 11 "when he was called ....... he obeyed." In fact he did not obey immediately, although he did obey ultimately. God reports "he obeyed." So faith does not require perfection of response or behaviour, but God rewards true faith as He sees it.
The result was that Abraham was "fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able also to perform." Such faith brought glory to God, similar faith today brings glory to God. It is a matter of honour, will I believe God in everything He says, or will I trust in myself or in what others tell me?
Abraham fully considered the impossible from his own point of view, and then considered the majesty of the God before whom he stood. The word "fully persuaded" means completely assured, without the shadow of any doubt. None of us have this faith within us, it comes from God.
Faith comes by hearing God's word.
Tomorrow d.v. we look at the foundation of faith.
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