RECEIVING THE PROMISES OF GOD

Part II 

ROMANS 4:17-21 

          A couple of weeks ago I preached part on of this message not realizing that there would be a part II.  At that time we looked at Hebrews 10:32-39, where we say Paul saying in verse 36 “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”  This led us to identifying two of the things necessary for receiving the promises of God; those two things being obeying the will of God and patience.  This morning God has led me back in that same direction to identify some other requirements needed for receiving the promises of God.  Now in message one we followed Abram’s life as he left Haran and went out to the land that God showed him.  We traveled with Abram as he walked in and out of the will of God sometimes being impatient but always holding onto the promise of God.  In Genesis we followed his actions as he moved from Abram to Abraham, the father of many nations.  Here in this passage we get some insight into Abraham’s soul.  We get to investigate what allowed Abram to hold out for over 15 years waiting on the promised child.

          The first thing that we can see in these verses comes for verse 17.  If you are going to hold out to receive the promise you must know who has made the promise.  Now when I say know, I am not just talking about knowing someone’s name or just being acquainted with the person or just knowing that God exists and that he is powerful.   I am talking about being intimately involved with God.  In other words you understand his character.  You have spent enough time with him so that you know not only what he can do but also what you can expect and not expect of Him.  You know that he is a God who cannot lie and who has the power to perform what he promises.

          If we are going to receive the promises of God we too must understand his power.  He is the God who brings life to that which was dead.  It does not matter what it is that is dead, if God so desires he can make alive anything that is now dead.  He has that kind of power, life giving power.  Not only can he give life to the dead, he has to power to bring into existence that which does not currently exists.  Many people take this scripture out of context and say that they “call those things that be not as though they were”.  They say that they can do this because they are Abraham’s seed.  But Abraham himself did not do this.  The verse says God who quickens the dead and calls those things that be not as though they were.  In creation God demonstrated that he had creative power.  Where did Abraham apart from God demonstrate such power?  In fact where did Abraham even with God demonstrate such abilities?  What Abraham demonstrated was his knowledge of the character and power of God.  This lead to his faith in God.

          Verse 18 says, “who against hope, believed in hope.  Holman’s Bible dictionary says that hope is “Trustful expectation, particularly with reference to the fulfillment of God’s promises. It is the anticipation of a favorable outcome under God’s guidance. More specifically, hope is the confidence that what God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future.” Webster defines hope as “a feeling that what is wanted will happen.” From the world’s viewpoint hope requires no basis for its optimism. However, if hope is to be genuine hope, it must be founded on something (or someone) which affords reasonable grounds for confidence in its fulfillment. The Bible bases its hope in God and His saving acts.

          Even when in the natural Abraham could find no reason to continue hoping he could not give up on his expectation that God would come through on his promise.  When everything in the natural said it was hopeless, Abraham turned away from the natural and chose to focus on what God had said.  He focused on the spiritual for Jesus tells us in John 6:63 “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”  What God speaks is spirit and to focus on what God says to us takes us out of the realm of the natural into the spiritual.  When the natural gives us no reason to hope, we can continue in hope when we have a promise from God who is able to resurrect life in that which is dead and call into existence that which is not.

          Next we see in verse 19 that Abraham did not focus on his circumstances.  This does not mean that he denied his circumstances.  He knew that Sarah no longer had a cycle, and quite possibly Abraham was even having problems sexually himself.  Scripture says “he considered not his own body now dead”.  Something related to the physical ability to father children in Abraham was dead also, but he did not focus on that.  I think that many times our inability to receive what God has for us is often related to our inability to focus outside of our circumstances.   We spend too much time worrying about what is going on in our lives when we should be focusing on moving forward with the plan of God for our lives.  We think that we must figure out what to do about our circumstances rather than realizing that any circumstance in our lives that stands up against the will of God for us is just an obstacle waiting to encounter the power of God.  Without these obstacles when and how would God have the opportunity to show us his power working on our behalf?  Abraham knew and understood the condition of he and Sarah’s bodies, but he also saw their conditions not as hindrances to God but rather as opportunities for God.

          I know that many of us are going through some trying circumstances right now in our lives.  But rather than focus on the circumstances, seek God about his will for your life.  Notice I did not say seek God for his will for your circumstances I said for your life.  If your circumstances are the attempt of the enemy to hinder God will for you in any area, then rest assured they are only opportunities for God to show forth his glory on your behalf.  If your circumstances are not an attack of the enemy, then quite possibly they are God’s way of perfecting his will for your life.  In either case we are not to focus on the circumstances but rather on the expressed will of God for us. 

          Now I know that not focusing on the circumstances is often difficult for us.  However, it can be easier if we will apply the Word of God to our lives.

1 Peter 5:7 - Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Matthew 6:31-33 - Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  

We must find and hold on to those scriptures in the Word of God that remind us that God is intimately involved in our lives working to bring his perfect will into reality.  The scripture that I hold on to is Psalm 138:8 - The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.  Whatever, the circumstances confronting me, I hold on to the fact that I believe that “the Lord will make perfect everything that is going on in my life”.  God’s perfect plan for my life will be done and as long as I hold onto him He will be glorified and I will receive the promises he has spoken to me.

          Next, verse 20 says Abraham staggered not at the promise of God.  To stagger is to waiver back and forth.  In other words Abraham walked at straight line.  He wasn’t believing one day and not believing the next day.  He was firm in his belief that God had spoken to him and in God’s ability to carry out his promise.  Unbelief is at the bottom of all our staggerings at God’s promises.

James 1:6-8

For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.  

          Rather than being double minded Abraham is described as being strong in faith and his faith was evidenced by his giving glory to God.  If we say that we trust God and that we have faith in him, we should then ask “what is the evidence that I give to support my faith”.  Abraham continued to glorify God even as he watched Sarah’s child bearing years slip away and his own body dying.  Some of us will say that we too are continuing to praise and worship God giving glory to him.  The question I ask is, “are you talking about just what you do on Sunday here in Church or are you praising, worshipping and glorifying God all week long.  Are you moaning and groaning, whinning and complaining, staggering at the promise and focusing on the circumstances all week long and then coming here on Sunday like you are super Christian?  If we don’t learn anything else from Abraham, we should learn that our circumstances don’t hinder God from fulfilling his promises to us and they should not hinder us from continuing to worship and glorify him daily.

          The last point that I want to make from this passage is found in verse 21.  There we see that Abraham was fully persuaded that God could do whatever he promised to do.  This means that in the heart and mind of Abraham there was no doubt to the ability of God to do exactly what he said he would do.  Abraham knew both the will of God and the ability of God and those two settled his heart and mind.  It did not matter what the circumstances said even when the circumstances were the forces of nature themselves.  All that mattered was the promise of God and the ability of God to perform what he promised.

          Often if we are going to receive the promise of God in our lives we must have this same resolve.  Many times we act as if we think the enemy is just supposed to stand back and watch God bless his children.  We know better but we still want thing to come to us easily.  The lesson we are to learn from Abraham is that along with being obedient and patient we must also have intimate understanding of the character, will and power of God.  We must learn not to be moved by our circumstances or waivering about the promises of God in our lives.  In spite of what the enemy throws at us in an attempt to sway us from holding on to the promise of God we must be strong in faith, being fully set and convinced in both heart and mind that God is able to do whatever he promises to do.  Finally recognizing that faith without works is dead, we should give evidence of our faith by refusing to worry and choosing to worship and glorify God.