LENT: Mar 19 - Romans 4:16a

For this reason it depends on faith,

in order that the promise may rest on grace

Romans 4:16a

 

Romans 4 includes a long discussion on why our justification and salvation depends on

 

1.    faith rather than works, and …

2.    God’s grace rather than our actions.

 

In the verses surrounding Romans 4:16 Abraham is Paul’s example of saving power of God. Even passionate Pharisees who believe that works made us just, should have remembered God’s Word from their own Old Testament scriptures: “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Read that again! “Abraham was right with God because of faith and belief.”

 

·         If this example of Abraham is new to you, read Romans 4 and 5.

·         But here’s the piece I want to focus on …

 

As today’s verse continues, the Apostle Paul talks about what is “16 guaranteed to all … who share the faith of Abraham … 17 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.”

 

Here’s what I want to focus on today (and really for the next three days) … Look at that Romans 4:17 picture of God! Scripture tells us …

 

·         that God “give life to the dead”

·         that God “calls into existence the things that do not exist”

·         and that God is present … and even more so, we are “in the presence of … God” – indeed, we are “in the presence of the God in whom [Abraham] believed.”

 

I’ll talk about each of these in turn in the next three days. Today, contemplate the nature of our amazing God – praising him, worshipping him, thanking him, delighting in him, bowing before him in awe.

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who “depends on faith”

and “rest[s] on grace”

and therefore is very peaceful