Can you always really trust your eyes? Or do your eyes tell you lies? Is living by what we can see a truth to live by?
Now, at one level, we need to say, ‘My eyes tell me the truth. My ears access reality.’ Every court accepts ‘eye-witness’ testimony. Life would simply not be workable without thinking our eyes and ears access reality. ‘I saw it with my own eyes’ really means something.
Otherwise, we would live in a world like George Orwell’s 1984, where the Ministry of Truth disseminates lies to reinterpret history. Or our world would be like that of the science fiction movie, the Matrix, where the life the characters experience looks and feels, sounds and smells and tastes like reality, but that is not. It is unreality. It is a virtual world which deceives them. For all of them are plugged into the matrix by aliens, which stimulates their senses to trick them into thinking their sensory perception is reality, while the aliens live off them.
Yet, it is also true to say that the things around us affect our understanding of what we see. Imagine you are watching the next Ashes test, and the Aussies are batting. A ball is bowled outside off stump. The batsman takes a big swing at it. There is a big nick, a huge deviation, and it was caught
But none of the English team appealed. Not the bowler, not the wicket keeper. No-one. Why? The ‘Barmy Army’ were so noisy that no-body heard the snick.
This actually happened to Steve Waugh in 2002. The English team didn’t see the deviation. So they didn’t appeal. And Steve Waugh didn’t walk. (http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1309&dat=20021231&id=7W8rAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WnsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3609,5438110: eg New Strait Times, Tuesday December 31 2002, page 15).
Replay after replay showed Steve Waugh was out. There was the deviation, and the snickometer. But none of the English players saw it at the time. No one appealed. And so Steve Waugh wasn’t out.
And it is not as if the camera never lies, either. It’s amazing what you can do with modern computers, photo shop and image manipulation. Did or didn’t that women’s magazine photoshop Lara Bingle’s cellulite? Well, we don’t know. They could have, because they airbrush everything else. Think of all those posters and movies on the side of every bus, at every railway station, on the back of every taxi, posters using beautiful plastic people to try and sell us everything, pens, alcohol, shoes, bras. They accessing us through the eyes and say, ‘Buy this, get me’, ‘Buy this, become like me’.
Think of those digitally enhanced images beamed straight into your TV, whether free to air or pay TV, advertising products by people who are not real, promising things that aren’t real, to get us to part with our real money. I take comfort in the fact that what you see doesn’t really exist, because the computer program fixes all the problems They’ve had the nip and tuck, the plastic surgery, the silicon implants, the radical diets, they’ve spent the two hours in make up, and another number of hours in post production, to look just right.
Not that I saw it, but I understand Nichole Kidman in Moulan Rouge wore a corsette that took her over half an hour to get into it and broke her ribs. And all the women thinking, wow that’s what Nichole looks like. Well she doesn’t look like it, because no-one looks like that, without broken ribs and half an hour wrestling with a corsette.
So can we trust what we see? Are the eyes enough for us? Or do we need a perspective that is beyond our vision, beyond what we can see for ourselves? Do we need God’s vision, the divine telescope, to increase the field of our vision? Do we need to have God’s vision, not just are own?
Last week we looked at Romans chapter 4 verses 1-8. We looked at Abraham. And we saw that God justified Abraham by faith, not by his good works, though he had many of them. Abraham walked by faith, not by sight. And God regards Abraham, who in human sight was righteous, wicked. And then God reckons the wicked Abraham righteous, through faith. In the first, God looks at the heart with his divine standard. In the second, God does what no human judge could ever do, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And then we looked at David (verses 6-8). And we saw how wonderful it is when God covers our sin. There is the divine cover-up. God hides our sins from himself. God can do this because he is God, and because he sees us in Jesus Christ, who obeyed God perfectly and died for us, as a perfect sacrifice.
Well, now we continue in chapter 4. And Paul continues to explain Genesis 15:6, how it is by faith, by trust, that Abraham was justified.
And in doing so, Paul teaches us something about God. Is God worthy of our trust? He teaches us something about Abraham. What did Abraham’s trust look like? And he teaches us something about ourselves. What does our trust look like?
In chapter 4 verse 5, Paul describes God. He makes a statement about God, who God is, what he is like. Paul described God as the one who justifies the wicked. And we saw that this was a provocative, even scandalous, statement. God declares innocent and righteous the wicked. God called the in-one-sense godly Abraham ungodly. And yet God also declares him righteous, justifying him.
Two great reversals. First, humans see Abraham as godly (and in one sense that is very true), but God sees Abraham as ungodly. And second, for a man to acquit the ungodly is shameful, but for God to acquit the ungodly is blessedness for man and the glory of God. And we saw from Romans 3:25-26 that God could do this and still be just because he presented Jesus as an atoning sacrifice for sins.
Well, Paul makes three more statements about God: the first two in verse 17, and the third in verse 24. First, verse 17:
As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. (NIV)
The first description of God in verse 17 is the God who gives life to the dead. What does this mean, that God gives life to the dead?
Well, Paul is referring to the long and involved story of the birth of Isaac. If you know anyone who has had problems having children, who wait for years, who go through the ordeal of IVF, then you have an insight into Abraham and Sarah’s life.
In Genesis chapter 17, Abraham is 100 years old, and Sarah 90 (Genesis 17:17). And God repeats his promise to them. Sarah will bear Abraham a son, and his name shall be Isaac (Genesis 17:19). Now this is simply laughable to both Abraham and Sarah (compare Genesis 17:17, 18:1-11). Both were very old. That doesn’t make it impossible for Abraham[1], though I‘ve not heard of anyone becoming a father at 100. But the nail in the coffin is this, that Sarah was barren (Genesis 11:13, 16:1), and she was past the age of childbearing (Genesis 18:11).
Romans 4 verse 19 shows us the fact of the situation:
Without weakening in his faith, he [Abraham] faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. (NIV)
Abraham is a realist. He is old. Sarah can’t have kids. Menopause is long past. They are the facts.
But God transforms the situations into which he speaks. He is ‘the God that gives life to the dead’.
Menopause is no barrier to God’s promise. Infertility can’t nullify God’s word. As verse 21 tells us, God has the power to do what he has promised.
Abraham looks at himself, his eyes see a body as good as dead, but God can energise it. Sarah remembers all the years of trying and hoping for a baby. But for God, infertile ovaries can spring to life. Bodily deadness is no barrier to God’s promise. That’s the sort of god, God is, who gives life to the dead.
What of the second description in verse 17, the very last bit, that God is the god who … calls things that are not as though they were’?
Because God has power to do what he promises, he can speak into a situation and his speech transforms that situation.
Do you know people who ‘call a spade a spade’? They tell it like it is. Well God tells it like it is. But this spade God calls ‘scrap metal’, for that is what it will be. And this spade God calls a ‘chandalere’, for that is what it will be. And this spade he calls a porsche, for that is what it will be.
And God calls Abraham, ‘father of many’ (Genesis 17:5), for that is what Abraham shall be. And God calls Sarah ‘mother of many nations’ (Genesis 17:16) for that is what Sarah will be.
God makes the future. He molds the time to come. So God can call the things that are not as though they were. God will fulfill his promise. Isaac might not exist at Genesis 17. But he is born at Genesis 21. What for us humans are insuperable limitations, for the creating God are new possibilities. And so God can call things that are not as though they were.
God gave life to Abraham’s old body and Sarah’s barren womb. God called Isaac into existence when he didn’t exist. But God didn’t stop there. The God who gives life to the dead solves more than just the problems of infertility.
There is another description of this God who gives life to the dead. Look at verses 24 to 25:
...but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (NIV)
God not only brought to life Sarah’s dead womb, God not only made Abraham potent, but God exercised his mighty creative power when he raised Jesus Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heaven (Ephesians 1:19-20). Jesus is risen. God is mighty.
How does this word find you? What is your situation? Have you given up on God? Perhaps there’s that loved one who doesn’t know Jesus? You’ve prayed. You’ve invited. You’ve shared about Jesus. And there’s not even a chink in the armour. They’re still as hard as ever.
Perhaps you are in the midst of difficult relationships, with family, loved ones, with friends. There is long standing hurt, bitterness. And you cannot see a way out. And you are wondering how you can withstand the situation. How can you stand up under this test?
We need to remember that God gives life to the dead. His words address us in our human weakness. When we are without strength and our energy sapped, when our bodies are as good as dead, then there is God, working through us and in us to fulfill his promises. He will save all who call on his Son. He will finish the good work he started in us. He will sustain us through every situation. In the midst of our weakness, we access God’s incomparably great power. And he makes us more like Jesus through it all. That sort of God is a God worth trusting
That leaves the question? What is involved in trusting God? What is faith, or belief? How did Abraham trust God? What did Abraham’s trust in God look like?
Abraham trusted God by trusting God’s word. He took God at his promise. In pointing this out, Paul tells us something about faith, that faith responds to God’s promises. We see this in verse 16:
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring (NIV).
We see it again in verse 20:
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God… (NIV)
Now this is an important point. Imagine if I was to say: ‘There is a bomb in the building? (There isn’t, by the way.) But if I said there’s a bomb in the building, you would trust me by doing something, you would run out of the building. That’s what you would do if you believed me.
But imagine I said, ‘There is a bomb in the building, but don’t worry, I know all about bombs. I’ve checked it. It won’t go off during the service. It’s got 2 hours to go, so I’ll disarm it during morning tea and not disturb our morning service.’
If you ran out of the building in that situation, I don’t think you would be trusting me. You would express your trust in me by sitting right there, relaxing, doing nothing, resting on my word, my assurance that I know about bombs, that I know about this bomb, and I will take care of it. I’ve made a promise. I’ll disarm it during morning tea.
You can either not believe me. You can think: ‘Matt, what does he know about bombs? He’ll probably talk over morning tea and forget about it, anyway!’
Or you can believe that I’m able: ‘Yeah, Matt knows about bombs.’ You can believe I’m willing: ‘Matt keeps his word. Matt’s said he’ll do it so he’ll do it. He won’t forget or change his mind.’ And you can trust me that I’ve got it under control.
So can you see why Paul raises this matter, that faith responds to God’s promise, here, at this very point? God has said to Abraham, ‘I will do it. I will provide you with a son, through Sarah.’ And when Abraham tries to do something to help God fulfill his promise, it is not trust. It is doubt.
So, in Genesis 16, Abraham sleeping with Hagar his wife's slave girl to have Ishmael was an instance of doubt. God has said, ‘I will give you a son through Sarah.’ Abraham trusted God when he did nothing to fulfill the promise (OK, he did something, like sleeping with Sarah), but thereafter he simply believed God and waited. It was distrust to sleep with Hagar.
And it’s the same when we trust God for salvation, for justification. God promises to justify the ungodly. Paul says later in Romans:
‘If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “He who believes in him will not be disappointed.… for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13 NIV)
God promises to justify and save us. He has paid for our forgiveness in Jesus’ death. He will do it, on the last day, if we continue to trust in Christ. And even now, we have the assurance that God considers us righteous in Christ, despite what we’ve done and who we are, that we are rightly called ‘ungodly’ in his sight. We need to trust God that he is faithful to his word.
But someone might say, ‘Look at what it says about Abraham in Romans chapter 4 verse 19!’:
Without weakening in his faith…
Verse 20:
He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith…
Verse 21:
...being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (NIV)
Perhaps someone might say, 'I don’t have that faith. It says, "Without weakening, not wavering, fully persuaded… " Abraham may believe like that. But I have doubts. I don’t always feel "fully persuaded". Sometimes I say, "I believe, help my unbelief". I don’t have strong faith. I’m more like Mr Little Faith, as I approach doubting Castle.’
Well, Paul’s words don’t deny Abraham’s momentary doubts. We read in Genesis about Abraham's laughter at God’s promise of Sarah’s pregnancy in Genesis 17. Chapter 18 records Sarah laughing also.
But what Paul is saying is that, in Genesis 17, Abraham’s faith did not diminish. His encounter with God in Genesis 17 did not weaken his faith. But Abraham’s faith grew stronger. When Abraham heard God’s word again, when he saw the sign of circumcision that God gave him, he was strengthened in his faith[2], and his faith grew stronger through hearing God’s word, and seeing the sacrament of circumcision that God gave him.
Going back to my illustration about the bomb in the building, suppose I said to you: ‘I know you find this hard to believe, that I’m an expert in bombs. You probably don’t believe I’ll even remember. I tell you what, here is my Degree in Bomb Disposal from Duntroon. You can have it. And I will stay in the building with you. And every 10 minutes I will tell you that I haven’t forgotten about the bomb! And these will be pledges of my ability and willingness to do what I have promised.'
Perhaps then you might stay, though I know some of you skeptical people would prefer the bomb squad!
Are you a ‘little faith’ person? If so, you need to remember God’s pledges to fulfill his promise. And to do that you need to meet with other Christians, so they can remind you about God’s promises, and so that you can remind them. You need to come to church regularly, so you can hear God’s promises for you, and you can tell them to others. Once a month is not regular. Now I know there are exceptions for health reasons and holidays, but unfortunately, in our churches, exceptions have become the rule. And why be satisfied with once a week, on Sunday? How about being committed to meeting other Christians in a small group. It may be in a weekly bible study. It may be in a small group to pray and encourage one another.
Or if you trust in Jesus, make sure you participate in the Lord’s Supper. We share in the Lord’s supper on the second of the month, usually. There is the God given sign and seal that God loves us in Jesus’ death.
And for those weakened in body who can’t meet, we have a special responsibility, to meet them to remind them of God’s promises and his signs.
And even when you’re by yourself you can sing songs to yourself about Jesus, reminding you that he loves you. You can pray that God shows you his love for you in Christ Jesus. And most of all, you can read the bible, which contains God’s promises for you, promises that he will save all who call on his name.
The point is this. You’ve got to be in it to win it. If you aren’t where God’s promises and God’s signs are, how can your faith be strengthened?
Again hear God’s promises. Again look at God’s signs. And be strengthened in the faith, like Abraham.
Now it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. I’ve been saying that circumcision was a good thing. It strengthened Abraham’s faith, as did rehearing the promise.
But we also know from Galatians and Acts 15 that some Jewish Christians were saying that observing circumcision and the law of Moses was necessary to be saved. You must be circumcised. But here, in Romans 4, Paul demolishes both arguments.
Paul simply says Abraham was justified at Genesis 15 but Abraham was circumcised at Genesis 17, 29 years later. Therefore Abraham was justified before he was circumcised. So, you don’t need to be circumcised to be justified. You don’t need to become a Jew before you become a Christian. Abraham already had faith righteousness before he was circumcised.
It’s a bit like the ‘last in, first out’ policy I think some public service organisations have. The first one stays: well that’s faith righteousness. The last one goes: that’s circumcision.
Because circumcision was only the sign or seal of a reality which he already had, which was faith. Circumcision didn’t justify him. For Abraham was already was justified by faith.
And its the same with our sacraments, baptism and communion. They are good, and God-given, just like circumcision. They strengthen our faith, just like circumcision strengthened Abraham’s. But they don’t justify us, just like circumcision didn’t justify Abraham. They are signs and seals of the good things we already have by faith. They tell us about things we already know, that Jesus died for us and rose again for us, that he is coming back, and that we too share in all his benefits. And so they confirm our faith in Jesus, the faith we have before the sacrament, and the faith we have after we’ve partaken of the sacrament.
Verse 15 says the law brings wrath. The law shows our sins. So the law cannot justify. It only condemns, because we are sinners.
In Galatians 3, Paul again points out that the law came by Moses 430 years after God gave the promises (Galatians 3:17ff). God promised first. He gave the law later.
Is God an Indian Giver? ‘I promised this, but now I put a condition on it. So if you don’t keep the law, you don’t get what I promised.’ Is that what God is like? No. The law, which no one has kept except for Jesus, doesn’t nullify the promise.
So we’ve seen that God is worth trusting. He is powerful and faithful. And we’ve seen Abraham’s example of trust. What saw what Abraham’s trust looked like? He trusted God’s promise for a child, and a nation. He was strengthened in faith by God’s promise and the sign of circumcision.
What about us? What about our faith? Is it in any way different from that of Abraham?
Well, there is a difference. Abraham believed in God who would make his body alive. He believed God’s promise for a son. But we believe God who raised Jesus from the dead. Verses 23 to 25:
The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (NIV)
Abraham looked forward to his seed, his offspring. But we look back to Jesus, and his resurrection. Really, we know more than Abraham. Abraham saw Jesus from a distance. We, with the benefit of hindsight, through the Apostles and the Scriptures, have seen his life, death, resurrection and ascension. We have seen Jesus handed over for our sins. We have seen Jesus raised to life for our justification. Jesus in his death bore our death for us. And Jesus in his resurrection defeated death for us. And when Jesus as the Son of God was justified by his resurrection from the dead, overturning the judgments of the kings and courts of this world, his justification in resurrection became our justification, and his righteousness became our righteousness, through our union with him, and through him imputing his righteousness to us as a gift. Our justification on the last day before God was won 2000 years ago when our Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again.
God made Abraham a father of many nations. (verse 17) And he is. Abraham is our father, not because we are Jews, but because we share our father’s likeness. Abraham trusted God. We trust God. God credited righteousness to Abraham. This was not written for him alone. It was written also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
So Abraham is our Father. Despite what our eyes see, despite what our hearts sometimes tell us, when our sin is all around us, and our deaths approach, God promises our justification and our resurrection from the dead.
The law says ‘law breaker’, but God credits you ‘righteous’ in Christ by faith in Jesus. When your life seems to suggest God is far away, God promise is he is with you. When circumstances tell us ‘God doesn’t care’, Jesus death' tells us ‘God is with us’ And sometimes, in the face of our continual deadness, and the lie of the eyes, we just have to close our eyes, stop up our ears, and believe what God says is true, just like Abraham.
So if you believe, you are Abraham’s son, and an heir according to God’s promise. And God will credit you righteousness.
Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you. So let’s all praise the Lord.
Let’s pray
[1] Cf his sons by Keturah until the age of 175: Genesis 25:1ff
[2] See Moo, Romans: NICNT, 285