Where Is Our Faith Placed?

Romans 4:13-18

What do you trust in to get you through life?  If we took a poll, we would find that many people would say their family or their friends.  Some might say, especially if they had various health concerns, that they place a lot of trust in their doctors or the medical field.  Some people trust in their investments and bank savings.  Many trust in their religious faith.  In our Scripture passage today, we see how important it is to be trusting in the right thing.  Putting trust in the wrong thing can bring bad results.

Where we place our trust, or in whom, is important.  Faith in something worthless or unreliable does us no good.  If we are trusting in investments, as we all have seen, the financial markets can come crashing down, and the investments become worthless.  Most doctors are fine, but often they reach the point where there is nothing more they can do for you.  Friends and family can turn their back on you, and faith in a false god or belief will leave you with nothing.  Many well-meaning people, seeking to follow God, are putting their faith and trust in various religious rituals, rules, and regulations to get them to heaven.  Is that a good place for our trust?  Let’s see what the Book of Romans from the Bible has to say.

Paul begins by talking of the great Old Testament Patriarch Abraham.  As we read throughout the Book of Genesis, Abraham had great faith and trust in God.  Scripture says that he believed in God, trusted in Him, and it was counted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6).  Abraham’s righteousness didn’t come because he did anything.  It wasn’t because of the ritual of circumcision that the Jewish people held so important, as that came some years later.  It wasn’t because Abraham kept the Old Testament Law.  That came through Moses, several centuries later.  It was because Abraham believed and had faith that God counted him righteous (vs. 13).

Salvation does not come through keeping of the Old Testament Law, or in any set of religious regulations (vs. 13-15).  God’s promise to Abraham was given 430 years before the Old Testament Law was given to Moses.   Our faith must be placed in Jesus Christ, not in any religious activity or ritual that we follow.  God called Abraham righteous, not because he followed the Jewish ritual of circumcision, not because he kept the Law of Moses.  God called Abraham righteous because he believed and had faith in Him.

Who are the spiritual descendants of Abraham?  Those who believe, or those who practice works and rituals to get them to heaven?  Only those who through faith have accepted Jesus as Savior are the spiritual descendants of Abraham, whether they are of Jewish descent or Gentile (vs. 16).  Abraham pleased God through his faith alone, not through any religious rituals.  We are saved by faith alone, plus nothing.  Not faith plus good works, or faith plus a ritual.  We are saved only through faith in Jesus Christ, trusting Him to forgive all of our sins.

God promised Abraham that the entire world would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3).   This promise would be fulfilled through Jesus Christ.  Biologically Abraham was the ancestor of the Jewish people.  Spiritually, though, he became the father of all who put their trust in Jesus, whether Jewish or Gentile.  Before, Gentiles were considered by Jews as outcast, spiritually dead, having no claim to God.  But in verse 17 we read that God brings life to those dead, and calls into existence things that weren’t.  He made spiritual life available to all, making those who were once thought as nothing into His children.

God calls into being things that were not.  He speaks, and things that didn’t exist suddenly do.  God, through His Word, speaks into existence His will for our life.  What God says changes things, and causes things to happen.  He is the one who has power to determine our destiny.  We need to line up our will with God’s will.  When we do, He empowers us to accomplish what He wills for our lives.