Topic: Believing the Impossible
Reading: Romans 4:23-25
Introduction and Overview
These scriptures we are studying today are full of insight and meaning. They show the power of God when we believe in the impossible, at least things that are impossible for man.
These words show us the power of faith in God and in what He achieved through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Understanding what these verses are telling us, and through believing the impossible, we receive salvation and life.
So, let us look at this subject and learn what these words are telling us.
Key points from reading:
- We are reckoned righteous by faith in the same way as Abraham was reckoned righteous.
- There were two different reasons and purposes for Jesus’ death and His resurrection
- Faith in the power and working of God the Father leads to righteousness
Discussion:
- Scripture: Romans 4:23
- The words, “It was reckoned to him,” that is Abraham, were not just talking about Him.
- Abraham provided an example for us to follow. Just as he was reckoned righteous, or declared righteous by God, we too will be declared righteous.
- Abraham was declared righteous by God because Abraham believed God. But it just wasn’t that he believed in God, or that there was a God. Abraham was given something very specific that he was to believe. Abraham was told by God that he would become the father of many nations and peoples through a son that would be born to his wife, Sarah.
- Any other man would have rejected the possibility of such a thing, given his and Sarah’s situation. Sarah was around ninety years old, she was decades past menopause, and she had a physical problem that kept her barren and unable fall pregnant. All of these issues suggested that it was impossible for Abraham to have a son by Sarah.
- But Abraham believed God could do the impossible. And he grew strong in his faith, even though it was about ten years later before Isaac was to be born. And because Abraham believed God and believed this impossible scenario, God reckoned Abraham to be righteous.
- Scripture: Romans 4:24
- Now, Abraham was given something impossible for man to even consider happening and he believed that God would follow through. Even today, what Abraham was told would be impossible despite the medical advances, but he believed God and it came to pass.
- Today, we too are called to believe God over something that is impossible for man. And when we do believe this impossible thing, we too will be reckoned righteous.
- We have been instructed to believe that God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Once again, this is an impossible thing for mankind to do, but it is not impossible for God. He who created the heavens, earth and everything in them is more than able to reunite the spirit of a person with their body and raise them from the dead. For God, this is not a difficult thing to do.
- All we have to do is believe that He did this with Jesus. We have to believe that Jesus died and three days later He was raised from the dead by the power and working of God. And like Abraham, when we believe this impossible thing, we too will be reckoned righteous.
- This is righteousness by faith, and this is how we receive the free gift of righteousness from God; by believing the impossible.
- Scripture: Romans 4:25
- In this last scripture we see a distinction made between the death and resurrection of Jesus. We also see the power in both of these things and what we are to believe to receive the gifts of God.
- Jesus died. That is not an impossible thing, after all, everyone will die. But Jesus died for a purpose. He died as the sacrifice for our sins. His sacrifice wiped our sins away and God cast those sins into the “depths of the sea,” figuratively speaking, where they will never be retrieved and can never condemn us ever again. (See Micah 7:19)
- When we believe that Jesus died for our sins, we are able to take His death as our own and be set free from sin. We do this through the symbolism of baptism in water. We die with Christ as we go down into the baptismal waters, and we are resurrected with Him as we are lifted out of the waters.
- This is what baptism represents, our death and resurrection with Christ. And it is a faith teaching because once we go through baptism, we have to believe we have actually died and been raised with Christ. We believe we are now new creations in Christ and are seated at the right hand of God in Him.
- So, we see that Jesus died to be a sacrifice for our sins, which we take on by faith and so are set free from sin. But that is not where we receive the free gift of righteousness and have righteousness reckoned to us. To die is not impossible as we can all die.
- But to be resurrected is an impossible thing for man to conceive. This is where we are called to believe the impossible. It is when we believe Christ was raised from the dead and we enter His resurrection through baptism, that we receive the free gift of righteousness by faith. This is why the scripture says:
- “He was put to death for our trespasses…” That is, He died to be the sacrifice for our sins. And then it says He was, “…raised for our justification.” That is, it was in His resurrection and believing God raised Jesus from the dead that we are justified. And to be justified is to be declared righteous, which we receive through faith.
Key Takeaways:
- Jesus died to be the perfect sacrifice for sin, and we enter His death and resurrection through baptism in water.
- Jesus was resurrected in an impossible way to prove the power and working of God.
- When we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, we are declared righteous, just as Abraham was declare righteous, because we believe this impossible thing that God did.
Prayer Points
- Pray to fully understand how we receive the free gift of righteousness by faith.
- Pray also to understand how all of this works and the power of God in doing this work.
- Also pray for the faith to believe that you are truly set free from sin, and that by faith you now stand righteous before God by believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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