Encouragement: for the sake of our justification

Today I bring you words and thoughts of encouragement from Romans 4:13-25

13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified.
15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression either. 16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.
18 Against hope Abraham believed in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations according to the pronouncement, “so will your descendants be.”
19 Without being weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
20 He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.
21 He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do.
22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
23 But the statement it was credited to him was not written only for Abraham’s sake,
24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
25 He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.

Biblical Studies Press. (2006; 2006). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Ro 4:13-25). Biblical Studies Press.

Sometimes we reach the level of faith of Abraham. We step out and believe in what we are called to do and put it into action. This is very much my space right now. Moving forward in my calling, doing what I feel God is asking me to do. When you take that step forward and praise God and trust in His promises there is a peace that floods over you. A peace that takes your faith walk to a whole new level in Him.

We see here in our text that Abraham and Sarah were old. In claiming the promise God gave to them, they were not closing their eyes to what their life state was. They were not ignoring their condition. Their relationship with God had built their trust in God that allowed them to walk forward in the trust that with God all things are possible.

God's promises are fulfilled by our faith. Do not get me wrong here. Our faith is not something we can work on by doing this and denying that and following a prescribed path, but as our test says "For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace". The grace factor is very hard to explain. When grace intervenes in our lives it produces faith, which produces trust, which enables us to accept the grace given to us by God, which allows faith to expand and God's word becomes written in our hearts, and filled with the spirit that works well up out of us beyond what we could ever imagine we could do. Bottom line is that grace allows our relationship with Him to grow and our faith to expand. We praise Him and walk in the glory of the grace given to us by Christ's finished work.

Ultimately it is in Jesus Christ, that grace flows through to us. Our text proclaims "He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification."

So righteousness is applied to us just like Abraham "through the righteousness that comes by faith." Faith produced by grace.

Walk in the freedom of grace that you may be a shining light to the whole world.

Amen

Music Encouragement Drown In Your Grace (Goyette)