Strong in Faith. Romans 4:18-24 V.18. God does things impossible to human beings and that are far beyond our ability to understand. When we put our faith in Him personally, we know His promises are sure, even though we don’t know all that is involved in bringing things to pass, because we know He is infinite in every way.
V.19. When we know Him personally, we don’t need to know all the information in relation to His promises. Knowing whatever He says will happen is good enough because we have faith in Him. Our response of faith is to obey Him and move forward as He guides us.
Like Abraham, all Christian believers are justified by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The object of our faith is God, who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. The source of our faith is God’s promise that the death of our Lord Jesus paid the price of our sins to God’s satisfaction. The result of our faith is that we are justified apart from works of any kind.
V.20. Abraham was strong in faith when with no one else around of like mind, he stepped out alone in faith in God. The world had gone away from God to their idols and set up stone and wood gods. They made their sacrifices to demons and in self-degradation were without God and without hope in the world. It was there in Ur the God of glory first appeared to Abraham. Again, God revealed Himself as Jehovah although Abraham didn't know the meaning of that name. A third time, God Most High, El Elyon appeared to him as the "Possessor of heaven and earth," and the One over nations and kings. The fourth time He revealed Himself as Lord, Adonai-Jehovah; the fifth time as El Shaddai, the Almighty God; the sixth time as the Everlasting God and the seventh time as the God who will provide, Jehovah-Jireh. This man of faith knew his God and from the beginning of his life of faith, "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God."
V.21. He knew his own condition as a man, and he knew the condition and place in life of Sarah. He also knew his God and because he was strengthened in his faith, he gave God glory without doubting God's promise. When one is sure that God has given His promise regarding a matter, we can rest in confidence that it will be done. God reckons such faith as righteousness. Abraham was not reckoned righteous because he left Ur of the Chaldees, or built altars, or was victorious in battle.
V.22. He was reckoned righteous when he believed the promise of blessing to the nations would come through his "seed;" through the Lord Jesus Christ. It was then he rejoiced to see Christ and believed in the promise of God. By nature, he was as good as dead, but by faith, he believed that blessing would come to the world through Christ. Abraham knew God could create things that did not exist and give life to the dead. He knew God could allow an old couple to have a son.
V.23. This same principle of faith that does not waver holds good for us today. Lot, Abraham's nephew, walked by sight, and as far as his testimony was concerned, he was of the world even though he was saved. Our faith will be reckoned (considered so) to be righteous and counted as righteousness by God when faith is living and strong - and placed in God alone. We who believe God is satisfied with what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us when He was made the propitiation for our sins, like Abraham, are reckoned as righteous. Abraham's faith was tested, and we, too, should expect to be tested. "The trial of your faith is more precious than gold that perishes."
It was God’s perspective of things that guided Abraham. God’s promise generated Abraham’s faith. God is the author of our faith, and we choose to take action based on what He says by faith. Faith has no merit in itself but is based on God’s word and His promises. That is the reason faith is credited as righteousness. It is God’s grace alone that is to be glorified, not human works or human faith. We, like Abraham, put our faith in the value of Christ’s death and resurrection when we respond to God’s call to us in the Gospel.
V.24. It is God in whom we have put our faith. We believe God because He is God. Nothing we are or do has anything to do with our being counted righteous. But our faith is in Him because He has raised our Lord Jesus Christ from among the dead. He has been raised. That is a fact. He has been seen by many. That is a fact. He has been received up into glory. That is a fact. Like Abraham, Christians believe in miracles like creation, procreation, resurrection, and justification. Like him, we look to God and wait. The righteousness imputed to him was written about for our sake because we believe “in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
The Holy Spirit has come and empowered the people of God so that they are truly strong in faith. Now our placing is in the Risen Christ in whom we are set by God. We have been justified from all things by His blood. Our faith is placed in a Sure Person, based on a finished work, that secures us a privileged position in which we find ourselves accepted in the Beloved. This glorious fact binds our hearts to Him in spite of the trials of faith that enable us to be strengthened in Him.