Sermon – June 11, 2023

Romans 4:13-25

The promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants
through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to
be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no
law, neither is there violation.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed
to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith
of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many
nations”) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and
calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would
become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your
descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already
as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of
Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong
in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had
promised. Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now the words, “it was
reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us
who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for
our trespasses and was raised for our justification