Romans Chapter 4:16-20

You have in your ability to believe God for incredible things. You have also in your ability to doubt God for the simplest of matters. So you have to choose.

You have to choose what's going to control your life. See, because when you're anxious, when you're fearful, when you're freaked out, friend, you are not trusting God. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee.

In life, things are going to happen that we don't really understand. But we should believe and trust in God, even when things don't make sense. Today, Pastor David encourages us with this thought as he continues in the Book of Romans, Chapter 4, in his teaching entitled, Faith.

Let's go now to David. We're in Romans, Chapter 4. Paul is the writer of this book. He's writing to the church at Rome. He's not yet been to Rome, so he's writing the letter, if you will, ahead of himself. Now, when we went through the Book of Acts, we saw that, you know, as he went into Rome, they greeted him and they knew him. How did they know him?

Well, they knew him because he had already sent the letter, and it had circulated all around the church. Now, we're going to pick it up in Romans, Chapter 4, and we ended with verse 17 last week. But for context's sake, let's go back to verse 16 and start there. Romans, Chapter 4, verse 16 says, Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. Verse 17, As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations, in the presence of him whom he believed, God, who gives life to the dead, and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Verse 18, Who contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be.

Your attention, please. This is a pretty amazing passage that Paul is teaching here and writing, because he speaks a little bit about Abraham, talks about David, how was David righteous, comes back to Abraham, who, you know, of course, the Jewish people consider him the father of the faith, if you will, and saying, hey, Abraham was not justified by works, Abraham was not justified by his own righteousness, Abraham was justified by faith. And this passage he's speaking about here is God made a promise to Abraham that is just incredible. Abraham was about 84 years old, and God said, you're going to be the father of many nations.

You're going to have a lot of children, if you will. He was 84. Now what's interesting is it didn't happen then.

Between 84 and 86, it didn't happen then. 14, 15, 16 years later, he's 100 years old, and it still hasn't happened. And Sarah, his wife, is now 90. Now, we talked a little bit about this last week, but my grandparents didn't live to be that old, but I can only imagine if they had lived to be that old, and they came to me, and they said, we're going to have some kids. I would be more than a little troubled.

You know, Grandma and Grandpa quit that, you're going to hurt yourself. I mean, that's just not right. And yet, here's an interesting thing, God waited. God promised, and God waited. Now, God could have easily told them when they were in their 20s, or their 30s, or their 40s, or their 50s, or their 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, but Abraham was 100 years old before God came through. That's just kind of interesting to me, because oftentimes we think, well, having faith is seeing something appear like that.

Well, not often, friend. It's often waiting on it. And it's kind of interesting that God often waits until we know it can only be him that comes through. See, maybe if Abraham was 40, he could have taken some of the credit, maybe even 50, maybe 60, but at 100, you would look back at that and say, you know what, that's got to be God. That has got to be God.

And you know what I found in my life that's very interesting? Is God often waits. He often waits until we know we can't do it. And then he comes through.

As a matter of fact, interestingly enough, a lot of times God actually will place us in a position or a place that looks impossible to see if we'll have faith on him and faith in him. I don't know if you remember what happened with Moses. He's getting out of Egypt.

He goes and there's a mountain on each side of him. The Red Sea is at his back and Pharaoh's army is bearing down on him. I don't know if you saw the Ten Commandments or remember, but Yul Brynner comes upon this scene and he goes, oh, your God is a poor military strategist, knowing that Moses was following the Lord to that position.

Fire by night, pillar cloud by day. God placed him in that impossible position, put him there and was like, hey, Moses, what are you going to do now? And Moses trusted God.

He trusted God. Turned to the Red Sea and some of you know the story. The Red Sea parted. Now, I've heard liberal theologians say, well, you know, that part of the Red Sea, it's not very deep to begin with.

It's only probably about six inches deep and, you know, the good gust of wind just blew it, it parted so they could walk through it. So there's there's really no miracle there. Well, then I guess the miracle is the fact that all of Pharaoh's army drowned in six inches of water.

There's a miracle in there somewhere. And Moses turns to the people and he says something beautiful. He says, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord is the way it reads in the English.

And in the Hebrew, it's interesting. That word for salvation is the word Yeshua. Now, that's the word that we've translated through the Greek and whatnot into Jesus.

So it's kind of prophetic. He was saying stand still and see salvation or Jesus of the Lord in the water parted. But but God put people in these impossible positions so that when he came through, they'd know it was him. There was no doubt for him that day in Moses mind that it was God who came through.

It was not him. The life lesson here is we should believe and trust in God, even when it doesn't make sense. We should believe and trust in God, even when it doesn't make sense. One of the joys of traveling, you know, I was traveling and teaching and doing music is seeing God come through over and over and over again. Now, let me be honest. Early in the ministry, I would get in a situation, I would get anxious, I would get freaked out and I'd be like, oh, what's going to happen? And then God would come through and I would feel really silly and sheepish, you know, because it'd be like, oh, well, OK, God came through. I couldn't really say I knew he was going to come through time and time again that happened. And I got to really kind of to be honest, I didn't like that stinking feeling of feeling like that, you know, because God would come through and I'd be like, well, I knew you'd come through. Well, OK, I thought I thought you'd come through. OK, I was hoping maybe you'd come through.

God, I didn't think you were coming through. But but, you know, now now you've come through and now my faith has been built by seeing you come through. And the more that happens, the stronger your faith becomes.

Why? Your faith grows through what? Through trials.

I wish there was another way. I wish, you know, you could say, hey, you know, I want faith and I could sprinkle pixie dust on you or something. And you also and you get faith. Now, one of the ways I can encourage you in your faith is faith comes by what?

Comes by hearing the word of God. So as I sit up here and read the Bible and quote verses, guess what? Your faith is being stirred.

So Abraham's faith, it was stirred. Understand, you have in your ability to believe God for incredible things. You have also in your ability to doubt God for the simplest of matters.

So you have to you have to choose. You have to choose what's going to control your life. See, because when you're anxious, when you're fearful, when you're freaked out, friend, you are not trusting God. That's evidence that you're not trusting God. Because if you're trusting God, it's kind of the opposite of those things. It's the opposite of fear.

It's the opposite of anxiety. And those things should be red flags that you're not really trusting. And you can turn and doubt your emotions and trust God. Because God sees he saw Abraham as a father. When he didn't have children.

When he was 100 years old. See, God sees our lives in a different way. If you will, it's kind of like a parade is passing by. And if you're looking through like a little cut slot in a cardboard box, you're kind of watching just a little bit of the parade.

But God is like, if you will, it's kind of over the parade in a helicopter or something. He sees the beginning. He sees the end. He sees which way it's going.

He sees the whole thing. And he can speak to you and speak through the word saying things to you. And you have to choose to be controlled by faith or be controlled by fear. Abraham believed he would be a father when it didn't make sense.

God says we can be righteous when it doesn't make sense. Thank you for listening to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. We'll return to David's teaching in just a moment. The tragedy in Benghazi, the bombings in Boston, and the current unrest in Egypt are all vivid accounts of terrorism. Each time an event like this occurs, it often causes us to respond with fear. But it doesn't have to, because God knows your future and you can too. With David Magee's teaching entitled, Know Your Future, Be Immune to Terrorism, you'll come to understand the realities of radical Islam while rejoicing in God's promises for your future. Don't allow fear to consume your life. Instead, find hope with this month's special offer, Know Your Future, Be Immune to Terrorism. Know Your Future is available as a CD or DVD and is our gift to you when you call today with a donation to Cross the Bridge Ministries. It's because of your continued faithful support that we're able to broadcast across the nation with the life-changing Word of God.

To help support Cross the Bridge and receive your CD or DVD copy of Know Your Future, call 877-458-5508 or go online to CrossTheBridge.com. Now let's return to Pastor David's verse-by-verse teaching in the book of Romans. Verse 19, And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. It didn't seem possible.

Didn't seem possible. And yet he still believed him. Still believed him. Didn't consider his own body, already dead. He's saying in a reproductive way, the deadness of Sarah's womb I think is a way of saying she was past her reproductive phase. And yet he still believed. Now, you know, there came a problem. If you're familiar with the life of Abraham, he came up or Sarah came up or they came up with together this wonderful plan where Abraham was going to be with his maidservant or her maidservant and they did and they had an offspring and it didn't go well. As a matter of fact, it's really the cause of a lot of the fighting that's over in the Middle East still. So they tried to help God when it wasn't happening.

It's not happening. I'm honored. Let's help God. Did God say, Abraham, I need your help? No. When God created this earth, he didn't consult me.

I'm still in therapy, over. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No, he didn't need to. He didn't need to ask my permission. He did it.

He didn't need my help. The Lord spoke this to me in a wonderful way. I was out in California and we were in the bus, a big motor coach, and walking and I was getting ready to go in and teach and do music and stuff.

I have three children. Benjamin was probably about a year and a half, two years old, something like that. So we were trying to get ready. That particular evening, it became my duty to put his socks and shoes on.

It wasn't usually my duty. When I knelt down in front of Ben with the socks and shoes, he was like, uh-oh, trouble, trouble. So I began to try to put the socks on his feet and little Benjamin, he was convinced I didn't. I had no idea what I was doing.

He was looking at mom and alarm. It got to be a real struggle because as I was trying to put the socks on his feet, he kept trying to put his feet in the socks at the same time. It was just like this big tug of war. I was like, Benjamin, quit trying to help.

It's going to take longer, it's going to be harder on both of us if you feel like you've got to help. Finally, he held his leg and put the sock on, put the shoes on. I said, well, I'm going to go ahead and you guys come in a couple of minutes. I walked across the lot. It was kind of a large lot so I had a little bit of time with the Lord. I was walking across the lot and this still small voice came to me and God said, that is exactly like me and you. I said, I don't see it, God. I can be spiritually thick at times.

The Lord said, you know what, I am conforming you to the image of my son. It's not something you can do. It's something I'm doing in you and through you. You couldn't do it before you got saved. You and your own strength can't do it now. All you can do is submit to my will, my authority, and my power in your life and I will do it in you.

I was so humbled because as I was finished walking through the church, those words I had said to Benjamin rang out in my head. Quit trying to help. It's going to be harder on both of those. It's going to take longer if you've got to help. See, God is doing something in us. Once you come to him, ask him to forgive you of your sins, God begins a work in you. But make no mistake, friend, it's not your work.

It's his work. It's what he does in you and through you. You're no more able to follow Jesus and act like Jesus than you could at any point in your life except that God is working through you. The life lesson here, we are not limited by our abilities or by the abilities of those around us to see God achieve great things in our life. We're not limited by our abilities or by the abilities of those around us to see God achieve great things in our life. See, we often look at problems, look at situations, and we weigh them by our abilities. But again, understand God will allow us and even sometimes place us in these positions that seem impossible, where we cannot trust our abilities, where we have to lean on his.

I used to not like those places. But you know, as I followed the Lord, now I cherish him because you know what? I know God's getting ready to do something incredible when I get in one of those places.

And when he comes through, I know it's going to be him and not me. This Genesis passage that we keep referring to says this. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me? Seeing I go childless in the air of my house is a liaison of Damascus. And then Abram said, Look, you have given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. Then he brought him outside and said, Look now towards heaven and count the stars if you're able to number them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. And he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. God didn't just say, Abraham, you're going to have a son. God said, Abraham, look up in the stars of the heaven. Can you count them?

You're going to have more descendants than that. It was intentionally, I think, kind of trying to, if you will, blow Abraham's mind and what he was going to do. And I think God takes, he takes joy in that. Abraham believed him. How do we know Abraham believed him? Because Abraham went through several things that showed his faith. Probably one of the greatest test of his faith, of his faith was in Genesis chapter 22. When God said, I want you to give me your son, Isaac, the greatest test any parent could ever go through. Now, it's interesting because if you grew up in church and Sunday school, you know, you always had these little coloring things, you know, where Isaac looks like he's about 10 or 12 or 14. I can actually prove with scripture that he was about 30 years old when Abraham took him up that hill. Can you imagine hearing that if you were Abraham? You're 100 years old before you have the child. Now he grows up.

He's 30. Now Abraham is 130 years old. He's blessing God. He's thanking God because of Isaac.

And then God says, I want Isaac. And Abraham in an incredible statement of faith says, okay. And why was that such an incredible statement of faith?

Because he knew if God took him, he would see him again through the resurrection. I mean, that's faith. That's incredible faith. If you will, Abraham passed the test. Verse 20 says, he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, given glory to God. So he's believing God. He did not waver. Look at verse 20 again. He did not waver at the promise through unbelief.

I mean, and he didn't think, oh, well, this is never going to happen. He believed God and strengthen in faith, given glory to God. I may be sitting and go, well, yeah, I do believe, but part of me doubts.

That's, you know what? You should be honest with God. Mark chapter nine, verse 23 says this. And this guy had a sick son. And Jesus said to him, if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes. I love the guy's response.

24. Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Now we read that and go, well, what does he mean he believes, but help his unbelief? Because don't you either believe or you don't?

No, no, you believe and sometimes you might have doubts, but in those moments of doubts, those moments of despair, you go to God and say, God, please, please help my unbelief. And God will honor that. I've shared many times that, you know, when I, when I came to the Lord the first time, I had a lot of doubts. I really wondered if God could forgive me for all the things I had done. And God honored the belief, that little spark that I have.

And I had at that moment. So again, in you, in your mind, in your heart is the ability to believe God for incredible things. And at the same time, there's this ability to doubt him over the most basic of things. Which will you trust? Your doubt or your faith?

Or will you trust God? There's a passage and we went over it a chapter or so ago, Romans chapter three, verse four says, indeed, let God be true, but every man a liar. Now, what this means is let God's word be true. Let what God says to you be true and let everybody else be a liar.

Let me, let me, let's extend that a little bit. Cause maybe you don't have problem calling other people liars, but according to the first, everybody that says something against the word of God is lying. So friend in love at times, you may be that liar. You may say, well, I don't, I don't feel like God can come through.

You know what? Your feelings are lying to you. Your feelings will lie to you. As a matter of fact, your feelings have lied to you. At some point in your life, your feelings have lied to you. Maybe you were in school and maybe you saw a girl and you thought, Oh, she's the one, you know, you just knew she was the one. She wasn't the one. Your feelings lied to you.

How many times have you felt sure of a situation only to find out you had it completely wrong and what you felt was completely wrong. We don't base this whole thing on feelings. We base it on faith.

That's why it's important. If you ever have the opportunity to share the Lord with somebody and lead somebody in a prayer that they're asking Jesus to forgive them of their sin. After they say, amen, do not ever look at them and say, now, how do you feel? Because maybe they feel awesome. Maybe they're weeping and all, but maybe they felt nothing. And when you say, how do you feel?

They'll go, well, I didn't feel anything. It didn't work. I'm still a sinner. The Bible says, no, that if you confess your sins to the Lord, you're forgiven. Why do we trust our circumstances and our situations? Life lesson here, believe in God instead of in your circumstances, your circumstances will change. God will not believe in God. Instead of in your circumstances, your circumstances will change. God will not.

Now here's the tough part because you're tempted to believe in your circumstances, to look around and go, well, this is the way it is. The Bible has a phrase that says it came to pass. You know what I mean? It means it didn't come to stay. It just came to pass.

It came for a little while and then it's going to be gone. I believe God heals people. I believe he does it sometimes instantly. Sometimes the medication surgery, he does it a lot of different ways. But I believe God heals people. I believe God heals every believer without exception.

And here's how I can say that. It's not a question of if he will heal them. It's a question of when.

It may not be here. You may take sickness or disease or scars or whatever up to the gates of heaven. But let me promise you, you're not taking them in. You will be healed.

It's a question of when. Don't trust your circumstances. Circumstances change trust in God. See, I grew up in denominational kind of religious background. And I was pretty much taught, well, you know, you just go through life and your hope, your good outweighs your bad. And if your good outweighs your bad, you get to heaven. And had the concept that, well, that, you know, good people go to heaven, bad people go to hell.

That's the way it is. It's God's system. The more I learned about the Bible, you come to the understanding that actually the opposite is true. Bad people go to heaven. Good people go to hell.

Here's what I mean by that. If you think you're good enough in your own works, on your own righteousness, guess what you're going to do? You're going to refuse Jesus. I don't need your help. I got it covered.

Guess what? You're not going to heaven. But if you realize that you're bad enough that you need forgiveness, then you'll come to Jesus and say, Jesus, I really need your forgiveness. You say, you're forgiven.

Come on in. Jesus said, I didn't come to save the righteous. I came to save the sinner. Those who understand that they've messed up. So what do you trust in? Are you trusting in your works? Or are you trusting in Him? Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If this was your first time praying that prayer with Pastor David, we would love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Also, if you've been blessed by Cross the Bridge Ministries, would you consider supporting us with a financial gift? When you call with your gift, make sure to ask them about this month's special offer entitled Know Your Future, Be Immune to Terrorism.

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That's 877-458-5508. Or go online to crossthebridge.com. While there, take a moment to sign up for Pastor David's free email devotional or browse our large library of teachings. Again, our website is crossthebridge.com. Thank you for listening, and we hope you'll join us again next time as we continue to Cross the Bridge.