Scripture referenced 9 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Romans 4:16-5:1 the main passage read and expounded throughout the sermon
16 For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
17 As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.
18 Besides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.”
19 Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
20 Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God,
21 and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
22 Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.”
23 Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone,
24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,
25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.
1 Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
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Keep this verse
Genesis 12:1-4
God's call to Abraham to leave his country and the promise to make him a great nation
1 Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treates you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
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Genesis 15
God's covenant with Abraham, the star-counting promise, and Abraham believing God who reckoned it to him as righteousness
1 After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
2 Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 Abram said, “Behold, to me you have given no children: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”
4 Behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir.”
5 Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So will your offspring be.”
6 He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness.
7 He said to Abram, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”
8 He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?”
9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 He brought him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds.
11 The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.
13 He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.
14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth,
15 but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.”
17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
18 In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
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Genesis 17
God appearing to 99-year-old Abraham, renaming him, and promising he would be father of a multitude of nations
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.
2 I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
3 Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying,
4 “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.
5 Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.
7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.
8 I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.”
9 God said to Abraham, “As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you.
12 He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring.
13 He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”
15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah.
16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?”
18 Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
19 God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
21 But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”
22 When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
23 Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money; every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him.
24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25 Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26 In the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised.
27 All the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
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Romans 3
quoted briefly: there is no one righteous, no not one
1 Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision?
2 Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted with the revelations of God.
3 For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God?
4 May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “That you might be justified in your words, and might prevail when you come into judgment.”
5 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.
6 May it never be! For then how will God judge the world?
7 For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
8 Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), “Let us do evil, that good may come?” Those who say so are justly condemned.
9 What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin.
10 As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one.
11 There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”
13 “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips”;
14 “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood.
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways.
17 The way of peace, they haven’t known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
20 Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21 But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;
26 to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
27 Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
28 We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t he the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30 since indeed there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith.
31 Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.
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1 Corinthians 11:23-25
words of institution read during communion, Jesus taking bread and cup on the night he was betrayed
23 For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.
24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”
25 In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”
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Hebrews 9:22
without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, cited during communion prayer
22 According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
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John 2
the wedding at Cana referenced during communion, Mary telling the servants whatever Jesus says to do it
1 The third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there.
2 Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the marriage.
3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.”
4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”
6 Now there were six water pots of stone set there after the Jews’ way of purifying, containing two or three metretes apiece.
7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” They filled them up to the brim.
8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the ruler of the feast.” So they took it.
9 When the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and didn’t know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast called the bridegroom,
10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have drunk freely, then that which is worse. You have kept the good wine until now!”
11 This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
12 After this, he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they stayed there a few days.
13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting.
15 He made a whip of cords, and threw all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew their tables.
16 To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!”
17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will eat me up.”
18 The Jews therefore answered him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 The Jews therefore said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! Will you raise it up in three days?”
21 But he spoke of the temple of his body.
22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he did.
24 But Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them, because he knew everyone,
25 and because he didn’t need for anyone to testify concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.
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Numbers 6:24-26
the Aaronic blessing spoken as a benediction at the close of the service
24 ‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
25 Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you.
26 Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Brett walked through Romans 4:16 through 5:1, tracing the story of Abraham to show what it means to be justified by faith and to have peace with God. The sermon pushed toward a turning point in Romans where the emphasis shifts from positional salvation to what that actually looks like in a person's life. The one image he kept coming back to was a child standing at the edge of a pool, deciding whether to trust her father enough to jump.
What was said
Paul's argument in Romans 4 only lands if you know who Abraham is. Pastor Brett took the congregation back through about ten chapters of Genesis to fill that in, starting with a man who appears in a genealogy list with nothing to set him apart. God chose Abraham, not because Abraham had earned it or was living righteously, but for reasons only God knows. The same text that introduces him also shows him stumbling into sin more than once. That is the point: "He believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness" does not mean God rewarded a righteous man. It means faith received what no amount of moral effort could earn.
The promise God made to Abraham was enormous and, on its face, absurd. A man in his nineties, a wife past the age of childbearing, and God says you will be the father of many nations. Every human attempt to solve the problem logically, including the situation with Hagar, produced the wrong result. The child of promise came by God's power alone, not by human calculation.
Faith is the only thing that accords with grace. Pastor Brett put it plainly: if anything else were required alongside faith, it would become a transaction. You do something, you get something back. Grace does not work that way. Faith is the receptor, the only thing that can receive what God gives freely.
Abraham did not waver. He contemplated his own body, a hundred years old and as good as dead, and the deadness of Sarah's womb, and he grew strong in faith rather than collapsing under the weight of what he saw. He believed that God gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not exist. The promise was guaranteed not because Abraham performed, but because God had spoken it.
Pastor Brett then asked the room a direct question: what practical difference does your belief actually make in your life? He used the illustration of a little girl standing beside a pool while her father, standing in the water, tells her to jump. If she jumps and he catches her, that is glory to the father, joy for the child, and deeper trust on the other side of it. If she stays on the edge, she is saying one of three things: you are incompetent, you are mean, or I am simply too afraid. He acknowledged that some people come to God already convinced He is one of those first two things, and that only actually trusting Him and seeing Him follow through begins to change that.
The sermon closed at Romans 5:1, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Peace with God is what makes it possible to hear what He is asking you to do and simply do it, without suspecting a trap. Pastor Brett asked people to think honestly about what God might be asking of them, whether a major life change or something as personal as forgiving someone, and to trust that the arms waiting to catch them are everlasting ones.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor walked through ten chapters of Genesis to show that Abraham was no different from his neighbors before God called him, and that Abraham kept sinning even after God made his covenant with him. What does it do to your understanding of faith and righteousness to see that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, rather than God blessing him for already being righteous?
- Paul says the promise is guaranteed through faith because faith is the only thing that accords with grace. In your own words, why does adding any requirement beyond faith turn grace into something else?
and 3 more questions in the guide
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