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The River ChurchSermons

Righteousness

The Love of God

Justin Dean · Sunday, 15 June 2025 · Romans 4:13-25 · 41:45 · 5,982 words

Romans S8 · 4:13-25 Davison

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The sermon explains that Abraham was declared right with God not by obeying the law but by trusting God’s promise. It emphasizes that salvation rests on God’s grace and our faith in His character, not on human effort, because humanity cannot meet a perfect standard. The message connects Abraham’s example to the gospel: faith in Christ’s death and resurrection brings justification and eternal life. Listeners are encouraged to pray for a deeper, active faith that trusts God’s promises and grows in obedience.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

faith 97 promise 54 abraham 36 contract 11 justify 27 provide 16 null 8 fully 14 adherence 7 exist 11 ability 13 deeper 9

Topics

Faith 24 Abraham 14 Justification 6 Prayer 4 The Law 3 Hope 3 Atonement & Sacrifice 2 Righteousness 2 Conscience 2 Salvation 2 The Gospel 1 Grace 1 Adoption & Sonship 1 Sanctification 1 Death & Resurrection 1

Scripture referenced 20

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 4 0:35 Romans 4 2:58 Romans 4 3:29 Romans 4:13 3:29 Romans 4:25 3:29 Romans 4:13 3:34 Galatians 3 4:36 Romans 2 10:08 Romans 2 10:19 Romans 2:19 10:19 Romans 2 10:57 Romans 2:19 11:03 Romans 4 13:06 Romans 4:16 13:06 Romans 4 21:18 Romans 4 21:18 Romans 4:19 21:18 Romans 4:20 26:28 Romans 4 31:54 Romans 4:23 31:54

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

cares for us and who provides for us and who shows up. Lord, I thank you for all the dads in the room.

I pray that you would continue to guide them and direct them as they lead their families, as they

lead their kids. Lord, and I pray that you would give them strength. Lord, as we dive into God's

word this morning, I pray that you would illuminate your word to us, help us to understand, give us

wisdom. Lord, that you would help us to truly apply what your word says and that you would give

us just great understanding in all that you have for us today. In your precious and holy name,

Jesus' name, amen. All right, open up to Romans chapter 4. Surprise, surprise, right? We've been

diving into Romans. We've been taking a look at this long argument, right, that Paul is making

in defense of God's righteousness.

And in a way that he is trying to teach us how he is both the righteous God who is judge and

righteous God who is the dispenser of grace through which we have salvation. And so he's been

hammering home the idea of sin. He did that for the first really three chapters, three and a half

chapters. And then recently he's been talking more and more about our justification that comes

through faith.

Right? And how we can't be justified or we can't have things made right between us and God

on the premise of our own works. But instead, we are offered justification through Jesus Christ.

And so I compared it last week to how Paul will introduce sections by, you know, laying down

basically a stake. And then he'll spend the next few chapters or the next passages really trying to

help us through that. And so I compared it last week to how Paul will introduce sections by, you

know, laying down basically a stake. And then he'll spend the next few chapters really trying to help us through

that stake. Right? And so he's been dissecting the means by which we've received that justification

before God. And he's really been highlighting this idea of faith. And how he's been highlighting this

idea of faith is he's been using the patriarch of the Israelites, which is Abraham. Right? He is the

father of the Jewish people. He is the one that God gave his first covenant to. And that's why he's

in that respect. And how he was not justified through his works, like many had previously

believed. But instead, he was justified through faith. And Paul is making that argument time and

time and again that it was through Abraham's faith that he was justified. And this is actually a clear

point that the Old Testament makes, not just that Paul is making in the New Testament. And so we pick

that argument that he's making. Romans chapter four. I've been encouraging you to bring your

Bibles. Some of you have been really good about that. Others of you, you know, there's room for

improvement. Right? And so I'd encourage you, if you don't have a Bible, pull up your phone, get the

Bible on your phone. There are Bibles back at guest services that you can have for free. We just want

you to have God's Word. But it's important that you have God's Word and are able to go through it

with us this morning. If you don't, hey, next week. There's always next week. Right? And so we're

chapter four, starting in verse 13. And we're going through verse 25, but we're going to stop

and take it kind of chunk at a time. So starting in verse 13. For the promise to Abraham and his

offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness

of faith. For if it is the adherence of the law, who are to be their heirs, faith is null and the

promise is vain. And if it is the adherence of the law, who are to be their heirs, faith is null and the promise is vain.

For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. And so, like I said,

Paul continues down this line of thought and he re-emphasizes this truth. This idea that Abraham's

righteousness did not come from the law. Abraham's righteousness came through faith. And what he says

here is Abraham is not justified according to the works of the law, but his faith in God. Now, Paul

makes a couple arguments here, but one of the ones that he leaves out, he actually makes in Genesis,

or sorry, in Galatians chapter 3. He's talking to the Galatians people and he emphasizes this idea

that the law did not come about until over 400 years after Abraham. So there's a very physical,

logical point that he could make. How could Abraham be justified by works of the law if

Abraham himself did not have works of the law, right? It's very easy to understand, right? He

cannot be following law because he doesn't have the law. He doesn't know what to follow. So to

even make the suggestion that he was justified by his works of the law doesn't really make sense.

But Paul here in Romans does not engage in that, right? Instead of logically addressing the physical,

he actually instead,

once again, hammering home the reality of how Abraham is justified, right? And he says,

for it is not, for if it is adherence of the law, who are to be the heirs, faith is null,

and the promise is void. And so throughout the letter, he has been saying, if it is based off of

your works, you're in trouble, right? Those of you who have been here for these last couple weeks

in Romans, you've probably heard me say that a hundred times. It feels right, right? You are

sunk. If it is according to your own works that you stand before God and say, God, here is the

means by which I'm worthy to enter heaven, me, right? The things I did, all those different

things. He goes, that will make no sense. It is not found through adherence to the law. It's not

found through adherence to the law. It is not found through adherence to the law. It is not found

through human works. No one will be justified if that is the case, because we all fall short.

But he says, faith is null, and the promise is void, right? He looks and he kind of compares it.

I love that word, null and void, right? Because it makes you think of a contract. At least in my

mind, it makes me think of a contract, right? And so what he's saying here is, if you and God have

a contract, and in that contract, it says,

God has to uphold these things, right? Salvation and giving you righteousness. And you have to

uphold these things. If that's the contract where God has to uphold his side and you have to uphold

your side, the reason why you're in trouble is because you're going to pretty much immediately

not hold up your side, right? Immediately, you are going to break that contract. You are going

to break that agreement. Why? Because humanity is imperfect. Humanity is imperfect. Humanity is imperfect.

And so what God requires is perfect holiness. Why? Because he is perfectly holy. So if you're

going to be justified before a perfect and holy God, guess what? You have to be perfect and holy.

But humanity is not perfect and holy. It is flawed. And so if there's this contract that says,

God will provide you justification if you are perfect and holy, pretty much the moment we sign

that contract, we break that agreement, that a covenant is perfect. And so if you're going to

null and void, right? And so that's what Paul is saying here is there is no way for us to have

at any level a contract with God that is based off us because we are null and void. We null and void

the contract immediately. So what he's saying here is there has to be from God's side everything

based, right? Everything has to be based off of God. Everything has to be based off of a promise

that God gives us. And elsewhere in Romans earlier on, he said that it has a gift,

not a contract, not some sort of agreement that is based off of us, but instead a promise

of a gift that is to be given to us freely, not as we deserve, not as we earned, not as we laid

out. And so the reality is we have to rely on the promise. And he lays that out, not as an

adherence to the law, but instead on faith. Paul continually points and makes this picture of faith

where he looks and he says, here is what you are called to have faith in. You are called to have

faith in the promises, word, and character of God. That's the idea of faith, right? Sometimes

we look and we say, I believe in God, right? We use that term a lot. If you ask someone, hey,

do you think you're going to heaven or hell? That most of the time they'll respond with, well,

I believe in God, right? I believe in God. And what they mean is I believe that God exists.

I believe that God exists. And I look and say, well, I'm very glad that you believe that God

exists. That's the first step, right? I'm glad you acknowledge that there is a creator. But

that is not the reality by which we're saved. For instance, look at James chapter two. Keep your

Romans because we're going to be back here. Look at James chapter two and look at verse 19. Now,

James here is really, he's drawing a picture of faith and works. And he's saying those things are

unified. Those things are unified. Your faith and your works, they go coincide. And that's a sermon

for another day. I'm going to touch on it a little bit. But he's making this emphasis that there are

just an empty belief, like just a statement that they look and they say, you know, I believe,

I declare that I believe, right? And he says this, he makes this statement, James chapter two,

verse 19. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe and shudder.

What he's saying is, okay, if you look and you say, I just believe that God exists and it doesn't

change anything about my life. And I don't rely on him at all. And, you know, really,

it's just a statement of fact in my mind. He goes, okay, even the demons acknowledge that God exists.

Even the demons know that God exists. That's who they're countering. That's who they're fighting,

right? And salvation is not offered to them. Satan knows what God's word says. I guarantee

that Satan has read the Bible. Satan doesn't have the understanding that we have because

he does not have access to the Holy Spirit. But just because you do these empty beliefs,

practices, or you say these empty statements, or you have empty fact that you, or platitudes that

you say, does not necessarily mean that you have received salvation. Belief and faith are two

different things. Really what it is, is when we talk about believing in God, it's not a belief

that God exists. It's a belief in the character of God, right? When scripture talks about believing

in God, and Paul later on in Romans, he says, I believe that God exists. I believe that God exists.

Romans says, belief that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, that's a belief that Christ raised

from the dead for you and I. That's a statement about God's character. I believe that God is good,

that he has supplied the needs for me. And so as Paul continues to paint this picture of belief,

or of faith, sorry, Paul points to Abraham in this regard, specifically in the regards of the promise.

In Romans, Romans chapter four, diving into verse 16, it says this, that is why it depends on faith

in order that the promise may rest on the grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring,

not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham,

who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you a son of God, and I have made you

a father of many nations, in the presence of God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead,

and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope, he believed against hope,

that he should become the father of many nations, and had been told, so shall your offspring be.

So here, Paul points to this idea. He says, hey, here's the deal. It has to depend on faith,

a faith that rests on grace, right? That is the forgiveness of transgressions or forgiveness of

the things that we've done wrong. And then grace is all the supplying of something that we did not

earn. And so encompassing grace is this idea of God both forgiving us our transgressions or

forgiving us our sins, but then also providing to us eternal life.

That there's, that's the kind of the double side of grace that you have to understand, right?

If God just forgives us our sins on the cross, that is still not a full resume to enter into

heaven, right? That just takes away the negative parts of our resume, right? The sin that would

disqualify us. But then what God does is then he also gives us life, gives us life, gives us

access to him, gives us justification so that we can enter into eternal life. See how it's two parts?

And so what Paul says here is, our hope rests in relying on a promise. We cannot physically see

that Jesus died on the cross and rose again. The passion of the Christ is not like live, right? Like

weren't there. We did not see his ascent into heaven. And we don't have this physical proof

that God is going to come again and that our sins are going to be justified, right? We have God's

word, which tells us that. We have our relationship with God and the Holy Spirit who affirms that in

our lives. But at some level, it requires faith, right? I have to trust what God's word says. I have to trust that Jesus

went to the cross and died and rose again. I have to trust that God is going to let me enter into

eternity. I have to have that faith. We have to have that faith. And so what he's saying is, we have

to have faith in the grace, in the promise, in the actions of God. And then he paints this picture of

Abraham. In the same way, Abraham had to have faith when God said, you will be the father of many nations.

You know how old that Abraham was when God made that promise to him? 89 years old. He was 89 years

old, right? So Abraham looks and he says, God, I don't know what kind of biological new body you're

going to give me. Well, I'm an 89 year old man. My wife is not a spring chicken. Like the reality is,

I don't know that we're going to be able to do that. Abraham doesn't say any of that. He has

faith. He has faith in a God who can bring about life to the dead and bring into existence things

that do not exist, right? So he looks and he says, I trust, I have faith in the character of God, that

God is creator. I have faith that God is miracle worker. I have faith that God is sovereign. He is

the creator of all things. I have faith in the way that God has created me. And I have faith that God

will come through on his promises. So in Genesis, when God shows up to Abraham and says, hey, you

will be the father of many nations, it will be through a son that is born to Sarah, not through

Hagar, which is his other son with Ishmael, which is his lack of faith, right? His desire to figure

things out on his own. When God shows up and affirms that he is the father of many nations,

that promise, he does not question. He has faith because he knows those things. And he doesn't

question because he has faith, right? He has faith when God says that, and he doesn't question

because he has faith in God's character. And so there's this, there's this reality that he is

relying on these promises. And as he relies on those promises, that gives him hope. That gives

us hope. When we look at scripture in it, and scripture promises us different things, which we're

going to talk about in a little bit, that should not just be like, oh yeah, God promises us salvation.

God promises us protection. Okay, glad, glad, so glad that he does that. God promises us life in the

midst of death. God promises us that he hears our prayers. Cool. No, that should look and be like,

thank you, Lord. Like, that gives me hope. That helps me through the day. Because when I'm feeling

when I'm feeling unloved, when I'm feeling like my world is chaos, right? God hears me. God promises

that he loves me. And God promises that he is in control. And that he provides peace in the midst

of chaos. That he is near to us. He's a present help in trouble, right? All these different things.

We just went through that wonderful promises series. I hope that out of that promises series,

you didn't look and say, oh great, now I know all the things that God promises. I hope that you're

like, man, I have hope. I have hope because all these things that God promises, I have hope.

God has promised me. I have faith that they're true, that they're not empty words. And so there's

this reality, right? That faith is not simply belief in existence. Faith is trust in God. Trust

in who he is, in his word, and in his character. And this is a faith that Abraham demonstrated,

right? This belief in God, that God would come through on his word, and that he had hope, that he knew that God could do

immeasurably more than he imagined. And that he would trust in God over what seemed rational and

what seemed true in a physical sense. And what I think is very interesting is then Paul kind of

moves to this idea, he dives in specifically, that Abraham lived differently because of it.

Continue back in chapter 4, Romans chapter 4, starting in verse 19. He did not weaken in faith

when he considered his own body. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body.

Which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, right? This is the point at which

he actually, they actually conceived. He was a hundred years old. Or when he considered the

barrenness of Sarah's womb. Now here, Paul is, does not mince words, right? Like he, he's, he's kind of

harsh, right? He says, Abraham, his body was as good as dead, right? Like that's kind of messed up, Paul.

Right? Like you can't, you shouldn't be talking about the patriarch of the Israelite people and

say like, yeah, he was basically like one foot in the grave. That's essentially what he's saying.

And then he, he, then he, he says the barrenness of Sarah's womb. He goes, and she at that point

was 89 years old and she had yet to have a kid. So like Abraham had a kid with Hagar. So now Sarah,

like he's, he's kind of laying out. He's like,

there's a problem, right? And so what he's saying is they could have looked at that scenario and

gotten really discouraged really quick, right? God promised that God in his last iteration of

the covenant before Isaac's birth, it had been almost 11 years. So 11 years, they're already old.

They're already barren. And then 11 more years go by. And now Abraham's

like, ah, like I'm not getting any younger, right? Like, and they could have gotten discouraged.

Their hope could have wavered. Their faith could have wavered. But instead it says his faith did

not weaken when he considered his own body or when he considered his wife's body. He says,

well, Abraham's like, well, if it's reliant on me and my body, like I've kind of failed already.

If it's reliant on my wife and her body, she's kind of failed already. If it's reliant

on us, if it was based off of just the human physicality, we are already in like out of that

stage of life. But Abraham's faith didn't weaken because his faith was not in himself or in his

wife. It was not in their ability, specifically their ability to bear children. His faith was

not in their own ability. His faith was in God's character. What he said was God's work

trumps whatever I can do and provide. God's word trumps whatever I can do or provide. That's one

of those statements that the pastor says, and you say, amen, but then it really begins to sink in

because that is not at all how we live, right? That is not at all how we live. This is a hard

father's day passage because we as fathers, and I say this from experience, we like to have faith

in our own abilities, my ability to provide.

My ability to fix something in the house. My ability to take the car to the shop, in my case,

because I'm not a car guy, right? Some of you, it's fixing the car, right? We like to base it on

our abilities. And then we like to look at our inabilities and say, well, yeah, my wife, she has

abilities in those areas, right? God provided me with a wife who is incredibly gifted in the ways

that I am incredibly not, right? And so I like to look at our family and say, I have faith in our

family's ability to figure things out. You want to know what was cool about Abraham? Abraham looked

and his, their deficiencies as a family were so evident, right? He was one foot in the grave and

he had the humility and the faith to look and say, God's word, he will make a way for me, for us,

in a very physical sense, right? He's not talking about salvation way off. He's literally talking

about having a child. And he says, God promised me that. I don't know what to do. I don't know

how it's going to happen. In reality, if we're going by biology, it wasn't going to happen when

he promised it. And 10 years doesn't really change that. He says, no, I have faith. I have faith.

Verse 20, no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his

faith as he gave glory to God. Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. It's interesting because in my

mind, every year that goes by after God promised, it's like, you know, my flawed heart, I would be

like, God, like I said, I'm not getting any younger, right? Oh, this is another year. Another

year we have to celebrate not having a child. Another year where I'm getting older. I'm not,

I think it's going to be harder. But here, the way that, that Paul communicates it is every year,

that Abraham looked and said, man, this is another year. I'm another year older so that when God

shows up, I can say, oh, this year I'm 91 instead of 90. God shows up when I was 92 instead of 91.

God showed up when I was 100 instead of 90. He views it as a testimony to God's, God's incredible

power. His faith grew stronger. He goes, he goes, oh, God can do it when I'm 91. God can do it when

I'm 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, you know, 100, you know, I, I hit triple digits and, and God is going

to still show up. He treats it as a, a even bigger testimony of God's power. What an incredible

picture of faith. What an incredible picture of faith. He looks and he says, I believe that God

will show up. I don't even need to say that I believe. God will show up regardless whether I'm

He will keep me alive till I'm 150, right? That's probably the faith, faith that Abraham said. He's

like, well, I know I can't die, right? Because I still have to have a kid, right? And he's like,

so let's, let's continue to pursue God. Let's continue to be a faith, a testimony to God.

God has the power to bring life in the face of death. And one of the things I think is very

interesting, and I'm not going to spend a really long time here, but when it talks about Sarah and

conceiving, there's nothing miraculous other than God allowed Sarah to conceive, or he made it

possible for her to conceive, but it was a natural conception. So the reality is they were still

trying to naturally conceive at 189. There was, I'm not going to be crude about it, but there was

a still an action that came behind that, right? They were still acting in faith,

it wasn't just Abraham saying, hey, I'm going to have a kid. They were actively pursuing natural

conception at 189. Once again, Abraham's body is described as, as good as dead, but he's still

trying to naturally conceive. Why? Because they backed up their faith with action. They look and

said, this is the means by which God has promised that we will have a child. And so,

I will continue to do what God calls. And Sarah says, I will continue to pursue what God has

called. It is a miracle, but it is also a testament to their faith, specifically that

they would back up their faith with action. They live fully convinced, fully convinced

that God would show up. I'm not going to have you jump back to that, that James

passage. But in that James passage, he actually, James refers to Abraham and Isaac. He says,

the reality of living fully convinced or with full faith is he took Isaac up onto the mountain

and was willing to sacrifice him, had the blade in his hand, right? His actions backed up his faith.

Fully convinced is not simply stating. It is living fully. Living fully.

Living fully. Paul does not stop here. One of the things that I love about Paul is he gives this

example and he says, but I'm not just talking about Abraham. Abraham is a picture for us. Jump

back to Romans. Romans chapter four, starting in verse 23. But the words, it was counted to him,

were not written for his sake alone. So here's where he starts talking about an application,

right? He looks, he says, well, Genesis, where it says that,

and now where I'm talking about Abraham, he goes, it's not just regarding Abraham. It's regarding

everyone. 24. But for ours also, application, it will be counted to us who believe in him,

who raised from the dead, Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised

for our justification. So here is where he looks and he says, this is where it all stems back

to. Here are individual pictures throughout the Old Testament. You have Isaac, or you have Abraham

with his son Isaac. You have Abraham and the conception. You have Abraham relying on the

promises of God. You have all these different things that we look and we see. Here are pictures

of faith. Here are pictures in faith of small promises here and there. He goes, but the real

kicker is for us. He says, the real reality is for us. He says, the real reality is for us.

His faith being counted to righteousness is for us. As we look at the gospel of Jesus Christ,

he says, but it is for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised

from the dead, Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our

justification. He says, very intentionally, this is the gospel. All these people who believe in

him are to remind us that we should have this deep faith, this deep faith that counts it all

possible, that is fully convinced, that lives it out with our lives, surrounding the gospel of

Jesus Christ. That's the pinnacle of what we should have faith in, that Jesus loved us and

he cared for us so much that he went to the cross and was delivered to the cross for our trespasses.

For our sins, and that he died on the cross as a punishment for our sins. As earlier, Paul stated,

as he was the propitiation, the substitution for us, that he died and that he rose again,

providing justification. This is the picture. This is what he's saying. He says, if there's

anything that you need to look and say, I can take that promise to the bank. It's the gospel.

Because if you are not saved according to the gift of God, according to the death and the

resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no hope for salvation outside of that. And so he says,

everything should be based off of that. Everything, your life, right? Your life, how you live

should be based off of a belief in the death and resurrection. Not a belief that it happened,

a belief that God

has fulfilled those things in you, or in Christ Jesus for you. And that his promise here in giving

us salvation, it only further strengthens his promise, his promises throughout his word. Promises

for growth according to his word, right? As we talk about justification, that God has provided

us justification from our sins, that then he has provided for us a way or pathway of sanctification.

You're like, whoa, Justin, you're using a lot of big occasion words, right? Justification,

sanctification. What it means is, justification is the means by which we stand before God,

and we look and we say, I have been justified by you, by your son, Jesus Christ, his death and

his resurrection for me. I've been made right. Things have been made right between you and I,

God. But sanctification is the growth process. That's the aspect of a deeper and deeper faith.

Of living that out. Of giving. Of serving. Of worship. Of deeper reliance on prayer. Of deeper

study of God's word. Of theology. Of all these different things. These are the pathways of

sanctification. And so here what we see is, we have faith in the gospel for right standing,

for justification. And then what does that help us do? It helps us to understand that now,

because we rely so deeply on this promise,

we can rely on all the other promises that help us grow more and more and more. Promises like peace.

Promises like hope. Promises like joy. Care. Promises like the presence of God. Promises like

forgiveness. A continued forgiveness for sins, even after we've been justified. Promises like wisdom.

That's what I need. Wisdom. I need it a lot. But there's more and more and more, all these different

promises. That's why we went through that promises series. But the reality is that faith, it has to be so

deeply rooted in the gospel. And so Paul paints this beautiful picture of Abraham. This beautiful

understanding of how faith should look. And this idea of being fully convinced. We have to be fully

convinced. Fully convinced that God has done and will continue to do immeasurably more in our lives.

First rooted in the gospel. And more and more as we're grown to deeper understanding. Grown to look

more and more like him. And so those of you who are around a lot, you know,

I don't like to leave off with the theoretical, right? I like to say, hey,

here's what I want for us to do as a church this week. And so this week, I just want you to pray

for faith. I want us to pray for faith. I'm going to be doing it too. Because the reality is,

our faith is not perfect. God provides us faith. And so I want this week for us to pray for faith.

Pray for a faith that is fully convinced. That is fully backed up by our actions. That lives,

regularly, with a trust, a deep hope in the gospel. That's, that is what I'm going to be

praying for this week. And I want to encourage you to pray for the same. Pray for that faith.

Say, God, my faith is not perfect. I'm trying. I'm pursuing it. But Lord, please show up in my life.

Keep strengthening my faith. Pray for a continued strength in your faith this week. Let's pray

together. Lord, faith is difficult. Lord, I'm so glad that you provided us with Abraham as an example

of what God has done for us. I'm so glad that you provided us with Abraham as an example of what

it means to have faith in you over our own abilities and the abilities of our family.

Lord, Abraham wasn't perfect, but he had such a deep desire for you. And specifically, he relied,

he hung on every word you said, Lord. And I pray that you would help us to do that as well,

as your people. Lord, specifically, I pray for us as dads in the room. Lord, that we would be

able to do that well. That we'd be able to set our pride aside. And that we would be able to

look and say, God, we trust what your word says. We have a desire to follow and live in light of

what your word says, even if that means trusting in you over trusting in our own abilities. Lord,

I pray that you would produce in us a deeper faith in the gospel this week. In each one of us in this

room, Lord, that we would more deeply find trust and confidence that your son, Jesus Christ, came

and he died.

And he rose again, providing us salvation, providing us justification in life. Lord,

I pray that that faith would continue to be strengthened to help us grow,

grow deeper and deeper in our understanding of you, deeper in our pursuit of you. Lord,

thank you for your word. Thank you for the ways that it teaches us and it guides us.

Your precious and holy name, Jesus name.

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