How to Grow Strong in Your Faith (Romans 4:20-21)

Childrens Lesson (click here)

I. Help Our Unbelief

Is there anyone in this room, is there anyone listening to my voice, who cannot relate with... who cannot sympathize with... the father described in Mark 9:20-24? Listen to what we read about this man when his brings his demonically-tormented son to Jesus and his disciples for healing...

And [his disciples] brought the boy to [Jesus]. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. [21] And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. [22] And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” [23] And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’[?] All things are possible for one who believes.” [24] Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Which of us has not, at some point, “cried out” to God with this same request? With this same heart? Which of us here doesn't want God's help with our unbelief? Or to express it more positively, “Which of us here doesn't want God to help strengthen us in our faith?” If that's your desire, turn over to Romans 4, one of the chapters from last week's Bible Reading Plan.

II. The Passage: “No Unbelief Made Him Waver” (4:20-21)

We'll be looking together at verses 20-21 this morning. But before we do that, let's make sure we understand what Paul is doing here in Romans 4. As you can see from verse 1, Paul's focus is on Abraham, the forefather of the Hebrew people. Why Abraham? Well, Paul has just made this controversial statement a few verses earlier in Romans 3:28... “For we hold that one is justified [before God] by faith apart from works of the law.” This would have been a difficult statement for some of Paul's Jewish readers because they had a tough time separating obedience to the Law of Moses and being righteous before God. So what Paul is doing in Romans 4 is proving this very same point from the life of Abraham. As we heard in our opening reading, and as we see repeated here in 4:3, long before the Law was given, “Abraham believed [had faith in; Abraham trusted] God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Gen. 15:6)

Therefore, since righteousness through faith was possible for Abraham, and that righteousness was counted to him by God in Genesis 15:6 before he was circumcised, Abraham's faith sets a salvation precedent that has resulted in redemption in Jesus for both the circumcised and the uncircumcised; for all nations! Therefore, wonderfully, Abraham is (v. 11) “the father of all who believe”; for all of us who (v. 12) “walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had”.

But if followers of Christ are those who walk in Abraham's “footsteps of... faith”, how else can his example inspire us on that journey? It's that idea that brings us to verses 20 and 21. This is what Paul goes on to tell us about the saving faith of Abraham. Romans 4:20-21...

No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, [21] fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Please notice this: notice that Abraham's faith was not simply like a key that gets you through the door. But instead it was like the muscles that move your feet across that threshold, and then... keep powering you through and into whatever lies beyond that door. And for Abraham, those muscles grew strong. Do you see the contrast there in verse 20? Abraham did not “waver” in “unbelief”, instead, “he grew strong in his faith”. The more explicit contrast is actually in the previous verse, verse 19, where we read that, “He did not weaken in faith”.

So again, I come back to that opening idea. Brother, sister, do you want to grow strong in your faith? Do you feel the weakness of your trust? Do you hear God's call even now? Do you believe enough to pray, “Help my unbelief”? If you do, then I'm right there with you. Take a moment even now and offer a quick prayer to God about growing strong in your faith. So how can these verses help us do that very thing? Let me share four principles that I see in this passage, principles that I pray will be an encouragement to your faith. For example, if you want to grow in your faith, then first...

Add knowledge to your faith. When you read in verse 21 that Abraham was “fully convinced”, you should ask, “Fully convinced of what?”. Well, verse 20 sheds some light on that. He was fully convinced “concerning the promise of God”. But that raises another question, right: “What promise? For what promise-fulfillment was Abraham called to trust God?” God doesn't promise us an exhaustive knowledge in terms of faith. But He has given us light in terms of who he is and of the spiritual reality in which we are called to walk. For example, if you were hurting and also struggling with faith, would help or hinder your faith when you learned, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Ps. 34:18)? And, like Abraham, he's also given us specific promises (or as 2 Pet 1:4 describes them, “precious and very great promises”). Think about it: of what does God want you to be fully convinced? Furthermore, if your faith in God is nourished by knowledge of God, how are you being fed? How are you feeding yourself? Are you growing in the specifics? Brothers, sisters, let us feast regularly on what God has revealed, both about himself and his promises to us, and by doing so, let us grow in faith. Second...

Add hope to your faith. Hope and faith should go hand in hand. We see this in verse 18 of this chapter. We read there that, “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” That last phrase comes right out of Genesis 15, verse 5: “And [God] brought [Abraham] outside and said, 'Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'” Did Abraham believe God was telling him the truth? Did he trust God for the fulfillment of that promise? He did. And he did so in hope. Biblical hope is another way of describing how genuine faith embraces the future. Hope is sustaining faith in what will be according to God's word. But let's not skip past that phrase “against hope” in verse 18. “In hope [Abraham] believed against hope...”. What does that mean? It means hopelessness is a cancer to your faith. And as we'll see, that hopelessness is inspired and sustained by our estimations, our conclusions, about what is and is not possible. So believing “against hope” means hoping in what seems impossible. So how can knowledge and hope help us grow in faith? Well, third...

Add power to your faith. Not your own power, but the power of God. We might put it this way, right knowledge inspires real hope in the ability of God to do what seems impossible. Where do we see this in the text? If we back up one more verse, to verse 17, this point comes through loud and clear. Abraham was told (v. 17) “'I have made you the father of many nations'—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, [now listen to this description of God... this is the God] who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” Why is that description of God so important? Because that is the knowledge Abraham needed to fuel his hope, the hope in which he believed “against hope”. Why “against hope”?

We discover the answer when we drop down to v. 19. About our faith-father Abraham we read,

“He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a 100 years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.” If God's promise was first biological offspring for him and Sarah, then such a promise would have seemed laughable (the very thing both Abraham and Sarah did at first). But if God is the God who can give life to that which is dead (like a body that's “as good as dead” when it comes to childbearing), if he's the God who can call “into existence the things that do not exist”, just as he did with every created thing, then he really can make a childless couple into a great nation. Brother, sister, the more that you can connect the dots between the truth about God's power and what seems impossible in your life, the more you will grow in faith. Finally, to grow in that way...

Add glory to your faith: As with the previous point about power, the glory I have in mind here is the glory of God. As we heard in verse 20, Abraham “grew strong in his faith as he [Did what?] gave glory to God. How does this work. Well, when we give glory to God we are acknowledging and celebrating that all of our blessings, all of our abilities, all of our opportunities, all of our victories are from God and God alone. Therefore, God and God alone gets all the credit! Now think about what would happen if you did this regularly, as a discipline. As you look back with worship and acknowledge what God has done, how could you not be strengthened in terms of what he can do? The impossible looks all the more possible when you remember the real-life ways in which God's power has already delivered you, sustained you, and strengthened you.

III. The Power of Sincere Faith

Now if we keep reading past our main verses, we see the most wonderful way in which all this is relevant for you and me. This is what Paul writes in v. 22 about Abraham's clearly sincere faith...

That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” [23] But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, [24] but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe [who place our faith in, who trust] in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, [25] who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

God has not called us to trust him for a promise concerning offspring. He's called us to trust his promise that, through the one offspring of Abraham, Jesus Christ, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13). He wants us to be “fully convinced” that he will complete the good work he began in us. But we might ask, “What if my faith isn't strong enough? Might I be lost?” This is where we have to balance Romans 4 with a passage like Luke 17:5–6. We read there that, “The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!' [6] And the Lord said, 'If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would obey you.'” You see, Jesus wants us to understand that even the smallest amount of sincere faith is powerful, since it trusts in a powerful King and Redeemer. And amazingly, like Abraham, as we saw this morning, we can grow strong in that faith as well.

In what ways might God want to deepen your knowledge of his power toward you and plans for you, in order to undermine the hopelessness that often undermines your faith? What seems impossible (as good as dead) to you this morning in terms of his work in and through you? How might Abraham's example serve as inspiration for you in those specific challenges? Our faith-father is meant to lead us to our faithful Father in heaven, and to his Son, the one through whom we are justified with a righteousness that comes through faith alone. Let's finish by turning our main verses into a prayer, something I hope you'll keep doing this week. Amen? Let's pray...

Father, in the name of Jesus, our prayer is that no unbelief would make us waver concerning your promises through Christ, but instead, that we would grow strong in our faith, as we give you glory in all things, [21] fully convinced that you are able to do what you have promised. Help us to grow in the knowledge of your promises, to hope against hope when things seem impossible, to remember “the immeasurable greatness of [your] power toward us who believe” [Eph. 1:19], and to give you praise in light of all of you done among us, that we might more deeply trust you for all you might do and can do and desire to do among us. Amen.