Gift of Grace #9 - The Assurance of Hope
Description
In this message from Romans 4:17-25, Bryce Vaught shows how Abraham's story reveals four reasons we can fully trust God's promises — his consistency, faithfulness, power, and commitment to Christ. Because Jesus stands before the Father on our behalf, our hope isn't wishful thinking — it's secured.
When Hope Is More Than a Feeling
We live in a world saturated with scams, fine print, and promises that don't hold up. It's no wonder that even sincere people approach faith with a degree of caution — wondering whether this, too, is something that will eventually disappoint. In a recent message from Romans 4:17–25, Bryce explores why the hope of the gospel is not wishful thinking but something we can stake our lives on. Drawing from the story of Abraham, he outlines four reasons we can fully trust the God who offers us grace.
God Is Consistent
The first reason for hope is that God hasn't changed. The gospel Paul presents in Romans isn't a new idea — it's an extension of the same grace God has always shown. Paul points to Abraham as proof: "He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not" (Romans 4:17).
Some readers find the God of the Old Testament hard to reconcile with the God of the New Testament. But Bryce points out that the long narrative of Israel's wandering, discipline, and restoration isn't evidence of an erratic God — it's evidence of a patient one. When Israel neglected the Sabbath year for 490 years and then spent 70 years in exile, the math wasn't arbitrary. God was consistent and faithful even when his people were not.
God Is Faithful
Abraham's hope was humanly impossible. He was nearly 100 years old; Sarah's womb was barren. Yet, as Paul writes, "he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised" (Romans 4:20–21).
Bryce is careful not to idealize Abraham here. His faith journey was messy — he lied about his wife, twice, and tried to manufacture God's promise through Hagar. But Paul isn't highlighting Abraham's perfection; he's highlighting the trajectory of Abraham's trust. Biblical hope, Bryce reminds us, is not the denial of hard circumstances. It is trusting God's character when those circumstances give you no natural reason to do so.
God Is Powerful
God didn't promise Abraham a pain-free life. He promised to fulfill his word — and he did. Bryce reflects that when he encounters impossible prayer requests, he has learned to pray simply that God's kingdom would come, whether through miraculous intervention or through the grace to endure faithfully.
Both are expressions of God's power. As Bryce puts it: "When God saves a sinner, that is a miracle — and it happens all the time." Paul's own testimony reinforces this: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15). No one is too far gone, too hardened, or too broken for the God who calls things into being out of nothing.
God Is Committed to Jesus Christ
Perhaps the most striking image in the message comes from Genesis 15. When Abraham asked God how he could be certain of the promise, God answered with a covenant ceremony — animals split in two, pieces laid apart. In the ancient world, covenant partners would walk between the carcasses together, saying in effect: If I fail, let what happened to these animals happen to me.
But Abraham fell into a deep sleep, and God walked through the sacrifice alone. The message was unmistakable: even if you fail, I will bear the cost.
That cost was ultimately paid at the cross. As Paul writes, "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification" (Romans 4:25). Bryce draws on theologian Tim Chester's reflection that Jesus doesn't intercede for us through some ongoing action in heaven — he intercedes by his very presence. His right standing before God is our right standing. His location is our location. As long as Jesus lives — and he lives forever — our hope is secure.
The Assurance We Actually Have
The practical shift Bryce calls us toward is moving from viewing Jesus' death and resurrection as distant historical events to embracing them as events that happened in our place. Our standing with God is not contingent on our performance — it is secured by Christ's. The only way we lose it is if Jesus loses his, and that will never happen.
So we can face our own failures, our doubts, and our broken world with something more than optimism. We can face them with hope — because our Hope is a person, and he is alive.
Questions for Reflection
In what area of your life are you tempted to approach God's promises cautiously — wondering if they'll really hold up for someone like you? What would it mean to trust his faithfulness there the way Abraham did?
How does seeing Jesus' death and resurrection as events that happened for you and in your place — rather than simply about you — change the way you relate to God on an ordinary day?
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Tim Chester (author of the book Enjoying God)
"Jesus intercedes for us not through some action he must perform in heaven, but by his very presence. He himself is the living sign and pledge of our salvation. His right to come before God is your right to come before God. His location is your location. As long as Jesus is in heaven, our place there is guaranteed. As long as Jesus has the Father's approval, we have the Father's approval. As long as Jesus lives, our life is guaranteed — and Jesus lives forever."
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Opening Prayer
Father, thank you for this opportunity to gather. God, we thank you that your word is the bread of life that we can feast on. We can know your presence, God, as we're reminded consistently of the brokenness in our world — brokenness in our own hearts, how we face hatred and conflict and war. We thank you that we have the good news. That we can hope in your name, and that all those who hope in your name will never be put to shame. Increase our hope in you. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Introduction
For many schools, especially in elementary, there are typically three types of kids: the car riders, the bus riders, and the walkers — those who live close enough to walk home. When I was really young, I was a proud car rider. In my kindergarten mind, I thought I was too important to ride the bus. I had convinced myself that my parents had to stop what they were doing just to pick me up and take me to school. That mindset lasted about a year, until I started riding the bus in first grade and my whole world came apart. I thought, "Am I not important anymore?"
But I had this bus driver, Mr. Horn, who did a lot of things within the school. Every time I got on the bus, he would say, "Hey, there's Bryce. Bryce is nice — so be nice to Bryce." That helped. I tried to live that motto out and be nice to everyone I met, and I've done that pretty successfully — except with one group of people: door-to-door salesmen.
No matter what, they come at the worst possible time. I remember one Friday evening — it was 5:30, I'd had a long week, and we were about to meet friends for dinner at 6:30. A salesman came and launched into his pitch. He was convincing. It sounded like something worth looking into. But I was frustrated — we had to go. So I asked,
"Can you just leave me your card? I'll look into this and give you a call back." His response? "No, I don't have a card. You have to make a decision right now. This deal is only offered at this moment."
I was out. It could have been the best product in the world, but how do you expect me to give myself completely over to something without all the information? What are the hidden fees? What's in the fine print? In that moment I thought: this sounds like a scam. Our world is filled with scams. We can't always trust what we see, hear, watch, or read. And if we're not careful, we can approach our faith the same way — cautiously, skeptically, wondering: Can I really trust this?
Context: Paul's Letter to the Romans
As we continue through the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul has been writing to a church he has never visited in person. He is presenting the gospel — the power of God for salvation — that brings hope, redemption, and restoration to the world. He has been thorough enough to anticipate how his audience might respond: that God has saved you by grace, through faith, not by works, so that no man may boast.
For the Jewish believers in the audience, this might raise a concern: "That doesn't quite fit with what I know from my people. We saw in the Old Testament that God punished the Jewish people because they failed to live out the law. What do you mean it's not by works?" And for the Gentile believers, the concern was different: "This sounds great, Paul — we're in. But we didn't do anything to earn this. How can we be confident we'll keep this standing? You've already shown that we're sinners. How can we maintain good standing with God if it's not based on anything we do?"
So when we come to chapter four, the Apostle Paul uses Abraham and David as examples to show that this gospel message is not new — it is not out of left field. This is how God has always worked. As we conclude chapter four today, we see through the life of Abraham four reasons we can be hopeful in God and trust the message of grace he has given us.
Reason 1: God Is Consistent (Romans 4:17-18)
"As it is written: 'I have made you a father of many nations.' He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'" (Romans 4:17-18)
The point Paul is making in chapter four is that this gospel message is not new. God has always been a God of grace, a God who gives life, and a God who works his will. It is consistent with who he is.
I've been in ministry long enough to know that when people read through the Bible for the first time, they often come away saying, "God in the Old Testament seems so angry and short-tempered, while the God of the New Testament seems so peaceful and calm — almost like two different gods." I honestly understand that reaction, but we have to remember that the Old Testament was written over centuries. When you read through the Book of Numbers, you encounter chapter after chapter of Israel failing and God judging them. But those chapters cover 40 years — the Israelites' wandering through the wilderness. This wasn't God randomly lashing out each day. This was God being patient with them, serving them, leading them, and providing for them, while they continued every day to resist, reject, and rebel.
A couple of examples illustrate God's consistency. First, when God delivered his people from Egypt, he instituted the Passover — really the Old Testament equivalent of Resurrection Sunday and Easter. It was Israel's defining identity moment, and God commanded them to observe it annually to remember who they were and what he had done for them. Yet by late in 2 Kings, Israel had failed to keep the Passover for over 500 years. Imagine Christians forgetting Easter and the resurrection for 500 years.
Second, God commanded his people to give the land rest every seven years — a Sabbath year. He promised to provide enough food in the sixth year to sustain them through the seventh. They failed to do this for 490 years. How many years of rest did the land need to catch up? Seventy. How many years did Israel spend in exile because of their disobedience? Seventy. God is consistent and faithful even when his people are not.
Reason 2: God Is Faithful (Romans 4:19-21)
"Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead — since he was about a hundred years old — and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." (Romans 4:19-21)
Abraham's situation was humanly impossible. He was nearly 100 years old, and Sarah's womb was barren. Yet he did not waver through unbelief. His faith grew stronger as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
It's important not to idealize Abraham, though. If we go back and read Genesis, we see that he was not a man of perfect, unwavering faith. There were times he took matters into his own hands. He lied — twice — about Sarah being his sister when he was afraid. He and Sarah tried to manufacture the fulfillment of God's promise through Hagar. His faith journey was messy. Yet Paul highlights the trajectory of his faith, not its every stumble.
What Paul is showing is this: Abraham had no basis for hope in the natural realm, yet he continued to hope. He faced the facts honestly — his body was as good as dead, Sarah's womb was dead — and he still believed. That is the nature of biblical hope. It is not wishful thinking or denial of reality. It is trusting in God's character and promises when circumstances give you no natural reason to do so.
Reason 3: God Is Powerful (Romans 4:19-21, cont.)
God didn't promise Abraham a pain-free life, a conflict-free life, or a war-free life. Abraham faced famine, marital tension, and family drama. His life was not a life of ease. But he wasn't necessarily believing for God to answer every one of his problems — he was believing for God to answer according to the promise he had made.
Early in my ministry, people would bring me prayer requests so complicated and complex that I struggled to know how to pray. Over time, something that has really helped me is to pray the way Jesus taught us to pray — that God's kingdom would come. For really difficult circumstances, I began to simply pray that God's kingdom would come.
When you look at Jesus' life, he often healed people, delivered people, and performed miracles — and those were small tastes of what the kingdom of God will be like when it fully arrives. But at other times, Jesus did not heal. He himself suffered and endured, demonstrating the character of God and the fruit of the Spirit. And that in itself is also a testimony of the kingdom — it says that this world is worth enduring and suffering through because of the kingdom that is to come.
So I would pray: "God, bring your kingdom — whether that's a taste of your kingdom through your power and miracle, or the ability to endure in such a way that people see something eternal is worth living for." God is capable of anything, but his intention is to bring heaven to earth — and that starts with saving sinners.
Paul later writes to Timothy: "This saying is trustworthy and deserving full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" — and Paul says he himself was saved as an example of God's patience and willingness to save anyone. If God can save Paul, he can save anybody. There is no heart too hardened, no emotional state too chaotic, no one too far gone. No one is outside of God's ability to save, redeem, and restore. When God saves a sinner, that is a miracle — and it happens all the time.
Reason 4: God Is Committed to Jesus Christ (Romans 4:22-25)
"The words 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." (Romans 4:22-25)
One of my favorite moments in the life of Abraham is in Genesis 15. God has come to him and said he will make him a father of nations. Abraham believed, and righteousness was credited to him. But then Abraham asked, "God, how can I know?" And God replied, "Let's enter into a covenant."
In that time in history, covenants were sealed in a dramatic way. People would sacrifice animals, cut the bodies in half, split the pieces on either side, and then the covenant partners would join hands and walk together between the animal carcasses. The act said: If I fail to live up to my end of this agreement, let what happened to these animals happen to me.
So God tells Abraham to get the animals and prepare everything. Abraham sets it all up — a grueling day's work — and then he waits. And waits. Eventually, exhausted, he falls into a deep sleep. And suddenly he wakes to something that must have been frightening: God, walking through the sacrifices — alone, by himself. As if to say: Abraham, I am so committed to this that even if you fail, I will take the punishment.
God ultimately follows through on everything he promised Abraham. That promise progresses throughout the Old Testament as we learn more and more about what God intends to do in and through his people. But ultimately, Abraham and his descendants prove unable to fully live up to the promise. So God, toward the end of the Old Testament, makes a new promise — a new covenant: "I will give you a new heart so that you will be able to handle everything I bless you with."
God is so committed to bringing about his promise of redemption that he sends Jesus. Jesus does not come out of obligation — he comes willingly, for the joy set before him. He endures the cross and takes upon himself all of Abraham's failures, all his descendants' failures, and all of our failures. At the cross, God places all sin upon Jesus, and Jesus absorbs the eternal wrath we deserved — so that God could remain faithful to everything he promised. And God was so satisfied with Jesus' sacrifice that he raised him from the dead as proof of his pleasure and approval. Anyone who comes to Jesus experiences salvation.
Application: Our Position in Christ
One of the biggest mindset shifts we can make as followers of Jesus is moving from seeing his life, death, burial, and resurrection as merely historical events — to seeing them as events that happened in our place. Paul writes in that final verse: "He was put to death for our sins and raised for our justification." The good news of the gospel is that because of what Jesus has done, and because by faith we are united with him so intimately, his death has become our death, his resurrection has become our resurrection, and his eternal right standing with God is our right standing with God.
Tim Chester puts it beautifully in his book Enjoying God: Jesus intercedes for us not through some action he must perform in heaven, but by his very presence. He himself is the living sign and pledge of our salvation. His right to come before God is your right to come before God. His location is your location. As long as Jesus is in heaven, our place there is guaranteed. As long as Jesus has the Father's approval, we have the Father's approval. As long as Jesus lives, our life is guaranteed — and Jesus lives forever.
Why can we live our lives so hopeful in this gospel? Why can we fearlessly face the sin and unrighteousness in our own hearts? Because our position with God is secured through the work of Jesus. The only way we lose our right standing with God is if Jesus loses his right standing with God — and there is no chance of that happening.
So, we can live with hope, because our Hope lives.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for the hope that we have in Jesus. For those who came in today burdened with their own guilt and their own situations — God, I pray that you would lift their hearts, that you would comfort us and encourage us to live boldly in this truth. God, increase our hope in you, that we would live with a confidence and conviction of your presence and your favor in our lives. Jesus, we love you and we praise you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.
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AI-Generated Content Disclaimer: This transcript was originally generated using AI transcription technology and has been cleaned up and formatted with the assistance of an AI language model (Claude, by Anthropic). While every effort has been made to accurately represent the content of the original sermon, minor edits may have been made for clarity, readability, and grammatical correctness. The theological content and meaning are intended to faithfully reflect the message as delivered by the speaker. This document should not be considered a verbatim transcript. For questions about the content, please contact the speaker or the church directly.
