“Barrenness and Mother’s Day: How God Used a Barren Woman to Bless the World” Romans 4:13-25

Posted by Steve Weaver on May 10, 2010 · Comments Off on “Barrenness and Mother’s Day: How God Used a Barren Woman to Bless the World” Romans 4:13-25 

May 9, 2010  Pastor Steve continued his sermon series in the book of Romans with a message from Romans 4:13-25 titled “Barrenness and Mother’s Day:  How God Used a Barren Woman to Bless the World”.  The audio starts after the introduction and Scripture reading, so I’ve included the text of the introduction and Scripture read below.

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One of the things that most bothers me most about the way that churches observe Mother’s Day is the knowledge that for many this is a very painful day.  Some people don’t come to church on Mother’s Day for this reason.  For those whose mothers have already passed, or mothers who have outlived their children this is a difficult day.  But it is perhaps hardest for those who, in God’s providence, have been unable to have children.

I think God allowed me to be aware of this when we were not able to have children for the first five years of our marriage. When Gretta had a miscarriage in 1996, we learned that having children is not a given.  God is sovereign over the womb and gives or withholds children to whom He wills.  I still remember going to the doctor for the first ultrasound when Gretta was pregnant with Haddon.  We were so scared that something was going to be wrong that we sat and cried in the car before going into the doctor’s office.

Our middle son, Isaac, was named at the ultrasound that revealed his gender.  Gretta, Haddon and Hannah picked the first name, I was allowed to pick the middle name.  Little did she know that I would choose the middle name of Watts.  The name Isaac means laughter.  He is appropriately named.  But the first Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah’s old age, was even more appropriately named.

They Called Him Laughter (by Michael Card)
A barren land and a barren wife,
Made Abraham laugh at his wandering life.
A cruel joke it seemed then to call him the father of nations.
A heavenly prank, a celestial joke,
Cause gray hair and babies leave no room for hope.
But hoping was something this hopeless old man learned to do.

Chorus: They called him laughter, for he came after,
The Father had made an impossible promise come true.
The birth of a baby to a hopeless old lady,
So they called him laughter, cause no other name would do.

This morning’s text shows how God made this impossible promise come true, how God used a barren woman to bless the world.

Romans 4:13-25 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.  (14)  For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.  (15)  For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.  (16)  That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on 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,  (17)  as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”–in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.  (18)  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.”  (19)  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), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.  (20)  No distrust 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.  (22)  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 in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,  (25)  who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

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