Romans 4:1-12

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Romans

INTRO:

Paul, in writing to a church which had the Gospel that saves, but yet understood the Gospel that maintains…

Makes it abundantly clear in the first three chapters… That humans need Jesus.... NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE… WHAT THEY HAVE DONE… WHAT FAMILY THEY HAVE BEEN BORN INTO… WHAT RELIGIOUS PRACTICES THEY CAN CITE… None of that accounts for anything.

By any effort of the flesh… by any birthright… by any performance - RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT GAINED NOR IS IT EARNED.

People are broken and messed up… and even if they think their religious efforts in the flesh might account for something… they don’t.

There is only one way that righteousness is gained. And Paul covered this in the second half of chapter 3..

RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ONLY GAINED… AS A GIFT… freely given, w/o cause, to the one: who has faith.

This is God’s formula… this is God’s economy… If you believe… if you have faith… then you can receive a gift… a status… a standing before God… of righteousness.

NOW, KNOWING THAT THIS SIMPLE TRUTH WOULD BE A STUMBLING BLOCK TO HIS JEWISH READERS… Paul then starts chapter 4 with the example of Abraham.

To the Jewish people… Abraham, along with Moses… were the most revered of their patriarchs.

If Paul could support the implications of the Gospel, with Abraham… it would lend great credibility to those in the Roman church, who were still working through their Jewish history.

And please understand: Paul is not taking Abraham out of context to add support to his current argument.

No, in fact… Paul is actually bringing a context to Abraham, in light of the Gospel, that many of these Jewish believers had never seen before.

Jesus made this abundantly clear to some of his critics in . He had just healed a man on the Sabbath… so they came against Him, and in their offense, desired even to have Jesus killed.

Jesus went on to tell them… that they were completely clueless…

SLIDE 4

John 5:37–40 ESV

And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Remember when Jesus walked with the two men who were going to Emmaus on the day of His resurrection… They were 7 miles away from the empty tomb… they were amongst those who had heard the reports of the women who found the tomb empty… but unlike Peter and John, who ran to the tomb… these guys left town, broken hearted, and went the other direction. .

I love how Jesus sought these two guys out specifically. They believed Jesus to be dead, and they were not convinced by the empty tomb. They were brokenhearted.

But Jesus found these two guys… 7 miles out of town… and walked with them… and, as it says in

SLIDE 5

Luke 24:27 ESV

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Jesus reminds the religious opponent… and the faithless and disappointed believer … That the scriptures… the law… the prophets… - ALL POINT TO, SPEAK OF, AND DECLARE HIM.

You see: Paul doesn’t have to force the story of Abraham into his narrative. The story of Abraham is… like all of the OT… the story of the Gospel.. -Without the Gospel… without the work of Jesus… who fulfilled the Law on behalf of humanity…

…the Law would continue to be a bleak message of hopelessness to those who are striving to attain righteousness through it..

THE WORK OF JESUS… is like an encryption key to the riddle of the Law… Without Jesus, the law outlines man’s only means by which he can gain, IN HIS OWN EFFORTS, righteousness… a means which, btw… is impossible.

But: Through the work of the cross.. we now see the law as a message which looked forward, with hope, to an amazing work of God on behalf of all humanity.

Paul tells his readers… JUSTIFICATION IS GIVEN FREELY, AS A GIFT, TO THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH…

Some readers would respond: NO, THE LAW DEMAND OBEDIENCE AS A MEANS OF JUSTIFICATION…

To which Paul responds: Before the law… with Abraham… Justification was given.... BY FAITH. -God’s methods are the same now… as they were then… -

SLIDE 6

It’s Simply A Matter Of Faith!

So Paul begins chapter 4 - “SO.... WHAT DID ABRAHAM GAIN THROUGH THE WORKS OF HIS FLESH?”

The Jewish readers might have a lot to say as a rebuttal to this rhetorical question… As they were ticking off some answers in their head… PAUL SAID THIS:

SLIDE 7

Romans 4:2 ESV

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

Abraham had a lot of great qualities and a lot of great accomplishments… BUT: they did not earn him a thing before God.

THIS ISN’T WHAT CAUSED GOD TO PICK ABRAHAM OUT.... it wasn’t his success. It wasn’t his morality. It wasn’t his religious devotion.

It was one thing, and one thing only: GOD GAVE ABRAHAM A PROMISE THAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE… And Abraham believed it.

The story is recorded in ...

SLIDE 8

Genesis 15:2–3 ESV

But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”

SLIDE 9

Genesis 15:4–6 ESV

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him 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.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:4-

Verse 6 is Paul’s proof text here… This is exactly what Paul quotes in verse 3.

ABRAHAM MAY HAVE HAD THINGS TO BOAST ABOUT.... but not to God. God was impressed with one thing much, much bigger than Abraham’s works: - God was impressed with His faith.

This is a very important lesson for the church. Many Christians think about their efforts to please God… and, right away… their thoughts go towards issues of behavior, morality, and generosity.

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Which- are all noble endeavors which can and should bring Glory to God.

BUT: these are not the primary things that God is looking for from us.

God has given you His Scriptures… and they are full of promises, instructions, and prophecies which boggle the minds of logic and science.

God has promised, as a gift of grace… to freely forgive you of every offense that separates you from God… -This boggles the minds of everyone..

God has promised a spiritual life, which is eternal and in His presence.. -Who could possible fathom such a thing?

GOD TOLD ABRAHAM THAT HE AND HIS WIFE… -THEY WERE OLD - WOULD HAVE CHILDREN: AND THAT THEIR CHILDREN: would be as the stars in the sky.

Abraham believed that promise. And God accounted it to him as righteousness.

God wants you and I to believe His promises… God wants you and I to have faith… to believe, by faith, what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf… to BELIEVE THE PROMISES WHICH ARE IN HIS WORD.. -even if they boggle our minds..

This is what God wants. This act of belief… this act of faith… is the means by which God look upon people, and grant them… not only forgiveness, but also, righteousness.

ISN’T IT CRAZY TO THINK: that many churches have abandoned the one thing that God considers most important? Many people who call themselves Christians… have abandoned the one thing that God wants most out of us.. - Many have abandoned belief.

They still gather in their buildings every week and sing songs and talk about things that might reference scripture… but so many have abandoned belief in the supernatural.

SLIDE 10

2 Timothy 4:3–4 ESV

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

They will wander away from the thing that God wants most… - faith. belief… trust…

LET’S READ ON:

SLIDE 11

Romans 4:4–8 ESV

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Romans 4:4-

Consider what verse 4 is saying: -There are many in this life… to whom you can declare: “I have earned this! This is my wage!”

But… these are not things which you can say to God. This is not how His economy works. Our frustrations are misplaced when we don’t receive the heavenly promotion because of our earthy obedience.

Our frustrations are misplaced when we look for special treatment… or comfort… or reward… simply because we gave God our service and our obedience.

THIS IS NOT GOD’S ECONOMY. -God gives the best thing that we could ever receive freely, because it’s far greater than anything we could ever earn.

You’re not going to demand righteousness because of your works… but notice verse 5.... even if you don’t work… but you believe in HIm who justifies the ungodly.. - then, your faith is counted as righteousness..

Verse 4 and 5 are giving us a contrast of merit. The person in verse 4 has merit.. the person in verse 5 doesn’t … But which one is justified?

Consider the parable of the tax-collector in Luke 18… Jesus said he went home ‘justified’ rather than the Pharisee. One declared his own righteousness and his own devotion… the other cried out in desperate repentance for his sins. -

The tax collector did not have greater merit than the Pharisee. - But here’s what he did have… - he realized the futility of self-reliance… he cast himself entirely upon God’s grace.

In vss 7-8, Paul quotes … These words from David show us: that the one who is forgiven… the one whose sins are covered… the one whose sins are not accounted against them… IS BLESSED. -

David is saying… in these verses… that this blessed person… is lawless and that they are deserving of having their sins accounted against them.

why are they blessed? why are they forgiven? OBVIOUSLY, IN CONTEXT TO THIS ARGUMENT… because they believe!!!

let’s read on:

SLIDE 12

Romans 4:9–10 ESV

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.

SLIDE 13

Romans 4:11–12 ESV

He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Romans 4:9-

To the Jew… circumcision was the outward and visible sign of God’s covenant with Abraham. No uncircumcised man could claim any share in that covenant: -

Paul assumed that some would bring this fact as a rebuttal to his argument. -He’s ready for it though.

What was Abraham’s condition in when he was justified by faith? Did “circumcision as a sign of the covenant” even exist then? -No. When Abraham, their father was declared righteous… it’s wasn’t because of any single thing… other than: his faith.

IN FACT: GOD WOULDN’T EVEN GIVE ISRAEL THIS PRACTICE FOR ANOTHER 14 YEARS… Abraham spent 14 years of his life justified before God… as one who was uncircumcised.

The audience in Rome would be a mixed bag… some Jewish… some Gentile. - Surely, there were debates and discussions about this.. The other disciples had to confront this doctrine..

But here, Paul makes it clear… using Abraham as his proof text.. -Righteousness is given by faith, not only to the circumcised… but also to the uncircumcised. Not only to the Jew… but also to the Gentile.

Abraham, according, is the true father of all who, like him, believe in God and take Him at His word.

The church in Galatia really struggled with this topic.... they became legalistic and fell back into a practice of works…

-to them: PAUL SAID:

SLIDE 14

Galatians 3:15–16 ESV

To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

Gal 3:

SLIDE 15

Galatians 3:17–18 ESV

This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

Gal 3:17

If circumcision had nothing to do with Abraham’s justification by God… with all the promised blessings that accompanied it… the law had even less to do with it. - Abraham was justified… then, 430 years later.. the law was given.

If, long after the promise was given… IT HAD BEEN MADE CONDITIONAL ON OBEDIENCE TO A LAW NOT MENTIONED IN THE ORIGINAL CONDITION,THEN THE WHOLE BASIS OF THE PROMISE WOULD HAVE BEEN NULLIFIED.

CONCLUSION:

In consistent fashion.. Paul is laying forth a solid and logical argument… anticipating the rebuttals and giving a strong defense for his argument.

It’s been a consistent argument… a consistent message… - For us.. there has been a lot of repeat… we keep talking about the same thing… -

But sometimes.... that’s necessary..

Especially, when that ‘same thing’ is the most important thing.. Especially, when that ‘same thing’… confronts some of the inward difficulties that keep on coming back at us.

WE NEED JESUS… BECAUSE WE CAN’T EARN WHAT HE HAS TO GIVE… WE CAN ONLY RECEIVE IT AS A GIFT GIVEN W/O A CAUSE… AND WE CAN ONLY INSTIGATE SUCH A GIFT… BY FAITH. BY BELIEVING IN THE MIRACULOUS ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE CROSS..

Let’s be those: who go from this place today… not banking on our merit… but banking solely on the God who gives freely and abundantly… to those who offer up to HIm.. THEIR SINCERE BELIEF… IN HIS unbelievable promises.

Romans 4:1-12

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It’s Simply A Matter Of Faith!