Abraham-Justified by God's Grace
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: If there is any doctrine that the enemy of mankind and of God desires to undercut and distort, it is the doctrine of salvation. If Satan can cause confusion in regard to this doctrine, he will have succeed in keeping mankind in their sin and under divine judgement and condemnation.
Every false religion of the world is founded on some form of salvation by works. Without exception, they teach that by one means or another, mankind can become right with God by attaining righteousness in their own power.
The fourth chapter of Romans is primarily devoted to Abraham, who the Apostle Paul uses as an illustration of the central biblical truth that a person can only be reconciled to God by His grace, and never by works.
This chapter serves as clear proof that the principle of justification by faith apart from works of any kind was in fact the principle operative in the Old Testament. It was not some new doctrine Paul brought onto the scene. He asked his readers to consider what could be learned from the experience of Abraham, the great patriarch of the Jewish nation.
1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
I have three thoughts to share with you this morning:
Abraham was NOT justified by works
Abraham was justified by his faith
Justification brings blessings
Abraham was NOT justified by his works (vv.1-2)
Abraham was NOT justified by his works (vv.1-2)
So, Paul begins by asking, “what then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?” In effect, Paul was stating since Abraham is the primary example of a justified person in God’s sight, why don’t we look at him carefully in order to determine the basis of his justification.
In context what then is the equivalent of therefore. Tying the discussion of Abraham to all that he had said in the preceding chapters.
Paul was asserting that the Jew and Gentile are justified by faith. Romans 3:21-31 says,
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also,
30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
Paul brings Abraham into the picture because he knew that he was the greatest of the patriarchs and the Jews of Jesus’ day considered Abraham the primary example of justification by works.
Abraham was the human forefather of God’s first covenant with His chosen people. The whole Jewish race came from his loins, and what was true regarding his relationship to God must therefore be true of all his descendants.
When Paul says, according to the flesh, he could be referring to physical lineage, but in this context he could be referring to human effort or reliance on human works in regard to justification.
Paul’s argument went as follows. Let us assume for a moment that Abraham was declared righteous as the result of what he did. (Paul would have had no trouble convincing a Jewish reader of that) In that case he would have something to boast about.
But that cannot be because we have already established that God’s method of setting people right excludes all boasting. Remember what Romans 3:27 said moments ago?
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
Paul has drawn the conclusion that since justification is by faith alone, and faith is God’s gift, every reason for human boasting is excluded.
Abraham was justified by his faith (vv.3-5)
Abraham was justified by his faith (vv.3-5)
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
Paul appeals to Scripture as a basis for his argument quoting Genesis 15:6. Abraham believed God and on no other basis, his belief was reckoned to him by God as righteousness.
Paul in his letter to the Galatian churches uses the same verse from Genesis 15:6, but goes on to say Galatians 3:6-7
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
Because Abraham was the quintessential man of faith, he is in that sense “the father of all who believe.”
11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,
The Hebrew writer describes Abraham’s faith in righteous by God.
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Like Paul, Abraham was chosen by God. Neither Abraham nor Paul was searching for God when they were divinely called and commissioned.
Abraham had probably never truly heard of the true God, whereas Paul knew a great deal about Him.
Abraham was seemingly content with his idolatrous paganism, and Paul was content with his tradition, but false, Judaism.
When Abraham was first called by God, he lived in Ur, a thoroughly pagan and idolatrous city. The Chaldeans were polytheistic, having a multitude of gods, the foremost of which was called Nanna, the moon god.
We should remember that God commanded Abraham to leave his country and his relatives and to go to the land that would be show to him sometime later. God displayed His sovereignty and unconditional promise as recorded in Genesis 12:2-3
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
With no guarantee but God’s word, Abraham left everything in his homeland, his friends, his relatives, and possibly much of his possessions. He abandoned his temporal security for a future uncertainty, as far as his eyes could see or his human mind could comprehend.
Since Abraham only partly obeyed God by bringing along his father and his nephew, Lot, Abraham wasted 15 years in Haran until his father died.
When Abraham finally reached Shechem in Canaan, God gave another sovereign and unconditional promise.
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
But we know Abraham’s faith wasn’t perfect, just as no believer’s faith is perfect.
his first test of faith was the famine and he turned to Egypt for help instead of God
this put him in a bad situation with Pharaoh when he told him that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife. His dishonoring God caused plagues to come upon Pharaoh’s family.
we know that Abraham’s faith waiver back and forth (Sarah beyond child bearing age), but many times he walked by faith with God. Remember what was recorded in Genesis 15:6
6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Despite his spiritual imperfection, Abraham always came back to the Lord in faith, and the Lord honored that faith and continued to renew His promises to Abraham.
As is always the case with true belief, the Holy Spirit enlightened Abraham’s mind and heart to recognize the true and only God, and enabled him to respond in faith.
Justification Brings Blessing (vv. 6-8)
Justification Brings Blessing (vv. 6-8)
6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
The Apostle Paul cites David in beginning in verse 6 in order to establish that the greatest king of Israel understood and taught that justification is by faith alone. The blessing David is speaking about is salvation, God’s supreme blessing offered to fallen mankind. The only ones who can receive it are those for whom God reckons righteousness apart from works.
In Psalms 32 David declared,
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
David clearly understood God’s grace. In his great sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, David cast himself entirely on God’s grace.
David in Psalms 51 expresses his dependency on God’s grace.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
A person of genuine faith is blessed!
Abraham was justified only by faith
David was justified by faith
and every believer before and after them has been or will be justified only by faith
a sinner’s faith is graciously accepted by God and counted for them as righteousness for Christ’s sake
Before God, every person’s good works are as worthless rags. However, if the sinner casts themselves on to God’s mercy and responds in faith the Lord’s atoning work on their behalf, then and only then can they stand forgiven and divinely righteous before Him; justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus only!