A perfect faith or the perfect object of faith?
The Glory of the Gospel: Studies in the Book of Romans • Sermon • Submitted
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Welcome to the FB live audience: Hello and welcome to our FB live service! Here in NC we are in the midst of a big snow storm that has caused us to cancel our in-person worship services at Smyrna Baptist Church. If you are not part of Smyrna Baptist Church: Thank you for taking the time to watch this video message. I pray it will be encouraging to you, and it will help you in your journey of faith.
Welcome to the FB live audience: Hello and welcome to our FB live service! Here in NC we are in the midst of a big snow storm that has caused us to cancel our in-person worship services at Smyrna Baptist Church. If you are not part of Smyrna Baptist Church: Thank you for taking the time to watch this video message. I pray it will be encouraging to you, and it will help you in your journey of faith.
If you are a member at Smyrna, please continue to be safe. If you are experiencing any difficulties as a result of the storm, please contact me or one of the deacons and we will assist you.
I am currently going through the Book of Romans at Smyrna, and this morning’s message will be taken from Chapter 4;1-12. Last week we examined the Glory of God’s righteousness as it is displayed through the process of justifying lost sinner’s through faith in the finished work of Jesus. Today, we are going to look further into this teaching of justification through faith as Paul turns his readers’ attention to the OT patriarch Abraham.
Before I read the text, I want to share a brief bit of history about Abraham. Paul’s original audience would know his story very well, but as Abraham lived approximately 4,000 years ago, some of us may need a refresher.
Abraham is the father of the Hebrew nation. Abram, as he was called at the first, was a pagan living in the city of Ur of the Chaldees when God sovereignly chose him to become the father of a nation. In Genesis 12 we read the beginnings of the Jewish nation. God not only chose Abram, but He promised to produce a nation through his descendants.
God was faithful to that promise, and the ethnic Jews are continued evidence of God’s faithfulness to His promises.
While it is through physical descent from Abraham that Jews derive nationality, it is not their blood lines that makes them acceptable to God. This is a point that Paul takes pains to make clear in the Book of Romans.
So what does make a Jewish person, or any other person righteous before a holy God? That is a great question, and Paul answers that very question in this section of Romans. Let’s look at the text together, and then make application
READ: ROMANS 4:1-12
Is it possible for a person to be justified before a Holy God through his or her own effort? (Romans 4:1-2)
Is it possible for a person to be justified before a Holy God through his or her own effort? (Romans 4:1-2)
Explanation: At the end of chapter 3, Paul has just declared that the Law of God is good, and that He (God) is the One who justifies both Jews and Non-Jews (that’s how the Jews viewed the world). This truth was hard for Jews to accept, because they believed they were the only people group that God would accept.
As mentioned, the Jews considered their ticket punched just because they were Jews, so Paul is going to discuss their Jewish heritage. Paul makes up an argument to show them that they are incorrect in thinking this way. He states his argument hypothetically - what if it is true? what if Abraham was justified by his actions?
Argument: Abraham is the one who was called the “friend of God” (2 Chron 20:7; Isa 41:8) and the Father of the nation. If he could earn his righteousness, then so could any other Jew. But, if even Abraham could not work himself into God’s favor, then it was impossible for any ordinary Jew to do so
Paul makes his point by going to the source of authority: the Word of God. He shows them in their own Scriptures the truth that “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom 4:4). The term counted is an accounting term and carries the meaning of a ledger transaction. God considers Abraham’s personal “bank account” of righteousness to be equal to that Jesus because Abraham was looking ahead in faith and trusting God, not himself. P6aul makes it clear the reckoning comes through faith because in 4:4b Paul states that the one who is working for it can demand it as a wage. This way of thinking reveals a complete misunderstanding of Grace. IF it can be demanded, then it’s not Grace. God is under no obligation to extend His grace to undeserving sinners - that’s why it’s called a gift
Application: The Jews are shown that they can’t depend upon their lineage to make them right with God. So it is with us. None of us can count on the faith of our sweet Christian grandmother or our great-grandfather who was a Christian pastor. God does not have any grandchildren - He only has children through adoption.
The answer to question #1 is a resounding no. Paul then points out that it is possible for any person to become righteous (i.e. to be justified) and he proves this by again going to the Scriptures. He uses David to illustrate his argument with Abraham. This leads to the second point, which is:
A person can be justified by faith alone (Romans 4:5-8)
A person can be justified by faith alone (Romans 4:5-8)
Explanation: Paul quotes from Psalm 32 which is a psalm of David. In this Psalm David describes the blessedness of the man who is free and forgiven. Paul declares again that this righteousness is an alien righteousness - it comes from outside a man. It is imputed (the same accounting term as in v. 3) without works.
Argument: Paul is stressing the same truth: No one is ever justified by his or her own efforts to do enough good to cover the personal sin debt. This is the major point that separates Biblical Christianity from every other religion. Religion is man’s effort to bridge the gap between himself and God. Christianity is God telling man it can’t be done, but He Himself will do it for us. And He did - Christ made a voluntary, substitionary sacrifice on the Cross to atone for sin.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Paul covers one more important topic to the Jews of his day, but the principle is similar to one that often impacts us in our Christian circles in the present. The third and final point is:
People are not justified through the observance of religious rites (Rom 4:912)
People are not justified through the observance of religious rites (Rom 4:912)
Explanation: Paul foresees another argument that Jews might make and so he goes ahead and deals with the issue of circumcision. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant that all male Hebrews underwent to become part of the people of God. A Jewish male who was not circumcised was not considered a Jew at all.
This seal of the covenant was not viewed as a work - it was not something a Jew did on his own in an effort to please God. It was an act that was done to them, and more importantly, circumcision was the sign given to the Jews by God Himself (cf Gen 17:1-14)
Argument: The Jewish Rabbis taught that no circumcised Jew would be allowed to enter Hell. The seal of the covenant, in and of itself, had the power (according to their way of thinking) to justify them before God.
Paul reminds them of their own history by once again returning to the Scripture to make his point: God had declared Abraham to be Righteous before the act of circumcision was introduced (about 14 years previously - Genesis 15:6). Paul brings them back to the inescapable conclusion that justification is through faith (Rom 4:12)
So why is this important to us? Most of us are not Jewish and we don’t place spiritual importance on circumcision. We do, however, place spiritual importance on the ordinance of Baptism.
Just as Paul clarified to the Jews that no sign, external rite or religious ceremony could ever result in justification, it is important for moderns to understand that Baptism does not save either. Baptism is an ordinance, not a sacrament. Baptism in and of itself does not transfer grace to the one being baptized.
Biblically speaking, Baptism is reserved for those who have been convicted of their sin before a Holy God, and have then been justified by God through that person’s faith in the finished work of Jesus. The Bible does not recognize infant baptism.
Those who are already in Christ are baptized as a means of public identification with Christ. Baptism is an outward expression of an inward change - and we follow the Lord Jesus in baptism because He told us to do so. We do not ever baptize to become saved.