Sermon notes 1-11-2015

The Road to Romans!

Don’t put the cart before the horse

Romans 4:9–12 (ESV)

⁹Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

¹⁰How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.

¹¹He 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,

¹²and 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.

So I had to question, why are we beating a dead horse?? Why is Paul going over the “Righteousness by Faith” Again????

·      Why is Paul so captivated on the truth that God's righteousness is credited to people by faith alone apart from works?

·      We might be tempted to say to Paul, we've got it!

o   We got it in Romans 3:22.

o   We got it in 3:28.

o   We got it from the story of Abraham in 4:1-5.

o   We got it from the illustration of David's psalm in 4:6-8.

o   We got it!

·      Why do you keep pursuing this? Why do you go back to Abraham in Romans 4:9-12 - today's text?

So lets recap!

1. Faith apart from anything I do keeps me from Bragging about it!

·      It may seem strange in our self-saturated and self-exalting and self-fulfilling day that anyone would be attracted to something because it destroys boasting rather than enabling boasting.

·      All you have to do is look at magazine titles to know we are a self-absorbed people!

o   Self

o   Glamor

o   Success

o   How to make people like you

o   The good life

·      All over the internet its about you, all you, and nothing but you

o   How to get ahead

o   How to beat the other guy

o   Being better than the Jones

o   It’s all about us getting ahead and us being able to tell others how good we are!

·      And it was no better in Jesus day!

Luke 18:9–14 (ESV)

⁹He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:

¹⁰“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹²I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

¹³But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Mark 12:38–40 (ESV)

³⁸And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces

³⁹and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,

⁴⁰who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

·      Paul is totally in tune with Jesus Christ when he says, in effect: I am riveted on the truth of justification by faith apart from works because it undermines my boasting and your boasting.

·      When having right standing with the most important Person in the universe, namely, God,

o   We get a  child-like dependence on mercy,

o   rather than on our performances of good works,

o   And then boasting is excluded.

·      And that is important because in the end, this universe is all about the greatness of God, not the greatness of man.

·      We were put here to enjoy making much of God;

·      We were not put here to be made much of by God or man.

He must increase; and we must decrease

·      (John 3:30). "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord"

·      (1 Corinthians 1:31). The most basic way to make much of God is to trust his free and undeserved mercy -like a little child trusts his father.

·      Our joy is not in self-exaltation but God-exaltation.

·      There is more lasting satisfaction looking up into the Heavens than looking up into the mirror.

Paul knew there was nothing he could do

Philippians 3:4–7 (ESV)

⁴though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:

⁵circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;

⁶as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

⁷But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

·      Paul knew there was nothing he could do apart from faith in Jesus Christ, to be seen as Righteous in Gods sight!

So why are we talking about Circumcision again!

VS 9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

VS 10 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.

·      Why does he ask that?

·      For the Jewish people, circumcision was one basic act of obedience that defined them as Jews.

·      This was the mark that they had a special covenant of acceptance with God.

·      So Paul's question is: Did they get right with God by getting circumcised?

·      Did the work of circumcision - this act of obedience - put them in a right relationship with God?

So he asks, "Is this blessing [referred to in verses 6-8 -God's imputed righteousness and the forgiveness of sins] on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also?" His answer has two steps and a conclusion.

Step one

 In verse 9b: "We say, 'Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.'"

·      Let's take Abraham again as our example here, the father of the all the Jewish people. His faith was credited as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).

·      He didn’t do anything to earn it

·      He simplied had faith that god would do what he said he would d

Step two

In verse 10: "How was his faith credited as righteousness? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised?"

·      Answer: "Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised." Genesis 15:6, where Abraham is declared righteous by faith comes before Genesis 17 where the practice of circumcision is instituted.

·      It was 20 + years after that he was circumcised

·      So the act came after the faith

Conclusion: The blessing of getting right with God and being accepted by God did not come by the process of circumcision. It came before circumcision and independent of circumcision. It came by faith, apart from works. That's what Paul wants to establish here with the example of Abraham.

Paul wanted to make sure we didn’t put the cart before the horse!

VS 11a He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

Two words describe the relationship between circumcision and the righteousness of God that comes by faith: sign and seal.

·      Paul wants to make sure that we don’t put the cart before the horse

·      He wants to make sure we know where works comes in to play

·      That its not a way to Justification

·      But a sign of Justification

·      Works cant save us

·      Faith and mercy and grace saves us!

·      Gods Love saves us

·      We cant save ourselves

God-exalting obedience comes from faith.

·      Any other kind of obedience is not true obedience at all.

·      Paul is downright committed to making clear what's at stake in all his talk about justification by faith alone

·      He making sure that works find their proper place.

·       And that place is not as the basis of justification.

·      But as the sign and seal of the righteousness that comes by faith alone.

·      When your life begins to conform to the will of God, this is a sign.

·      It is a sign and seal that your faith is real and that you have an unshakable righteousness, namely, the righteousness of God in Christ.

·      An act like circumcision, or any other act in obedience to God, does not give you your right standing with God.

·      Faith alone does. But the acts of obedience are a sign and a seal that your faith is real and that Christ is your perfect righteousness.

Philippians 3:8–9 (ESV)

⁸Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

As Christians we cant forget this!!

·      We could very easily put barriers and start making our own requirements for Justification

·      We see it in religion all around us!

·      Baptism is a sign

·      Communion is a sign

·      We can put all sorts of conditions on Justification

o   What you wear

o   What bible you carry

o   Where you worship

o    The music you worship to

·      We must be mindful to know that what you do doesn’t matter. it is what you believe in

And the GOOD NEWS!

VS 11b 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,

VS 12 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.

God's point in justifying Abraham by faith alone before his being circumcised is to make clear that Abraham is the spiritual father of all who are justified by faith, no matter what people group they are from.

·      This means that you do not have to be a physical Jew to be a part of the covenant that God made with Abraham.

·      What makes you a child of Abraham and a fellow heir of the promise is not circumcision or any other Jewish custom.

·      It is faith in the God who justifies the ungodly.

·      That is what united Abraham to God.

·      And that is what will unite you and others to God and to him.

·       

Here is even better news and why I tell you to tell everyone about Jesus!

·      It couldn’t have been easy to carry the Jews version of God to the world

·      There were all kinds of obstacles

·      Circumcision,

·      The dietary laws,

·      The sacrificial furnishings,

·      The central tabernacle,

·      And the ceremonial laws for ritual purification..

But now Paul is making something crystal clear that was not as clear in the Old Testament.

·      All the nations –

·      All the ethnic groups –

·      Are meant by God to be included in the promises of Abraham.