The Road to Romans!
Your work means nothing!
Romans 4:1–8 (ESV)
1What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our
forefather according to the flesh?
2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has
something to boast about, but not before God.
3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed
God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
4Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as
a gift but as his due.
5And to the one who does not work but believes in him
who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
6just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one
to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not
count his sin.”
Before we dig to deep I want to clarify some things!
To get us reoriented
with what is a stake in the book of Romans I want you to understand that is
important for us to understand why its important for us to have a true
understanding of who and what God is!
I read an article that took me back to my Catholic
roots!
·
In
the article, the pope portrayed hell as real, eternal and terrible - which is
true –
·
But
the main point was that hell is not something God imposes on us, but a
condition we bring about through separating ourselves from God.
·
"Hell
is not a punishment imposed externally by God, but the condition resulting from
attitudes and actions which people adopt in this life. . . .
·
Hell
is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God,
the source of all life and joy.
·
So
eternal damnation is not God's work but is actually our own doing."*
These statements are not biblical or
true!
·
Why
does it matter?
o It matters because if hell is merely a
self-imposed condition of sinning and separation from God, and not a
God-imposed judicial sentence and punishment for breaking God's law, then
justification by faith, as Paul teaches it, simply isn't necessary.
·
Why
not?
o Because what makes justification by
faith so necessary, and so wonderful as the heart of the gospel, is that God is
a just and holy judge who does indeed impose the punishment of hell on us
externally - the very thing that this article says he does not do.
o But if hell is not a punishment
imposed on us externally by God as a just judge because we have broken his law,
then the whole point of justification is lost. We don't need it.
If we simply by our own hand can work
ourselves in and out of heaven we don’t need God at all!
Why does it matter
that we see it this way?
·
Because
if we don't know what our real plight is, we may not recognize God's rescue when
it comes.
·
So
we might not receive it and cherish it, and we may well be attracted by a
substitute gospel that sounds very believable, but misses the most essential
thing.
·
And
we will not escape the judgment of God.
So these
chapters in Romans about justification are of tremendous importance for your
eternal welfare. And they are all the more important because some of the main
Christian teachers in the world today in the largest Christian groups are
saying things that are very misleading at best, and can bring your soul to
ruin.
How do we guilty sinners escape the condemnation of
God??
So today in Romans
4:1-8, we will answer the question: How shall we who are condemned, guilty
sinners escape the wrath of God and have our guilt taken away so that we are no
longer under the just sentence of condemnation from a just Judge?
VS1What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to
the flesh?
·
Paul
uses Abraham for two reasons
·
One
to relate to his Jewish audience
·
Two
to point out that the whole bible beginning to end is about Jesus and the
redemptive power in the cross
·
That
Jesus didn’t come and change things that we have always looked toward Jesus,
the coming of Jesus, and we know look back to Jesus
Romans 3:21
(ESV)
21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested
apart from the law, although the Law
and the Prophets bear witness to it—
VS2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before
God.
VS3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
·
Paul goes back
to where he left off in chapter 3
·
He uses Abraham
to point out that there is no works worth to be justified (found Rightious)
before God
·
Paul is driving
home the point that there is no room for Christians to boast—other than in our
need for and unworthiness of God’s gracious gift.
·
He wants to
reveal boasting for what it is: an illegitimate arrogance that fundamentally
contradicts the gospel message of justification by grace through faith.
·
It is by Faith
and Faith alone
·
Its is through
God grace shown at the cross
Lets look at the word
counted for a minutes
·
The word
‘counted’ (niv ‘credited’) means
reckoned or imputed (from the Latin word meaning the same).
·
It speaks of
the legal decision of God to count righteousness to Abraham
·
It means a
change of status rather than a change of character.
·
When God counted
righteousness to Abraham, he did so in
an instant. Any change in Abraham’s character came slowly and afterward.
·
When the verse says
that Abraham’s faith ‘was counted to
him for righteousness’ this does not mean that Abraham and God did a swap:
Abraham generously offered God his faith and in return for his faith God gave
Abraham righteousness! That would turn ‘faith’ into ‘works’.
·
It means that
faith is the conduit by which the unmerited righteousness of God is credited to
a sinners account!
VS4 Now to the one who
works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
VS5 And to the one who
does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is
counted as righteousness,
·
Pretty basic
·
If you work for
it, its not a gift
·
If we earn it
we deserve it
·
But we can
never earn what God gives us, it’s a gift
·
Given freely
·
As a matter of
fact because of what we have done, only God knows why he ever gave it too us
·
He took some
one totally filthy and made them total clean
Ephesians
1:3–8 (ESV)
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and
blameless before him. In love
5he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus
Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
6to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
7In him we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches
of his grace,
8which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
·
Did you hear
that,
o Blessed
o Holy
o Blameless
o Redeemed
o Forgiven
o His grace is lavished upon us
·
We deserve
nothing short of damnation and he made perfect
·
We deserve
torture forever and gave us grace
·
We are
justified through a gift in Christ Jesus
·
Our father
before Jesus were justified by faith
·
They were all
waiting for his triumphant return
·
Never by works
always by faith!
From the beginning
to the end all belivers are justified by faith!
VS 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing
of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
VS 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are
forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
VS8 blessed is the man
against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
·
Paul used the
word of David to back up his point he made
·
He used another
Old Testament bible figure to point out that we are justified by our faith
·
Buy our
repentance of Sin
·
Our belief that
God can for give all things!
Psalm 32:1–5 (ESV)
1Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose
spirit there is no deceit.
3For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through
my groaning all day long.
4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my
strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
5I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my
iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of
my sin.
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