A. How far back can you go on your family tree?
1. Who is the most distant ancestor you can identify?
2. The last few decades have seen a tremendous upsurge of interest in genealogy and websites like Ancestry.com and DNA test kits like 23andMe are very popular.
a. I often laugh at the commercials for some of these ancestry tools and how that everyone who buys and uses their products discover that they are related to George Washington.
3. Even with all this assistance available, most of us still really don’t know that much about our background.
4. And that’s typically an American trait, because other societies place a great deal of emphasis on ancestry, and they keep meticulous family records going back for generations.
5. The average American can’t remember their own great-grandparents’ names.
6. So if you are clueless about your own heritage, you have come to the right place this morning, because I am going to introduce you to one of your ancestors.
7. When you leave here today, you will be able to brag that you can trace your lineage back 39 centuries, to a man who lived more than 1900 years before the birth of Jesus.
a. The ancestor I am talking about is Abraham.
8. So, the next time you are at a party, and someone brags about one of their ancestors having come over on the Mayflower or that they are related to George Washington, you can tell them: “Abraham is my ancestor and he was a friend of God!”
B. This week, as we return to our series on the Book of Romans, called “Pursuing Righteousness From God,” we pick up where we left off last week.
1. After spending many weeks enduring three chapters of the bad news about the sinfulness of all people, last week we finally arrived at the section where Paul shared the good news.
2. Last week, we learned how sinful human beings gain a right standing with God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
3. Last week, we explored theological words with deep meaning, like justification, redemption and propitiation.
4. The truth and the reality that all those words convey is that our only hope for salvation comes from putting our faith in Jesus and His righteousness that is credited to us from God.
C. So, let’s pick up where we left off last week, at the end of Romans 3.
1. Paul wrote: 27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:27-31)
2. The question that begins this paragraph suggests that it is closely related to the previous paragraph, Romans 3:21-26, and so many commentaries attach verses 27 – 31 to that previous paragraph.
3. But I agree with other commentators who think that this section is more of an introduction and bridge to the next chapter.
4. Romans 3:27 – 31 develops only one of the ideas from the previous section and that is the idea that faith is the only way to experience God’s justification.
5. In contrast to that, notice how nicely the topics mentioned in 3:27 – 31 mirror those taken up in Romans chapter 4.
a. Boasting is excluded (3:27) is paralleled to Abraham having no right to boast (4:1-2).
b. One is justified by faith, not works of the law (3:28) is paralleled by Abraham being justified by faith, not works (4:3-8).
c. The circumcised and the uncircumcised are united under one God through faith (3:29-30) is paralleled by the circumcised and the uncircumcised being united as children of Abraham through faith (4:9-17).
6. And so, what Paul was likely doing in Romans 3:27-31 was quickly touching on the basic points he wants to make about faith before developing them in greater length with respect to Abraham in Romans 4.
7. Let’s summarize the important points of this section.
a. First, Paul wants everyone to understand that God’s way of justifying people is by grace, which absolutely excludes any possibility that we may take credit for our salvation.
1. Therefore, in being justified by faith, boasting is excluded.
b. Second, Paul wants everyone to understand that God is the God of everyone and that both Jew and Gentile stand before God in equal need of God’s grace and redemption.
1. Therefore, in being justified by faith, distinctions between people are rejected.
c. Third, Paul wants everyone to understand that the law has played its God-given role and that Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf, and that we who are in Christ have fulfilled the law through Christ and have been set free from its penalties for disobedience.
1. Therefore, in being justified by faith, the law is upheld.
D. Now having made these bold and radical statements about the gospel and its way of being justified and made righteous before God, Paul has some explaining to do.
1. He anticipates that this message will not sit well, especially with his Jewish readers.
2. Now that Paul has declared that we are not justified by law, but by faith, someone might conclude that either God has changed, or there must be two “Gods” – a Jewish God of the Old Testament who operated on the basis of law, and a Gentile God of the New Testament who saves people by grace.
3. In fact, one of the well-known, early heretics of Christianity was a man named Marcion (he died in 160 AD), taught that very thing – that there is an OT God and a NT God.
4. So Paul realized that he needed to make the connection between the Old Testament and the NT.
a. Paul knew he needed to explain how it could be that after centuries of law, God was now offering grace.
b. Paul knew he needed to explain why, after choosing a particular people – the Jews – to be his chosen people, God had now thrown open the door to folks from every nation.
5. Paul answers all those questions by making a surprise argument: ultimately, he says, “Justification by faith apart from the law is nothing new.”
a. In fact, in Romans 4, Paul will show how justification by faith apart from the law has been in the Old Testament all along.
b. Where? You might ask? Answer: in the story of Abraham.
6. Abraham is the perfect case study in justification by faith apart from the law.
a. What better person to use as an illustration than Abraham the father of the Jewish nation?
b. Let’s see how Paul presents this truth in the story of Abraham.
E. Paul wrote: 1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather 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 counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. (Romans 4:1-4)
1. We need to underline these words in our mind: “It was counted to him as righteousness.” (some translations use the word “credited”)
a. The word “counted” is a Greek word that means “to put into one’s account” – it is a banking term – it is used 11 times in this chapter (Rom. 4).
b. When Abraham believed the promise of God, the Lord credited it to him as righteousness.
c. It wasn’t that Abraham was righteous in reality – he was a good man, but if you know his story, you know that he was far from perfect.
d. Yet, in spite of Abraham’s faults and failures, God credited righteousness to him because of his faith.
e. In the same way, because of the sacrificial death of Jesus, we are treated as righteous, even when we are not righteous, because we have put our faith in the gospel of God’s grace.
2. To make sure we grasp the incredible significance of that word “counted” or “credited,” in verse 4, Paul used a very practical analogy: If I work, I get paid.
a. So let me ask you: after you put in your 40+ hours at work, and your boss hands you a paycheck, do you respond by saying, “Is this for me? Oh no, you shouldn’t have!”
b. Do you send a “thank you” note to your employer every payday expressing your appreciation for his or her magnificent generosity? Of course not!
c. But why not? You don’t respond that way because your paycheck is not “credited” to you, it is “owed” to you – you worked for it, you earned it, and you deserve it – it is not a gift.
d. We can look at our paycheck with personal satisfaction because we know what went into it – we worked for our wages.
e. But we can never look at our salvation that way – there is no room for boasting or bragging – in fact, we can be thankful we don’t get what we deserve – the paycheck for our sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus (Rom. 6:23).
3. Abraham wasn’t justified by his works – he didn’t earn a good paycheck from the Lord.
a. Rather, Abraham believed in God’s promise, and he received the gift of righteousness being credited to his account.
b. Let’s see how Paul further develops this idea by including the example of king David.
F. Paul continued: 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just 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; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:5-8)
1. Do we really understand that salvation and forgiveness are gifts of God’s grace?
a. Salvation and forgiveness are not paychecks that anyone can earn.
2. Sometimes people will say things like: “I can’t be a Christian because I’ve done too many awful things…or I don’t feel like I’m worthy to be with Christians in worship…or I’ve been away from the Lord too long…I’ve gone too far to be able to come back to the Lord…or I’ve been divorced, or have a bad reputation, or have been in trouble with the law, or have been addicted to alcohol or pornography” and so on.
3. What is going on in the minds of all those people? They are thinking a person is lost because they are bad, and that are saved if they are good enough.
a. That’s not how or why Abraham was made right before God, and that’s not how King David was made right with God.
4. Look at the incredible statement of verse 5: And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
a. One commentator points out that Paul was not “canonizing laziness” in those words “the one who does not work,” rather Paul was emphasizing that we must not base our relationship with God on our actions, our works.
5. And do you realize just how radical is the statement – “the one who believes in him (God) who justifies the ungodly.”
a. Your translation may read: “the one who believe in him who justifies the wicked.”
b. What many of us hear and believe is “God justifies the pretty good.” “The not so bad.”
c. But that is not what Paul declares – God justifies the ungodly (the wicked).
6. And so, in typical fashion, Paul wanted to confirm this truth by giving a text from the Old Testament that teaches this truth, and so he quoted from Psalm 32:1-2.
a. Psalm 32 is part of David’s confession to God after his terrible sin with Bathsheba.
b. David writes these words while his hands are still red with the blood of Uriah the Hittite.
c. At first David had tried to “cover” his own sin by pretending it didn’t happen.
d. But that brought him only agony, pain and overwhelming guilt.
e. Eventually, after being confronted, David came to his senses and confessed everything to God.
f. The verses Paul quotes reveal the blessedness David discovered as he confessed his sin and then experienced God freely forgiving him.
g. So even though David was as “guilty as sin” – even though there was no way he could undo what he had done – even though there was no way he could repair what he had broken – even though he had broken no less than three of the Ten Commandments by coveting Bathsheba, committing adultery with her, and then murdering her innocent husband – and even though according to God’s law David deserved to die – because of his repentant and humble heart (his faith), God forgave his sins.
7. And so Paul’s point in employing the words of David is to say that the people who are blessed are not those who have earned something from God, but they are those who have received something from Him.
a. Their transgressions are forgiven, their sins are covered, and God does not hold their sin against them.
b. God truly does “justify the ungodly.”
c. God declares “innocent” people who are really not innocent in themselves.
d. God grants them a status they have not earned and do not deserve.
e. And this is the heart of the gospel of Jesus, the good news that God accepts us, through faith, just as we are (sinners/ungodly/wicked).
f. By God’s grace, he covers our sins and does not count them against us. That’s great news!
G. Let’s finish today’s study by looking at the next paragraph: 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. 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. 11 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, 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. (Romans 4:9-12)
1. So is the “blessedness” that King David experienced, and is this blessedness David implied was available to others, only available to the “circumcised”? – that is the “Jews” – as most Jews believed?
a. Or was that “blessedness” also available to the “uncircumcised,” – that is the Gentiles?
2. Paul reveals that the answer is located in the experience of Abraham.
a. Was Abraham made right with God before or after his circumcision?
b. Had Abraham’s faith been credited to him as righteousness before or after his circumcision?
c. The answer is that he was made right with God before he was circumcised.
3. In Genesis 12, Abraham was 75 years old when he received the first call and promise from God to go to Canaan and become the father of many nations.
a. In Genesis 15, the word of God came to Abraham again, and God renewed the promise, and on that occasion it says that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
b. We don’t know how many years it was between Genesis 12 and Genesis 15.
c. But then in Genesis 16, we learn that Abraham was 86 years old when he tried to help God by producing and heir through Hagar rather than through Sarah.
d. Then in Genesis 17, when Abraham was 99 years old, God finally commanded that he be circumcised, and God renewed the promise to Abraham, and a year later Isaac, the child of promise, was born.
e. From that timeline, we know that Abraham was declared righteous at least 13 years, and probably longer, before he was circumcised.
f. Therefore, in Abraham’s case, circumcision was not the basis or even the condition for his righteous status before God – it was simply a seal on what was already true.
g. We believers in Jesus today are sealed by the Holy Spirit as a proof that we belong to God.
4. And because Abraham was justified by faith, before he was circumcised he is the father of all who believe without being circumcised – that makes Abraham my father and your father.
a. Abraham is the father of all who walk in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham, who trusted not in himself and his works, but who trusted in God’s promise.
b. Let’s rejoice in the truth of the wild and active children’s song “Father Abraham” – “Father Abraham, had many sons, many sons had father Abraham, I am one of them and so are you, so let’s just praise the Lord.”
H. Let’s review some of the important truths we have learned about being justified by faith, both last week and this week.
1. Here is the gospel message in three sentences:
a. What God requires, we don’t have
b. What we don’t have, Jesus has provided
c. What Jesus has provided, we receive by faith
2. God has designed our salvation so that He alone gets the glory – not by works, so no one can boast.
3. God’s intention in providing salvation in this way is to lead us to humility and faith, not pride and self-sufficiency.
4. The salvation that God offers is a gift of His grace to be received by faith.
I. Allow me to end with this illustration:
1. If you're a golfer, you may have heard of Harvey Penick.
2. He was a golf instructor, and his first book, Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, sold more than a million copies, one of the biggest in the history of sports books.
3. Its unusual title reflects the background of the book: He kept a little red notebook for more than 60 years, and jotted down his thoughts in it, but he never showed the book to anyone except his son until 1991.
4. When Harvey shared his notebook with a local writer and asked him if he thought it was worth publishing.
5. The writer immediately recognized its value, and asked Harvey to leave it with him to show to a publisher.
6. The next evening the writer called Harvey's house and left a message with his wife that Simon & Schuster had agreed to an advance of $90,000.
7. The writer didn't see Harvey until a few days later, and he assumed that Harvey would be excited and grateful.
8. Instead, old man seemed troubled. “What's wrong, Harvey?”, his friend asked.
9. Finally the golf instructor reluctantly told what was troubling him: “My wife and I are getting on up in years, and we've had a lot of health problems, and I just don't see how, well, there's just no way we can advance Simon and Schuster that $90,000."
10. His astonished friend told Harvey Penick there had been a misunderstanding: “The publishing house is going to give you the money, not the other way around, and all you have to do is receive it!”
J. The same is true with regard to the salvation that comes through Jesus – God offers it as a free gift of His grace – to all who believe and receive it.
1. Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness, King David, fell so far short, but still received God’s forgiveness because of his faith, and so can we.
2. There is no way we will ever get it all right or that we will ever do enough good to save ourselves and earn God’s forgiveness and grace.
3. The good news is that we don’t have to earn it.
4. The only possible way to be made right with God is through the righteousness of Jesus being credited to our account by faith, because of God’s grace.
Resources:
Romans: Be Right, The Bible Exposition Commentary, by Warren Wiersbe
Romans, The NIV Application Commentary, by Douglas Moo
Romans, Interpretation – A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Paul Achtemeier
“God Plays No Favorites” Sermon by Ray Pritchard
“Father Abraham” Sermon by Ray Pritchard
“Our Father Abraham” Sermon by Dan Williams
“A God Who Justifies The Wicked” Sermon by Dan Williams
