Can Rituals Save You?
Text: Rom. 4:9-12
Introduction
1. Illustration: Growing up in the Catholic church I knew a lot about rituals. I went to church six, sometimes 7 days a week. I was baptized as a baby. I went to confession to a priest. I was confirmed. I served as an altar boy. The problem was that I didn’t know Jesus, and all the rituals in the world couldn’t change that fact.
2. It wasn’t until someone told me that Jesus wanted to be my personal savior and wanted to have a personal relationship with me that my life changed. Because true Christianity is not about rituals, it’s about relationship.
3. We can look all over the world and see people performing religious rituals, and they change nothing.
4. The only thing that can change us is coming to the cross of Jesus, and by faith accepting him into our lives.
5. In our text today, the Apostle Paul talks about…
a. The Blessing Of Forgiveness
b. The Seal Of Forgiveness
6. Read Romans 4:9-12.
Proposition: Rituals won’t change us, but a relationship and faith in Jesus will.
Transition: First, Paul talks about…
1. The Blessing Of Forgiveness (9-10).
A. Blessing Only For The Circumcised
1. Paul has been talking about the faith of Abraham, and how it was his faith that gave him right standing with God.
2. However, the Jews to whom he was speaking to insisted that it was circumcision that God credited to Abraham as righteousness.
3. So, Paul asks them a very simple question, “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.”
a. Paul begins by quoting Genesis 15:6 again, asking if the blessing of forgiveness is for the circumcised or if it was also for the uncircumcised?
b. He answers this question by reminding his readers that for Abraham faith was credited to him as righteousness.
c. Now let me remind you of something I said about this a few weeks ago, credited as righteousness was not something that he earned but rather it was a gift from God.
d. Paul is referring back to what he said in vv. 7-8, where he quoted from Psalm 32,
e. Romans 4:7-8 (ESV)
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.”
f. First-century rabbis applied Ps. 32 only to the Jews, but here Paul is interpreting it in light of Gen. 15:6.
g. It was Abraham’s faith, not his faithfulness to certain rituals, that made him righteous (Barton 594).
4. Now, Paul gets to the real heart of the matter in v. 10, where he asks, “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.”
a. Here Paul is asking if he was it was credited to him as righteousness after or before he was circumcised?
b. If it came after, then it was the result of good works of the law and the Jewish system was right.
c. However, if it came before circumcision, then Abraham's faith was what initiated it and Christianity is correct.
d. Paul's answer is clear and emphatic, it was before and not after!
e. History bears this out, his faith is credited to him as righteousness anywhere from thirteen to twenty-nine years before his circumcision.
f. God called Abraham in Genesis 12, declared him righteous in Genesis 15, then introduced the circumcision ceremony in Genesis 17 (Barton , 595).
g. Ceremonies and rituals serve as reminders of our faith as well as instruct new or young believers, but we should not think that they give us any special merit before God.
h. They are outward signs and seals that demonstrate inner belief and trust.
i. The focus of our faith should be on Christ and his saving work, not on our own actions.
B. Forgiveness Of Sins
1. Illustration: When Tina and I were in Bible college a black Baptist preacher spoke in chapel one day. He was speaking on the subject of water baptism, and said, “You can go down a dry devil and come up a wet one!”
2. Rituals won’t save us, only faith in Jesus!
a. Acts 26:17-18 (ESV)
17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you
18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
b. The reason that you can go down a dry devil and come up a wet one is that all of the rituals in the world won’t change you.
c. Baptism won’t change you!
d. Confirmation won’t change you!
e. Communion won’t change you!
f. They won’t change who you are on the inside.
g. They won’t change who you are on the outside.
h. They won’t change your standing before God.
i. The only thing that will change you is faith in Jesus.
j. They only thing that will change you is a personal relationship with Jesus!
Transition: Next, Paul talks about…
2. The Seal Of Forgiveness (11-12).
A. Sign and Seal
1. So, what's the relationship of rituals to righteousness? Paul answers this by stating that circumcision was a sign and a seal of his right standing with God.
2. Look at what Paul says in v. 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”
a. This goes back to Gen. 17:11, which refers to circumcision as "the sign of the covenant," meaning that it was an external sign of something that had already happened on the inside.
b. The two terms were virtually synonymous, with the sign pointing to and the seal validating the reality of the covenant.
c. So, circumcision is seen as both the distinguishing mark and the confirming act of God's covenant with his people.
d. Both the sign and the seal are external. Circumcision doesn't stand for the covenant, but it is a mark of it.
e. The Jewish religious leaders of Paul's day saw circumcision as a sign of the covenant of Moses, but Paul here shows that it actually originated with Abraham, and therefore, faith precedes and is superior to the law.
f. Because Abraham was made right with God by faith, he became the father of all who are made right with God through faith. Rituals are not necessary to faith.
g. The Jewish people had for a long time claimed they were the chosen people because Abraham was their father; they were willing to call Gentiles his children only if they became Jewish.
h. But Paul is making a more radical claim. Since Abraham was made right apart from circumcision then he is the father of all those who come to God by faith.
i. So, the Gentiles are his children without the law and without circumcision.
j. We cannot earn our salvation based on our good deeds; it can only be given by God as a gift of grace.
k. So, Jews and Gentiles stand equally before God, and the only basis is faith in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross (Osbourne, 111-112).
B. Holy Spirit
1. Illustration: A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN. One morning, they were eating breakfast at a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, "I hope he doesn’t come over here." But sure enough, the man did come over to their table. "Where are you folks from?" he asked in a friendly voice. "Oklahoma," they answered. "Great to have you here in Tennessee," the stranger said. "What do you do for a living?" "I teach at a seminary," he replied. "Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I’ve got a really great story for you." And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple . The professor groaned and thought to himself, "Great ... Just what I need ... another preacher story!" The man started, "See that mountain over there? (pointing out the restaurant window). Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, ’Hey boy, Who’s your daddy?’ Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, ’Who’s your daddy?’ He would hide at recess and lunchtime from other students. He would avoid going in to stores because that question hurt him so bad. "When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, ’Who’s your daddy?’ But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, Son, who’s your daddy? The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, ’Who’s your daddy?’ "This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to that scared little boy ... "Wait a minute! I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God. " With that he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, "Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it." "With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long...
2. Our seal of forgiveness is the Holy Spirit.
a. Ephesians 1:13-14 (ESV)
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
b. That is the seal of our salvation and forgiveness, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
c. He comes in and changes us.
d. He comes in and begins to lead us.
e. He comes in and begins to teach us.
f. He comes in and begins to fight for us.
g. He comes in and empowers us when we receive a mighty baptism of power!
h. He is the proof that we are saved, forgiven and set free!
Conclusion
1. In our text today, the Apostle Paul talks about…
a. The Blessing Of Forgiveness
b. The Seal Of Forgiveness
2. TWO THINGS TO REMEMBER…
a. RITUALS ARE A SIGN ON THE OUTSIDE OF WHAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED ON THE INSIDE.
b. RITUALS ALONE ARE NOT ENOUGH; WE NEED TO BE CHANGED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!
