Sermon Tone Analysis

MBC – 3~/20~/2005 – Pastor Doug Thompson

*/“Father Abraham, King David, and You”/*

Romans 4:1-8

 

*Intro.

and review: /Sola Fide!/*

Last Lord’s Day, we saw what it means to be saved /Sola Fide/--through faith alone in Christ, rather than good works.

We used the analogy of two chairs in the middle of an empty room.

One is labeled “Do,” the other is labeled “Done.”

Every person you meet is sitting in one or the other.

Every one of /you/ are sitting in one or the other this morning.

If you are sitting in the “Do” chair, you believe that you have to make some contribution to your own salvation.

You can’t just sit there, you must /do/ something!

Every cult and false religion is in the do chair—

 

Ø      (Mormons): "There are some who have striven to obey all the divine commandments, who have accepted the testimony of Christ, obeyed ‘the laws and ordinances of the Gospel,’ and received the Holy Spirit; these are they who have overcome evil by godly works and who are therefore entitled to the highest glory" (page 83).

Ø      "Accepting the message of salvation and devoting ourselves to God through Christ and being baptized in water is only the beginning of our exercise of faith.

It is only the beginning of our obedience to God.

It sets us on the way to everlasting life, but it does not mean our final salvation . . .

salvation comes to the individual only through obedience","  This Means Everlasting Life, p. 181.")

But if you are sitting in the “Done” chair, you believe that everything that was necessary for your salvation was accomplished by Jesus Christ through His obedient life and substitutionary death.

You have no contribution.

Only those who are sitting in this chair have eternal life.

/Sola Fide/ means that you renounce anything and everything within you and you trust in Christ alone to save you.

Faith isn’t something good we do that God rewards with salvation.

Faith is simply the empty hand that reaches out and takes what Christ promises.

Faith doesn’t save us, Christ saves us.

Faith just links us to the Christ who saves.

And we used the analogy of a bridge over a rushing, flooded stream.

If you drove your car over that bridge it wasn’t your faith that held your car up—it was the bridge!

Another illustration came to mind that deals with water—

 

•     You all remember the story of Peter asking Jesus if he could walk on the water.

He didn't examine his faith: "Do I have /enough/ faith?

And is my faith strong enough?--maybe

I need to believe a little harder /(grunt)./

What if my faith doesn't hold up?

I need to read a good book on faith!" No, he just trusted Jesus, and as long as his eyes were fixed on His Master, he did the supernatural.

When did Peter begin to sink?

When he took his eyes off Christ, looked at the wind and the waves, and began questioning his own ability to walk on water.

He was looking at his own faith; instead of looking at Jesus.

There's a huge difference between the faith by which you stand on the Rock and the Rock on which you stand.

Faith isn't the Rock; Christ is the Rock.

Look to Him. Trust Him! Remember His promises, and remind yourself of all that He is all that He has done, and all that He can do.

And if you are truly sitting in the “Done” chair, and truly trusting in Christ for your salvation, then you will have nothing to boast about, except for Christ and what He has done for you!

 

Well some of the Jews listening to this letter being read in church in Rome would have said to themselves, “How does all this jive with Father Abraham?

Would he agree with Paul’s gospel?

And what about King David?

Would he buy this /Sola Fide/ stuff”

 

Ø      ROM 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

Ø      ROM 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God.

Ø      ROM 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."

Ø      ROM 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due.

Ø      ROM 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness,

Ø      ROM 4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:

Ø      ROM 4:7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered.

Ø      ROM 4:8 "Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account."

Up to this point in Romans, Paul has been very theological, very doctrinal.

He has been dealing with truth in the abstract, but here in ch.4 he gives 2 flesh and blood illustrations of what it means to be justified by grace through faith alone—Abraham and David.

*I.

Father Abraham and Sola Fide.*

Abraham was an obvious choice: To every Jew, he was the supreme example of a godly, righteous man.

He was the model of genuine faith and godliness.

If Paul can show that Abraham was just before God by faith rather than works, then the argument is over.

But Paul knew that if he had asked the average Jewish person on the street in Rome, he would have said that Abraham was made right with God because of his own righteous character.

God chose Abraham to be the father of His people Israel because Abraham was the most righteous man on earth during his time.

And they interpreted Abe’s faith as faithfulness—and there is a huge difference between being saved by faith and being saved by faithfulness!

Listen to what was written about Abraham—

 

Ø      1 Macc.2:51: “Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness?”

 

Ø      From the Book of Jubilee: “Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord, and well-pleasing in rtnss.

all the days of his life.”

Ø      Some rabbis even said that Abraham kept the whole law—600 years before it was given!—and was sinless.

~*Now all of this is ridiculous hyperbole—Abraham was never on God’s “nice guy list.”

He was a pagan Gentile when God called him.

He worshiped the Chaldean moon goddess, Nanna, along with everyone else in Ur.

 

Ø      God didn’t choose Abe to be the father of the people of God because he was a good man.

You can read in Genesis how Abe lied, on more than one occasion.

Scripture gives us no clue as to why God selected this pagan from the millions of others in pagans in the world!

He just chose Abram, out of free grace and mercy, to be the recipient of His blessings--that’s all we know.

And by the way, that’s all you and I know about why God chose pagans like you and I!

 

*/Abraham is not the prototype of the man God saves because of his inherent goodness.

Abraham is the prototype of the man God saves in spite of his inherent sinfulness!/*

He truly was our forefather /according to the flesh!/

He was a sinner, chosen unconditionally by grace of God, and justified through faith--just like you and I!

 

Ø      Paul throws out a big hypothetical “If:” V. 2 “For /if/ Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about.”

Yes, if a person could earn salvation through his good deeds and lawkeeping, he would have something to brag about—and so would Abe.

But Paul has already shown that no one is justified by their good works: the standard is 100% perfection, and that is impossible, especially when you figure that we already have Adam’s in on the books.

Ø      And don’t forget the most important truth about salvation: it is first and foremost for the glory and praise of God!

So God purposely devised a way of saving sinners that completely bypasses their efforts so there is no basis for boasting before men or God.

It is /not/ as the result of works, lest anyone should boast.

As he said in 3:27—all boasting is excluded!

But look at what Paul is saying from the standpoint of the Judaism of his day: He was demolishing the very foundation of their religion?

No wonder they tried so many times to kill him!

But Paul was speaking for God: He isn’t “dissing” Father Abraham!

He really is holding him up as a model of a true believer—but not as one who was saved by his own goodness, but as one who was saved by faith alone--

 

Ø      ROM 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "And Abraham /obeyed /God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."

?

No, “Abraham /believed/ God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

Paul is quoting from Gen.15:6—one of the most important verses in your Bible.

Let’s read it in context—

 

Ø      GEN 15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great."

Ø      GEN 15:2 And Abram said, "O Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"

Ø      GEN 15:3 And Abram said, "Since Thou hast given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir."

Ø      GEN 15:4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir."