Romans 4:1-8

The Doctrine On Which The Church Stands Or Falls

Romans 4:1–8 ESV

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. 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.”

Main Proposition:

Statement of Doctrine or Application (SILVER BULLET)

There is not one single person in OT or NT that was saved by anything other than faith alone

Not David, Abraham, Ruth, Moses

Faith is the foundation for salvation

Intro:

Statement of proposition

If there is one thing that the world will try and distort would be the doctrine of salvation, if he can confuse the world when it comes to salvation then he would succeed in keeping us in our sin and in condemnation.

Leading up to this point Paul has gone down the road of:

If it were up to humans to pick what is good and righteous the world would be a disgusting place

We would only be pointing to ourselves and not our trust aim Christ

Nobody is righteous, wise, good or seeks God

The Law can’t save, your heritage can’t save

Everybody will face the judgment of Christ

Only Faith in Christ can save

Chapter three concluded with righteousness from faith does not nullify the commands of the law; instead it establishes it and confirms it

This is a basic outline from the last three chapters. In every section Paul is always point us back to Christ

In the upcoming verses Paul is saying not only is that true now, but it has always been true and he brings up some of the most notable people from the OT to show the people of Rome that faith in Christ has always been the solution to salvation.

In these upcoming verses we are going to see What Abraham received and how he received it

Other texts that support

Galatians 1:4 ESV

4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

Even though Paul is not using the term “justification” it is very clear that Paul is talking about the salvific work of Christ on the cross. He builds on this theme not just in Romans and Galatians, but other epistles that he wrote.

Why does this matter?

Paul’s basis for this argument is that he is taking what we know to be true now and is showing them using OT texts and popular people from before Christ

He is proving that if salvation by faith was true with Abraham then it is surely true now.

Everybody tries to add to faith. Its faith + works, its faith + heritage, faith + man. That is going to fail.

Main Point #1: Abraham was justified by faith

Statement

Romans 4:1–3 ESV

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.”

Prove

Verse 1:

People of this time look at Abraham with the highest regard.

We talked about that this morning on the Mountain of Transfiguration with Jesus and Elijah. The awe that was in the Apostle’s eyes.

Rabbi’s would use Abraham as a great example of what a justified man looks like in God’s sight.

Abraham was the father head of God’s first covenant with His chosen people

“According to the flesh”: the human standard of a genuine Jew and of a man who is right before God.

So if Abraham was saved by faith then everyone that came after him must also have been saved by faith.

Verse 2 and 3:

The major take away from from verse two is that is a man can be justified before God by his own human efforts, then he has ground for boasting.

He would have merit in his own salvation

If we look into Genesis and read about Abraham it is very easy to see that he indeed has faith in God. It is his faith that leads to him being obedient.

That is the premise of his works.

Abraham wasn’t chosen because he was the hardest worker, best looking person and God was like “My man, My man..Abraham come here let’s make a deal.”

Faith always precedes works in every situation that life has ever walked this earth.

The only difference between Abraham and us today is that Abraham looked forward to the promise one. He trusted in the promise of the redeemer, whereas we look backward to the work of Christ.

There is no difference between OT salvation and NT salvation.

Like Paul, Abraham was sovereignly chosen by God. They weren’t searching for God when they were divinely called and commissioned.

Abraham was seemingly content with his idolatrous paganism, and Paul was content with his traditional, but false, Judaism.

John 8:56 ESV

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

Here we can see and hear the faith that Abraham had for the coming of his Messiah.

He had faith and believed.

Like the disciples that saw Jesus on the Mountain of Transfiguration.

I’d say it would be pretty easy to believe in Christ and what the future holds.

I’d be willing to run through that brick wall 10/10.

Genesis 15:6 ESV

6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Abraham was a sinner just like the rest of us.

What is the point of Paul using this Genesis passage? It is to demonstrate what he has been showing us for the first three chapters of this book.

That faith is the singular means through which a person receives righteousness and has been made right before God.

In Genesis 15 Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness, but there is nothing in this text that says or mentions anything about him working working in order to keep right with God.

Abraham was justified by faith alone; It is incredibly crucial to Paul’s argument because once again Abraham’s status was so significant to the minds of the Jewish people.

Abraham was considered righteous in God’s eyes, but was still a sinner and therefore despite his spiritual imperfection, he always came back to the Lord in faith, and the Lord honored that faith.

Illustrations

Abraham to the Jews is like Lebron or MJ to kids today.

Apply or Confront

Satan will do anything in order to blur the lines of true salvation.

He does not want us to have a clear understanding of what it is or how to get there

The world today is going to do anything to get their hands on it because whatever man get his hands on he will surely break.

Main Point #2: Fruit Proves Faith

Statement

Romans 4:4–5 ESV

4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

Prove

In verses 2 and 3 Paul shows us the polarity of “faith” and “works” and in verses 4 and 5 Paul is going to contrast “works” and believing”

Working is what one does when he wants to receive a wage or salary, that wage after working so many hours is then owed to that individual

When you finish your two weeks at Chik-Fil-A and you get either a check or direct deposit in your bank account do you write your manager a thank you card for giving you the correct amount that is owed to you? no.

“Believing” is fundamentally different then “working”

Working is the result of focusing on your own ability to complete a task that was commanded of you and believing is having faith in someone else.

Grace is a free gift from God and righteousness is unmerited from Christ.

There is nothing that we can do to earn that. It’s free

Some could argue that Abraham’s works flowed from God’s grace and Paul insists that God’s grace produces a changed life. Therefore, because of the believer’s changed heart he wants to glorify God and one way that a believer can glorify God is by his fruit.

Yes, it is works. Works are a fruit of the faith not the basis of new life (Repeat)

Part of that fruit is having a personal relationship with God and his son.

If someone were to have asked me before I was truly saved by Christ if I believed in God and his Son I would have said absolutely, but the caveat to that is I had no personal relationship with them. I had an intellectual account of them, but that was it.

James 2:19 ESV

19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

It isn’t enough to just know of God and Christ, but part of having fruit is having a relationship that flourishes.

That doesn’t mean from the start you are a Spurgeon or Kenny Jones, but you have the want to know them more and more.

It is definitely more of a progressive type of fruit so for all you guys who are young don’t be disheartened if you are like “oh man am I where I need to be on my journey of knowing Christ”.

That also means having trust in God during the hard times

Philippians 4:4–7 ESV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Part of being fruitful as a believer is having trust and faith in Christ when times get tough and believe me. There will be mountains when everything is going great and valleys that hit you out of the blue that shock you.

You have to keep the faith of the Sovereign Lord. There is nothing that he can’t handle.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

A verse of Hope

No matter what life throws at us nothing is too much for Christ.

Alone yeah we can’t handle the weight of what is thrown at us, but the difference between a non believer and a believer is that a believer has Christ to carry his burden.

Illustrations

Recent life circumstances: we can say we believe in God all we want, but when your faith is being tested what is your reaction?

Apply or Confront

Main Point #3: Justification brings blessing

Statement

Romans 4:6–8 ESV

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.”

Prove:

What is Paul referring to here? Justification

An act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

That is one great blessing; when we come to Christ we are instantly justified. Immediately forgiven for our sins, the righteousness that Christ has is imputed onto us.

Paul moves from using Abraham as a reference in the OT to David who the Jews consider to be the greatest king that they have ever had.

Paul felt that it was important to show that there was more evidence of “faith alone” and to take another icon of a Jewish heritage will surely help his case.

Paul cites Psalm 32:1-2

Psalm 32:1–2 ESV

1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

The blessing that David is speaking of is salvation

The only people that can receive this blessing are the one’s that realize that this blessing is apart from works.

Here David clearly understood God’s grace and it is written right in front of the people who has been gifted the “oracles of God”

We talked a few weeks ago about how sin can blind, distort things and this is clearly one of those times when it is spelled out very clear.

David knew that only God could purify and wash away his sins and create for him a new heart.

The person of genuine faith is blessed.

Abraham was justified by faith, David was justified by faith and every believer before and after them has been justified only by faith.

Verse 7:

We do not read “Blessed are those who obeyed the law and whose lawful deeds have justified them.”

We read that the blessed ones are those who lawless deeds are forgiven

Sin is lawlessness and we are a nation that exhorts certain sins.

It is one thing to mock or make fun of man made laws, but for someone to mock the laws of God is evil.

By nature we are lawless people and it is only after the work of the Holy Spirit do we have a regenerated heart.

Illustrations:

Before God, every person’s good works are as worthless as someone that tries to use the American Dollar in a foreign country.

Train Ticket in London used the wrong currency

If you try to pay for anything with foreign money people will not accept it.

That is the same as a sinner who tries to do good works to earn salvation.

Apply or Confront

Application Points:

We must object against any system of belief that teaches anything other than Faith in Christ

We should have great confidence in our way to salvation

For anyone that has not yet come to Christ: Would you be blessed? Would you have your sins forgiven?

Believe in the work of Christ alone and you will be saved