Romans 4:1-8
Notes
Transcript
Welcome to Maranatha Baptist Fellowship
We have made it to Romans 4 this morning
If you haven’t been following with us
We are preaching through Romans this year at Maranatha Baptist Fellowship
And huray we made it to Romans 4 !
If you will remember last week we touched on the fact that it is no longer how well you physically carry out the law but rather because of Christ you are justified by faith in Jesus
31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
Do we throw away the law because we now we have Jesus
NO
Remember church Christ came to fulfill the law not throw it out
Remember the purpose of the law was to point us to our own personal need of a savior
And as Christ as the final perfect sacrifice
And as we will see in Romans 4 Paul is going build again on the fact that it is by faith you are made right with Christ
Although it is broken up by chapters and verses it would seem that like all scriptures this is one long letter
And in this particular part of the letter it is further explanation of what Paul has just written about
Remember Paul uses reotical questions to build up a point so he can ensure the correct information gets out there
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Paul is asking this question
He is asking if Abraham the original GodFather has anything to boast about
That if he was justified by works then he can boast about it but not before God
Church in a round about way Paul is saying that even Abraham
Who was called a friend of God, has nothing to boast about
Even Abraham was not in a place to do anything to boast about but other than His faith in God
It seems like it is the same question from from vs 37 from chapter 3
He seems to be posing this question over and over
Church when things get brought up over and over again don’t you think it is important
Sort of like in church when things get brought up over and over don’t you think that it is important
When we read through scripture we see that people break the covenat with God
Then we see God set out a plan to draw people back to Himself
through the law given to the Jews first
It was His plan to give salvation to them first and then to the rest of the world
Then from the time of before creation God had a plan for salvation to send Jesus to die on the cross to pay for your debt and my debt
The Good news is that Jesus saves
That you and I are made righteous through faith in Christ Jesus and not in how good we can follow the law
But the law points us to Christ
Paul is bring it up over and over so church don’t you think it is important
Don’t you think we need to hear over and over again that Jesus saves!!
Church Jesus Saves!!!!
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Paul illustrates that as we have said earlier even Abraham was not justified by his works
But by believing in Christ
See if was believing in Christ that moved Abraham to change his lifestyle
James the author of James speaks about faith
The Teacher’s Commentary 161: James 2:14–5:20—Faith’s Challenges
James was a man deeply concerned that those who have faith in Jesus express that faith in an appropriate lifestyle. Knowing God means a total reorientation for human beings who were before blinded and lost.
When Jews thought of Abraham all they had to go on was what they had heard about him
like what He has done
You can see how the jews who took 10 laws and made them 613 now take a man and say you should be just like him
That his works saved him
His works are in response to his faith in Christ
The Teacher’s Commentary 161: James 2:14–5:20—Faith’s Challenges
Where there is true faith in God, that faith will never exist apart from works, but will find expression in the believer’s way of life.
Paul goes on to explain this again for the Jew in Rome who probably doesn’t understand it yet
4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
From Abraham now to all men
To the one who works of course he will be able to save himself
Yes if there is a way to save your save yourself then by all means you would be able to do it and then of course you will receive salvation
If there were in fact a way to earn your salvation by works then God would be obligated to give you salvation
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
This though makes it very very very clear that there is no other way to get salvation other than through Christ
John McCarthur “Salvation is always a sovereignly given gift of Gods grace, to those who believe. Since faith is contrasted with work, faith must mean the end of any attempt to earn God’s favor through personal merit.”
We can no longer continue this struggle for any attempt to please God to the point that He will then save us
Church salvation was never about what we could do but always about what Jesus did
It is when we get to the point where first and formost we understand we are not good
We must first comes to grips with our own personal sins and how those sins separate us from God period
Then once we understand that it is realizing that nothing we can do gets us saved but that it is grace through faith saves
Paul highlights what David said such a long time ago
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. 8 “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”
This is what David wrote so long ago in the Psalms 32.
This is the same king David who when kings go out to war he sent Joab and stayed in Jerusalem himself
The same king David who sinned against God by taking Bathsheba and sleeping with her who was married
This is the same king David who orchestrated the death of her husband
This is a guy who we all know who wasn’t good enough to earn salvation and understood that
David praised the Lord for salvation not based on merit but on Gods own goodness
Are you starting to understand this morning church
Even sermon after sermon of what seems like the same thing
Maybe we are very similar to the Jews in Rome who spend all of our time and energy proving our worth to God by the things we do
We spend all of our time and energy acting like we have it all together
Maybe we need to hear it again and again
And that our relationship with God is based sole on how good we are
That God keeps tally marks against against you and only dishes out salvation if you are good enough
Please understand this morning that salvation is only through the grace of Christ
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
You are saved through the grace of Christ through faith in Jesus
Just like Abraham
Just like David
Just like Peter
Just like Paul
IT was credited to them who believed
Had nothing to do with what they have done but with everything to do with what Jesus did
This morning as we move to our time of Invitation
The band will come up
If you are here this morning and do not have a personal relationship with Jesus
I would like to invite you to the front
You will be able to speak with someone who will show you through Scripture how you can be saved this morning
Or maybe you are here and you need to spend sometime in prayer at the altar
Would you be obedient to respond to the invitation of Christ and do business with God this morning
Romans 1–4 explains the condition of the wicked and how they can be declared righteous by God. Romans 5–12 addresses those who, while still sinners, have been declared righteous by God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Kenneth Boa; William Kruidenier