Declared Right By Faith

Children’s Bible Page 1226

Introduction: Who is the very best person that you have ever known?

I want you to think about it for a moment and come up with an answer in your own mind.

Who is the very best person that you have ever known?

Now, think of a few reasons why.

Why is that person in your mind the best person you have ever known?

Your reason might be different than mine.

Maybe it’s because of how much they go to church and read their Bible or pray

or maybe it’s because of how selfless they are in doing for others

or maybe it’s because of how successful they are

or how resilient and persevering they are

or how kind and compassionate they are

or maybe it is because of how much they personally meant to you.

There can be all kinds of different reasons for why you may think of a certain person as the best person you have ever known.

But, if you were a religious Jew in the time of the New Testament, no matter who you personally knew that you might have thought was great,

The best person who ever lived was Abraham.

Let me share with you a few passages from some ancient Jewish texts regarding Abraham, now note these are not Scripture:

1 Maccabees 2:51–52

51 “Remember the deeds of the ancestors, which they did in their generations; and you will receive great honor and an everlasting name. 52 Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness?

Jubilees 23:10

For Abraham was perfect in all of his actions with the Lord and was pleasing through righteousness all the days of his life.

Sirach 44:20

20 He kept the law of the Most High,

and entered into a covenant with him;

he certified the covenant in his flesh,

and when he was tested he proved faithful.

In the Jewish mind, Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation was the greatest man to have ever lived, he was faithful and righteous before God, and He kept the whole law of God even before the law of God had been given.

Now, I tell you this because we are now in the second major section in the book of Romans.

Romans is the greatest and most detailed exposition of the gospel found anywhere in Scripture.

The first major section was all about how all humanity, no matter who you are, no matter your background, ethnicity, race, or religion, all humanity are sinners who have fallen far short of God’s glory and who are rightfully condemned under the righteous wrath of God due our sin.

In other words, we are all by nature and choice, in the wrong position with God.

Yet, now, in the second major section of Romans, which we began last week in 3:21-31, the second major section is all about how God has done everything through Jesus Christ to make it possible to declare a sinner right before God.

The theological terms are justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, and the authority of this message comes from the Scripture alone.

In other words, the gospel of God is not: go get busy doing all these things in order to make yourself right before God.

Instead, the gospel of God is: you can’t do anything to make yourself right before God, but God has done everything necessary to make you right with God through the cross and resurrection of Jesus for all who place their faith in Him.

The gospel is not about what you must do. It is about trusting in what Jesus has already done.

Justification - declared right with God.

Justification means not only just as if you have never sinned but also just as if you had always obeyed.

And one can only gain that position through faith, not works, not anything you can do or offer God.

It is the revolutionary message that turned the world upside down in the first century.

It is the message that shook up Europe during the 15th century reformation.

It is the message that continues to go to the end of the earth and save all who will trust in Jesus for salvation.

It is the center of the Christian faith, and the great difference between Christianity and all other religions.

But, as we see in church history, and we see in many many churches today, justification by faith alone is so easily lost if it is not clung to tightly and preached on consistently, because it goes against our prideful nature and says, “Surely, I can do something of myself to be made right with God!”

This was such a revolutionary message that Paul was sharing to the Roman church, that was made up of both Jewish and Gentile background people, that he knew many Jews especially, would naturally buck against it.

So, after presenting the gospel truth in such detail in 3:21-31, Paul now uses the example of Abraham, because he knew that if they thought anyone could be right before God based on their own works, it would be Abraham, the father of the Jewish people!

Romans 4:1–12

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.”

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.

1. The Only Way To Be Made Right With God Is By Faith

Now, you are probably wanting to say right about now, wait wait wait, wasn’t that one of your points from last week’s sermon?

And the answer is, well, pretty much yes, but remember like I have said before, preaching through Romans allows us to spend a number of weeks in each part of the main doctrines of the gospel,

And we pray these weeks taken considering sin, now these weeks taken considering justification and being made right with God lead us to not only understand in our heads, but to grow to love and treasure them even more from our hearts.

What was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

For if Abraham was declared right before God by his works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

In other words, nothing was gained by Abraham according to his flesh.

He was not declared right before God because of his works.

He has nothing to boast in before God.

I cannot accurately describe to you what a shocking statement this would have been to a traditional Jew of the time.

Yes, Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation because God called him, but when God called him, he was a pagan sinner like everyone else.

The Jews naturally thought Abraham was right with God because he was chosen to be the father of the Jewish nation and he did do some pretty impressive things in his life,

And those who did not believe in Jesus thought they were right with God simply because they too were Jewish and Abraham was their father,

But remember what Jesus told a bunch of Jewish religious people in

John 8:39–40

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.

John 8:44

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

In other words, you may come from Abraham’s family lineage, but you are not made right because of that.

Spiritually speaking, Abraham placed his faith and trust in God and his promises, which made him right with God, and most Jews never did this, so spiritually speaking, Abraham is not their father, the devil is.

Verse 3, For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Paul uses a direct quotation from Genesis 15.

Way back in Genesis 15, God had called pagan Abram (later changed to Abraham) to leave his home, his family, and his paganism and to go to a new land where God promised to make his into a great nation.

But, by chapter 15, Abraham was old and he had no children.

Genesis 15:1–6

1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

You see, this passage and today’s passage in Romans teaches us that all people of all time have been saved by God in the exact same way.

See, some Christians teach that in the Old Testament, those people were saved by following God’s law, but in the New Testament and beyond, we are saved and made right with God by faith in Christ.

But no, Paul’s whole argument in today’s text is that Abraham was saved by grace through faith in the promises of Jesus just like we are.

You may say, well, Abraham didn’t know who Jesus was.

Jesus would not come to earth until about 2,000 years after Abraham’s death.

But, while Abraham did not know of Jesus, God made flesh, the promise God had made to Adam and Eve that an offspring born of woman would come and bruise Satan’s head,

And the promise to Abraham that his own offspring would be his heir and through His offspring, all the families of the earth would be blessed,

These were all promises pointing forward to Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of those promises.

So, just like we are saved by trusting in what Jesus came and did 2,000 years ago, Abraham and other Old Testament saints were saved by trusting in the promises of God about what Jesus would come and do.

In other words, Abraham was saved and made right with God by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Jesus took the account of all of Abraham’s sin on the cross, and God gave Abraham the gift of Jesus’ righteousness through his faith in His promises.

Verse 4, Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

If you could be made right with God by your own works and efforts, if Abraham could be saved by his own works and efforts, God would be obligated to declare you righteous as your due, just like you work and then you are due a paycheck.

But verse 5, And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

Because Jesus was the only man who never sinned, He was the only one qualified to be the perfect sacrifice to pay the full penalty for sin.

So, no one is made right with God by their work, instead, they must believe in him who justifies the ungodly.

Remember, we read last week in 3:26, because of Jesus’ great work of taking all punishment for our sin on the cross, God is now just and the justifier of all ungodly people who will place their faith in Jesus.

Once again, this would have been mind blowing for the Jews to hear that the same gospel that saves them saved Abraham, the best person they could ever think of.

Yet, Paul, being a good ethnic Jew, held to the standard of the Jews that all good arguments needed to be confirmed by at least two witnesses,

So, he has already used Abraham, his first witness,

yet, now in verse 6, he bolsters his argument with most likely thought of to be the second greatest man in Jewish history, King David,

the man who received the other greatest promise about Jesus’ coming when God promised that one of his offspring would sit on the throne forever.

And Paul mentions that David wrote about the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.

Verses 7 and 8: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

We all have lawless deeds that cannot be made up for by good works, instead, they must be forgiven.

Our sins needs the covering of a perfectly righteous sacrifice.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin, but instead will account Jesus’ righteousness to him.

You see, the Hebrew word for “blessed” means more than just “happy.”

Instead, it speaks of being near to God.

Adam and Eve were blessed before they sinned, and they walked with God, and they were naked and not ashamed.

But, because of our sin, we have guilt and shame and need to be covered.

Yet, for those who are made right with God through faith in Jesus, we have been covered by Christ’s righteousness so that we are now blessed, brought near to God.

Loved perfectly as God the Father loves God the Son.

The only way to be made right with God is by faith.

And here is why that is such amazing and incredible news for you and for me.

There are no levels to justification.

There are no levels to being made right with God.

You either are or you aren’t depending on if you have trusted Jesus.

So that means, if you are in Christ, you are positioned in the same place as the greatest person you have ever known, as long as they are in Christ.

In terms of being blessed, brought near to God, made right with God, if you are in Christ, you are just as justified as I am, as Billy Graham is, as the apostle Paul is, as Jesus Christ is.

You are just as right with God.

Pastor JD Greear says: there is nothing you need to do today to make God love you more, and there is nothing you could ever do to make God love you less.

God’s love for you is perfect in Christ.

And listen, the key to overcoming sin in your life is not beating yourself up all the time and wishing you could be better.

The key to overcoming sin in your life is trusting from your heart that you are in the same position of being right with God, accepted and loved by God, as if you had never sinned and always obeyed.

And listen, if you are Christian here, but you have walked away or not taken God seriously for a while, the great thing is, you don’t have to go rehab yourself, God has already come near to you, just turn around and embrace His unending love and grace.

And if you are here today, and you are not a Christian, God has done everything to love you, and save you, and forgive you, and cleanse you and make you right before Him if you would simply, right where you are, place your faith and trust in Jesus from the heart.

You don’t have to take a class, or memorize a verse, or go right your wrongs, or come to church so many times, or say so many prayers, you don’t have to do anything.

Except place your faith and trust in Jesus, and believe the death He died on the cross he died in your place for your sin.

And if God convicts you of your sin, and you place your trust in Jesus, you will walk out of this service just as right with God me, as every believer in this room, as the apostle Paul, and as Jesus Christ.

See why this gospel is such good news? See why this gospel message is so revolutionary?

Trust in Jesus.

2. The Opportunity To Be Made Right With God Is For Anyone Who Will Believe

Verse 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.

Paul is now, once again, making clear that being declared right with God through faith alone is for all people, not just the circumcised Jews.

Now, God had come to Abraham and commanded him and all the Israelite males to be circumcised way back in Genesis 17.

This circumcision was a physical reminder that God had set the people of Israel apart to know Him and to make him known to the other nations of the world.

But being circumcised never made anyone declared right with God!

Notice in verses 9 and 10: Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness before he was ever circumcised.

So, having that surgery did not declare him right with God.

He had been declared right with God before that ever occured.

He had the full righteousness of God while he was still uncircumcised.

Look at verses 11-12: 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, 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.

Circumcision was simply an outward picture of what should have been an inward reality for all who place faith in God,

And that reality is being cut to the heart over our sin in order to treasure the sacrifice of Jesus in our place for our sin.

You see, the true spiritual descendents of Abraham are not the ones who are ethnically Jewish and who carry the physical sign of circumcision.

The true spiritual descendents of Abraham are the ones who have been cut to the heart due their sin against a holy God, and who have placed their faith in Jesus and been declared righteous by God, no matter who they are, what background they come from, and no matter what outward religious rituals they may or may not have performed.

Throughout the New Testament, we see the church having to answer this question again and again because they received so much pressure and persecution from the unbelieving Jews that claimed that one must be circumcised in order to be saved.

Passages like this one should lead us to ask ourselves, what are we today pressured and tempted to believe must be added to faith in Jesus in order to be saved?

Some churches have gone astray by teaching one must speak in tongues, some special spiritual language in order to be declared right before God.

Many churches who used to cling to the gospel now simply call people to do good things in the community and to stand up for what they consider the right causes in society, as though being made right with God is a matter of what we do for our society.

Some add baptism, either as an infant or one you profess faith, as a requirement to be declared right with God.

The Roman Catholic church utilized the sacraments as rituals that make one right with God such as baptism, confirmation, and communion.

You see, the temptation in religion is always to make more of the symbols, the pictures, images, and rituals, and to make these outward expressions necessary to be made right with God.

When the only true work of salvation was accomplished by Jesus’ death and resurrection, and being declared right with God is a matter of the heart, not the hands.

If you are cut to the heart over your sin in this moment, and place your faith in Jesus:

You are declared by God to be right with God.

Just as if you never sinned,

Just as if you always obeyed.

No additions needed.

If you are a questioner like me, you are asking, then why do we do things that baptism, membership, communion?

I promise, all that is coming up in the book of Romans.

But the foundation that must be completely secure apart from any of that, is the salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, and we receive this message by the authority of the Scripture alone.

Elder at couch.

Let’s pray.