Faith credited for Righteousness

Introduction:

We are continuing our series on Romans.

First three chapters focused on the sins of men and the wrath of God due them and from chapters 3-8 it focuses on the Grace of God

We learned that everyone is under the wrath of God due to their sin: Jews and Gentiles are on the same boat. Jews who were given the law, as the chosen people of God, and given the sign of circumcision to symbolize their relationship with God, were in the same boat of sin.

Last week, Pastor Jin preached on Romans 3, quoting Ps 14, 53 which says that no one is righteous, not even one person. Everyone has sinned against God; this is a reality that we must start with. Some people may assume we begin on even grounds with God; but we must realize that when we come before God, we come before him guilty of sin.

So I want to tell you a little story…

Imagine that you had a grandfather who retired and bought a beautiful home out in nature overlooking the beach. He saved his money all his life to be able to afford this beautiful place. It has all the things you would ask for in a dream home and he’s going to spend the reminder of his days there. He loved and cherished this house.

But your grandfather gets into an accident, falling into a coma

You find out that he wrote for you to have the house in the will

He wasn’t completely dead but you were still determined to be its temporary caretaker until grandfather woke up or if he never did, or passed on, it would be yours.

Although you are sad about your grandfather’s accident and health, you enjoy the house very much and it gives you much joy. you take many vacations on it.

But maybe because you got it for free, You didn’t take good care of it like grandpa did, you lend it out to people to make some money but they trashed it, and down the line, it’s damaged and broken down. Eventually, you get the bright idea that if you leverage the house to make investments, you can potentially make a lot of money. The house has already depreciated a lot due to your mismanagement, but because of your risky bet (sports gambling, debt leveraged risky investment, unholy habit, etc.), the home gets repo’d at a fraction of the cost. You say to yourself, meh I got it for free anyway, good riddance. atleast I don’t have to manage it anymore.

Later, you hear that your grandfather woke up from the coma, and he wants to see you, how would you feel, what would you say or do?

I think many of us would be ashamed to meet him face to face. some might get defensive right away, making excuses as to why you lost the house. Others might run away, or cut contact with grandpa to avoid the difficult situation of telling him that you blew his house away on trivial and selfish risk. and others even might secretly wish that he had just died. saying, “Why did he make things complicated by writing me down in his will? I had a good life before that, and now He made things more complicated by waking up from the coma!”

some people just have no shame at all

People relate to God as if they don’t have sin to begin with. Some people have the audacity of getting angry at the victim; at the person they’ve wronged for bringing it up.

Have you met someone who just can’t say sorry? I heard a heart breaking testimony on a podcast by a woman who shared that she had an estranged relationship with her mother. After getting married, her husband encouraged her to reach out to her mom. she refused to do so because her mom never cared to have a relationship with her. Additionally, when she was a child, her mom’s boy friend assaulted her for years. unfortunately her mom eventually became abusive to her too and never apologized about allowing this to happen. But after awhile, she decided to reach out to her mom. She picked up her mom after agreeing to spend some time together as mom and daughter. In the car ride, she mustered up the courage to ask her mom, why didn’t you say anything about what happened, why didn’t you do anything? Her mom deflected, saying that we don’t talk about the past. But at the end of it all her mom blamed the whole ordeal on her, saying that it was her fault that she was abused. unfortunately, this testimony did not end with her restoring her relationship with her mother.

But what a story of courage and humility that she was willing to extend another hand of grace and reconciliation after so many years of her mom wanting nothing to do with her.

Imagine that it is the defendant, the victim, who has to be courageous and humble to initiate forgiveness and reconciliation but the perpetrator, is the one who gets angry rejects it. This is the state of humanity before God.

If our first response to God isn’t to fall down in repentance, we are acting much like the mother. Although we are in the wrong, we act as if God is just pestering us with moral requirements that inconvenience us. We act As if we stand before God on even ground. As if God has no claim on us and everything we own. As if the gospel is a gift we can afford to receive or reject. we may have grown up hearing the phrase, “Jesus loves you,” “God loves you,” so many times that we think he’s an annoying person constantly bombarding us with DMs and unwelcome flowers as if he’s obsessed with us. And we may see accepting the gospel equivalent to saying, alright, I’ll give this needy God a chance.

Without realizing we stand guilty, condemned, under the weight of our sin against God, in prideful and arrogant defiance against the holiness of God that created us and gave us everything we have and enjoy.

If we don’t believe we’ve wronged God, we think God is evil and selfish to inflict his wrath upon us. thus there is no need for forgiveness. In a way, we’re operating like the person who lashes out on the person who brings up our mistakes.

One may ask, just what did I do that is so wrong?

If we still think the self exists for the self, we are thieves. This is the most offensive truth to an individualistic culture: that the self belongs to the Lord, that it is to be lived for the Lord in the way that he designed. Our society is now experiencing all the pains of a self-glorifying, individualistic society: I can do what I want, love what I want, who’s to tell me what I can or can’t do with my body, my thoughts, my actions, my property, my money, etc. Who’s to tell me I gotta pay taxes? It was me who accomplished this, God has no right to take it away. “I have the right to create my own reality”. we are taking the most precious creation of God and making it hate him by loving another god like money, sex, and power.

Individualistic societies have done many good things like advancing human rights. we’ve come a long way as a society to protect the rights of people. But the attitude of entitlement as if the self exists for the self is unbiblical and idolatry. The bible says that the self belongs foremost for God and then to love others. Do you operate that way or do you believe that the self is primarily for self-preservation?

We all hate entitled people and for good reason. But entitled people are perfectly convinced that they have a right to those certain things. Therefore, entitled people are not aware that they’re entitled at all. Same with us, we are entitled people who think we’re alright. Better Help says, “A sense of entitlement is a personality trait that is based on a person’s belief that they deserve privileges or recognition for things they did not earn.” It is the same when we feel we are entitled to the gospel and see ourselves as a victim rather than the perpetrator. Do we feel angry at God when bad things happen? That happens if we feel like we’re entitled to a good and happy life. That’s a spiritual Karen.

So why is God’s wrath upon us? Because we’ve first wronged God. The reason we exist at all is to worship God, but we’ve all decided to reject that and worship something else instead. We’ve all decided to be our own gods and belittle, ignore, reject God and his commands. We’ve all attacked the injured party for seeking justice and acted like we’re entitled to forgiveness and/or all the good things God has to offer.

I say all this because unless we understand our place of wretchedness and the desperate need for forgiveness, we cannot and will not seek the gospel

We are the grandson who wronged his grandfather, we are the mother who wronged her daughter, and we are the creation who wronged our creator.

Then going into our passage today, the Main Idea is that as people who are sinners, Righteousness cannot be achieved but only given - Righteousness is not achieved but given

Homiletical Main Idea: it is the father who credits righteousness to his children at a high cost to himself - it is the injured party that is willing to suffer again to make reconciliation possible

Today, We’re going to look at the life of Abraham to see that righteousness is given not achieved

Abraham, himself, was not justified by his works (4–8), his circumcision (9–12), nor by the law (13–15), but by faith

RHEMA:

This is a time for you to RHEMA as you listen. Be actively engaged as you pray for the Holy Spirit to convict you. Read along with me and examine the words that is written. As we study, meditate and dwell on God’s word being spoken to you. Then reflect on how you can apply these principles to your lives.

Scripture: Romans 4:1-25

1. Righteousness is not achieved by works: Righteousness is not achieved but given

Read Romans 4:1-8

1 What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 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 credited to him for righteousness. 4 Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.

6 Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

7 Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

8 Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.

Summary of 1-8: We are credited righteousness. It is not earned through works but it is credited as a gift. Imagine someone comes to you after hurting you deeply. And talks like they’re entitled to forgiveness if they give you some money and do some good things. Therefore, because all have sinned, and because none of us are entitled to forgiveness, the only blessing is one where the sinners are not only acquitted but credited with righteousness (two-fold blessing: it would not be enough that our sins are covered, there would be no way up from there, only down. But the credit of righteousness is what puts us over).

Abraham was a good and obedient man according to our standards,

he was hospitable to any traveler that came near his home, he rescued war hostages and returned all the spoils, he gave tithes, he worshiped and sacrificed to God, and was even willing to sacrifice Isaac on the altar, yet it was not enough to earn righteousness.

The gospel is good news to sinners. David says this in Psalm 32) There is a blessing that forgives sin, covers sin, does not charge one with sin. The text does not say, blessed is the righteous man, it says, blessed is the one whose sins are forgiven. Blessing that comes from God is forgiveness that comes from faith:

5 “But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.”

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered”

8 “Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin”

Isn’t that so radical to say, ”to the one Who does not work!

but it is faith in God, and his ability to bring about his promises that credits us righteousness.

2. Righteousness is not achieved by circumcision: Righteousness belongs to the family of faith

Read Romans 4:9-12

9 Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. 10 In what way, then, was it credited—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also. 12 And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.

Genesis 17:11 “You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.”

God gave the sign of circumcision as a seal of righteousness. It was a symbol of a relationship that he had with God and all his descendants. We now find out that circumcision was a sign that God had a relationship with all of Abraham’s descendants who had faith. Not just blood relation. This makes sense because only men were circumcised. Women were also saved by faith.

Summary of 9-12: Paul seeks to clarify the Jewish assumption that righteousness comes from religiosity or relation to Abraham. It’s not a certain ritual, or being a jew, or having an outward sign that makes one righteous. hosea 6:6 mercy and knowledge of god It is the faith that makes one righteous. Paul says that the children of Abraham are those who share in his faith whether Jew or Gentile.

Similar to baptism for us. Nothing in the bible says that baptism is a replacement of circumcision, but baptism also comes after our salvation, after we are already credited as righteous. Baptism is not what makes us righteous or what saves us.

Romans 2:25-29 Already mentions its inability; rather it is the circumcision of the heart; prophecies

Matthew 3:9 “And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.”

The best part of this passage is that It was not only Abraham who was credited righteousness through faith, but all who follow in his footsteps of the faith will have righteousness credited to them as well!

so far not works, not rituals, not nepotism but faith.

3. Righteousness is not achieved by the law: Righteousness is a promise to be believed, not a law to be kept (a promise to be kept by God and not a law to be kept by us)

Read Romans 4:13-15

13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified, 15 because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.’

Summary of 13-15: You can’t transgress on a promise that someone else made. God promises to gift us. What is there to transgress? A promise can only be believed or rejected as untrustworthy. But it cannot be transgressed, how can you break a promise you did not make?

14. “If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified.” Law was to moses, but promise was to abraham.

Paul wrote in Galatians, “For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise. [Gal 3:18]”

Faithlife Study Bible (Chapter 4)

Many Jews assumed that Gentiles had to be obedient to the law in order to be saved (compare Acts 15:5). On the contrary, Paul argues that the Jews must adopt the Gentiles’ means of salvation: righteousness by faith.

progressive revelation. Law was pointing to Christ, once Christ had come, faith was not practiced by abiding by the law, but by trusting in the one who fulfilled it.

illustration: Pavlov’s dog? bell vs. food

Again Law and promise are incompatible

You can’t transgress on a promise that someone else made. God promises to gift us.

Law-transgression-wrath

promise-faith-gift

“Law-language (‘you shall’) demands our obedience, but promise-language (‘I will’) demands our faith. What God said to Abraham was not ‘Obey this law and I will bless you’, but ‘I will bless you; believe my promise’.

4. Righteousness is achieved by faith: The one who made righteousness by faith possible

Read Romans 4:16-25

16 This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to the one who is of the law but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. 18 He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be.

19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. 22 Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. 23

Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, 24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Summary of 16-25: The law brings trespass and wrath while faith in the promise brings gift through grace. The promise guaranteed that everyone who has faith would be Abraham’s descendants. Abraham’s faith was based on his belief of God’s character and ability, therefore even with the unlikeliest of circumstances, he did not weaken in faith or waver in unbelief, but instead strengthened in his faith giving glory to God, because he was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised . Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. This promise was not written for Abraham alone but also for us, who believe in God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead; the Jesus who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Abraham’s understanding of God’s character: 17. brings to life the dead is what gave him faith and certainty to be able to believe that he would have a son. sacrifice Isaac, even though God promised to give him the nations through Isaac.

Faith rests upon character. Faith must rest in confidence upon the One who makes the promises.

Jesus, Author of Our Faith, 5.

A. W. Tozer

Grandpa, if you trust in his character

yuel trust in me

Then what did Abraham have faith in?

The promises of God that he will father many nations and that his descendants will receive the promised land. He never saw those things be fulfilled, but he acted upon the promises with faith.

Then what is the character of the faith?

What kind of faith did Abraham have?

20-21, “He did not waver in unbelief in God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do”

Not waver in unbelief in God’s promise

Strengthened in his faith

Gave glory

Fully convinced in God fulfilling his promise

So far we have just seen that righteousness is a free gift credited by faith. It seems unfair, but we see now that it was not cheap at all. Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. “Just justification of the unjust”

This is the object of the faith: “It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”

Conclusion:

Remember how desperately we need forgiveness, remember our status before God without Jesus,

we don’t have righteousness and it will cost us eternity

Righteousness is not achieved but given

not by works

not by circumcision

not by the law

but by faith

the father who credits righteousness to his children at a high cost to himself - it is the injured party that is willing to suffer again to make reconciliation possible

RHEMA: This was a time for you to RHEMA as you listen. Pray for the Holy Spirit to convict you. We have read together and examined scripture. As you pray, meditate and dwell on God’s word being spoken to you. Then reflect on how you can apply these principles to your lives.

examine why you do your works, is it to earn forgiveness or is it out of gratitude for the forgiveness?

Meditate on the truths God spoke to you today. Are you entitled? Do you go before God with a sense of entitlement?

Apply this to your life: How can I see myself as not belonging to the self but to God? When I go to work or school tomorrow, it what ways am I being faithless, entitled, ungrateful, and it what ways can I have joy because of the promise of God? How can I give glory to God like Abraham did when he was fully convinced that God will fulfill his promise?

we are treated as if we have perfectly fulfilled the law of God.

It may seem offensive to some that the one who works is not justified but only those with faith. It seems to give evil people a free pass. Why is the latter better?

No one is good; everyone is evil. and we’ll learn later that it wasn’t a free pass; it wasn’t cheap for God to provide the credit of righteousness.

Works is not possible because you only need to break one

James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.”

Even if it was possible, it would not be the best because one can be evil in heart but excel in work. It would be inequitable because the one who was born in an advantageous position will have a better chance of success.

Law can only be kept or broken / God’s promises cannot be broken