29 | Romans | Romans 4:9-12 | For Whom is This Blessing?

INTRODUCTION

This morning we continue our series in Romans with our third week here in chapter 4.

Our aim is that you would learn this book.

That this letter and the gospel it holds out to you would go with you anywhere you take the scriptures.

More than that, our aim is that you would enjoy God through a true and deep understanding of his grace.

Last week, Tony Webster led us in considering Jeremiah 17 …

Jeremiah 17:9–10 ESV

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

There are three parts to this passage from Jeremiah:

The first is clear, that the heart is deceitful and sick.

Sounds a bit like Romans 3:10 — None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.

Then the second part says that the Lord searches the heart and tests the mind.

Uh oh. That’s not good. We already know what he is going to find.

Deceitful sickness.

And we know what he’s not going to find.

Anything righteous.

Finally, the Lord according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

You put these three parts together, and you end up in the same place the Apostle Paul has brought us to in the first three chapters of Romans.

Romans 3:20 ESV

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Are we to despair? Is there any good news for sin sick souls like ours?

Romans 4:7–8 ESV

“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.”

For whom is this blessing?

PRAY

3:00

Who does not want to live a blessed life?

What great blessing than the eternal favor of the immortal God?

So, there is no more pressing nor relevant question than this …

THE QUESTION — Who is Blessed?

QUESTION: v9 — Is this blessing only for the circumcised?

v9 - this blessing — the blessing of the psalm

What is the blessing?

lawless deeds forgiven, sin covered, sin not counted

This is the inverse of v6 — counted righteous apart from works

Is the blessing for circumcised only?

Circumcision

Circumcision is physically marked Abraham and his male descendants, that they and all in their household are under the covenant of the Lord.

But this letter is written to the church in Rome.

This church is made up of both Jews and Gentiles.

This is a church of both the descendants of Abraham and those who were outside of the covenant community.

The circumcision and the uncircumcision.

So, really the question being asked is this:

Is circumcision the means by which one may is counted righteous?

Is circumcision the means by which one is justified?

5:00

Paul is quick and clear with the answer.

ANSWER: v9 — We say: faith counted to Abraham as righteousness

This is a positive assertion.

That is, the only word linked to Abraham and the fact that he is counted righteous is the word faith.

Faith stands alone here.

So what of circumcision?

EXPLANATION: v10 — How counted? Before or after?

“it” — What is “it” that was counted to him?

Abraham was not counted a man of faith.

He wasn’t counted faithful.

No, the it isn’t faith.

The it is righteous.

Abraham is counted righteous?

How? Faith!

When?

Was it before or after circumcision.

The point is to ask, was faith alone?

Was there any other word or deed that accompanied faith before Abraham was counted righteous—before he was justified?

Because if there is another word or deed that happened at the same time, then that word or deed would become a part of the how of justification.

The question again:

Was Abraham justified (counted righteous and forgiven) …

… was Abraham blessed

… before or after he was circumcised.

v10b — Not after, but before he was circumcised.

Paul is trying to be as logical and clear as possible to make this singular point.

Justification is by faith alone.

There is no other word nor deed that accompanies faith.

The Lord speaks the covenant promise to Abraham.

Abraham believes God.

As one who believes, Abraham is counted righteous.

Faith alone takes hold of the promise of blessing.

9:00

FURTHER EXPLANATION: v11 — Abraham received sign of circumcision:

Then, only after faith and the blessing of justification …

… is Abraham given the covenant sign of circumcision.

Circumcision is neither how nor when Abraham is counted righteous.

Rather, circumcision serves as a seal of righteousness.

The word for seal is often used to refer to a signet ring of a person in authority.

A ruler will write a proclamation or order.

He will then imprint the seal of his ring onto the order to designate that the order is upon his own authority and all who are bound by his proclamation belong under his sign, his signet.

So, when does does a person come under the authority of the proclamation?

It is not when the order is given?

The signet is only a sign and seal which marks the order or proclamation as a guarantee of the authority.

It is the proclamation itself that is binding.

v11 says that Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness he had already received.

Abraham had already come under the covenant …

… and had already received the blessing of the covenant by faith.

Not by works, or even by the sign of the covenant.

12:00

What Paul has said so far would be jarring to those in Rome who heard it.

It would be good news for the Gentiles and disorienting for the Jews in the church.

But what Paul says next is one of the most radical and controversial things Paul could have said!

TYPOLOGICAL EXPLANATION: v11b — Purpose was to make him Father:

Abraham is the father.

That’s the essence of God’s promise to Abraham which he had believed.

Genesis 15:5 ESV

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.”

Abraham is the father of innumerable offspring.

Of course, they are called the Israelite people, or Hebrews, or Jews.

Is that what Paul says to this church?

v11c — 1) … of all who believe without being circumcised

Abraham becomes the father of many offspring before circumcision.

So, Abraham is the father of all who believe, whether the circumcised or the uncircumcised.

How is righteousness counted?

By faith alone!

So, must you be a child of Abraham to be justified, to receive the blessing.

Yes, but only because he is the father of all who believe.

15:00

What of the circumcised? What of the Jew?

v12 — 2) … of the circumcised

who walk in footsteps of faith

That is, the question is still a matter of faith, not circumcision.

For the Jew, the question is not, “Do you belong to those who have been circumcised?”

The question is, “Are you among those who walk in the footsteps of faith.”

Thomas Hooker That whosoever is the son of Abraham, hath faith, and whosoever hath faith is a walker, is a marker; by the footsteps of faith you may see where faith hath been.

APPLY

Look again at this clear argument in our passage.

v7-8 — There is the blessing of redeeming grace by which sins are forgiven and a man may be counted righteous.

v9-10 — What is the relationship between justification (being forgiven and counted righteous), faith and circumcision?

v10-11 — Abraham is counted righteous before, not after circumcision.

v11-12 — Therefore, Abraham is the father of all who believe, whether circumcised or uncircumcised.

19:00

Now, what I want to do for the remainder of our time …

… is to consider briefly the three points that Paul is pressing in our passage.

1. That justification is by faith alone (the whole point of this entire section of scripture)

2. That circumcision and the rituals that surround faith do not add to faith, but serve as a sign and seal

3. That faith is the entrance into a path upon which the believer walks in the footsteps of faith

FAITH ALONE — Romans 4:9-10

This is the whole purpose of Romans 3:21–4:25.

The ESV heading: The Righteousness of God Through Faith

Paul says this clearly at least four times in this section

Romans 3:28 ESV

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Romans 4:3 ESV

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

Romans 4:5 ESV

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

Romans 4:9 ESV

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

To this day this is still what we say.

APPLY

This confession is at the absolute center of our hope of righteousness.

That justification is by faith alone.

Do you want blessing?

Are you desperate for some measure of hope?

Hear the promise of God, the proclamation of the king:

That all who believe may have their lawless deeds forgiven and their sins covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

Do you believe this?

This morning, I call you to believe this.

25:00

Read v11a.

THE SIGN AND SEAL — Romans 4:11

What is circumcision, again?

A ritual that serves as a sign and seal that Abraham had been counted righteous by faith.

So, what is the relationship between circumcision and justification by faith alone?

Circumcision is not the cause of the righteousness.

Neither is it the means by which Abraham takes hold of righteousness.

The cause of righteousness is God’s free covenant proclamation and promise to act: that is, grace.

The taking hold of righteousness is by faith.

Circumcision, then, is a visible account of this grace and faith reality.

Circumcision and faith are separate.

They are separate in time and in effect.

27:00

The Sign and Seal

What is circumcision a sign of?

Is it a sign of faith? No.

It is a sign of God’s covenant promise.

It is a sign that one has received, has taken hold of this promise, by faith.

For Abraham, circumcision didn’t say, this is a faith guy.

Circumcision said, this guy has received covenant promise and is bound by that covenant.

Let me show this another way.

Look at v10 — How, then, was it counted to him?

What does it refer to? = righteousness.

Righteousness is the result of God’s justifying grace.

Otherwise, faith makes a person righteous.

And circumcision becomes a sign of faith.

Rather, circumcision becomes a sign to Abraham of God’s covenant of grace.

Circumcision to Abraham is a sign = visible representation or “visible word” that speaks God’s covenant promise

30:00

Now, the New Testament holds out to the church another sign.

The sign of God’s grace to bring both physical and spiritual descendants from Abraham is the sign of circumcision.

But there is another sign that seals a new covenant.

That the Lord has secured the blessing of justification once and for all through the finished work of Jesus Christ …

… his sacrificial death on the cross in the place of sinners

… his victorious resurrection to secure eternal life for all who believe.

This new covenant sign is baptism.

Circumcision and Baptism

Circumcision and baptism have a shared spiritual meaning.

Circumcision and baptism stand as a sign of reminder and seal of guarantee of God’s covenant promises.

But this does not mean that this beautiful, shared meaning is applied the same in the new covenant.

Baptism stands as a sign and seal not only that one belongs to a people of faith, but that you yourself believe.

Baptism indicates not only that you belong to a people who are bound by a covenant, but marks you as a person who belongs to a people who have recieved the blessing of that covenant by faith.

So, where circumcision marked a child as one who descended from and stands in the line of Abraham who received a promise.

Baptism marks a person as one who has trusted in the promise of God to justify all who believe.

32:00

APPLY

Some here are likely beginning to notice a theological question.

The theological tradition in which CPCoast stands is baptist.

This becomes particularly important when it comes to passages like Romans 4 this morning.

At CPCoast, our theological tradition is Baptist.

To understand this, let’s take a step back and see the larger framework: Historic, Orthodox, Protestant Baptists.

Historic

We are not novel.

We stand in a long line of faith passed down through history.

If something is new, it is not necessarily wrong, but it is suspect.

And so, we are …

Orthodox

We stand in the line of the creeds and confessions.

The early creeds that are shared by all the faithful: Apostle’s Creed, Nicene, Athanasian which articulate essential truths about the Triune God, the person and work of Christ, and the gospel.

Protestant

Best expressed by the 5 Solas:

Salvation is By Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, In Christ Alone, According to Scripture Alone, To the Glory of God Alone

We also affirm the doctrines of grace:

Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited (Particular Atonement), Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints

This is our tradition.

This is the gospel which we guard, and the sound doctrine that we teach.

Now, you can see an increasing specificity in each layer of this description.

34:00

And we are Baptist.

In the Baptist understanding, circumcision and baptism share the same fundamental meaning as signs of God’s covenant promises, but they differ in their administration.

Circumcision was given under the Old Covenant as a physical mark of belonging to the covenant community, applied to male infants as a sign of God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants.

Because Abraham believed God, this promise was handed down from one generation to the next.

That does not mean that all who received the sign of the covenant believed.

That is why Paul speaks of those who “walk in the footsteps of the faith.”

But baptism is not a sign passed on by the flesh, but by the Spirit.

Baptism, under the New Covenant, is administered to those who profess faith in Christ, signifying their union with him in His death, burial, and resurrection.

While circumcision and baptism serve as outward signs of covenant membership …

… Baptists affirm that the New Covenant is made explicitly and exclusively with those who have been regenerated by the Spirit

Therefore, baptism is a sign and seal of faith, administered to only to believers as a symbol of the inward reality of salvation by grace through faith.

1689 London Baptist Confession Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ. To those baptized it is a sign of their fellowship with Him in His death and resurrection, of their being grafted into Him, of remission of sins, and of submitting themselves to God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life.

We are Historic, Orthodox, Protestant Christians.

And this is crucial for our guarding of the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

But it is at this point that we are confessionally Baptists that there is a distinction between ourselves and our Presbyterian and Reformed brothers and sisters in Christ.

39:00

We are Protestant, united in the core protest of the Reformation that justification is by grace alone through faith alone.

But the Reformation was not monolithic.

There was agreement on what was wrong, but there was disagreement on how to confess and formulate what was right.

Key disagreements developed over the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s supper) and the relationship between the Old and New Covenants.

As the theology developed:

Presbyterians/Reformed emphasized continuity.

Baptists emphasized discontinuity.

As history would have it, Presbyterians/Reformed held the majority position in the Reformation and became dominant.

Baptists were a minority position without power or authority.

Despite historical disagreement and even antagonism, Baptists and Presbyterians today increasingly recognize and respect each other’s faithfulness to the central reality of justification by grace alone through faith alone.

We remain honest in our disagreements but generous in formulations born out of shared Protestant unity.

42:00

From Historic to Orthodox to Protestant, we are together at CPCoast.

And, we believe that we can be together, worship together, fellowship together, partner together as Baptists and Reformed together.

Can you hear the truth of the word together?!

While CPCoast is and will remain Baptist in our teaching and our practice, we do not believe that this has to be a barrier to our genuine and practical unity.

What I’m trying to say is that if you disagree with our interpretation of baptism, we can still be together.

And for some of you, we have walked together in this God’ glorifying and deep unity for over a decade.

You, brother, you sister, are a faithful sign of the union we share together in Christ by grace alone through faith alone.

Thank you for your generosity for the sake of our shared love together.

44:00

APPLY

No religious ritual is your means nor hope of salvation.

We live in a time in history where, in some places on the edges of the church there is a growing suspicion of American cultural Christianity and its informality and lack of rootedness.

In some places, there is a rise in attention to liturgy and formal reverence.

It is my belief that this is good.

Let us only here this one caution.

No religious ritual is your means nor hope of salvation.

It is possible that there are some here today that think you are saved, that think you are a Christian …

… because you were baptized or because you were confirmed or because you were raised in the church.

Your baptism is a sign of nothing if it is not a sign of God’s grace which you have believed.

The question is not have you been baptized.

For justification is not by baptism alone.

The question is, have you believed.

For justification is by faith alone.

46:00

THE WALK OF FAITH — Romans 4:12

Read v12

Paul has been using Abraham as a type since the beginning of this chapter

Abraham believed God.

Abraham was counted righteous by God.

Abraham walked in the faith which he professed.

So, Abraham is the father not only of his children, whom he faithfully circumcised according to the command of God.

More specifically, Abraham is the Father of all who believe.

The people of faith walk in this faith.

The first thing is to walk in the rituals of the faith.

If you, who have believed, whose faith is in Jesus Christ …

… have not been baptized

… and have not joined the church in covenant partnership

… I call you to meet with your elders.

Let us walk together in the footsteps of faith.

Perhaps this coming Easter is a time in which we can celebrate together the New Covenant sign and seal of God’s grace to you received with faith.

And then to continue in the faith that those rituals represent—walk in the footsteps of the faith.

Baptism. Communion. The church gathered on the Lord’s Day. The Life of the body together (“one another”).