24) Means of Justification - Abraham's Example
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If you would like to turn to chapter 4 of Paul’s letter to the Roman’s we will be reading verses 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.
Pray
By the end of Chapter 3 Paul has contradicted the longstanding tradition of the Jews and many religions today. He has presented that salvation and justification come by faith and faith alone. That faith is the only means of obtaining the one thing that can make them right before God, God’s own righteousness.
21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
The righteousness of God revealed in the Law and the prophets is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Justified by grace, required for redemption for anyone to be saved.
Mercy given through faith by Jesus’ willing sacrifice, his blood was shed as the mercy seat, the place of atonement, the sacrifice that can appease the wrath of God and forgive sins, by absolving the sinner of all debt towards God.
He takes his case from the proclamation to the application. Takes it from an idea to the flesh. He moves from where men in general receive righteousness to a man actually receiving it. He take the case to the most revered man in the Jewish history, father Abraham.
Not By Works
Not By Works
What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God.
Abraham is a central figure in the scriptures. One that we must come to know in order to understand much of the context of the bible. God chose him to be a man that he would act upon and make a covenant with who would provide great insight into the work of God how God saves lost men and women.
He is referenced in 27 different books of the bible. Moses wrote of him, the prophets spoke of him, the Psalms writers sang of him, the epistles reveal his purpose in God’s plan of saving people.
Up to this point in the letter Paul has been developing a detailed explanation of the Gospel message that was given by Jesus to the apostles, and written throughout the scriptures.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
Throughout his arguments and explanations is a correction of the false understanding that the Jews had in the means of salvation. The Jews had come to the conclusion though that they were to be given eternal life based on privilege, heritage, and primarily by works.
Based on what Paul argued in chapter 3 he askes “what has Abraham found or gained in the flesh? What did he achieve in his life that he could boast about? He says there is nothing before God that he can boast about. He is challenging the teaching of the Jews of who they thought Abraham to be and what example he was for all succeeding generations.
Paul is challenging their understanding of Abraham as he was the prototypical example of a man who found favor with God. Paul is not arguing that that Abraham was chosen by God or that God made the covenant with him. He was is challenging the idea that Abraham was justified by his works.
They believed it was his own character and quality that he was chosen. They taught that God chose him to be the father of many nations because he was a great man of great quality. That when God scanned the earth for a man to be the father of his people there was no one like Abraham.
They emphasize his works in verses like
4 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, 5 because Abraham listened to me and kept my mandate, my commands, my statutes, and my instructions.”
The emphasis is on the Abraham listening and keeping God’s instructions. Or verses like we read:
4 Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity. But the righteous one will live by his faith.
The Hebrews took the more literal translation of the Hebrew word meaning faithfulness or stead fastness. Like in the lexham english version
4 Look! His spirit within him is puffed up; it is not upright. But the righteous shall live by his faithfulness.
By using the word faithfulness they determined that Abraham was righteous because of his faithfulness. his works. The reason that the more current translations translate this faith. Is that each of the 3 times this verse is quoted in the new testament the Greek word clearly means faith.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
This teaching had gone so far that in MacArthur’s commentary he points out that in the Jewish apocryphal books that they clearly taught that the following.
“The Wisdom of Sirach, Abraham is said to have become right with God because of his obedience (44:19–21). The Prayer of Manasseh asserted Abraham’s sinlessness: “Therefore thou, O Lord, God of the righteous, hast not appointed repentance for the righteous, for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who did not sin against thee” (v. 8). In The Book of Jubilees the writer says, “Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord, and well-pleasing in righteousness all the days of his life” (23:10).
These obviously contradict the scriptures as we have many of Abraham’s disobedience and partial obedience recorded to say the opposite.
It may be asked what is the difference between faith and faithfulness. This is the underling view in question. When I stood at the alter and made vows to my wife and she made vows to me we made a covenant. We made promises to each other on that day. On our wedding day did we demonstrate faith or faithfulness. We demonstrated our faith. We put our hope and trust in each other, that each one would live out those promises. From that moment forward we would live and keep those promises or break them. Each time we kept the promise we were proven faithful. Each time we break them we are proven unfaithful.
The question is, is a man right before God because he simply believes in the promises of the covenant, he trusts in the one who gives the promise.
Or is he found right before God at the end when he has been proven faithful to the covenant. One is based on trust and one on faithfulness, one on faith and one on works.
30 What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith. 31 But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not achieved the righteousness of the law. 32 Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
Paul attests that Abraham had nothing to boast before God. There were no achievements of his great life that he could claim glory for. This would not be the case if he was justified by his works.
But By Faith
But By Faith
3 For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.
The very scriptures are where Paul turns next. He quotes
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
The simple act that all of Abraham’s justification was dependent on, was his belief, his trust in the Lord. What did he believe in, the promises of God. When God made a promise to him he trusted it. And that lead him to action. It was his trust not his works that resulted in him being credited righteous.
When God promised him a land in Gen 12
1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Wives how would you react if your husband came home one day and comes inside and says honey today I heard from God. Pack up your things, the servants, and the animals. God has promised he will make a great nation from us. But dear you are 75 years old, we have no children, how is he to make a great nation from us. We can’t leave mom and dad. All of our friends are here, we have roots.
We don’t know how many people were in his house hold but it was likely 50-100. Who here would like to organize that many people and herds and go for a hike? We will make it easier, how many would like to just take their children and go for a hike? What about just yourself? How far would you be willing to go? Would anyone make it to post falls? In the end Abraham’s family would travel between 1100 and 1300 miles. This would be the equivalent of walking to Kansas City, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, or LA.
Abraham is not wrestling with what drink to buy at the store, if he should get a new job, listen to different music. This is hard, trying and life changing call.
God promises a nation from you, which requires children you don’t have, to go to a place you don’t know. How much trust do you have to have in God to just have the conversation with your wife telling her we are leaving but I can’t even tell you where.
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
It would be 25 years after God made his promise of a great nation before the son of promise would be given to them.
2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
God is proven faithful in his promise by providing a son but what does he ask of him?
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. 2 “Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
The conversation’s around the dinner table must be great. Um dear what is on your mind, God called to me again this morning. What did he say? Well, I am supposed to take our son to the mountains and offer him to the Lord as a burnt offering.
I have this picture of Sarah spitting her drink out across the table with the preverbal “say what” are you sure?
But what does he do.
3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.
How much trust does he have in God. God has promised him offspring and provided 25 years later and now demands that same child as an offering. But he gets up and goes to the mountains. He build the alter sets his son in place
10 Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.” 12 Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” 13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said, “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”
It wasn’t the act that made him right before God. It was the act that proved that he had faith.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.
He believed in God’s promise so much that if Isaac was to be killed that he considered God able to raise him from the dead. Which means he had never seen God do that but considered that he could.
He traveled to a land he had never seen and believed God could provide a miracle he had never witnessed. He lived in the reality of the promise of the hope.
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this our ancestors were approved.
To live differently today because of a promised blessing tomorrow. That is faith and how Jewish ancestors were approved before God. Abraham looked forward to the day he would meet his savior and he rejoiced in that day.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” 57 The Jews replied, “You aren’t fifty years old yet, and you’ve seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Paul says righteousness is credited to Abraham because he believed. He trusted in the words of God and he lived in light of those promises. His faith motivates his works but it was faith by which God crediting his account with God’s own righteousness. So he uses this example.
Faith Credited
Faith Credited
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.
We all understand that when we work for something we expect to be paid. There are those today that due to the government shutdown are required to work without pay. How many of you would be willing to work for free if your boss asked you to work next Saturday. You would demand to be paid for the work. When a person performs work he is due what he is owed. This is not a credit or a gift. It is a trade of services for compensation.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
It is those that believe on him who justifies the ungodly. It is his faith that receives the free gift of God’s righteousness. Men will constantly trust in their own “righteousness.” By the work of our hands we come to believe we are either good enough to earn salvation or believe we will never be good enough to deserve salvation. Jesus did not come to call those that see themselves righteous by their own works but those that reject all works and trust in the credit to their account.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
To see the worthlessness of our actions as contributing to our salvation. But trusting in the words of Jesus, gospel, that through belief in his death burial and resurrection that men can be saved.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The relationship between a person’s faith and works and God, has always been a dividing point in how people believe a person is saved.
If you take a look at the entire existence of the human race and look at what they believe you can break it down by asking the following questions.
Are their gods? All religions
Is there only one God and is he the God spoken of in the scriptures? Excludes Mormons, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others.
Are men and women condemned by their sin before God? Include Catholics, Protestants, (Lutheran, Reformed and Evangelical), Islam, Judaism,
Are condemned men and women saved from condemnation by faith, works, or both? How people are saved and reconciled to God is a primary question that separates the the remaining religions on the list.
Does man participate in his salvation or must he act, do, and perform certain actions in his life time to find himself receiving the promised blessing of the scriptures? The distinction here is what separates those that call themselves Christian.
The most unique aspect of the gospel that Paul is proclaiming is the fact that man’s works do not add to the credit of any blessing that God may give. All other religions gain blessing if they perform. They are in constant danger of falling out of God’s grace and losing the promised blessing if they do not continue to work. If at any time a person fails to live in the right way they find themselves in danger of losing their salvation or what ever blessing they believe their works earn.
When we look to the example of Abraham and God’s interactions with him we can ask ourselves some reflective questions.
Are you still trusting in you own works? Are you trying to be a good Christian in the hope of gaining favor with God?
The next is do you believe? Do you believe in the gospel? Do you trust in the promises that God saves sinners through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ? For if you do you will be credited with righteousness.
6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
A truly saved person must believe he exists and must draw near to him, trust he rewards those that seek him. Actively pursuing God. For when you seek God you will follow his call and will. You will live a life that desires to be faithful to God.
Does you life reflect little trust or great trust in God? Abraham gave up much to follow God’s will. Isn’t it the sad reality that we are willing to give up so little. We will not give up just a portion of our time, or our treasure, our plans, our pleasures, and our sins. We are not willing to do even the little things God commands of us.
Abraham’s life was characterized by imperfect faithfulness and great faith. Great faith leads to great works. When you are tested does it prove you trust in God?
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Luther wrote
We are saved by faith alone, but faith that saves is never alone.
We are called to be a people of faith who walk in the light. A people that works.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
What is he calling you to do today?
Let us pray.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Blessing/Benediction
20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
