Performing Faith

Intro

Faith is quite the concept, a concept that we address here today. That is saving faith we are addressing here.It is different then what other religions teach. For example

Jehovah’s Witnesses — justified by faith some of the deeds of the law (a selective set of rules, not even the full Old Testament law).along with

Mormon theology — “you’re saved after all that you can do.” Winger contrasts this by saying the biblical truth is the opposite: you’re saved .because you can’t do it

Islamic theology — a hopeful mix of being “good enough” plus some grace, where Allah may decide to accept you based on your goodness combined with mercy.

Catholic theology — mixes grace and works. even more nuanced Catholic explanations (faith + works that are “enabled by God’s grace”) still end up making works part of what saves you, which Romans rejects. He says the Bible presents it as an either/or: faith works / grace works — not a mixture.

Paul focuses on the root of justification — how we are declared righteous before God. There is faith after we are saved that is seen in how we live for the Lord, the fruit of justification — genuine faith inevitably produces works. Works do not cause justification; it is not a performance, it is belief in the one who died for us. We do nothing but turn to the Lord. Romans 3 taught us this. it is faith apart from works.

through all this we run the risk of thinking we can perform for our salvation. But the best performance will not win, the truth has always been we are saved by grace through faith alone, works will never win only faith will save us. . Do not be decieved. But what does this faith look like and how much do we need even to be saved?

1-8 – Abraham Justified by faith

The point Paul is going to get accross to us here is that Through faith alone God declares a person as righteous before God. And he starts out by saying this was the plan since the beginning of time.

The fact that the gospel is the righteoussness of God revealed as we saw in Romans 1:17 could suggest our justification is a new thing in this current era. To discover that it was already present in the OT serves to engender confidence in an ongoing purpose of God and in the basic unity of the Bible.

There are a few terms that we are going to be using again, I am not sure if they where explained very well by me last week.

Righteousness - Righteousness is the status or the standard (being perfectly right with God). This is the requirement to enter God's presence

Justification - God declares a person righteous the moment they place their faith in Christ. This is the method by which God gives you that requirement through faith.

Keep this in mind as we continue on through Romans 4

Romans 4:1–3 CSB

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. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.

Paul uses the example of Abraham as the example of faith, and that is for a reason.

He was the forefather of the Jewish people. He was called by God to go out from the people He knew, from the place he knew and childless. He followed God willingly being told he would be the father of many and do gret things. verse 3 there is a quote from Genesis 15:6. God told Abraham he would be the father of many, God promised to make a covenant with Him without any evidence that it had come to pass and he believed by faith.

We are told that because of his belief, in God and His promise he was accounted as righteouss before God. Through His faith alone, before even he did the works part, His faith alone saved him. And because of that His boasting could be in God alone.

Romans 4:4–8 CSB

Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness. Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.

Paul in dealing with saving faith focuses on the root of justification — how we are declared righteous before God (by faith alone, receiving Christ’s righteousness as a gift).

But what about works? James talks about faith without works being dead? He is focusing on the fruit of justification — genuine faith inevitably produces works. Works do not cause justification; they prove that the faith is alive and real. In other words: We are justified by faith alone. But the faith that justifies is never alone

The reason why this is important we see here, Because if it is something we could work for, then it would be owed to us, we would no longer need Jesus. If we could perfectly follow the law, then we would be saved and we would not need Jesus. Because our salvation would be something we earned and where owed.

The problem is we could never earn it and the work alone to earn it would not get us anywhere. so we need the credit of someone else that could do it for us.

There is no work you can do to earn you a spot in heaven

Think of it like a loan to buy a house. unless you win the lottery or come into a big inheritance, you can not afford to go out and buy a house. so you need to go to a bank or a lender to give you the money you need to buy the house.

our belief in the one who died for our sin credits us with rightouessness and we are therfore justified in the eyes of God. We did not earn it, we can not earn it. Baptism doesnt save us, nor does anything else we can do. But liek Abraham was saved through His belief in the one who called, so are we saved by faith and not through what we do.

9-12 – We are all justified by faith

The next step is to show that we are all justified by faith alone starting with the example of Abraham. This was an argument against the jews and hope for the gentiles at the time. It was to show the Jews that this was no new thing that strated with Jesus but had been the plan from the beginning.

Romans 4:9–11 CSB

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. In what way, then, was it credited—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised. 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.

timing was important in all of this, the sign of the covenant between God and the father of the Israelites came after the faith that made Abraham righteouss. Circumcision was a sign and the seal of the covenant made and the sign was not based on anything Abraham did but initially believe.

Romans 4:12 CSB

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.

A sign signifies that a covenant has been formed, Like a highway sign that announces you are approaching a city. The sign doesn’t make the city a reality…the city doesn’t appear because we erected the sign. We only erect the sign after a city has been established. Circumcision gave outward evidence of Abraham’s faith in the promise of God, which Abraham had beforehand, Paul says

We are told that this was to make all who believe, even in the OT, part of the family of God. The sequence of events was deliberate, first faith, then the sign. This is to undeercut any claim that identity, work or anything trumps faith.

Becoming part of the family of God is a wonderful thing, and we all have access to it. We may have different roles but we are all part of the family if we accept the message in faith. It comes back to the same issue, if There is no work you can do to earn you a spot in heaven:

Faith in Jesus is what justifies us before God

and as we go on we see more about this example.

13-25 – The example of faith

the promise that was given to Abraham came from faith, and so is the same for us today. The example we are given is one of faith.

Romans 4:13–15 CSB

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. If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified, because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.

As we have seen, the promise to abraham was the covenant, the law mentioned is the Mosaic law. The law therfore did not save them. The Mosaic Covenant was a two-way agreement, where the blessings were earned by performance of works

secondly there is a talk of heirs, the descendents of Abraham. They had the law, all the law does is produce wrath because the law itself does not save but rather shows us that we are guilty. Hving the law shows us that we are violation of breaking it. It does not produce righteousness; it reveals the need for grace.

Romans 4:16–17 CSB

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. 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.

The promise needs to rest on faith, so that it might be by grace that is gaurunteed to all the children of abraham, which includes us. It is important to understand that God is the one who gives life to the dead.

an important sidenote about this verse. It has been misquoted to say that us, by our very words can speak things into existence. but as we can see that is not what it means, It is about God not us. The word of God brings power and life, not our words.

Romans 4:18–25 CSB

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. 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. He did not waver in unbelief at 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. Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. 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.

Abraham hoped against hope we are told.

There is no logical reason or hard evidence to expect success, but you want it to happen anyway.

His faith did not weaken when he realized that He was to old to accomplish what God had called Him to. He was to old even back then to have kids by the worlds standards. but this did not cause Him to waiver., God said it would happen so He believed.

This was not written for Abraham’s sake alone, but for us also: righteousness will be imputed to those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead—who was delivered up because of our offenses and raised because of our justification.

The blessing of faith is for all people.

No matter what you have done, you have access to this blessing as well. If Abraham could have faith that God would give an old man a huge family when they where baren, so when cn hope against hope that He can save us from our sin as well, that He wioll come again, that He will judge the living and the dead. and what we learn is that this all points to Jesus and not us. all this points to this one fact.

Faith in the Lord is the moment God Justifies us and credits His righteoussness to your account

How much faith do you need? we are told all we need is the fait of a mustard seed. But it is not about how much but rather about where it is you place that faith. It is trust in the person and character of the Lord God to do what He has promised He will do. He can and will save. Abraham’s faith looked away from human impossibility to God’s ability.

But sometimes we are either living apart from God, or as a child of God our own path takes us the wrong way. We plan, we work, we try to find our own blessings but none of them will credit us with the righteoussness of God.

Meanwhile we grow, and as we do, our faith and our behavior are to grow closer together As the Lord reveals more of Himself and His plan to us in His word and by His Spirit, His expectation is that we begin to live in the light of that knowledge Our goal should be to begin our walk of faith like Abraham did And that we should end our life as he did, acting according to that faith.

So the question then remains, are you performing for you salvation or like abraham is it a faith that looks and says this is impossible but because God promised I will believe. Saving faith is belief in the one who died for us, that alone justifies. and because of that we walk forward doing the will of God gladly because of what He has done for us.