Sermon Tone Analysis
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Another theme in Romans is that we are accepted by God.
So the question is, How can we be accepted by God.
What can I do to please him?
People do all sorts of things to try to get to heaven.
Earn it.
Work hard, follow the rules, do the rituals.
Most of the world thinks that if I can just work a little bit harder… if my good out weighs my bad, then I can go to heaven.
Belong to the right group
Salvation by affiliation.
The way the Bible teaches… by faith in Jesus Christ.
This is the one Romans teaches.
In Romans 3:28 Paul states the principle that it is only by faith that we can have a right relationship to God.
Now, in chapter 4, he uses the true-life example of Abraham to illustrate this important truth.
The only way we can become acceptable to God is through faith.
Romans 4 is an example fo what Paul has been teaching.
Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation.
Romans 4:1.
He is our forefather through Isaac.
Abraham was also the father or Ishmael through whom the Arab nations came out of.
The fighting that’s going on in the middle east is just a family feud.
The Jews and Muslims are cousins.
Three religions look back to Abraham for their roots.
Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
Bottom line, Abrham is the father of FAITH.
Abraham was born in the city of Ur in the Mesopotamian valley.
Ur of the Chaldees.
In Ur, he was a moon worshiper.
That's what they worshiped in Ur -- the moon.
It wasn't out of rebellion; it was out of ignorance.
One day God, the one and true God, spoke to him and said, "Abram, take all your family and move."
Abram said, "Where are we going?"
God said, "I'll tell you when we get there."
On faith he moved.
God promised out of this one man He would make a great nation -- the nation of Israel.
Paul knew the Jews regarded Abraham as the perfect pattern.
He was the perfect example to prove that you are not saved by works, but by faith.
I. Two Important words
Justified
means to be completely accepted by God.
To have a right relationship with God.
God becomes your friend and not your enemy.
Wouldn't you like to be God's friend?
How do I become acceptable to God? How do I become friends with God rather than an enemy?
Justified… God makes us as if we had never broken any laws.
When you really feel accepted by God you're going to feel self acceptance.
You're going to feel worthwhile.
You don't find your acceptance in other things.
You find your acceptance in God and when you find it there you will find self acceptance.
Credited
The Greek word is the word we get our word logic.
It's a bookkeeping term, an accounting term.
It literally means to compute, to calculate.
The word is used 41 times in the New Testament.
It's a very important word.
39 times by Paul, 19 times in Romans and 11 times in this very chapter.
This can be called the computer chapter of the Bible.
God calculates our sin and God calculates what Jesus did on the cross and computes them together and says one cancels out the other.
God looks at our sin and then looks at what Jesus did and calculates them together and says -- it's even.
He looks in the debit column at our sins and the credit column at God's righteousness through Jesus and the books balance at the end
II.
How can we be accepted by God?
We'll see the importance of these two words in Abraham's life.
How can I be accepted by God? Abraham shows us how.
Paul clears up any misunderstanding about how we're saved.
1.
We don’t become acceptable to God by doing good works.
(Romans 4:1-8)
Paul uses a "what if" argument.
Just suppose you could be saved by doing good.
If you could be saved by working for it then you could brag about it
vs. 2 - You can’t brag
You may brag to people, but you can’t fool God.
You can’t get to heaven on your own.
If we could be saved by works, we could brag, but we can’t.
God’s standards are so big, we can’t come close.
Our best doesn’t impress God, as far as our salvation is concerned.
But there is another way… faith.
vs. 3 - God counts Abraham as righteous.
(See Gen 15:1-6)
It was Abraham's belief, his faith, that made him righteous.
Abraham is over 85 and so you can imagine why he might have had a little trouble believing this.
Once Abraham believed, it was credited to him as righteousness.
Abraham din’t deserve it, but God gave it to him.
Why did God give Abraham a child?
Because he believed.
vs. 4-5 - Righteousnees is a gift, not a wage.
Wages are something we earn.
Paul said the wages of sin is death...
Salvation cannot be a gift if we have to work for it.
Many Christians fall into this trap.
They start out by accepting God as a free gift and then think, "Now that I'm a Christian I've got to earn God's favor through works.
Listen to me… it’s a gift.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more than he already does.
He loves you on your good days and on your bad days.
If God loves me no matter what, why not just live like the devil?
Try it, he will still love you but he will also discipline you.
ILL - raising children… love them but discipline them
vs. 6-8 - David agrees with Abraham
David says the same thing when he speaks about the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.
This was David’s Psalm of confession after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband.
David said, I got myself in such a mess because of my sin but God cleared my record just because I believed.
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