Sermon Tone Analysis

*Enniscorthy Christian Fellowship – 6th April 2008*

*The sufficiency of Faith**  Romans 4:1-16*

 “Father Abraham had many sons,

Many sons had Father Abraham,

And I am one of them,

And so are you.

So let’s all praise the Lord.”

I always thought that this was just a crazy song – and one I never really saw the point of.

And yet amazingly it contains truth.

In Romans 4 Paul says that we who have trusted in Jesus are children of Abraham!

This is important because one of the reasons Paul wrote this letter was not only to explain the gospel that he preached, but also to address the division between the Jewish and Gentile Christians.

Last week, Paul concluded with a revolutionary statement: “A man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” Romans 3:28   Disagreement over this, threatened to divide the church.

Is faith in Jesus alone enough to make us right with God?  Do we not need to also live a good life, follow religious rituals, keep God’s law?

 

Paul answered this in ch3 by explaining what Jesus did on the cross.

He fully paid our redemption, he turned away God’s wrath, he took the just punishment of our sins.

In the next chapter, Paul continued to answer this question by looking at the experience of Abraham.

He probably chose Abraham because he was the most illustrious of the Jewish patriarchs.

It was their connection with Abraham that set the Jews apart from the Gentile nations (John 8:39).

But Paul is going to show that Abraham was made right with God not by his works, not by circumcision and not by law, but by faith alone!

And so he makes the radical statement, “He is the father of us all.”

Romans 4:16

 

This passage is still relevant for us today!

People still struggle to accept that faith in Christ is enough to make us right with God.

They teach that we need to add good works, or church rituals or the 10 commandments.

But Paul says that faith in Christ alone is sufficient to make us right with God!  Read Romans 4:1-8.

*A.

**The Authority of Scripture v3*

Paul wants to back up this teaching that he is giving, to encourage people to accept it.

But the authority he turns to is not some other teacher, church tradition, or even his own authority as an apostle.

Instead he wanted to show that his teaching was consistent with the Word of God.

He says, “What does Scripture say?” v3

 

Paul always encouraged this.

Luke commends the Bereans because they “received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

Acts 17:11  They didn’t just accept what Paul said, but they checked out his teaching against the word of God!

And we’re called to do the same.

When we are faced with issues or questions we must

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ask, “What does Scripture say?”

The truths we accept and teach must be solidly based on an accurate and consistent understanding of the Bible because “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16  We don’t follow a church tradition, or any other teacher.

Our only authority is God’s Word.

*B.

**The Example of Abraham*

So Paul is going to show that his teaching is consistent with the Bible and specifically with the life of Abraham: “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?”

v1  We don’t have time to look at the whole life of Abraham this morning, but if you’re interested, have a look at Genesis 11 to 25.  However there are 4 stages in Abraham’s life story that are summarised in the great chapter on faith Hebrews 11:8-19.

*1)      **Call of Abraham*

Firstly, God called Abraham out of Ur to go to another land and gave him the promise that through him all peoples on earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1ff): “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”

Hebrews 11:8

 

*2)      **Covenant with Abraham*

Secondly, God entered into a covenant with Abraham.

He made his promise more specific to Canaan and promised that even although he was still childless his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth and stars of the sky (Genesis 13:14f; 14:16; 15:5).

“By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country...” Hebrews 11:9

 

*3)      **Circumcision of Abraham*

Thirdly, when he was 99 God confirmed his promise of a son, changed his name and gave him the sign of circumcision (Genesis 17:1ff).

A year later Abraham had a son.

“By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father...”   Hebrews 11:11

 

*4)      **Challenge to Abraham*

Lastly, God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son (Genesis 22:1ff).

“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice...” Hebrews 11:17

 

*C.

**The Sufficiency of Faith*

These events form the background to what Paul will say here in Romans 4.  Through this Paul is going to show the sufficiency of faith.

That we can be justified by faith alone – not works, not circumcision, not law!

* *

*1)      **Justified by Faith not Works v1-8*

*i) **No Reason to Boast*

Paul not only chose Abraham because he was seen as the father of the Jewish people, but

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

also because people taught that Abraham was righteous through his good works.

They said that Abraham was faithful to God and his commands and so he achieved a righteousness with God.

They even said, Abraham had a surplus of merit from his works and this spare righteousness was available to his descendants.

If that were true, Abraham could boast: “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about.”

v2 – although Paul quickly adds “but not before God.”

We might boast about how good we are before other people, but we’ve got nothing to boast before God!

 

*ii) **Righteousness as a Gift v3-5*

But this is not what the Bible says.

Abraham was an old man.

He had responded to God’s call and left his home in Ur.  God promised that Canaan would be his.

But Abraham and his wife were childless.

They had no heir.

And so in Genesis 15 God makes a promise to Abraham: “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.”

Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Genesis 15:5

 

Abraham’s response is the key verse in this chapter: “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

v3  He believed God’s promise.

He said amen, yes Lord, so shall it be – in total dependence on God’s promise.

And this faith was credited to him as righteousness.

“Credited” is an accounting term, from the world of finance.

It means “to add to a persons account.”

But there are 2 completely incompatible ways money may be added to our account – as wages we’ve earned, or a free gift.

These days, Lorna and I write a lot of thank you letters.

That’s because the money that we live on comes to from individual Christians and churches as gifts.

They don’t have to send us anything, but they choose to – and we’re very grateful to them.

But when we worked in the bank and in a University, we didn’t write thank you letters to our employers.

The money we received was our right.

It was owed to us! Paul says in v4 “When a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.”

So what about Abraham’s right standing before God?  Was it his wage or was it a gift?

Well, clearly Abraham it was a gift.

He simply  “believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

He did not earn this, he did not achieve it through effort.

Righteousness was put on his account by grace, through his faith!

“If by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”

Romans 11:6

 

*iii) **An Undeserved Blessing v6-8*