Untitled Sermon (3)

I invite you, friends, to open your copy of God’s Word to Romans chapter 4. You have had a two week break from our journey through Romans. I pray that you enjoyed your time with my brothers, David Garrett and Andy Jordan. I love both of them dearly, and have no doubt that they did an excellent job in my stead.

But I’m glad to be home this morning. I’m glad to be back here, at home with our church family. I’ve missed you over the last couple of weeks. We have some exciting opportunities, I think, ahead of us as a church and as a part of an association of churches, in sharing the Gospel in Idaho and Montana, among people that are unchurched and unreached. And we’ll be talking about that more in the coming weeks and months.

But this morning, I want us to turn our attention back to the book of Romans, back to where we left off. And, as we do so, let me remind you that the last time that we were together in Romans, we were talking about the free gift of God’s righteousness that comes to us through the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus paid a debt that we could not pay ourselves, in His blood so that we can have a relationship with God the Father. And we were talking about how this is a display of God’s righteousness, because in Christ, the judgment for our sins occurs.

Our sins are not merely forgotten. We are forgiven, but their weight and penalty remain, for they fell fully on our Lord Jesus Christ as He died on the cross, spilling His blood in punishment that atones for our sins. And we were talking about the fact that when you believe in Jesus, how acting on that belief, putting your faith in Jesus by doing what He commands and living by His statutes, that you and I can have the very righteousness of God as our own righteousness.

And so, as we turn to Romans chapter 4, we are going to be picking up this morning right where we left off, and so we will read from Romans 4:1. And, as is our custom here, I invite everyone who is able to stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Holy Word.

Romans 4:1–12 NASB95

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For 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 as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.

Let me pray for us, gracious Father, it is such a privilege and a blessing for us to gather in this place this morning to study Your Word. We know that Your Word is our source of life and breath, it is the very sustenance that we need as we seek to know You and to make You known. And Father, we ask that as we dwell on it this morning, that Your Holy Spirit would be in our midst to pray for us, and to guide us so that we will understand Your commands for us. Would You give us the boldness to do what You show us, so that we can become better reflections of Your Son, Jesus. It is in His Name that we pray, Amen.

Thank you, you may be seated. As you find your seat and settle in, you may want to go ahead and get out your listening guide, either from your program, from our flochurch page at faithlife, or from the facebook feed this morning.

But as you get situated, let me tell you a story. There was a time, in a community not much different from ours, when a horrible drought had fallen over the land. The drought was so bad, that the farmers had delayed planting their seed because they didn’t want to waste it. And so they gathered together at the local church. All of the farmers and all of their hands, and all of their families gathered together to pray. They prayed for hours that it would rain. They cried out to the Lord together with a mighty noise. They all talked about how they believed that God could do a mighty work and make it rain. And then, they all got up and went home.

Most of them went in and found a place to sit, and to take an afternoon nap. But three neighbors took different approaches. The first neighbor was about to sit down in his rocker on the front porch, when we heard his neighbor’s crop duster go by. He looked up to see a haze floating high in the air, mixing with the clouds. As his neighbor was landing, the man walked up beside his barn.

And so the man’s neighbor got out of his plane, he asked his neighbor “don’t you know that we’re in the middle of a drought?”

“Yes,” his neighbor replied. “And I decided to do something about it. I have seeded the clouds. Any moment now, it should start raining.”

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as he saw that his neighbor’s field was a cloud of dust. So, he walked to the fence, and he waited for his neighbor to come around. And when his neighbor was in front of him, he asked, “what are you doing?”

His neighbor replied, “what does it look like I’m doing? I’m plowing my field.”

So the man asked his neighbor, “don’t you know we’re in the middle of a drought.”

To which his neighbor replied, “yeah, but we prayed for rain.