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Introduction
This morning you can turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 4. If you didn’t bring a Bible we have one for you up here.
Romans 4 is on page (number here).
You can also open your Bible App and follow along with us by going to the events page and clicking on Covenant Life Church.
As we start into chapter 4 Paul is continuing to make his case about righteousness, salvation and where our hope for peace with God lies.
And as we think about the text today I want to frame it in the context of a treasure hunt.
In Matthew 13:44 Jesus tells a parable about a great treasure in a field that is worth everything a person owns.
Imagine that someone came to you and said, “I know about a treasure that is worth more than anyone owns.
And anyone can have it—I can tell you where it is and how you can get it!”
Would you be interested to know more?
Would you take that trip to obtain it?
Our text is about this very same treasure.
And as we prepare for the expedition Paul helps us think through some helpful questions: I. How do you obtain it?
(1-4) II.
What is it?
(7-8) III.
Who can obtain it?
(9-16)
Let’s read the passage and then we’ll answer these questions.
Takeaway: There is a treasure that is worth all of your life.
I. How Do You Obtain the Treasure?
(1-4)
As Paul starts to make his arguments regarding this treasure he brings up Abraham and asks the question:
Romans4:1 “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?”
And Paul does this because when it comes to the treasure and the truth of it—Abraham was key.
For the person of faith Abraham is very important—our text says “he is the father of us all”
And the Jews that Paul is writing to Abraham was the model of what they should be.
He had a righteous life before God—God chose Abraham because of his righteousness.
The Jews would put their hope and their promise in the fact that they were the descendants of Abraham—they believed the promises given to Abraham were for him and his “physical seed” “his physical descendants”.
They, in one sense were untouchable in their right to YHWH.
We see this confidence and John the Baptists response to it in...
Luke 3:7-9 “He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.
And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’
For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”
John the Baptist is saying, “Don’t have confidence in the fact that you are physical descendants of Abraham.”
And Paul has been making the case that Abraham and the sign of circumcision is not what saves the Jew or anyone else.
And what we may fail to understand how mind blowing this is for them!
Friday on the way to school chaos erupted in the van because my oldest son said that “Orvilee and Wilbur Wright were not the first to invent manned flight.”
Why did Chaos ensue?
Because he was taking a well known “fact” and he was challenging it!
“Everybody know North Carolina was ‘First in Flight’ It’s right there on the license plate!
Plus I was already hurting.
We already lost the National Championship to Kansas—and now you are trying to take flight from us!
Take any “well known fact” and challenge it and you’ll understand how the Jews in Rome were feeling.
“Paul, everyone knows that salvation belongs to the Jews.
Everyone knows that we have peace with God because we are his people.”
But Paul has been saying shocking things—and using Scripture to say them.
Things like:
The Jew has no advantage over the gentile.
The law cannot save a person.
When it comes to earning salvation everybody is doomed.
And so this leads Paul to anticipate the question we see in verse one of our passage.
Q.
What did Abraham gain by the flesh then?
And the answer is nothing.
He gained nothing by the flesh.
This is clear as we continue
Romans 4:2 “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.”
IF Abraham was justified—made righteous—declared innocent—by his works he could boast about this.
Last week Mark Lindsey made it clear to us that boasting that salvation has come to us by our effort is excluded.
Romans 3:27 “Then what becomes of our boasting?
It is excluded.
By what kind of law?
By a law of works?
No, but by the law of faith.”
Romans 4:3 “For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.””
Genesis 15:6 “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
If Abraham was going to boast he couldn’t do it before God because scripture is clear righteousness was counted to Abraham not because of his works, but because of his faith.
Paul brings his listeners face to face with Genesis—to an explicit text—and then he expounds further on it.
Romans 4:4 “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.”
Just prior to this Paul says in Romans 3:24 “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”
Salvation is a gift that is give by grace.
If it was earned through works it wouldn’t be a gift, but it would be owed.
When you work a job and get your check—that’s not a gift, your employers isn’t giving you a gift—they are giving you what is owed to you.
But Paul’s point when it comes to this great treasure is that we cannnot earn it.
It comes to us as a gift of grace.
We obtain the treasure through faith in God’s promise.
(We are gonnna come back and touch on this before the morning is up)
Transition: So now we have answered the question: How do we obtain the treasure.
Now let’s keep moving and answer...
II.
What is the Treasure?
(5-8)
Paul wants it to be very clear what the treasure is.
Because the Jews were thinking that the peace with God was earned through works—through the law—through keeping themselves pure.
But that’s fools gold.
It has a false luster.
It can look nice, but it has no ability to save.
It has power in appearance, but no power to deliver a person from judgment.
Jesus warns us against this in Matthew 6.
He says don’t practice your righteousness for all to see.
If your goal is to be seen being “good” then you get your reward when people see you.
But you won’t receive a reward from God.
Because your works are false.
It’s like giving money to a person who needs it and taking an instagram selfie while you do it!”
Or taking a picture of your Bible study and coffee and putting it out there.
Don’t worry about what others see, know that God sees and be content.
I know it’s a good picture—I’ve been guilty of it too.
Jesus continues in Matthew 6 and says don’t pray out loud with lots of words trying to sound smart, don’t fast with ashes on your head so everyone can see it.
The point is that works that are pleasing to God are works that are a result of faith.
The Apostle James, speaking about the works of Abraham says, in James 2:22 “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;”
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