Romans 4:1-25
A few weeks ago when Christian started us off in Romans he told us a story from when he was a young Christian. He said that he didn’t understand how God’s salvation plan worked – that it seemed like a lot of trial and error. He thought that God first tried Adam and Eve with just ONE RULE but then they messed that up, so then he tried a WHOLE NATION with MANY RULES, but that didn’t work – so finally he tried Jesus and oh my goodness that worked! Hooray.
And Christian’s not the only one who thought this. There are many today who believe in dispensationalism – that God had a number of salvation plan attempts. And many believe therefore, wrongly, that there are a number of ways to come to God!
But as Christian grew in his faith and read the Bible – like today’s passage - he realised, hang on a minute, that’s totally NOT how things worked. There wasn’t plan A, B and C – JESUS was plan A all along. Jesus has always been the plan. Jesus was always God’s plan to save the world.
Even way back in Genesis 3:15 we read “And I will cause hostility between you [Satan, the snake] and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Right at the start God promises a rescuer will come – a human being, born of a woman, who will strike the head of the devil. (This verse by the way is called the “protoevangelion”: the seed of the gospel) The rest of the Bible is really a search for this serpent-crusher, the one who can defeat evil – but at great cost to himself, for he will also be struck.
The whole way through the Bible it points to Jesus who fulfils all things. Jesus is the serpent-crusher of Genesis 3:15 who defeated Satan. Jesus is the Noah’s Ark of rescue, saving everyone who trusts in him from the coming judgement. He is the seed of Abraham who blesses the whole world. He is the prophet like Moses who leads the whole world from slavery to sin and to the promised land of the new creation. He is the fulfilment of the Law, the perfect Sacrifice, our great High Priest. And Jesus is the King in David’s line, who was promised that an everlasting King would come from him who will rule in peace and prosperity forever.
The whole Bible points to Jesus, rests on Jesus. He is the foundation, the theme, the one great subject of all of the Bible. Amen!
(By the way, that means that if you don’t understand how a certain part of the Bible relates to Jesus, you haven’t understood that part! The Bible is like a diamond, and Jesus is at its centre. There are a thousand beautiful ways to see him from multiple different angles as we read the Word.)
And this is the theme in today’s passage. The Jews had fallen into the trap of thinking that they were loved by God because of who they were: because they were “good” people – better than those “out there”. (How often do we fall into the same trap?)
No, says the Holy Spirit through Paul. It is not by works but by faith, and has always been by faith. And here’s Abraham, your forefather, to teach you!
Ro 3:20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
Three points tonight and in honour of 500 years since the Reformation two weeks ago, I’ve pulled in a few of the Reformation rally cries to help us. Excuse the Latin!
1. Sola fide (by faith alone) – we are saved through faith in Christ, not through works (which is faith in ourselves)
2. Sola fide, Solus Christus (by faith alone in Christ alone) - there is no other way to be saved except through faith in Christ
3. Sola Gratia (by grace alone) - our faith is based solely on the grace of God, not on ourselves. We are counted righteous.
1. Sola fide (by faith alone) – we are saved through faith in Christ, not through works (which is faith in ourselves)
2 If [Abraham’s] good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. 3 For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
Abraham had nothing to boast about, nothing he could go to God with and say “you owe me”. This was the absolute opposite to how Judaism viewed Abraham at that time (and still today). They view him as a great pioneer of ‘torah piety’, a man who pleased God above all by his obedience to the law. And many church groups and cults do the same thing. Because what we WANT in our heart of hearts is for it to be possible to earn our salvation and not be by grace. Why?
Because if it’s by grace alone then we have no control, no influence, no way to pretend to be God! The heart of sin is that I want to be God in my life. I want to answer to no-one but myself. I want to have faith in myself, my own efforts, rather than trust in (have faith in) God.
Because if I can jump through enough “good person” hoops, then God will owe me. God will be in my debt! I have something over God!
But if it’s by grace alone… then I am in His debt, He is God and I am not, and I must just submit to His will. Ooh. It’s hard.
4 When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. 5 But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.
If we could work for our salvation then we could earn it. But we can’t. The Scriptures don’t say “Abraham earned his salvation and so was righteous” but they say “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous”.
Righteousness is given, not earned. It cannot be earned. It was never earned. Abraham, the “great man of faith”, the forefather of the Jews – he did not earn his righteousness, but it was given to him. And King David, Israel’s greatest king – he also did not earn his righteousness, but it was given.
6 David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it: 7 “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. 8 Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.”
We are saved, declared righteous, worthy of standing before God - only through faith in Christ, not through works, which is faith in ourselves.
How can we apply this?
Well, if we understand that the heart of sin is “I want to be God” and I want to earn my salvation and declare MYSELF righteous, we can understand the world a lot better.
For example, this gets to the heart of the transgender debates. Because they’re really about who will be God. I am God and I will determine my reality. My sex will change to conform with my perception of reality.
That’s why seemingly intelligent people are jumping on this bandwagon. Because it’s a great way to declare that we are independent of God. He cannot determine our sexual reality. I will. So I will support your campaign to determine your own gender because I support above all your right to determine your own reality, your right to be God.
Because if I say you can’t – well, then I’m admitting that there are boundaries to what we can do, that it may not be possible for us to determine our reality and that it may be that we are not God.
It is sin, the desire to be God, which lies at the heart of all this transgender foolishness.
So let us have grace, and present the gospel, because Jesus is the only solution to sin. Angry posts on Facebook and ugly protests are not going to save anyone or win anything, but push people away from Jesus. When we understand that sin is the underlying issue, the real problem, then we can have compassion, and come with grace and open arms – because that’s how Jesus accepts us.
You can certainly think of many other applications in the world today! And closer to home. Why is there conflict amongst us, in our homes. Is it not because I’m pretending to be God, and you’re pretending to be God, so when we meet – who’s going to be God? Fight!
Jesus is the solution. When I understand that I am a sinner who has been GIVEN righteousness and therefore I have nothing to boast about - not even ABRAHAM could boast… then I can meet others more and more with Christ’s love and Christ’s forgiveness.
Sola fide (by faith alone) – we are saved through faith in Christ, not through works (which is faith in ourselves).
2. Sola fide, Solus Christus (by faith alone in Christ alone) - there is no other way to be saved except through faith in Christ
11 Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith. 12 And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13 Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.
Circumcision was the mark of being a Jew. If you were a Jew you were circumcised to show that you belonged to God. A bit like being baptised into the church. But just like baptism, people began to mistake the outward sign of God’s grace as the thing that really mattered. They thought that having the mark was what was important, not the actual reality of God’s grace behind it. I’m circumcised, I can do what I want. I’m baptised, I’m safe now, I don’t have to bother with this Jesus fellow any more.
That’s like me saying “have you met my wife” and then pulling out a picture of Debby. And then talking to the picture and kissing the picture and sleeping with the picture – and never saying a word to Debby! That’s replacing the reality with the symbol.
Because circumcision was just a sign, nothing more. Circumcision without faith in Jesus is useless, just as baptism without faith in Jesus is useless.
And the Holy Spirit shows us this by pointing out that Abraham received God’s promises BEFORE he was circumcised. Circumcision was a sign of the grace he had been given.
In Genesis 12 God calls Abraham and promises to be with him and bless the world through him. In Genesis 15 he reconfirms his promise to Abraham (after Abraham had sinned) and that’s where he says in 15:6 And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith. In Genesis 18, 29 years later, Abraham is circumcised. He is declared righteous, and then receives the sign.
Therefore we who are Christians, if we have faith like Abraham in the promises of God – he is our spiritual father, whether we are Jewish or not. Whether Jew or Gentile, we who trust in Jesus are the sons and daughters of Abraham, the people of God.
But if you’re Jew but don’t believe in Jesus – well then your sign of circumcision is worthless and condemns you.
In the same way, baptism, taking communion, even serving in the church – is all worthless without faith in Jesus. If you are doing things to impress God, to get God in your debt, you are lost. Repent quickly and receive God’s grace!
We are baptised because we believe in God’s word that we who believe in Jesus are 1. justified (declared righteous); 2. redeemed (set free from sin); 3. and propitiated (the wrath of God is satisfied). That’s what we learned last week: the court, slave market, and sacrifice. The judge has declared us righteous in Christ. In Christ we are no longer slaves of sin but now set free to serve God. And the wrath of God like a blazing fire was taken by Jesus, and satisfied in his death on the cross. Hallelujah!
Therefore we as Christians serve with joy! We are declared righteous and so we want to live like it!
To give a personal example of this. A few people have remarked on how Debby and I can just keep on serving. And serving. And serving. Year in year out. And this is the secret – what we’re learning in this passage. Because it’s not about our efforts, what I can do, but what Jesus has done. We are saved through Christ alone. Our eyes are on him, not ourselves, and so we are filled with His strength.
Our friends who are Jehovah’s Witnesses are confused. They can’t understand how we can work and work and work and still be happy and full of energy. Because they cannot keep up with us! As Jesus say “Our righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees”. And I’ve seen the same amongst many of you as well. You give and give and never are exhausted. Because the love of Christ burns in you. What a witness that is to those around us. The way we love each other burns blindingly bright!
Because others serve out of self-reliance, faith in themselves. Whereas we serve out of the joy of faith in Jesus. So I’m free! I’m free to give up my career and to move to Norway. I’m free to work only part-time in order to plant a church. I’m free to serve and serve in as much energy as the Lord gives me because my worth is not attached to my output. I’m already declared righteous. I’m God’s son! So whether I’m sick for two weeks like recently, or whether I’m meeting with forty guys and preaching ten times – my standing before the Lord is unchanged.
And faith is trusting in that truth.
Sola fide, Solus Christus (by faith alone in Christ alone) - there is no other way to be saved except through faith in Christ. And that sets us truly free!
3. Sola Gratia: Our faith is based solely on the grace of God, not on ourselves. We are counted righteous.
You may have noticed now that I'm just saying the same thing three times! That’s because this whole chapter just says one thing. We are saved by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. But look now at what that means in practice. How God sees us.
20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 23 And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded 24 for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.
Now here it’s useful if you’ve read the story of Abraham. Because if you have – isn’t v20 weird? How can Abraham be described as “not wavering in his faith” and “his faith grew stronger”. Hasn’t Paul read the Old Testament? Did the Holy Spirit make a mistake?
Because when we read the story of Abraham we see someone who “wavered” many times and outright disbelieved God’s word! Abraham lied because he was afraid of Pharaoh. He didn’t trust that God would protect him even though God had promised him exactly that. Instead, he lied and put his wife at risk - in fact, she became part of Pharaoh's harem. That is, he allowed another man to abuse his wife sexually because he did not believe in the word of God. Is this the man of faith?
But it get worse. Abraham was sexually immoral, raped his servant Hagar, and then abandoned her to die in the desert!
My wife also pointed out that another sin was that he “listened to his wife”. When Sarah came up with the suggestion, “Why not be unfaithful to me and sexually abuse my servant Hagar?” he said “ok”. He was the “nice man” and said “yes dear”. Just like Adam, he did not take responsibility for saying “no” to his wife. He didn’t want to be unpopular. Anything for a quiet life…
I want to spend a bit of time on this because it’s a big issue today. Men who aren’t leading, aren’t taking responsibility, but instead are “nice”. The nice man. We are called to be much more than nice - we are called to be godly! Love demands that you take responsibility and say “no” when necessary.
Because it is tempting to be “nice”. It looks like you're a modern man who values his wife - but it's really just laziness. You just say “yes dear, whatever you want”. And then when things go wrong, you just say “It's not my fault, she said ...”.
You know, God wasn’t fooled when Adam tried that, nor when Abraham tried it, and he won’t be fooled when you do either. And neither will your wife. A friend of mine is a nice man. He bent over backwards to satisfy his wife. He’s now divorced. Because what he thought was being “nice” and even perhaps “other-person centred” she experienced it like this “He's lazy! He doesn’t care about me. He just sits on the couch and says ‘yes dear what you want’. He doesn’t love me”.
Don’t be nice. Be godly. Have faith that God's way is the best way, no matter what our culture and norms say. Who knows better? God or us?
Back to Abraham. He wasn’t godly with his wife, he was a liar, abuser, and so on... but he is described here in Romans as one who “did not waver in his faith” Why?
Because this is how God works. The point of “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” is not Abraham's faith but God’s faithfulness. Our faith is not what matters. So often we have such weak faith. We doubt. We waver. We act in disbelief and disobedience. Just like Abraham.
But because God is faithful, Abraham and you and I are counted as righteous. And so God says about us “Daniel Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.” Put your own name there into v20 and lets read it together.
Do you believe that? Because if God is for you, who can be against you (8:31)?
If you feel like you've messed up, like you've sinned, that you're not worthy of forgiveness – that’s right! Admit that now as we confess our sin together. I am a sinner. But keep listening, don’t get distracted: because after confession comes communion. When we are reminded of Jesus' masterwork on the Cross, and we are reminded that though we may be unworthy and unrighteous, he is worthy, he is righteous, and he has given us his righteousness! Abraham understood this. He believed in what God said: “You are righteous.” Let's do the same.
We are saved through faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone. Glory to God in the highest! Soli Deo Gloria! Amen.