Last week, we started a new series on the Book of Romans. And we hit the ground running. That’s because Paul the Apostle started his epistle (as it’s called) with a bang. He went from a lengthy introduction straight into The Wrath of God. It’s kind of like the first Star Wars movie where you get an introduction, the words flow on the screen as an introduction, fade from the screen, then bang! Right in the middle of a battle.
Last week, we talked about political incorrectness and how we, as a church, as believers, have to handle what is unpopular to say nowadays. How do we reconcile what the world, and even some churches, say about the issue of homosexuality and what the Apostle Paul told the Roman church about it. Is it sinful? Is it not?
But the bigger picture is that it’s really not about that. It’s not about that one topic. It’s not about an “us vs. them,” but really an “us––period.” What are we to do, because we are all sinners. Not just “them.”
The Bible is not meant for us to read about other people, point our fingers, and condemn them to Hell. The Bible is meant to transform the reader.
And at the end of last week’s sermon, I gave us an opportunity to draw closer to Christ. And it was about us, here, being drawn to repentance. I was talking with Jeff Clark, an Elim pastor who was here for my ordination, and he pastors a church in Montour Falls. Ironically, he’s doing a sermon series on Romans, too. We didn’t plan that, I just found out on Friday. In fact, I also found out on Friday that he taught a course at Elim Bible Institute on the Book of Romans, and I believe he also wrote the course textbook for it. And he mentioned that repentance is something we are to do daily. He reminded me of Jesus’ words to take up our cross daily and follow him.
Today, we’re going to look at an extension of God’s grace. Not only are we given grace to repent, but we are given grace out of our faith. Faith and repentance go hand in hand. If you have your Bibles, we’re going to go to Romans Chapter 4 and look at a couple of passages out of that chapter. Verses 1-8; then skip down ten verses to 18 and we’ll read through the rest of the chapter.
As you’re turning there, I’d like to read to you a couple of quotes about the Book of Romans.
“This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.” ~Martin Luther
“Sometimes we make an artificial separation or distinction between the Old and New Testaments. We talk about the Old Testament as law and the New Testament as gospel, as if there were no law in the New Testament and no gospel in the Old Testament. Paul says at the very beginning that the gospel is not a novelty; it is the same gospel that was promised numerous times before.”
~ R.C. Sproul, Romans
Scripture: And we are going to talk about that very thing today. The gospel from the New Testament and its connection to the Old Testament.
Romans 4:1-8 4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”
Then in verses 18-25 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
So what does this say? We read 16 verses, and if we go back to verses four and five, they sum it up pretty nicely. Let’s read that again: “4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.”
So in other words our righteous deeds or living a Godly lifestyle is the fruit of salvation, but it is not how we obtain salvation. Salvation is not earned by chalking up good deeds but given as a free gift through our faith. Salvation is given to us so that we can be able to live a more righteous life.
Paul uses the illustration of Abraham in the Old Testament to show us God’s love and God’s salvation for those who are not worthy. Abraham, who is the father of the Jewish nation, was chosen by God to be the first in a lineage that would bring about the Messiah.
God chose to reveal himself through the Jewish or Hebrew people. And the whole Old Testament is the history of these people. The nation, the history, and the lineage of Jesus follows a storyline of people descended from one man. Now, we can say that one man is Adam, and we would be correct. Later on, it would be Noah, and we would also be correct. But more specifically, it’s Abraham.
And what did Abraham do to earn this honor? You would think that this man would have been Noah, right? Look at the faith of Noah. He was the most righteous person on earth. In fact, he was the only righteous person on earth. That would have to take quite a lot of determination to live righteously in a world where no one else around you was. He had a lot of courage. Not only did he stand his ground and live righteously in a world of evil, he obeyed God by building an ark and saving the animals, and he endured 120 years of second-guessing himself and mocking. I’m sure Satan came along and made him second guess himself during that long period of waiting.
Heck, he didn’t even know what rain was, or flooding. He built a boat on dry land in obedience to God, not understanding what was about to happen.
What about Joseph who kept his faith and followed the Lord through trials and testing? He has a tremendous story of faith and perseverance and grace. Maybe Moses? Makes sense. He led the Hebrew people into the promised land. And look at the courage he had to face Pharoah. Look at the miracles and signs and wonders God performed through him. He caught a small glimpse of God. He was in God’s presence, he was handed the Ten Commandments.
But then again, the Hebrew nation had already been formed by the time Moses was around. They numbered in the millions by then. God chose Abraham.
What did Abraham do to deserve this honor? Quite frankly, he really didn’t do anything. If you go to Genesis 12 and start reading the story of Abraham, it’s kind of boring. He didn’t do anything worthy of being called by God. I mean, the most interesting thing was that Lot, who we know was rescued from Sodom and Gomorrah, was Abraham’s nephew. That was kind of interesting. Then there was this thing between Pharaoh and Abraham’s wife, that was more embarrassing for Abraham than anything. Then there was this battle, which was pretty cool.
But what did Abraham do to earn being the father of many nations, the father of the lineage that would bring The Messiah? In chapter 15, we read it in the first six verses:
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
And then if we go down to verse 17, we read, 17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants, I give this land,
And God goes on to name the borders of the land that he will give to Abram’s descendants.
That’s it. That’s all there was. No great thing. He wasn’t a missionary who served the greatest number of poor, he wasn’t someone who performed miracles and healed the sick, he didn’t perform great signs and wonders like Moses and he wasn’t a great leader like Moses or warrior king like David.
God took him out, showed him the stars, and gave him a promise. And Abram believed God’s promise. That’s it. And really the point I want to get to today, and Paul’s point as well was that God credited that faith as righteousness.
That’s the kind of faith that gives us our righteousness. God gives us a promise, and we believe. Simple, childlike faith.
In Matthew 18, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
That’s the kind of faith Abraham had. Simple faith. Gotquestions.org, one of my favorite places to go, said this of childlike faith:
Jesus promoted a humble, honest faith in God, and He used the innocence of a child as an example. Emulating the faith of children, we should simply take God at His Word. As children trust their earthly fathers, we should trust that our “Father in heaven [will] give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11).
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul is also adamant towards the Galatian church about faith vs. works. He said to them, “5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”
That last verse is talking about us. We rely on faith, just as Abraham did. Our promise is different, but our faith is the same. And by our faith, we too will be credited with righteousness. At the end of our scripture verses in Romans, Paul says this:
23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
You notice Paul said, “for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” That “him” is the same “him” that Abraham believed. The God who made a promise to Abraham is the same God who makes a promise to us. Our righteousness is based on our faith in Him who raised Jesus from the dead, and the faith that Jesus “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
John MacArthur makes the point that “It is not that faith merits salvation but that faith accepts salvation from God’s gracious hand. Through that acceptance comes the righteousness that only God can impart.”
I’m going to get what Diana likes to call “Eggheady” here. When Paul uses the word ‘credited,’ what does he mean? Well, what does it mean when you have something credited to your bank account? Credited (logizomai from lógos) literally means Christ’s righteousness was reckoned or imputed [or deposited] to Abraham’s account. Before there was Christ’s redemption, God credited Abraham with the same righteousness that we have through Christ.
Logizomai was a secular bookkeeping term which meant to make an entry in the account book or to put into one’s account. It carried the economic and legal meaning of crediting something to another’s account. The purpose of the entry is to make a permanent record that can be consulted whenever needed.
Precept Austin, an online commentary that I use, says that Abraham believed God and his act of faith was computed as to its value, and there was placed to his account, righteousness. However, Abraham’s act of faith was not looked upon as a meritorious action deserving of reward. What his faith did do was provide a channel through which God worked His redeeming grace. Faith is a convicted heart reaching out to receive God’s free and unmerited gift of salvation.
This is imputation, the act of putting something into someone’s account. In the case of the Lord Jesus, the sin of the human race was charged to Him. In the case of the believing sinner, the righteousness of God, Christ Jesus Himself, is put to his account.
Last week, we read how Paul clearly demonstrated the moral and spiritual bankruptcy of the entire human race. However, the application of the righteousness of Christ to the moral and spiritual ledger of a person’s life will cause the books to “balance”, providing a perfect standing before God in Christ.
So what about good works? What about obeying God? What about righteous living? Well, we talked about that last week, that God’s grace gives us an opportunity to turn from sin, and to repent. So, it seems kind of backward. Are we to repent or are we to accept the free gift of salvation? We are to do both. We are to accept God’s free gift of salvation through faith and then live differently.
As I mentioned earlier, repentance is daily and our faith and our repentance go hand in hand. We have to have faith that God accepts the forgiveness of our daily sins. That we haven’t blown it with God, that there isn’t a limit to God’s grace. There might be to an extent with unrepentant sinners, but not for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.
Paul gets to that in a later chapter, and we’ll look at that more closely when we get to it. But since we’re on the subject, Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
And when we read the verses that lead up to that at the end of chapter 7, Paul is talking about his own struggle with sin. Again, repentance is daily, it was even for Paul. There will always be forgiveness and never condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.
So what do we do with this? Where do we go from here? We praise God for his love and free gift of salvation through faith, and we declare that what God has done for us, he can do for anyone.
He did it for Paul, the chief of sinners. He killed Christians. He was a violent man, even though he thought what he was doing was righteous and earning his salvation [much like the terrorists in Afghanistan right now]; he found out that what he was doing was an incredible, horrific sin. Although there was this tremendous weight of sin on Paul, what did God do? Like Romans 2 that we read last week, God’s kindness led him to repentance. Paul did nothing to deserve it, and Paul certainly couldn’t do anything to redeem himself from sins that deep.
Here’s what Paul said to Timothy: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
So our lives, our testimony is an example of what Christ can do in one person’s life. How has God changed you through His love? How has God changed you through your repentance? How has God shown mercy and love and credited you with unmerited grace and favor?
To close, I want to read the next set of verses in Romans. Romans 5:1-11. I’m going to skip a few verses to keep it brief. But starting with verse 1:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. …5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
…11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Not only do we have a testimony to share, but a reason to worship. We worship God not because it’s the thing to do or because it’s commanded, but because he is worthy of worship. We have reason to praise him and we have reason to rejoice. There is nothing that compares to the love and grace of God. Let us take that reason to rejoice and use it for his glory in how we live and develop a deeper relationship with him, and use it to bless others and tell others in some way the good news of the gospel. That through simple faith, God can rescue any sinner.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your love that has been poured out upon us. The free gift of salvation to everyone who believes. Thank you that it is by faith that we receive it. Thank you that our salvation isn’t earned by an obedience to a law whose standard is so high it is impossible to live under. Thank you that there isn’t some scale by which we must work toward to earn our salvation.
Thank you that your son died on a cross to earn that salvation for us. Thank you that our salvation has been deposited and sealed in our hearts. And I pray that we may go out and give our testimony to someone who needs to hear it, to someone who will respond to it.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen
Featured Image by jplenio from Pixabay
