 Today we're in chapter four here in Romans. We're continuing our series. We just recently began we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 12 and As we begin here, this is one of those passages that is a very very Detailed and very deep portion of scripture So we'll do our best to to look at it and to understand the things that the Lord would have for us out of this passage Today, let's begin reading at verse 1. I'll read verses 1 through 8 and we'll get into our study Romans chapter 4 Beginning at verse 1 Paul writes what then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works he has something of which to boast but not before God For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness Now to him who works the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly His faith is accounted for righteousness Just as David also described the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is a man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin Now Paul is developing a Doctrine a teaching the word doctrine simply means teaching a Doctrine that is called the doctrine of justification We're going to look at that today as we look at this particular chapter Romans chapter 4 And so Paul is going to continue something. He's already made reference to and that's this doctrine Now in chapter 1 remember with me at verse 17 He had already stated the just shall live by faith In chapter 3 he had said being justified freely by his grace And so he's been speaking concerning justification already has alluded to that doctrine in other chapters So he's now speaking concerning what is called the doctrine of justification question asked What is justification a basic? Definition for this this doctrine justification would be that justification is the act of God whereby he declares a person righteous after one believes in Jesus Christ He declares a person righteous after he believes in Jesus Christ Through justification God completely Forgives us of our sins completely Now it's more than simply the forgiveness of sins Justification also includes the removal of guilt as well as condemnation This is where a lot of believers really struggle. I believe in understanding that God is completely forgiven us of our sins and Not only that but I think a lot of people struggle with condemnation also the guilt of the sins that they have performed in the past Undoubtedly there are things that Some in here all of us really have done that we greatly regret Perhaps some things that we've done that were seriously seriously wrong and we feel terrible about it It's not that you don't remember that you've done those things But it's that you need to remember that God has forgiven you of those things when you repent it you see sometimes people have a tendency of wanting to go back and Relive those things or make them better or feel terrible guilt over them The doctrine of justification awakens us to the fact that we're forgiven and that we ought to live as those who have been No longer in bondage to the the memory of the sins that we perform our conscience Sometimes awakened because of what we have done will accuse us Sometimes will tell us how bad we were and and we can awaken in the morning thinking of how terrible we've been in the past Or sometimes our conscience may even excuse us saying it's no big deal. Doesn't matter. You hurt them. It's okay and sometimes you need to realize that the things that you've done in the past simply remain there and There are times that perhaps I I need to to speak to the persons that I've harmed and and hopefully reconcile with them But I need to understand that God has forgiven me and I need to live in the position of knowing that that God has forgiven me and God has removed the the guilt from me the Forensic guilt the the guilt of the fact that I have broken a law But he also can remove the sense of pain that I can live with because of that the condemnation The Bible makes it very clear. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who do not live according to the flesh But according to the Spirit God isn't condemning us Even though my heart may God doesn't God is greater than my heart. He knows all things John would tell us in 1st John And so what the Lord would have us to know is that he has forgiven us completely of our sins And we can live as those who've had our sins completely expunged by the blood of Jesus Christ in Psalm 103 verses 10 through 12 the psalmist said he does not treat us as our sins deserve or Repay us according to our iniquities for as high as the heavens are above the earth So great is his love for those who fear him as far as the east is from the west So far has he removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west If you have a globe and you start at the equator and you begin to proceed north You'll reach the apex and then ultimately you begin to descend and you begin going south as we all would know But if you have the same globe and you begin at the equator and you begin to go east East never meets west you always proceed to the east God has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west They're no longer part of our life. He's washed them. You're brand new in the Lord Jesus Christ You have been justified So your sins are removed Not only are your sins removed and your guilt is dealt with and Condemnation is also a dealt with but you receive something that you did not have in justification You are not guilty, but you also receive his righteousness So you and I before Christ are unrighteous We are not able to do those things that please him But when I give my heart to Christ Paul is saying we aren't justified and receive something We didn't have before which is called righteousness 2nd Corinthians 521 says he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him and so God gives to you it's called imputed righteousness He gives to you that what you didn't possess before you have a now a right standing before the Lord and he declares You to be righteous and he goes about after declaring you to make you righteous your life is now sanctified He begins to purify you as you yield to him Now Jesus Christ when you study scripture is revealed as the one who fulfilled all of God's righteous demands Jesus Christ is the one who sinless and because Jesus is sinless. He's able to satisfy God's requirements That's why we trust in him. We cannot trust in ourselves and he's making this case We'll see it in just a moment. It's not by works of righteousness. We've performed It's because Jesus Christ is the one who was able to satisfy his father's requirements Jesus was able to say in John 846 which of you convicts me of sin And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Which of you can convict me of sin? Who here he is saying before his mother if you will he could say it in front of His brothers and sisters he could say it in front of the whole world Who of you which one of you can convict me of sin? And so Jesus was making it very clear that he is sinless This is something you see in 1st John chapter 3 verse 5 where it says you know that he was manifested to take away our sins And in him there is no sin So Jesus was more than simply a good man. He was perfect There was no sin within him and his perfection made him a worthy sacrifice able to redeem us from our sins So that's what Paul is teaching us here in this particular passage now when we were in chapter 3 verses 21 through 31 We noted that Paul used the word faith eight times Eight times he uses the word faith in order that he might reveal the significance of faith And now he's going to use a man as a prime example for what faith actually is He's going to speak concerning a man named Abraham and so in verse 1 here of chapter 4 Romans He says what then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh Abraham is a father of the Jewish nation and what are we going to say concerning him? Well, he's pointing out that he's regarded as the ultimate example of a man who was right with God He was right with God, but he was right with God through his faith That's why he asked what has Abraham found according to the flesh in other words Did Abraham become justified by the energy of his own works? How is it that he became right with God? Did he become right with God by the effort that he put into becoming right with God? So he's beginning the this passage by speaking to Abraham speaking of Abraham and how he became righteous Well, he says in verse 2 if Abraham was justified by works. He has something of which to boast but not before God If Abraham was made right by the works he performed he could boast before man, but not before God Did he become God's friend based on his own works his own righteousness his own merit No, because that would cause him to be able to brag about himself And if you were proud about such a thing he would have been disqualified because of his pride I met a guy one time. We told me He said to me I'm a very humble man. I'm the most humble man. I know So he was proud of his humility And I said no, you're not I'm the most humble man, you know No, I mean think about it for a minute. He's boasting about his humility to me Just the fact that you're boasting about being humble tells me you're proud of your humility So that doesn't make any sense at all But Abraham was a man who was extremely humble He was a man who was devoted to God and he became a friend of God by his faith not by his works because if he had become If he had become right with God through his efforts then he could have boasted concerning those things But the bible tells us in james chapter 4 verse 6 that god resists the proud But he gives grace to the humble Jesus in luke 14 11 said whoever exalts himself will be humbled But he who humbles himself Will be exalted And so it wasn't works that he had performed It wasn't something that he did that justified himself Because he says in verse 2 of Abraham was justified by works. He has something of which to boast but not before God So what made him justified before God? Well, it was his faith. It was a trust that he had in God His faith in God resulted in close fellowship with God And so in james chapter 2 verse 23 it says the scripture was fulfilled which says Abraham believed God And it was imputed unto him for righteousness. He was called the friend of God When you research your old testament you discover that he's the only one who's ever been referred to in the old testament in that manner That he was called a friend of God He's the only one specifically referred to as a friend of God, but his friendship Was not built on his efforts But were was built on his faith the faith that he had in God There are those who begin to question concerning the relationship between faith and works And so they want to know if if if works will save you does faith alone save you should you do good works It's been said faith justifies the person But works will justify his faith A person who has saved Works but not for salvation But out of salvation I've been saved And therefore my life is going to be spent serving the lord So the works that I perform are not because I want to be saved the works that I perform are because I have been saved And so Abraham was somebody who was saved Somebody who is known for his works, but he first believed God Now it says again in first three. What does scripture say? Abraham believed God. It was accounted or imputed to him for righteousness So paul appeals to scripture For this explanation This is how you receive a right standing before god He's using abraham. He says and you need to have faith like abraham a faith that is similar abraham very famous figure in the old testament He lived around 2000 years before christ. He came from a city called ur Which was in an area called the caldeas or caldea, which is modern southern iraq He came from a city that was estimated to have during his day around 300 000 inhabitants, which made it a very huge city It was a city that was um known for its uh Mathematics its agriculture they were known for weaving and engraving and astronomy They were also involved in commercial trade. They were located on the euphrates river. They were 100 miles north of the persian gulf As great as the culture was it was also known for something else. It was known for its idolatry So abraham was actually raised in a city that was wholly given over to idolatry But he came to faith in god But his family was a family of idolaters. How do we know that? Well, joshua in chapter 24 verse 2 makes mention of it Joshua said to all the people thus says the lord god of israel Your father's dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time even terra The father of abraham and the father of nachar And they he said served other gods So he came from a place of idolatry But one day god called him and god promised to bless him And god told him to leave his home to leave his country and he left he trusted god Trusted that god had a place for him, but he didn't know where he is going So as he was on his journey the bible tells us he lived in tents And he waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker Is god so he trusted god and followed god and his life became a life that was earmarked by faith And his life became legendary He followed god's call he trusted god for a promised child And he died without receiving all the promises that had been given to him That's why he's called the father of faith He was justified by his faith not by works alone And so he's using him as an example Abraham believed god it was accounted to him for righteousness now verse 4 to him who works The wages are not counted as grace but as debt But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly his faith is accounted for righteousness So he speaks about faith faith means to completely trust in something to adhere to or rely on something completely And he's saying that faith will result in salvation Unless you recognize you're ungodly in other words you cannot be saved So your faith results in righteousness, but your unbelief would result in judgment Now it's interesting salvation is a gift and not the payment we receive by doing good works We receive a righteous standing before god not by works that we've performed You have a job you work 40 hours Whoever delivers your check comes to your desk or However, you receive your your check and they hand it to you You're receiving a wage You work your 40 you get your wage That's how it works You don't hand the check back to them and say oh no, I don't deserve this You basically look at and say what you can't give me a little more Because you and I because we're working and that's what he's saying here He's saying To him who works the wages are not counted as grace but as debt If I agree with somebody to do a certain job for them at a certain price, that's an agreement. It's a debt that person owes me So I'm not saved by works that I've performed I'm saved by the grace of god through faith And god gives me something I don't deserve because that demonstrates his graciousness to me Verse 5 to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies in godly his faith is accounted for righteousness So it's a matter of faith and not by works And you receive it freely as a gift from god That's something a lot of people don't seem to get even to this day Grace is so unbelievably free and god gives it to us And that's how we're saved through our faith But so many times we've been raised thinking we have to work for somehow to receive this 10 years ago my Son joseph was here in my sister-in-law Patty was here on campus and my father-in-law used to come And would visit my father-in-law came from a construction background And he enjoyed the fact that there was so much construction going on at that time And he had started coming over weekly for a short while just to walk around and see what was going on in the process of building various things Well, he was supposed to be here at a certain time and he hadn't shown up So my sister-in-law patty tells my son joseph Let's go see if grandpa's okay They live only a few miles from the church in all and joseph had emt training And so he went with his aunt to go and check on grandpa and when they got to the house and walked in They found him on the floor It had a stroke joseph and patty walked up to him rushed up to him joseph knelt down next to him and began to take his pulse and Turned to his aunt and said to her You need to call 911 So my sister-in-law Goes to the phone and makes a phone call for emergency personnel to show up Well joseph kneels there And begins to speak to his grandfather His grandfather was still able to speak and so he says to him grandpa. Are you ready? Grandpa looking at joseph knowing what joseph's referring to says I'm a good man joseph And joseph looks at his grandpa and he says yes, you are you're a very good man grandpa and he was a very good man But you're not good enough You need jesus My father-in-law had heard the gospel before I'd been in the family for a long time and he'd heard the gospel He'd never received christ But joseph there is kneeling next to his grandfather and he's telling him grandfather grandpa. You're a good man But you're not good enough and began to share The basics of faith that he might come to faith in christ Because he'd been trained to do that And incidentally seen that we're having an evangelism class here It would be good for you if you're able to come to it So you might learn to do the same kind of thing because he knew how to share his faith with his grandfather And as his grandfather was laying there on the carpet Joseph shared the gospel with him and said Would you would you like to receive christ? Is your savior grandpa? And my father-in-law said yes And prayed with joseph before the ambulance showed up They took him to chino uh chino hospital And marie and I went to go see my father-in-law And I remember walking in as he was going into The stroke was getting worse and he was slurring his speech and unable to really speak to me Shared a few things with me and I shared some things with him He slipped into a coma and a few days later he died I was in that room when my father-in-law died. I watched that monitor flatline as I was there and I watched him as he died Went to be with the lord A few days later the catholic church here on central There was a funeral for my father-in-law And the priest Got up and began to share about ruben lopez and he said Ruben is in heaven Ruben has eternal life because ruben received water baptism as a baby My son joseph got up to share because they allowed us to share And he said my grandfather is in heaven today because Not because he received water baptism But because he received the lord and savior jesus christ That's how you go to heaven through faith in jesus christ That's what the bible teaches That's what the bible teaches It isn't the works that you've performed or religious rituals that have been performed on you Abraham was not saved because he received the right of circumcision And you'll see this in a moment Abraham was saved because he believed god and it was counted unto him for righteousness And that's how one is saved through trusting and believing in god You see it says in verses six through eight as david also describes the blessedness of the man to whom god imputes Righteousness apart from works blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed Is a man to whom the lord shall not impute sin You see joy is the result of coming to faith in christ Joy is what we have because god has forgiven us when you awaken to that When you awaken to the fact that all your sin has been forgiven through the blood of jesus christ It changes your life You're not going to have joy when you're trying to work your way to heaven joy is a gift that god gives by his spirit You can go to the store and you can buy a lot of things, but you can't buy peace You can't go somewhere order it online or whatever get it on craig's list. You know, I'd like some peace Thank you very much. You can't do that It doesn't happen You can't go out and buy that kind of thing. You can't buy love You can't go out and purchase ten dollars worth of love today Fifteen dollars worth of love. Thank you very much. It doesn't happen. Does it love is not something you can buy Peace is not something you can buy Joy is not something that you can purchase joy comes from the spirit of god And when you come to be aware of the fact that god has forgiven you all of your sins Not just some of them, but all of them He has taken them and cast them in the deepest part of the sea never to be retrieved They're as far as the east is from the west God has forgiven you Completely not because you're so good and not because you try so hard But because he's good and he did what was necessary and we can believe it and what is the result joy Joy by the holy spirit a forgiveness of sins a cleansing of the conscience a righteous life This comes from jesus christ Abraham discovered that and that's why the psalmist would say to us blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven whose sins are Covered blessed is the man to whom the lord shall not impute sin The blood of christ covers our sin cleanses us from all Unrighteousness and it causes us great joy in psalm 5 11 Let those who rejoice let those let all those rejoice who put their trust in you Let them ever shout for joy because you defend them let those also who love your name be joyful in you God has done that work for us. He's transformed us and it didn't come Because I tried so hard He came because he did what was necessary And I was surprised by the joy that comes through a relationship with jesus christ C. S. Lewis when he got saved Climbed on a taxi as somebody who believed there might be a god Climbed off the same taxi as a firm believer in jesus christ He writes a book that's called surprised by joy Because that's the one thing he didn't realize he'd have in coming to faith. He said he must have been the most reluctant person who ever came to faith in jesus because as a philosopher c. S. Lewis Was raised as an atheist Then he made his way to more of an agnostic then to a theist and then he finally came to A faith in the lord jesus christ as Second person of the trinity and committed himself and he says That he must have been one of the people who got saved who had least evidence of it and he was surprised by the joy That came through his salvation Joy you can put your head on a pillow at night Without guilt And you can awaken the next morning with no regrets Because what god did in your life, right? Because he forgave you he's transformed you He has changed you and the joy that comes through this The joy that is beyond anything you could have asked for or thought The joy that is beyond an indescribable That comes through this knowledge that my sins have been forgiven It's what paul is speaking about and he says blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the lord shall not impute sin Does this blessedness verse nine then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also For we say that faith was accounted to abraham for righteousness How then was it accounted while he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised by but while uncircumcised And he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised That he might be the father of all those who believe Though they are uncircumcised that righteousness might be imputed to them also and the father of circumcision to those who are Who who not only are of the circumcision But who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father abraham had while still uncircumcised And so paul anticipates questions that would be asked if abraham was justified by faith. Well, why was he circumcised? Because they think that circumcision was instrumental in abraham becoming justified. So why was he circumcised at all? Well, we need to remember that circumcision is a symbol of god's promise to abraham and his descendants and you see that in genesis chapter 17 and genesis chapter 17 in the time of abraham actually predates moses by 600 years And moses brought the law and the law includes the right of circumcision But the point he's making is abraham's faith predates the law And god actually had given a promise to abraham and his descendants that was recorded in the book of genesis In genesis 17 9 through 12 it says god said to abraham As for you you shall keep my covenant you and your descendants after you throughout their generations This is my covenant which you shall keep between me And you and your descendants after you every male child among you shall be circumcised And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins And it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised every male child in your generations He who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant And so paul is arguing that circumcision was never presented as an act that saved abraham He's saying we are never saved by ritual observance of religious right. We're saved through faith Galatians 5 success it in christ jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision But faith which works by love Well, then verse 10 how then was it accounted while he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Well, the a the answer Is abraham was declared righteous 14 years Before he was circumcised Because in genesis 15 verse 6 That verse declares him righteous, but circumcision actually came later on 14 years later and was performed in genesis chapter 17 So his faith predates Circumcision circumcision a religious right Was not something done that saved him It was simply done because he's already been declared righteous and established the covenant that god had made with them So he received the sign of circumcision Of the faith which he already had Well, why circumcise at all if there's no benefit then To the practice of it. Well Circumcision was practiced for three reasons one. It's an outward sign as a seal It demonstrates that god owns you secondly. It's an evidence of faith It's an evidence of the righteousness of faith. It's a constant reminder and then third It's a promise to those who have a similar kind of faith in god What he's saying basically is circumcised or uncircumcised if you have faith in god, you can be saved You can have a relationship with god And being saved is that which provides motivation to serve the lord You don't serve the lord to be saved. You serve the lord because you are saved When I was pulling up this morning at the early service in this time change, which is a killer, isn't it? I don't know about you. We were talking about this a moment ago When the time changes, I don't sleep The reason I don't sleep is because I'm concerned that I won't wake up in time for church And so I woke up at 345 this morning And I'm just kind of laying there Thinking yeah, I know good. You can sleep but what happens if And so I checked my alarm to make sure the alarm alarm is set And now I've got a couple hours. Do I have a couple hours did I you know, so I'm arguing with myself I don't know about you. I wake maria She's snoring Hey Wake up worry with me So I doze for the next and I went to bed at midnight. So I got three hours and 45 minutes, right? to sleep so But that's what I do. That's just what happens and so I finally get up and get over here And as I'm rolling into the parking lot, we have parking lot attendants out there It's cold out there this morning. It was cold. The attendant was waving, but he was frozen like that It's amazing And you come in and you know, good morning. We have children's ministers who are here on time serving People working in the cafe people manning the gazebo People who are here to usher. We have a worship team that came here early to To practice to get ready for service When you take all of that into consideration Why are they doing that? They don't receive any money for any of that. They're all volunteers Why did they do that guys? You know why they do that because they love jesus christ They don't do that because they get paid for that They do that because their reward is in heaven. It's eternal And it is something that god gives to those who are faithful to him They're not doing these things to be saved. They're doing these things because they are saved And that's how it works That's what he was saying. Abraham believed god. It was counted unto him as righteousness But what about his circumcision? He received circumcision. That's right It's a covenant between god and abraham and all his descendants. That's true But moses's law that made that part of the law of moses didn't come for another several hundred years And even beyond that when he received that sign of circumcision in chapter 17 of genesis It was already 14 years later It was 14 years before in genesis 15 6 that god said you're righteous So he was righteous before he performed the circumcision Righteousness predates your religious behavior So you're not saved by works You work because you're saved You do those things because god has worked in you That's how you got saved. It wasn't a religious ritual that occurred in your life when you were a baby and had nothing to say about it It had nothing to do with you going to sunday school and getting those little gold stars that you could get on your little Little book that I used to have when I grew up either gold or a silver star had nothing to do with those things It has everything to do with how good god is and what god has done on your behalf And that's why we by faith receive christ and that's how we are saved and that's how we are justified That's how we're declared righteous and that's why we serve him What a great god we serve. He gave to us salvation freely through jesus christ Amen