Grace operates not through our works or understanding, but through faith in Christ who justifies the ungodly and transforms us into spiritual children of Abraham.
• Abraham's justification came through faith, not works—setting a pattern for all believers
• If salvation could be earned through work, it would be wages owed, not grace freely given
• God's methods often defy human logic, creating circumstances where only He gets glory
• Faith's power lies not in its strength but in its object—Jesus Christ
• Our spiritual ancestry connects us to Abraham when we believe as he did
• Being counted righteous happens through faith in Christ's death and resurrection
• When adopted into God's family, biblical history becomes our family history
Come join our faith family as we explore how God's grace transforms our identity and gives us a place in His ongoing story.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:23):
1st Baptist, baptist El Dorado, will you join me now
in listening to our sermon fromthis week, romans, chapter 4,
and let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for atime to open your word, thank
you for the worship, thank youfor the team, the choir, that
(00:45):
has led us so well this morningto your throne, and I just pray
that now you would speak, thatyou would reveal yourself, that
you would transform our heartsthrough your word.
We ask this in Christ's name,amen, amen.
I love hearing about familyhistory.
I love thinking of just amazingstories from my own family that
(01:10):
maybe everyone else in the roomwouldn't think much of, but in
my family we laugh about themand tell the same stories over
and over.
You have those stories as well.
I love hearing family historyfrom many.
Sadly, as a pastor, oftentimeswhen I get to hear so many of
those family stories, it's maybewhen preparing for a funeral
(01:34):
for a family.
But we get to sit down and chatabout various stories through
the years and we all have themand stories of crazy aunts and
uncles and cousins, and you'reprobably in the room right now
thinking of the people in yourfamily that fit that description
If you're not thinking of anyof those people.
I've got news for you.
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You are that individual in yourfamily and that's okay.
We need people like you andthat's why you're here.
I love family history and Pauldoes as well.
In Romans, chapter 4, he givessome family history To many of
the Jewish individuals in theaudience.
He takes it all the way back toAbraham Through the first three
(02:20):
chapters of Romans.
He has wanted the group there,both Jews and Gentiles, to
understand that, first of all,you are sinful beyond belief,
that however sinful and brokenyou are, it's probably even
worse than you thought.
That's the bad news.
But halfway through chapterthree he then turns the page to
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tell you the greatest news youcould ever hear that, as sinful
as you were, there is a Saviorwho has come to justify sin.
And now he turns to chapter 4and says if you want a case
study of this, if you want tosee how this has happened, let's
go to an ancestor, let's godown the road of some family
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history.
And so he looks at the life ofAbraham and what he wants to see
with Abraham is Abraham's faith, abraham's faith in God, the
faith in God who counted Abrahamas righteous, and wants to see
that Abraham's faith, as he'scounted righteous, is the
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ultimate picture of God's grace.
The first thing I want to seethis morning is simply this that
if we could work for it, itwouldn't be grace.
If we could work for it, itwouldn't be grace.
Look with me Romans 4, verse 1.
What, then, shall we say, wasgained by Abraham, our
(03:42):
forefather, according to theflesh?
For if Abraham was justified byworks, he has something to
boast about, but not before God.
For what does scripture say?
Abraham believed God and it wascounted to him as righteousness
.
Now, to the one who works, hiswages are not counted as a gift,
but as his due.
(04:02):
Let's stop there for a moment.
As a gift, but as his due.
Let's stop there for a moment.
First of all, the question isthis does Abraham have something
to boast about?
Does Abraham have a reasonwhere he can look up to God and
say this haven't I done great?
Haven't I lived out these worksso well?
And therefore you owe mesomething?
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In verse 3, excuse me, verse 4,paul says this that if the one
who works, if he works, then thewages he received, they are
simply his due.
He has done something for himand now he has received.
Is that how this relationshipwith the Lord works?
You may remember your first jobMaybe as a teenager, the first
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job you have.
You certainly may remember thatfirst paycheck you got from the
first job, just the excitementof holding that paycheck in your
hand.
I know this wasn't my first job, but I remember in college I
was an intern at a church inArkadelphia and, like every
other week, they'd write me acheck for, I think, $150.
(05:10):
And I'd take it over to thebank and I'd cash that $150.
And you couldn't have told methat I wasn't the king of
Arkadelphia.
You couldn't have told me thatbecause I just felt like
everything was at my fingertips.
I had $150 in my hand and thosefirst jobs with those first
paychecks.
It also taught you a lot oflessons about the value of a
(05:33):
dollar.
You remember being a teenagerand getting that paycheck.
And maybe even today, for theteenagers in the room you may go
have dinner with your friends.
You're down at Slim's and yousay I've gotten the paycheck, go
ahead and upsize the combo andthey tell you that'll be $14.
But already in your mind andyou remember having these same
thoughts it's really not $14.
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What does this cost?
Well, according to my hourlywage.
It costs me an hour and 25minutes of work.
You remember those thoughts.
You start thinking about moneydifferently, and that's a good
thing.
It's a good thing that when wework hard at our place of
employment, an employer looks atus every two weeks and gives us
what we deserve.
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We've worked and therefore heowes us or she owes us something
because of our work.
But the question Paul wants usto ask is simply this is this
how salvation works?
Is the relationship with theLord some kind of
employer-employee transactionalrelationship where, if I just do
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what I need to do, if I hold upmy end of this bargain, then I
can look to the Lord and sayhaven't I done well?
Now, god, please give me what Ineed to do.
If I hold up my end of thisbargain, then I can look to the
Lord and say haven't I done well?
Now, god, please give me what Ideserve.
Please give me the salvationthat is due to me.
But verse 5, to the one who doesnot work but look at this, not
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works but believes in him, whojustifies the ungodly, his faith
is counted as righteousness.
In this shift from verse 4 toverse 5, paul wants us to see
that we're moving from the levelof what is owed to us to the
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level of what is graciouslygiven that none of this process,
as Paul explains it, hasanything to do with our works,
but all based on belief that, asAbraham is counted righteous
before God, that happens onlybecause he believed in God, that
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his faith was, in the word ofGod, what God said he would do,
and it was God who counted himas righteous, not because of
works, not because of what hehad earned, but simply because
of grace.
Paul wants to continue and inverse 6 and 7, he brings another
forefather, david, into theequation and recites his own
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words from Psalm 32.
Blessed is the one that lawlessdeeds are forgiven, sins
covered.
Verse 8, the man whom the Lordwill not count sin.
He just wants to remind us thatany right standing before God
is right standing based on whatGod has done, based on God's
announcement of the forgivenessof sin.
Notice, david said he didn'tsay blessed is the man who
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worked his way out of debt.
Blessed is the man who finallyimpressed God enough to get some
of this sin forgiven.
No, no, blessed is the one whomGod has forgiven that sin.
Then, verse 9 through 12,.
We won't read them, but just tosummarize, there may have been
some Jewish individuals in thecrowd as they hear this letter
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saying but Abraham had someworks.
Actually, abraham had a lot ofgood works.
I mean, you read the book ofGenesis.
All you see is the incrediblethings that Abraham did, and
they could even bring this.
And this is what Paul brings up.
Well, how about the sign ofcircumcision?
Paul brings up this outwardsign that God gave his covenant
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members, this outward sign thatthey are part of the family of
God.
Well, what about that?
Abraham partook in circumcisionhimself.
Didn't that earn him something?
And Paul just wants to remindhim that.
When did that covenant actionhappen?
Because it's Genesis chapter 12that God called Abraham out in
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his graciousness.
It's Genesis chapter 15 thatGod, through nothing that
Abraham had earned, desired tomake a covenant with Abraham.
It's Genesis chapter 17, in theearly parts, that God says I'm
going to make you the father ofmany nations.
And then later in 17, finally,god presents the idea of this
sign of the covenant.
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Abraham wasn't doing good worksto earn anything.
Abraham's good works and theywere good, they were amazing
were based on what God hasalready done, based on the fact
that God, in his graciousness,has already brought Abraham into
this relationship.
If we could work for it, if wecould earn it, if there was any
(10:22):
way to be good enough for it, itwouldn't be grace.
We could earn it.
If there was any way to be goodenough for it, it wouldn't be
grace.
It couldn't be grace.
But number two, I want to seethis If it made perfect sense,
it wouldn't be grace.
If it made perfect sense, itwouldn't be grace.
Now, what do I not mean by that?
(10:42):
What I don't mean is this thatthere's things in this book that
don't make perfect sense.
I know sometimes there arethings that we've got to study
deeply and we don't quite get itfirst.
That happens to me all the time.
But at the end of the day, Idon't mean there's any kind of
things that doesn't add up.
There's contradictions, there'sthings that just aren't right
in this.
Of course, this is God's word.
What I mean is this from ahumanly standpoint, from a human
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standpoint, there's so muchabout God's grace that just
makes no sense In my human mind.
It makes no sense.
It is so contrary to everythingin our world, to how everything
operates in this world.
I mean the ultimate examplethat the God of the universe,
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who is sovereign, who is just,who is good, would look upon my
sinful condition and your sinfulcondition and, at the cost of
his own son, come to makeredemption, provide redemption
for us, right In the humanunderstanding.
That makes no sense, god.
(11:48):
How could you be so good to dothis?
And if you want an example ofthings that just don't make
sense in the human mind, I wantyou to jump with me down to
verse 18.
Paul wants to talk more and moreabout the story of Abraham,
provide some more family history, and it says this verse 18, in
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hope he believed against hope.
Mainly this, I'll paraphrase mytranslation Because of hope in
God, he had something greaterthan the hope of man.
In hope, he believed, againsthope, that he should become the
father of many nations, as hehad been told.
(12:33):
So shall your offspring be.
He did not weaken in faith whenhe considered his own body,
which was as good as dead, sincehe was about 100 years old, or
when he considered thebarrenness of Sarah's womb.
No unbelief made him waverconcerning the promise of God,
sarah's womb.
No unbelief made him waverconcerning the promise of God,
but he grew strong in his faithas he gave glory to God, fully
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convinced that God was able todo what he had promised.
I'll tell you what doesn't makesense in the eyes of the world
that in Genesis 17, when Godtells Abraham so shall your
offspring be, abraham's sittingat 99 years old, sarah's sitting
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at 89 years old.
And if all that weren't enoughand it's more than enough, but
if all that weren't enough,sarah is barren, has always been
unable to have children.
And yet God looks to them andsays in a year's time, when I
come back to you, you're goingto have a son.
You're going to be the fatherof many nations.
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Many nations will be blessedthrough you.
All of this has been promisedagain to a 99-year-old and
89-year-old who is also barren.
None of this makes sense in theeyes of the world.
Year old, who is also barren.
None of this makes sense in theeyes of the world.
None of this adds up to aredemption plan that our human
mind would consider to be a goodone.
(13:56):
Nothing here we would set outand say that's how this should
go.
Quite the opposite.
But as you call the role allthroughout scripture and time
again, exodus, chapter three,there's moses.
He finds a burning bush in thewilderness, god tells him in
(14:17):
that moment I want you to go toegypt and let them know that
they are to let my people go.
Here's the problem with this.
Number one is that the onlyreason moses was out in the
desert was simply because of thefact that he had to flee
because he had murdered anEgyptian.
Number two Moses himself saysGod, I'm not the guy for this.
I'm not a good public speaker.
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I don't have a way with words.
You should probably send anyoneelse.
And what does God say?
I'll be with you.
That's all you need.
And so God sends Moses to setthe people free.
It makes no sense in our humaneyes, but he delighted to use
Moses.
First, samuel, chapter 16.
Saul is out.
(15:00):
Samuel is looking for God's newking to come upon the throne.
He goes to Jesse's house andJesse lines up seven of his sons
, seven in a row.
Each one of them looks thethrone.
He goes to Jesse's house andJesse lines up seven of his sons
, seven in a row.
Each one of them looks the part.
Each one of them looks like aking, thinks like a king, acts
like a king.
They should be king.
And Samuel goes down the lineand, one by one, says he's not
(15:23):
it.
He's not it Seven times over,looks to Jesse and says do you
have any more sons?
And Jesse says this there's oneother, but don't waste your
time, there's one other, buthe's out in the field just
tending the things to the field.
I didn't even bring him in fora reason.
I can just promise you go tothe next house.
He's not the one.
Samuel says I'm not leavinguntil I see him.
That son comes in.
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His name is David.
Samuel looks at him and saysthis is God's man.
Anoint the king of Israel.
It makes no sense.
Jeremiah, chapter 1.
God wants to speak a word tothe people of God, a word of
judgment and a word of hope.
He calls this young man namedJeremiah.
We've got two problems here.
(16:05):
Jeremiah says number one inchapter 1, I'm way too young for
this.
Who in the world is going tolisten to a young person who
comes and speaks some word ofjudgment?
They don't want to hear from me.
Number two is this I'm justlike Moses.
I haven't had a lot of publicspeaking.
I'm not real good talking infront of a crowd.
There's no way I'm the guy.
God says you're it Time and timeagain.
(16:29):
We've talked about it before.
It's almost as if God desiresto stack the deck against
himself.
It's almost as if God says howmany obstacles can I put in my
way, how hard can I make thisupon myself so that when I come
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through, as I always comethrough, the people of God will
only be able to look onedirection when this goal is
accomplished, and the only waywhere they can look is upward.
To me, time and time again, goduses circumstances for his grace
and his gracious activity thatthe world couldn't come up with,
(17:13):
so only he can get the favor,the glory for it.
And I just wonder this morningis there a circumstance, even
now in your life that just makesno sense to you, just makes no
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sense to you?
Are you walking through aseason and the math doesn't seem
to add up?
Are there any situations inyour life that you've been
praying, you've been asking,you've been seeking God and it
just feels as if either Goddoesn't hear you, god's just
silent.
If you don't know what God's upto in this moment, I just want
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to encourage you that, even inthe midst of the confusing
things of life, when we don'tknow how God is working.
All you have to do is open theBible to almost any page and
you're going to see a story ofsomeone who is in that same
season of life.
And yet God was faithful.
(18:21):
And we talked Wednesday nightabout the Soren Kierkegaard
quote that life is lived forwardbut understood backwards.
Life is lived forward butunderstood backwards.
You've seen those seasons inyour life where, in that moment,
it made no sense.
In that moment you couldn't seehow God was moving.
And yet when you look back ayear later, five years later,
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for some things, when we lookback on the other side in
eternity, god will show us thatall across the way he was
faithful and every step of theway he was working things out
for his glory and for our good.
And it doesn't make sense inthe moment, but God's still
moving, still moving.
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If it made perfect sense, itwouldn't be grace.
And Abraham believed and Abrahamtrusted and it was counted to
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him as righteous, asrighteousness, righteousness.
Now here's my question Was thatrighteousness counted to
Abraham because of the strengthand the clarity of his faith?
Was Abraham counted righteousbecause, all throughout this, he
was so strong in his faith?
Well, abraham was strong in hisfaith.
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Well, abraham was strong in hisfaith.
But we may be tempted to sayhere well, god surely won't do
gracious things in and throughmy life because I don't have the
faith of Abraham.
I mean, this is a man that whenGod asked him to even climb a
mountain to sacrifice his son,he said yes, sir, this was a man
that left his hometown and wentto a land he didn't know.
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This was a man again that, at100 years old, when God said
you're going to be the father ofmany nations, trusted God.
In that moment, god, I've got alittle faith, but I can promise
you it's not the faith ofAbraham.
I looked at the clock and ittold me we've got time.
So Adie Carson, in a sermon,says this I love this
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illustration.
He gives A fictionalillustration about two Hebrew
men.
It's the night of the Passoverin Egypt.
The angel of death is going topass through town.
We remember in Exodus there'san announcement of ten plagues.
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The tenth one, the angel ofdeath, will pass through town.
The firstborn son of every homewill pass away unless the blood
of the lamb is over the door.
Pass away unless the blood ofthe lamb is over the door.
And these two fictional Hebrewmen are talking to each other
earlier in that day and one saysto the other are you a little
nervous about tonight?
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I mean this angel of death.
It sounds a little intimidating.
It's a little cause for concern.
There's a little anxietyinvolved here.
Are you a little nervous aboutwhat's to come this evening?
And the other man looks backand said I'm not nervous one bit
, I trust God.
I put the blood of the lambover the door and I know my
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family is protected.
I did exactly what God says,because I trust God's word
perfectly and nothing can makeme waver.
The blood's on the door.
I'm not worried one bit.
The other guy says it's okay.
Well, don't get me wrong.
I also put the blood over thedoor.
I'm not silly.
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I put the blood over the door.
But, buddy, you've got threesons, amazing sons.
I've just got little Charlie,and that's all I've got.
And the blood's over the door,but still the angel of death is
passing through.
That doesn't make you a littlenervous about it, even though,
yeah, the blood's there.
The other guy says bring it on,I trust the promises of God.
(22:25):
And then DA Carson asks thisthat night, when the angel of
death passed through, which manlost his firstborn son?
And the answer is this neither.
Because the answer was notfound in the strength and the
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clarity and the impressivenature of the faith of the
individual.
It was found in the strength ofthe individual.
It was found in the object offaith.
It was found in the blood ofthe lamb.
If you're ever nervous, that ismy faith, like Abraham's or
David's or Moses or anybody else.
(23:10):
Listen, I am too.
But the reality is, at the endof the day, we are saved and we
are kept because of the objectof our faith.
We don't have faith in faith.
We have faith in God, who isable to do what only he can do,
and the object of our faith isable to sustain us.
And throughout our life, I praythat our faith increases more
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and more.
I'm not calling for justelementary faith throughout our
lives, but I'm just telling youwe are saved by an object of our
faith and as we come into thatrelationship more and more, let
us let faith increase all thedays of our lives.
If it all made perfect sense, itwouldn't be grace.
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If we could work for it, itwouldn't be grace.
But I want to end on this If itweren't for Christ, there
couldn't be grace.
Want to end on this.
If it weren't for Christ, therecouldn't be grace, verse 22,.
But the words it was counted tohim were not written for his
sake alone, but for ours also.
It will be counted to us whobelieve in him, who raised from
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the dead Jesus, our Lord, whowas delivered up for our
trespasses and raised for ourjustification.
Paul looks towards a room ofbelievers at the church of Rome
and says guess what?
These words that were writtenfor Abraham?
It was counted to him asrighteous because of his faith
(24:36):
and belief in who, in the object, in God.
Those weren't just written forAbraham, those are written for
you as well.
Abraham's story can be yourstory.
Why?
Because of Jesus Christ.
Because God has sent his sonverse 25 again who was delivered
up for our trespasses, took oursin upon himself and raised for
(24:57):
our justification Justification, a word we looked at a few
weeks back, that point in timewhere we are counted righteous
before God.
Why?
Because of the finished work ofChrist.
This is what Christ has doneand therefore the words to
Abraham that in faith, throughgrace, you can be counted
righteous, are the same wordsthat God speaks over us if we
(25:20):
have that same faith in theobject of our faith, jesus
Christ the righteous.
I love reading biographies,hearing about the lives of
incredible individuals.
I love at times, whether it's adocumentary or something about
history.
I just want to hear the storyabout certain individuals.
(25:45):
You can read all kinds ofbiographies about impressive
individuals.
It could be ancient individuals, it could be Martin Luther, it
could be Winston Churchill, itcould be a president, it could
be this, that or the other.
But hearing the stories it'sfascinating.
Even reading fiction, thesestories they're just fascinating
(26:09):
, even if they're not true.
The mental pictures in ourminds, the way we create the
story in our heads, the way wehave every character figured out
in our mind, I love that.
But here's the hard part.
There always comes a last pageEvery biography.
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If I want to know about WinstonChurchill, there's a moment
where I read the final page,where the book closes and at the
end of the day, as great as heis, I've got nothing to do with
Winston Churchill.
He doesn't know me, I don'tknow him.
He's not in my family tree, notmy family line.
This maybe a fictional book.
(26:51):
We read a beautiful world wefill our heads with over the
course of multiple books.
I love them greatly, but atsome point the book closes the
story's over and I can't get tothat fictional place.
I really don't have anything todo with those characters and
those people.
There's a disconnect here.
But here's what I love about theWord of God that, as I read
(27:14):
this and experience this andexperience this, if it's true
and I believe it is, becausethis says it is that if you are
in Christ Jesus that you areadopted into the family of God,
(27:39):
that if you are in Christ Jesus,you are adopted into the family
of God, then this isn't ancienthistory, this is your history.
That if you are adopted into thefamily of faith, then this
story is your story.
Then, when you read about thepatriarchs and the forefathers
and New Testament believers,that this is your story, that
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this doesn't have to end, butthere is a connection there.
And if you're adopted into thefamily of God, then when you
type in your information to yourspiritualancestrycom and press
enter, this is what comes up.
This is your story, and so thisis true of you.
As Paul said the same thing tothe believers in the church at
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Rome, that if they said it ofAbraham, they say it of you that
, if it's true that Abraham wasjustified not by his works, not
by his earning or merit oractions, but simply by grace,
through faith.
If that was said of Abraham, itcan be said of you that now this
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story is your story, this lifeis your life, and you can be one
who is counted righteous beforea holy God, not based on works
or effort, but based on the son,not based on your faith in your
(29:11):
own faith, making it asimpressive as it can be, so you
can believe enough and trustenough, and then you will have
arrived, no, no, no, your faithin the object of our faith,
jesus Christ the righteous.
I want to encourage you thismorning, If you've been a
believer for decades or you'regoing to become a believer in
(29:35):
about one minute, that thisstory is your story, this life
is your life, this faith is yourfaith, or can be your faith.
And when the next time somelittle child sings Father
Abraham had many sons and thenthey say I'm one of them and so
(30:00):
are you, you look at them andyou say you're right about that,
because, just like Abraham, I'mcounted righteous.
Let's pray, lord Jesus, thankyou for your word, thank you for
the fact that we can be countedrighteous before a holy God.
(30:21):
Not by works, god if it wereworks, we couldn't get there but
by grace.
I thank you, lord.
I pray even now.
If there's one that wants tocome down front and talk with me
about coming to know Jesus forthe first time, I pray they
would.
I'd love to introduce them.
If there's one that just needsto come pray at this altar,
(30:44):
maybe on their own, maybe theyneed to bring someone with them,
maybe they need a pastor topray over them, I pray that they
would.
If there's one, if there's afamily that needs to join this
church, I pray they would comebe part of this faith family.
But, lord, however, we need torespond.
Let us do it now as we continuein worship In Christ's name,
(31:05):
amen.
Would you stand now and I'll bedown front if you'd like to
come.
1st Baptist, baptist El Dorado, will you join me now
in listening to our sermon fromthis week, romans, chapter 4,
and let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for atime to open your word, thank
you for the worship, thank youfor the team, the choir, that
(00:45):
has led us so well this morningto your throne, and I just pray
that now you would speak, thatyou would reveal yourself, that
you would transform our heartsthrough your word.
We ask this in Christ's name,amen, amen.
I love hearing about familyhistory.
I love thinking of just amazingstories from my own family that
(01:10):
maybe everyone else in the roomwouldn't think much of, but in
my family we laugh about themand tell the same stories over
and over.
You have those stories as well.
I love hearing family historyfrom many.
Sadly, as a pastor, oftentimeswhen I get to hear so many of
those family stories, it's maybewhen preparing for a funeral
(01:34):
for a family.
But we get to sit down and chatabout various stories through
the years and we all have themand stories of crazy aunts and
uncles and cousins, and you'reprobably in the room right now
thinking of the people in yourfamily that fit that description
If you're not thinking of anyof those people.
I've got news for you.
(01:56):
You are that individual in yourfamily and that's okay.
We need people like you andthat's why you're here.
I love family history and Pauldoes as well.
In Romans, chapter 4, he givessome family history To many of
the Jewish individuals in theaudience.
He takes it all the way back toAbraham Through the first three
(02:20):
chapters of Romans.
He has wanted the group there,both Jews and Gentiles, to
understand that, first of all,you are sinful beyond belief,
that however sinful and brokenyou are, it's probably even
worse than you thought.
That's the bad news.
But halfway through chapterthree he then turns the page to
(02:40):
tell you the greatest news youcould ever hear that, as sinful
as you were, there is a Saviorwho has come to justify sin.
And now he turns to chapter 4and says if you want a case
study of this, if you want tosee how this has happened, let's
go to an ancestor, let's godown the road of some family
(03:01):
history.
And so he looks at the life ofAbraham and what he wants to see
with Abraham is Abraham's faith, abraham's faith in God, the
faith in God who counted Abrahamas righteous, and wants to see
that Abraham's faith, as he'scounted righteous, is the
(03:21):
ultimate picture of God's grace.
The first thing I want to seethis morning is simply this that
if we could work for it, itwouldn't be grace.
If we could work for it, itwouldn't be grace.
Look with me Romans 4, verse 1.
What, then, shall we say, wasgained by Abraham, our
(03:42):
forefather, according to theflesh?
For if Abraham was justified byworks, he has something to
boast about, but not before God.
For what does scripture say?
Abraham believed God and it wascounted to him as righteousness
.
Now, to the one who works, hiswages are not counted as a gift,
but as his due.
(04:02):
Let's stop there for a moment.
As a gift, but as his due.
Let's stop there for a moment.
First of all, the question isthis does Abraham have something
to boast about?
Does Abraham have a reasonwhere he can look up to God and
say this haven't I done great?
Haven't I lived out these worksso well?
And therefore you owe mesomething?
(04:24):
In verse 3, excuse me, verse 4,paul says this that if the one
who works, if he works, then thewages he received, they are
simply his due.
He has done something for himand now he has received.
Is that how this relationshipwith the Lord works?
You may remember your first jobMaybe as a teenager, the first
(04:49):
job you have.
You certainly may remember thatfirst paycheck you got from the
first job, just the excitementof holding that paycheck in your
hand.
I know this wasn't my first job, but I remember in college I
was an intern at a church inArkadelphia and, like every
other week, they'd write me acheck for, I think, $150.
(05:10):
And I'd take it over to thebank and I'd cash that $150.
And you couldn't have told methat I wasn't the king of
Arkadelphia.
You couldn't have told me thatbecause I just felt like
everything was at my fingertips.
I had $150 in my hand and thosefirst jobs with those first
paychecks.
It also taught you a lot oflessons about the value of a
(05:33):
dollar.
You remember being a teenagerand getting that paycheck.
And maybe even today, for theteenagers in the room you may go
have dinner with your friends.
You're down at Slim's and yousay I've gotten the paycheck, go
ahead and upsize the combo andthey tell you that'll be $14.
But already in your mind andyou remember having these same
thoughts it's really not $14.
(05:56):
What does this cost?
Well, according to my hourlywage.
It costs me an hour and 25minutes of work.
You remember those thoughts.
You start thinking about moneydifferently, and that's a good
thing.
It's a good thing that when wework hard at our place of
employment, an employer looks atus every two weeks and gives us
what we deserve.
(06:17):
We've worked and therefore heowes us or she owes us something
because of our work.
But the question Paul wants usto ask is simply this is this
how salvation works?
Is the relationship with theLord some kind of
employer-employee transactionalrelationship where, if I just do
(06:39):
what I need to do, if I hold upmy end of this bargain, then I
can look to the Lord and sayhaven't I done well?
Now, god, please give me what Ineed to do.
If I hold up my end of thisbargain, then I can look to the
Lord and say haven't I done well?
Now, god, please give me what Ideserve.
Please give me the salvationthat is due to me.
But verse 5, to the one who doesnot work but look at this, not
(07:01):
works but believes in him, whojustifies the ungodly, his faith
is counted as righteousness.
In this shift from verse 4 toverse 5, paul wants us to see
that we're moving from the levelof what is owed to us to the
(07:22):
level of what is graciouslygiven that none of this process,
as Paul explains it, hasanything to do with our works,
but all based on belief that, asAbraham is counted righteous
before God, that happens onlybecause he believed in God, that
(07:44):
his faith was, in the word ofGod, what God said he would do,
and it was God who counted himas righteous, not because of
works, not because of what hehad earned, but simply because
of grace.
Paul wants to continue and inverse 6 and 7, he brings another
forefather, david, into theequation and recites his own
(08:05):
words from Psalm 32.
Blessed is the one that lawlessdeeds are forgiven, sins
covered.
Verse 8, the man whom the Lordwill not count sin.
He just wants to remind us thatany right standing before God
is right standing based on whatGod has done, based on God's
announcement of the forgivenessof sin.
Notice, david said he didn'tsay blessed is the man who
(08:30):
worked his way out of debt.
Blessed is the man who finallyimpressed God enough to get some
of this sin forgiven.
No, no, blessed is the one whomGod has forgiven that sin.
Then, verse 9 through 12,.
We won't read them, but just tosummarize, there may have been
some Jewish individuals in thecrowd as they hear this letter
(08:51):
saying but Abraham had someworks.
Actually, abraham had a lot ofgood works.
I mean, you read the book ofGenesis.
All you see is the incrediblethings that Abraham did, and
they could even bring this.
And this is what Paul brings up.
Well, how about the sign ofcircumcision?
Paul brings up this outwardsign that God gave his covenant
(09:15):
members, this outward sign thatthey are part of the family of
God.
Well, what about that?
Abraham partook in circumcisionhimself.
Didn't that earn him something?
And Paul just wants to remindhim that.
When did that covenant actionhappen?
Because it's Genesis chapter 12that God called Abraham out in
(09:37):
his graciousness.
It's Genesis chapter 15 thatGod, through nothing that
Abraham had earned, desired tomake a covenant with Abraham.
It's Genesis chapter 17, in theearly parts, that God says I'm
going to make you the father ofmany nations.
And then later in 17, finally,god presents the idea of this
sign of the covenant.
(09:59):
Abraham wasn't doing good worksto earn anything.
Abraham's good works and theywere good, they were amazing
were based on what God hasalready done, based on the fact
that God, in his graciousness,has already brought Abraham into
this relationship.
If we could work for it, if wecould earn it, if there was any
(10:22):
way to be good enough for it, itwouldn't be grace.
We could earn it.
If there was any way to be goodenough for it, it wouldn't be
grace.
It couldn't be grace.
But number two, I want to seethis If it made perfect sense,
it wouldn't be grace.
If it made perfect sense, itwouldn't be grace.
Now, what do I not mean by that?
(10:42):
What I don't mean is this thatthere's things in this book that
don't make perfect sense.
I know sometimes there arethings that we've got to study
deeply and we don't quite get itfirst.
That happens to me all the time.
But at the end of the day, Idon't mean there's any kind of
things that doesn't add up.
There's contradictions, there'sthings that just aren't right
in this.
Of course, this is God's word.
What I mean is this from ahumanly standpoint, from a human
(11:06):
standpoint, there's so muchabout God's grace that just
makes no sense In my human mind.
It makes no sense.
It is so contrary to everythingin our world, to how everything
operates in this world.
I mean the ultimate examplethat the God of the universe,
(11:27):
who is sovereign, who is just,who is good, would look upon my
sinful condition and your sinfulcondition and, at the cost of
his own son, come to makeredemption, provide redemption
for us, right In the humanunderstanding.
That makes no sense, god.
(11:48):
How could you be so good to dothis?
And if you want an example ofthings that just don't make
sense in the human mind, I wantyou to jump with me down to
verse 18.
Paul wants to talk more and moreabout the story of Abraham,
provide some more family history, and it says this verse 18, in
(12:11):
hope he believed against hope.
Mainly this, I'll paraphrase mytranslation Because of hope in
God, he had something greaterthan the hope of man.
In hope, he believed, againsthope, that he should become the
father of many nations, as hehad been told.
(12:33):
So shall your offspring be.
He did not weaken in faith whenhe considered his own body,
which was as good as dead, sincehe was about 100 years old, or
when he considered thebarrenness of Sarah's womb.
No unbelief made him waverconcerning the promise of God,
sarah's womb.
No unbelief made him waverconcerning the promise of God,
but he grew strong in his faithas he gave glory to God, fully
(12:53):
convinced that God was able todo what he had promised.
I'll tell you what doesn't makesense in the eyes of the world
that in Genesis 17, when Godtells Abraham so shall your
offspring be, abraham's sittingat 99 years old, sarah's sitting
(13:15):
at 89 years old.
And if all that weren't enoughand it's more than enough, but
if all that weren't enough,sarah is barren, has always been
unable to have children.
And yet God looks to them andsays in a year's time, when I
come back to you, you're goingto have a son.
You're going to be the fatherof many nations.
(13:35):
Many nations will be blessedthrough you.
All of this has been promisedagain to a 99-year-old and
89-year-old who is also barren.
None of this makes sense in theeyes of the world.
Year old, who is also barren.
None of this makes sense in theeyes of the world.
None of this adds up to aredemption plan that our human
mind would consider to be a goodone.
(13:56):
Nothing here we would set outand say that's how this should
go.
Quite the opposite.
But as you call the role allthroughout scripture and time
again, exodus, chapter three,there's moses.
He finds a burning bush in thewilderness, god tells him in
(14:17):
that moment I want you to go toegypt and let them know that
they are to let my people go.
Here's the problem with this.
Number one is that the onlyreason moses was out in the
desert was simply because of thefact that he had to flee
because he had murdered anEgyptian.
Number two Moses himself saysGod, I'm not the guy for this.
I'm not a good public speaker.
(14:39):
I don't have a way with words.
You should probably send anyoneelse.
And what does God say?
I'll be with you.
That's all you need.
And so God sends Moses to setthe people free.
It makes no sense in our humaneyes, but he delighted to use
Moses.
First, samuel, chapter 16.
Saul is out.
(15:00):
Samuel is looking for God's newking to come upon the throne.
He goes to Jesse's house andJesse lines up seven of his sons
, seven in a row.
Each one of them looks thethrone.
He goes to Jesse's house andJesse lines up seven of his sons
, seven in a row.
Each one of them looks the part.
Each one of them looks like aking, thinks like a king, acts
like a king.
They should be king.
And Samuel goes down the lineand, one by one, says he's not
(15:23):
it.
He's not it Seven times over,looks to Jesse and says do you
have any more sons?
And Jesse says this there's oneother, but don't waste your
time, there's one other, buthe's out in the field just
tending the things to the field.
I didn't even bring him in fora reason.
I can just promise you go tothe next house.
He's not the one.
Samuel says I'm not leavinguntil I see him.
That son comes in.
(15:44):
His name is David.
Samuel looks at him and saysthis is God's man.
Anoint the king of Israel.
It makes no sense.
Jeremiah, chapter 1.
God wants to speak a word tothe people of God, a word of
judgment and a word of hope.
He calls this young man namedJeremiah.
We've got two problems here.
(16:05):
Jeremiah says number one inchapter 1, I'm way too young for
this.
Who in the world is going tolisten to a young person who
comes and speaks some word ofjudgment?
They don't want to hear from me.
Number two is this I'm justlike Moses.
I haven't had a lot of publicspeaking.
I'm not real good talking infront of a crowd.
There's no way I'm the guy.
God says you're it Time and timeagain.
(16:29):
We've talked about it before.
It's almost as if God desiresto stack the deck against
himself.
It's almost as if God says howmany obstacles can I put in my
way, how hard can I make thisupon myself so that when I come
(16:51):
through, as I always comethrough, the people of God will
only be able to look onedirection when this goal is
accomplished, and the only waywhere they can look is upward.
To me, time and time again, goduses circumstances for his grace
and his gracious activity thatthe world couldn't come up with,
(17:13):
so only he can get the favor,the glory for it.
And I just wonder this morningis there a circumstance, even
now in your life that just makesno sense to you, just makes no
(17:36):
sense to you?
Are you walking through aseason and the math doesn't seem
to add up?
Are there any situations inyour life that you've been
praying, you've been asking,you've been seeking God and it
just feels as if either Goddoesn't hear you, god's just
silent.
If you don't know what God's upto in this moment, I just want
(17:59):
to encourage you that, even inthe midst of the confusing
things of life, when we don'tknow how God is working.
All you have to do is open theBible to almost any page and
you're going to see a story ofsomeone who is in that same
season of life.
And yet God was faithful.
(18:21):
And we talked Wednesday nightabout the Soren Kierkegaard
quote that life is lived forwardbut understood backwards.
Life is lived forward butunderstood backwards.
You've seen those seasons inyour life where, in that moment,
it made no sense.
In that moment you couldn't seehow God was moving.
And yet when you look back ayear later, five years later,
(18:46):
for some things, when we lookback on the other side in
eternity, god will show us thatall across the way he was
faithful and every step of theway he was working things out
for his glory and for our good.
And it doesn't make sense inthe moment, but God's still
moving, still moving.
(19:07):
If it made perfect sense, itwouldn't be grace.
And Abraham believed and Abrahamtrusted and it was counted to
(19:28):
him as righteous, asrighteousness, righteousness.
Now here's my question Was thatrighteousness counted to
Abraham because of the strengthand the clarity of his faith?
Was Abraham counted righteousbecause, all throughout this, he
was so strong in his faith?
Well, abraham was strong in hisfaith.
(19:50):
Well, abraham was strong in hisfaith.
But we may be tempted to sayhere well, god surely won't do
gracious things in and throughmy life because I don't have the
faith of Abraham.
I mean, this is a man that whenGod asked him to even climb a
mountain to sacrifice his son,he said yes, sir, this was a man
that left his hometown and wentto a land he didn't know.
(20:14):
This was a man again that, at100 years old, when God said
you're going to be the father ofmany nations, trusted God.
In that moment, god, I've got alittle faith, but I can promise
you it's not the faith ofAbraham.
I looked at the clock and ittold me we've got time.
So Adie Carson, in a sermon,says this I love this
(20:37):
illustration.
He gives A fictionalillustration about two Hebrew
men.
It's the night of the Passoverin Egypt.
The angel of death is going topass through town.
We remember in Exodus there'san announcement of ten plagues.
(20:57):
The tenth one, the angel ofdeath, will pass through town.
The firstborn son of every homewill pass away unless the blood
of the lamb is over the door.
Pass away unless the blood ofthe lamb is over the door.
And these two fictional Hebrewmen are talking to each other
earlier in that day and one saysto the other are you a little
nervous about tonight?
(21:18):
I mean this angel of death.
It sounds a little intimidating.
It's a little cause for concern.
There's a little anxietyinvolved here.
Are you a little nervous aboutwhat's to come this evening?
And the other man looks backand said I'm not nervous one bit
, I trust God.
I put the blood of the lambover the door and I know my
(21:43):
family is protected.
I did exactly what God says,because I trust God's word
perfectly and nothing can makeme waver.
The blood's on the door.
I'm not worried one bit.
The other guy says it's okay.
Well, don't get me wrong.
I also put the blood over thedoor.
I'm not silly.
(22:03):
I put the blood over the door.
But, buddy, you've got threesons, amazing sons.
I've just got little Charlie,and that's all I've got.
And the blood's over the door,but still the angel of death is
passing through.
That doesn't make you a littlenervous about it, even though,
yeah, the blood's there.
The other guy says bring it on,I trust the promises of God.
(22:25):
And then DA Carson asks thisthat night, when the angel of
death passed through, which manlost his firstborn son?
And the answer is this neither.
Because the answer was notfound in the strength and the
(22:49):
clarity and the impressivenature of the faith of the
individual.
It was found in the strength ofthe individual.
It was found in the object offaith.
It was found in the blood ofthe lamb.
If you're ever nervous, that ismy faith, like Abraham's or
David's or Moses or anybody else.
(23:10):
Listen, I am too.
But the reality is, at the endof the day, we are saved and we
are kept because of the objectof our faith.
We don't have faith in faith.
We have faith in God, who isable to do what only he can do,
and the object of our faith isable to sustain us.
And throughout our life, I praythat our faith increases more
(23:31):
and more.
I'm not calling for justelementary faith throughout our
lives, but I'm just telling youwe are saved by an object of our
faith and as we come into thatrelationship more and more, let
us let faith increase all thedays of our lives.
If it all made perfect sense, itwouldn't be grace.
(23:52):
If we could work for it, itwouldn't be grace.
But I want to end on this If itweren't for Christ, there
couldn't be grace.
Want to end on this.
If it weren't for Christ, therecouldn't be grace, verse 22,.
But the words it was counted tohim were not written for his
sake alone, but for ours also.
It will be counted to us whobelieve in him, who raised from
(24:14):
the dead Jesus, our Lord, whowas delivered up for our
trespasses and raised for ourjustification.
Paul looks towards a room ofbelievers at the church of Rome
and says guess what?
These words that were writtenfor Abraham?
It was counted to him asrighteous because of his faith
(24:36):
and belief in who, in the object, in God.
Those weren't just written forAbraham, those are written for
you as well.
Abraham's story can be yourstory.
Why?
Because of Jesus Christ.
Because God has sent his sonverse 25 again who was delivered
up for our trespasses, took oursin upon himself and raised for
(24:57):
our justification Justification, a word we looked at a few
weeks back, that point in timewhere we are counted righteous
before God.
Why?
Because of the finished work ofChrist.
This is what Christ has doneand therefore the words to
Abraham that in faith, throughgrace, you can be counted
righteous, are the same wordsthat God speaks over us if we
(25:20):
have that same faith in theobject of our faith, jesus
Christ the righteous.
I love reading biographies,hearing about the lives of
incredible individuals.
I love at times, whether it's adocumentary or something about
history.
I just want to hear the storyabout certain individuals.
(25:45):
You can read all kinds ofbiographies about impressive
individuals.
It could be ancient individuals, it could be Martin Luther, it
could be Winston Churchill, itcould be a president, it could
be this, that or the other.
But hearing the stories it'sfascinating.
Even reading fiction, thesestories they're just fascinating
(26:09):
, even if they're not true.
The mental pictures in ourminds, the way we create the
story in our heads, the way wehave every character figured out
in our mind, I love that.
But here's the hard part.
There always comes a last pageEvery biography.
(26:31):
If I want to know about WinstonChurchill, there's a moment
where I read the final page,where the book closes and at the
end of the day, as great as heis, I've got nothing to do with
Winston Churchill.
He doesn't know me, I don'tknow him.
He's not in my family tree, notmy family line.
This maybe a fictional book.
(26:51):
We read a beautiful world wefill our heads with over the
course of multiple books.
I love them greatly, but atsome point the book closes the
story's over and I can't get tothat fictional place.
I really don't have anything todo with those characters and
those people.
There's a disconnect here.
But here's what I love about theWord of God that, as I read
(27:14):
this and experience this andexperience this, if it's true
and I believe it is, becausethis says it is that if you are
in Christ Jesus that you areadopted into the family of God,
(27:39):
that if you are in Christ Jesus,you are adopted into the family
of God, then this isn't ancienthistory, this is your history.
That if you are adopted into thefamily of faith, then this
story is your story.
Then, when you read about thepatriarchs and the forefathers
and New Testament believers,that this is your story, that
(28:02):
this doesn't have to end, butthere is a connection there.
And if you're adopted into thefamily of God, then when you
type in your information to yourspiritualancestrycom and press
enter, this is what comes up.
This is your story, and so thisis true of you.
As Paul said the same thing tothe believers in the church at
(28:25):
Rome, that if they said it ofAbraham, they say it of you that
, if it's true that Abraham wasjustified not by his works, not
by his earning or merit oractions, but simply by grace,
through faith.
If that was said of Abraham, itcan be said of you that now this
(28:49):
story is your story, this lifeis your life, and you can be one
who is counted righteous beforea holy God, not based on works
or effort, but based on the son,not based on your faith in your
(29:11):
own faith, making it asimpressive as it can be, so you
can believe enough and trustenough, and then you will have
arrived, no, no, no, your faithin the object of our faith,
jesus Christ the righteous.
I want to encourage you thismorning, If you've been a
believer for decades or you'regoing to become a believer in
(29:35):
about one minute, that thisstory is your story, this life
is your life, this faith is yourfaith, or can be your faith.
And when the next time somelittle child sings Father
Abraham had many sons and thenthey say I'm one of them and so
(30:00):
are you, you look at them andyou say you're right about that,
because, just like Abraham, I'mcounted righteous.
Let's pray, lord Jesus, thankyou for your word, thank you for
the fact that we can be countedrighteous before a holy God.
(30:21):
Not by works, god if it wereworks, we couldn't get there but
by grace.
I thank you, lord.
I pray even now.
If there's one that wants tocome down front and talk with me
about coming to know Jesus forthe first time, I pray they
would.
I'd love to introduce them.
If there's one that just needsto come pray at this altar,
(30:44):
maybe on their own, maybe theyneed to bring someone with them,
maybe they need a pastor topray over them, I pray that they
would.
If there's one, if there's afamily that needs to join this
church, I pray they would comebe part of this faith family.
But, lord, however, we need torespond.
Let us do it now as we continuein worship In Christ's name,
(31:05):
amen.
Would you stand now and I'll bedown front if you'd like to
come.
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