The first three chapters of Romans
Paul establishes very clearly that we have no hope of righteousness
in ourselves even if we are associated with the Jews, even if we are
zealous religious people. It has nothing to do with our
own activities. He declares us all, all flesh
in Romans 23, to have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. But there is an issue that he's
dealing with here in Romans as we have been led to deal with
in Galatians when we fell in Adam. Within our nature we were
drawn to perceive things carnally. to look at things externally,
to be impressed by things externally, to consider that the way or the
inside track with God was through our own morality and our own
performance of religious deeds. And this is the fault of Peter
in Galatians that we've already looked at, that he looked externally
and he was impressed with the religion of the Jews and, in
a sense, He was drawn and drew others to consider that there's
something better in the activities of men. And so Paul declares in verse
28 of Romans 3 a conclusion. He says, therefore we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is He the God of the Jews only?
Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles
also, seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision
by faith and uncircumcision through faith. And the question then is, is
there a purpose for the law? And he says in verse 31, do we
then make void the law through faith? His answer, the Holy Spirit's
answer to us, is God forbid. Yea, we established the law and
it's through our faith. See the activities of men in
no way can earn them any merit before God. The only way to attain
to the righteousness by which we desperately need to enter
the Kingdom and the presence of our God is by somehow accessing
the perfect righteousness of Christ. And the way that God
has designed that is through faith and not through any legal
or religious or moral wisdom or activities. And so he brings
us to this same example that we've come to in Galatians. And
there's a sense we cut and paste this whole chapter and put it
in brackets behind verse 6 of Galatians 3 because it's a great
explanation. And we're going to look at it
in two parts today. The first part of the explanation
is just the complete and absolute declaration that salvation is
completely apart. from any merits or any activities
of men. And so, as throughout the scriptures,
Abraham is used as an example. He serves us really well here.
His relationship with God, as we've seen over the last couple
of weeks, serves us really well to guide us, to cause us to look
at what true Christian life is about. So let's begin in verse
1 of chapter 4. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? You see he uses the word flesh,
but what we're really talking about is the religion of men. For if Abraham were justified
by works, He hath whereof to glory, but not before God." We're told so often that the
flesh of man is as grass, and the glory of man is as the flower
of grass. Now, where I live at the moment,
there's a lot of grass, and it's that time of the year when we
mow, we see the flower of the grass raise its head above the
cut grass. And it's amazing how insignificant
that flower is. It's a hair. It's a white hair. And the sun hits it and it's
so fragile that it burns off as quick as it rises up. Our religion is a void, brothers
and sisters, unless it's founded in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
a vapour. It dissipates as quick as it
rises up and there might be reason before our brothers and sisters,
there might be a reason before men to be esteemed to some degree
because of the way we treat them and the way we act towards them,
but not before God. Salvation doesn't depend at all
on the activities of men. For what sayeth the scripture,
Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That is the way, the one way
by which we access the necessary righteousness. Now to him that
worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." See, there's a sense where they're mutually
exclusive. You either turn to the law and take your chances
with the law, or you turn to Christ. And that's what had happened
in the Galatians. Their attention had been drawn
away from looking to Christ to looking to themselves and to
their own activities and the activities of a religious institute. Even as David also described
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness
without works, completely void of works. As we saw last week,
it's just another example of the way the saints live by faith. Our Father Abraham is in a sense
the father of the faithful. He is a pattern. His life is
a pattern and God's dealings with him are a pattern of the
way God saves men. But notice what David's concerned
with in this next couple of verses. He says, he begins by saying,
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. As righteous as we feel our religion
is and as righteous as we look upon others and consider them
to be, Isaiah 64 tells us that even our most righteous works
are filthy rags. They are sin before our God. The issue is not what do we do
with our righteousness. The issue is what God will do
with our unrighteousness. Cometh this blessedness then
upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say..." Now, no doubt
Paul's saying this, and no doubt those brethren with him are saying
this, but more importantly, this is what the Holy Spirit is declaring
to us here today. We say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When
he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision. Now what's particularly interesting
here to me is that in Galatians the reference to circumcision
is a reference not to the real purpose of circumcision, but
to the association with the religion that was subject under law and
had perverted it so much that they were declaring and encouraging
others to look to the law as a means of achieving righteousness
before God. But it's a sign, and as we read
on, it's a seal of the righteousness, not of men's activities, not
of works, but of faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised,
and the purpose? that he might be father of all
them that believe though they be not circumcised, that the
righteousness might be imputed to them also, and also that he
might be the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision
only but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father
Abraham which he had been yet uncircumcised." We are going
to sing a song, but I just want to leave you with that first
part and ask you to think about how clear a case Paul has made
there. No matter how much we are encouraged
by our flesh to look back at others and to esteem others in
regard to their salvation, based on their wisdom or their strengths. No matter how much we are encouraged
or drawn away by others to somehow add to salvation through our
own righteous or moral activities. Consider that argument there.
It's very clear. God so often states these things
very clearly for his people. It's amazing. how great the delusion
is for people to miss these things. It's established that salvation is apart from
works, no matter how religious, how moral they are. But as is
the case so often with the Holy Spirit, He not only declares
such a thing, He gives us the reasons and He makes them clear. My reading of this, we have nine
reasons given to us in this second half. Nine reasons that explain
why God has done or made salvation in such a way. Nine reasons why
our father Abraham is a wonderful example and an example for us
to consider and contemplate and to follow. Verse 13, for the
promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to
Abraham, nor to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. For if they which are of the
law be heirs, and this is the first reason, faith is made void,
and the promise is made of no effect. Ultimately, as we read in Galatians
3, Christ died in vain if there's another way to be saved. God's
word of promise then becomes a lie if salvation is through
legal activities. And that's any part of salvation. Some say all of salvation is
an activity of man, of his wisdom and his works. Many very subtly
say that it's something that we add to, to gain some kind
of reward. All of salvation must be based
on the finished work of Christ, or we make God a liar. Because the law works wrong,
and this is the second reason. Those that turn to the Law, as
we will see as Galatians unfolds, are committed to the Law completely
and absolutely. They have turned away from the
grace that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ and they are wholly,
solely dependent on their own performance before the Law. But
the law was never ever given, ever given, to bring righteousness,
to prove, to provide righteousness through the activities of men. For where no law is, there is
no transgression. We must be saved apart from the
law or the law will continue to accuse us. Therefore, it is of faith that
it might be by grace." There's the third reason. And the fourth
reason, to the end, the promise might be sure to all the seed. Not to that only which is of
the law, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. There is no security in legal
activities of men. We fall just as much into salvation
according to the theories as we fall out, based completely
on our performance. And you know your own performance,
brothers and sisters. You know your own hearts, or
something of your own hearts. So that was the fourth reason.
Verse 17, as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations. There's the fifth reason. God's
promise wasn't just to the Jewish nation. It encompassed all nations. Before him who believed, even
God, and this is the sixth reason, who quickened the dead and called
those things which be not as though they were. All of us in
Adam are spiritually dead. Our righteousness, our moral
and religious activities might seem to be something before men, but that's a way of death and
we must be made alive. God must work. He must quicken
our souls and He must cause us by His grace and His strength
to rest completely on our Saviour. Who against hope believed in
hope that He might become the Father of many nations, according
to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And there's
the seventh reason. Salvation is based on the creative
Word of God. It is His prerogative to give
life, to speak life. And the old creation serves us
as a wonderful example. It was by His Word that the world
was created. But it is just that, an example. It's an illustration of the way
God quickens the soul and creates life in His people. the way he
opens ears and opens eyes, that we might see his glory in one
place, in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. Now that was a mistake Peter
did, wasn't it? He looked again toward the flesh. He looked away from Christ. He
looked to the external things. And whether it's the apparent
righteousness of the religious world or whether we look upon
our own sufferings and our own difficulties, it doesn't matter. Wherever we look in this world,
we're looking away from Christ. And that's what's so wonderful
about Abraham, wasn't it? In spite of the difficulties,
in spite of the weakness of his flesh, in spite of the weakness
of Sarah's flesh, he was caused by God to look beyond the things
of this world and to look alone to Christ for all. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief. To look away from Christ and
to look at the things of this world is just another act of
unbelief. But was strong or strengthened
in faith, and was it him who strengthened his faith? Not so. What does it say? Giving
glory to God. And there's the eighth reason.
The salvation of man is designed by God, not for man's glory,
although we will receive His glory, but for God's glory. He's glorified, most glorified
on this earth as best we can perceive in the salvation of
His people. And being fully persuaded and
when God acts, his people are fully persuaded. And it's amazing
to consider that phrase, fully persuaded, because it actually
then encompasses and directs and guides all of our lives. Being fully persuaded that what
he had promised, what God had promised, he was also able to
perform. And here in verse 22 we have
a conclusion in a sense to this argument or this discussion. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Faith was imputed to him for
righteousness. Now I said there were nine reasons
and in the end of this chapter we have the last reason. and
the reason why we are directed to Abraham, and the reason why
we are directed to look away, and the Galatians were directed
to look away, and even Peter was directed to look away from
the religion of this world and the abilities of men, and to
look back at Christ. Now it was not written, these
scriptures are not written for His sake alone that it was
imputed to Him. But also for us, to whom it shall
be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead." And it's easy for people there to put
a condition on men. See, it's about our will, our
choice, our faith. But brothers and sisters, we've
just read that it's necessary for God to work in us to believe
and for God to continue to refine that faith and strengthen that
faith. And here in this last verse we
have the great foundation of our faith, the reason that we're
gathered here today. This is our Lord that we're talking
about. who was delivered for our offences, our, the saints, all those children
of Abraham, all those elect of God, our offences, every sin that
we've ever committed. The sin we committed when we
were conceived, every single sin, even the sin of our last
breath in our old man. Every sin, sins in religion,
sins in ignorance, open sin, every sin of every child of God,
past, present and future, were removed from us and were laid
on our Saviour. They were judged in Him They
were condemned in Him and they were left in the grave by Him. And He was raised again for our
justification. And it was in His resurrection
that our Father declared that it was acceptable, that His work
was satisfactory. that all the sins of all the
children of God had been left in the grave were as far from
God and His perfect, acute, righteous sight as the East is from the
West. Again, as I said, this is why
we are gathered here today, to rejoice in Him and to worship
Him. Heavenly Father, we are so pathetic
in this world. We are so weak and we are so
frail and we are so given and drawn to look away from our Saviour
and to look again at ourselves and to judge ourselves and to
look at ways which are just schemes and scams by which we can make
ourselves righteous before you. Father, it truly is too good
to be true. We need your grace to give us
faith, to strengthen that faith, and to cause us to rest hard,
rest heavily upon the finished work of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, that you will
continue to do that. We thank you so much for Abraham,
and not only Abraham, but the picture that you've woven throughout
your scriptures of the lives of all the saints. But even more
than that, Father, we thank you for your dealings in the lives
of all your saints. Help us to see that their lives,
although the circumstances might be far different to what ours
are, your methods in dealing with them are still the same.
Help us to see, Heavenly Father, that in spite of our own personal
failings, in spite of the many trials and difficulties and tribulations
that we have in this world, both from the hand of Satan, from
men, from the frailty of our bodies and even from our own
wickedness. They have no impact on your perfect
work of salvation. Please continue to remind us
of that Heavenly Father. Cause our souls to be refreshed
as we consider the wonders of Your Grace, not in our activities,
not in our works, not in our religion, but in that one place,
that one glorious place, your dear Son, our great Saviour,
the great King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ. In His name
we pray.