Well, if you were following along
with Randy there, just mark that. We'll refer back to that passage
later on in the message. And turn in your Bibles to Romans
chapter 4. That's where my text is today. Romans chapter 4. I've been preaching a series
of messages founded on Psalm 9 and verse 16, which goes like
this. The Lord is known by the judgment
he executes. The wicked is snared by the work
of his own hands. Now that series of messages is
entitled, Known by Judgment. The Lord makes Himself known.
He has to make Himself known. We don't know Him by nature.
If He doesn't reveal Himself to us, we won't ever know Him.
And that verse and many others say he's known by the judgment
he executes. And so I've already preached
a couple of messages in this series. It's been a while back,
and I know I can't hardly remember them, so I know y'all don't remember
them. I'm not expecting you to do that. Every message will stand
on its own. It will be a gospel message of
its own right. They all tie together on that
common basis. I already preached one message
on God's punishment of sin, that first judgment by which He's
known. He executes judgment in the punishment
of sin when He sent Christ to the cross, bearing the sins of
His people, bearing the sins of His elect charged to Him.
And he judged him there. He poured out his wrath on him
there, as he would have on us had we not had a substituting
Savior who would bear our sins for us. So he executed that judgment,
and he's known by that judgment. Today, we already looked in the
10 o'clock hour at the second message in that series, and it
was about God justifying the ungodly. That's another judgment
by which God makes himself known. He justifies ungodly sinners.
And in that first hour, we looked at who God justifies. Ungodly. We'll talk about that some in
the message some more. But right now, we're going to
be looking at the basis, the ground of that justification.
How can God who must do right, a just God. How can he declare
righteous sinners who by nature and by practice are altogether
ungodly? How can he do that? What's the basis? This message
is about that series. If we If you're in Romans 4,
I'm going to quote a few things here from a passage in Romans
3, so you're right there. If you want to look back, you
can. Romans 3 and verse 11 says, there's none that seek after
God. As I said earlier, we don't know
God by nature. We don't know Him unless He reveals
Himself. None of us by nature seeks or inquires into the God
of the Bible. Now, we're seeking after, we're
inquiring into a God. But according to this verse and
many others in the scriptures, not one of us is seeking after
the true and living God, not by nature. None of us is inquiring
into the God who justifies the ungodly. So upon what basis does
God justify such sinners? This message, as I said, is about
how God justifies, upon what basis. Now the example is Romans
4, is the patriarch Abraham. Now, everybody knows a lot about
Abraham. Abraham was a man of faith. Abraham
left Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham went into a strange land
and sojourned. Bill's been preaching from Hebrews
11 about Abraham. We know something about Abraham.
But today we're going to be looking at upon what basis did God justify
Abraham? Was it on the basis of Abraham's
works? Or was it on some other basis?
And I'll show you from the context of Romans 4 that God justified
Abraham on the basis of imputed righteousness. God reckoned,
accounted, imputed to Abraham the righteousness that Christ
the Messiah would come in time and establish. He hadn't come
yet. He hadn't established this righteousness in time. And yet,
God justified Abraham on the basis of his righteousness imputed.
He counted him not guilty, but righteous in his sight on that
basis alone. In this series of messages, we've
already seen that it was right, it was just for God to punish
Christ, His holy, harmless, undefiled Son, for the sins of His elect
imputed to them. Christ died for the punishment
of sin. He went to the cross to bear
the just punishment, the legal guilt, that His people deserved,
and which would have fallen on us had it not been for Christ's
work. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, God made Him to be sin, who knew
no sin, that we should be made the righteousness of God in Him.
That one who knew no sin, God made sin. He charged Christ with
sin. And Christ went to the cross
to answer those charges. He was there to pay the debt
of punishment His people deserved and owed. He was there because
God is just. He was there because a just God
punishes sin. Now God was just to punish Christ
for those sins accounted to Him. And as we saw in an earlier message
today, God is right to declare those same sinners, the ones
Christ died for, the ones Christ was delivered up for, God is
just to declare those same sinners not guilty, but righteous in
His sight. These are sinners. who by nature
don't know God, don't follow God, don't worship God, yet God
is just to declare these same ungodly sinners righteous in
his sight. Now, upon what basis is God able
to do such an astounding amazing thing. This is the amazing testimony
of the Bible from beginning to end right here. How can God be
just and yet justify ungodly sinners? And I already told you
it's on the basis of imputed righteousness. God was just to
punish Christ because the sins of the sinners He was given was
imputed to Him and He's just to justify these same ungodly
sinners on the basis of Christ's righteousness imputed to them.
Now that's what it says of Abraham If we look now in Romans 4, verses
1 and 2. Romans 4, 1. What shall we say
then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath
found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. The subject of Romans 4 is Abraham's
justification before God based on the work of the coming Messiah.
His righteousness reckoned or imputed to him. That's the subject
of Romans 4. It starts out if Abraham were
justified by his works. If he were, then Abraham would
have something to glory or boast in. He'd have something to brag
about if he were justified by his works. But, it says, not
before God. Abraham had no works to boast
in before God. He had no works to brag about. Abraham had done nothing that
caused God to bless him with justification. Look on in Romans
4, 3. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now that word interpreted, counted
right here, is also in this same context, it's interpreted reckoned,
it's interpreted imputed. So anytime you see that's the
same word be interpreted different ways. It's a legal term. It's
an accounting term. It's taking the merit of one
and accounting it to another. That's what it is, imputed. And
the verse says, it was counted to him for righteousness. Now
you know as well as I do that volumes of literature have been
written about that word, that one little two letter word there,
it. What is that? What is it? What it isn't? But
let's just deal with the facts in the context of Romans 4 right
here and other scriptures that support what's being taught here.
Something was counted to Abraham. Something was imputed to Abraham.
And whatever that something was is the basis of Abraham's justification
before God. Here's the immediate question.
What was counted? What was reckoned? What was imputed
to Abraham that enabled God to justify him and to justify him
while he was yet ungodly? What was imputed to Abraham that
enabled God to declare him not guilty but righteous in his sight? Now let's don't speculate on
this answer because it says, what saith the scripture? And
that's what we want to stick to. What does the scripture say
about this subject? Read on in verse 4. Now to him
that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If you work to get it, the reward
you get is because you earned it. You worked for it. It's not
reckoned of grace. It's not yours by grace. It's
yours by debt. You deserve it because you earned
it. But, verse 5, to him that worketh
not, but believes on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Now back in verse 3, we saw that
it was counted to Abraham for righteousness. Here we say that
it described as faith. Abraham's faith was counted for
righteousness. Now this has to be one of two
things. We can narrow this down to one of two things. It has
to be Abraham's believing, his looking, his personal, inward,
subjective faith. He did something. God blessed
him because of what he did. What he did caused God to bless
him. He believed and God blessed him because he believed. It has
to be that. Or, it has to be who Abraham
was looking to. It has to be the object of Abraham's
faith. What Christ did that caused God
to bless him. The cause is either Abraham's
believing or Abraham's looking to Christ alone for salvation. Now I'm going to give you five
reasons from this context why this cannot be Abraham's inner,
personal, subjective faith. That's not what was counted to
him for righteousness. Any one of these reasons would
discount Abraham's personal faith, his subjective faith. But we're
going to see five reasons here. First, see that the faith spoken
of here, that one that was counted to Abraham for righteousness,
it couldn't be his subjective faith because that faith is a
gift of God. It's a gift given to every regenerate
sinner. Subjective faith cannot be and
is never imputed. Philippians 1.9 reads this way,
for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to
believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. See, that faith
is a gift. And Ephesians 2.8 and 9, of which
we're all familiar, for by grace are you saved through faith,
that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. That faith is never imputed. That faith is always a gift.
That's the gift the Holy Spirit gives a sinner who's already
justified. And he gives him that faith on
the basis of that justification he has in Christ alone. So that's
the first reason. This can't be Abraham's personal
faith. The second reason. In the scriptures, subjective
faith is never the cause of God's blessing. God never blesses a
sinner because that sinner does anything, even believing. Subjective
faith is itself a blessing from God. It's always, that subjective
faith is always the fruiting and result of having already
been blessed of God in Christ. Justification then must precede
all spiritual blessings. Therefore, it must precede the
faith it produces. John 3.36 says, He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. A sinner doesn't have life because
he believes. No, it's to the contrary. He
believes because God has already given him life on the basis of
Christ's work accounted to him. His believing is the fruit and
the evidence of this blessing in this life. Number three reason. This can't be speaking of Abraham's
personal faith. Because the faith that is counted
for righteousness is the faith of him that worketh not. Now,
let's consider who he's talking about right here. He's talking
about a sinner who has been delivered from what that sinner started
out in. He's talking about a man being
delivered from trying to work out his own righteousness, from
trying to work his favor with God based on his obedience. He's
talking about a man being delivered from trying to do something that
will cause God to bless him. Now, who does this? Which of
us does something which we think will make us acceptable to God?
Have you ever done that? I've done it. The scripture answer
to that question, the scriptural answer is all of us by nature
have done this. All are born dead in trespasses
and sin. All are born ungodly, not knowing
God, not following God, not worshiping God. All are ignorant of God's
righteousness. And all are automatically going
about to establish a righteousness of our own. Not one of us by
nature is following after a just God and Savior. Now, to deny
that you do this or have done this That makes you the exception. You know, Bill said, don't make
yourself that exception. I'm the exception to the rule.
No, that's a rule of scripture. We all start out not seeking
the God of the Bible, not looking to, but trying to work out our
own salvation by our obedience to the law. So don't make yourself
the exception here. To deny that you do this is to
give evidence that you are yet counted among the ungodly. All right. The Scripture says
we all do this. Why do we do this? Why would
anybody do this? Why do we do something to gain
the favor of God? Well, we all do this because
we have an insufficient Savior in our mind. That's why we do
it. We all do this because by nature we don't know the Savior
whose death got the job done. We don't know the Savior whose
death saved every sinner He died for and ensures their full salvation
and final glory. We don't know the Savior declared
in the Gospel. We don't know God's way of salvation. And here's the scriptural answer
to the question, why do we do this? We all do this because
we are ignorant of God's righteousness. Paul the Apostle states it this
way in Romans 10. You're right there in 4, you
flip over to Romans 10 and look at verse 1. Paul says, Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. He's talking about his kinsmen
in the flesh here. My prayer is that they might be saved.
For I bear them record, they have the zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Now, Paul is speaking here about Israel, his kinsmen. in the flesh,
but he's speaking of them as an example of every zealously
religious sinner in every generation since Adam. In ignorance of God's
righteousness, all are trying to work ourselves into God's
favor. Who does it? We all do. Why do
we do it? We're ignorant of Christ and
the righteousness he worked out by his death on the cross. Now,
why will a man cease from trying to find favor with God? Why will
he cease from doing that? Why will a sinner stop going
about to establish a righteousness of their own? Why will he stop
working, trying to work his way into God's favor? There's only
one reason. Now there are many reasons why
a sinner will continue on in this work. Religious pride, self-righteousness,
self-love, many reasons. But there's only one reason why
a sinner will stop trying to work his or her way into God's
favor. It's because that sinner has entered into God's rest. That sinner has been made willing
in the day of God's power. That sinner has been taught of
God. God has taught him of His righteousness. He sees that Christ is the end
of the law, the fulfilling of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believes. That sinner now worketh not as
Abraham. He worketh not. but is delivered
from working. He will cease from his work because
God has taught him about the God who justifies the ungodly
on the basis of Christ's righteousness imputed alone. A sinner ceases
from working to establish his own righteousness when and only
when he finds all the righteousness he needs in Christ and his imputed
righteousness. when Christ becomes to him the
end, the finishing, fulfilling of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. Now, this is not a sinner who
just believes, just believes something. This is a sinner who
believes something specific. This is a sinner who believes
God's gospel, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. This is a
sinner who rests in the imputed righteousness of Christ for all
of salvation. This is that sinner who worketh
not, as it says of Abraham here. So that's the third reason why
this can't be Abraham's personal faith. Because whatever he was
looking to, it caused him to stop working for salvation and
rest in Christ alone. The fourth reason, the faith
that's counted for righteousness is the faith of one who believes
on him that justifies the ungodly. Now, this is a radical change
of mind right here. It's radical. It's a radical
change from the natural mind, all of us by nature, who, according
to the Scriptures, will not receive the things of the Spirit of God
that are freely given. They won't receive them. This
is a radical change from a Savior and a God who saves only those
sinners who do their part. Well, Christ died for you, but
you need to walk an aisle. Shake a hand. Get right. Start
studying. Start coming to church. Whatever.
Put anything in there. If there's anything added to
the death of Christ, it's salvation by works. This is a sinner here. The one who believes in a God
who justifies the ungodly. This is a sinner who not only
finds all the righteousness he needs in the imputed righteousness
of Christ, but it's one who repents of any notion of any prior righteousness. He repents of any righteousness
he thought he had prior to the gospel. He repents of any righteousness
he thought he had prior to that righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel. He repents of the righteousness
he thought he had prior to learning and submitting to Christ's righteousness
established by his obedience unto death. Now that means that
God justified Abraham. It means he justified me. It
means he justified you if you're justified. He justified all who
are justified while we were still yet ungodly. Whatever we know
about Abraham's faith, We know that Abraham believed in the
God who justified him while he was still ungodly. God didn't
wait for Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees. He was a priest,
I think, in the Ur of the Chaldees. He was a worshiper. But God didn't
wait for him to leave that ungodly worship to justify him. He didn't
wait for Abraham to believe in that promised seed that he had
learned about through whom all the nations of the earth would
be blessed to justify him. God didn't wait for Abraham to
do anything in order to declare him not guilty, but righteous
in his sight. He didn't wait for Abraham to
do anything in order to justify it. He justified him along with
every other sinner who was justified while he did not know God, follow
God, or worship God. He justified him, in other words,
while he was still ungodly. When a sinner believes on him
who justifies the ungodly, he leaves the God who justified
him based on anything else, whatever else you might have thought.
And he turns to the God who justifies him although there is no just
cause in him. He's ungodly. What cause could
there be in an ungodly sinner for God to justify? None is the
answer. There could be none. And he leaves
that God who justified, the one before he knew about a God who
justifies the ungodly, and he turns to the one who justifies
him based on Christ imputed alone. Again, only a view of Christ,
the object of true faith, which Abraham had true faith, and a
view of the just God and Savior who sent him to establish righteousness
can affect such a radical change of mind. So again, not Abraham's
inner subjective faith, but the object of his faith was what
imputed to him. I have one more reason why this
faith by which Abraham was counted righteous could not be subjective
faith, and I'm going to delay that for just a few minutes here
until the end of the message. Now, let's turn to the reason.
Let's turn to the cause. Let's turn to the basis for God
doing this astounding work that we're talking about, justifying
the ungodly. God must do right. Those he justifies
are ungodly. They're sinners who by nature
don't know God, follow God, or worship God. Now, upon what basis
can God declare such sinners not guilty, but righteous in
his sight? The reason, the basis for God
justifying any sinner is because he counts that sinner. He judges that sinner. He declares
that sinner to be unchangeably righteous in his sight. Now how
can sinners, especially ungodly sinners, how can such sinners
be counted righteous in God's sight? The Bible knows but two
ways for sinners to be righteous, just two ways, narrow it down,
works in grace, it's stated that way sometimes. The Bible declares
two ways of righteousness. The first of these ways is that
righteousness which is of the law. God declared this way to
Adam all the way back in the garden. He told Adam, he said,
you can eat freely of all the trees in the garden. Eat freely
of all except that one, the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. Eat freely. In other words, do what I command
you and live by your doing. Now the Bible reiterates this
command, this first declaration of righteousness. It reiterates
this command many times throughout the Old Testament. And Paul quotes
one of those passages in Romans 10. Look at Romans 10, 5. For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. In other words, if a man does
what the law says, he'll live by his doing. He doesn't have
to worry about wrath from God. He doesn't have to worry about
death. He'll live by his doing. Do what the law commands and
live by your doing. But there's another part to God's
command to Adam back in the garden. He said, of any tree you want
to, except that one, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely
die." In other words, disobey and die. And the Bible is abundantly
clear that the way of seeking righteousness by law is a certain
eternal death. Let me quote you three verses
here that say that in such a way that we can't misinterpret it.
Romans 3.20. Therefore, by the deeds of law
shall no flesh be justified in God's sight, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. Galatians 2 and verse 21, I do
not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Galatians 3 and verse
10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone that continues not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Righteousness by the law is a way of righteousness revealed
in this Word. A sinner could be righteous by
what he or she does if they keep the law perfectly and continually,
if they do what the law commands. But the Bible is just as clear
You can't get there that way. Sinners can't get there that
way. No sinner since Adam before the
fall has or will obey the law with the perfection it requires
for righteousness. All have sinned. We sinned in
Adam. And all continually come short
of the glory of God. We continually come short of
any obedience by which God would be honored to declare us righteous. That's what that means, continually
come short. That's why the gospel is good news to sinners given
eyes to truly see what the law demands. It demands perfection,
continual perfection. And the gospel is good news to
those sinners who see their utter inability to measure up to that
law's standard. It's good news because the gospel
reveals another, the other way. I said there were two ways. First
is by the law. But that other way of righteousness
is the one I'm interested in. It's the one I want to tell you
about. The gospel reveals a righteousness that is totally separate from
the ungodly sinners who are benefactors of it. These sinners don't deserve
to be saved. They don't do anything to establish
this righteousness. They don't do anything to obtain
this righteousness. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation because it always reveals the righteousness
of God. The gospel always reveals the
righteousness that is by the faith or the faithfulness of
Christ. And it always reveals that one righteousness as the
only way God can be just and justify an ungodly sinner in
his sight. Look back at Romans 3 in verse
21. Having stated that by the deeds
of law shall no flesh be justified, for by law is the knowledge of
sin, Paul writes here the other righteousness. He writes about
that other righteousness, verse 21. But now, the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law in
the prophets. That's the righteousness of God
without the law, without a sinner's obedience to the law. And it's
witnessed by the law and the prophets. The Old Testament law,
the law of Moses, in picture and type, it declared this righteousness
for 1,500 years. And the prophets told their people
about this righteousness. But this righteousness is, verse
22, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith or faithfulness
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. This
is the righteousness that Christ became incarnate to establish.
This is the righteousness that He established by His obedience
unto death on the cross. And it's preached out unto all.
It's unto all who hear the gospel. It's preached out to them. And
it's upon all. It's imputed to all that believe,
for there is no difference. If you held your place in Galatians,
that scripture that Brother Randy read, look back at verse 16. Galatians 2.16. knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith
or faithfulness of Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. In Galatians 3.8 it says that
God preached the gospel unto Abraham saying, in thee shall
all nations of the earth be blessed. And Abraham believed God. That's
what Romans 4 says. Abraham believed God. Abraham
believed that God would give him a physical seed, which is
Isaac. Abraham believed that through
Isaac, God would give him a spiritual seed, which is Christ. Abraham
believed that Christ, the Messiah who was promised to come, would
make an end of sin and bring in everlasting righteousness.
And Abraham believed that God would eternally bless him and
all his spiritual seed, those of every kindred, tongue, tribe,
and nation based on Christ's righteousness and purity to them.
So it's not the believing, not the subjective faith of Abraham,
but the object of his faith. What Christ would do when he
came. His righteousness that was imputed
to Abraham for righteousness. What Christ would do to enable
God to justify the ungodly is what was counted to Abraham.
The merit of Christ's whole work of mediation. The righteousness
by which God would bless all nations of the earth is what
was imputed to Abraham. Christ said of Abraham, Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and he was glad. Abraham
believed that the blessed of God are those to whom God imputes
righteousness without works. That's what our text, Romans
4, says of Abraham. Look back at Romans 4 and verse
6. Now, as I said in the opening
remarks here, when I read Psalm 32, Paul is quoting Psalm 32
here, part of it, and I told you that he didn't write anything
about imputed righteousness, but when the Apostle wrote this
in Romans 4 here concerning that passage, he said, David is describing
something here when he wrote what he wrote in Psalm 32. And
here's what he's describing, verse 6. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. The sinner who stops working
and looks to the God who justifies the ungodly does so because God
has reckoned to him. He's counted to him. He's imputed
to him the righteousness Christ worked out on the cross. And if we go on to verse 7, Romans
4, 7, David writes on saying, Blessed are those whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. He's imputed righteousness
to the elect of God. He's imputed righteousness to
those Christ represented on the cross. And he will not ever,
for any reason, impute sin to that sinner. God has counted,
He has reckoned, He has imputed the Christ's whole work of mediation
to a multitude of sinners out of Adam's fallen race. That's
why Christ came. That's why he became incarnate.
That's why he joined infinite deity and sinless humanity in
order to establish that one righteousness by which God could justify the
ungodly. And that's what every regenerate
sinner in every generation believes. He finds all the righteousness
he needs in the obedience unto death of Christ. In other words,
he stops trying to make himself righteous in God's sight. That
righteousness by works, he stops that. And he rests in Christ's
work for all of salvation. And he believes in the God who
justifies him based on that righteousness imputed alone. In other words,
he repents of any so-called righteousness he had before he learned of the
God who justifies sinners by Christ's work alone. Now I said
I had one more reason why faith, the inward personal faith of
Abraham, could not be what was imputed to him here, and I want
to talk about that reason right now. If none of the others have
clinched it for you, I told you any one of them would exclude
it, but if none of the others have clinched it, this one should.
The last reason this can't be talking about Abraham's subjective
faith counted to him is because that exact same faith that was
counted to Abraham for righteousness is counted to others also. It's
imputed to others as well. This blessing spoken of Abraham
here, justification, by Christ's imputed righteousness, it's not
just to the circumcised Jews of Paul's day, it's also to the
uncircumcised Gentiles. Look at Romans 4 and verse 9.
Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or
upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness." The blessing here is justification.
It's justification before God. Him declaring you not guilty
but righteous based on Christ's righteousness alone. That's the
blessing. Now does this blessing come upon Jews only? Or Gentiles
also. Look only at verse 10. How was
this reckoned to Abraham? How then? How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or
in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. Was righteousness reckoned? Was
it imputed to Abraham after he was circumcised or before? Not
after, but before. Verse 11, And Abraham received
a sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had, yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of
all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that
righteousness might be imputed to them also. and 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 being yet uncircumcised. Now if we stick with the context
here of this verse and this passage, those words You see some words
there in verse 11, he had yet in italics, that means the translators
added those words. And there's really nothing wrong
with that translation, but if you stick with the context, it
would be just as well to say that this way. He received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which was imputed
to him before he was circumcised, that he might be the father of
all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that
that same righteousness that was imputed to Abraham might
be imputed to them as well. It's the righteousness without
works that's imputed to the blessed man. It's the righteousness by
which God justifies the ungodly sinners, that righteousness found
in the gospel. And it's that righteousness that
was imputed to Abraham. He's talking about that same
righteousness that was imputed to Abraham being imputed to every
sinner in every generation who believes like Abraham. That the
righteousness of the faith might be imputed unto them also, as
well. Abraham here is a type. He's
a type of a sinner justified by imputed righteousness. These
things spoken of Abraham in Romans 4 are spoken of him specifically. but they're true of every believer
in every generation, typically. In other words, the way God justified
Abraham based on Christ's righteousness imputed to him, that's the way
he justifies every believing sinner in every generation. The
apostle verifies this further at the end of the chapter. Look
at Romans 4 and verse 23. Now it was not written for Abraham's
sake alone that it was imputed to Abraham. Something was written
concerning Abraham. Something was written with regard
to Abraham. What was written? That the righteousness
Christ the Messiah would bring in was imputed to him. That was
written of Abraham. But it wasn't written concerning
Abraham exclusively. It was written for others also,
verse 24. all that was written concerning
Abraham, that righteousness, that righteousness of Christ
imputed to him, it was written for us also, to whom that same
righteousness shall be imputed, that shall, there's not a future
event, but it just means it's certain to be imputed to every
believing sinner in every generation. and you see an if there. Now
that sounds like that righteousness will be imputed if we believe
like Abraham. If we do it, then God will impute
that righteousness. But that's not the context of
this passage and that's not the teaching of the scriptures. That
if is really not in the translation. It should be seeing We believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Because that's
what regenerate sinners do in every generation. They believe
on the God who justifies the ungodly. They believe on the
God that causes them to stop trying to work out their own
righteousness and rest in the imputed righteousness of Christ
alone. That's what every believer in every generation does. The
object of Abraham's faith was Christ, the promised seed, the
Messiah, which God declared to him in the gospel. The righteousness
he rested in was the one Christ would establish by his obedience
unto death on the cross. God justified Abraham on the
basis of Christ's righteousness imputed to him. Abraham believed
God. He believed the gospel. He rested
his whole salvation in the righteousness of that one to come. And that's
what every believing sinner does in every generation. Because
those whom God justifies are those justified on the basis
of imputed righteousness. The Lord is known by the judgment
He executes. He justifies the ungodly. These ungodly are justified on
the basis of Christ's imputed righteousness alone. Now how
do you know who they are? If He justifies the ungodly,
and by nature we all look like everybody else. We're religious,
we're zealous, we're going about. How do you know who they are?
How do you know who the justified are? Well, in the next message,
I want to talk about how you can know that. He delivers his
people from their ungodliness. So he sits them under the gospel.
He declares Christ unto them. He shows them that imputed righteousness. And he brings them out of what
their mind was fixed on and fixes their mind on Christ and Christ
alone.