I want to read some of the most
awesome passages of scripture, Romans four, and let's look at
them together. Well, let's begin with verse
one. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh had found? For if Abraham
were justified by works, he hath where to glory, but not before
God. Doesn't that make sense? That just makes sense. If you're
saved by works, you ought to pat yourself on the back. Tell
God how good you are and how you're working your way to heaven.
But you don't have any room to boast before God if you're saved
by what you do. If you're justified by works,
you have square of the glory, but not before God. For what
saith the scripture, Abraham believed God? It doesn't say
Abraham believed in God, it says Abraham believed God. Do you
believe God? I don't mean do you, Say, yeah,
I believe in a God, a higher power. That's not what I'm talking
about. Abraham believed God. Have you believed God the Father?
This is my beloved Son whom I'm well pleased. Trust Him, believe
on Him, come to Him. Salvation's in Him, by Him, through
Him. He's the way, He's the truth,
He's the life. Nobody comes to the Father except
to come by Him. That's what it is to believe
in God. Believe God, yes. And it was
counted unto him for righteousness. What? It doesn't say anything
about him being baptized. We're going to have the Lord's
Supper Sunday. It doesn't say anything about that. It doesn't
say he belongs to the Church of God, the Church of Christ,
the Baptist Church. He believed God. And it was counted
or accredited to his account for righteousness. Believe God. Wow. And I know some of you are
going, that's way too easy. You've got to go to math. You've
got to go to confession. You have to be sprinkled with
water. You have to tithe. You have to
do this. No. Believe God. God says, this is
my boy. Trust him. Believe on him. That's what God says. And when
a person does, it is counted to him for righteousness. Now
watch this. Verse four says, now to him that
worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. I mean,
if you work for salvation, God owes you, right? God owes you. If it's by works, God owes you. But if it's by grace, it's unmerited
favor. The truth is God doesn't owe
you anything. You don't want God to give you
what you deserve. Just remember that. Don't even think about
saying something like that. I just want what I deserve. Don't
worry about it, sissy. You'll get what you deserve.
You don't want what you deserve. You want God's grace and mercy.
All right. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Faith. Trust in Christ. You know, I talked about that
Sunday. Your worst sin is not crack cocaine or heroin. Your
worst sin is you will not come to Christ. You won't believe
on God's Son. You stick your nose up in the
face of a God who gave his only begotten son. Lack of faith is
act of obedience against God, disobedience against God. It's
act of disobedience against God. No, no. I'll go to church, I'll
be sprinkled, immersed, ducked, poured. I'll do any of those
things, but you can't tell me you just go to heaven as a free
gift. Yeah? And by the way, if it's
so easy, why don't you do it? Trusting God is a miracle of
God. Did you know that? For by grace
have you been saved by faith, and that faith not of yourself,
it's a gift of God. God had to give you faith. Say,
well, that doesn't make any sense. I know. But that's what the Bible
says. We're not talking about what
makes sense. We're talking about what God
said. Now watch this. These are wonderful passages.
Verse six. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. Huh? God imputes righteousness. to your account without any works
of your own. You know, like a ledger. All
the debt has been paid, but you're bankrupt still, and then God
imputes righteousness into your account, a perfect righteousness,
a perfect right. And I, when we stand before God,
we're gonna stand before God without spot or wrinkle. Boy,
I got a lot of wrinkles and a lot of spots. When you get old, you
think about your youth and you can go back a long time. You
can't remember what happened two minutes ago, but you can
go back years. A lot of wrinkles. A lot of wrinkles. unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without worth." Hmm. Now watch this. Saying, blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven. Forgiven? God has forgiven you. Forgiven
and forgotten. You know, every day I deal with
myself and with many of you who just cannot get over your past. I would say to you, get over
it. Enter into the gospel and rejoice in the gospel. You're
forgiven. Amen. So, your iniquities are forgiven,
whose sins are covered. I take that to mean they can't
be seen. Now watch this. This is amazing to me. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Huh? Do you sin? All you Christians in here, do
you or don't you? Do you? Of course you do. Those of you
who said no are lying.