If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to Romans 4 as we continue our excursion through the book
of Romans. This has been a wonderful study for me in the book of Romans.
I don't know about you. It's glorious contemplation of
how God is using the Apostle Paul to gradually and incrementally
open up the riches of the gospel of Jesus Christ, salient point
by salient point. helping us understand the doctrine
of the gospel, which is critical to our soul's stability. It's important for you and I
to be able to understand what we say we believe. And therefore
we must labor intensively to comprehend theological truth
around the person and work of Jesus Christ that may initially
be difficult, But nothing good ever lasts that is not at first
difficult. Nothing ever remains that we
don't have to labor for. The Word of God is called a treasure.
It's called rubies. It's called fine jewels and silver
and gold, the riches beyond riches. And God exhorts us to pursue
them with the same kind of vigor a man would as he would mine
for riches in mountains blowing up the rocks that would get in
the way of him or her or them pursuing the treasures of Christ
and so I'm thankful that we are made to slow down and to gaze
upon the work of redemption in Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul
is explaining both to his Gentile audience and his Jewish audience
the importance of what we are now contemplating, and that is
the central focus of the righteousness of God in the person of Jesus
Christ. This is where Paul's aim is right
now, as we learned last week, that God has set forth Jesus
Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. And in that
propitiation, God is declaring or making plain or demonstrating
his righteousness for the remission of sins. And men and women that
are interested in God's righteousness are interested in that righteousness
by which our sins are forgiven and by which we are made right
with God. And this is the central righteousness
that we are to be preoccupied with, the righteousness of God
in Christ. And so as you were listening
to the reading, the apostle is closing out an argument, as we
learned last week, with regards to his Jewish brethren. The apostle
Paul has knocked three of that three-legged stools from under
the Jewish people's false assumption that they are right with God.
Remember, I told you a three-legged stool can stand. But if the stools
or the legs rather themselves are flawed and uneven, that stool
is going to be unstable and it can fall over. And what the apostle
has clearly understood being a Jew himself is that his Jewish
brethren had fallen prey to the assumption that just because
they had the law, they were better than other people. And the apostle
Paul made it very clear that it's not by works of righteousness
that we have done, but by his mercy has he saved us. And they
thought just because they were Abraham's seed that they were
heirs of the promises of God. But the Word of God is made very
plain, has it not, to be Abraham's physical seed is not to be the
children of the promise. And so a man or a woman that
thinks somehow heaven is secured to them because of their blood
lineage to Abraham, you are woefully wrong about the nature of eternal
redemption. And the apostle Paul is now,
as we take up verses 13 and following, he is now going to once again
labor to help his Jewish brethren, and therefore you and me, who
are so prone to religious works, to help us understand that by
the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified in his sight.
In fact, this is the way he opens up verse 13 and 14. Notice what
he says. Chapter 4 we are working with
our points now and the first point under which you and I are
working is the thought of this the law worketh wrath He says
in verses 13 through 15 these words for the promise that he
should be the heir of the world That is whom Abraham was not
to Abraham nor to his seed comma through the law But through the
righteousness of faith He establishes now his conclusion that your
confidence in Abraham is flawed because your confidence in Abraham
is based on the law. What he's saying is the promise
that's given to Abraham of the world is not through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith. Now that's a term,
an adumbration that right now I want you to capture. The righteousness
of faith is what we are contemplating when we contemplate the cross
work of Jesus Christ. When you think about the atonement,
think about the righteousness of faith. We'll make that more
plain today. When Paul says the promise that
Abraham should be the heir of the world is through the righteousness
of faith, what he means is it could never be obtained through
the works of the law. Then he goes on to argue further,
for if they which are of the law be heirs, now watch this
saints, faith is made what? See the logic? He says, if those
who are of the law, those people who boasted in the law, chapter
2, remember? We have the law. And those Gentiles are cursed
because they do not have the law. What Paul is saying is,
if you think you're right with God and you are certain for heaven
because of what you know, merely in terms of a legal knowledge
of God's precepts, then you have just made faith void. I'm getting
ready to argue that point here in a moment, that you cannot
embrace a confidence of acceptance before God based upon human performance,
which is another way of saying keeping the law, and at the same
time think that salvation is obtained through faith because
the two in terms of how they get to glory are mutually exclusive. You can't go through works and
go through faith at the same time to get to heaven. It's gonna
be one or the other. And didn't we learn last week?
The law will tell you the righteousness of God is on that high mountain.
But if you're going to get there, you better start walking now.
And there are no promises. And by the way, everyone who
has tried to go that way has failed. Grace says a whole nother
story, doesn't it? Grace comes along with his trolley
and the conductor says, you want that righteousness that's in
heaven? And the sinner says, yes. Grace says what? Hop in. I'll get you there. By the way,
I've never failed to get one center to glory. And see, this
is critical to your understanding of the distinction between law
and faith, words and grace, as Paul is going to lay down now
an argument for obtaining the inheritance through a certain
kind of comprehension of faith. So the title of our message today
is the life of saving faith, particularly in Abraham, who
is our illustration. And so our first point is comprehended
by Paul's warning in verse 14 and 15, for if they which are
of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made
of none effect. That is a major warning. If they which are of the law
be heirs, the fleshly seed of Israel, who boast in their blood
lineages to Abraham, who boast in their circumcision, who boast
in their keeping the law, if heaven is obtained by blood lineage,
law keeping, and circumcision, faith means nothing. And everyone
who is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ is living a life in vain.
Am I making some sense? I'll build my argument here in
a little while. Look at verse 15. because he
gives now an argument as to why this is not possible. Here's
what he says. The reason why law keeping won't
do it is because the only thing that the law does is work wrath. This is important for you to
know, that unless you have the kind of nature, the kind of motive,
the kind of heart, the kind of life that is only seen and manifest
it in the person of Jesus, for you to keep the law is for you
to certainly damn your soul. And it's important to get this.
If you are saying, I'm going to heaven by my good deeds, unless
you are Jesus, you're going straight to hell. Because the role of
the law has been from the beginning of time to condemn everyone who
falls short of the glory of God. Paul is going to argue this point
to help us understand that when he says in verse 15 listen this
because the law worketh wrath The reason why you can't get
to heaven by good works is because the law kills you before you
get there. I Love the way he's arguing and
he's starting in verse 15 point a in what we call a present indicative
verb form You know what? That means literally he's saying
because the law is still killing people. I The law is presently
working wrath upon every soul that sins. Now let me ask you
a question. Are you a sinner? That's right. And I'll tell you
if in fact you are trusting in the works of the law, you're
under the curse of the law and the wrath of God is working against
you right now. See the point? And what he's
going to do now is help us understand that the history of scripture
is that everywhere law is established, mankind is seen to have been
fallen and the wrath of God is poured out upon them. Let's go
back to our points. Let's understand the logic now.
Under verse 15, I want to share with you three arguments for
which the idea of the law worketh wrath is critical. In the days
of our first parents, Adam and Eve, prior to their fall, we
call that lapsarianism in theology, prior to the fall, the lapse
into sin, they were innocent and what we call probationally
righteous. When God made Adam and Eve, He made them upright,
but He did not make them impeccable. When He made Adam and Eve, He
made them sinless, but He did not make them perfectly sinless. He made them capable to sin. And because he had placed a prohibition
in the garden called the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, he had placed a law in the garden. That law said in
the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, you shall surely what? And in dying, you shall continue
to die. It's what we call an infinitive verb form, a double
infinitive, which means you will die continually and you will
experience multiple deaths. My goodness. One sin plunged
the whole world into ruin, didn't it? Well, that's what we call
biblical theology. We tell mankind, you're under
the wrath of God. And he says, I didn't do anything
wrong. We say, but your daddy did something wrong. And the
sin of your daddy has been passed down to you. Romans chapter five,
verse 12. For by one man, sin entered into
the world and death has come upon all for all have what? Sin. All have sin. And so the first
argument is that Adam died when he came into contact with the
law of God, didn't he? He died. Some people say, well,
he didn't die right away. What's the difference? You still
died. If you die right away, I die a month from now, I die
a year from now, I die 500 years from now, or 930 years from now,
like Adam did. You're still dying. But more
specifically, if we were to treat the subject of death, you and
I know that death falls into three categories, spiritual death,
physical death, and eternal death. Immediately upon transgressing
God's law, didn't he die spiritually? And then he began to die physically
as we saw he died in 930. And if God had not saved him,
he would have perished under the wrath of God. So our first
argument is the first typical son of God under the law, what? Died. Our second argument is
that national Israel died. When they came under the law,
remember, God gave the law on Mount Sinai, 10 commandments
with multiple applications to it. And the word of God is very
plain in the scriptures that when Israel came, listen, even
before the law came down off the mountaintop, Israel was already
cursed by that law because down at the bottom they were committing
idolatry and fornication, were they not? And Moses broke the
law up, smashed them into powder, threw them into the river, and
made the whole nation to drink. At that moment, the very law
that promises life kills the sinner who violates the law of
God. And just to underscore that not only did Adam die, Israel
died. Hosea chapter 13, verse 1. Look
at what Hosea 13, verse 1 says. This is a remarkable statement
to underscore that the second son of God, typical son of God
in Israel, they died too. Watch the language. When Ephraim
spake trembling. Somebody asked me this morning,
Pastor, what do you mean by our New Year's verse, our theme for
the year? Philippians chapter 2, 12 and
13. Have y'all memorized that shit? No, I'll get back with
you next week. The memory verse for the Saints
at Grace is Philippians 2, 12 and 13. Wherefore, work out your
salvation in fear and trembling, for it is God who worketh in
you the will and to do of his good pleasure. We're going to
explain that over the course of the year. My sister said,
why work it out in fear and trembling? Because that's the only way you're
going to work it out down here. The life of faith is a life of
fear and trembling because it's a life of humility. You and I
are faced with all kind of troubles, all kind of issues, all kind
of struggles, all kind of pains, which keep us on our knees. Keep
our hands in our face. As our elder said this morning
in Sunday school, I don't know about you, but I'm calling on
Jesus all the time. Every day I'm calling on him.
It's called walking before the Lord, Coram Dale, in fear and
trembling. There's nothing about my life
where I am so cocksure of who I am that I'm not constantly
saying, Lord, are you ready? Keep me. Keep me. Keep me, because I'll stumble
in a hot second. I will turn off the courts in
a hot minute. I'll be off the course before
I'm even, I know I'm off the course. I'll look up and say,
Jesse, what you doing off the course, man? That's how sinful
and deceitful we are by nature. And listen to what the text says.
When Ephraim spake trembling, the word, the statement there
means to be humble when you come before God humbly. When Ephraim
spake trembling, what happened? He exalted himself in Israel.
God exalted Israel. Ephraim is another term for Israel.
When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel.
But when he offended in Baal, you know what that means? Committing
idolatry. What did he do? He died. The
wages of sin is what? And our next verse under that
PowerPoint is Ezekiel 37, one through 10. You don't have to
go there. You remember when God told Ezekiel to look out into
that valley. and see and observe what had
occurred. And the valley was filled with
what? Dead bones. They were very, very dry, which
means a war had occurred, and that war had destroyed every
soul that was in that valley. All he saw was a grave, and it
depicted national Israel. What is my point? The law worketh
wrath. The law worketh wrath. Everyone who is under the law
is under the what of the law? The curse of the law. The curse
of the law. So we read in Romans 6, 23, 8,
for the wages of sin is what? And then finally, this is remarkable
as we contemplate the significance of the virtue of the law working
wrath. Here comes the true son of God.
Adam was the first typical son, right? Israel was the second
typical son. Matthew's gospel calls Adam the
son of God. Israel was called the son of
God. Was he not? Bring my son out of Egypt. And now Jesus Christ,
who is the legitimate son of God, has come. Watch this. And
when the law of God was placed on Christ, what happened to Christ? He died, affirming the truth
that the wages of sin is death, affirming the truth that wherever
a sinner is found, being confronted by the law of God, he's going
to die. Christ affirms that truth in
himself, not because he himself was a sinner, but because he
was the substitute for sinners. As the point plainly says, Christ
died how? Substitutionally. How else did
he die? Salvifically. He died as a substitute
for me. He died salvificly for me as
Peter puts it in first Peter 3 18 The just for the unjust
that he might bring us to God Christ died the just for the
unjust that he might bring us to God Why did he die? Because
he was under the law and wherever a person is under the law and
sin is found The law is going to what work wrath. That's our
argument our argument is that If one thinks that he can obtain
salvation through law keeping our good words, the law is presently
working wrath. Let's move to our next point
then. Under Paul's argument, he's getting ready to persuade
us of a glorious truth. Now this is going to take a little
time to work. We're in theology class today. This is critical
for you to understand the tacticality of Paul's speech. He says in
verse 16 of Romans 4, Because the law works wrath for where
no law is there's no transgression Because the law works wrath verse
16. Are you there? Therefore it is
of what faith that it might be why by what grace to the end? The promise might be sure to
all the seeds Amazing now again, he gives us an explanation of
who that is not only to that which is of the law But to that
which is of the faith of Abraham who's the father of us all but
I want you to stay with me at verse 16 because I want to explain
lines 1 & 2 of verse 16 to help you he just shut the door on
the whole human race of getting right with God by the works of
the law and he says therefore it must be by what faith and
But ladies and gentlemen, let's work through the concept of faith. Now, our point, let's go back
to our point. Let's work through the concept of faith. Now, I
need you to understand several things about what Paul just stated.
What Paul stated under point number two, which is, therefore,
by the law, faith must be made void. What Paul is about to explain
is this, that you and I could never, ever obtain salvation
by what we do. It can only come through Faith. Two points then, and we talked
about this already a little bit earlier under this first proposition.
Therefore, by the law, faith must be made void or irrelevant.
One is because they operate on two different bases. I just stated
that, did not? In other words, law works on
the basis of you must do it if you're going to be right with
God. That's the way the law works. The law doesn't have a provisio
in its system that says, watch this now, if somebody else does
it for you, you can take what they did and it can be merited
to you. The law has no such provision. The law takes the individual
and says to the individual, you ready to climb that hill? Because
the only way you're going to get to the top with me is to
walk yourself. I have no provision to get you
to heaven. I'm not carrying you. And if you're going to get there,
you're going to get there by your own energy. And by the way, you better
not stumble because I'm there with a sword to cut your head
off. You guys hear what I'm saying? The law has no provision for
your salvation by virtue of the performance of another. Now,
faith says, watch this now. If you look to Christ, you can
get to heaven based upon what he has done for you. Are you
following me? If you look to Christ, you can get to heaven
That's what faith says. Faith then stands in opposite
of the law in this sense that it has a provisio for you to
get to the top by the work and performance of someone else.
Law says you must do it. Faith says what? He did it for
you. That's Romans 4, 23 and 24. Watch how Paul closes out Romans
4, 23 and 24. He's going to illustrate for
us the obedience of Abraham. We'll talk about that in a minute.
But in verse 23, notice what it says. Now, it was not written
for his sake alone. Whose sake? Abraham. That it
was imputed to him. Look at verse 24. But for us
also. Now here's my argument, saints.
To whom it shall be what? Imputed. The word is accounted
for. Put on your tab. It's a legal
term that means God will credit to your account. the obedience
of another so that it will be as if you had actually obeyed
it. That's the doctrine of imputation.
And as we are observing Abraham, what God is saying by application,
the same thing that happened to Abraham will happen to you.
Watch how he closes out his proposition to us on this. He says, if we
believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
Glorious. Here's what he's saying. The
man or the woman that possesses saving faith, whose eyes are
fixed on Christ and is trusting in the merits of Christ will
have to them imputed that very righteousness that's able to
bring them into the inheritance of which we are now speaking.
You guys got that? So now you know what he's forcing
us to do? He's forcing us to contemplate faith. And what I
want to do now is talk to you about faith. Because as I said
last week, there's a lot of misnomers about faith that we have to work
through. So we're going to be talking about faith because Paul
gives us a caveat in verse 16 that demands that we do it. Look
at verse 16.8. This is going to move us into
our third point. Go with me to our third point.
The nature of what? Saving faith, our faith, is rooted
in what? Let me say that again because
I want you to get this. This is going to be the point of your
consideration that's going to help you straighten out your
doctrine on faith. If you're going to get faith
right, you're going to get it right here. Watch this. The nature
of faith is rooted in what? The grace of God. The nature
of faith is rooted in the grace of God. It's critical for you
to know that. If you fail to understand that faith is not
the beginning of your salvation, you will then make faith the
cause of your redemption instead of the means of your redemption.
And there are way too many people who take the concept of faith
and turn it into an idol as if faith itself has the intrinsic
value of saving you. When all faith is, is an instrument. Are you hearing me? Who understood
what I said? Just raise your hand, okay? Half
the house, I got work to do. Watch this now. When I say that
faith itself does not save you, What I am saying is faith is
merely a vehicle. Much like when we preach the
gospel. I am a gospel preacher and God
uses the preaching that I preach to save men and women. You would
be foolhardy to say that I was saved by Pastor Jesse's preaching. Are you hearing me? even though
the preaching of the gospel that came by me was so effectual in
your heart that it obliterated all your false notions, set you
in front of the cross work of Jesus Christ, where you experienced
a revelation of his glory and your life changed forever. You
are forever indebted to the means, but only as you comprehend and
understand the source from which it came. Am I making some sense? This is the work that we got
to deal with with faith because in the present-day Evangelical
Church what we have done is blown up faith and made it a God We
have made faith to God all people talk about is faith faith faith
faith. I have faith. So what? If you have faith in
yourself, you're gonna perish if you have faith in a false
God, you're gonna perish and This is why your faith must be
based upon a sound knowledge of God, because all faith has
an object. It has a place where it's going.
And when you listen to people and they're talking like the
whole of their salvation is just wrapped up and they're believing,
they have now turned faith in on itself and made faith the
point of termination. Now they're trusting in their
faith. Now, ladies and gentlemen, can I help you? If I were actually
developing the treaties of faith alone exclusively today, I would
help you understand that when you and I are talking about faith,
the organic grace, our organic entity, that organic species
that you and I experience in regeneration when we're saved,
faith is a gift from God. You know that, right? When you
and I are given faith, watch this now, our faith is never
such in our life experience that you and I boast of how well we
are doing by faith. Now, stay with me for a moment.
This is just a caveat before I go on. No one in this room
can stand up and boast about how well they serve the Lord
by faith. Watch this now. Your faith and
my faith, even though it may be saving faith, is still so
weak and so flawed and so evident in nature. that it doesn't give
room for honest men to talk about how much faith we have. Because
the reality is you ain't got that much faith at all. Am I
making some sense? Now watch this then. So then
biblical faith does not point to itself. Why do I say that? Because biblical faith is not
the origin of your salvation. It's not the cause of your salvation.
And it's not the termination of your salvation. So you and
I want to never boast in faith. Use faith as a portal to point
people elsewhere. Didn't we learn last week? When
we say that we have faith, we are saying that we have faith
where? In Jesus Christ. We're saying that we have faith
in Christ who leads us where to Calvary We're saying that
we have faith in Christ who leads us to Calvary and from Calvary
We see the righteousness of God imputed to sinners freely by
his grace, right? Unless we possess that definition
of faith. We don't have saving faith In
other words when people listen to us talk we do this with our
faith Get off me Go yonder where my faith is That's what biblical
faith does. Now let's continue working it
through, because I want you to see something. Under the nature
of faith rooted in the grace of God, I want to share with
you four or five things. There are a number of things
under here that I want to declare to you. And this is prompted
by the opening of verse 16, part A and B. Now listen to what Paul
says, and then we'll work through this point. He says in verse
16, therefore it is of faith that it might be by what? to
the end that the promise might be what? Three words, faith,
grace and sure. Ladies and gentlemen, do you
know what he did not say? He did not say that it might
be a faith to the end that the promise might be sure. He did
not say faith makes the promise sure. He says grace makes the
promise sure. through faith. There are three
concepts here then that we must grasp. And that's this. If you have saving faith, it
is a faith that points you to the grace of God. And what gives
you an assurance of your promise of salvation is not faith, but
grace. Do you hear me? Now watch this
now, this makes all the sense in the world for those of us
who are true believers, because a whole lot of time my faith
don't give me any assurance at all. I don't get a whole lot
of assurance out of my faith. I'm talking about the experiential
dynamic of trusting God on a day-to-day basis. When trials come, ain't
no whole lot of assurance in that. Folks be coming to me and,
Pastor, how can I have more assurance? I said, well, you're not going
to get it in your faith, because faith is not designed for you
to obtain assurance through it. but that by which faith is produced,
which is the grace of God. See, so what we're going to be
explaining is, as we have in our first point, the glory of
grace, the glory of grace. Now that concept needs to be
worked through, but the glory of grace comes only by what? Faith. The glory of grace. And what do I mean by the glory
of grace? What do I mean by the glory of
grace? I'm talking about, ladies and gentlemen, the whole scheme
of redemption. When we talk about the grace
of God, we are talking about that which God himself does to
provide for us eternal redemption. When we use the word grace, it's
a term that comports with all that God has planned, all that
God has purposed, all that God has done is called the grace
of God. Watch this. And the only way
you and I can see it, enter into it, enjoy its benefits is by
faith. Biblical faith then opens the
door for us to comprehend this glorious Grace of God remember
back in verse 25 of Romans 3 God has set forth I told you the
centerpiece of all of God's redemptive work is Christ but what good
is that if the veil is if the curtains are closed if you cannot
see the proprietary work of Christ and the Implications of that
work because the veil is shut or the curtains are closed. What
good is it? But God has opened up the curtains so that we can
see the beauty and the fullness of the grace of God in Christ.
But that's only seen by what? By faith. You and I enter into
the Holy of Holies by what? We enter in by faith and we see
His glory by faith. How many of you comprehend in
your mind right now the Lord Jesus? Can you see Him? I can
see Him. How many of you comprehend the Lord Jesus on Calvary right
now? Can you see Him? I can see Him. How many of you
see Jesus in the grave? I can see Him. How many of you
see Him risen? I can see Him. How many of you see Him reigning
in glory right now? I can see Him. I can see Him. But I only see him by what? Faith. Faith then becomes the vehicle
by which the glory of God's grace is made manifest to us. This
is why Paul said, the assurance of our salvation is not in our
faith. It's in what God did called the
grace of God. I know I'm being repetitive,
but I want to drive it home so that you can properly exercise
your faith whenever you're asking the question, where is my assurance? Where is my assurance? Then under that third point,
we are so careful to ask the question, what do we mean by
the glory of the grace of God? Well, we're talking about the
whole scheme of redemption, which is made operational and advances
through history. This is biblical theology, ladies.
You and I can see Jesus coming in the volume of the book, right?
It's written of him to do God's will. We can see him in Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all of the Psalms, all of the
prophets, all through the New Testament. We see him coming
again, don't we? That's only because God has given us the
gift of faith to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And our confidence is in that
grace, not our faith. So my sub point under the nature
of saving faith is rooted in the grace of God is the glory
of grace. That is the manifestation of
grace is only by faith. Here's a promise. Psalm 84 11.
Learn this by memory. This is so very important. Psalm
84 verse 11. Here's what the psalmist says.
This is so critical. Are you ready for the Lord? God is a
son and a what? That's so good. Watch this. You gotta lock that one down.
First, he's the son of righteousness, shining down on our souls to
bless the soils of our heart that it might produce fruit unto
God. You know, nothing lives without the sun. God's our son. Christ is the son of righteousness
with healing in his wings. But he's also a shield to keep
us from burning up. How good is God to us? See, we're
his cultivated field. And any horticulturalist knows
that you got to have a certain amount of shade to block it from
the sun so that that which is for our good may not be for our
what? Destruction. That's good. He's our son and he's our what
he's our son and he's our shield I use this analogy years ago
about the astronauts who would go up to the moon and then return
They had to get into a capsule that would have to penetrate
that layer of protection Between the atmosphere out there near
the moon and then coming back into Earth's atmosphere that
that that atmosphere I forget the term it evades me right now
is a very fiercely hot sort of Shield that protects our atmosphere
from that which is way out in the regions of space and the
capsule that brings the astronauts back into our Hemisphere our
atmosphere is called a propitiation Do you know what that means the
astronauts are on the inside and the shield is protecting
them from the heat on the outside and to get them from their former
condition to their latter condition, to get them from outer space
into earth's atmosphere. And it's a great analogy of our
union with Christ, how that Christ becomes our propitiation to get
us out of hell into heaven. We didn't get in by ourselves,
we got in through our propitiation. He was a shield for us. Took
that brought us through death back into life. He's a son in
the shield, but now watch the promise The Lord will give what
and what if you have the grace of God in your life glory is
Guaranteed that's what the text is saying in verse 16 part B.
Listen to it again therefore it is a faith that it might be
by what a That's right to the end are that little phrase to
the end is what we call henna cloth With this purpose in view
that the promise might be sure to all the sea The reason why
I am confident that what God has promised he'll bring to pass
is not because of my faith It's because of his grace Are you
hearing me this is why you want to be taught right doctrine when
it comes to the grace of God. Because if you misdefine or misapply
faith, you're going to find yourself failing to enjoy God. Because
your faith is going to be directed in the wrong place. Going back
to our point then, because I want to grasp this, first I say that
what God has done in the economy of the believer is given us faith. in order to enjoy the promises
of God in our life. I liken faith to many things,
but I'm gonna only use two analogies. One is, faith is the legal tender
of the kingdom of God. I've talked to you about that
before, haven't I? Faith is the legal tender in the kingdom of
God. I'm broke, but if I had a few dollars in my pocket, I'd
take them out and show you that the legal tender, our currency
in America and around the world is the dollar, is it not? That
dollar allows you to actually do business in this world for
the people of God, Faith is the legal tender by which we do business
in the kingdom of God. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. God works through the economy
of faith. Men and women live by faith.
They walk by faith. They receive the promises of
God by faith. They respond to God by faith.
That's the only tender that God will accept. And do you know
why he accepts that tender? Because the gold standard behind
that tender is the grace of God. It's what makes that tender or
that economy worth something. It's not the dollar itself. You
can take the dollar and burn it up. You didn't lose anything
principally. But it's the gold standard behind it. And the gold
standard behind the faith that we have is the grace of God.
The grace of God makes sure everything that God says to us. So be careful
to understand that. That's what we mean when we say
that grace itself is the source of faith. That's my second point.
But staying under the first point, remember what Paul said in Romans
1, 17? He had said in verse 16, I am
not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God under
salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first, then also to
whom? The Gentile. And then he says, as it is written,
the just shall live by what? He immediately now calls us to
the legal tender of the kingdom. When you interact with God, watch
this now, there is nothing you can receive from God that is
not through faith. For while you and I may do a
lot of things, whatever we do, if it's not done in faith, is
not accepted with God. You're going to see that here
in a moment. So while I'm explaining that faith has a foundation,
I am saying that faith becomes the economy or the tender by
which you and I act with God. And here's the reason why. The
reason why God demands that you and I act with him in terms of
faith is so that he can keep your eyes constantly fixed on
another place and not yourself. Because as long as you are fixing
your eyes on yourself, or another person, or another thing, you
are stealing God's glory. See what faith does? It forces
us! to contemplate the glory of God,
which is the whole scheme of redemption in our behalf. This
is why you and I are saved by faith through what? Grace. And
that not of yourselves, it's a what? Gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And that's why I'm bringing you
to the second point. Under the nature of faith being rooted
in the grace of God, first, the glory of His grace is revealed.
Secondly, grace is the source of our faith. You didn't know
that, perhaps, but that faith does not exist on its own rights. As we're dealing with theology
proper, you men are gonna learn that God is God all by himself. And when we say he's God all
by himself, that means he's independent, self-sufficient, self-sustaining,
needing nothing to hold him up, depending upon nothing but himself. that God does not proceed from
anything but Himself. This is why Isaiah said, I am
God all by myself and besides me there is no God. And when
we comprehend what we call aseity or self-existence, what we mean
is there's no source to Him. When we talk about faith, faith
has a source. Faith is not independent of itself.
It's not self-sufficient. Faith is like a tree which is
manifested in its trunk and its branches and its fruit, but its
root is the grace of God. Its root is the grace of God.
Am I making some sense? Faith is a tree. You and I are
called trees of righteousness, but the root is the grace of
God. The root is the grace. Where
there's no root, there's no truth-saving faith. Am I making some sense?
Stay with me, then. It's important to know, then,
that grace is the source of faith. Go with me in your Bible to 2
Peter 1, verse 1. I want to make this good. I told
you we're learning something today. It's critical that we
learn how to biblically define these terms. Let me reemphasize,
as we're going there, that I hear a lot of people talking about
Bible this and Bible that. I do. I hear lots of people talking
about what they say they believe. And as I listen, guess what I
discover? They don't understand what they're
talking about. What I hear people do is use terms and phrases contrary
to the way the Word of God intended. And one of them is faith. Poor
faith. has been dragged all over the
world and owned by everybody, mishandled, misapplied, misinterpreted. Well, I just did it by faith.
Did what by faith? Well, I robbed the store by faith.
That ain't faith. Well, I did it by faith. Well,
I lied on that application. That's not faith. Well, I did
it by... You hear people talking, I just did it by faith. To just
do something by faith is not faith. Are you hearing me? You can't just do willy-nilly. by faith and call it faith. Call it willy nilly, but don't
call it faith. Well, I just willy nilly today.
It worked. Okay. Willy nilly works every
now and then we call it pragmatism, but it's not faith. That tender
doesn't get you to glory because it lies on God. You and I cannot
do evil that good may come up. I'm straightening out some doctrine
today. This is critical. Because you hear people say,
I just did it by faith. No, no, no. Don't blame that on faith.
That was just a lying conniption that you mustered up in your
own brain because you didn't trust God. I'm going to just
do this by faith. No, you're getting ready to sin.
That's what you're getting ready to do. And hoping God turn his
back on you for a second. Important to know then that biblical
saving faith is rooted in the grace of God. And Peter explains
it this way. First Peter chapter one, verse
one, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. You
know what he's doing? Speaking trembling. Simon Peter,
a slave, a slave that's trembling. Simon Peter, a slave and then
a sent one of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained what? Light, precious faith. Now stay
there for a moment. That's a good way to define the
economy of heaven. If faith is the legal tender
which brings us into the blessings of God and allows us to interact
with God and to obtain the promises of God, if faith is the legal
tender, isn't that a good way to define faith? Like precious
faith. If faith is what God gives to
us by which we interact with Him, is it not precious? And
then when he uses the word like, what he's saying is for every
one of us who are believers, we have the same kind of faith.
You know what it's called? Precious. Do you know why it's
precious? Not because of our practical
application of faith, but because of the nature of faith itself
and from whence it comes. See, every one of us have different
levels of faith manifestation. That's a whole nother study.
Different levels. But remember now, none of us
have the kind of faith that makes us look good. Have you ever read
your Bible? Have you ever read your Bible
and read about the folks who had faith? Read the book of Hebrews,
the folks who had faith, and then go back and read how their
faith looked when they had it. And you will quickly discover
faith is ugly. Faith is humbling. Faith is raggedy. But you know what? It still gets
the job done. It's the analogy of me pulling
out a brand new dollar bill and then one of those crumpled up
ones, y'all throw an offering that's so tattered and beat up
that you can hardly even see what it look like. Now watch
this now, the crumpled up one and the brand new crisp dollar
bill has the same value. You got that? Has the same value.
Very important to understand this now Simon Peter a slave
of our Lord Jesus Christ to them He's speaking to me you and us
who are believing who have obtained like precious faith Can I just
be a little bit more exegetical or expository see the word obtained? It's the term for obtaining or
possessing or receiving an inheritance It's the word for lot in the
New Testament like when they cast lots for Jesus' garment,
or like when the lots were given for the priest to actually do
their order every month, two by two in course, or it's the
term that's used in Acts 117, where Judas had received his
portion right along with the apostles, but he lost his out
of rebellion. It actually means this. The way
you and I obtain or receive faith is as an inheritance given to
us. We don't earn it. It's part of the inheritance.
Just like the children of Israel who did not establish the promises
of God, the promises of God were established with Abraham. They
were simply the what? Beneficiaries. They came into
the land of Canaan. And what did Joshua do? Carved
out 12 pieces of land for each tribe, didn't he? They received
their land by lot or by inheritance. And that's how you and I receive
the faith of God. The faith of God is given to
us not by words or not because of our person, but because of
what Christ did. God has carved out an inheritance
called faith to every one of us. Am I making some sense? This
is very important for you to get. Listen to it. To those of
us who have obtained like precious faith, watch this now, through
the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Ah,
do you know what Peter just said? Faith comes through the person
and work of Christ. In other words, faith is a byproduct
of Christ's righteousness. In other words, faith is the
fruit of Christ's atonement. In other words, faith becomes
a reward that flows out of the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. How many ways can I say it? In
other words, in other words, when you and I receive faith,
it is the consequence of the atoning work of Christ, which
is the righteousness of God, wherein God says, I'm satisfied,
give them everything. You got to get that. You got
to get that. Your faith is a fruit of Christ's
obedience. It is out of, proceeding from,
bearing its life from the righteousness of God. Another way to put it
is in 1 Peter 1, verse 1 and 2. I want you to see this. I
want you to see this. This is beautiful. Hear how Peter
puts it as he gives us 1 Peter 1, verse 1 as well. In 1 Peter
1, 1, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered
abroad, throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Benithia.
Now go ahead on, Bithynia. Now watch verse 2. Watch this,
saints. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God. What did
we learn last night, brethren? That you cannot rightly teach
the doctrine of salvation without admitting that God is a God of
election. You cannot teach salvation without
admitting that God elects, God chooses, God's choice is to save
men and women for His own glory, and that salvation is a consequence
of His electing love towards us. Do you admit that, Saints?
Now watch this. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God, the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit. Do you see that
second line? We learned this on Friday night. Peter is preaching
to Cornelius in his house. While he is preaching the Holy
Ghost falls on all of them and they become converted they become
saved How are they saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit
of God? Watch this the only reason that
you and I believe the truth is because of the work of the Holy
Ghost The only reason you and I believe the truth is because
of the work of the Holy Ghost now the father has chosen to save
you the means he has chosen to save you through is the work
of the Holy Ghost hunting you down in the preaching of the
gospel and penetrating your heart with the revelations of God's
righteousness in Christ and making your heart say yes to God. Your heart says yes to God. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? This is important. Now watch
this. So it's the election of God and his foreknowledge the
Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto, this is what
we call a directional proposition, unto, watch this, obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. I love this. The Spirit
of God sets you apart, that's what sanctification is, unto
what? Obedience. And sprinkling of
the blood of Jesus Christ. You know what he's saying? The
Spirit of God takes the sinner, sets him in front of the font.
The font is the font of the blood of Jesus Christ. And he says
to the sinner, sinner, this is your righteousness. And then
he says to the sinner, sinner, plunge into the blood and have
your soul cleansed, sinner. And then he says to the sinner,
sit and let the Holy Ghost sprinkle your conscience clean by the
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, for that's exactly what
he does when we preach the gospel, does he not? As we are hearing
the gospel preached, our conscience is being made purged and cleansed
through the promises of his atonement. We are made to be liberated from
our sin. sinful conscience, our guilt
and our grievance and our burdensome thoughts about how horrible we
were this week. The blood cleanses us from that.
The blood cleanses us from that. The blood cleanses us from that.
And ladies and gentlemen, this is all an operation of faith.
There are some in the auditorium right now who are listening to
me, and as I've said for so many years, I sound right now like
Charlie Brown's teacher. Now, I'm dating myself, and some
of you older saints, you guys know how she sound, right? Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa, right? There is no articulation in my
speech whatsoever for the person who is blinded by sin, whose
heart is still hardened, and who does not have faith in their
heart right now. For those of you who have faith, you can hear
what I'm saying, even if you can't fully comprehend it. That's
the work of the Spirit of God. Are you hearing me? This is so
critically important. So critically important. So as
I am trying to rein in a proper understanding of faith so that
you and I don't waste our time blaming God for the good or bad
that we do in the name of a jacked up faith, we want to get it right.
We want to get it right. So under this rubric, grace is
the source of faith. It's the life of faith. Faith
is born out of a grace foundation. Why do you say that, Pastor?
In order to demolish all false boasting of faith. Why am I telling
you that faith is not independent of itself, that faith doesn't
have its own standing, that faith must look to grace as its life,
that faith has as its source the grace of God in order to
destroy a false boasting of faith. I want you and I to understand
that your faith is most healthy when you remain humble about
what God has done for you, because you won't be lying. See, religious
folk love to lie. Stay with me for a minute. I
just got to do this. We love to pretend we're something
that we're not. We love to pretend our faith
is on a scale of 1 to 10. I'm at 8 today, pastor. I'm rolling.
I'm rolling. No, you're not. You're still
at 2. You're still at 2. You just think you're at eight
and you're truly at a nine when you're able to say in all honesty
without this old religious potty die here too. Man, my faith is
weak, man. I mean, just yesterday, man,
a temptation came up on me. I ran like a cat with my tail
between his legs. If the Lord hadn't delivered
me out of that temptation, I would have fallen. It was clear to
me, pastor, I was ready to go. And only by God's mercy he kept
down. See, you see what you're doing now? You're explaining
faith the right way. You're not letting people think
that somehow faith gives you the ability to take hold of the
world and just control the world like Atlas. I'm a man, a woman
of faith. I got control over the world.
No, you don't. You're deluded. You're deluded. You're deluded. We learned in
the Friday study, even the folly of even the thought of folly
is sin. You know how when you think in
foolish thoughts, I know y'all don't do it, but I do. When I
think foolish thoughts, according to the word of God, because of
the holiness of God and he penetrates into my thoughts, even my foolish
thoughts are sin with God. That's right. That's right. Sin. So grace is the source. That's
why I quoted Ephesians 2, 8, 9. For by grace are you saved
through faith, that not of yourself. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should what? Good. So here's this third point.
Grace is the object of faith. I like this. How do we know that
we are functioning on a biblically based grace, or faith rather,
that is rooted in a gospel grace? because the whole of our life
of faith is committed to knowing God through Jesus Christ and
drinking from that well of grace by which we experience his goodness
and his mercy and by beholding the glory of Christ. Grace is
the object of faith. Your faith is no stronger than
when it's beholding God's glory. So I'm going to run through four
verses. You guys have heard them before. I want you to hear it
again before I go to my last and final argument. Grace is
the object of faith. It's where faith points. It depends
upon grace. It feeds on Christ crucified,
risen, reigning as our mediator. John 1, 14, behold it. In John 1, verse 14, we are told,
and the word was made, what? And dwelt among us. And here
it is, and we beheld his, what? Now see, John is speaking in
the historical context of actually seeing God in the flesh. And
what John says is, and we beheld his glory. See what faith does? Now watch this, saints. It beholds
the glory of God, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.
What? Full of grace and truth. Do you
see that? When faith is fixed on God, it
beholds the glory of God in the person of Christ. That's biblical
faith. Look at verse 17. Now watch verse 17. Watch this
now. Verse 17. Here it is. For the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by who? What came by Jesus? Grace and truth. Verse 18. Watch this now. Back up to verse
16. I don't want to deal with this now. Back up to verse 16.
And of His fullness. The fullness of who? Christ.
Have we all what? Of Christ's fullness have we
all received and what? Grace for grace. What John has just stated is
the source of our faith is Christ. And from his fullness, he pours
out grace into our life. And that grace is what sustains
our faith as we continue to look to Christ. Have you found that
to be the case? Have you remembered the promise of Isaiah chapter
45, verse 22? Isaiah 45, 22. Listen to this.
Here's a promise. Isaiah 45, 22. Look unto me.
See that? So the eye of faith is fixed
on who? God. Look unto me, all ye ends of
the earth. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all ye ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
What is faith doing? It's fixing its eyes on God.
Look unto me and be ye saved. Look unto me and be ye, do you
see it? Be ye saved. So for us, salvation
is a looking to God. 2nd Corinthians 3 18. Here's
another one. I want you to see it. This is for you new Christians
who need to get it. If you are spending the bulk
of your time looking elsewhere other than the glory of God in
Christ, your faith is abused. Listen to what he says. But we
all with open face, the veil has been removed, beholding as
in a glass what the glory of the Lord. How many of you know
that experience? I know it. Know the experience
who you guys are in trouble in here You're in trouble Every
Christian should know the experience of having the veil removed from
their eyes and having their eyes fixed on the glory of God in
Christ and Being enamored by that glory with a hunger to know
more about it and to finally arrive in the presence of His
glory with exceeding joy. Every saved person is given faith
to see that. That means the vast majority
of you in here have never seen the glory of God. You are in
trouble! Listen to it again. Listen to
it. Behold, we all with open face
behold as in a glass. You know what it's talking about?
A mirror. Will you see your face in the mirror? Only in this mirror
is the face of Christ. And the mirror is the Word of
God. Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? The mirror is the
Word of God. And because we are beholding His glory, we are being
changed into that same image. Watch this. From glory to glory. Do you see the transformational
efficacy of simply looking to Christ? Let me ask the question
again. Have you ever beheld the glory
of God? Okay, let's get it right. Well,
y'all might have been tweeting or something. I don't, I don't
know. I don't know. No worry. This is a critical
component to the assurance of your salvation because to the
degree that you have your eyes fixed on Christ, only to that
degree can you rest confident that the promises of God are
yes and amen through him. It's very important. Let's go
on to our next point. Our next point then, after having considered
that the nature of saving faith is rooted in the grace of God,
therefore you and I are not beholden to the weakness of our faith.
Don't we get so tired of our weak faith? Don't you get tired
of it? Don't you get tired sometimes
when you need your faith to show up and just don't even show up?
You just take a break, go on a vacation. You might have a
week or two where just your faith is so weak, it's in the bed.
It's your faith is depressed. Got the curtain pulled down and
just saying, no, no, no, Jess, you got to do this on your own
for a while, man. I ain't feeling too cool, man. I don't feel like
going out today. You got to roll on. Does anybody
know what I'm talking about? You know, you left your faith
at home because he just wasn't willing to roll with you. That's
how our faith is sometimes. And then other days we pop up
and there it is ready to go. It didn't already exercise, went
and ran, got his latte. Come on, Jess, what you waiting
on, man? Let's go. Let's knock down some mountains,
man. That's true. And then the next day after that,
I go to knock on faith door. Come on, man, let's roll. I'm
tired, Jess. Didn't I tell you the other day? I'm tired. Up
and down, up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down,
up and down. That's why we can't depend upon
our faith. We've got to depend upon the God of our faith. Are
you hearing me? So now this is important. I'm
getting ready to shut it down here. Grace, therefore, is the
security of the promise. You got that? Grace is the security
of the promise. That is what we were meaning
in verse 16.8 and B. In order that the promise might
be sure to all to see. Go back to our text. I just want
you to see that. Are you guys understanding what I'm saying
when I say that grace is the security, it's the guarantee,
it's the confidence that we have? Because see, when we read our
Bible, it says the same thing every time we read it. The Bible
doesn't change, you know what I'm saying? So even though you
and I vacillate, when we read our Bible, it says the same thing
again and again. In other words, what God said
He would do, He would do. What God said He did, He did.
What God said He will do for us now, God will do. Those are
the grace promises that give our souls rest. When my faith
stays at home on its own, you know what I can do when I'm out
there in the street by myself? I can call back the promises of God,
which says, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of
the world. I will never leave you nor forsake
you. Am I making some sense? Well, at that point, faith is
back, see. Because faith helped me comprehend that verse. But
it's important for you and I to understand that faith is designed
for us to look to the promises of God. And so in Romans chapter
4 verse 16, as we are wrapping it up, listen, Therefore it is
of faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise
might be sure to all the seeds. not to that only which is of
the law, but to that which is of the faith of Abraham, which
is the father of us all. Let me read through verse 17
and 18, leave you with something to think about, and then we'll
come back next week. As it is written, I have made
you a father of many nations before him whom He believed before
him whom he believed even God who what quickens the dead and
call it those things which be not as though they are. You understand
what you understand what Paul is about to do. Here's what he's
about to do. And I will say this for next
week. He's about to take Abraham and use him as an argument for
everything your pastor has just stated. He's about to take Abraham
and use him as an argument for everything I have just stated.
I have just stated that our hope is not built on our faith. Faith
simply receives the promise of our hope, which is built on the
grace of God. Our faith itself is simply a
vehicle by which it gets a hold to what God has done for us.
And he's about to use Abraham as an example. When you and I
followed the life of Abraham, what we discovered is that God
called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldee. We call that a calling. By faith he left, didn't he?
God called him, he left. God called Abraham to trust God
that he would provide for Abraham an heir by which he would perpetuate
the promise through his life. Is that right? And he gave Abraham
a consideration of that call in Genesis 15 and in Genesis
17 where he said to Abraham, look up to the stars. Abraham,
I want you to look to the stars. And if you can count these stars,
so shall your seed be. So he gave him a call. Then he
gave him a consideration. And notice now the call is away
from where he was to somewhere else. The consideration is away
from where he was to somewhere else. You know what faith is
doing is leading us away from where we are to somewhere else.
Abraham is on a journey of faith. He's walking by faith. He's receiving
promises by faith. And right there in that text,
Genesis 17, around verse five, it says that, and Abraham believed
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. When Abraham
looked up, saw all those stars, he says, God, now watch this,
amen. That's literally the Hebrew word
for believe. You know how church folk go,
amen. But there's very little faith
behind it. When you go, amen, you are saying you believe God.
Stay with me for a moment. I'm going to close it down right
here, and we'll pick this up next week so I can affirm how important
it is for you to know that your faith is designed to get a hold
of the grace of God. Abraham was called out of Ur
of Chaldea by the grace of God. God didn't have to look on Abraham.
He just chose to. Abraham was called to look up
to the stars and understand that God's promises are good by the
grace of God. He, Abraham, didn't have anything
within himself by which he could sustain any hope that God would
give him an heir. In fact, at the moment at which
God, it says, if you can count these stars, so shall your seed
be. Abraham was over 75 years old. It was a hundred years into Abraham's
life before Abraham saw the promise of God. You guys remember that?
A hundred years. Do you know where Abraham is
at 100 years old? Him and his wife Sarah, who happens
to be 90 at this time, and God is giving them promises? They're
dead. They're dead. God waited until
they died physically before he fulfilled a promise in their
life. Will you hear me now? Watch this now. This is important.
I'll come back next week. He waited until Abraham had no power
in himself to produce the promise. He waited till Sarah had no promise
in herself to produce the promise, no power in herself to produce
the promise because the promise must be produced by grace, by
grace. Listen, he set them up so that
what they would obtain could only be amounted to or construed
as the grace of God, the grace of God. And if we have followed
the law today, and the law says this, the only way you and I
can obtain the grace of God is through what? Faith. It means
that because Abraham actually obtained the promise, him and
Sarah had walked by what? Faith. That's right. We're going
to come back next week and take our time and work through that.
Because see, here's the problem. Here's the problem. Here's the
problem. If you and I are adding anything to our faith, to assist
our faith in obtaining the promises of God, then we don't have saving
faith. Saving faith sees you and me
as completely impotent to get the job done, and therefore must
look outside of ourselves to God. Am I making some sense?
Sarah! Come here, girl. Abraham, what
you want? You see I'm out here cleaning
this garden. It's time to go to bed. Go to bed for what? It's three o'clock in the evening.
We don't go to bed till seven o'clock. Well, the Lord then
gave me a revelation. Let's go. Now, if Sarah was not
a woman of faith, you know what she would have said? Abraham
just went nutty. But I'm going to show you next
week what faith can do in a brother and a sister that's 100 years
old. Amen.