All right, brethren, let's turn
to Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. Greg, were
you watching the broadcast last night, Flip Philippines? I couldn't
tell. Well, this is a message I preached
last night. but I wanted to preach it for
us here. I prepared it to preach for us
here because it goes so well with the next message. Here we're
going to look at the Lord's promise to Abraham and then we're going
to see something about that promise in the next hour. Our subject is promised through
faith. We've looked at this one time
and there's four reasons here that God justifies his people
through faith in Christ, apart from any works in us. There's
four reasons given here. I just want to look at one of
them today, just one of them. Now, here it is in Romans 4,
verse 13. He says, for the promise that
he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to
his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of
faith. Now that's why, that's one of
the first reasons that he gives that God justifies his people
through faith apart from our works. The promise that he should
be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through
the law. but through the righteousness
of faith. Now, the great foundational doctrine
of the gospel is justification through faith in Christ apart
from our works. That's the heart of everything
we preach. We're justified through faith
in Christ apart from our works. Now, you know the first three
chapters. Paul, by the Spirit, he declared
plainly that there is no sinner on the top side of this earth
who's innocent. We have all broken the law, we're
all guilty in Adam, and we broke every single law. You know, if
a person just broke one law, let's say you just broke one
law of the land and you're guilty. Well, if you could obey every
other law in the land and you obeyed every other law in the
land for the rest of your days, that still doesn't justify you
from that law you broke. Well, we can't keep every law
of God. And not only that, we've broken
every law of God. So there's no way we can be justified
by the law. It can't happen. Now, what is
it to be justified? It's to be innocent, faultless,
without sin, to have a perfect righteousness, a perfect conformity
to God's will, from beginning to end of your life before the
record of God. That is to be perfect, perfectly
righteous, perfectly pleasing to God in every way. The only
one who that applies to is the Lord Jesus. He is the righteousness
of God. He's the righteousness God provided.
He is the one who, it's by His obedience, He made His people
righteous and He's the only righteousness God will receive us in, is in
Him. And the only way you have His
righteousness is trust Him. Believe Him. That's the only
way. The only way. So Romans 4 now, He's gonna hold
up Abraham here and He's gonna show us This first reason he
gives of why God saves through faith in Christ, why he justified
his people through faith in Christ. For the promise that he should
be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through
the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Now let's look at this
promise to Abraham. Now, you know Abraham lived 430
years before God gave the law. Over 430 years. And he was a
spiritually dead sinner living in Ur of Chaldea. He had sinned
in Adam like we all had. He was guilty and he was spiritually
dead in sin. It was Christ, it was the one
mediator between God and men who came to Abraham and preached
the gospel to Abraham. Go over to Galatians 3, and Mark
Galatians 3, we're going to go back and forth here. Romans 4, Galatians 3, and Genesis
is where we're going to be. But Galatians 3 here, verse 8, The Scripture foreseeing that
God would justify the heathen through faith. That's you and
me. Seeing He would justify the heathen through faith, His elect
Gentiles preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying, In
thee shall all nations be blessed. There's the promise. God said,
In you, Abraham, all nations shall be blessed. Now, what's
the significance of seeing God would justify the heathen through
faith? Well, Abraham did not have the Ten Commandments or
any of the law. Abraham had never been circumcised. Abraham wasn't part of a church. He wasn't in religion. All the
things that men use as works to try to come to God, Abraham
had none of them. He was a heathen at that time. There was no such thing as Israel,
there was no such thing as the Jews yet. God takes this man
from Ur and called him and revealed Christ in him and gave him faith
and Abraham believed. Back in Romans 4, verse 17, as
it's written, here's the promise, I have made you a father of many
nations, before him whom he believed, even God, who quickens the dead
and calls those things which are not as though they were.
Now I'm gonna read you some from Genesis 12, and one place in
Genesis 12, three, the Lord said, I will bless him that blessed
thee, and curse him that cursed thee, and in thee shall all families
of the earth be blessed. He said in Genesis 17, four,
he said, as for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, my promise,
and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy
name be any more called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham,
for a father of many nations have I made thee. Now that was
God's promise. I will make you a father of many
nations. And then he promised him this. He said, you're gonna
be heir of the world. you'd be the heir of the world.
Is he talking about this world? He's talking about the new heaven
and the new earth, new Jerusalem, that Christ has created, that's
entirely the creation of our Lord Jesus, the heir of God. By faith, Abraham looked for
a city which have foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
He was a sojourner in this world. He looked for that heavenly inheritance,
a city whose builder and maker is God. Now, before God made
this promise to Abraham, what's the significance of him saying,
I've made you a father of many nations? Well, before God made
this promise to Abraham, he made this promise to his son, the
Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus sent a covenant
with the father to honor him and magnify him and manifest
his righteousness in saving God's elect. And the Lord God promised
the son, I made you a father of many nations. He's called
in Isaiah six, the everlasting father. He's the last Adam. He'll be the father of his people
forever. He's the everlasting father.
Now you know, you're familiar with this, but let me show you
in Genesis 22, Genesis 22, I'm gonna show you two scriptures.
Genesis 22, whenever, you know, the Lord calling Abraham to offer
up Isaac, all of that was a picture of Christ. Christ being his only
begotten son, Isaac was his only begotten son, Isaac was the son
of promise, born of a miraculous birth, and he was the one through
whom the Lord said he would bless all the families of the earth.
That's all picturing Christ. And Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That's all picturing Christ. But when he had offered up Isaac,
trusting God was able to raise him from the dead, It says, the
Lord said in Genesis 22, 17, in blessing I will bless thee,
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the
heaven, as the sand which is upon the seashore. Now, there
the word seed is plural, and he's talking about all the children
of Abraham that God will save. That's who he's talking about.
They're going to be like the sand of the seashore. This is what
we're going to see again in our next message. That was God's
promise. You believe me, Abraham. You
look to me only. You trust me only. Your children
are going to be as the sand of the seashore. Now this next word,
seed, is singular, talking about Christ. And thy seed shall possess
the gate of his enemies. Thy seed shall possess the gate
of his enemies. In other words, that the gates
where judgment was settled. And in judgment, in justice,
in perfect righteousness, Christ is gonna conquer every one of
his enemies. And that seed's coming through
Abraham. He said, and in thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. You obeyed my voice, Abraham. He told him when he had offered
up, he said, now I know you believe me. You believe me. James said,
was not Abraham's faith justified as being genuine, true, God-given
faith when he offered up Isaac? He trusted God was able to raise
him from the dead. That's what a true worker of
faith does. You trust God is able. Trust God is able. And that seed now, Galatians
3, now let's look there, that seed that came through Abraham,
that came through Isaac, on down the line, came through the tribe
of Judah, came through David, that seed is Christ. That's who
he was talking about. He said, to Abraham and his seed,
Galatians 3.16, to Abraham and his seed where the promise is
made. He said, not into seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. You see
that? Now we're talking about this
promise God made. He made the promise before the world was
made to Christ the seed. I made you a father of many nations.
And when you've obeyed my voice, for him to obey the voice of
God meant he had to come and establish his people in righteousness.
He had to go to the cross and lay down his life for us. And
now he says to Abraham, I made you a father of many nations,
Abraham, if you obey my voice. What did that include? Believe
on the Lord Jesus. Trust me, I'll bless them that
bless you and curse them that curse you. And I'll bless all
your spiritual children and I'll save them, trust me. That's what
he's commanded you and me, trust him. And I'll make you heir of
the world to come, heir of the world to come. Now, we according
to his promise, We're looking for a new heaven and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. That's what we're looking for
according to His promise. Now secondly, here's the main
point. Here's the main point. This promise was not through
the law. It wasn't through the works of
the law. It was through the righteousness of faith. through the righteousness
of faith. Now again, Abraham lived 430
years before the law was given. It couldn't have been through
the law. Couldn't have been through the law. And I think that right
there is one of the best things that if you ever, if you're trying
to bear witness to somebody and they keep saying, insisting that,
you know, well, a believer has got to keep the law or he can't
be saved. We're under the law as a rule of life. Abraham didn't
have that. He didn't have that rule of life.
What was his rule of life? Same as yours and mine, and same
as Paul's. Paul said, the life I now live,
I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. He abides in me, and I'm led
of the Spirit. I'm guided by the word of the
Lord. We love the law of God. We want
to do everything the law of God says. But we know better than
to expect that we can come to God in it. There's a big difference
in that. And we know God won't cast us
away for not keeping it. We've never kept it. But in Christ
we have fully, perfectly. But Abraham didn't have the law
at all, so it couldn't have been through the works of the law,
but it was through the righteousness of faith. Now, first of all,
that righteousness of faith is Christ's obedience, His faithfulness. Back in Romans 3, 21, it says,
now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets. It's the righteousness
of God without your works, But it's witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. That's His faithfulness, and
it's unto all and upon all them that believe in Him. That's the
faith He gives to us. You see that? It's the righteousness
of faith. It's His righteous obedience
to God, whereby He made us righteous. And the righteousness of the
faith is God giving you faith to believe on Him through which
God imputes His righteousness to you. It has to be this way. Verse 23 says, For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We can't be saved by war. We all sinned and came short
of the glory of God. But verse 24 says, we're justified
freely by His grace to the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, who God
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sin. Now look
at verse, Romans 4, 2. If Abraham were justified by
works, he hath whereof the glory. But not before God, for what
said the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him
for righteousness. That's how the Lord saves all
his people. Christ established the whole
law for his people. If we could just get this in
our heart, brethren, before the all-knowing, all-seeing God,
in His record book where it matters, God says of those who are in
Christ Jesus, He said, from the moment you were conceived in
your mother's womb till you leave this earth, He says, you have
only done that which is right. You know why I believe you'll
never die? You know why Christ said you'll never die? because
you're perfectly righteous. Death is sin, sin is death. You're
perfectly righteous, you can't die because he made you righteous. And that's before God, that's
where it is to be justified. Perfectly conformed to God's
good, his will and good pleasure. And it's all in Christ, and it's
all by Christ. And you and I have it simply
through believing Him. Oh, what a great thing that is.
So much better than trying to work for righteousness, and trying
to do to be made righteous, and trying to keep all the commandments,
and then try to keep all the ceremonies, and then all the
things that were required in the law. So much better than
this. He said, trust my Son. Believe
my Son, I'll bring you I'll bring you and present you faultless
before the throne. Faultless before the throne. So Abraham believed God. By God's
grace, God gave him faith. He believed God. Look there at
Romans 4 and verse 20. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he
was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him
for righteousness. You go back there to where Abraham
lived, and you imagine this. Just imagine this now. And it's
no different for us in our day. It's just this miraculous. But here's Abraham, he's an idolater. This man don't believe God. He
don't even know who God is. He's worshiping the moon, the
sun, the stars, just stuff, creation. Worshiping his own hand. And
the Lord sends the gospel to him and tells him all this good
news of what he's gonna do. My son's coming. Christ himself
is declaring this to him in his heart. Because the Lord said,
he said, Abraham saw my day. He rejoiced to see it. He was
glad. Abraham, by faith, heard Christ declaring in his heart,
Abraham, the Savior, the Son of God, the Christ, is coming
through you. Could you imagine having God
tell you that? The Savior is coming through
you, Abraham. And He's going to possess the
gate of His enemies. He's going to conquer all His
enemies and all your enemies, Abraham. And He's going to save
all your children. Abraham doesn't even have a child
yet. Abraham has no child whatsoever. And the Lord tells him this. Do you think Abraham, just of
his own will and his own wisdom and his own inclination, believed
that? There is no way. I mean, just
naturally speaking, it was so too wonderful to be believed.
But then you put on top of that the enmity of the natural heart
and what he already was worshiping and already persuaded in his
mind and he knew who his God was and all of that. It was a
miracle of God's grace that God gave him faith to believe. It's
no different for us today, brother, to tell us that son of God came
into this world, that he came and laid down his life, that
this thing was finished in him before the world was made. that
he's the one God promised to be the father of many nations,
and he came forth and manifest God's righteousness. And to be
told, somebody steeped in our idolatry, thinking, oh, we gotta
be saved by the Ten Commandments, and because we're a member of
this church, and because we made this decision way back there
and got our name on a church, we've observed this day, and
we've done this and that, and then to have the gospel come
to you and declare all of that's just flat out wrong. You don't
know God. You're an idolater, just like
Abraham was. To have God come and tell us that, and then for
him to say, it's all finished, Christ has come, he has magnified
and honored the law, he has put away the sin of his people, he
has made his people perfectly justified in him, and now the
new heaven and the new earth is all created in his righteousness,
in his holiness, and he's making his people know they're heirs
of that inheritance with him. There's no way you and me would
believe that and renounce all the works we've done and all
the idolatry we were in and all the enmity of our heart and all
everything about ourselves. There's no way you and me would
renounce all of that and do this one thing, believe on the Lord
Jesus. and trust that simply trusting
Him, I'll be saved. There's no way we'd do that.
That's a miracle. That's a miracle. But that is
exactly how God saved. That's what He worked in you.
You know, believing God's not a small thing. If you believe
Christ, Thank God that you believe Him because that is a... Well, the Lord said in Ephesians
1, He said it takes the same power to raise you spiritually
from the dead as it took to raise Christ from the dead. What a miracle of God's grace.
Alright, lastly. So this begs the question now,
who are Abraham's children? Who are these children? He said,
I'm blessing, your seed's gonna be as the sand of the sea. Well,
who are these children? Well, you know, Romans 9 says,
not all who are Israel are of Israel. You know, think about
it. The Muslims claim Abraham is
their father, the Jews claim Abraham's their father, and the
Christians claim Abraham's their father. Somebody's wrong. Somebody's wrong. Who are they? Romans 9 says, the children of
the promise. Children of the promise are counted
for the seed. Children of the promise. And he tells us who
they are. He said, you take Isaac, he has two sons in the
womb of Rebecca, and here's the child of promise. God said, Jacob
have I love. That's how you made a child of
promise. Jacob had my love. He said, the children that are
of the flesh, Esau was of the flesh. That was Abraham's son. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Esau was
his son too. Grandson. But he was a child
of the flesh. God said, they're not counting
for the seed. That's not the seed. He said, the children of
the promise, my leg, that's who the seed are. That's who the
seed are. I'll show you who the seed are.
I'll show you who they are. If you can believe on Christ,
listen to me now, you sitting here that believe Him, and you
sitting here that have never confessed to believe Christ,
listen, if you can believe Him, if you can believe Christ and
trust Christ alone, and trust that He will present you to the
Father spotless, you're a child of promise. I
could say that. Look, look, Romans 4.23. Now
it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to
him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. You see that? That's the evidence you are one
of God's elect if you can believe on Christ. I mean, believe him
and not add anything to it. Believe him and not look to your
works to save you. There's a big difference in being
zealous for good works because you love Christ and what He's
accomplished for you. There's a big difference in that.
And then look into those works and try to be saved by them.
If you can believe Christ and trust He alone is your only acceptance
with God, your only justification, your only righteousness, that's
the evidence you're an elect child of God. That's what Paul
told the Thessalonians. We know your election. Why? Because the word came to you
in power and you believed on Christ. Galatians 3, let's go
there. And I just want to read this
because this is like, you know, people accuse God's preacher. He just preaches the same thing
over and over. Well, we saw what Paul wrote
in Romans 4. Listen to Galatians 3. It's the
same thing. Exactly the same thing. Galatians
3, verse 7. Know ye therefore, we're answering
the question of who are Abraham's seed? Who are these children?
Galatians 3, 7. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. That's who
the children of Abraham are. He said that promise he gave
him, and these shall our nations be blessed. Verse 9, so then
they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. I want
to read this to the end of this chapter because I want you to
see this. It's all right here. As many as are of the works of
the law under the curse, it's written, Cursed is everyone that
continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law
in the sight of God, it's evident, for the just shall live by faith. And the law's not of faith. We'll
see if we go back to Romans 4 another time, look at these other four
reasons, he saves through faith, that's one of them. The law's
not of faith. The law's not of faith. But the
man that doeth them shall live in them. You see, it's either
by grace through faith. or it's by works entirely of
you. It's not a mixture at all. And don't forget why Paul's saying
this to the Galatians. They weren't claiming they were
justified by their works. They were doing just what men
do today. Oh, we're not saying we're justified by our work.
We're not saying that we look into our works for righteousness.
It's just for sanctification. And Paul, all through this, said,
no, you're trying to be justified. You're trying to justify yourselves
before men by your holy works. And also, your deceitful heart
is, you're trying to justify yourself before God. And he said,
in Galatians 3, he said, somebody bewitched you. Somebody bewitched
you. See, if you try to look to one
work, he said, Christ will profit you nothing. Verse 13, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. For it's written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. He did it that the blessing of Abraham might come on you
and me, elect Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive. These are three things right
here now. Look, this is how this should be read, that we might
receive the promise, the promise is of that eternal inheritance
with Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit, that
we might be born again of the Spirit of God, taught of God
in the heart, and through faith, it be through faith. That's why Christ did what he
did. But what about that law entering
in now? 430 years later, the law did enter in. Did it change
anything? Verse 15, Brethren, I speak after the manner of man,
though it be but a man's covenant, if it be confirmed, no man disowns
or adds to it. Men's covenants don't change
if it's done, if it's signed, that's it. He said, Now to Abraham
and to his seed were the promises made. He said, Not to seeds as
many, but as of one to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say,
The covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law which was formed thirty years after, cannot disannul it, that
it shall make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance
be of the law, it's no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham
by promise. That's the point of our text
in Romans 4. If it's of the law, it's not
promise. And God gave it to him by promise. You're saved by promise, by covenant. Why did he give the law then?
Verse 19. Wherefore then serveth the law.
It was added because of transgressions. He was added to make all the
true seed know our sins and be a schoolmaster and teach us of
our sins. And also, it was so that the Pharisees and the scribes
and the legalists would go around and act like they're somebody
because they keep the law and make life a little better for
me and you. But it was only till Christ came.
For you who know him, it was only till Christ came. It was
till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made, and
it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. But a
mediator is not a mediator of one. Moses couldn't be that mediator
because he's a sinner with them. A mediator has to be one with
God and one with the men he mediates for, and that's Christ. Look
here. If there is, are the promises,
is the law against the promises? No, God forbid. If there had
been a law given which could have given life, verily righteous
it would have been by the law. See, it's just an impossibility
to be saved by law. But the scripture had concluded
all under sin that the promise, there it is, the promise by the
faithfulness of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Well, before that faith came,
we were kept under the law, shut up to faith, which should afterwards
be revealed. Well, for the law was our schoolmaster
until Christ, until Christ came and revealed himself, that we
might be justified by faith. But after that faith come, we're
no longer under a schoolmaster. I have a dear brother friend,
pastor, just telling me the other day that people left the congregation
because he's preaching on believers not under the law, but under
grace. and showed over and over and over in the scripture. Time
and again it says, the law only speaks to them who are under
the law and it declares every mouth, everyone guilty, shuts
every mouth. You don't want to be under the
law. That's what the law does to you if you're under the law.
It declares you're guilty. And he showed them over and over
through the Scripture, where the Scripture says, God's saints
are not under the law, but under grace. Not under the law, but
under grace. Led of the Spirit of God, led
of Christ. Christ is really present, He's
really leading you, He's really guiding you, He's really teaching
you, and He will not let you go. Just like He did Abraham.
And they said, well, we see it in the Word, but we just still
believe we're under the law. Isn't that sad? You see these
things and you think, well, I've seen these things many times.
Pray, God, don't let me take for granted I believe these things.
Do you remember when you did not believe any of these things
and the Lord began to reveal it to you? Do you remember how
it filled your heart with joy? Don't let it get old to you.
It's an amazing thing that you believe. Amazing thing, and there's
people that read it, they'll see it, they see you're not under
the law, you're under grace. Yeah, but I still believe I'm
under the law. It takes faith, it takes God-given faith to believe
God and just submit to the Word. Well, here's what he says now.
You're no longer under the law, but he says, for you are all
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many
of you, as many of you, as have been baptized into Christ, have
put on Christ. Now, see, there wasn't a Jew
or a Greek in Abraham's day. Wasn't no such thing. And in
Christ, there's no such thing. There's not a Jew or a Greek.
There's not bond or free male or female. You're all one in
Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, if you
be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed. and heirs according to
the promise. That's God's word on it. You
believe Christ, see your only righteousness, then you are Abraham's
seed. and you're heirs according to
the promise. And here's what he's promised you. I know it
gets hard, I know life is tough, I know we see things and we start
fretting and worrying because everything looks like it's just
so out of order in this life and, you know, things trouble
us in this world. Here's what he said. He said,
don't glory in a man. When we start worrying about
men and worrying about what's going to happen to us and worrying
about what's going on in this world, that's what that is. That's
glorying in a man. That's exalting a man over God. He said, sanctify him. You see
him as high and holy and ruling all and you trust him to save
you and he'll be a sanctuary. And he said, let no man glory
in men. Here's why. All things are yours. That's what it is to be a joiner
with Christ. All things are yours. What does that include? All things. Preacher is yours. Things present,
things to come, life, death, whatever trial God's bringing
past in your life, that's yours. It's for you. To show you more
of His grace and mercy. Everything in this world is yours. Yeah, but I don't own much. I
don't own any land. Those other people that do own
it, they just pay their taxes on it for you. It's yours. All things are yours, and you're
Christ, and Christ is God's. Trust the Lord Jesus, amen. Father, we thank you for this
word. We pray you keep us and bless us. Thank you so much,
Lord, for revealing Christ to us. Thank you for choosing us. Thank you for working out a perfect
righteousness for us. Thank you for coming and teaching
us. Thank you for keeping us. Lord, we are blessed people. and it's all entirely of your
grace. Lord, don't let us ever, ever,
ever, ever cease to trust you and cease to be amazed at what
you've done for us. Keep us renewed and rejoicing
always. Lord, we pray you'd be pleased
to reveal this in our children, our loved ones, our neighbors,
whoever are your lost sheep. Lord, we pray you'd save them,
make them know this good news, bring them to be united with
us and go through this life together with us as we hear your gospel
preached. Wherever your words preach today,
Lord, we pray you bless it. Send it forth in power. Exalt
your Son in the hearts of your people. It's in His precious
name we ask it. Amen.