Well, we get started. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy and grace. Lord, we thank you for the righteousness
which you've provided for your people and your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to look to Him
alone and not to our flesh, but to rest and trust in the salvation
which you've provided for your people and your Son, Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. All right, our text is Romans
4. Romans 4, and we'll be looking at verses 1 through 5. And what
Paul does here is he turns to Abraham. He looks at Abraham
to illuminate or to shine a light, to bring light to the example
that we have here in Abraham, and it's to show to us what Paul
has been speaking of for the last three chapters. He's showing
us that by the works of the flesh, no one will be justified before
God. By our works in the flesh, no
one will be justified. And what do I mean by the flesh? We know, we're usually familiar
with Galatians 5, 19 through 21, that speaks of the sins,
sins that we do in the flesh, right? Murder, stealing, lying,
adulteries, fornications, all these things is what the scriptures
speak of as fruits of the flesh, that corrupt fruit. But it's
more than that even. When we speak of the flesh, we're
talking about the things that man does, thinking that he's
justified before God, the religious things that he does, thinking
that by these things, by these works, by these practices, I
am justified or accepted of God because of these things. And
that's true even when we combine those works with our faith in
Christ, looking to Him. Plus works, those are all works
of the flesh, and thinking that these things make us righteous.
And so, the question I want to look at today is whether righteousness,
or even faith, is that a product of our flesh? Is our flesh able
to bring forth faith? Is it able to bring forth righteousness? So that's what we'll be looking
at here. And religion, the reason why
it's important is because religion teaches that it is a product
of the flesh. Religion teaches men and women
that they can believe, that there's something that they can do to
earn favor with God. And so they teach it in such
a way that Man comes away from hearing what they say, comes
away from believing that they can bring their flesh to cooperate
with the Spirit. That we can cooperate with the
Spirit and stir ourselves up and inspire ourselves to do a
work of God. And that through hard work and
dedication we can do a spiritual work. And most churches would
never say it that way. They wouldn't word it in that
way. They would deny such a thing. And yet, in the very messages
that they preach, in the very way that they teach it, you come
away thinking that there is something that I can do in my flesh. There
is some methods or some things I can do or say or follow that
will improve upon my standing before God. as if Christ alone
isn't enough. And so, it's serious, it's very
serious. And Paul said to the Galatians,
he said, Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised,
and what's circumcision? Circumcision was a mark, which
the parents would do for the male children, but it showed
that it was a seal of their salvation, it was a seal of salvation for
the children, for that child, for that male child. It was supposed
to be a mark of what God had done in the heart. But they didn't
look at it in that way. They looked at it as another
step, another work, another component in their salvation. Something
that they could do to earn the favor of God. And so, when we
do works, when we do things that we think will improve upon our
hope before God, that's just like doing the work of circumcision. And Paul said, if ye be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. nothing. And so, it's not a little
thing that churches are doing when they speak in such a way
of religious things as though that's a component that we could
add to our faith, our religion, in which God will be more favorable
towards us, in the manner that God will be kinder to us or bless
us in some way. And the reason why we don't look
to circumcision and works like that is because Christ is the
whole fulfillment of the law for his people. He did the whole
work of salvation for his people, and so religion has found a way
through subtlety to bring their hearers back under the law and
back under a form of works and they've managed to turn our eyes
away from Christ and resting in Christ and the work that he's
done back to looking to the law and religious things to improve
upon and strengthen our salvation and gain blessings from God. And so that's what Paul is going
after in this text. He's going after that subtle
teaching here to destroy that teaching. And so I hope to look
at that together with you this morning. Our title is Grace or
Debt? Grace or debt? Alright, so let's
look at these verses one through five together. So Paul has been
dealing with the righteousness of God for believers. And he
brings us over to Abraham. And the reason why he went to
Abraham is because Abraham was highly esteemed in the eyes of
the Jews. If anyone was a gracious man,
if any man was saved. If any man was a true man of
God, it was Abraham in their eyes. And when they looked at
the blessings that they had as Israelites, they traced that
blessing back to Abraham. They looked at Abraham and said,
well, we're sons of Abraham. And God has promised to bless
his people in Abraham. And so Paul asks a question in
verse one, Romans 4.1. What shall we say then that Abraham
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? What can
we say about Abraham and his flesh? Did Abraham produce righteousness
in the flesh? Did he do something to produce
righteousness by his flesh? Was he somehow able to do something
that no other man could ever do save the Son of God, Jesus
Christ. Was he able to bring forth a
spiritual work in his flesh? That's what we're looking at
here. So Paul shows us that Abraham's hope of righteousness He's going
to show us what Abraham's hope of righteousness is, which will
further validate what he was showing us back in Romans 3.20
when he said, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified in this sight. For by the law is the
knowledge of sin. And so Paul goes to Abraham first
to show us that our righteousnesses can't be by the works of the
law or by the works of the flesh. And to see that we have one source
of righteousness, one hope of righteousness, that's provided
for us in His Son Jesus Christ. Christ is our righteousness,
not anything that we do in the flesh. It's Christ and Christ
alone who's our righteousness. Now look at verse 2, Romans 4-2.
For if Abraham were justified by works, something he did in
his flesh, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. And he's saying if there's something
that we can do to obtain righteousness or to appear righteous, It may
be so among men, before men. Others might look at us and say,
wow, there's a real pious, godly person. That's a righteous person
over there. Look at them. And he's saying,
yeah, well, before men, perhaps. But before God, no. No, we can't
do, there's nothing we can do to earn righteousness with God.
Our Lord said that religion, this is where they operate, this
is what religion teaches us. This is why people don't see
any difference between religions, whether you're a Buddhist or
go up to a mountain and worship God there, or you're a Hindu
among the Indians, or you're a Muslim among the Pakistanis.
or you're a Catholic or a Christian or a Jew, they see no difference
because all it is is works, works, works. What you're doing to improve
yourself and to make yourself righteous before God. And our
Lord said, they do all their works for to be seen of men. That's why people are doing their
works. That's why religion is so big. It's to be seen of men.
And so You know, if we're honest, we
look at that and we've done that. We've retreated when we've sinned
or when we're convicted, we retreat. to thinking, well, what can I
do now to kind of fix this? To go from a feeling of guilt
and shame before God to feeling like everything's okay. What
can I do? And we do that in our flesh. That's a work of the flesh.
And, you know, religion even goes so far as what we saw the
Jews do in chapter two. And what Paul brought out was
in chapter two, He said, we as Jews, we do the same things,
but because we're telling others how to live under the law. If
you've ever done that, when you've gone to somebody and said to
them, what you're doing is sin. You shouldn't be doing that.
And we know that we're guilty of either that very sin or at
least other sins. But we go away feeling, well,
God's pleased with me now because I told them that they shouldn't
be doing this. I'm an instructor of the law. I've now done something
for God, and so God clearly is pleased with me because I was
able to go to that person and tell them, you shouldn't be doing
that. That's sin. That's what the Jews were doing. The Jews
said, well, we know that we're sinners. We know that we don't
do what's right, but because we're instructors of others and
we get their flesh to do what they're supposed to do, therefore
the blessing of God is upon us. We know that God loves us. And
so that's what we're doing. So that may impress other people
and other men, but not God. God isn't impressed with our
works. He's not impressed with what we do. That's what he said
there at the end of verse 2. He hath whereof the glory, but
not before God. Why? Why can't he boast about
it? Because it's a product of the flesh and the flesh is enmity
against God. The Bible is clear that we are
dead in trespasses and sins. We don't bring this flesh to
life. This flesh is corrupt and evil
and has no fellowship with God. It's Christ. In the Spirit, He
gives us life until He raises these bodies from the grave.
And then we're made after the image of Christ in these bodies
once He comes again and raises us from the dead. Many agree
though, they agree with this, in word they say this, but we're
guilty of glorying in the flesh and that's because religion gives
us, like when you come into a church, They usually show you, well,
if you do these things, if you're troubled and worried, well, if
you just start doing this, if you do these things here, then
relax. It's okay. You just relax. You just do these things. If
you walk the aisle, if you come down to the altar, if you give
your heart to Jesus, if you pray with the prayer team, the prayer
leader, and you confess your sins and then you can be baptized
and so people start doing these things and they start feeling
saved. They start feeling like, well
I guess I really am a Christian. But they don't know Christ. They
still don't know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. They're still
not free and have liberty in the salvation that Christ has
provided for them and what he's done for them. But looking to
and trusting our works, right, and looking to what other people
are doing sometimes as a thermometer, you know, kind of hold up your
finger and think, well, which way is the wind blowing here
and am I doing pretty good? That's not salvation. That's
trusting in your works. And it's an offense to God because
One, we're calling God a liar. If we're saying that I can, by
my work, step by step, improve myself, well, we're calling God
a liar because God says, you're all dead in trespasses and sins.
You can't work your way to salvation. You can't earn a righteousness
and a favor with me by your works in the flesh. And the other thing
is, it's an offense because we're rejecting the salvation God has
provided for his people in his son, Jesus Christ. We're denying
that he's sufficient to save his people to the uttermost. It's Christ. Christ gave his
life. He earned and obtained eternal
redemption for us. He obtained righteousness for
his people. And we're saying, you know, I
appreciate what Christ did, but I just want to make sure. I just
want to add a little something to make sure that I really am
saved. And so I'm going to do these
things just to improve upon it. And that's not resting in Christ.
That's not trusting him. That's still looking to what
we do. The works will follow, there
will be fruit, but it's a product of the Spirit of God in us that
brings a thankful heart and a heart that desires Him and serves one
another in love, but not for any righteousness. We know that
the Lord brings us to have no confidence in the flesh. Let's
move on. We know that God counted Abraham
righteous. Look at verse 3. For what saith
the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto
him for righteousness. What does that it refer to? Well,
it does refer to faith. It is speaking of faith. But
we have to look at why God imputed righteousness to Abraham. Why
did God say Abraham was righteous? Was it his faith or was it the
faithfulness of Christ which he looked to? Was it the righteousness
of Christ that made Abraham righteous? Because this is what it comes
down to. Was it a work in his flesh? Or was it a spiritual
work of God for Abraham? And how God saves his people
through and by and because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this account is taken from
Genesis 15, if you want to look at it later, Genesis 15 verses
4 through 6, but for time's sake, turn over to Galatians 3. Galatians
3. And look at verses 6-8 first, because Paul is recounting this
from Genesis. Galatians 3, 6 says, Even as
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness,
know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the
children of Abraham, and the scripture foreseeing that God
would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel
unto Abraham. Get that, he preached beforehand
the gospel to Abraham saying, in thee shall all nations be
blessed. Look at verse 16. This clarifies
that more what is meant. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. So God preached to Abraham Christ. He preached the gospel. Our Lord
said, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it
and was glad. So God revealed to Abraham the
mystery of godliness, that it's not in my works, it's not in
what I do or don't do. The mystery of godliness is that
we are made righteous by Christ, that God has provided our righteousness
in his son Jesus Christ. That's the mystery of godliness,
and that was preached to Abraham. And so Abraham looked to that
day when God would send his son. He saw it and believed. He saw
it by faith and believed God. And so our God, who is holy and
righteous and perfect, he accepts the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's how we are accepted of
God. It's in him and he reveals that
righteousness to the faith which he's given to his people in the
gospel. In the preaching of the gospel
he reveals faith to his people whereby they look to not what
they've done but to what Christ has done for his people. And
so this is the promise that God made to Abraham And that this
is what Abraham believed. He believed Christ. He believed
God made him righteous, not because of what he did, but because of
what Christ would do when God sent him into the world. All
right. So moving on, verse four, Romans 4.4. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." If you're working,
then if you're righteous, then that would be a debt that God
owes you. But if it's a faith, then it's
not a work is what he's saying. Now let's look at this a little
bit more. Is faith a product of our flesh? Are you able to
stir up your flesh and bring forth that spiritual work of
faith looking to what God has provided us in his Son? Because
if it's of the flesh, if faith is of the flesh, then it's a
work. It's no longer of grace, it's
a debt that God owes us. If you can do this in your flesh,
then it's a debt that God owes you. And Christ said, well actually
before I get there, religion teaches us that our faith is
a part of salvation. And faith is necessary to salvation
because it pleases God that we know what he's done for us in
his Son. It pleases God. He gives us that
knowledge and makes us to know what he's done for us in Christ. But religion makes it a work. And Paul said to the Thessalonians,
he said, all men have not faith. All men have not faith. They've
all not been given this faith. And it is a gift, because he
said in Ephesians 2.8, he said, faith is the gift of God. It's
not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. God gives us faith. And think about what the Lord
said when he was talking to Nicodemus in John 3. He said, verily, verily, I say
unto thee, except ye be born again, ye cannot see the kingdom
of God. In other words, if it's of the
flesh, well then how are you seeing the Kingdom of God? Except
you be born again, you can't see the Kingdom of God. And I
know, I mean, I was raised to believe that when I accepted
Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, when I made a profession of faith,
that's when God would give me birth. That's when I'd become
born again, is doing that work. But Christ said, how can you
even see the Kingdom of God except you be born again? How do you
know that I'm the righteousness of God except you be born again. In other words, just like we
didn't choose to be born the first time, we don't choose to
be born the second time. It's by the will of our God that
we're born spiritually to know Him, to see the Kingdom of God,
to see I'm the sinner. I have no righteousness of my
own. I can't save myself. I can't do this, Lord. I can't
save me. Lord, have mercy on me. And that
very confession is the Lord has to show us that. The Lord has
to show us that we're a sinner and can't save ourselves. When
we're dead in trespasses and sin, someone says, well, yeah,
just come on down the aisle and give your heart to Jesus. We
think, sure, I can do that. I can do that. And then we go
on down there and we do it. And we think, well, now I'm saved.
But that's just the work of the flesh. But when you're brought
to see, I'm nothing. I can't save myself. Nothing
I do, Lord have mercy on me. And we see the righteousness
of God in Christ. When the Lord, and we believe
Him, we trust that He's my righteousness, we're brought to see and to know
that's a work of God. I didn't do that. God did that.
The Lord did that. He saves me from beginning to
end. He's the alpha and the omega,
the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the author and finisher
of our faith. He began it, not us. We didn't
begin it in faith. The Lord gave us faith to behold
what He's done for us. We're dead in trespasses and
sins, Paul, so we're not going to be able to bring that spiritual
work forth of this dead flesh. We're either dead or we're not
dead. And the scriptures teach we're dead in trespasses and
sins. We can't save ourselves. Now
let me show you this more by the apostles. Go to 2 Peter chapter
1. What does this eminent apostle,
Peter, say about our faith? 2 Peter 1 verse 1, it says, Simon
Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, and this is
who he is writing to, to them that have obtained like precious
faith. then that have obtained like
precious faith." There are some that haven't obtained faith.
They've worked faith. It's their faith. They've done
what they've done in believing on Christ. But Peter says, I'm
writing to those who have obtained this like precious faith that
isn't a product of their flesh, but God gave it to them. with
us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ."
That's who he's writing to, to those who have obtained. And
to those that have obtained like precious faith, he says, grace
and peace be multiplied unto you. That's who he's writing
to, to you that have obtained this through the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord. Now look at verse 3. Here he
affirms what he said in verse 1. according as his divine power,
not my power, but God's divine power, hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge
of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." And so he's
showing that this was given to us. Did life begin when I had
faith, or was that also given to me by God? Because Peter says,
it's given to us. Everything necessary for life
and godliness was given to me by God. It was by His work, and
it's to His glory and praise. And so, Christ made His people
righteous by the death of Himself. He fully satisfied the divine
wrath and justice of God. As the substitute of His people,
He put away their sins. And He is a successful Savior.
He didn't fail. He's a successful Savior. And
there's not souls in hell that have perished because Christ
wasn't able to save them. He's not up in heaven pacing
the floor, wringing His hands and getting upset because men
won't believe on Him. He's not bound by the will of
man. He's not bound by the works of the devil. He's God. He's
sovereign and able to do whatsoever pleases Him. And if there's people
in hell for whom Christ died, then He failed. He didn't put
away their sin because they didn't do some work to make it effectual
for themselves. But that's not the case. Everything
necessary for salvation, He will undoubtedly bring it to pass
for His people. I want to be with that group
that Peter wrote to, those that have obtained like precious faith,
not those who worked their own faith and got themselves saved. But for all that Christ died,
they are righteous. And that's why it says in Hebrews
10.14, for by one offering, Not to you. He doesn't offer himself
to the sinner. He offered himself once to God. By one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Them that are sanctified, that
is, set apart for God's use. Those that God chose and put
apart for himself to be saved, to come under the precious blood
of Christ that puts away their sin. And that's why when Paul
was writing about this, speaking in Romans 9, I mean, if you want
to see the election of God, but Romans 9, verses 15 and 16, for
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. And so then, this is what he
says, so then, verse Romans 9, 16, so then it is not of him
that willeth. Men talk about free will. Our
free will is dead, it's corrupt. We have no will for God, no heart
for God. We're enmity against God. And he said, it's not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's not my free will,
it's not my good works. Not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. God shows
mercy to whom he will, he saves his people. All right, so the
spirit of God seeks out those that are Christ's lost sheep.
We don't know who they are. That's why we preach the gospel
to everyone. We preach the gospel to as many as the Lord will send
our way and that he'll send us to. We preach the gospel. We
try to be as faithful and honest and sincere with the Word of
God as we possibly can be. We preach to all because the
Spirit causes whom he will to hear that Word by faith, which
he's given, a spiritual work. It's all spiritual work. Many
hear it. We all hear it. but only whom the Lord gives
it to. They hear and know, Lord, you've
provided everything necessary in salvation. You've done the
whole thing, even causing me to hear it by faith, which you've
done, what you've done in Christ. And so he reveals faith to them
that are his. It's the hearing of faith, Paul
calls it, whereby we believe, God, that we are saved by Christ's
work. As we read in Romans 4, 5, but
to him, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, His faith is counted for righteousness. In other words, him that believeth
that God has provided my righteousness in His Son, Jesus Christ, that's
what we're believing. We're believing, it's not my
faith that saves me, we're believing in the righteousness of God provided
for me in His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ is my righteousness. He's
our righteousness. And so in Christ, we rest from
our labors. We stop talking about what we've
done for Jesus. We don't go around boasting,
well I did this, I walked the aisle and I gave my heart to
Christ. That's how religion talks. But children of God say, this
is what God did for me. He did this for me. And he provided
everything necessary for my salvation. Everything necessary He's done
it all for me, all obtained in Christ, by Christ, and so everything
necessary, it's gonna come. He provides it, so that's the
blessing of our God. That's the imputed righteousness.
Christ made us righteous, made His people acceptable before
God, whereby now we are made to look to Him, believing, resting,
yes, Lord, He is my righteousness, and we rest from our labors trying
to earn and obtain that salvation and that acceptance and favor
from God by those things that we do. So, I pray that's a blessing
and that the Lord helps us to hear it with the ear of faith
that He gives. So, let's pray. Our gracious
Lord, we thank You, Father, for Your mercy and grace. And Lord,
we know that salvation is in Your Son, Jesus Christ, alone.
And that apart from Him, we have no hope before You. But we thank
you that in Christ you've provided everything necessary for your
people, for life and godliness. Before him was called us unto
grace and virtue. Lord, we pray that you would
bless this word to our hearts, help us to hear it, not in the
flesh, Lord, but in the spirit, in the new man which Christ alone
creates in us. We pray that you do this for
your glory, for your praise and honor, for your people, Lord.
We pray this in Christ's name, amen. All right, so we'll come
back in 15 minutes.