As I said before, I shouldn't
ask any woman over 50 where we should put the thermostat, Romans 4, as stated before, the
law. The law is mentioned at least
69 times. If I counted correctly, maybe
more, maybe a little bit less. So we're going to keep referring
to the law. This book of Romans does say.
But let me say before we continue, David, just as David
said, David said, Oh, how I love thy law, O Lord. It is my meditation
both day and night. God's people loved his law. What
law was David talking about? All of it. All of it. Paul said the commandment
is holy, it's just, and it's good. The commandment is holy
and just and true. Let us never be guilty, let me
never be guilty of speaking of God's holy law in any way but
reverence, respect, fear, and love. And though men slanderously
report, and they do, if you preach the truth of justification by
faith clearly enough, justification by faith without work, You're
going to be slanderously reported that you preach and teach licentiousness,
that God's people can live lawless lives. That's what they're going
to say. They accused our Lord of that. They accused Paul of that. No
one lived a more upright life than Paul, except our Lord, of
course. But they called him a glutton
and a winebibber. John didn't even drink wine,
and they said, well, he is a devil. But our Lord said, now wisdom
is justified of our children. The wisdom, the truth of God's
Word, revealed, known by His children, and justified by them.
Well, but let's never be guilty of speaking of God's law in any
way. The fault is not in the law. There's nothing wrong with
God's law. It's us. And Paul makes that very clear.
And the law is written on the heart of God's people, isn't
it? I don't want to have any other
God before men. Do you? And we don't. But covetousness is idolatry. And who is not guilty? I don't want to, and I mourn
those things. We mourn, we grieve over the
fact that we do break the law. No child of God wants to break
any law. We're not lawless. We're lawbreakers. We break the
law, but we're not lawless. Paul said it's not that we're
without law, but we're under law to Christ, under His law,
not without law. We're under His commandments,
and we love it. We love it. We want it. We want Him to tell
us. I was talking to a fellow one
time, and he was kind of taking issue with me about, he said,
don't tell me how to live. I said, boy, I want the Lord
to tell me exactly how to live, because I don't know. And I said,
what father would not tell his children what to do? What father
would not tell his children so they'll turn out all right? No, sir. And here's what the
grace of God teaches. Titus 2 says, The grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, and teaches
us, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, that we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present world. That's what the
grace of God, the gospel of God's grace, teaches us. Now, we're
not under the law in any way, shape, form, or fashion. We've
already been talking about that. Because the law is spiritual. It demands absolute perfection
in thought as well as deed and motive as well as action. And
our Lord magnified the law. He blew it up to show us if you've
been angry, you've killed that person. If you ignore someone,
if you've ever ignored anybody, that means you hope they'll just
go away. You don't care if they lived
or died. Right? Guilty. Whatever the law sayeth,
Romans 3.19 says to them under the law that all the world may
be guilty. Stop your mouth. No room for
boasting. Under the law. The law, what
are we going to say? Now listen to this. The principles
found in God's holy law, the principles of holiness, godliness,
righteousness, are found in the perfect law, the law of liberty
in Jesus Christ. Those principles are found in
what he tells, all through the epistles. Those principles. God to us, holy, I just read
to you in Titus 2, this is what the gospel teaches us. Love,
though, is the greatest. The greatest of these is love.
The Old Testament law says, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. Our Lord said the fulfillment
of the law is found in this one word, love. Love to God. If you
love God, you won't want to have a hell of a God before you. You
won't want to take His name in vain. You won't make any great
living. You'll worship Him. You'll rest
in Christ alone and not try to bring your work to Him. You'll
love your neighbor, or try. You will. But we emphatically declare that
we're not under the law as a covenant or rules of life. A rule of life. And many men say that. Some men.
Not men we have confidence in. But they say that. It's a rule
of life. No, you can't do that. If it's not a covenant for salvation,
it can't be your rule of life. Because which ones are you going
to live by? You going to pick and choose? That's what the German
Baptists did. They go over to Leviticus 19.
We'll wear our hair this way and that way. We're not Levites.
We're with the tribe of Judah. Our Lord didn't dress like that.
He wasn't a Levite. Are you with me? You can't pick
and choose. The principles are there. But
they're more applied in direction of God,
directly to God's people in the epistles. And He doesn't bring
us back under that Levitical law. The Lord. Thank God. We're Gentile. They can't live. Paul confronted Peter in the
book of Galatians for that very reason. Peter was beginning to
live like the Gentiles. And then the Jews came, remember? And Paul confronted him and said,
if you believe salvation by grace, Not by keeping the law like the
Jews. Then why are you now telling,
you're doing this, switching tables, going over to sit with
the Jews. You've denied the gospel. You're saying that now we must
keep the law and you're telling the Gentile, now you need to
live like a Jew. No, he said that's a denial of the gospel.
And he ended by saying to Peter and all of them, he said, listen,
if we're going to be saved, That's Jews. He said, if we're going
to be saved, us Jews are going to be like the Gentiles. 100%
by grace, not keeping the law. This is what the Lord is having
Paul go to great lengths in the book of Romans to tell us. Christ
came to deliver us from the righteousness of the law, the requirements
of the law, the curse of the law, the unbending demands of
the law by fulfilling the law for us and imputing, God imputed
or charged his perfect law of righteousness to his people. He kept the law as our covenant
head, the second Adam, that's what he is, the covenant head.
And he fulfilled all righteousness of the law for his people. And God This is the subject this
morning. Imputation. Simply means charged
it to the accountant. Everybody pretty much has their
own charge card anymore with their name on it, but used to
be. It was only in the man's name, wasn't it? Gentlemen. All
right? And the woman could go and just
buy, buy, buy, buy, charge it. It's charged to her. It's charged
to him. It's in his name. That's imputation. It's charged. He's got to pay
it off. Paul and Philemon. Don't you love the book of Philemon?
That's what it's about, imputation. He said to Onesimus, Philemon. Paul said to Philemon of this
runaway slave named Onesimus who stole money from his master.
and was in great debt and owed his master. He broke, you know,
was a rebel. And the Lord saved Ole Missimus,
that runaway slave. And Paul said to Philemon, if
he owes you anything, whatever he owes you, put it on my account. And whatever he runs up in the
future, That's the good Samaritan. Remember, he found that fella
in the ditch. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Found that fella
in the ditch and he took him to an inn and he gave him money
and said, whatever you need, buy it. And anything from then
on, I'll pay it. That's imputation. Doctrine? It's a person. Like righteousness. He is our It may not be a word,
but imputer. Our acceptance, our forgiveness,
imputation, blessed, blessed truth. Chapter 4, Abraham. We're
going to get to this. Chapter 4. What's our hurry anyway? But anyway, Abraham is called
the father of the faithful in it. Verse 17, as it is written,
I may be a father of many nations. Father of the faithful, that's
what he's called. After the Tower of Babel, that's when the Lord
revealed himself to Abraham. This is significant. Tower of
Babel means confusion. There was nothing but confusion
all over the world. All right? Remember, the world
got together. They all spoke the same language.
And they said, we're going to build a tower of heaven. We're
going to reach heaven. We're going to get to God. No,
you're not, God said. You can't, no man can get to
God by his works. And God sent confusion of languages
and all that. Well, out of all those people,
he chose this man, Abram. All those people, went all over
the world, different languages, different people. He chose Abram. What's that? Sovereign, electing,
Discriminating grace. The old preachers said discriminating,
not in the sense that we use it. We think of it as a bad way.
You shouldn't discriminate for race, sex, so on and so forth. But God, this discriminating
grace is good. It means that if God doesn't
show grace to somebody, nobody's going to be saved. It's his prerogative. It's his
choice. He chose Abram. Now who was Abram? His name wasn't Abram. It was
Abram. Where's he from? Ur of the Chaldees. Where's that?
Babylon. Baghdad. Baghdad. That's where he's from. Is he
a Jew? Jew? He's a heathen, idolatrous Arab. God be a good Jew. He wasn't
a Jew. But God made him a Jew. How did he do that? Not of blood.
Not of the will of the flesh. How was he made a Jew? God said
he was. That's the same today. He is
not a Jew which is one outwardly, but inwardly. In circumstances,
not with hands, of the heart, it's of God. Whose praise is
not of men, but of God. And he did it, and I'm summing
up the whole fourth chapter of Romans. When did he do this?
When Abraham was finally circumcised? No, no, before he was circumcised. Before there was a law. Abraham
never did live under the law. It was 400 years later. Was he under the law of the rule
of God? No. There was no law. And this whole chapter is saying
that we're children of God like Abraham, how? By faith. All right, I just summed up the
whole chapter. The Jews were never a spiritual
people of God. They were a symbol of God's sovereignty. Nobody is saved because they
were born in Israel. God grew tired and weary. The Lord grew tired and weary
of the Israelites because they were just going through the form.
They were keeping it all, but He said, none of them are looking
to Me. They're not trusting Me, looking
to Me, but they're keeping these forms and these ceremonies. That's
not salvation. But the heart may believe it
unto righteousness. And Peter said this about God's
people. They're a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. The national
people of Israel are symbolic of the true. Symbolic of the
true, that begins with Abraham, because he wasn't born by blood. He wasn't a Jew by blood. There
really were no Jews by blood. Who was it that lived there before
the Jebusites? The Jebusites. Who were they? The heathen in that land. And God moved them out and planted
His people there. Abraham is a clear picture and
example of God's sovereign, electing, calling, redeeming, justifying
grace. He was 75 years old, steeped
in idolatry, but God. Loved Him. Sovereignly loved
Him. Chose Him. Called Him. Revealed
Himself to Him. Gave Abraham faith. Why did Abraham believe? Did
Abraham exercise his free will? No, he's dead in trespass and
sin. But God quickened him by His
Word, by His grace. Revealed Himself to Abraham.
And Abraham believed. You see, if God gives you life,
you can't help but believe. You don't decide to believe.
You can't help but believe. He was born of God, you see,
by the word of God, by the call of God. Verses 1 through 3. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, is pertaining to the flesh and family? If Abraham
was justified by works, he hath square of the glory, but not
before God. No, it wasn't works. Later, he
proved his faith by his works, didn't he? When he took Isaac
up on that mount to offer him, he proved his faith. James wrote
of that. That's what James said. And we went through the book
of James not too long ago, but let me just say this again. Paul
and James are not at odds here. Paul is preaching and teaching
very clearly justification by God through faith, God-given
faith. That's not of yourself, it's
a gift of God. It's His work, or His workmanship. It's God that worketh in us,
to will and to His work, His faith. It's another word for
life. James said, faith without works
is dead. He says, was not Abraham our
father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son?
Not before God. James is talking about the justification
of our faith before man. The proof of it. How could a man take his only
son upon, if he didn't really believe? It's undeniable proof. Faith
is evidence of things not seen. Clear evidence. James wasn't
saying that he wasn't at odds with Paul. He wasn't saying that
Abraham was justified by what he did. He was already justified
before he did that. Long before he did that. When
God said, here's faith, believe. He said, I believe. God said,
righteous. Let it ring on. And Scripture says Abraham believed
God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. It says this
three or four times in the Scripture, doesn't it? Now, verse 4, to
him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of
death. That is, alright, let's say, Brother John there, I say, if
you'll do this for me, I'll pay you. If you'll do a job for me,
I'll pay you $10. Okay, he does a job and I pay
him $10. Was that $10 of gifts? Was that
grace? No. He earned it. It's merit. He merited it by doing what he
did. Right? That's his pay. That's his wages. What wages
have we earned? The wages of sin is dead. We're saved by the merits, the
work of Jesus Christ, that He earned. The wages that were coming
to Him were righteousness, like Psalm 24 said, who shall ascend
to the holy hill of the Lord. Come on in, the gates open wide,
the gates of heaven open wide. Well, who's coming in? That's
the King of glory. Who? Jesus Christ, the righteous,
because God is well pleased for His righteousness. And God says,
come on in, but look behind you. There's a whole train of people. His train is going to fill the
temple, like Isaiah 6. Well, what did they do? Nothing! He did it all. They're covered. They're under His Garment. They're wearing His works. Oh,
their works follow them. They do. But the works they perform
are not meritorious. That means it's salvation by
works. Paul says this in another place.
It's either grace or works. It can't be works. All right, let's say this. I give
John $10. I just say, here, John, here's
$10. I'm giving this to you. Would
you accept it? Sure he would. What fool wouldn't? All right. What can he say he
did for that $10? Nothing. Can he boast of anything? Look, I accepted it. I let him have it. Let me have
it. What an idiot. What a fool. He wouldn't do that.
You know what he'd be saying? Paul's so generous to me. Paul's
so kind to me. Paul gave me this. Where'd you
get that job? He gave it to me. He gave it
to me. What'd you do? Nothing. Well,
did you earn it? No. Why'd he give it to you?
I don't know. I don't deserve it. Well, tell
me again. Where'd you get it? Surely you
didn't earn it. Nothing. He just gave it to me. Freely.
Did he offer it to anybody else? No. He gave it. Me. I just described every believer. Where did you get this salvation?
The Lord. Where did you get your faith? The Lord. What about your
righteousness? I didn't have any. He gave it
to me. That robed your way. Where did
you get that? He put it on me. What about you? Are you understanding?
He gave me an understanding. He gave it to me. He called me.
He revealed it to me. I'm trying to make this more
than a doctrine. Imputation is the Lord Jesus
Christ giving us everything He had come unto Him. And Him taking
everything that we had come unto us. What? Death. Condemnation. Forsaken of God. If I just preach this to your
head, it won't mean a thing. But buddy, if you ever find out
that He took your blame, all of it, past, present, and
you don't know what you're about to do yet. Nobody in this room
knows what they're about to do. The worst may be yet to come. That's David. And that's why David said, blessed
is the man whom the Lord imputed not sin, but righteousness. One of our brethren thought he
was dying. I went to see him. I thought
he was dying. We all thought he was dying. His brain was swelling.
They didn't know why. They kept draining it. And he said, go to Psalm 32.
This is what Paul is quoting here. Psalm 32. He said he lay
there on what he thought was his deathbed. And he thought
about his life. And he looked back over his life
and he thought he tried to find something good. Something that
could give him some kind of assurance that he was a child of God. Some
kind of progress. He said he couldn't find anything,
nothing that would give him any peace, any comfort that if he
died that it would be okay because of him. Nothing. He couldn't
find anything. And he said these words came to his mind and it was like peace flooded
his soul. Psalm 32, blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. It's covered. Never be exposed. Never be brought up completely
forgotten under the blood. Never to be seen again. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, chargeth not iniquity, in whose
spirit is no guile." What does that mean? Well, if you ever
find out salvation by grace, you won't be a fake Christian
anymore. You'll be a sinner saved by grace. Anybody will know it. You won't
make any pretense. Don't be in hypocrisy like the
Pharisees. Yeah, I'm getting better. No, sir. What's your
hope? Your progress? No, sir. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frank, but completely wholly
lean on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, on Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is seeking.
Yes, all other ground is seeking. Will that man stand before God?
Yes! Yes, he will. Anyone that trusts
in the Lord shall not be ashamed. No matter who you are. No matter
what you've done. Now does that make you want to
run out and live like the devil? Now, anybody that says that has
never experienced the grace of God. Fear the Lord. David said it in Psalm 130, if
there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Alright, back in our text. Are
we in Romans 4? Yes. But David, he said, this
is what David blessed God for. And he quoted that in Romans
4, verses 6 and 7, 6 through 8. Verse 9, he says, did this
blessing come upon circumcision or upon uncircumcision, a Jew
or a Gentile? We say faith was reckoned, Abraham,
for righteousness. Well, when then? This is what
he's saying. When? Was it circumcision or
uncircumcision? Well, not circumcision, but it's before he was circumcised.
And he received the sign of circumcision later, afterward, after he believed,
after God justified him. after God justified my faith,
which he had nothing to do with, is given to him. Well, then what's
circumcision? It was just a sign, and we've
already gone through that in Romans 2, that circumcision,
what it means, what it shows. Now, you can be circumcised outwardly
and not be a child of God. Every good Jew is circumcised,
but very few Jews are saved. And this circumcision is male
and female. Not the flesh, but the heart.
Got to take away the flesh. Works of the flesh. Pride. Got to take it away. Works of the
law. You can't do it. God does this
to you. It's a sign. A sign. 12, the father of the circumcision
to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who walk in the steps
of that faith of our father Abraham, who walked by faith, that just
shall live by faith. Verse 13, the promise that he
should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or his seed
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. If
they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made born. Promise
is of no effect. Do you see a key word there,
promise? You know what salvation is? It's a promise. It's a promise. Well, was this promise made to
Abraham? If you'll keep this, if you'll
keep this law, I'll save you and everybody else who keeps
it. Is this for promise keepers? Huh? How many of those men that
join that do you think keep that promise? While they're saying
they're keeping that promise, they're probably breaking it.
That is, being faithful to their wife and so on. Is that a good
notion? Well, but they make a righteousness
out of it. We don't boast of our promises.
No child of God boasts of any promise he keeps. No child of God boasts or talks
about, I'm going to keep this promise, I'm going to keep it.
No, boasting is excluded. Pride I have based. I'm only
a sinner saved by grace. Now here's my boasting. Here's
what I boast in. Here's the promise I boast in.
God's promise. Who cannot lie. God. Who promises
eternal life. He can't lie. And all the promises
of God are where? Where? In Christ. Well, then
maybe, if and maybe, if you keep Him in you. No! The yea and amen
in Him. He's the promise keeper. I'd
like to stand before that group of fellas and say, fellas, stop all this nonsense like the
Jews, thinking you're doing this and that and God's going to pat
you on the back for it. I'm here to tell you about the
promise keeper. Paul in Galatians went on to
say he's not talking about Abraham's seed. He's talking about Christ. He's the seed. When we went through
Genesis, we saw that clearly. God's going to make of Abraham
a great people. He's going to make of Christ a great people.
In Him is all the people of God blessed. In Him. The Jews said,
our father's Abraham. Abraham's our father. You know
who my father is? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. That's children of God, about
faith. Well, we'll stop there. So much to say, and not enough
time, is it? Maybe we'll have more time later. But Betty, you see, the gospel,
salvation, truth is a person. You know these things in your
head, that doesn't save you. And Betty, with the heart, maybe.
You're really from the heart believing, trusting, looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're a child again by faith
in Him. Okay.