Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans
chapter four. Romans chapter four, God willing,
I will wind up this chapter this morning, and then week after
next, because we will be gone, Penny and I will not be here
next Sunday. We will start with chapter five,
and I know I have dealt with these verses somewhat on and
off on a few occasions, but I want to read Romans four, verses 22
through 25. I'm kind of coming in the middle
of the context, of course. But I think everyone here and
those who are normally with us live stream will remember the
context. Verse 22, and therefore it, that is his faith, Abraham's
faith, his believing God, therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now this imputation was an imputation
of God. Therefore it stands in God's
court. and therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. 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, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. Paul the Apostle, our beloved
brother, having described the kind of faith God graciously
gives, and that's what he lets us know in verse 16. Therefore,
it is a faith that it might be by grace. It is not the other
way around. Men do not come up with faith
and God gives them grace. This is what I was taught most
all of my life from my infancy throughout Sunday schools and
revivals and preaching is if you'll come up with faith, if
you'll exercise faith, then God will give you grace. And that
is the proverbial putting the cart before the horse. Maybe
even worse, it is maybe trying to have the cart without the
horse. Paul having described the kind of faith God graciously
gives, and the kind of faith which God imputes for righteousness.
He said that over and over here, right? This kind of faith that
God imputes for righteousness. In other words, this faith, this
faith, and this is my title and subject, this kind of faith only. This kind of faith only. There
is a faith that is of no value. James makes it clear, he said
there's a faith that has no works with it, no effort with it, no
obedience with it, and it's dead faith. In other words, it is
not a flesh faith, we looked at that. What shall we say that
Abraham, our father, is pertaining to the flesh hath found? For
if Abraham were justified, and notice he doesn't say by flesh,
though he still includes it, by works. because flesh works,
faith, this faith has nothing to do with the effort of the
flesh. It is not a flesh faith, nor
is it a human works faith, nor is it a God indebting faith. Paul kind of mentions this kind
of thing, or at least alludes to it. Now to him that worketh
is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt, but God owes
no man any debt other than the debt of sin, those wages. So it is not a flesh faith. It
is not a human works faith, nor is it God indebting faith, nor
is it a law faith. It's not a law faith. This kind
of faith is a grace faith. It is a God-believing faith. It is a God's promise-believing
faith. It is a faith that believes in
and trusts and is fully persuaded that what God has promised, God
is able to perform. It is a faith that in spite of
a hopeless situation, it trusts that God is its hope. God will fulfill his word. It
is that kind of faith that gives God the glory. It gives God the
glory. In other words, as I said, it
is this kind of faith only. And therefore, it, that is this
kind of faith, this kind of faith, was imputed to Abraham for righteousness. That's what we read. And therefore,
it was imputed to him, a singular individual. Now, there were others.
Sarah believed, Ishmael later believed, others believed. But
it says, therefore, it was imputed to him for righteousness. Therefore this kind of faith
was imputed to Abraham for righteousness, but then Paul clearly declares
this blessing, this very Abrahamic blessing to be ours as well. Abraham was no better a man than
you and I are better a man or a woman. Abraham was a sinner
saved by the grace of God just like we are. Abraham was in the
midst of idolatry and degradation and God Almighty called him out
of that into a new way of life. And that life was a life of faith. But that life also had a walk
of faith. Now. I know, I know we believe
this. I know we understand it, but
I don't think we rest in it like we should. 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, what does it say? If we believe. Hmm. as it is an amazing thing. If
we believe God, if we believe God, that's the key here. But
notice Paul then definitely puts in this caveat. He's described
this kind of faith all the way through this, right? It's not
a flesh faith, it's not a works faith, it's not a God-indebting
faith, it's not a faith based upon law. Abraham had this faith
before he was even circumcised and before the law was even given.
So, and you go on down the line, but then now he brings in this
final caveat, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed.
If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
this is the kind of faith we must have. This is the only kind
of faith wherein God imputes it as righteousness. Who? That
is this Lord Jesus Christ who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. Now let's consider
the details. That is the details of these
last few phrases. I will deal with some phrases
and I will deal with some words in particular, but I want us
to see this kind of faith. And this kind of faith only is
the kind of faith by which God imputes righteousness. The phrases
are this. I've broken them down into five
different phrases. But I'll give them to you. Number
one, then we'll go back and look at them. If we believe on him. And that's what it says. If we believe on him. Number
two, that raised up from the dead. You see it? That raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead. That's the second one. The third
one is this. That raised up Jesus our Lord. You see that? That's the third
one. Then here's the fourth one. Who was delivered for our offenses. And here's the fifth one. And
who was raised again for our justification. Sadly, it is sad that I must
say this, but sadly, most who profess to be Christians today,
I am afraid, I fear, because I was in the midst of false religion,
that anti-Christ, God-hating, Christ-hating religion at one
time. Most people believe they're saved because they believe in
the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's what
they're told to do. Come forward, pray this prayer,
tell God I'm a sinner, God be merciful to me the sinner. That's
all true. And then they're told, believe
that Jesus died, buried, and rose again. Maybe even ascended
to the Father's right hand. And they are told they are saved.
But that is nothing more than historical facts. We're talking
about here about God, we are to believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who, that is this Jesus, was
delivered for our offenses. He did something. He accomplished
something. He actually did the Father's
will. Now either the Father willed
that all men be saved by Jesus if they will then do something
for Jesus, or he willed that God would save a people by Jesus
and make them willing in the day of his power. The second
is the truth. So let's look at these phrases.
If we believe on him, Now let's think about this. Some of this
may seem to be simplistic, but Earl Cochran once told me years
ago, he said, Walter, you've gotta try to remember to preach
to people as if they don't understand and have never heard what you've
said before. Because when you think they already
understand what you're saying, you'll pass over some of the
most important, simple aspects of the gospel. And that has been
clearly evidenced in the past month or so. that a person could
be around the gospel for over 40 years and claim to believe
the gospel and then turn their back on that gospel. Clearly,
I am not preaching any gospel different than what I preach
from the get-go. And I'll just drop that right
there. If we believe on him, this is a singular God. We do not get to pick out what
God we want. It is, He is, no, it ain't the
right word. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. He is the almighty, sovereign
creator of heaven and earth. And he controls all of humanity
under his sovereign pleasure and can do with them as he will. Some he can show mercy, some
he can have compassion upon, others he can harden. It's his
prerogative. If we believe on him, a singular
God, the God that raised up, Do you see it? The God that raised
up, an actual, active, powerful God. Do you see that? An actual,
active, powerful God, yea, the scriptures call him this, the
almighty God, right? So break that down quickly, this
is not hard. Like I said, this is simple stuff, but yet beyond
the pale of unregenerate man's grasp and love. God Almighty,
that means all might resides in Him. There is no might anywhere
else. Any other might that may reside
somewhere else, it had to come from His sovereign prerogative. Isn't that just simple old understanding? If he's the Almighty, no other
might exist other than under his sovereign power. And our
Lord illustrated this with even Pilate himself. You would have
no power over me except heaven above. God Almighty, accept the
Father, give it to you. And he illustrated before that
even took place when the mob came with Judas' betraying kiss. And they said, we seek Jesus
of Nazareth. And he said, and I don't, Mac,
I don't think it sounded any different than his normal voice,
but he said, I am. And they fell down backwards.
And he went on to even prove his power there. He said, if
you take me, you can't have these 11. Well, who was he to be dictating
to the mob? He's almighty God. And guess
what? They didn't take the 11. Why? Because he bowed to the wheel
of the father. and yet at the same time was
in sovereign control of evil, rebellious, wicked men's hearts. If we believe on him, it is this
kind of faith only. I don't believe in a sovereign
God, then you don't believe on him. You don't believe on him. The next phrase is, if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, Now I'd realize
there's much we could say about this, and I would have been more
in tune with this religious world at large had I preached this
last Sunday on the Resurrection Sunday. But we don't know if
it's the Resurrection Sunday or not. I figure the Eastern
Orthodox Church is probably closer to the Resurrection Sunday than
what the Roman Church is, but be that as it may, we're not
here to worship a day, we're here to worship him. Him, if
we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. We must believe in the bodily
resurrection of Jesus our Lord. And Paul says it this way, it's
this kind of faith and this kind of faith only. I'm not even gonna
turn back to it, but Paul makes it clear to his letter to Corinth
in the first letter, 1 Corinthians 15, if there is no bodily resurrection,
then Jesus Christ was not raised, and if he was not raised, what
we're preaching is a lie. And somebody says that's too
simple. If you think it's really that simple, go ahead and try
to get the world to believe that. I mean, they've come up with
all kinds of theories, and I'm not gonna even deal with that.
If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
but here is the third one, that raised up Jesus our Lord. First of all, he is Jesus. And
I'm not going to, this is like I told you about this song book,
I'm not trying to put which is the best order, you gotta have
both. Jesus our Lord, he's got to be
both or he's not the Christ of God. And it's not which one's
most important, they're both absolutely vital. And the water
and the blood, or the blood and the water, were both absolutely
vital, because God included them both in the inspired word. So
away with all of these men argued, you know what, because they think
they're saved because of what they understand. Their salvation,
their feeling of salvation, their stand of salvation is based upon
what they know. And if they can prove from the
scripture what they know is better than you, then at least they're
more assured of themselves than they are of you. And eventually
it'll come to the point where they will call you a heretic. You don't have to call them one.
You can try to fellowship, love, and just keep on loving, but
they will finally turn on the truth because it's not truth
they're seeking after, but just facts. just facts. If we believe, if we believe,
if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. So now we're on number three,
that raised up Jesus our Lord. His humanity is absolutely vital. I'm just gonna read just one
verse in a very short passage. For many deceivers are entered
into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh. This is, and most of you have
been taught this before, there are rarely any places where an
a or an an is used in the Greek. And I went back and looked, this
is a the. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. That's how
strongly this man, the Apostle John, felt about this thing of
denying Jesus Christ's actual humanity. But there are also those who
they believe in his full humanity, but they do not believe in his
full deity. Jesus our Lord, you see it? This is one thing that just totally
stumped some of the hierarchy amongst the Jews. When our Lord
said, well, where did the Christ come from? They said, he could
be born in Bethlehem. Well, whose son is he? He's gonna
be the son of David. They were looking for the son
of David, the Christ to come. These people believed the Messiah
was coming. They weren't some heathen out
there worshiping anything and everything. But then he asked
this question, well, if he's David's son, why does David then
call him Lord? And it just stumped the bejesus
out of him. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. So it's Jesus, our Lord. In other words, Jesus is God
Almighty manifest in the flesh. Simple and yet impossible for
the unregenerate to believe and to love. But he uses another
word here. And I've seen this and it just,
we say it jumped out at me. I thank God this opened my eyes.
Jesus, our Lord. You see that? Notice he didn't
say Jesus, we're talking about this kind of faith and this kind
of faith only. There are a lot of people who
believe in Jesus the Lord, but he's not Jesus my Lord. You see what I'm saying now?
Paul could have wrote Jesus the Lord and would have been completely
true and stayed in it. But he's talking about, but for
us also to whom it shall be imputed if we, now most people try to
emphasize if we believe, just if we believe. And everything's
based on if we believe. Well this is if we believe, don't
you get that wrong. But you got to believe a certain
person and you got to believe a certain way. You got to believe
certain things about that person. That's what he saved. Jesus,
our Lord. In other words, this is personal. God Almighty brings every individual
that he saves to see Jesus as his or her Lord. But he uses the word our. So
our is an inclusive word, right? Now not everybody's Lord, though
he is Lord of all, but that's not what he's talking about here.
You see it? Jesus our Lord. And I thought
about the word, I've read it, I've used it, it's a fine word,
and men say, well, this is collectively, it's Jesus our Lord. And it's
certainly true, or corporately, this is Jesus our, it's all the
body of Christ, it's all believers, and that's true. But here's a
word I like better, it is familial. You know what familial is? Having
to do with the family. That's what he's talking about.
It is Jesus our Lord. We are owned by him and he is
owned by us. We've laid hold of him by grace.
And we like Jacob our brother cry out, I will not let you go
till you bless me. that raised up Jesus our Lord
from the dead. My beloved brothers and sisters,
it is this kind of faith and it is this kind of faith only. You're gonna be a part of God's
people or you are not one of God's people. You will love believing
the same gospel that God's people believe or you don't believe
the gospel. And there ain't just one or two
of them out there on the internet talking with one another and
amening one another. There are groups of people that
are faulty and sinful and don't know it all and don't understand
it all, but they know this, they know this, they believe on Him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
They all believe that. They all believe Him. So we have,
if we believe on him, that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. But here's number four, who was
delivered for our offenses. First of all, let me say it is
for our offenses, not our mistakes. Now there is no question that
our offenses are mistakes, but they're more than mistakes. You
see, sin is not messing up. Sin is actual rebellion against
God. That's what it is. To sin against
the law is actual rebellion against God. The law, even for believers
today, still tells us what sin is. Does it not? Because God
saved me doesn't mean I've got the right now not to love my
neighbor as myself. in spite of the fact that I can't
love my neighbor as myself. But I'm still supposed to love
my neighbor as myself. But bless God when he saves you,
at least you do love your neighbor. That's right, I said this before.
Some people just don't get it. I pray you get it here. The law
says thou shalt not steal. And if you ever steal one thing,
no matter how small and misdemeanor, or how large and felonious it
is, in God's sight, it's still theft. Thou shalt not steal. But every one of us has stolen
something somewhere along the line. And it don't have to be
a thing. It could be a thought or an idea
or somebody else, you know, two people are working together at
work and you try to take all the credit for it. Ain't nobody
ever done that, have they? The law says thou shalt not steal,
and there is no reprieve for that. Once you've stolen, and
I'm talking about you actually steal something, you are guilty
of breaking the whole law. Because if you'll steal something,
you'll steal a man's wife. If you steal a man's wife, then
you'll bear false witness against him. And if you bear false witness
against him, you certainly don't love God with all your heart,
mind, soul, and strength. You know what grace comes along
and says? Anybody remember what Grace says? It's in the New Testament. You been reading your Bible?
No, you're just afraid to say, ain't you? Let him that stole
steal no more. I remember Tim James just has
an uncanny way of saying things, at least for me, you know, at
least for me. He said, like he told that woman
caught in a very active adultery, he said, now, neither do I condemn
you, now quit that horn. Isn't that what he was telling
her? Neither do I condemn thee. Go
and sin no more. Quit doing this. Somebody says
I can't. You can if God Almighty's in
you. You can if God, because if you can't, then God Almighty
ain't in ya. And Paul ain't got to all that
yet, but he gonna get there. He gonna get there. Who was delivered
for our offenses. They are actually offenses. They are things, and we, I try
to preach it, I try to believe it. You try to hear it, you try
to believe it. We don't really understand how
corrupt we are in God's sight. The real stench that fallen humanity
is in God's sight. He is said to be so holy that
he cannot look upon evil and sin. But he was delivered, that
is Jesus Christ was delivered for our offenses. that Jesus
who is our Lord. You see it? Who? But he also
accomplished something. He accomplished it by an act
of God who was delivered.