All right, if you wish to follow
along turn to Romans chapter 4 Romans chapter 4 I Want to read Romans 4 verses
1 through 5 Then I will go back and make a few brief statements
or summaries of what I want to try to deal with in particular
this morning and and then I will actually go back and try to deal
with those actual things in particular. Paul, continuing in this letter,
writes these words. What shall we say then that Abraham
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory, but
not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Now the few things I wanted to
point out are a couple, well, I'll try to give all of them
to you. What shall we then say that Abraham our father as pertaining
to the flesh, note the word, as to the flesh hath found? And then he goes on, for, this
is a continuation, for if Abraham were justified by, notice he
doesn't use the word flesh, though that is certainly true. But now
the Spirit of God moves him to use the word works. You see it? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. So note that. And then also note
what it says, verse three, for what saith the scripture? Note
that. For what saith the scripture?
And then note this, Abraham believed God. Do you see it? Abraham believed
God and it, there's a word, and it was counted, there's a word,
unto him for, there's another word, righteousness. Now, Of
course it is clear, anyone who has normal understanding and
can read the English language, if you would read Romans 4, Romans
chapter 4, you would see that the subject here is Abraham and
faith. Now granted, Paul uses an illustration
from David in the midst of this, but then he returns right back
to Abraham. Paul, so then, is talking about
Abraham and faith. Now, much more than that, but
Abraham and faith. It's called Abraham and faith,
Abraham and faith, throughout the whole chapter. But here is
my title for this morning. It is right to believe God. You hear what I said? It is right
to believe God. Now you've heard me quote, you
may even have heard Tim James say it himself, I don't know,
but you've heard me quote Tim James when he has said before,
it's okay to believe God. And I like that statement. It's
okay to believe God, but it's much more than that. It is right
to believe God. Now Paul gives us, in this chapter,
An example, I'm not a type. An example of faith. I've often
spoken of Abraham and David. I've heard other men speak of
Abraham and David and other people in the scripture and say they
were a type of a believer. No, they weren't a type of a
believer. We're wrong when we say that. I include self too. We're wrong when we say that
they are believers. They were believers and they
died and they went to glory. They're still believers. Paul
gives us an example, and he calls him our father Abraham. And in
what sense? The main sense is this, by what
Paul says, and I'm not going to read it, the first one, Galatians
3 verse 29, but specifically here in Romans 4 verse 11, he
says these words, and he received the sign of circumcision, that
is Abraham. And he received the sigh of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of the faith. Notice that word.
A seal of the righteousness of the faith. The righteousness
of the faith. A seal of the righteousness of
the faith, which he had yet been uncircumcised, that he might
be the father of all them that believe. It's in that sense only. But let me move on. What did
Abraham find? What did he find? The word here
is found. What shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining
to the flesh hath found? What did he find as pertaining
to his flesh? Justification before God? No. No. For if Abraham were justified
by works, notice again the change of words. This is important. And again, I stress for our memory,
Paul's not just trying to mix up his language as we often do. You write an essay or you just
try to use different words rather than saying the same word, you
know, over and over. That's not what Paul's doing.
This is the spirit of God Almighty moving Paul to give us exactly
what God intends to convey to us in his holy word. What shall
we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh
hath found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. Now when Paul then begins to
give an answer to this, he's asked some questions. When he
begins to give an answer to this thing of justification and righteousness,
let us note that all appeals for truth have one source. Scripture
Paul says for what saith the scripture We must not we dare
not though sometimes we do But I still but we must not we dare
not appeal to our own opinion To our own thoughts And I will
go even so far as to say, because of what some of us have heard
this morning, we don't even appeal to the creeds of men. Because
they are all faulty. Most of the time they are convoluted. Read a lot of these old creeds.
Now not all of them, but read a lot of these old creeds. They'll
give you a list of truth, they're calling it, this long, and then
put all the different passages. It's like what applies to what,
you know? They never actually even quote
the scripture, but they give their opinion of the scripture,
then give you a scripture place, trying to back up what they say.
This is the word of God. The scripture. And the scripture
is absolute in all truth. If a man has told a lie, the
scripture will say exactly what the man said. And inform us that
it's a lie. God never tries to clean things
up, does he? Paul mentioned David and Bathsheba,
God never cleaned that up in the scripture, did he? He laid
it out for all of its hoardness, and all of its unbelief. All
of it's blasphemy. And the same thing goes for you
and I. What does he say? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath the glory. He can glory, but he will not
glory before God. And all of humanity, to some
degree or the other, all of us glory in our flesh and in our
works. but it won't cut it before God. So again, all appeals for truth
have one source, that is the scripture. But let me give you
this first. Thus, believing God is never a sin. You hear what
I'm saying? I'm saying that believing God
is never, two things at least, there's a lot of things it's
not, but believing God for our purpose this morning, believing
God is never a flesh effort. You see what I'm saying? It's
never a flesh effort. It's never a flesh work. It's
never a flesh act. It's never a flesh labor. Do
you see this? You see what the Spirit of God's
teaching us here now? Now I would jump ahead. Believing
is action. Believing is action. But it's
not flesh action. It's not flesh action. It's not
a flesh work. Believing sometimes is work.
It's work, it's an effort. It's a labor. But it's never. ever a flesh labor. Secondly, believing God is never
of human origination. That is the believing of God
that we're reading about here. I'll stress that right now, but
I'll try to show us that here in a moment. Believing God is
never of human origination. It never has flesh as its source. But that is not to say that the
flesh cannot produce a believing. That's not to say that the flesh
cannot produce a faith. Correct? What did our Lord say? Now here, there's two things.
First, let's establish the foundation of the truth. Our Lord said to
Nicodemus, it's recorded by John, we have it in chapter three,
verse six, that which is born of the flesh is Say it. Flesh. That which is
born of the Spirit is what? Spirit. And it's never a mixing
of the two. The flesh don't work with the
Spirit and the Spirit don't work on the flesh. This kind of believing is of
God. Solely and wholly. Start to finish. But there is
a believing, there is a faith that is a flesh effort, a flesh
work, a flesh act, and a flesh labor. Turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter five. 2 Corinthians chapter five. We'll read what Paul says about
it, or mentions it, rather, I should say. Then I'll try to give you
a couple examples. 2 Corinthians chapter five, verse
16. Wherefore? Henceforth, no, we
no man after the flesh. You see, before God Almighty
regenerated and converted us, all we understood about ourselves
and God and religion and the Bible and the world and every
science that there is was all based upon the flesh because
that's all we had before we were generated. Some things we understood
we may have understood rightly, but we still understood it from
the aspect of the flesh. And in some way we distort everything
when we look at it from the flesh. Wherefore henceforth now know
we no man after the flesh. We're beginning to know now.
Once God regenerates and converts us, we begin to understand what
the flesh really is. Now, As that song that Joe gave me
to read said, you know, you see the evil in yourself and how
you abhor it? We don't understand the half of it. How much more
does the holy God abhor what we are in the flesh? Look at
what it says, go on. Wherefore henceforth now know
we no man after the flesh, yea? Now listen to this amazing statement,
yea? though he have known Christ after
the flesh. Did not Saul of Tarsus probably,
I only say probably because there's no direct statement of it. Did
not Saul of Tarsus believe that the Messiah was coming? I'm sure
he did. Did not the Samaritan woman at
the well know that Messiah was coming? Hmm? But she only knew
him. Saul of Tarsus only knew him
after the flesh. And that is of no value. Saul, when he was Saul of Tarsus,
was lost. The woman at the well, when first
confronted by Christ, was lost. And she knew Messiah was coming. You couldn't shake her on that.
But she only knew him after the flesh. and it didn't cut it. It didn't cut it, do you see
that? Isn't that amazing? Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. So if all you know is Christ
after the flesh, you know nothing. It is of no value. That brings up a little bit of
a question, doesn't it? How do I know him? Do I know
him after the flesh? Or do I know him after the spirit?
Now isn't that an important question? It's a question that sometimes
if I sit and dole upon it and look down here inside, the hairs
begin to stand up on the back of my neck. If I begin to take
inventory of my actions and my labors and my efforts and my
works, fear begins to wrack my soul. Because I'm not always
sure what's flesh and what's spirit. But let me tell you this, believing
God is always, and we'll give you three things, Believing God
is always by divine enablement. That is this believing that Abraham
did. You see it? This believing of
him who is said to be the father of us all if we are believers
after this manner. James, let me step back a bit.
James says there are two kinds of faith. Living faith, a faith
that has action behind, with it, I should, it comes, action
that comes from it, or it is a dead faith. A dead faith. The unregenerate possess only
one, a dead faith. The regenerate possess both,
a dead faith and a living faith. But both of them look really
good right at the first, right together. It's like the difference
between a believer falling and someone going into apostasy.
They're both a fall. And in the beginning they look
alike. You see what I'm saying? In the beginning they're both
a fall. But one is a believer falling and God lifting them
up with his hand. The other is they fall away.
They're not in his hand. But they both look just exactly
alike when they start out. Hmm that puts a little fright
in this thing That calls for us to quit presuming
on God It's by divine enablement so much so we're not going to
read it, but you can read it later if you wish mark it down
Ephesians 1 Specifically verses 19 and 20 Paul says to believe
this believing here Romans chapter 4 believing Ephesians 1, Ephesians
2 believing. It takes the resurrection power
of God to bring men and women to believe. Believing is not something that
we hear and all of a sudden in ourself we're nothing but flesh,
we're nothing but unregenerate and all of a sudden we decide
to believe and then God does something for us. No sir. If
all you've ever done is believe the truth, By the flesh, you
are still lost. You are still lost. God's got
to do something for you in resurrection power first before you will ever
believe God in this manner. In this manner. Paul also told
the Thessalonians, and us as well, 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 through
14, it is sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth
and that order cannot ever be reversed. You don't believe to
get the spirit to set you apart, you believe because the spirit
sets you apart. And he calls you to believe in
the truth by the preaching of the gospel. Believing God is
always by divine enablement. Anything you've worked up in
yourself, in your flesh, is of no value before God. No matter
how good it might look. Now here's a thought before I
move to number two. Why is it believing, believing? This scripture, especially the
New Testament, is full of what? Faith, faith, is it not? Faith,
faith, faith, believing, believing, believing, is it not? It is just
covered with the subject. Why believing? Why not love? Right? Why not love? Why believing, why not love?
Faith is energized by love. This faith we're talking about
that Abraham had was a faith that was energized or works by
love. Paul said, if any man loved not
our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed till the Lord comes.
Did he not say that? But it never emphasizes overt
love, love, love, does it? Now it emphasizes love. But faith,
faith. Why? Because God said so. because this is what pleased
God. Paul made it clear in 1 Corinthians 1, for it pleased God. Now if
it pleased God, that's enough answer for us. Don't try to figure
it all out. It's enough answer for us. For
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
what, love? Yes, that's true. But the emphasis
on what? Believing. Believing. So first, believing God is always
by divine enablement. But secondly, believing God is
always a gracious gift of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not of works. What kind of work?
Flesh works. There's a work that happens.
It's a work of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship. Because all we had in the beginning
was flesh. And what you gonna find as pertaining
to the flesh? Nothing. What you gonna find when it comes
to justification before God by works? What are you gonna find?
Nothing. Nothing. And of course Philippians chapter
one verse 29, while the emphasis there is on suffering for the
name of Christ, Paul puts it this way, that it was given to
us not only to believe on his name, but to suffer for his sake. The emphasis is on the suffering,
but he says it's a gift to what? To believe. To believe. Thirdly, believing God is always
this, it's wrought by the word of God heard. It's the only way. God's not gonna come give you
a dream in your sleep. Even when God came to Abraham,
God said to Abraham. Is that not what it says? Even
when God came to Abraham and said, get up and get out, right? God said to Abraham, God spoke
to Abraham. But we know God lets us know
this. I give it to you again. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching. And he didn't send angels to
do it. Did he? He don't come down on himself
and do it. Now he has on occasion. And Mac, he can do as he pleases
when he wants to. That's his business. But he tells
us concentrate on this. For it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And who does he see
in? Men with feet. human beings Fallen
sons of Adam That he is redeemed and regenerated and converted
and he sends them to preach As a matter of fact, he sent his
son and what he first began to do is what? preach The book is
so clear that says he opened his mouth and taught the people
say Well, why not just say he taught the people say Ain't that
the same? Not really because it pleased
God when he moved someone to open their mouth and teach the
truth of his son. It's wrought by the word heard. As a matter of fact, listen to
Hebrews 11. I'm trying to move along, I know
we still have the table. Hebrews 11. By faith, Abraham, when he was
called, you see that? Called, how was he called? By
the gospel. The script Paul wrote that God
preached the gospel to Abraham. That's what it says. Galatians,
I think it's chapter three. Two or three, one or the other.
He preached the gospel. I like that, don't you? I like
that, he preached the gospel. You ever had somebody get so
vexed with you when you begin to talk about, for by grace are
you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God, not of work. It's not of work, but ain't believing
an action? Isn't believing active? Doesn't
a man actually engage in believing? Yes. So what's the difference? Flesh and spirit. Whether believing
is something you work up within yourself, or whether the believing
is something that comes down from God from above. Instilled in your heart, mind,
and soul by the preaching of the gospel. Believing is action,
but it's never man wrought. Believing is action, but it's
never flesh wrought. Not this kind of believing. And
here's the thing, I can't prove to you nor you prove to me which
one we got. And I cannot so teach this in
a way that I will convince you today that you got the spirit
guide and not the flesh guide only. I can't do it. I could say I wish I could but
that's just a wish like spitting in the wind. His spirit bears
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Only
God can teach you which one you got. And if he gives you the
second one, the spirit believing, you're still gonna have the old
flesh believing. You're still gonna have the old flesh believing.
So, move on. Let's examine a few details about
believing. Number one, Abraham believed
God and it was counted unto him for righteousness, verse three.
It, is his believing. That's the only antecedents,
the only thing that you could make that. It is his believing. His believing was counted. Do
you see it? And then what it says, for what
saith the scripture, Abraham believed God and it, his believing,
was counted unto him. Do you see it? Was counted unto
him. Well stop, what does that mean,
counted? We say, well, it means to reckon, to impute. That's
true, but that's just other words used to translate this word.
The actual meaning of the word counted, and sometimes, lost
it now, sometimes imputed, or whatever, the meaning of the
word is this, to take an inventory of. To take an inventory of, and
in this case, it is God took an inventory of. You do not inventory
what does not exist. There's no need. You see, God
is looking at something real in Abraham. He believed God. And it was what? Inventoried
by God. What? For, that's the other word,
for righteousness. Thus, we are reading this. Abraham's
believing was inventoried for, that is on account of, faith's
righteousness. It is right to believe God. It is righteousness. But there
is no boast in us because of it. Because where did it come
from? From God. What did it take? for a holy God to give to creatures
like us. What did it take? It took his
son being slaughtered on the tree, put in a tomb, and raised
from the dead. That's what it took. Abraham's
believing was inventoried on account of faith's righteousness.
It is right to believe God. Secondly grace and human action
is diametrically opposed now to him that worketh is the reward
not reckoned of grace But of debt, but God owes us no reward
because of our flesh works the only thing he owes us because
of those things is hail and It's only his mercy in Christ. It'll
keep us out of that and No human effort ever brings God's grace. But that's exactly what many
out there, you do this and God will give you grace. You believe,
you repent, and they divide it up, you be baptized, you join
the church, you live right, all of these things. If you'll do
this, God will give you grace. No, he's gonna have to give you
grace first before you ever do any of those things in the spirit.
Because if you do them all in the flesh, what you got? You
brag about yourself. but you got no glory before God.
You got no glory before God. God owes no man grace. Grace cannot be earned or merited
or it would not be grace. Thirdly, and I'll wind up with
this and Paul can come and lead us in the table. Believing is
given and it is a specific kind of believing. Now we'll see more
than just this. This whole chapter tells us about
a specific kind of believing. For instance, verse 20, he staggered
not, Abraham, he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving the glory to God. What's
that mean, strong faith? I know what the world wants to
talk about, but look, and being fully persuaded that what God
had promised, God was able to perform. That's the kind of faith
we're talking about. That's the kind of faith. Look
at what this faith is described in verse five. But to him that
worketh not. So this faith rejects any human
action, any flesh action that goes along with it. It doesn't
say, it doesn't say but to him that believe, but to him that
has very few works. No, it's to him that what? Worketh
not. If God gives you this faith,
you will not try to work to get God's favor. Not in the spirit. Now, your flesh will still do
it. Your flesh will still do it, but you will not in the spirit
of God. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth, here's his kind of faith, the
ungodly. God never ever justified a godly
man. Doesn't have to. But there are
no godly ones. There are no godly ones. It's
just like, you know, God has compassion on whom will have
compassion whom he will harden. You know, he's never hardened
not one good man. But there's none good, no not
one. He's never hardened not one righteous man. Never. But
there's none righteous. There's none righteous. Here's
the particular kind of faith. Here's how to know whether it's
flesh faith or that which is wrought by God Almighty. But
to him that worketh, I refuse to work for merit before God. I don't refuse to work for God.
No, sir. You refuse to work for God, you
don't know God. That's just a fact. Faith without
works is what? What kind of faith is it? Dead
faith. But you don't work for justification
before God. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth him, you take your place with
the filth and offscouring of the earth, ungodly. His faith
is inventoried on account of the fact that it's righteous.
You could paraphrase it that way. That's exactly what he's
talking about. Because again, I say, verse 11,
and he received the sign of the circumcision, a seal of the righteousness
of the faith. He didn't say of the righteousness
imputed by the faith. Not what he says, the righteousness
of the faith, which he had when he was even yet uncircumcised. All right, Paul, come on.