Title of the lesson, as you can
see there, is called Counted for Righteousness. And I decided
just to start with the first three verses because there's
a couple of really important things that people need to understand. If they're going to understand
the reference that Paul is inspired by the Holy Spirit to give of
Abraham, it's found The reference is found back in Genesis chapter
15. You know, there's three chapters in Genesis where God instituted
his covenant with Abraham. The first chapter is Genesis
chapter 12. And in Genesis chapter 12, that's where he called Abraham
out of the Ur of the Chaldees. And he brought him and he blessed
him and he gave him the promise. And of course, ultimately, the
promise that was given to Abraham was the promise of God's grace
through Christ, who Abraham viewed and believed as the coming Messiah. And so the first thing that you
need to understand is what exactly did God promise Abraham? Now, God gave Abraham many promises. Some of those promises were temporal
and earthly. and pertained only to Abraham's
physical descendants through his son Isaac, who would come
later. And that's to what we see as
Israel or the Jews, national Israel, ethnic Israel, the Jews. For example, the promise of a
land, which incidentally was a land that Abraham didn't even
occupy and own himself. That didn't come till 400 years
after Abraham. But God providentially chose that people through Abraham
in order to accomplish his providential purpose on earth, mainly to bring
Christ into the world. And you see that, for example,
in the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter one, where it talks about
the genealogy of Abraham, of Christ through Abraham. And through
David, that's how Matthew starts out. It's a very Jewish gospel,
speaking of Christ as the Messiah, the Jewish Messiah. And so those
promises pertain. You see a difference, for example,
in Luke's genealogy. Luke is more concerned with identifying
Christ as the Son of Man. not the son of Abraham even though
they both agree don't don't get me wrong Matthew and Luke agree
but there's an emphasis there and Luke's emphasis is on Christ
as the son of man and he traces the genealogy from Adam on down
or back to Adam but Abraham was given these temporal earthly
promises that would pertain only to national Israel But Abraham
was also given some spiritual, eternal promises that pertained
only to spiritual Israel, the spiritual children of Abraham. For example, in Galatians chapter
three, the apostle makes the point that anyone who is brought
by God to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for all salvation,
for all righteousness, is a child, is a spiritual child of Abraham.
We read in Romans chapter 2 about who is a spiritual Jew. Not those
who are circumcised physically as pertaining to the physical
promises given to Abraham, but those who are circumcised spiritually
in the heart, that is brought to faith in Christ in repentance
of dead works. And so That's one thing that
has to do with this chapter, chapter four of Romans, that
if you don't understand that, you're gonna miss the point here.
And so when Paul writes here, look at verse one. What shall
we say then that Abraham our father, now here's the key, as
pertaining to the flesh hath found. Now the flesh there has
to do with the physical properties of Abraham. Now that's spoken
in light of the fact that many of the Jews, many of the national
Israelites claimed to be right with God, justified before God,
forgiven of their sins, saved based upon their physical connection
with Abraham. So what does Paul do? He says,
well, now what did Abraham himself find as far as his relationship
with God as pertaining to his physical makeup. In other words, if your physical
connection with Abraham makes you right with God, then certainly
Abraham physically would have been made right with God. You'd
have to say that, but what did Abraham find? What was his connection? And so the flesh there describes
what Abraham was as a fallen, sinful human being, and who he
was and what he could accomplish by his works, you could say. What did Abraham find? Now, the
Bible is clear that Abraham is an example, and we're gonna talk
about this more next week, Abraham is an example of how God justifies
the ungodly. God justifies the ungodly, all
right? So in other words, think about
it this way. Back there in Genesis, when you
first are introduced to Abraham, I think in the last part of Genesis
11 and then Genesis 12. Where and what condition was
Abraham when he's first introduced to us? Well, he's in Ur of the
Chaldees, and he's an idolater. Now, I've heard preachers say
this one time. He said, he was talking about
Abraham was not an idolater. Well, Joshua said that he was.
I don't know the reference right off. I've got it written down
in other places, but Abraham and his family were idolaters.
Well, my friend, that's what we all are by nature. You say,
well, wait a minute, I always believed in the one God. Did
you always believe in the one God of the Bible? The one who's
described and identified and distinguished in this word? I
didn't. I claim to believe in one God.
The Muslims believe in one God, but he's not the God of this
book. So we were idolaters. We're all
born idolaters. And so Abraham was an idolater.
And so when you talk about Abraham and far as physical things, physical
makeup, physical generation, what do you find, all right?
Well, look at verse two. Now he answers the question here.
He says, for if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof
to glory. Now first of all, understand
what it means to be justified. You know, there's a lot of people
who don't really understand that. To be justified, the word just,
the word just, justice, justified, justification, all those words,
it's a Greek word, and even back in the Old Testament, the Hebrew
word, it's a word that is often translated in scripture as right
and righteous and righteousness. To be just with God, is to be
right with God. Everything's right between me
and God if I'm just, okay? And so to be justified is to
be not guilty. You remember back over there
in Romans chapter three where he says in verse 20, therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified and
underscore this, in his sight, in God's sight. So we're not
talking about how we naturally see things here. You understand
that? We're talking about how God sees
things. That's the issue. You see, our
justification in the sight of men is a different matter, James
talks about that, than our justification before God. God who knows the
heart. God who sees things as they really
are, who knows our frame, who knows our sinfulness. And God
says that no flesh, now, would that include Abraham? When it
says no flesh, or would that exclude him? Does it say that,
but now the righteousness, or verse 20, does it say therefore
by deeds of the law, there shall no flesh except Abraham be justified
before God? No, it doesn't say that, does
it? It says no flesh. So, what did Abraham, according
as pertaining to the flesh find, as far as his justification?
Whether it wasn't by his works, it wasn't by his character, it
wasn't by his conduct, that he was made right with God, he was
declared righteous. To be justified means to be legally
declared righteous in God's sight. And if you're going to be legally
declared righteous in God's sight, it's got to be based on a just
ground. You know, the only thing God's obligated to do is to remain
true to himself, true to his own nature. Therefore, if he
makes a promise, he's got to keep it. He's faithful. It's
of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Great is his faithfulness. So what did God promise Abraham?
Now that's the key. Over in, let's see, it's verse
21. Look at Romans 4 verse 21. We'll
get to this later on in a couple of weeks. It says, Abraham being
fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was able to
perform. Well, what did God promise Abraham?
Now obviously, Paul's not talking about here any of the physical
promises that God made to Abraham to the nation Israel, the physical
nation Israel. He's not talking about it. What's
he talking about? Well, look at verse two again.
For if Abraham were justified, he's talking about justification.
That's his subject. How God justifies the ungodly. How a sinner, a sinful person,
is justified before God, the eternal question, the question
of all questions. Job asked it, Job's friends asked
it, how can a sinner like us, how can sinners like us be made
right with God and God be true to his nature? Well, how was
it in the case? You say, well, okay, I'm a child
of Abraham, I'm a physical descendant, I can trace my DNA back to Abraham,
so that makes it right. Well, how did Abraham himself?
How was he made right with God? He's a sinner. Wasn't Abraham
a sinner? How does God save sinners? By
grace, doesn't he? And grace has to be based upon
a just ground. He's been dealing with that. God just can't arbitrarily look
at a person who deserves death and say, I'm just gonna grace
you. I'm just gonna love you. There's
got to be a just ground for God to do that. That's why it's called
justification. There's got to be a court of
law. There's got to be a governmental judge who stands and declares
something true because it is true and it's based on a just
ground. So when you talk about love and
mercy and grace and compassion as it pertains to God, You've
got to speak of it in the context of justification. And it's got
to pertain to Abraham just like it does to anyone else. Well,
if Abraham were justified by works, okay, he would have wear
of to glory. Now you know what the word glory
means. God forbid that I should glory, Paul said, save in the
cross. What's the cross? Well, that's
the merits of the work of someone else, isn't it? I thought about
this. We're gonna talk about what was
imputed here in a minute. Well, Abraham, it says, if he
were justified, if he were made right, if he were not guilty,
if he were declared righteous, if he were justified by works,
he hath whereof the glory. He's got room to boast. He can say, I have confidence
in something I did. That's what he can do. But look at the next line, verse
two. But not before God. Now you may do that before men
and get away with it. But you're not gonna do it before
God and get away with it. Lord, Lord, haven't we preached
in your name? Now you might get away with that
in some false church. Lord, Lord, haven't we done many
wonderful works? You might get away with that
over in that religious assembly or that, but you're not gonna
get away with that with God. Because He sees reality. And
He knows that no amount of preaching I do, even if it is in His name,
can make me righteous before God. No amount of wonderful works
that I can do can wash away my sins, can put away my faults,
can make payment to God for His justice. Nothing. I'm talking
about even if I preach truth, that's not gonna make me righteous.
If I give my body to be burned, and I thought about this, now
look at verse three. Hold that thought. For what saith the scripture? Now that's the equivalent of
saying, what does God say about this thing? The scripture's talking
about the written word of God, the Old Testament in this case.
And Paul said, okay, well, let's find out what God says. Now that's,
I'll say this facetiously, that's where you'll get in trouble.
You say, I'm gonna find out what God says about this. I know what
men say about it. I know the opinions of man. I
know what the Methodist and the Pentecostals and the Baptists
say, the Catholics, I know what all they, but what does God say? Because that's gonna settle the
issue for a true child of God. Somebody says, well, you're not
answering my questions. I beg to differ. I think the
problem is you just don't like the answers. Because I'm going to tell you
what the word of God says. Somebody says, well, I don't
like that preaching of election. Well, I don't care, because that's
what God says. That's his word. I've told you
about the fellow who called me, listened to me on TV, and he
said, I don't believe in that predestination. And I said, well,
the words in the Bible, you've got to do something with it. You better find out what it means. He said, well, we can't understand
all that. Well, join the club, fella. It's true nonetheless. But what about the, what saith
the scripture? Well, here's what it says. Now,
he quotes from Genesis 15 and verse 6. And it says, and this,
I told you there was three places where the covenant with Abraham
is set forth in its details, Genesis 12, Genesis 15, and Genesis
17. But he says, what saith the scripture?
Well, he quotes Genesis 15, verse six, Abraham believed God and
it. Now, what is it? You know what
it is, you know, I used to teach English. It is a pronoun. A pronoun has an antecedent.
Now, what does that mean? That means that pronoun refers
to something specific. Like if I just say, hey you,
stop what you're doing. Which you am I talking about
here, see? That's a pronoun. Well, I'm talking
about Randy back there. You better stop that. Well, you
know, see, the antecedent is Randy. He's not doing anything. But here's what I'm saying, that
it means something, all right? What does the it refer to? He
says, it was counted. Now the word counted there is
a different form of the word imputed. That's what impute means. If you'll look across the page
to, let me see if I can find it. Where does it say where righteousness
is imputed there? Do you all see that? Yeah, I'm
way off the market. All right, 22. He says in verse
22, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. And
then up in verse 11 too, look at verse 11. It says, Abraham
received the sign of circumcision. 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, though they be not circumcised,
that righteousness might be imputed unto them also." Now, I've often explained it
this way, but I know a lot of people say, well, you get too
complicated here. So I think I've got an illustration that
may help us to understand it. And people will look at Romans
4 and verse 3 and they say, well, Abraham believed God and it was
counted, imputed unto him for righteousness. And they say the
it there is Abraham's believing. In other words, Abraham believed
and God counted his believing as righteousness. And I've got
in your lesson here, I quoted some, if you read, I know you
don't read any of the old rabbinic Jews, unbelieving Jews, But here's
what they say about it. And they say, so you'll find
that our father Abraham became the heir of this and of the coming
world simply by the merit of the faith with which he believed
in the Lord. In other words, they say his
believing merited, earned the blessings. But that's not what
the Bible teaches. You know, that's what most people
today really believe, if you think about it. They believe
that Christ died for everybody, even those who perish in hell,
and it's your faith that makes the difference, and they'll try
to cover it up. They say, well, faith is a work,
but it's not a meritorious work. Let me tell you something. If
it makes the difference between heaven and hell, it's merit.
You mark it down. So let me try to explain it this
way and use this illustration. And I got this years ago from
a theologian that was dealing with these verses. Righteousness
and faith are two different things. Righteousness is the merit of
a work. It's the value, the quality,
the excellency of a work. You know, like a diamond, it
has value, to somebody anyway. And so you take it to the jeweler
and you say, how much is this worth, okay? And that's what
merit is. Like the Boy Scouts, a merit
badge. They earn something and they
get a merit badge. And that's what righteousness
is. Righteousness is not a moral quality of character, okay? It is the standard by which moral
qualities of character are measured by God. Okay? Now faith is a
moral quality of character. It's a blessing of God's grace. It's the gift of God whereby
he brings us to believe, which we naturally will not do. Okay? So faith, our believing, is not
the equivalent of righteousness. You understand that? In other
words, our faith is not the equivalent of righteousness. What is the
equivalent of righteousness? It's the death of Christ. It's
what he earned, what he did. Our faith lays hold of him. And
here's the illustration that I thought about. For example,
if I were to die for you, let's say somebody come in here with
a gun and they pointed at you and I stepped in the way and
I took the bullet for you. Would you consider that what
I did a moral thing to do? Well, you'd say it's the highest
morality. Wouldn't you? Would you give your life for
a brother or sister? For another human being? Would
you say that that's a moral quality of character? Now, does it make
me righteous before God? No, but it's moral. But it's
not a morality that equals right. Now, when Christ died for his
people, That's righteousness. Because his death for his people
is worth a whole lot more than if I were to die for you. If
I were to die for you, that would be a noble, moral thing to do.
But it certainly wouldn't save you from your sins. I couldn't
atone for your sins. That'd be one sinner dying for
another sinner. But Christ, the sinless sacrifice, his death
equals righteousness. Now what did God promise Abraham? He promised him salvation. forgiveness,
righteousness, based upon the coming Messiah. The promise of
Christ, the Messiah to come, who would stand in Abraham's
place, have Abraham's sins accounted to him, and die for Abraham's
sin, and make him righteous before God. That's what God promised
Abraham. The gospel. And Christ himself said that
in John 8 and verse 56. He said, Abraham rejoiced to
see my day. And he saw it and he was glad. And Abraham testified of it every
time he worshiped God. Because how did Abraham worship
God? What's the first thing Abraham did when he sought to worship
God? He built an altar and he slew an animal. He shed blood. That's a type of Christ. So when
it says Abraham believed God and it, what's the it? It's the
righteousness of Christ. That's what Abraham believed.
Abraham believed God's promise. And what did God promise him?
To send Christ into the world to save Abraham by his grace
and his mercy based upon the death of the Lamb of God. And that's what was accounted
Abraham. It wasn't his believing. Our faith is not counted to us
for righteousness. Christ's death is counted to
us for righteousness. Christ's blood is counted to
us for righteousness. His righteousness imputed the
righteousness of God. And because that righteousness
of Christ is imputed, it counted to us, God gives us faith to
believe. Just like he did Abraham. He said it was counted unto him
for righteousness. Well, what's the only thing in
the Bible that's counted unto any sinner for righteousness?
It's the merits of the blood of Christ. Now, people who interpret
this differently and call it their faith, they sing differently
when they sing, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. They sing it, but they don't
believe it. Because it's not Christ's blood that makes the
difference for them. It's not his righteousness that
makes the, it's their faith. But that's not the case. That
wasn't the case in Abraham. It's not the case of any true
child of God, true child of Abraham. So, look at it again. Verse three, for what saith the
scripture? Abraham believed God. Well, what
did God tell Abraham? He told him, he said, I'm going
to send a Redeemer into the world, a Savior. And by his death, he'll
be both God and man in one person. Abraham knew that. There's some
things Abraham didn't know, but he knew that. He knew Christ
as the promised Messiah. And he's going to stand in your
place and die for your sins. and out of his death will come
righteousness. And Abraham believed God, and
it was accounted unto him for righteousness. You see, the it
there, that's my point, the it there is not our believing. The
it there is what Christ did, what he accomplished, the merit
of his work, his righteousness imputed. Now the rest of the
context of this passage will prove that and support it all
the way through, and we'll pick up there next week.