Good morning everyone I'm gonna
if you would Let's turn to the book of Romans this morning We're
going to begin in chapter 4 in verse beginning at verse 13 Romans
4 13 beginning at verse 13 This morning, we're going to
pick up where we left off on our last study. The title of
my message here is going to be the righteousness of faith. And before we begin at verse
13 here, going to look back a little bit to some of the previous verses
that we've gone over in order to see what leads up to this
verse here that we're dealing with this morning. So before
we read. these verses, we need to see
what this blessedness is that Paul is speaking of here. This
blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without
works, back in Romans 4.6. Also in Romans 4.7, blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. And
in Romans 8, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. Now let's read Romans 4, 9 through
10 here. It says, come with this blessedness
that we're talking about, then upon the circumcision only, or
the Jews only, or upon the uncircumcision also, or does it come upon the
Gentiles also, all other nationalities in the world. But we say that
faith was reckoned Abraham for righteousness. How was it then
reckoned when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision, not in
circumcision, but in uncircumcision, this faith was reckoned Abraham
in uncircumcision. And he received a 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. And the father of circumcision
to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the
steps of that faith of our father, Abraham, which he had yet been
uncircumcised. So we see in these verses that
we just read that this blessedness that we're talking about, this
blessedness of forgiveness and the non-imputation of sins is
not based on the sinner's works, which included circumcision,
which these Jews thought so highly of. But this blessedness, is
on the basis of the righteousness of Christ, and that freely imputed. As we begin this morning, you'll
see that Paul is still on the subject of how sinners are righteous
before God. Is it by works of law, or is
it by what Christ, the promised seed alone did, and not based
on any works that a sinner might do, or a sinner might be unable
to do? Paul in the previous scriptures
has used Abraham and David, the King of Israel, to prove that
a sinner is not made righteous by works of law, whether it be
circumcision or any other work, your faith, your church attendance,
your prayers, anything that you want to put
in the place of circumcision done by you or you being unable
to do. These scriptures especially deal
with the fact that circumcision definitely did not have anything
to do with Abraham's justification, since scripture says in Romans
10 that righteousness was reckoned to Abraham before he was circumcised. All of this, that Abraham is
the father of all, father of all that go after him in Abraham's
faith, all who look to the object of that faith that Abraham had,
the object of which is the coming Messiah in his righteousness
alone, Christ in him crucified. In Romans 4.13 in the verses
we're going to begin with this morning, reads for the promise,
this promise that God give Abraham, that he should be heir of the
world was not to Abraham or to his seed, through the law, but
through the righteousness of faith. God made a promise to
Abraham and to all his offspring by virtue of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the representative and substitute of the whole election of grace. It was a promise that he and
his spiritual descendants would be heir of the world. That is
the inheritance of Christ's kingdom here on earth and ultimately,
ultimately the new heavens and the new earth. It is the earth
of which the Lord referred to back in Matthew five and verse
five, when it says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth, which only the meek are those that are humbled by
the Holy Spirit to submit to Christ and to rest in him alone. will inherit. This gracious promise
was not made to Abraham on condition of Abraham's works, efforts or
deeds under the law. It was given to Abraham through
the righteousness of faith, the very righteousness of God that
the law, this law of faith, this gospel says for. It declares
the righteousness of God established by Christ and accepted by God. It is the righteousness upon
which God justified Abraham and that he justifies all of his
elect. God was right. God was right
by justifying his elect based on Christ's shed blood and God's
elect or right by looking to Christ alone. for all of their
justification before God. Romans 4.14 reads, for if they
which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise
made of non-effect. In other words, if righteousness
could have been established by any sinner, any sinner's works
under the law, no matter which law you might want to believe
this is, the work of Christ on the cross to fulfill and establish
righteousness would have been unnecessary and even worthless. If righteousness could have been
established by sinner's deeds of law, then God's promise, his
promise of grace to Abraham and to his seed would be abolished
or made of non-effect. This is stated in Galatians 2.
in verse 21, where it says, I do not frustrate the grace of God,
for righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If righteousness could have been
established in any other way than by the obedience unto death
of Christ, then grace would have been frustrated or prevented
from succeeding, and Christ would have died in vain, and we know
that that's not the case. In Romans 4.15, Paul says, because
the law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression. The law of God was given to fallen
sinful man to expose our guilt, our defilement, all due to our
fallen Adam, and according to the covenant of grace, the covenant
of works, I'm sorry. The law is so far from justifying
sinners that it curses and condemns them. And when the law comes
into the heart and is let into the conscience of a sinner, it
creates within all sinners by nature, as we're born into this
earth, a terrible apprehension of the wrath of God and a fearful
looking for his judgment and fiery indignation. This is why
all sinners by nature go about to establish a righteousness
of our own. We do this in an attempt to appease
this God of our imagination, this God that we're raised up
believing that he's gonna accept us by our works, our works of
law in some way. Let's look back at Romans 3,
19. It says, now we know that what things we have the law say
It says for them that are under the law that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
Oh, that our mouths may be stopped. And that we, that we truly see
our helplessness before God. This God, this God, this holy
God that we must deal with. Oh, that our mouths may be stopped.
Oh, that the Holy Spirit may come and stop our mouths, that
he may reveal to us how holy, how holy God is. And, and, and
that we might, and that we, we might by seeing how holy God
is flee to Christ, flee to Christ to long for salvation is our
only hope, is our only hope for salvation. Now, in order that
our mouths may be stopped, the Holy Spirit, by God's word, must
reveal to the sinner that there is no hope of salvation and eternal
life based on any works of law that we might do or be unable
to do. He then reveals Christ, the true Christ, not the counterfeit
Christ that's taught in the world today. But, but, but, uh, he reveals
the true Christ. God, the Holy spirit reveals
the Christ is satisfied completely the justice of God. And therefore
all transgression has been removed from his people, his sheep, his
elect in the side of God by this satisfaction that the son of
God made as he came to this world. as he died on that cross, as
he shed his blood in the place of a number of sinners. Now in
Romans 8, 31, beginning at 8, 31, we see this. It says, what
shall we say then? What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall we not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's leg? It is God that justify. Even
though Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being
made a curse for us until we are born again and given new
life by God, the Holy Spirit. God's elect, just like the non-elect,
just like the non-elect, go about to establish the righteousness
of our own. We're all like lost sheep that
have gone astray. We worship a false god of our
own making, but thank God that he does not leave us in this
darkness. In his own time, he gives us
light, as it states in 2 Corinthians 4. In verse 6, for God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, where? In the face of Jesus Christ,
by revealing to us Christ, this true Christ that we worship here. Our next verse, Romans 4, 16,
starts out with a therefore, which refers back to previous
verses, 13, 14, and 15, where it states here in verse 13, for
the promise that he should be heir of the world was not to
Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. In verse 14, for if they which
are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise
made of none effect. In verse 15, because the law
worketh wrath, For where no law is, there is no transgression.
Then in verse 16, it states, therefore, therefore, after,
after seeing all these things that we just got through reading,
it is a faith that it might be by grace to the end, the promise
might be sure to all the seed, not to that only, which is of
the law. but for that also, which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. Now, the all here refers to all
nationalities of people, both Jews and Gentile. Justification
before God, therefore, is of faith that it might be by grace. It is all of Christ according
to the grace of God in him. God's grace in Christ makes the
promise of justification, salvation, and eternal life sure and certain
to all His elect, all whom Christ redeemed at the cross. Christ
is the surety. He was the surety of the everlasting
covenant of grace, and all the promises of God are sure and
certain in Him. 2 Corinthians 1.20 says for all
the promises of God in him or yea and in him amen unto the
glory of God by us. Now Ephesians 1 3 through 7 says
blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in
Christ according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the richness
of his grace. Had any part of salvation been
conditioned on centers, it never could have been sure. And it
never could have been certain. In fact, it would have been sure
and certain to fail. David had full assurance. David,
the king of Israel, full assurance of his salvation. And it was
not according to his own works. We know the life of David, but
it was according to the covenant promise of God. Ordered in all
things, ensure." David tells us where his hope was in 2 Samuel
23 5, where it says, although my house, and this was David,
in his last hours on this earth as he was dying, although my
house be not so with God, yet he had made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, ensure. For this is all my salvation. and all my desire, although we
make it not to grow. It was sure and certain because
it was always sure and certain that Christ would come and fulfill
all righteousness on David's behalf, as well as all the spiritual
descendants of Abraham, all those that come after Abraham. And
the same faith that Abraham had, that same faith that looked to
Christ, the object of that faith, looked to Christ for all of salvation.
all of salvation and eternal life. Now, both descendants of
the law, referring to believing Jews, and descendants of the
faith of Abraham, referring to believing Gentiles. Now this
right here is who the promise was made. Both descendants of
the law, referring to the believing Jews, and descendants of the
faith of Abraham, referring to the believing Gentiles. Now,
in verse 17 in Romans 4, it says, as it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickened the dead and calleth those things which
be not as though they were. Paul says, as it is written,
referring back to the promise made to Abraham as recorded in
Genesis 17 in verse 4. where it says, as for me, behold,
my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many
nations. This passage of scripture proves
Abraham to be the father not of the Jews only, since they
cannot be called many nations, but of the Gentiles also, which
must be understood in a spiritual sense, for Abraham was the father
of them also. Once again, the issue in Abraham's
justification is not and was not how great or how faithful
Abraham was, but in how great and how faithful God is, as he
is the one who made the promise to Abraham. We may make promise
to each other and we do, and we intend to keep them, but we're
not able to keep all the promise that we make. We cannot see all
the obstacles and we, uh, and we cannot provide all the means
that's necessary to feel all the promises that we might make
to each other. God, however, is a sovereign
guy and omnipotent. He's all powerful. He is also
faithful to all his promises, all the promises that he makes.
There was nothing in Abraham's circumstance that caused him
to believe that God would do what he promised him he would
do. In fact, everything appeared impossible. Abraham was already
an elderly man when God told him that he'd make him the father
of many nations. Then, as if to ensure that any
fulfillment of it would be entirely of God, God didn't fulfill that
promise in giving Abraham a seed until 25 years later, when he
was almost a hundred years old and a Sarah around 90 years old. Nonetheless, because of who made
the promise, because of who made the promise, knowing that God
is able to call something from nothing as he did in the creation
of the world, Abraham rested in what God had promised. Abraham
believed God. He honored God. He glorified
God by believing him. In verse 18 reads, who against
hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many
nations according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed
be. God's testimony, his word is
the only true foundation for hope. The hope of salvation rested
in God himself and what God had promised, not in anything that
Abraham himself or his works. The who here refers to Abraham
that we're talking about. It says who against hope. The
believed in hope here refers to Abraham being assisted by
the supernatural aid of God. This supernatural aid of God-given
faith, Abraham believed in hope, of the fulfillment of it, the
promise by the grace and power of God. The against hope spoken
of here refers to the fact that against all visible and rational
grounds of hope, Sarah's womb and his own body being dead,
but regardless of all these circumstances, And as much as God had said it,
Abraham believed through that God-given faith. It is also important
to remember here that the promise God made to Abraham was more
than this miraculous conception and the birth of Isaac. It was
also, and more important, through the miraculous conception and
birth of Isaac, the child of promise that Abraham seed. his
spiritual descendants, all who come to faith, to God-given faith,
all the child of promise, Isaac, Abraham's seed, spiritual seed,
would be saved by the one seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse
19, reads, and being not weak in faith, he considered his own
body now dead when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the
deadness of Sarah's womb. As I just got through saying,
that although many realities in Abraham's life, his age and
so forth, would have led him to believe that there was no
way that he could become a father, yet he continued to rest in what
God had promised. I believe the key I believe that
the key to understanding these things about the type of faith
one has is to see if this faith you have is based on the word
of God, his promise, or is it based on a faith or believing
something will or will not happen apart from or not based on the
word of God or the promise of God. Now, Abraham, he had a lot
of things that went on in his life that if you looked at him,
you might see that his faith wasn't that strong after all.
But those things that Abraham did or didn't do as he walked
this earth, having to do with his faith, you might say, a lot
of things that he did, telling Sarah to tell the Pharaoh that
she was his sister and allowing that to happen and a lot of other
things in his life. Those were things that Abraham
did. It wasn't based on God's promise, his word to him. It
was his personal faith. It was what Abraham believed
he ought to do at that particular time, and that's where we get
in trouble so many times. But God promised Abraham He promised
him a spiritual seed. He promised him a child. He promised him that, that, that
he would inherit the world. He, he, he made all these promises
to Abraham and Abraham was looking, he was looking, he believed God,
he believed God would, would do what he said he would do in
all these things. Uh, this was, this was what God
had told him and he believed it. And when it talks about the
faith here, that's what we're talking about. We're not talking
about our personal faith. We're talking about the faith.
We're talking about the gospel here today that is preached out,
the gospel of how God saves a sinner based on Christ's righteousness
alone. And we're looking at God's word when we tell people what
the gospel is, and this is what God says of himself and what
he says of Christ and this gospel, this faith that we're looking
to. This is what, when we talk about
this faith, righteousness of faith that we're talking about.
Now, in Romans 420, it reads, he staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief. but was strong in faith giving
glory to God. All true God given faith, strong
faith, gives glory to God. God given faith does not boast
in itself or in the center. It boasts in God. It boasts in
Christ. Give God the glory in all things. God's given faith is grounded
upon God's glorious character. and looks to the Lord Jesus Christ,
his shed blood and imputed righteousness for all of justification before
God. We give, or we acknowledge the
glory of God when we believe his promise. We believe what
God says of himself, what he says of Christ and what he says,
uh, of ourselves. We give or we acknowledge glory
to God when we believe His promise. Also, when we see the perfections
of God's redemptive character actively engaged to fulfill His
promise, His promise in Christ, His promise in Christ to redeem
us based on what Christ accomplished at that cross. This is why it's
the highest dishonor to God's glory for centers to seek to
be justified before God by our works. And this is what we all
do by nature. Folks, we, we approach a God
of our imagination and we approach this God thinking that, that,
uh, he'll save us by what we do or what we don't do by our
works in some way. Whether we say God enabled me
to do it or whatever. It is only in and by Christ that
we glorify the God of all grace. Do you want to glorify God? Believe
on Christ. Look to Christ for all of salvation. Look to Christ, what he accomplished
at the cross. Believe God. Believe God when
you look to Christ and you believe that Christ redeemed us by his
precious blood. Don't try to add anything to
that. And by nature we will. I pray that God will use this
message for his own glory and the salvation of sinners. Thank
you.