As we begin verse 6 here in Romans
4, it says, Even as David also describeth the blessedness of
the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without works.
As I told Winston after the message that Bill had this morning, that
it's kind of going to be a continuing message on what Bill was talking
about concerning righteousness, concerning imputation, and especially
concerning David and his life. Paul proves that David, the king
of Israel, was in full agreement with Abraham on this issue of
how God justifies a sinner. David knew well the burden of
sin and of guilt. Let's look at David's prayer
after his sin with Bathsheba in Psalm 51. where David says,
have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according
to the multitude of thy mercies, tender mercies, blot out my transgressions,
wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. He knew that if God were to impute
or charge sin to him, he would perish eternally. Also look at
Psalms 130 and verse three. where it says, if thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? This righteousness
that David is speaking of here cannot be man's obedience to
the law. That would be a righteousness
with man's works. This would belong to a man and
is not imputed. and indeed is not a righteousness
in the sight of God, nor does man's blessedness lie in or come
by it. No man is or can be saved by
the works that he produces. They'll always fall short. Nor
can he attain heaven and eternal happiness by means of his works. The righteousness here spoken
of is the righteousness of Christ, called the righteousness of God.
This righteousness is better than the angels or men. This
righteousness is complete and is perfect. The law is honored
in this righteousness and God justice is satisfied. This is freely bestowed and graciously
imputed by God. God is the one that justifies.
He's the one that does not impute sin or the one that imputes sin,
and he's the one that imputes righteousness. And just in the same way that
Christ's righteousness becomes ours by imputation, and as Adam's
sin became ours is by imputation, and in the same way that our
sins became Christ, his righteousness becomes ours by imputation. And as we have no righteousness
of our own, When God justifies us, this must be done by the
righteousness of another. And there is no way that we can
obtain this righteousness other than by God imputing it to us,
charging it to our account. All of this is done without our
works, but not without the works of Christ, of which this righteousness
consists. This is done without the sinner's
works and without any consideration of what the sinner might do or
might be unable to do. The sinner's deeds of law are
utterly excluded from justification before God. If a sinner's deeds
of law was ever considered or come into account, it would not
be of grace, but it be by works. Now, as Paul says in Romans 3.28,
therefore, We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of law. Now that's clear. That should
be clear to everyone that if you're going to be justified
before God, it's not going to be based on your deeds, deeds
of law, your works in any way. Now, all who have this righteousness
imputed to them are happy persons. They're blessed. They're justified
from all sin and free from all condemnation. Their persons and
their services are acceptable to God, and as the song goes,
it is well with my soul. It is always well, will always
be well with them. They are heirs of glory, and
they shall enjoy it eternally. David glorified and rejoiced
in the non-imputation of sin. and in the imputation of Christ's
righteousness to himself. In Psalms 103, verse 12, as far
as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. David, the king of Israel, knew
that God imputed righteousness without works. This is without
David's efforts to obey the law. This can be no other than the
righteousness which the Lord Jesus established on the cross,
the one that he worked out in his obedience even unto death. And the righteousness of the
Father, this is the same righteousness that the Father imputes to the
account of everyone that he chose from eternity and that he give
to Christ. David looked forward to the Lord
Jesus to honor the law and completely and perfectly satisfy God's justice
in his stead. God freely imputed the merits
of his son, his son's death, which was that righteousness.
He imputed it to each and every one of God's elect, whether in
the Old Testament with David and Abraham and Moses or in the
New Testament. with believers today. Now beginning
at Romans 4 and verse 7, once again this is David still saying,
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are
covered. God the Holy Spirit in this verse
reveals that this was David's understanding and message when
he inspired David to write Psalm 32. Paul quotes Psalm 32 verse
1 and 2 here Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputed not iniquity, and whose spirit there is no
guile, no guile or deceit. In other words, we don't have
to pretend that we're not sinners. We can be honest. We can be honest
with ourselves. We can be honest with others.
We don't have to pretend about these things. We know that God
has accepted us in Christ based on the righteousness that he
worked out, that Christ worked out. It causes us to be honest
with ourself and to men. Don't have to hide these things.
David also knew that the forgiveness of sins could not be without
law and without justice satisfied. The wages of sin must be paid.
as our brother Bill said in the back. Psalms 85 and verses 10
through 13 reads like this. Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall
spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down
from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that
which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness
shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his steps.
Also in Psalms 89 verse 14, justice and judgment are the habitation
of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. Now the Apostle Paul, also being
in full agreement with David, says in Romans 6 and verse 23,
for the wages of sin is death. but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And in Hebrews 9.22, And
almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without
the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. It was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should
be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with
better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Now all of the Old Testament
saints look forward to the coming Messiah that would come in time
and to put away sin And all of God's saints today look back.
They look back to where Christ did come and did pay that sin
debt and put away sin. He worked out a righteousness
that the Father accepted and that he raised him from the dead.
This revealed that Christ satisfied law and justice on behalf of
all those that the Father gave him. It says in John 6 and 37
through 40, and these verses here are or such a blessing to the believer.
It says all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out for I came down from
heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent
me and this is the father's will which has sent me that all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up
again at the last day. in verse forty and this is the
will of him that sent me this is the father's will that everyone
would see it the sun everyone to see if christ and believe
it on him may have everlasting life and i raise him up at the
last day we also know that if we do come to cry to come to
this true christ and all god's elect will do that god is already
come to us. He's regenerated us by the power
of His Holy Spirit, who gives us spiritual life and causes
us to believe on Him, to trust in Him, for all of salvation
and justification. Scripture says that we love God
because He first loved us. Then in John 6, 44, 45, Christ
says, no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
drawing. and I'll raise him up at the last day. It is written
in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God, every man,
therefore, that hath heard, that have heard of this Christ, of
the gospel, and have learned of the Father, coming to me."
After seeing how that the Old Testament saints, as well as
the New Testament saints, all look to Christ for a blood-bought
sacrifice, let's look at the word forgiven. that's mentioned
here in verse 7, where it says, blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven. The word forgiven here has the
idea of putting something away. To send it away is pictured as
that scapegoat in that ceremonial, sacrificial system on the Day
of Atonement. He was sent away on the Day of
Atonement never to be heard from again. It means to lay aside. and as used in the present context
means God has let go of the obligation that we owe him because of sin
against him. It means to remit as one would
release someone from a financial debt, to release from the guilt
or the penalty of that debt. How could God justly do this?
David's debt had already been laid and charged to the account
of Christ as David's surety and substitute before the foundation
of the world in that everlasting covenant of grace. Christ had
not paid that debt. He had not paid David's sin debt
at that time. Christ had not redeemed those
that the Father gave him at that time, but the debt had been imputed. had been imputed and charged
to Christ, David's purity, the one that stood in David's place.
He was David's substitute. He was David's purity. And therefore,
it was not charged to David's count. David clearly states this
in Psalm 32, 2, where it says, Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. David believed that God would
not charge him with his sin, and that Christ would come, the
Messiah. He would come in time and pay
his sin debt and therefore put away all his sins and establish
righteousness for him. Remember what Paul says back
in Romans 4, verse 6, when he says, Even as David also describeth
the blessings, the happiness of the man unto whom God imputed
righteousness without works. David, as well as all of God's
elect, have a righteousness that enables them to stand before
God without blame. Not a righteousness of their
own, but the righteousness, the very righteousness of the Son
of God, our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Blessed imputation. Blessed imputation. Now let's
go over the last part of verse seven where it says whose sins
are covered. Cover literally means to conceal, to hide, to
cover over. Figuratively, it means to cover
over sins or forgive or pardon. It is equivalent to the Hebrew
word to atone. It signifies not merely a covering,
but the removal of guilt under the covering. It means to make
reparation for sins, restoration of something to good condition. When believers in the Old Testament
offered up blood sacrifices to God, they were looking to Christ
who would come in time and fulfill these types in His death. Now
we're talking about believers that brought those sacrifices
in the Old Testament and that Old Covenant. They had the knowledge
and confidence that in Christ's work, which the sacrifices represented,
God justified them based on the removal of their sins by the
death of Christ, the coming Messiah. And in Micah 7, 19, reads, He
will turn again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities. And thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. And in John 8, verse 56, this
is Christ speaking, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day,
and he saw it and was glad. David also saw Christ's day,
and he was glad. In verse 8, it says, Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. There are people,
there are people that God is not going to charge them with
their sin. He's just not going to do it. He's going to charge
it to their son, Jesus Christ. Here we see with the preceding
verse the direct connection between the death of Christ for forgiveness
and removal of sin and the imputing of righteousness. David expressed
his hope and the promise of the Messiah to come in time and put
away his sins. Let's look back at Psalm 32,
1 and 2 again. where it says, blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. David's justification before
God, therefore, was not by his own works, but by the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what Christ worked out.
His righteousness alone. We now come to verse nine, where
the Apostle Paul deals with whether this blessedness that David describes
here in verse eight is only for the circumcision or for the Jews,
or is it also for the uncircumcised Gentiles, or is it for all other
nationalities all over the world? Well, in verse nine, it reads,
come at this blessedness, then upon the circumcision only, or
upon the uncircumcision also. For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. This blessedness of the non-imputation
of sin and the imputation of righteousness is not for one
race, for one nation, or for one class of people. It is for
both Jews and Gentiles, all of God's elect, all of the redeemed
of the Lord, all who come to faith in Christ and true repentance. Now, the second part of this
verse, which says faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness,
faith here refers not to the act of believing, but to the
content of that faith, the law of faith, of which Christ is
the substance and the object of that faith, as compared to
the law of works, or justification before God by works of law. God justifies the ungodly according
to the law of faith, which is the content of the gospel of
God's righteousness accomplished by Christ and revealed by faith.
The blessing of a right standing with God and acceptance with
him, whether you're a Jew or whether you're a Gentile, is
on the basis of faith's object. It's what faith looks to, which
is Christ and his finished work on the cross by grace, by free
grace alone. The next verses are dealing with
the question of when was righteousness imputed and reckoned to Abraham
then. Was it after he was circumcised or was it before he was circumcised? And of course Paul is dealing
with this once again because as he writes to this church at
Rome with these Jews, these Jews that were there, that were boasting
and that they were children of Abraham, physical children of
Abraham. They were circumcised and thinking
that if nothing else, it in some way caused them to be a little
bit better than those uncircumcised Gentiles. So these verses here
should settle the issue of whether or not Abraham was a righteous
man and justified before God as he walked this earth. In Romans
4, beginning at verse 10 and 11 also, it says this, how was
it then reckoned or when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Paul says not in circumcision,
but 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. Now, Paul says, not in circumcision,
or when he was circumcised. For when it was said of him that
he believed in the Lord, and he counted it unto him for righteousness,
back in Genesis 15, 6, he was then uncircumcised. And he remained
so for many years. For this was before the birth
of Ishmael, and Ishmael was some thirteen years of age when he
and his father were circumcised. So that it must be at least fourteen
years or thereabout before Abraham's circumcision that this declaration
of him being a justified person was made. Wherefore the Apostle
Paul says, But in uncircumcision. Or while an uncircumcised person,
therefore it clearly appears that circumcision could not be
the cause of his justification, since it followed it. And if
Abraham, when uncircumcised, was a justified person, Why may
not uncircumcised Gentiles be justified also? And especially
when it is observed that the covenant made with Abraham when
he was uncircumcised included the Gentile. See Genesis 12,
3, where it says, and I will bless them that bless thee, curse
him that curses thee, and in thee shall all the families of
the earth be blessed. Paul proves here that circumcision
has no part in a sinner's justification before God. Abraham was justified
before God before he was circumcised. Circumcision was only a sign
or a seal a signification by which something or something
is designated, distinguished, and known, a sign points to the
existence of that which it signifies, and a seal authenticates, confirms,
certifies, or guarantees the genuineness of that which is
signified. I hope I didn't confuse you there.
So circumcision was an outward sign and seal of righteousness
Abraham already had before he was circumcised. Abraham already
had the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, in which he looked
to by faith. Abraham looked forward to the
promised Messiah, and those of God's elect after the cross looked
back to that finished work that Christ accomplished on the cross. Now, physically, Abraham is the
father of all the Jews, or the circumcision. But spiritually,
he is the father of both believing Jews and believing Gentile. The sign and seal of the righteousness
of Christ imputed to Abraham's spiritual seed is spiritual circumcision,
which is the new birth. We see that in Romans 2, beginning
at verse 28, where it says, for he is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly or physically, Neither is that circumcision which is
outwardly, in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly,
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not
in a letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. This
spiritual circumcision is where sinners are brought to faith
in Christ and repentance from dead works and idolatry. All
those that God brings to this point are the true Jews. and the true circumcision. And
in Romans 4.12, here, the last verse we'll deal with this morning,
reads, And the father of circumcision, speaking of Abraham, 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. Abraham is said to be the spiritual
father of all who also walk in the steps of that faith of our
father Abraham, which he had been yet uncircumcised. Abraham
is not the natural father of any Gentile, but he is the spiritual
father of all Gentiles who are justified before God by the imputed
righteousness of Christ and manifested by God-given faith in Christ.
Likewise, he is the natural father of the Jews physically, but he
is not the spiritual father of any Jew who is not justified
before God by the imputed righteousness of Christ. and manifested and
made known, all of this is manifested and made known by their continuation
in unbelief. Look at John 8, 37. Christ says,
I know that you are Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me,
because my word hath no place in you. Here Christ admitted
that these Jews were the natural descendants of Abraham, But in
John 8, 39, it says, they answered and said to him, Abraham's our
father. Jesus said unto him, if you were Abraham's children,
you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me,
a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of
God. This did not Abraham. He denies that they were Abraham's
spiritual seed. They refuse to believe God's
promise of salvation, conditioned on Christ alone, and repent from
dead works and form idolatry once again. Those who have been
justified by God's grace in Christ, as signified by faith in Him,
are the spiritual seed of Abraham. One last verse here, Galatians
3, beginning at verse 26. For you are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek. There is neither bond or free.
There is neither male or female. For you are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you be Christ, then you're
Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now in closing
this morning, God has used both Abraham and David, the king of
Israel, to prove that a sinner is not justified by works of
law, whether it be circumcision or any other work that you want
to put in the place of circumcision. Your faith, your church attendance,
your prayers, just anything else that you want to put in the place
of circumcision. These scriptures especially deal with the fact
that circumcision definitely did not have anything to do with
Abraham's justification since scripture says that God reckoned
righteousness to Abraham some fourteen years before he was
circumcised. So we know that he had righteousness
reckoned to his account way before he was circumcised.
All of this, that Abraham is the father of all, that go before
him or to come to go after him in his faith, in the faith of
Abraham, what Abraham looked to look to Christ, all who look
to the object of Abraham's faith, which is Christ and him crucified
alone, not based on works of law that we might do or being
able to do, but based entirely on the righteousness of Christ
and all of that, that Christ worked out. in His entire person
and His work, even unto the death of the cross, His blood shed. What God does is He does not
charge the sinner with his sins, but rather He charges them Christ,
His surety. And Christ in time did come to
this earth, and He worked out this righteousness that we're
talking about. God freely imputes this righteousness to all those
all those that are in Christ, that he stood in their place
as he come to this earth. I pray God would use this message
to his glory.