If you would open your Bibles
with me to Romans chapter 4 We'll begin our reading in verse 17
doing this backwards I'm gonna read the end of the chapter in
a few minutes Dan will read us the beginning of the chapter
I have I'll put something about this in the bulletin next week,
but on the bulletin board out there I put the information for
a conference in Dingus, West Virginia this first part of May
and And if you have never been to Dingus, West Virginia, you
should take this opportunity to remedy the situation and go
there. It's a very, very special place,
made special by very, very special people. I haven't been there
in a good while, and I am very anxious looking to go back. I'll
be preaching at that conference. All right, Romans chapter four,
we'll begin reading in verse 17. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations. Before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things
which be not as though they were. 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. And being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when
he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 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 raised again for our justification. All right,
let's all stand together as Shawn leads us in singing our call
to worship. Precious Savior, friend of sinners,
we as such to Thee draw near. Let Thy Spirit dwell within us
with that love that casts up fear. Match the Savior, let us
know Thee, as the Lord our righteousness. Cause our hearts to cling unto
Thee, come and with Thy presence bless. Open now, my precious
treasure, let my word hear freely. To us their gracious measure,
Tis Thyself we long to know. Come and claim us as Thy portion,
Let us all find rest in Thee. Leave us not to empty notions,
We would find our hope in Thee. Okay, if you would now turn in
your hymnals to song number 242, Jesus I Come. Out of my bondage, sorrow and
night, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come
into thy freedom, gladness, and light. Out of my sickness into thy health. Out of my want and into thy wealth. Out of my sin and into thy self. Jesus, I come to thee. Out of my shameful failure and
loss, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come, into the glorious gain of Thy
cross. Jesus, I come to Thee. Out of earth's sorrows into thy
balm, Out of life's warmth and into thy calm, Out of distress
to jubilant song, Jesus, I come, out of unrest and arrogant pride. Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come,
into thy blessed will to abide. Jesus, I come, Out of myself to dwell in thy
love. Out of despair into raptures
above. Upward foray, on wings like a
dove. Jesus, I come to thee. Out of the fear and dread of
the tomb. Jesus, I come. Jesus, I come. Into the joy and light of Thy
home. Jesus, I come to Thee. Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of thy sheltering fold. Ever thy glorious face
to behold, Jesus, I come to thee. Hopefully you still have Romans
chapter four marked in your Bible. We're going to start at verse
one and read through verse 16. 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 were of the glory, but
not before God. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Now unto 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. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then
upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also?
For we say that the faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when
he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision. Not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had yet being
uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that
believe. Though they may not be circumcised,
that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. And the father
of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only,
but also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham,
which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise that he should
be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For
they which are of the law be heirs. For if they which be of
the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of
non-effect. Because the law worketh wrath,
and where no law is, there's no transgression. Therefore,
it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end of the
promise, might be sure to all the seed, not only not to that only, which is of
all, but to that also, which is of faith of Abraham, who is
the father of us all. May the Lord bless his word. Our heavenly father, we come
before you this morning, a needy people, Lord. We're so thankful for the faith that you've given
us in our Lord Jesus Christ, that he was made flesh, made
man, that he came to this world and lived a perfect, righteous
life, and yet was made sin, who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him, and that we might come
before your throne begging for mercy. Lord, leave us not alone
this morning. Lord, have mercy on our souls. You said wherever two or three
are gathered in your name that you would be in their midst.
And Lord, we pray that it be your will this morning to set
our hearts upon thee. Cause us, Lord, to have a true
spirit of worship. And Lord, send your spirit to
be among us. Father, we pray that you would
leave not our pastor alone, but give him a word from thee. Lord,
feed your sheep. We need you to feed us, Lord. Leave us
not to ourselves. Cause us to put aside the fears
and wants and cares of this world. Have mercy on our souls and cause
us to look to Christ, look to Christ, run to Christ, cling
to Christ. Father, we have no power with
thee, but being made heirs, Lord, we
cling to thee. Father, we pray for those who
are not here this morning. We pray that you would address their needs, Lord, that
you would heal their bodies, heal their spirits, give them
the ability to come back to this local congregation, Lord. When
one member of our body hurts, Lord, we all hurt. We pray that
you would have mercy. Father, what we ask for Us, we
ask wherever men this day are gathered to proclaim the righteous
work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, have mercy. Show us Christ. Cause us to run to him, to beg
for mercy. Lord, we're especially mindful
of our young children, Lord. Have mercy on their souls. We
know that Thou art able. Lord, we pray Thy will be done. Father, we ask all these things
and seek Thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and for
His sake. Amen. Keep your Bibles open there to
Romans chapter 4. I've titled the message this
morning, What Did Abraham Find? That's the question that Paul
asked in Romans four, verse one. What should we say then that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Now what is it that Abraham found?
And why is it so important that we know what Abraham found? Your
scripture calls Abraham the father of all that believe. So everybody
who God saves, is saved the same way that Abraham was saved. Everybody
who God saves is given the same faith that Abraham was given. So every saved person finds the
same thing that Abraham found. Let me give you a couple things
here that Abraham found. First of all, look back at Genesis
chapter 12. Here's where the story of Abraham begins. Abraham found that salvation
is by the electing, calling grace of God. Genesis chapter 12 verse
one. Now the Lord said unto Abram,
get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy
father's house unto a land that I will show thee and I will make
of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name
great and thou shalt be a blessing. Now all we know about the first
75 years of Abram's life before God called him, is that Abram
lived in his father's house in Haran, and Abram was an idolater. And then we read, at least as
far as Abraham was concerned, as far as he knew in his experience,
out of the clear blue sky, God called him. Now that was God's
eternal purpose, that God would call Abram, but Abraham didn't
know anything about that until God called him. And one day God
called Abram. He said, get thee out of thy
father's house and go to a place I'll show you. Do you know why
God called Abram that way? Because God elected Abram. And
he called him by his grace. Now it had to be by grace, didn't
it? It had to be by God's electing,
calling grace. Because humanly speaking, Abram
was a very unlikely candidate for salvation. Abram was an idolater. Abram didn't know anything about
God. And he wasn't even trying to
find out anything about God. He didn't even know that there
was a God. And if Abram, the idolater, if somebody had come
up to him and told him something about the true and living God,
Abram would have hated it. But God chose him anyway. And
God called him anyway. That's electing grace. You know,
Abram, I'm just confident of this, was very comfortable in
his idolatry. He was very comfortable in his
father's house. It seems like it was a wealthy place. He had
plenty there. And he never, ever, ever would
have left that of his own free will. But God called him anyway. I mean, Abraham wasn't looking
to go somewhere out of his father's house. He was happy to be there,
but God called him and Abram went. Now that's calling grace. And God promised to give Abraham
great blessings. Now remember, God promised these
blessings the very moment, this is the first time God ever appeared
to Abram. He said, get thee out of thy
father's house. Go to a land that I'll show you. And right
then, God promised Abram all these blessings of God's grace
before Abram ever did one work. God promised this before he saw
that Abram started to get ready to leave his father's house.
Abram didn't do one work. God promised before Abram ever
did one thing, he promised him all these blessings of grace.
Now that's grace, that's grace. These blessings are gonna come
to Abram because of God's will and God's purpose and God's gift,
not anything Abraham does for God. And here was the promise
God made to Abram. Look at verse three. And I will
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee,
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Now
Abram's 75 years old. He and Sarah had no children.
Sarah was barren. But God promised to make of them
a great nation. And not just natural Jews. He's
talking about something much greater than that. He's talking
about spiritual Israel. Abraham was nothing but an idolater. Like I said, he didn't know God.
He wasn't looking for God. But God promised to make Abraham
a blessing to others. He said, all families of the
earth will be blessed in you. Why? Because the Savior is gonna
come through the loins of Abraham. Abraham was just like Noah, wasn't
he? He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He wasn't looking
for it. He didn't even know there was
a Lord to give any grace. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. And if God saved you, You found
the very same thing. You found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. You found that salvation from
its beginning to its ending is of grace and grace alone. Salvation
is of God's electing grace. God didn't choose me because
I deserved it, because I did something to deserve it. Everything
that I've done deserves wrath and damnation from God, but God
chose me unto salvation anyway. That's electing grace. And salvation
is of God's calling grace. I came to Christ, but I only
came to Christ because God the Holy Spirit called me through
the preaching of the gospel. He called me with that effectual,
irresistible call, and I came to Christ. But I never would
have come to Christ, left my own free will, never. God had
to call me by his grace. He had to draw me to Christ.
And salvation is of God's justifying grace. All I am is sin. That's all I am. The only thing
I've contributed to my salvation is my need to be saved. I've
contributed my sin. But Christ came, and by his precious
blood, he justified me. He put all of my sin away so
that it does not exist. has to be by grace. Surely we
don't think so much of ourselves that we think that we deserve
for the Son of God to be made flesh and suffer and die in our
place as our substitute bearing our sin. Surely we don't think
that highly of ourselves. If the Son of God suffered for
us to put our sin away and justify us before God, it has to be by
grace. And even now, After God saved
me, He's called me, He showed me Christ, He's given me faith
in Him and love for Christ. This is a true statement. I believe
Christ. I believe Him. I trust Him and
I love Him. I do, I love Him. But I'll fall
away this second if it weren't for God's keeping grace. I'll
perish in hell unless God keeps me by His grace, even though
I don't deserve it. That's the only thing that will
keep me. It's God's keeping grace. From its beginning to its ending,
salvations of grace, isn't it? Now, have you found that to be
true? Have you found that? If so, God saved you just like
he saved Abraham, because that's what Abraham found. All right,
now the second thing. Look back at Romans chapter four.
Abraham found justification. Romans four, verse two. For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory, but
not before God. Now to be justified, that word
means to be made without sin. It's to be given a nature that
has never sinned and that can never sin. Justification is not
just as if I'd never sinned. That would be pretending, wouldn't
it? Just as if I'd never sinned, God's just pretending I'd never
sinned, and God can't do that. The justification is to be made
so that I have never sinned. It's to be given a new nature
that only God can give. And if you look back at Ezekiel
chapter 18, right before the book of Daniel, Ezekiel
chapter 18. Even in the Old Testament, God
showed us this. Ezekiel 18, beginning in verse
five. But if a man be just, and that word just there means to
be justified, to be righteous. If a man be just, if he's justified,
and do that which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon
the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the
house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife,
neither hath come near to a mistress woman, and hath not oppressed
any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled
none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and
hath covered the naked with the garment. He that hath not given
forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath
withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between
man and man, hath walked in my statutes, and kept my judgments
to deal truly. He's just. This is the justified
man. He shall surely live, saith the
Lord God. Now notice the Lord says that
the justified man has never done any of these things. He's never
done anything wrong. He's never sinned. It's not just
that he won't do them from here on out. Once God saves him, once
God reveals himself to him, the justified man, the justified
woman has never done these things. Now, how's that possible? We
know none of us have ever done anything that's not sinful. Everything
we do is sin. How is it possible for a sinner
to be justified? Now that seems impossible. It seems like there's no way
that that's so, and I would say it's not possible for a sinner
to be justified, but the scripture says Abraham was justified. The scripture says Christ justifies
the ungodly. Abraham found justification. Abraham didn't do anything to
justify himself. Abraham didn't justify himself
by his works that he did by obeying God. If Abraham did do something
by his works to justify himself, Abraham could puff out his chest
and glory and boast before God, couldn't he? But that's not possible. If Abraham would have done something
to justify himself, he would have made God a debtor to him,
and God would have had to give him eternal life. Because Abraham
did a work that justified himself, and Abraham could have always
gloried before God, and that's not possible. First Corinthians,
chapter one. I'm gonna show you why we know
that's impossible. That Abraham, nobody else, has
ever justified themselves by what they do. Abraham 1 verse
26. For you see your calling brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God had chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. And God had chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty and base things of the world. And things which are
despised have God chosen Yea, in things which are not, to bring
to naught the things that are. Why did God do it that way? That
no flesh should glory in his presence. So Abraham did not
do anything by his works to justify himself because no flesh, Abraham's
flesh, none of our flesh, no flesh is ever gonna glory before
God. So how did Abraham find justification? Let me give you four ways and
they all go together. It has to be all four of these
things, four ways Abraham found justification. Number one, Abraham
was justified by faith without his works. Verse three in Romans
chapter four, for what sayeth the scripture? See, this answers
every question, doesn't it? It doesn't care what I think
or what you think or somebody else thinks. What sayeth the
scripture? Abraham believed God. and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Verse five, but to him that worketh
not, but believeth, has faith, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. And verse
13, for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was
not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through
the righteousness of faith. Abraham was justified by faith. And it has to be that way because
salvation is all of grace and in not any of our works, not
any of them, not even to contribute to it, not even a work to make
it effectual to us. None of our works enter into
this thing of salvation. Salvation is all the work of
Christ, his work for us and his work in us. And that is received. by God-given faith. Even God
has to give us faith, doesn't he? By grace are you saved, through
faith. Even that's not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. It's all the gift of God's grace. Now Paul says that righteousness
was counted, or was imputed to Abraham. Now here's what that
means. Imputed is an accounting term. Imputed does not mean God imputes
it to us and makes us something. That's not exactly what it means.
you impute, an accountant will impute to the ledger what's already
been deposited in the bank. You know, imputing money to the
books without depositing in the bank, that's a lie. Imputing
money to the books is not what makes you rich and wealthy and
makes you able to go buy stuff. Depositing money in the bank,
that's wealth. And once you deposit it in the
bank, then the accountant can impute it to the ledger. See
what I'm saying? Now God gives his people faith.
He gives them righteousness. He gives them justification all
at the same time. Righteousness was counted to
Abraham. It was imputed to Abraham because God had already made
him righteous in Christ. And that righteousness was received
by faith. See, it's by faith. It's by believing
Christ. It's not earned by our works.
It's by believing on Christ and trusting him to do all the work
for me. See, faith does not justify anybody. Christ is the one who justifies.
Christ justifies his people. Christ takes the sin of his people
away. Christ is our justification. It's not just that he justifies,
he is our justification. But that justification is only
ours by God-given faith in Christ, by trusting Christ to be all
my justification. I don't have to do anything else.
Just trust him. He did it all. See, righteousness,
sinlessness was earned by the Lord Jesus Christ by his obedience
to the law. He was made a man, made under
the law, and he obeyed it perfectly. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
never sinned, his people never sinned in him. See, that righteousness
was earned under the law by works, but not our works. It's by the
work of Christ our Savior. By the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ as a man made under the law, And righteousness receives
faith, just receives it. And if you have true faith in
Christ, you don't have any compulsion whatsoever to add your works
to Christ to make your righteousness or your justification better.
Faith believes Christ, he's all my wisdom, he's all my righteousness,
he's all my sanctification and all my redemption. See, God declares
all of his people to be justified. to be righteous. You know why
God declares it? Because they are. Because they
are. God can only call things as they
are. And right now. You don't have to wait to be
righteous and justified when you awake in glory. If you believe
Christ, right now you're justified. Right now you're righteous. Right
now you're holy. And you won't be more holy, more
righteous, or more justified when you awake in glory. You
just have a body that's not sinful like you do now. But that new
man, you will not be more holy, more righteous, or more justified. Only God, only God could do that. He caused things that are not
as though they were. Only God could do that. Now, have you
found that's how God justified you? If you are, God saved you
the same way he saved Abraham. You found the same thing Abraham
found. Abraham was justified by grace.
Verse four in our text says, now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. God did not declare
Abraham to be without any sin because Abraham earned it by
his works. If you read the life of Abraham,
you see he made many mistakes, many boneheaded moves, many,
many falters and failures. Abraham did not earn. a righteousness
before God. He did not earn his justification.
God did not declare Abraham to be justified because Abraham
did something to pay for his sin, to make up for his sin,
or make his sin go away. God declared Abraham to be justified
even though everything Abraham did was as sinful as everything
you and I do. I mean, somehow I don't know,
maybe you're not like me, but I think of Abraham up here, you
know, on a spiritual plane, and you know, I'm down here. Everything
Abraham did was just as sinful as the things you and I do. But
God justified him anyway. That's grace. Now that's grace. God declared Abraham to be justified
because the Lord Jesus Christ had justified him. Look back
at the page of Romans 3, verse 23. For all have sinned, they come
short of the glory of God. Everything we do have sinned,
we've come short of the glory of God. There's none of our works,
none of our sinful works could possibly justify us. But verse
24, being justified freely, how? By his grace, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. See, we're justified freely by
his grace, but don't leave this out, through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus, through the blood of the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now I don't know that there's
anything that I like to talk about more than God's grace to
sinners. Grace, true grace is God freely
giving us what we do not deserve. God giving us what we do not
deserve even though we could never earn it. And here's the
way that God gives grace to sinners. It's by giving his people what
the Lord Jesus deserves. Now you think of that. He gives
his people what the Lord Jesus deserves based upon his perfect
life, his perfect obedience before the Father. And at the same time
he gives his people what the Lord Jesus deserves, he gave
the Lord Jesus everything our sin deserves. Now just let that sink in. That's
grace. Can you think of anything more
undeserved than that? That's grace. Nothing is more
undeserved than the father giving his son what I deserve so that
the father can justly give me what Christ deserves. There's
nothing more undeserved than that. And if you try to figure
that out and think of the depths of all of that and how both of
those things happen, It is greater than the human mind can comprehend. I mean, it will give you a headache
trying to figure that out. I mean, it's just so great. It's
greater than the heart can contain. God's grace is. That's why our
hearts just burst when we get any idea of how great God's grace
really is and what it took for him to give it to us. I don't know how long, I don't
know when I started, I don't remember when I started understanding
language or being able to talk or anything like that, but grace
must be one of those words that I've heard as long as I could
understand language. And I was sitting in my study
looking at this this point this week, grace, being justified
by grace. And it just overwhelmed me like,
Gary, like I'd never heard it before. And for us to get to talk about
that, to talk about God's grace to us. He gives us grace through
the redemption, through the sacrifice that's in our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's God's grace that makes salvation sure for all of his sinful people.
Aren't you glad salvation doesn't depend on you keeping it? Aren't
you glad salvation doesn't depend on, now you gotta walk right,
you gotta do right, you better not do this, you better not do
that, you better do this, you better do that, because you could
lose it. That's what Adam had in the garden. Those who have
faith in Christ, those who have experienced God's grace have
something far better than what Abraham had in the garden. This
is a salvation that's sure, and it's because of God's grace.
Look at verse 16. Therefore, it is a faith that
it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure
to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but
to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who's the father
of us all. God's grace gives a sinner genuine,
real confidence of salvation. Despite all of my sinfulness,
despite my weak faith, despite all my stumbling, my works fail
every single time. And yours do too. But God's grace
can never fail to save anyone that God intended to save. Don't
you love that? I love, I just, I love God's
grace. Now is that the way God saved
you? Have you found that's the way God saved you? It's by his
grace alone. It wasn't because you're better
than anybody else. It wasn't because you prayed right. It
wasn't because you heard the five points, you know. It wasn't
because you never did this or you always did this. It was just
by grace alone, even though you didn't deserve it. Have you found
that to be so for you? If so, God saved you just like
he saved Abraham. All right, here's the third thing. Abraham was justified by the
blood of Christ. Verse six, even as David also
describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now we know this,
God is holy and just. As I said a little bit ago, God
only calls things as they really are. God will not call you justified
unless you truly are without sin. Well, how can God not impute
sin to me? How can he not charge sin to
me if all I've ever done is sin? And how can he impute righteousness
to me if I've never done even one single righteous work? How's
that possible? How can God call me justified
even though I've done nothing but sin? How's that possible?
I mean, that's a great blessing. David said, blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man on whom the Lord will not impute sin. Well, I'd like
to be blessed like that, but how can God bless me like that?
A sinner like me, how can he bless me like that? It's only
by the blood of Christ. Look across the page, Romans
5 verse 9. Much more then, being now justified,
how? By His blood, it's by His blood,
we should be saved from wrath through Him. God will only impute
righteousness to me if He made Christ's sin for me. And He imputed
my sin to Christ at Calvary, and the blood of Christ put away
all my sin, the blood of His sacrifice. And if the blood of
Christ was shed for me, that perfect, pure, precious, sinless
blood, if that blood was shed for me, God calls me justified
and he's right to do it because the blood of Christ took away
all my sin. I know that so. God is holy and just. He must
punish every sin. He must. Well, how could God
not punish me for my sin? How could God see my sin has
been covered? How's that possible? Only by
the blood of Christ. only by the blood of his sacrifice. And listen, the blood of Christ
doesn't just cover, you know, we talk about cover, it doesn't
cover my sin, like, well, it's still there, but it's just under
the blood, you know, and we can't see it, it's still there. That's
like sweeping it under the rug. God's still gonna see that. He'll
see through that. The blood of Christ, and scripture
talks about covering my sin, It means it makes it so that
my sin is gone. It washes it away. The blood
of Christ made the sin of God's elect to not exist so that God
is right to call his people justified. To call them without sin because
the blood of Christ put it away. That's what our Lord was talking
about when he said, Abraham saw my day and was glad. Now when
Abraham saw the day of the Lord Jesus Christ and what made him
glad, what day was he talking about? It was the day, in that
hour of hours, when Christ offered himself a sacrifice unto God,
his bloody sacrifice upon the cross as a substitute for the
sin of his people. Christ died in the place of his
people so his people could live. Christ took the sin of his people
away from them into his own body on the tree and his bloody sacrifice,
put it away. That's how God justifies his
people. And by faith, Abraham saw that. And he was glad. He was glad. Oh my. We ought to be a happy
people, shouldn't we? I mean, I know there's things
in this life just feel like it's gonna crush us, you know, a lot
of times, but we should be a happy people, happy. Abraham wasn't
near as happy to see that ram caught behind him in the thicket.
So he could take Abraham or he could take Isaac off the altar
and put the ram on it. Now I know that made Abraham
happy, but you know what made him happy? He saw what that pictured. He saw Christ's day, the sacrifice
of Christ. This is how God is going to save
his people. It's by the bloody sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now have you found that's the
only way God could save you? If so, you found the same thing
Abraham found. That's where salvation is. Now
let me ask you this. Does this blessedness, this blessedness
of justification through the blood of Christ, does this blessedness
ever come to us by our works? Ever. Does this blessedness of
justification, I think we're all pretty well sure I think
we are, I bet everybody here is pretty sure of this. It doesn't
come from our works before conversion, right? I think we got that. What
about our works after conversion? Does that add to our justification?
Do we have to do those works in order to keep our justification?
Absolutely not, absolutely not. Abraham was justified before
he did one single religious work for God. And the act that the
Jews were so concerned about, I mean, they were so hung up
on this point of the law was circumcision. You had to be circumcised
in order to be saved. You had to be circumcised in
order to be righteous. You had to be circumcised in
order to be justified. You had to be circumcised to
take part in any of their society. I mean, they were so hung up
on it. Even after they heard the gospel of Christ, they said,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, you can be saved by the blood
of Christ, but you also have to be circumcised. Grace plus,
right? Christ plus something else. Abraham
was justified long before he was circumcised. Look at verse
nine. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only
or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned,
counted to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When
he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision. but while he was still uncircumcised,
and he received the sign of circumcision, the seal of the righteousness
of the faith, which he had, being yet 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, being yet uncircumcised. See, it's not by works, it's
by grace for the promise. God's promise of grace, his promise
that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham
or to his seed through the law, but it's through the righteousness
of faith. It's by faith. It's by the blood
of Christ. It's by the grace of God. Abraham
was justified long before he was circumcised. So even our
works after conversion, do not contribute to our righteousness
or our justification. It's all in, by, and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that I ever preach this,
and I always preach this, as strongly as I possibly can. Salvation is by grace, not by
works. Our works don't add to it one
bit. I know, you know, a lot of believers
think, well, you know, God saved me and he saved me by his grace.
But now, you know, God's blessed me after that because I've lived,
you know, right. I've done this and I've done
this and I've done this and I've never done this. And that's why
God's blessed me more than you. That's works. That's works. Works
do not contribute to our justification, our salvation, our blessedness
in any way ever. Got that? Well then don't let
my last point throw you for a loop. Abraham was justified by works.
What? That's true. I'll show you that
here in just one second. A mere profession of faith, just
saying that I believe God, has never saved anyone. Never. True saving faith that's in the
heart always produces a changed wall. Always, 100% of the time,
it's seen in faith in the heart. It's seen by other men in our
actions. James chapter two. I bet you
already knew where I was going with this, didn't you? James
two. Verse 20. But wilt thou know,
O vain man, that faith without works, faith that does not produce
the works of love and caring and generosity and without works
is dead. It's dead faith, dead faith that
can't give life to anybody. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest
thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith
made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled
with saith Abraham, believe God. And it was imputed unto him for
righteousness. And he was called the friend
of God. You see then how that by works a man is justified and
not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the
harlot justified by works when she'd received the messengers
and had sent them out another way? For as the body without
the spirit is dead, so faith without works What you call faith,
so-called faith, a profession of faith that does not produce
works is dead also. Let me tell you what that means.
Abraham didn't just say he believed God. He didn't just tell Sarah
he believed God. He didn't just tell Ishmael and Isaac. He didn't
tell Hagar. He didn't tell all of his servants.
He didn't tell his friends and neighbors, I believe God. He
didn't just say that. He really did believe God. He
really did. And Abraham's actions showed
us really believe God. Remember when God promised Abraham
that the Messiah would come through Isaac. Abraham believed that. He believed the Messiah was coming
through this son, this miracle son that God had given to him.
And then God told Abraham, take your son, your only son who you
love, Isaac, you take him to a place I'll show you, a mountain
I'm going to show you, and you make his body a burnt offering
unto me. When God told Abraham that, you
know what Abraham did? He got busy to make a trip and
make a sacrifice. In his heart, Abraham had already
sacrificed Isaac. He fully intended to do it. He
intended to take his son and slit his throat and drain the
blood from his body. He intended to quarter the body
of his son and place it on the altar. And then he intended to
have the wood under it, to light that wood on fire, and to burn
that body, the body of his precious son that he loved. He intended
to burn that body to ashes. Abraham fully intended to do
that. And if God hadn't stopped him when Abraham raised that
knife, he'd have done it. You know why Abraham was willing
to do that? He believed God. He believed God. God promised
that the Messiah was gonna come through Isaac. Now, Abraham didn't
know how God was gonna do it. He just knew God was gonna keep
his promise. Even if he had to raise Isaac
from the dead, once his body was turned to ash, God was gonna
keep his promise to send the Messiah through Isaac. He was
gonna slaughter his son. That's how we know Abraham believed
God. Now, if Abraham had said, Lord,
wait a minute, wait a minute now, wait a minute. I can't kill
Isaac. I mean, I can't do that. Lord,
if I do that, your promise won't come to pass. Lord, if I kill
that boy, I mean, he's a young man at this time. I mean, how
can I ever come back and look his mother in the face? How can
I explain this to his mother? How can I explain this to my
friends? Lord, this will just break my heart. It's too much
for me to bear. Lord, I can't do it. If Abraham
had said that, we'd know, you know what? Abraham didn't really
believe God, did he? Not really. Now Abraham's actions
did not justify him. His works didn't justify him.
We're justified by faith. We're justified by Christ, by
God's grace. We're justified by the blood
of Christ. We're justified by faith without our works. But
Abraham's actions were the evidence that God had justified Abraham
through faith, that he'd given him faith to believe God. His
actions showed us that. True faith will always act. trusting Christ and following
Christ. And if it doesn't, whatever it
is you profess, whatever it is, it could be something. It could
be a religious, you know, feeling or, you know, whatever, or, you
know, theory two years, some pie in the sky, something you
hope for someday, but it's not faith, not God-given faith. If it doesn't produce works,
if it doesn't produce fruit. The same thing's true about the
believers walk today. Don't think that we preach salvation
by grace without our works. Don't think that means our works,
our walk is not important. It is. You see that you walk
in love. Love for Christ, love for his
people, love for the gospel. See that you walk in mercy and
grace and forgiveness. You be a merciful, gracious,
forgiving person. How can you not since God's been
so merciful and gracious and forgiving to you? How can you
not see that you walk in peace? As much as lieth in you, seek
peace with all men. Don't be a troublemaker. Don't
be somebody out here sowing discord. Look for ways to make peace.
Obviously, you do that without compromising the gospel, without
compromising the glory of Christ our Savior, but seek peace and
pursue it. And that's what you'll do if
God saves you by his grace. if he's justified you by his
grace. And I know you won't do it perfectly. I understand that. Abraham didn't either. But brother,
don't use that for an excuse. Don't say, oh, you know, we can't
do it, do it perfectly. So does it really matter what
I do? Oh yes, it does matter what you do. You strive for it. You strive for it. Seek it. The believer's walk in this life
is very important. I'll tell you why. Because it's
the evidence of an inward work. It's an evidence of faith in
the heart. Now, after God saved Abraham,
Abraham made a lot of mistakes, didn't he? We've studied through
that in Genesis. Abraham made a lot of mistakes.
And he didn't lose his salvation. But don't you remember, he suffered
for it. You remember that? He suffered
for those things. And the same thing's true of us. We're not
going to lose our salvation if we don't follow the Lord. We
don't love one another and serve one another. We're not going
to lose our salvation. But let me ask you this. Why
would you not want to follow the Lord? Why would you not want
to be merciful? Why would you not want to seek
peace? Why would you not want to be
forgiving? Why would you not want to do
it the way the Lord told us to? You lose a blessing if you do.
If the Lord saved you, you're gonna find the same thing Abraham
found, same thing blind Bartimaeus found in our lesson this morning.
You're gonna find a desire to follow Christ. If you find that
desire in you to truly follow Christ, the sacrifice of yourself
for the good of the body of believers that you know, you found the
same thing Abraham found, salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. All
right, I hope that'll be a blessing to you and hope you find that.
Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you.
That by your will and your purpose, by your eternal grace, by the
blood of Christ, by the gift of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you justify the ungodly. That you justify sinners like
us. Father, how we thank you. Father,
I beg of you that you would put this faith in each heart here
this morning. That you'd cause us to lay hold
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. find our peace and hope and rest
and confidence in him and him alone. Father, it's in Christ's
name and for his glory, I know I ask a great blessing for sinful
people like we are that you justify us, that you give us faith, that
you'd save us from our sin, you'd save us from ourself. It's a
great blessing we ask for ourselves. But Father, for the glory of
Christ, oh, if you'd save sinners like us, Shirley, your son, we
get all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor for it. Father,
it's in his name, for his glory, we pray, amen. All right, Shawn,
come lead us in the closing hymn. Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnal to song number 296, and stand as we sing, All the Way
My Savior Leads Me. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? divinest comfort, here
by faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial,
feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
and my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rock before
me, lo, a spring of joy I see. Gushing from the rock before
me, lo, a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight, This my song through endless ages Jesus led
me all the way This my song through endless ages Jesus led me all
the way