Romans chapter four, and we'll
read from verse one. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if
Abraham were justified by works, he had whereof to glory, but
not before God. For what saith the Scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. 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 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 the faith which he had, yet being
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. 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
if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void,
and the promise made of none effect. Because the law worketh
wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore
it is of 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 to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. 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 a
hundred 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 offences and was raised
again for our justification. Amen, may God bless to us this
reading from his word. We've said it before, undoubtedly
we shall say it again, but the Lord Jesus Christ must always
be the object and the focus of our attention. when we come to
the Scriptures. We're looking for the Lord when
we come together and we open the Scriptures amongst us. And
whatever else might be in view in a particular passage or chapter
or verse of Scripture, behind it, must be Christ. Behind it, we must be looking
for Christ. Through that passage, that verse,
must come the Lord Jesus. And if we miss the Lord Jesus
Christ in the passage that we have before us, we have not understood
what is being said. This book, these scriptures that
we have before us from which we have just been reading, it
isn't a history book, though there is much of history in it. It's not a science book, but
there is nothing in it that contradicts or disagrees with true science.
It isn't a geography book, though we can see how the nations move
back and forward and the various ways in which the Lord has providentially
dealt with the peoples to whom he has revealed himself and those
around about. When we come to consider the
scriptures, we are dealing with some of the most sublime poetry
and literature that ever was penned. But this isn't a book
of mere literature or poetry. It is a book of prophecy, but
it's not just a prophetic book. It speaks of morality and law. There is much of biography and
even autobiography in these pages. We learn of love and of lust,
of sin and of guilt, and every human emotion is set before our
eyes. It is a book of revelation. and
it is a book of truth. But primarily and essentially,
it is the book of God and it is the book about God and about
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our saviour, our king, and our
God. This book comes to us from the
very highest heaven. It comes to us with the mark
of God upon it. It comes to us as the very revelation
of God to men. It is by the inspiration of God,
the Holy Spirit. And though it was written over
many, many years by many different authors, It has that ring of
truth in it. It has that legitimacy as far
as its authority to our lives and to our needs. Now why am
I saying all this? I'm saying it because I want
us to be reminded that as important as this chapter of Romans 4 is,
both with respect to the revelation Paul gives us here concerning
the gospel, the message that he is setting forth, foundational
as it is to chapter 5 and 6 and beyond. Here we are speaking
about this man Abraham and the faith that Abraham had. But we
must not leave this chapter thinking that it is the story of Abraham
and the story of Abraham's faith. Abraham believed God, certainly,
and that has been emphasised in the things that we have read
here. That faith, that faith that Abraham
had, we are told that it was imputed to him for righteousness. We read that again together. In chapter four, verse three,
for what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. Yes, this is about Abraham. But it was not Abraham's faith
that made him righteous. Had it been, he would have had
whereof to boast. He would have been able to say,
I believed, and therefore I am blessed. But we need to see beyond Abraham. We need to see beyond his faith. We need to see that upon which
Abraham's faith was focused. This is why I have emphasized
once again that through these verses, as they speak largely
about Abraham, we must seek to discern the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. For if we merely look at Abraham,
we'll have missed the point, because Abraham was looking at
Christ. And for us to share with Abraham
and the blessings that Abraham had, we can't accept this secondhand. We've got to see Christ for ourselves. It is not our faith but the object
of our faith that blesses us. It's not the fact that we have
faith, but rather that one upon whom our faith is fixed and founded. The blessings come from Christ.
The blessings are not because we have faith. It's not the believing,
rather the one in whom we believe. that brings blessing to us. It's not the faith, but the one
who is faithful to his people, and the one who is faithful and
just to forgive us our sin. We are justified not because
we believe, but because the Lord Jesus Christ says, I am thy shield. and thy exceeding great reward. It's the promises to which we
look. It is the Christ who made the
promises and it is believing in him that is the ground for
our peace with God. I want to draw your attention
to the last few verses of this book, of this chapter, because
that's where we're going to be dwelling this evening. There
was a moment in which I thought we would go into chapter five,
and then I thought, no, I'm not going to do that. We have the
opportunity to dwell upon these last few verses of chapter four
and take that opportunity. And I want to draw your attention
to a word which repeats itself in verses 22 to 24. Three times we find it being
repeated. And it says here, verse 22 of
Romans chapter four, 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. And I think it's probably the
littlest word that's in those verses that I want to draw your
attention to. It's the word it. And that might seem strange because
we really don't often give too much emphasis to the word it. It doesn't say much, even here,
she is more explanatory than it. But see, it would be very wrong
for us not to realise what the it is that is being talked about. Because we would miss the whole
meaning of this chapter if we thought that the it was Abraham's
faith. It's not at all. What we see
here is that the it is Christ. The it is the righteousness which
comes from Christ. It is that righteousness of God
which is imputed to the believer as we are joined together in
Christ. And so when it says there, and
therefore it, we're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ is it,
and therefore Christ was imputed to him for righteousness. Now
it was not written for his sake alone that Christ was imputed
to him, but for us also to whom Christ shall be imputed and the
righteousness of Christ and the righteousness of God in Christ
if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Let me try and explain that a
little bit. Come away in. Have a seat. Thank
you, I appreciate that. We've just started. We've been
reading from Romans chapter four. I don't know if you've got a
Bible up there anywhere, but we're reading in Romans chapter
four, but you can just listen in and we'll get on with what
we're saying here. I want to paint a picture for
you. I want to see if I can use a little mind picture for us
to understand the point that I'm trying to make. Let us imagine
for a moment that you are weighed down by debt. So much debt. So much debt that
it has become depressing to you. You can't see your way out of
the debt into which you have fallen. You're weighed down with
this debt and you know that the bank is about to foreclose on
your home. It is going to be repossessed. And your wife's sick. And the
children are hungry. and you've lost your job. Every avenue is closed to you. You're at a loss as to what to
do. You're at your wit's end. And the day of reckoning has
come. You're sitting and you're waiting
for the bailiff's men to arrive. And as you sit and wait for the
bailiffs to come, the postman brings an envelope. And you see that that envelope
is from the state's most prestigious law firm. And you open the envelope. And
the letter within that envelope says that a rich Unknown relative
has died and he's left you a fortune. Now let us assume for the sake
of my story that this isn't a cruel joke, but it's true. Your problems are solved. Your
problems have suddenly all gone away. Your debts are paid. Your creditors are satisfied.
And that weight of depression that was on your shoulders, it
suddenly lifts. And there's a joy and there's
a happiness comes into your demeanor. You and your family rejoice. because of the news that you
have received. Now I want to ask about two aspects
of this good news that you've received. Two things I want to
draw your attention to as far as this story is concerned. The
first thing is this. What is it that is the good news
in this story? the relative's will. The fact
that this relative has died and you are the beneficiary of the
will, that's the good news. But what brought that good news
to you? It was the lawyer's letter. The inheritance has paid your
creditors but it's believing the letter that has given you your joy. Now you might hug the postman. You might even send the lawyer
a box of candy. Or maybe not. But really the true gratitude
for this set of circumstances is that your relative died and
paid off all your obligations. The postman didn't pay your debts. The legal firm didn't pay your
debts. And it wasn't in trusting the
lawyer or trusting the postman that your happiness truly is
founded. I'm gonna use a word here and
I'll tell you what it means. Efficacious. Efficacious. Efficacious means that which
achieved the end or the purpose. It's where the energy lay. It's where the effect came from. And the point of the story is
this, that it was the death of the relative. that brought an
end to your debt and your unhappiness. These other parts of the story,
whether it's the lawyer's firm that executed the will or whether
it's the postman that brought the letter, they were merely
the conveyors of the truth, which was that your debts had been
paid. Now I'm the postman. I'm the
postman. And the gospel of grace is the
letter from the legal firm. But it's the Lord Jesus Christ
that paid the debts. You see, we have to see through
the other circumstances to where the real efficacy lies. We have to see Christ. We have
to see what he has done. We've got to see what he has
achieved and accomplished. And yes, there is joy in believing. There was a joy that came from
opening that letter and reading its contents. but it was beyond
the mere letter and the contents of the letter where true joy
was to be found. There was an initial elation,
but that settled peace comes from a knowledge that our debts
are paid and the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who has effected that
for us. The real joy is believing in
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. Now we may well be debtors as
far as money is concerned, but the real debt that we carry is
the sin that we have before a holy God. That's the real debt. And we can get by in this life,
we can get by to a greater or lesser extent, but what are we
going to do if we ever have to face God? with all of that debt
of sin unpaid for, unremoved. And here it is in the gospel
of Christ, here it is in the word of God that we are shown
that one who has the power and who is able to take away our
sin debt. How did that work? What was it
that the Lord Jesus Christ did? Well, look at verse 25, let me
read it to you. The Lord Jesus Christ was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again. for our justification. This is showing us where the
end, if you like, the summary, the conclusion of this chapter
and its story and the things that it contains, this is where
it concludes. This is the summary, the grand
summary of what it is that has happened. That Christ was delivered
for our offences, delivered for our sins, delivered for our debt, and was raised again for our
justification. And this is the work of salvation.
This is the efficient cause of grace. This is the will of God
the Father accomplished in the liberty and deliverance of his
people. Let me ask you a question. We talk about God being able
to do anything, and if we've got any concept of who God is,
we ought to say that there's nothing that's impossible for
God. Well then, if nothing's impossible
for God, could not the Father simply have forgiven sin and
said, let's forget about it? Well, no, because The very nature
of God is holy. The character of God is that
he must judge sin. Such is the perfection, such
is the majesty, such is the glory of God, this God with whom we
have to do, this God to whom we all are answerable. The very
nature and character of God is that he is holy and that demands,
that requires that he must deal with sin and that he must judge
sin. Scripture tells us that God is
holy and God is just and God is good and God is true and he
will not and he cannot ignore sin. It's contrary to his character
to do so. He cannot arbitrarily forgive
sin because that would be contrary to his justice and his fairness. Love and the love of God does
not ignore justice, but it finds a way to honour justice while
enabling the grace and the mercy of God to come to sinners like
you and like me. So therefore Paul, coming to
the end of this chapter, rightly turns our eyes upon Christ because
he is the way. He is the way by which God the
Father, by which the eternal God to whom we all must answer
and before whom we all must stand, has become the door, become the
way of access into the presence of God with a legitimacy, not
as a sinner anymore, but with an acceptable righteousness,
with an acceptable rightness. For all of our sin, for all of
our unworthiness, for all of that guilt and condemnation which
rightly should have fallen upon us, here is one, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who gives us a righteousness with God. We call that justification. That's what we've been talking
about in this passage. Here we have God justifying sinners. God making a way of escape in
the person of Jesus Christ for sinners like you and like me. Paul turns our eyes to the cross
of Jesus Christ and he says that the Lord Jesus Christ was delivered
for our offences. Now, if you've got any knowledge
of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll know that the
person who delivered the Lord Jesus Christ was Judas. By his
betraying of the Lord Jesus, he was delivered into the hands
of the Jewish leaders. But then the Jewish leaders delivered
the Saviour into the hands of Pilate. the Roman governor, and the pilot,
he delivered the Lord Jesus Christ into the hands of the executors,
those who were going to crucify him. And all of these people
were complicit in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in
truth, it was God the Father who delivered the Lord Jesus
Christ to his death. It was God the Father, for the
sake of those that he loved, for the sake of that people that
he held and cherished from before the foundation of the world,
that chosen people, that elect people, that people that he was
pleased to lay his peace upon, that he delivered his Son to
the cross. that he delivered his dearly
beloved son to the wrath of the executioner, that he might be
crucified and that his blood might be shed on the part and
on behalf of another. The very fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ was delivered for our offences tells us of substitution. It speaks to us of the Lord Jesus
Christ being placed upon the cross instead of another. the Lamb of God, the Lamb of
God that became the substitute. And here it was that the willing
Saviour, because although God the Father delivered Christ to
the cross, yet Christ was willing to go for the love that he had
for his people. And he undertook that obligation
for the sins of many. What a payment was made. We speak
about redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
his people. He bought them back. He bought
them out from under that judgment and condemnation that rightly
we deserve because the justice of God demanded that sin be paid
for. And yet the love of God sought
a way of salvation and a way of escape. And that way of salvation
is Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ made payment
by his very life's blood, what Peter calls the precious blood
of Jesus Christ. And what a debt of sin was cancelled. Words of a hymn that we used
to sing. Great is the gospel of our glorious
God, where mercy met the anger of God's rod. A penalty was paid
and pardon bought, and sinners lost at last to Him were brought. Great is the mystery of godliness,
Great is the work of God's own holiness. It moves my soul and
causes me to long for greater joys than to this earth belong. The Spirit vindicated Christ
our Lord and angels sang with joy and sweet accord The nations
heard a dark world flamed to light when Jesus rose in glory
and in might. Our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
was delivered to death. He was delivered to judgement
for our offences. That's why this is so urgent
and important. That's why this is so significant
for men and women like you and me tonight. We're talking about
God's way of salvation. We're talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ who was delivered for the offences of sinners. What the old men used to talk
about when they would say that Christ stood in our room and
stead. He stood in our room and our
stead. What does that mean? That was
the place where I should have stood. And He stood in that place
for me. He stood in that place in my
room and instead of me. Where I should have suffered
for that sin, where I should have carried the penalty, where
I should have been condemned under the holiness of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ stood in my place. And the apostle goes on, he says,
he was delivered for our offences and he was raised again for our
justification. Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ died
on the cross, but he didn't stay dead. He rose again from the
dead. And that's the wonderful truth
that we who know the Lord and who trust the Lord, who believe
in the Lord, can rejoice in because this tells us that the sacrifice
that Christ made before the Father was acceptable. That the death of the Saviour
and the shedding of His blood was acceptable to the Father
as a sacrifice worthy for the sins of people like us. The resurrection of the Saviour
testified and proved that the justification of God's elect
people had been secured. It was accomplished. It was complete. And that brings us back to that
big word that I used earlier, efficacious. He fixed it. He did it. He accomplished everything
that was needful. The Lord Jesus Christ did it.
Now that's the debt being paid. That's what the relative did
for us. And when we then get a letter
to tell us about that, we may well rejoice at the letter, but
let's look beyond that to see what Christ actually did for
us and what he accomplished on the cross for sinners like us. When the Lord Jesus Christ died,
we see him dying in our place and in our stead. We see that
there was a representation of us before God in him. We sometimes speak about the
vicarious death of Christ. That means he stood in our place
and he was justified as being an able and a worthy sacrifice
when he was raised from the dead. And we were raised with him.
We died with him and we were raised with him. The elect died
in him and were raised with him, proving and confirming our justification
before God and the righteousness which had been granted to us
in the Saviour. Let me summarise these verses
then, because we have come to the end of this chapter. Let's
summarise these verses. Paul says that Abraham's history
and Abraham's experience was not recorded for Abraham's benefit,
but for our benefit. That's what Paul says here. He
says, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed
to him. This history of Abraham that
he has been outlining in chapter four, he hasn't written that
down so that we would all say, oh, how wonderful that was for
Abraham. But rather that we might be able
to say, there's something in here for me too. There's something
in what Christ has done for me also. Abraham believed by faith the
promises that had been made to him. And God's righteousness
in Christ was imputed to him for justification and for peace
with God. Abraham looked to Christ. Abraham
saw in Christ his shield and his exceeding great reward. And he believed God's promises
to be true and to be sure. I wonder if you've ever thought
about whether Abraham when he heard the Lord's words. We read in Genesis chapter 15
last week how that Abraham had a vision and in that vision he
heard the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to him and the Lord said, I am
thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Do you wonder if
maybe Abraham saw Christ being crucified when he heard that
promise being given? in the vision? I do. I do. And I'll tell you why I do. Because
Abraham understood that one was needed as a substitute. He understood
what that shield meant. He understood that there needed
to be that representation. And you know what? I think it
was confirmed to him. I think he saw it twice. Because
a little later, after the son was born that was promised to
him, the boy called Isaac, Abraham was told that he had to take
him to the top of a hill, he was to build an altar there,
he was to take that child, he was to tie that child with wood,
onto the top of the altar, take that child's life and sacrifice
him to God. And Abraham obeyed, right to
the very moment where he drew his dagger and was about to plunge
it into the boy. We'll read about that story sometime.
It's an amazing story when you try and get into the minds of
the individuals that were there. But as he held that knife above
his son, ready to take his only son's life, a voice was heard
and a sheep was provided as a sacrifice. Do thy son no harm. And Abraham
took the ram that was caught in the thicket, and he untied
his boy off that altar, and he took the sheep that had been
provided, and he put that sheep on the altar, and he sacrificed
to God. And if ever there was a picture
of substitution, there it is. I think that the Lord Jesus Christ
graciously revealed to Abraham the true nature of this shield
and exceeding great reward that he was going to possess. He believed this great act of
God's promise and the acceptance that it brought. Have you ever seen Christ crucified?
I don't mean in a picture. I don't mean in somebody's necklace. I don't mean in a film. Have
you ever seen Christ crucified for you? Have you ever seen that
when the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross that he was carrying
the sins of his people, that he was literally opening his
breast to the sword of God's judgment against your sin? Do we see Christ crucified? Do
we understand the intimacy about that great act of sacrifice,
willing sacrifice on the part of our Saviour? And then the
resurrection from the dead. A real event, not a story, a
real event. Jesus Christ came back from the
dead. Not simply history, but as the
effectual cause of accomplished justification
and righteousness for sinners like you and me. The will was written, though
we knew nothing about it, and the death of our kinsmen has
paid all our debts. And the gospel letter has been
sent. And the postman has delivered
it to you tonight. Don't hug the postman. Don't even get all happy because
of the legal firm that sent it out. Oh, we rejoice in the gospel. It's a great message to us. It
brings that revelation from God to us. But let us see Christ. Let us see him who stood in our
room and in our stead. And God will give all his elect
the grace to believe in Christ, that our joy may be complete. Believe that our righteousness
might be approved and that our justification before God might
be enjoyed by faith. Amen.