It is my great, great privilege
and indescribably great honor and heavy burden to again preach
the gospel of God's grace to you eternity-bound sinners living
upon the brink of eternity. Just a breath away, you'll either
be in heaven or hell forever. Therefore, I count it a great
delight, great privilege, great honor to urge you to stand before
you as God's ambassador to speak in Christ's stead and urge you
to believe on the Son of God, to come to Christ right now and
be saved by His marvelous grace. Saved. What a word. Forgiven, justified, sanctified,
righteous, perfect, holy, spotless, accepted, favored of God, saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. How can I persuade you to come
to Christ? Before I get to my text in Romans
chapter 4, if you want to be turning there, let me give you
five reasons why you ought to come to Christ. The first one
is this. God Almighty has purposed and
predestinated the salvation of a great multitude of sinners. God chose a great multitude before
the world began, a number that no man can number, whom he is
determined to save. Sinners who are described in
this book in no way except as sinners, sons of Adam, men and
women. That's how they're described.
God's purposed to save a great multitude of sinners. If God's
going to save some, why not me? Why not you? Come to Christ this
day. And I'm telling you that you're
coming to Christ is the fruit The evidence, yes, the proof
that God chose from eternity to save you. Second, the Lord
Jesus, God's darling son, came into this world to save sinners,
of whom I'm the chief. He came here to save his people
from their sins. And having come into this world
as the sinner's substitute, God in our flesh fulfilled all righteousness
by his obedience in life and Satisfied every demand of divine
justice by his sufferings and death upon the cursed tree as
the sinners substitute Christ died for sinners. I Wonder if you can take your
place there as a sinner a sinner before the throne of grace. A
sinner with nothing to plead but Christ. A sinner with no
hope but Christ. A sinner with no righteousness
but Christ. A sinner with no atonement but
Christ. Come to Christ then as a sinner,
trusting him, and go home this day saved by God's free grace. I'll give you a third reason
why you should do so. God, the Holy Spirit, effectually
regenerates and calls every sinner chosen of God and redeemed by
Christ. He effectually regenerates and
calls every one of them to life and faith in Christ. Not one
of God's elect will perish. The son of God shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. That's what the
book of God declares. Believe on the son of God and
life eternal is yours. I mean, life eternal. This is
God's work. That means it's never lasting
work. This is God's work. That means nothing can be put
to it and nothing can be taken from it. God does it forever. Believe on Christ and salvation
is yours. Here's a fourth reason for your
faith in Christ. This book declares. This book
declares. You're not going to believe this.
Maybe you will. This book declares that every
sinner who believes on the Son of God has everlasting life. What God said, he that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Faith in Christ, I repeat,
is the proof of eternal election, effectual redemption, and saving
grace. Your faith is the fruit and result
of God's predestination. Christ's redemption and the Spirit's
call. Before we get to our text, let
me give you one more reason why you should believe on Christ.
I'm not talking about why you should come down here and shake
my hand and sign a decision card or kneel at a morning's bench
or kneel at an altar or say a prayer. I'm talking about why you should
right now, right where you are, without moving a muscle, without
uttering a word, without saying a prayer, come to Christ. Believe
on the Son of God, because the book of God declares that every
sinner who hears the gospel, there you sit, a sinner, hearing the gospel, and
God declares in His word that every sinner who hears the gospel
of His grace is called, invited, and urged to come to Christ and
live. Is that right, Mark? Every sinner,
every sinner is called, invited, urged to come to Christ and live.
Listen to what he says. The Spirit and the bride say,
come, and let him that heareth say, come, and let him that is
a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him come and take of
the water of life freely. How much freer could this thing
be called salvation? Whosoever will. Whosoever will. I'm not included in much, but
I'm included in that. Whosoever will let him come and
take of the water of life freely. That was that. But that is the
background. Turn with me to Romans chapter four, verses 16 through
25. The title of my message this
morning is the God we trust. The God we trust. Here's another reason for you
to come to Christ. Another reason for you to believe
on the Son of God. The God we trust is God able
to perform what he has promised. And he has promised to save all
who trust his son. This is the God we trust. He's
able to perform what He's promised. And He has promised to save all
who trust His Son. Let's read it. Romans 4 16. Therefore
it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise,
the promise God gave Abraham, the promise of everlasting salvation,
might be sure to all the sea, and 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 100 years old,
neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb, he staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief. What a word. 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. And 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 was raised
again for our justification. Now let me give you four things
in these brief verses of Holy Scripture. Four things that ought
to persuade you to believe on Christ. Four things that stand
as hold fast for faith, a nail in a sure place. Four things
God shows us in this passage. They'll be easy to follow. First,
in verse 16, the Lord God promises salvation, the very same salvation
he gave to Abraham way back in the book of beginnings in the
book of Genesis. He promises this salvation to
everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus. Now, here's the promise.
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 now this is God's promise
this is God's promise the promise of righteousness salvation eternal
life God promises righteousness, salvation, eternal life to every
sinner who believes him, who believes the record God gave
concerning his son, the Lord Jesus. Listen to the scriptures,
if you will. Just listen to these scriptures.
You don't have to turn to them. Our Lord Jesus, God's son, says,
come unto me, come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. Now, I know folks, I don't know
what it is about us. It is our depraved, corrupt nature
always to find in the sweetest of words something gloomy and
dark. Isn't that amazing? You're hearing
the Savior say, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest. You'd think that, man, let's
go to him. I'm going to rest. Let's go. No. Our response is,
well, I don't know whether I labor enough. Maybe, maybe I'm not
heavy laden enough. Isn't that silly? Isn't that
absurd? Come unto me, all ye that labor. and they're heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest." Come to Christ and find rest. That's the promise. Our Lord
said to His disciples just before He left this world, He said,
you go to every nation and preach the gospel and tell them this,
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. Faith in Christ is salvation. Believe on the Son of God and
salvation is yours. Be it known unto you, men and
brethren, that through this man, Jesus Christ, who is God, the
God-man, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and
by him all that believe are justified from all things. All that believe
are justified from all things. Believe him, Don Renari, and
you're justified from everything. That's his promise. That's his
promise. It doesn't say believe him with a firm, strong faith. It doesn't say believe him like
you ought to believe him. Believe him, and you're justified
from all things. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. That centurion came in. And he's
trembling with fear. He heard Paul and Silas singing.
I don't know what else he heard them say, but he heard them say
a lot. He walked in there, trembling, fell down and said, Sirs, what
must I do to be saved? Well, that's the wrong question.
You ought not ask that. You ought not talk like that.
Let me give you some instruction. Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't
that be something? Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. What must I do to do the works
of God? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Salvation is promised to all
who believe. Believing doesn't save. Believing
is the proof of salvation. Believing Christ doesn't put
away your sins. Believing Christ is the evidence
your sins are put away. Believing Christ does not produce
righteousness. Believing Christ is God's evidence
in your soul that righteousness is yours in Christ. The faith
by which we believe is itself a part of that salvation that
God gives. It's called the gift of God.
By grace you're saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. So that you have no reason to
boast. Faith. Faith in Christ is the
gift of God. If you find yourself believing
on Christ. Oh, I pray you do. Oh, I pray
you do. I pray that before this hour
is over, you will find yourself believing on Christ. It's because
God's given you eternal life. You understand that? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. God, the
Holy Ghost, uses Abraham and his justification by faith without
works to teach us that God justifies sinners by the righteousness
and blood of Christ. By faith in Christ, sinners receive
and enjoy the blessedness of that righteousness and justification
accomplished by Christ at Calvary. It is the promise of God full
salvation to give unto him who on Jesus his son will believe. Hallelujah. Tis done. I believe on the Son. I'm saved by the blood of the
crucified one. How about you? I believe on the
Son of God. All right, that's the promise.
But a promise is only as good as the one who makes it. Sadly, we live in a day when
few people can be taken at their word. Often, however, men and women
who can be trusted as honest, dependable people, they say they'll
do something. They don't have to swear to it.
You know they're going to do it. They say, I'm going to be there a
certain time. They're going to be there. You can just bake on
it. But something happens beyond their control. Extremities come
up, emergencies come up, and they can't do what they said
they'd do. A promise is only as good as
the one who makes it. So second, look at verse 17.
We're encouraged to believe on the Lord Jesus for eternal salvation. By this blessed holdfast, it's
God who made the promise. Now here's the promiser. Verse
17. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed,
even God. What a word. Who is it Abraham
believed? Even God. God who quickeneth
the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. He who promises salvation is
God. He who promises to save all who
believe on his Son is God. God. Not the old man upstairs. Not God as you might think he
is. I'm talking about God. almighty,
all-sufficient, eternal, immutable, sovereign, everlasting God, the
Lord of hosts, God, the creator of all things, God who needs
nothing, God to whom you can give nothing, God beyond the
reach of man, God in control of every man, God in whose hands
is the heart of every king and the thoughts of his mind. so
that God turns the thoughts of a man's heart as rivers of water
wherever he will. I'm talking about God. He who
made this promise is God. God. The triune Jehovah, God. Now watch what else he is. He
is God who quickeneth the dead. God the Holy Ghost is here saying,
you come to Christ. You believe on the Son of God. And God promises that you have
eternal life. God promises eternal salvation
is yours. How can you be sure that he'll
do it? He's God who quickens the dead. He quickens the dead. Remember, we're talking about
Abraham. Abraham was mighty near 100 years old. He was mighty
near 100 years old. And God quickened his dead body
to give him a son. His wife wasn't far behind. His
wife wasn't far behind. You remember, Sarah finally,
she said, she said, now, all right, Abraham, God promised
he was going to give you a son. Obviously it ain't gonna be by me. Maybe
he intended for us to do our part. And so she gave him Hagar
and they got Ishmael. No, no, no, no. God quickened
Sarah's womb. God promised Abraham a son through
Sarah. And God quickens the dead. God
took the son Isaac whom Abraham offered as a sacrifice and raised
him from the dead on Mount Moriah. God who quickens the dead. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sins. Many, many years ago, a young
man had been converted. I asked him to preach for us.
He was just a young man. And he was preaching for the
first time. And he said, quicken is like you pinch somebody and
wake them up. I didn't correct him on his preaching
when he got done. I say quickening is not a pinch. Oh, no, no. Oh, no, no. You can pinch a dead
fellow all you want to. He's not going to wake up. Quickening
is the giving of life. You hath he given life who were
dead in trespasses and in sins. If salvation comes altogether
by the quickening of God, the Holy Spirit, giving life to the
dead, Then there's hope for me. And
there's hope for you. That means salvation doesn't
depend on you. That means salvation doesn't
wait for you to do something. That means God's not waiting
on you to do something. Salvation is by God who quickens
the dead. And soon He will quicken these
dead bodies in the resurrection. God quickens the dead. Some of you sitting here this
morning, young and old, if you were to hear someone deny that
there's going to be a resurrection of the body, a resurrection of
the dead, you'd fight over it. You'd send emails all day long
fussing about, oh, no, no, no, we believe in resurrection. Why
don't you come to God who quickens the dead? Why don't you believe
on Christ who quickens the dead? He quickens the dead. And there's a word here for you
and me who believe God. If the Lord quickens the dead, then nothing in my poor, lifeless,
dying frame is a barrier to His grace, not even now. Oh, how often, how often. We are like David, man after
God's own heart, and we cry, quicken thou me according to
thy word. Draw me, and we will run after
thee. Turn us, O God of our salvation,
and we shall be turned. Calper put it this way. I hear,
but seem to hear in vain, insensible as steel. If aught is felt is
only pain to find I cannot feel. I sometimes think myself inclined
to love thee if I could, but often feel another mind averse
to all that's good. My best desires are faint and
few. I fain would strive for more,
but when I cry, my strength renew. I'm weaker than I was before but God quickens the dead and
he comes to our cold icy hearts and quickens our souls causing
us to run after him look at verse 17 again now remember Paul is
giving us reasons to trust Christ. Reasons to believe God. God who
promises to save all who trust his son is God who quickeneth
the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Now I'm telling you, I've been
looking at that phrase for a long, long time. God, what are you
telling us? He calleth those things that
be not as though they were. Now remember, God never plays
pretend. God never plays pretend. Brother Mark Daniels here was
pastoring down in Albany, Georgia. I was down there just a few days
before it happened. And he preached a message on
2 Corinthians 5, 21 about Christ being made sin. And he declared,
as the book does, Christ was made sin. And they put him out
of the pulpit for it. That's exactly right, isn't it?
That's exactly right. And got a lot of yak. A lot of
yak. Because most people believe God
plays pretend. God just pretended that Christ
was made sin. He pretends to make you righteous. He treated
Christ as though he were sinful. He treats you as though you're
without sin. Oh, no. God doesn't play pretend. When God made his son sin, he
made him sin. And when God makes sinners righteous,
he makes them righteous. What's this mean then? God calleth
those things which be not as though they were. Now listen
carefully. I'm not playing with words. I wrote this down, looked
it over carefully. I'm saying exactly what I want
to. This is what this means. God declares things to be what
they are manifestly made to be before he makes them to be what
he makes them to be. God declares things to be what
he manifestly makes them to be before he makes them to be that
which he declares them to be. Let's see. God called Abraham
the father of many nations. Do you know when he did that?
Before he ever had a child. He hadn't even had Ishmael by
Hagar yet. He was completely without a child.
He said, Abraham, you are the father of many nations. He didn't
say you're going to be, he said you are. You are. And in time,
Abraham had a son. And that son had some sons, and
those sons had some sons, and those sons had some sons, and
those sons had some sons, and all the Jewish race sprang from
Abraham. But that's just one nation. That's
just one nation. What's he talking about? He's
talking about all who are born of God are the sons of Abraham,
children of faith. All of the same seed that Abraham
is, that seed that shall serve God in generation after generation
until time shall be no more and serve God to eternity. God's
seed in Christ Jesus the Lord. Abraham, back yonder in Genesis
chapter 12, when God spoke to him and called him out of Ur
of the Chaldees, And said, you're going to be the father. You are
the father of many nations. And he said, I'm going to call
you Abraham, not Abram, because you're the father of many nations.
He was the father of many nations. Even then, when God comes in
grace. He calls things into being which
were not before. It's what the book says. He calls
those things which are not. Those things which are not. Those
things which are not, what were you before God saved you? A knot.
Those things which are not, to bring to naught the things that
are. That's God's way. Paul is obviously referring to
God, the creator of all things, who called everything that is
into being out of nothing. He called everything into being
out of nothing. So when God saves sinners, He
calls into being that which was not. He called Christ the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Before the world began,
He called Christ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Now either He was pretending or He wasn't. Either he was just
pretending or he wasn't. Oh no, God doesn't lie. He's
not a man. He said Christ is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And he calls his people, his
people, long before we had any being in ourselves. And he called
his people, those people accepted and blessed and chosen and justified
and sanctified and glorified as one with him before the world
was. known unto God are all his works
from the foundation of the world. This great God, this great God,
he who is God, our Heavenly Father calls us perfect. Perfect. Perfect. One of the most confusing books
in the Bible to theological minds, to preachers and folks who write
commentaries is the book of Job. You know why? Because at the
beginning of the book, God makes a remarkable statement. He said,
Job's perfect. Is that what he said? Is that
what he said Jerry? Job's perfect. And then he spends
40 chapters showing us that he's not. He spends 40 chapters showing
us Job was anything but perfect. Oh, no. Job was anything but
perfect. Wait a minute. God said Job is
perfect. That means Job perfect. But Job
didn't experience the blessedness of absolute perfection. until
at last God took Job out of this world. And he calls you and I,
who trust his son, perfect. As he is, so are we in this world
right now. And Merle Hart, you've been now,
what is it, 70? Over 70 years, I won't try to
guess how many. He's been proven to you that you're anything but
perfect, isn't He? Because we need to be reminded
every day. But God says you're perfect.
That means you're perfect. Perfect in His Son. Perfect with
His Son. God calls those things which
are not as though they were because they really are. God says so. God says so. And soon we shall
be brought in the glorious blessedness of the reality in the experience
of that perfection, that complete, flawless, spotless, Unblameable
righteousness that is ours really and truly ours in and with Christ
Jesus the Lord All right. Here's the third thing the verses
18 through 21 Here's Abraham's persuasion in
verse 16 we had the promise Verse 17 the promiser now, here's the
persuasion the persuasion of faith Abraham against hope believed
in hope. What does that say? What's that
say? Here I am. I'm headed. I believe I've got
it right. I'm headed north. I'm going to
walk. I'm going to walk to Lexington,
y'all. I'm going this way. And I take one step, and I run
into a solid concrete wall, 10 feet thick, 100 yards, 100 feet,
100 miles wide, and 100 miles high. But I'm going to Lexington.
Here I stand. Well, you got no hope of doing
that. You got no hope of doing that. Yes, I am. Well, you're
a nut. You've lost your mind. You popped
a cork. We'll call the folks with a padded
wagon to come get you. And you'd be right. Abraham stood
face to face with a 10-foot thick concrete wall 100 miles long
and 100 miles high. He couldn't budge. He said, watch
me. Watch me. Abraham, 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 yet weak in faith, what a word, being not yet weak in faith.
You remember what James said? He said, if you ask anything
of God, ask with faith, unwavering, a double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways. Abraham, being not weak in faith, He considered not that concrete
wall. 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. He didn't hesitate to put his
foot down through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God. Now watch this. Watch this. being
fully persuaded, being fully persuaded that what he had promised,
he was able also to perform. Therefore, it was imputed to
him for righteousness. Abraham said to Sarah, honey, let's go to bed. God promised us a son, and he's
gonna do it. He's gonna do it. He's gonna
do it. He's gonna do it. And after she
managed to get Ishmael, finally she said, Abraham, I believe
he will too. I believe he will too. God's gonna give us a son.
God's gonna give us a son. He believed God, When everything
reasonable, everything carnal, everything worldly, everything
scientific, everything biological, everything men had ever seen
before, everything men had ever heard of before, nothing like
this had been done in history. But Abraham believed God. He said, God's going to give
me a great multitude through one son. Jesus Christ, the woman
seed who's coming through Sarah's womb. He said, I believe God. And God said, all right, Abraham,
you're a righteous man. You're a righteous man. Not because
you believe God. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. His faith
in God didn't make him righteous. God made him righteous. But God
imputed righteousness to him. God said to Abraham, you're righteous
because he believed He received testimony from God, like Enoch
before him, that he pleased God. He pleased God. Oh, what would
you give to go home today with a testimony from God in
your conscience, a testimony that no human being, no religion,
no religious order in the world can ever give you, a testimony
It's contrary to everything carnal, everything fleshly, everything
according to human wisdom. Totally contrary to it. That
God, without you doing a thing, has made you perfectly righteous
in His Son. How could I have that? God promised
He'd do it for everyone who believes His Son. Come to Christ, believe
on the Son of God, and go home with this testimony from God.
With this testimony from God, you're righteous. Faith in Christ is not a guess. It's not a supposition. It's not a leap in the dark.
It is the confident expectation. eternal life. The confident expectation
of eternal life with Christ Jesus the Lord. The last time I went
to visit my friend brother Charlie Payne, he was an elder at Ashland,
under Brother Mahan. Most of you don't know this,
Charlie is really the one God used to open the door for everything
that we've ever published as a congregation. He got hold of
the first bulletin I wrote. He was in our home, cranked it
out on an old spirit duplicator, and he was just being nice. He
said, Don, this is wonderful. Send me everything you write. And I did
send bulletins and started doing the radio broadcasting of those. One day, Brother Bill Park was
getting on a plane. Charlie said, you got anything
to read going back to England? He gave him a stack of 400 of those
radio messages, said, take these with you. And EP contacted me
and asked me to do the grace for today. Charlie was a good
friend. He sent stuff out, folks all
over the place. The last visit I had with him,
I didn't have any idea how sick he was. He was just about to
leave. His heart had given out on him.
And I said goodbye to him. He said, well, I'll tell you,
Brother Don, I'm coming out of here either better or well. either better or well. He had
confident anticipation of being well when all ill was ended. We have a good hope through grace,
a good hope. We have every reason to live
on the tiptoe of faith, looking for the mercy of God unto eternal
life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. All right. Here's one last
thing. One last thing. Here's the performance of the
promise. Verse 22. 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 If. How is this righteousness
imputed? If. Do you reckon that would help
to take the dryness out of my mouth? Do you reckon it would? My mouth's
so dry, I've been talking to you for nearly 45 minutes. It's
so dry. You reckon that would help take
dryness out? Well, I believe it will. Still dry. Well, dummy, you got
to drink the water. Oh, oh. It'll take the dryness out if
you take a drink. It'll take it out if you take
a drink. The son of God will take the
dryness out of your dead heart. and impute to you righteousness,
say to you in your soul, you please God, if you believe on
Him, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for
our justification. Amen.