Romans chapter 4, and let's begin
reading in verse 1. Romans 4 and verse 1. What shall
we say, then, that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the
flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he has whereof to glory, but not before God. For what
saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted
to him for righteousness. Now to him that works is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that
works not, but believes on him that justifieth the ungodly,
he has faith in Christ, he has faith in God, he has faith in
the gospel, is counted for righteousness. I have probably referred to this
text more in my preaching than any other text, I imagine, because
I love this particular passage. And I want us to look at it this
morning again. The Apostle Paul had proved in
the third chapter that justification before God and before man by
our own religious duties, by our own character, by our own
conduct, was impossible. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight." And he concludes that
for two reasons. There's two reasons that a man
cannot be justified before God in his own person, by his character
and his conduct. One is because of the very nature
of sin. All of us have sinned, he said,
and come short of the glory of God. What is sin? It's what God
forbids. It's that which is in opposition
of God. It's coming short of His glory. It's coming short of His standards.
Sin in its very nature isn't an offense unto God, and He cannot
justify sin. When God communes with devils,
and when God has fellowship with Satan, then, maybe then, He will
justify sin. But until then, it will never
happen. The nature of sin incurs God's wrath. The wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men. The wages of sin is death. It is what God owes us. We cannot
be justified by ourselves because we are sinners. And the very
nature of sin is it tempts God. It's a reproach to God. It's
offensive to God and incurs not his justification, not his favor,
but his wrath. Secondly, Paul proves that a
man cannot be justified by his own character and his own conduct
and by his own deeds because of the nature of the law. He says, we know that whatsoever
the law says, It says to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world becomes guilty before
God. What's the nature of the law?
It's holy. It's just. It's spiritual. It's light. It shines into the
soul. It examines the intents of a
man's heart. It shines light in the recesses
of the soul where nobody sees but God. And it exposes the sin
there. It exposes the guilt. It judges
and condemns and curses and pronounces our eternal ruin. By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. And it
is because of these two reasons, the nature of sin and the nature
of God's law. And in chapter 3 also, the Apostle
Paul has taught us the way that God can justify us and the way
that God does justify us. Listen to what he says in Romans
chapter 3 and verse 24, being justified freely by His grace. What a man cannot work to obtain,
what a man cannot merit, God can do freely by His grace. We can't earn justification. There's nothing we can do to
get God to reward us with it, but He can do it freely because
He can do it graciously. And He finished this verse like
this, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. He not only can do it graciously,
but He can do it in a way in which it is consistent with His
justice. It magnifies the law and honors
the law because He can do it through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. He can do it for the sake of
Him who kept the law and who honored the law. He can do it
for His blood's sake and His death's sake. And the law is
well pleased with Jesus Christ. And when God says, I'll justify
you freely for my son's sake, then the law says, I've got no
problem with that because he honored me. He glorified me. He exalted me. So there's the
way the Apostle Paul said that God could justify us freely by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And
then he tells us how this comes to us in chapter 3, verse 26,
that God might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. We don't work to get it. How
does this justification become ours? By believing with a heart. Men believe unto righteousness. You don't move a muscle. Right
where you're sitting, the instant you believe God's testimony concerning
His Son, it becomes ours. It's not through a channel of
doing. It's through the channel of believing. He's the justifier
of those who believe in Jesus, the great Redeemer, the Savior.
What must I do to be saved? Boy, that's the question, ain't
it? What must I do to be accepted of God? What must I do that the
marriage of Jesus Christ may be mine? Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. And then in verse 27 of
chapter 3, the Apostle Paul asks this question. In the light of
all of this, he asks this question. Where is boasting then? He says
it's excluded. A man can't boast being justified
like this, can he? By what law is boasting excluded? By the law of words? No, if it
was by words, we wouldn't brag. But by the law of faith. When
we can't do it, but we have to receive it, that excludes boasting,
doesn't it? Everything we have, we've received. What have you but what you have
received? Now, if you have received it,
why are you gloring as though you have not received it? Everything
we have, we have received at the hands of a gracious God for
the sake of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
he said in verse 28 of chapter 3, we conclude that a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Now, that brings me to my text.
That brings me to my text. Here in chapter four, God saves
us, and He saves us and justifies us in such a way that we can't
boast. We just absolutely can't brag
that we've done anything to accomplish or to merit our salvation. Boasting
is excluded. And he's going to give us one
of the best examples here in verse 2 of chapter 4 that I think
probably there is in all the Bible. Paul has just been talking
about you can't boast, and then he's going to give us an example
of this man that was probably the greatest man in the old Testament,
or maybe the Old and the New Testament, in Paul's eyes. And that was Abraham. I want
you to consider with me just for a few minutes about this
man, Abraham. And I want you to dwell here
in verse 2. If Abraham were justified by
works, if he were, he wasn't, but if he were, he hath whereof
to glory. He could brag. But not before
God. And I want you to consider with
me this morning some things about this man. And first of all, I
want you to consider what a great character this man was. In the
sense that he was a man of great respect. He's a man of great
dignity. He's a man of great character
and worth. I think sometimes as I study
about this man, I don't know of another man in the Scriptures
that has any better character than this man has. When you consider
him in his home, when you consider him in his community, this man
was of great character. And let me give you three quick
examples. The Lord said about this man one day, He said, I
know this man. I know Abraham. And I know that
he will command his children and his household, and they shall
keep the way of the Lord, and do justice and righteousness."
I know him. Abraham had a huge family. And
I tell you, you never see anything in that man's family that was
uncommonly or out of the way. You study that man's family,
and he had rule in his family, and it was a gracious rule. He
taught his family and his servants the ways of the Lord. You remember when he took his
young son Isaac up on Mount Moriah to offer him there as a sacrifice? Can you imagine this? Can you
imagine taking a young teenager up on a mountain And you stack
the wood on the altar and say, son, I'm going to put you up
there and offer you. What would a young teenager do
to a 120-year-old man? Well, he'd at least run off,
wouldn't he? You know what this young man
did. He laid down on the ground and let his dad wrap him up in
ropes and bind him and lay him up on that altar. Why would such
a young man have such respect for his old father? I tell you,
his father was a man of character. And he knew it. He knew it. And
if that was the will of his father, my father's will be done. That's
the respect that he had for his dad. I tell you, I'll be honest, I
don't have that respect to my children. And maybe some of you don't either.
Let me give you another example of the character of this man.
You remember when he first came out of the land of Er of the
Chaldees into the land of Canaan? And his nephew Lot was with him
and they had great herds and flocks of cows and sheep and
goats and they had so many, the land couldn't bear them. And
there became a strife between the herdsmen of Lot and the herdsmen
of Abraham. They were fighting. And Abraham
stepped in. And he said, Lot, listen. I want
you to choose which way you want to go. I'm going to give you
a choice. I'm the oldest. I know that.
It shouldn't be my prerogative. But you choose which way you
want to go with your herd. If you choose the left, then
I'll go right. If you choose the plains where
there's plenty of grass for your cattle, then I'll go to the mountains.
If you choose the waters and I'll choose the dry lands, I'll
go to the desert. I tell you, Lot was a just man,
but he didn't have the character that Abraham had. And Lot chose
those well-watered plains next to Sodom and Gomorrah. And Abraham
took his cattle and his family off into the dry country. I wonder
what that cost him. Pushing his herds from place
to place just to find the grass to feed them. Why would he do
that? He was a man of character, brothers and sisters. He was
a man of great character. Let me give you another example.
You remember when Abraham had defeated those four kings and
he was bringing back the people and all of the bounty, all of
the spoil that he had taken? And he came back down to bring
them back home down to Sodom and Gomorrah. And the king of
Gomorrah came out to meet him. And he says, you give me the
citizens back. You give me the people that they've
taken and kidnapped. And you keep all the spoils for
yourself. There'd be nothing wrong with
that. That's what the kings always did. If you went out to battle,
you kept the spoils. You gave it to your men or whatever.
It helped you defray the cost of the war. But you know what
Abraham said? Abraham looked that king right
in the eyes, and he said, I've left my hand to God of heaven,
the Lord of heaven and earth. I won't receive so much as a
shoelatch from you, and I won't even get a thread out of one
of your coats, lest you should say, I have made Abraham rich. But that's character, isn't it?
How many men do you know that would have said that? How many
men do you know that would have said, well, I appreciate that.
You can have the citizen, and I'm going to take all this full
to myself. It was mine anyway. But not this
man. He was a man of great principle.
He was a man of great character. And what does Paul tell us about
this man? If Abraham was justified by works,
he hath were of the glory. but not before God. As good as
character as this man was, and the conduct that he demonstrated,
he yet could not glory before God. Let me tell you something
else about this man, Abraham. He was a mighty man. He was a
mighty man. When these kings, these four
kings, came down and made war against Sodom and Gomorrah and
the cities of the plain. Four mighty kings. They were
whipping everybody. They were defeating everybody. Kidnapping people, taking them
captive. Four mighty kings. And they came down and whipped
the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. And they took Lot and all his
family and the citizens of Sodom, they took them captive and went
north with them. And they came and told Abraham
what had happened. And you know what this man did.
He armed 318 men that were barned in his house. And he pursued after those four
kings, those four armies. all the way into the north of
Israel and caught up with them that night and surrounded them
and made war against them. And the Hebrew writer tells us
that he slaughtered them. I tell you, this was a mighty
man. He had a huge household and men that were in his house
knew how to fight. He was the great general of his
day. There is not a country, there
is not a standing army that would have not coveted to have this
man as their general, and I bet you this, he would have never
lost a battle. This was a mighty, mighty man. And yet, what does the Apostle
Paul tell us about him? If Abraham was justified by works,
he could glory, but not before God. He's not going to bring
his character before God and brag about it. He's not going
to bring his might before God and trust in it. When he appeared
before God, it was on altogether different grounds. Oh my God,
I believe you concerning your son. I believe you concerning
your gospel. And that's the way he was justified
before God. Let me tell you something else
about this man. And you find something in this
man that just appeals to every class of men in this world. We've got some mighty men, haven't
we? I tell you what, you won't brag when you stand before Abraham.
And he didn't brag when he stood before God. Consider this in
this man. This man was a rich man. In Genesis
chapter 13 verse 2, Abram, the Scripture says, was very rich
in cattle and silver and gold. You don't rub shoulders with
men that he rubbed shoulders with without being a man of means. He kept company with kings sometimes. He went down into Egypt and he
got the attention of Pharaoh. Pharaoh said, this must be somebody.
You don't have this kind of cattle. You don't have a household like
this without being a man of means. He was a friend of Abimelech,
king of Gerah. This was a rich man. You remember
when Abraham sent his servant to get a bride for Isaac? Remember
how many camels he loaded down with precious jewels and clothing? Ten camels. Ten camels. When Abraham's servant found
Rebekah and he put that golden earring in her nose and those
golden bracelets on her hand, I just wonder what those things
were worth. And Abraham's servant went over
there and introduced himself to Laban and he said, God has
made my master very rich. He's got cattle. He's got herds. He's got silver. He's got gold. He's got men's service. He's
got maid service. He's got camels. He's got donkeys. He's an exceeding rich man. I bet you today's standard, if
Abraham could come here and bring all the things and the stuff
that God had given him, even in today's standard, he would
be one of the richest men in this world. But what did Paul
say about him? If he were justified by works,
he hath world to glory, but not before God. He never brought
his riches. He said, I'm not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold. He counted it dumb,
but he said, I'm redeemed with the precious blood of the Son
of God. He believed in the Lord, and
he counted it to him for righteousness. The fourth thing about this man,
and it's an unusual characteristic, is humility. I say it's an unusual
characteristic because how many humble, rich men do you see?
How many humble, mighty men do you see? Usually a rich man,
they oppress people, don't they? Usually a mighty man, he trusts
in his mind. He's high-minded. But boy, knock
this rich man. Not this mighty man. I tell you,
he was a humble man. The Bible says about Moses that
he was an exceedingly meek man, but I just wonder if he had anything
on Abraham. You remember when the Lord and
the two angels came to Abraham, and they sat down and ate with
him there. They had taken on themselves
these human bodies. And the Lord sent two of the
angels down into Sodom and Gomorrah to see if it was as bad as He
had been told. And He stood there with Abraham
on that hillside overlooking Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities
of the plain. And the Lord said, I'm not going to hide from Abraham
what I'm going to do to these cities. He said, Abraham, I'm
going to destroy them. I'm going to send fire out of
heaven and destroy them. And I tell you, you talk about a
humble man. You see humility when Abraham begins to approach
him to the Lord. First thing he says is, Lord,
are you going to destroy the righteous with the wicked? Lord,
that ain't right. You know that ain't right. And
you're the judge of all the earth. And the judge of all the earth
must do right. And I can almost see Abraham's
conscience checking itself when he makes that statement. What
have I said, he thought? What have I said to the Lord?
You've got to do right. Of course He's going to do right.
And you know what He said then? He said, Oh, Lord, here I am
taking upon Myself to speak to you, and all I am is dust and
ashes. And He said, Lord, be not angry,
and let Me talk to you. If there's fifty righteous people
there, will you save it? The Lord said, I'll do it for
50. Oh, Lord, be not angry. And let me make another request.
He just keeps going down and down and down. And he said, I'll
do it for 45. I'll do it for 30. I'll do it
for 15. And he gets him down to 10 people. And Abraham said, Lord, be not
angry. And I'll ask you one more time.
Would you do it for 10? He said, I'll do it for 10. And
the Lord left, and I doubt if that old man slept much that
night, because the Scripture says the next morning, early,
he was right back there at that location where he stood with
the Lord. And he saw the smoke like a great
furnace ascending from all the valley. And I just wonder if
that old man didn't stand there and weep when he saw that. You think he did? I bet he did. I often think of the Lord standing
up on the mountain and overlooking Jerusalem and weeping over their
destitution. Oh, he was a meek man. He was
a humble man. A man of great character. But
what did Paul say about him? If he was justified by works,
he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. Not before God. And you know
I've just got a feeling this morning, brothers and sisters,
if this great man of character and humility couldn't do it,
I bet I can't do it either. And if I can't do it, I bet you
can't do it. We may have some characteristics about us. We
may have some character that would enable us to boast before
one another. But I tell you, it's different,
isn't it, when we come before the Lord. Let me give you one
more, one more right quickly. I want you to know this one.
This is something else that concerns especially our generation. Abraham
was a famous man. He was a famous man. You know,
I wouldn't doubt if this ain't the most famous man in the Bible,
next to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's probably the most famous
man in all the Bible. Paul said there in verse 1 of
chapter 4, What shall we say that Abraham, our father, as
pertaining to the flesh, is found? You know when he makes this statement,
our father, do you realize how many people could be included
in that? Do you realize how many people
profess Abraham and own Abraham to be their father? You go to
the Jewish nation over there right now and ask them who their
father is, and they say, Our father is Abraham. And rightfully
so, because they're the natural seed of Abraham through Isaac. You go to the Arab countries,
every one of them, they still profess Abraham to be their father. And rightfully so, through Ishmael. And you ask the believers, I
asked you this morning, who is your father? And you know who
you'll say? I'm the child of Abraham. Know
ye this, that they which be of faith, the same are the children
of Abraham. God hath made him a father of
the nations. I tell you, he's a famous man.
He's a very famous man. But when this man comes to be
justified before God. He does it glory in His fame.
He says, I believe God. I believe God. And God counts
it to me for righteousness. Look here in verse 4. Look at
Romans chapter 4 and verse 4. What if Abraham had sought to
be justified? by his character and his conduct?
What if he'd have brought his might to God and said, look at
me, look what I've done, look what kind of man I am, look at
the army I can muster in my own house. Look at my riches. What
if he'd have brought that to be justified before God? Look
what Paul says in verse 4. Now to him that worketh, to him
that works, to him that brings his character and his conduct
and his riches and his fame, is the reward not reckoned of
grace, but of debt." Bring anything to God that you have of yourself,
and you know what you do by it? Incur more debt. You know this is the saddest
thing in the world. You can take people who are ungodly, they're
drunks, they're fornicators, they live in open sin against
God, And then they get religion. And they start trying to pay
their debt by religious works that they do. I ain't what I
used to be. I reformed my life. I'm not that
way anymore. How many men and women do we
know done that? And yet, by the religious works
that they do, they just add home to their debt. of openness and
profanity. And while they're doing the religious
works, they're sinning more and more. I tell you, if anybody could
have brought anything, it would have been this man. And he didn't
dare do it. He didn't dare do it. And look
in verse 5. Look in verse 5. This tells us
several things. Look at this. But to him that
works not, but to him that worketh not." Boy, this is amazing. What's the first thing you and
I should learn about how God justifies a sinner? Who does
God justify? Who does He clear of all their
charges? The man that don't lift a finger. The man that don't
move a muscle of his heart. Don't you often think of that
man on the cross, that thief on the cross? Isn't that a prime
example? Here was a man that couldn't
make restitution. Here was a man that couldn't
be baptized. Here was a man that couldn't
join the church. Here was a man that couldn't do one single thing
that was good in the religious way. And the Lord justified that
man as a prime example. And one of the most difficult
things it is for a man to do is to do nothing. It's to do
nothing. But look at this. Boy, this is
something. "...to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly." Who does God justify? The ungodly. And let me tell you something.
He don't justify an ungodly man after he has got his act together,
after he has straightened up, after he has mended his ways. God comes to a man, and He comes
to a woman, and He justifies that person. He clears them of
all their charges right where He finds them. Ungodly. Now, remember the context. Who
are we talking about? We're still talking about Abraham,
aren't we? What kind of man was Abraham when God justified him?
He was an ungodly man. And I think I could prove to
you if we had time this morning that his character and everything
that he had was given to him by the grace of God. He wasn't
a man of a good character before the Lord saved him. He was an
ungodly man. He was an idolater. He was an ungodly man. God doesn't justify anybody. but the ungodly. That's the gospel. That's the gospel the Pharisees
had to hate. It was contrary to their nature.
You mean God justifies the ungodly? Why am I working? Why am I fasting?
Why am I paying tithes of all that I possess? Why am I separating
myself like I am? If that doesn't count for anything,
it doesn't. That's just another road to hell.
God justifies the ungodly. And when he justifies the ungodly
and makes a believer of him, that Christian will never reach
the point. Listen to me very closely when
I tell you this. Has God justified you? Has He
done it? Has He done it for the sake of
His dear Son, Jesus Christ? Then you'll never reach a point
in your lifetime. No matter how the Spirit works
in you by His graces, no matter how strong and devoted a Christian
you become, you'll never reach the point in your lifetime where
you can ever justify yourself. The very grounds that God justified
you on in the beginning is the very grounds upon which He keeps
you justified. Well, if we can get this sanctification,
if we can just perfect sanctification, maybe if we can get two works
of grace and we can get this old root blown out of us. I'll tell you one thing. You'll
never stand before God and be justified but by through the
blood and the merits and the death of another. Jesus Christ
the Lord. And how is that? Well, he goes
on to tell us, doesn't he? And we'll stop with this. In verse 5, "...to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith."
His faith. His faith in God. Study the context. Abraham believed God. His faith
in Jesus Christ. Lord, I believe. that you are
the Son of God. His faith in the gospel. What
did Abraham believe? The same thing you and I believe,
brothers and sisters. Look at it in verse 24. Look at it in
verse 23 of this chapter. Now it is not written for Abraham's
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed. Somebody tell me what's imputed.
What? Righteousness. You know what
this word impurity means? Counted. Given. Righteousness shall be given.
Somebody tell me whose righteousness this is. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. He brought it in. He worked it out. He perfected
it by his own obedience. You mean there's a man in heaven
who has a perfect righteousness and it's given to sinners upon
this earth? And when that's given, what does
that do for them? It justifies them. Justified
by the imputed righteousness. Abraham had that. And Paul said
here, it wasn't 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. Are you an ungodly person? Can
you say this morning, if God forsakes me, if God marks one
sin against me, He'll destroy me? You know, considered in and of
ourselves, aren't we still unworthy? Aren't we still undeserving?
And if God looked through the righteousness of His Son and
saw the shame behind it, saw our conduct, our motives, He
saw this flesh, you know what He'd say to us? You're the most
ungodly person in the world. But you know something? You're
justified. You're justified. You're justified
by a way that God glories in. You're justified by a way the
law can find no problem with. You're justified in a way that's
consistent with law and justice. You're justified in such a way
that no charges can ever be brought against you. If there's any charges
brought against you, you know who they're referred to? Him
that's sitting on the throne. Jesus Christ. Satan, you tell
me what an ungodly man I am? Yes, I am. You tell me what an
awful sinner, you tell me what I deserve, you're right. But
your dealings is not with me, but my representative who is
seated at the right hand of God. You go find fault with him, and
then when you find fault with him, you take it up with him.
And you know something? He's not going up there. He's
not going up there and starting arguments with the Son of God. He did that down here. And the
Son of God could point right in His eye and say, Do you convince
me of sin? Do you find any sin in me? No,
He didn't. The only time He ever had any
sin is when He had yours in His body and sold it on Calvary Street. And now that's gone. And He has
no sin. And you're justified for His
sake. Do you believe that? Do you believe that in spite
of what you still see in yourself? That's good. That's a gospel.
That's a gospel. There's some good people here
this morning. Bless your hearts, I know you're good. You're not
trusting your goodness, are you? Ain't many rich people than I
know of. Ain't many mighty here, are there? We believe God. We believe God. Our Father, Oh, our Father, what
a gospel. What a gospel that we can live
by and what a gospel we can die by. We bless Your holy name. We give
thanks unto You. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto Your name be glory and honor and praise for such
a gospel. Thank you for the example that
you set before us this morning in Abraham and how you justified
this man. And Lord, we seek no other way
to be accepted with you. We believe you. We simply believe
you. And we rejoice that you have
provided for us a robe, clothing, for us to stand in. and be clean
and pure and white. And when you see us, you see
the blood, you see the marriage, you see the cleanliness and the
beauty of your Son. And you accept us in Him. Oh,
Father, what a gospel. We bless you for it. Thank you
for this church. Thank you for this dear people.
Keep each one. Don't let any fall and bring
shame. on your name. Bring shame on themselves, their
family. Awaken us. Visit us with your
mercies. Visit our young people when they
go back home and lay upon their beds, when they go out to play
and they go to school. Oh, Lord, break in upon them.
Remind them. Teach them. Give them a new heart
and a new spirit. Bring us to heaven. Bring us
to heaven at last. Bring us there as a congregation
and let us worship you with undimmed eyes and an unseeming heart.
Let us know you. Let us love you as we desire
to here. Let us see you as we've never
been able to see you without having to peep through these
glasses and find you in a portion of scripture. with all the Lord
in heaven, the Lord of glory, the possessor of heaven and earth,
bring us all there to see you with open face, to see you as
you are, to know you as you are, never to misjudge you again,
never to falsely accuse you again, never to misunderstand you again.
Oh, bring us to heaven, our Lord. We trust you to do it. And we
know that you'll never disappoint those who trust in you. We ask
these things in the glory of our dear Savior. Amen.