Now we come back again to Roman
chapter 4 and it's my intention to try to get through this chapter
today, but we'll see where we end up. Just by way of talking
about Abraham and what God, the special blessings that God gave
to Abraham, remember where God found him. He found him dead
in sin. He found him in idolatry. He
was raised in idolatry. Abraham was a frail, sinful man
just like you, just like me. God made the difference. Don't
ever forget that. The difference wasn't in Abraham.
The difference was God made him to differ. Abraham was a sinful
Man, an unbeliever by nature just like us. But the all-knowing,
almighty God declares that Abraham believed God. It says that many
times in Scripture. The Lord had given to him that
precious gift of faith. That's the only way any sinner
ever believes God. Now the God of the Scripture,
God of the Bible, that's the only way that any sinner will
ever believe God is that God grants that precious gift of
faith. Abraham's hope of salvation was
not in Abraham. It was not in circumcision. God said he was justified before
he was circumcised. So Abraham's hope was not in
circumcision. It was not in the law. Abraham
was justified 430 years before the law was given. The law had
nothing to do with his salvation. The Lord said that Abraham, your
father Abraham, he said to the Jews, rejoice to see my day,
and he saw it. Now how did he see the day of
the Lord Jesus Christ? He saw it by faith. Where did
he get that faith? Well, he just mustered up some
faith one day. Oh no, it's the gift of God. Faith is a gift of God and faith
is a gift of God always looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. He saw it and was glad. Abraham's hope was Christ. That was John 8, 56, the Lord
where the Lord declares that. Abraham's faith was not in Abraham. His hope was not in Abraham.
His faith was not in Abraham, nor was his faith in his faith.
Now make sure you understand that. His faith was not in his
faith. A lot of people, you hear a lot
of people give a testimony when they go through some kind of
personal heartache or personal trial, and they say, well, my
faith pulled me through. Really, that's not a good statement.
Because that's having faith in your faith. You see, saving faith
is the gift of God always looks to the one who gave it. Looking
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. So, having said that, Abraham's
faith was not in his faith. It says that Abraham believed
God. Now, that being so, look at verse
20. He staggered not. He staggered
not at the promise of God. The promise of God is his unchanging
purpose, his unchanging decree, his unchanging word. He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief. Now, that's not to
say that Abraham didn't have times of unbelief. We looked
at that last week. But was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. That being so, it says, Abraham
did not stagger at the unchanging purpose and promise and power
of God, because it is impossible for God to lie. Now that word
staggered means this, Abraham departed not from the promise
of God, he did not separate himself from the word of God, And he
did not doubt the word of God. He did not have doubts toward
God. Now, he did not doubt the promise
of God. Where he doubted was in himself.
Lord, I'm 100 years old. My wife, she's 90 years old.
It says here he was strong in faith. True saving faith does
not waver or stagger or doubt the promise, purpose, and power
of God to save sinners in Christ. Now, having said that, does that
mean that we never have doubts? I have doubts all the time. Not
about him, but about me. That's the problem right here.
Right here is the problem. We have doubt and discouragement
about us just like Abraham had. Because why do we have doubts
about our sinful flesh? Why do we have doubts about the
absolute holiness and sovereignty of God? We have doubts about
ourselves because we have that frail and sinful nature just
like Abraham. just like Abraham. You remember
the old songwriter John Newton, amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me. but he also wrote this song,
"'Cause at point I long to know, do I love the Lord or not? Am
I his or am I not?" You see, he didn't doubt the promise and
purpose and power of God, but his doubt and unbelief was with
John Newton. And we have the same problem.
We have the same problem. All the promises of God in Christ
are yes, and in him, amen, and to the glory of God through Christ. But now saving faith, which is
true faith, Therefore, it gives all the glory to God alone. Saving true faith never says,
well, you know, I'm pretty smart. You know, I've attended church
all my life. You know, I've never beaten my
wife. I've never been in jail. I've given to the poor. I've
helped my neighbor. You see, saving faith doesn't
glory in the flesh. Saving faith glories in Christ,
Christ alone. But of Him are you in Christ,
who God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, He that would
glory, let him glory, where? In the Lord. Paul said, God forbid
I should glory in any but the Lord alone. The sinner who is
trusting Christ alone for all salvation knows that his salvation
and the justifying righteousness that's been imputed to him is
of the Lord. It's all of the Lord. All of it, all of it, my faith,
The mercy we have, the grace we have, the love we have is
all of the Lord. Now, having said that, look at
verse 21. And being fully persuaded that
what God had promised. Now, it wasn't Abraham said,
well, I've made a promise. I've made a promise. No. And being fully persuaded that
what God had promised, God was able to perform. True faith not only glories in
Christ alone, but true faith is also fully persuaded that
He is able. I love that statement, that He
is able. What persuasion are you? Well,
I'm persuaded that He is able. I'm persuaded that nothing can
separate us from the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. True faith is totally confident
that I am able. No, sir. True faith is totally
confident that He is able. You remember, we are the true
Israel which worship God in the Spirit. that rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and we have no confidence in the flesh, none whatsoever. True faith is totally confident
that God is able to perform all that He had promised, all that
He had purposed. And we know that he worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will and purpose. Now, two
scriptures, if you want to take note of this, about the Lord
performing what he promised. Psalm 57-2 says, I will cry unto
God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me. Boy, I like that. I like that. Psalm 57-2. And then another
scripture, I remember, this is one of the first messages that
I brought here 23 years ago or so, and I remember the message
well. Job 23, 14 says, But he is of
one mind who can turn him, and what his soul desireth, even
that he doeth, he performeth the thing that is appointed for
me, and many such things are with him. He performeth the things
that are appointed for me." He has not appointed us unto wrath
but He has appointed us unto salvation. Now who performs salvation? It is out of my hands. Thank
God it is because I would mess it up. You would too. Salvation
is totally of the Lord and we being fully persuaded that what
He had promised and all that He had promised He's able to
perform. Now, hold your place here. I
want you to look at this scripture. I know we've considered it before.
We'll find 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 1.9. 2 Timothy 1.9. Excuse me, 2 Timothy
1.12. I love 1.9 too. God who saved
us and called us with a holy calling. I quote that all the
time, don't I? Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace. was given us in Christ
before the world began." Now look down at verse 12 now, this
is 2nd Timothy 1.12, "...for the witch cause I suffered these
things, nevertheless I am not ashamed." Now an old preacher
of the past, Charles Spurgeon, said this is the best definition
of faith that's found in the Word of God. And Pastor Mahan
also used this definition many times and but Spurgeon said this
is the best Bible definition for what faith really is. I know
whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day." Now, three
things are involved there in saving faith. First of all, I
know whom I have believed. Knowledge. True faith, right
faith is born of the truth. True faith is not born of lies.
The Lord said, you shall know the truth and the truth will
set you free. The Lord doesn't use the lives
of men and Satan to teach men the truth, does He? No, He uses
the truth to set us free. So there's knowledge, I know
whom I have believed. Everything this book says about
God, holy, sovereign, eternal, everything that's revealed in
this book, we believe all things that are written of God. I know
whom I have believed. We trust Him who is Almighty
God. And the second thing is found
in verse 12, not only knowledge but confidence. Saving faith
is confident, not confident that I'm able to get things done.
No, I'm confident that He's able to perform all things for me.
See what it says there? I know whom I have believed and
I am persuaded that He is able. He is able. This idea that God
has done all He can do and the rest is up to you is a lie. And if you think that
you can add enough to make up for his deficiency, you don't
know God. You don't know. You trust in
yourself for salvation. I know whom I have believed.
I am persuaded that he is able, nothing too hard for God, with
God all things are possible. And then the third thing is this.
The third thing, this is the definition of faith, that he's
able to keep that which I've committed unto him, that I'm
persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him.
Now, when we talk about commitment, what are we talking about here?
It's not specifically talking about our commitment. Now listen
carefully. It's talking about the believer
by faith has committed all the doing of salvation to the hands
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've committed everything to
him. Lord, I'm in your hands. Save me, I'll perish. We've committed. That's what saving faith does.
It commits everything to Christ. Now, believers are totally sold
out and surrendered to the Lordship of Christ, but that is only by
His grace. I'm totally committed that He
is able. I want to give you, found in
the Word of God, and we're not going to have time to read all
these, but I want to mention all of them, seven things that
we read in the Word of God where we find this phrase that God
is able. God is able. In Hebrews 2, 17,
it says that God is able to succor them that are tempted. Hebrews
2, 17 and 18. He's able to succor them. Now
that word succor is not a word S-U-C-C-O-U-R. It's not a word that we use.
I mean, I don't use a word like that. But what it means, we use
the meaning of that word all the time. He's able to aid, assist,
sustain, deliver us. He's able to deliver us. So,
and the second one we find also in the book of Hebrews, and these
are not in any particular order, but Hebrews 7.25, and we quote
this all the time, "...wherefore He is able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to
make intercession for us." He is able to do what? Well, He
is able to save. He is able to save anyone. that
He desires to save. And then the third one is found
in Jude 1, 24. And these are all familiar to you. God is able
to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the
presence of His glory with exceeding joy. And then in Philippians
3, verse 20. Philippians 3, 20. He's able
to raise up our vile bodies. Now very soon, I'm either going
to take your body to the cemetery or you're going to take my body.
And we're going to put the remains of your body in the ground and
it's going back to the dust. But now wait a minute, God said
there's going to be a resurrection day. Now who's going to get us
out of that grave? Who's going to change our vile
body and fashion it like unto His glorious body? The preacher
going to do that? The church going to do that?
I mean how much power does it take? to raise a dead body out
of the grave and make it just like Christ. What? Well, that's
power, isn't it? Who's able to do that? You know
the answer to that, don't you? He is able. I'm persuaded He
is able. He is able. You see, this is
what saving faith is persuaded of. He's able to raise up our
vile body and fashion it like unto His glorious body. Wow! You know that's what predestination
is all about. Anybody who says, well I don't
believe in predestination, well that just simply, you're just
simply saying you don't believe God. You don't believe His Word.
Because we are predestinated to be conformed to the image
of Christ. That's what the Word says four
times. And then that's Philippians 3,
20 and 21. And then Ephesians Chapter 3,
verse 19 through 21, it says that God is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think according to His
power that works in us. Now that's good news, isn't it?
That's good news, isn't it? He is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think. And then in James 1, 21, We are
told to receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able
to save your soul." The word, the word is quick and powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword. able to save your soul. The last one is found in Acts
20, 32. And now brethren, I commend you
to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up. Now, not pop you up, not pop
you up, able to build you up. Now, what do we build upon? Well,
when you build a house, you have a foundation. You don't dare
build a house on the sand, do you? Only a fool would do that.
When you build a house, you lay a foundation. He's able to build
us up on the foundation that He has laid, and that foundation
is Christ. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God and the Word of His grace, which is able to build
you up and to give you inheritance among all them that are sanctified. Saving faith is persuaded that
he is able. You see what he's saying there?
Now, you can look all those words up in your concordance, all those
different, and eight, there's eight of them all together counting
2 Timothy, 2 Timothy, no, 2 Timothy 1.12, yeah. Now,
look at verse 22 now, Romans 4.22, and therefore, and therefore, It was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, when we say righteousness,
we're saying the same thing that Abraham had a justifying righteousness
given to him. It's the same thing as saying
that salvation is of the Lord. We need, as I said, those two
things. We need not only sin removed,
right? But I need righteousness given.
So I need something taken away, and I need something given. Christ
put away our sin, and then He gives us His righteousness. Now,
the righteousness that we enjoy as a believer before God is Christ. He's the Lord, our righteousness. Now that's the good news of the
Gospel. We are no longer, we're going to see in Romans 10, we're
no longer going about to establish a righteousness of our own. But
we have submitted ourselves unto the righteousness which is of
God. That's where it comes from. It's
of God. And He is the Lord Jesus Christ
is made to us righteousness. He's the Lord our righteousness. Now, therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Let me read what I've got written
down here. Imputed is the same word as reckoned and counted
to Abraham for salvation. Weak faith or strong faith, if
it's true faith, is saving faith. Weak faith or strong faith is
saving faith as long as it is right faith and true faith in
Christ. Now, faith is not rested upon
feelings, ceremony, tradition, or experience. Well, I had an
experience. Well, I've had a lot of them.
Well, I'm trusting the dreams. Well, I'd be ashamed to tell
you the dreams I have. We don't trust dreams. We don't trust
an experience. Saving faith looks exclusively
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, without faith it is
impossible to please God. Now, having said that, verse
24 and 25, Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was
imputed, verse 23, but for us also. For us also, now exactly
the same way that God saved Abraham is exactly the same way that
he saved sinners right now. It's exactly the same way that
he saved me. Exactly the same way that he
saved you. But for us also to whom it shall
be imputed if, oh there's that big word, if We believe on Him
that raised up our Lord from the dead. Now, we can read this,
since we believe on Him. Because really, when we get down
right to it, no sinner has the ability to believe the gospel
apart from the power of God that works salvation in us. Now, I told you a while ago about
this resurrection power, right? How do we believe the Gospel?
Let me show you this Scripture. Find Ephesians chapter 1. So,
it takes power to raise up a dead body, is that right? Who's going
to get you out of the grave? Well, who got Lazarus out of
the grave? Lazarus come forth. I mean, it's going to take power
to raise your dead body. It's going to take resurrection
power, right? Ephesians chapter 1, look at
verse 19. What is exceeding greatness of
His power to usward who believe... I love this word, according.
I'm going to preach a sermon Someday, I'm going to entitle
it, According. According to. According to the
working of His mighty power. Now, what kind of power we're
talking about? Look at the next verse. Which
He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and
set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places. You see what
He's saying there? You see, faith is not something
that's native to this dead heart. The only thing that's native
to this sinful heart is unbelief and religious pride and rebellion
against God. If you believe the gospel, it's
only according to the working of His mighty resurrection power. Do you see that? True faith has but one foundation,
has but one object, Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. And salvation
is received by this gift of God, this faith that's the gift of
God, the faith of God's elect that believes God, believes His
Word, trusts His promises. Since we believe on Him, how?
According to the working of His mighty power. Now two scriptures,
John 5, 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my
word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath H-A-T-H, everlasting
life. Now what's that teaching us? One does not believe to be born
of God, we believe because we have been born of God. He that believeth on Him has
everlasting life. Do you remember 1 John 5 verse
1? Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. You will never believe the gospel
unless God raises you from the dead and quickens you, regenerates
you, and gives you spiritual life. And the fruit of that,
the fruit of that is faith in Him. Faith in Him. Now here's another scripture,
Acts 13, 38, 39. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe, are
justified from all things, but you could not be justified by
the law of Moses." Now, look at verse 25, Romans 4, 25. And
this verse here says so much about the gospel. And really,
this verse and verse 1 of the next chapter, really the chapter
division, if I was going to put it, I would have put it up here
in verse 24. Because verse 25 and Romans 5-1,
they're married together. "...who was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification." Who was delivered? Talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, He was delivered for our sins. Remember? By the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. He was delivered by the
decree of God. That's what Peter said. And he
was delivered up for our notice. Who was delivered? Who was delivered? God our Savior. He was delivered
up by the determinate counsel of God. And he was delivered
up for our offenses. Now, he didn't have any sin of
his own, did he? He's the spotless Lamb of God
who had no sin, did no sin, and knew no sin. Such a high priest
became us, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin.
That's Hebrews 7.26. Who was delivered for our offenses.
You see, He's our substitute. He had no sin of His own, but
He willingly, by act of God's decree, our sin was made to be
His. The sin of God's elect. laid
upon Him. God made Him sin for us who knew
no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now, He was raised again because
He justified us. Now, what if the Lord Jesus Christ
died and there was no resurrection from the dead? Well, the Apostle Paul deals
with that in 1 Corinthians 15, doesn't he? If Christ be not raised from
the dead, then we have no gospel. If Christ be not raised from
the dead, you're yet in your sin and our preaching is useless. You see, if he be not raised
from the dead, he's an imposter and his soul's in hell. Wow! That's how important the resurrection
is. You see, His resurrection declares all that He said and
all that He did to be certain, sure, and true. If there be no
resurrection, we don't have any good news. We don't have any
gospel. If He be not raised up, we better find, we better get
in the livestock business. and find some bullocks and some
goats and start going back to the law and waiting for the Messiah
to come. If he's not the one, if God didn't
raise him from the dead, then we have no justification. But being raised up from the
dead, He declares that He satisfied God's law and justice, that He
justified us by His blood. Look right across the page, Romans
5, 9, "...much more than being now justified by His blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through Him." Therefore, being justified. We justified how? How we justified? justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
Romans 3, 24. Justified freely by His grace
through the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ.