Romans chapter 4 verse 1, and
I don't know how far we'll get. Lord willing, we'll get through
at least verse 5, but I would like to take a brief look at
verse 6 and 7 as well. Now, just by way of review, in
Romans chapter 3, The Apostle declares all men everywhere are
sinners. Remember there's none righteous,
no, not one. That includes you, that includes
me, that includes all men. We're not only sinners, but the
Apostle also declared that we are guilty, guilty before God. He also plainly stated, that
being the case, that no sinner can be justified before God by
any works of the flesh or even the deeds of the law. The law
says you're guilty, stop your mouth. The law says we've all
sinned against God. Now Paul goes on to show in Romans
chapter 3 and declares how sinners are justified by His grace through
the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember verse
24 of Romans 3, being justified freely by His grace through the
redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Paul proceeds
to show how salvation, righteousness, and redemption is received in
Christ by faith alone. If you look at Romans 3, 28,
Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law. That's our conclusion. And then
the Apostle Paul, writing by God's inspiration, then he shows
how by faith in Christ believers do actually honor the law of
God. Romans 3 verse 31, do we then
make void the law of God, the Mosaic law, the Levitical law
through faith? And he said, absolutely not,
God forbid. He said, but rather we establish
the law. Now, how can that be? Because
the Lord Jesus Christ honored the law of God for us. And by
faith, we look to him, what he did, we did. He's our representative. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, the
Lord Jesus Christ, shall many be made righteous. Now that's
Romans 5.19, isn't it? We'll be looking at that in a
few weeks. By faith in Christ, believers
do actually honor the law of God. The Apostle said to the
Corinthians, for we walk by faith, not by sight. The just shall
live by faith. Faith is the precious gift of
God. Now in Romans chapter 4, Paul
illustrates those principles of the gospel by the example
of how God justified two men. By showing how God justified
two men. Those two men are Abraham and
David. One, how God justified two sinners. One, before the law was given.
Matter of fact, 430 years before the law was given, God said Abraham
was justified. And then the other, after the
law was given, in David, the anointed king of Israel. The
Lord has always justified the ungodly by his sovereign grace. Abraham, just like you and I,
sinners and guilty. David, the same way, sinful and
guilty. The Lord has always justified
the ungodly by His sovereign grace alone, His sovereign love
alone, His mercy alone. All of this received by faith
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. There is no other Savior,
is there? He said, I'm the only just God
and Savior. There is salvation in no other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. He that hath the Son hath life. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Lord, give me faith. to believe
him. Now let's look at Romans 4 verse
1 down to verse 5 and we have the example of sovereign grace,
sovereign salvation given to Abraham. Abraham all through
the scripture is held forth as an example of God-given faith,
as an example of God's sovereign mercy. Now you remember the story
of Abraham His name originally was Abram, remember? Do you remember how the Lord
found Abram in the land of the heir of the Chaldees, that's
Babylon, and he found him worshiping the God of his fathers, and they
were idolaters. God found him in the darkness
of his religious bondage. Abram was not seeking the Lord,
but the Lord was seeking him. and the Lord called him out of
darkness into his marvelous light and the Lord did that by his
grace alone. Now if you hold your place there
remember in Romans or rather Hebrews chapter 11 we find there
also that the apostle writes about the faith of abraham by
faith abraham when he was called to go out into a place in which
he should after received for an inheritance he obeyed and
went out not knowing where he went remember abraham was seventy
five years old when god called him out of bondage into god's
marvelous life and when god called him by his irresistible effectual
grace Abraham didn't say, now just wait a minute, I want to
stay here in my idolatry and in my bondage and in the clutches
of sin. No, when God called him, he went
out. And that's what we call fetching
grace and irresistible grace. When God called him, Abraham
moved. Abraham went out. What did the
Lord reveal to Abraham? What did Abraham or Abram believe
about salvation after he was taught of God? This one lesson
that in salvation the Lord Jesus Christ is everything. Everything
in salvation. He taught him that salvation
was by faith in Christ. Before Abram or Abraham was justified,
he had nothing to merit, favor, grace, or mercy. Did he? I mean,
he was an idolater. He was a gross idolater, raised
in the house of false religion. God taught him, He called him
and taught him that salvation is in Christ alone. We're going
to read that in just a minute. And this is the same lesson that
the Lord teaches every believer whom He justifies by His grace. He teaches us this, that in salvation
Christ is everything. That in righteousness Christ
is everything. That God saves sinners by His
grace only. not our works. God calls us and
saves us according to His own grace and purpose in Christ,
which is the eternal purpose of salvation given to us, which
excludes all works, doesn't it? If it's given to us before the
foundation of the world, how does your works enter in? How
does even your faith and repentance enter in? It doesn't. Salvation
is received by faith, And repentance acknowledges the way of salvation,
that these things are given to us in Christ before we were born.
That excludes all merit, doesn't it? That excludes all boasting,
then, doesn't it? That shuts us up to one thing,
salvation of the Lord. Now, what shall we say then,
that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found, for
he hath found at salvations of the Lord." Abraham was convinced
of that, salvations of the Lord. Now look at verse 2, Romans 4
verse 2, for if, now circle that word or at least make a mental
note, for if Abraham, remember God changed his name from Abram
to Abraham, for if Abraham were justified by works, He hath whereof to glory, but
not before God. If he were justified by works,
he couldn't glory before God. Not at all. Not at all. Abraham, for if Abraham were
justified by works. Now, if good works were the ground,
cause, or reason of Abraham's salvation or ours, then he could
boast before men, or glory in the flesh before men. Now we
see this going on all the time, but I like this statement, not
before God, even if we could be justified by our works. Now
we can't, that's why I emphasize that word if. If we could, We
still can't glory before God. We can glory before men. You
remember Paul asked that question back in Romans chapter 3 verse
26, "...to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in the Lord Jesus." Where is boasting then? Where is it? It's excluded. By what law or
principle of works? Nay, but by the law of faith.
Faith gives who the glory? Look at Romans chapter 4 verse
20. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, it was strong in faith giving
glory to God. He didn't even pat himself on
the back and say, well, look how smart I am, I believe. You
see, saving faith knows. Those who are blessed with saving
faith, they know that salvation is a gift of God. That's why
we glory only in Christ. By faith, all boasting is excluded. Saving faith boasts only in Christ
alone. God forbid I should glory save
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look at verse 3.
Paul makes his case here, and then goes to the Scripture to
prove his point. And we're going to see that in
our lesson today in Luke chapter 10, when the Lord says to that
lawyer, what does the Scripture say? And Paul does the same thing
here. What sayeth the Scripture? What
does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God. and it was counted to him, reckoned
to him, charged unto him for righteousness, for righteousness. Now, Abraham believed in the
Lord, it says in Genesis 15, 6. Abraham believed in the Lord,
or he believed the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Abraham believed his salvation
and deliverance from sin, and a justifying righteousness was
found totally in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now, I want you
to turn to Galatians chapter 3. We have something similar
that is said here in Galatians chapter 3, verse 6. Galatians 3, verse 6. The epistle to the Romans and
the epistle to the Galatians have the same theme, justified
by grace, not by the deeds of the law. Now, Galatians 3, verse
6, Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted, or charged,
reckoned to him, the reference there in the margin there, you
see it, is imputed to him for righteousness, Know ye therefore
that they which are of faith the same are the children of
Abraham, and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith preached before..." Now listen to this, "...preached
before the gospel unto Abraham." Now who preached the gospel to
Abraham? What does that say right there?
God preached the gospel to Abraham. "...He preached before the gospel
unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
That goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 12 verse 3. So
then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Now how can it be said that in thee shall all nations be blessed? Abraham had a son, Isaac, and
Isaac was a forerunner and type and picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ, a promised son given of God. Now, look at Galatians
3 verse 16. Now, to Abraham and his seed,
where the promise is made, he saith not to seeds as of many,
but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. The giving of
that promise special son, Isaac, is a picturing type, how God
blesses us in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see that? Now, I
want you to look at this scripture too. Abraham believed, turn to
John chapter 8. Remember those Jews, they boasted,
Abraham is our father, remember? In John chapter 8. And the Lord
said, if Abraham were your father, you'd believe me. You would believe
me. But he said, you are of your
father the devil. But here's what I want you to look at. Look
at John 8 verse 56. John 8 verse 56. He said, Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Now how did he see the
day of Christ? God preached the gospel to him
and he was given faith to see the coming of Christ the death
of Christ, the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ
and his resurrection glory. Now, I'm not stretching that.
If you read Genesis chapter 22, when you see Abraham offering
up Isaac and then providing a ram caught in the thickets who was
sacrificed in the stead of Isaac, that all pictures the gospel.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and
was glad. Now read on. Then said the Jews
unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old. I mean Abraham's been
dead thousands of years. You're not yet fifty years old. And the Lord said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. I am the Eternal. I am. So, Abraham believed his
salvation was totally in the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what saving faith believes.
Saving faith believes that salvation is of the Lord. Now, look at
verse 4. of Romans 4. Now to him that worketh is reward,
not reckoned of grace, but one of debt. Now, I love that word
reward, that word reward. Christ is our exceeding great
and eternal reward. God also taught Abraham that.
He is our reward. We're not looking for rewards,
plural. A lot of people talking about
rewards we're going to receive in heaven by these different,
you know, the more work we do here and the more righteousness
we have here, we're going to have more rewards in heaven.
They try to motivate people by doing that. If you'll carefully
read the Scripture, not one time in the Word of God does it ever
refer to the believer having rewards, plural. It's always
singular. Christ is our exceeding great
and eternal reward. It's reward not of works. but it is reward of grace. We have an eternal inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, fadeth not away, that's reserved for
you in heaven. Now to him that worketh is reward
not reckoned of grace, but of debt. The wages of sin, death. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the message on the radio
this morning. Thanks be unto God for the unspeakable
gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, thank God that salvation
by the reward of His grace in Christ. Look at verse 5 now,
Romans 4 verse 5. But to him that worketh not,
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly." Now, believeth on who? Believeth on him, the
almighty God. Believeth on him that does what?
He justifies the ungodly. Now, who else can? Who else can
justify the ungodly and do so in a way that's honoring to his
own law and justice? Well, there's only one answer
to that, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, to him, but
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, now watch it, his faith. His faith is counted for
righteousness. Now we're going to see this several
times in this chapter where it talks about, look at verse 13,
Romans 4 verse 13. For the promise that he should
be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Now, listen to me carefully.
Faith is not our righteousness. Faith is not our righteousness.
Christ is our righteousness. Those who have saving faith look
to the Lord alone who is called the Lord our righteousness. His faith is counted, counted
counted for righteousness. Those who do not work for salvation,
but rather are blessed to believe to the saving of their soul,
those who are blessed of God with saving faith in Christ who
alone justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness
or justification. No wonder in Scripture faith
is called the precious gift of God. If you have saving faith,
I tell you, it's a precious, precious gift of God. Because
listen to this scripture, 2 Peter 1, 1. To them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God our
Savior, Jesus Christ. How did we obtain this precious
gift? through the righteousness of
God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the gift of
God, not of works that any man should boast, to them that have
obtained like precious faith through Christ. Now, it says
over in Acts chapter 13, if you want to turn back there, we'll
read that together. Acts chapter 13. We'll see how
faith honors the gospel. Faith honors God by believing
God. In Acts 13, 38, Be it known unto
you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sin, through this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, whom God raised up again, saw no corruption, Verse 37 of
Acts 13, And by him all that believe are justified from all
things, which it could not be justified by the law of Moses. You see, saving faith honors
God by believing Him. Those who are truly justified
by the grace of God, they know their works to be nothing but
sin. That's all. That's all. You see, any good work that we
would do to the honor and glory of Christ still has to be bathed
in the precious blood of Christ because everything we touch,
we contaminate with what we are. Sin through and through. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all our sin. Those who were truly justified
by the grace of God know their work should be nothing but sin
and make up no merit, no ground of salvation before God saves
us, or after God saves us. Now a lot of people are deluded
in thinking, oh, we're justified by grace and then we're sanctified
by the keeping of the law. That's not so. We're sanctified
in Christ. We're justified in Christ. We
have all things in Christ. We are complete in Him. Now the
argument here is this. Salvation cannot be both ways. It cannot be a little bit of
works and a little bit of grace. And then we put the little bit
here and a little bit there and bring the two bits together and
we have a whole work. Now that's what a lot of people
think. But look at Romans 11. Romans 11 chapter 11 verse 5. Even so then at this present
time also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace, you got it? Romans 11 verse 6, and if by
grace, if the election is by grace, then it's no more works. If salvation is by grace, then
it's no more works, right? Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no longer grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
So you can't have it both ways. You can have a little bit of
grace and a little bit of works and we just bring the two together
and call that salvation. No, that's damnation is what
that is. Salvation is all by grace alone. Now, the second example he brings
up I've used most of my time talking about how God justified
Abraham before the law was given. We're going to see on in chapter
4, Abraham was justified. You know, they make that argument
of circumcision. The Jews said to be really justified,
we've got to have circumcision and Christ. Well, Paul shows
here that God justified Abraham before the law and before he
was circumcised. You see, that excludes all boasting
in the flesh. God is so designed by his infinite
wisdom, this thing of salvation, that he alone receives all the
honor and the glory. Now, the second example he brings
up of a sinner who was chosen by grace, elected by grace, saved
by grace, is this man we know of, the King of Israel, his name
was David. David also talks about the blessedness
of the man. This goes back to Psalm 32, Psalm
65, and many other Psalms. But this is quoted from Psalm
32, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth. Now that word imputed means to
reckon to your account. when you take your credit card
down to the store and they swipe it or you stick it in the machine,
what does that do? It charges and imputes that to
your account. Blessed is the man unto whom
God imputed, charges, reckons to you righteousness. Now this is the righteousness
of God. This is the righteousness of God that justifies the ungodly. God imputeth, reckons, charges
to your account righteousness without any consideration of
who you are or what you've done. Isn't that good news? Without works, without any contribution
on your part, God said you're righteous. In Christ, not only
that, Verse seven, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven. Now I need not only a justifying
righteousness, but I have another problem. What about my sin? The Lord Jesus Christ has not
only given us a justifying righteousness, He's taken away all of our sin,
all of our transgressions, all of our iniquities, against God,
He's taken them all away, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven. Now, how thoroughly, are they
forgiven? I mean, just the big ones are
forgiven, the little ones. He said, their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. Now how can God Almighty say
that? Because the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ fully
and completely put away all the sin of God's people. He cannot
charge their sin to them because their sin has already been charged
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The old songwriter said, God's
justice can't twice demand at my bleeding charity's hand and
then again at mine. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sins are forgiven,
iniquities are forgiven, and your sins are covered. Covered. so covered that God
says, I cannot see them. He said, they're cast behind
my back. They're blotted out as a thick cloud. He said, they're
cast into the depths of the sea, never to be found again. Isn't
that good news? Blessed is a man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. He will not because he cannot. He cannot. He cannot. Look over here at Romans 8. Verse 32, Romans 8, "...he that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all." Romans 8,
32, "...how shall he not with them also freely give us all
things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?"
Who's going to do it? It is God that justifies. "...who
is he that condemneth?" Well, it's Christ. He's already died.
I've already died in Him. Yea, rather, He's risen again. Remember Romans 4, 24, He was
delivered for our offenses, raised again because He justified us,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us. You see, this is a blessed man.
David, how was he justified? David, a man after God's own
heart. Was he justified by the law? No, he broke the law, didn't
he? I mean, he committed, he committed,
he committed adultery? Multiple, multiple, multiple,
hundreds, thousands of times. And murder. God said that man
was justified because I put his sin away. He says that. over
there, when Nathan came to him and said, ìYouíre the man. Youíre guilty. Youíre guilty.î
But he said, ìDavid, donít fear.î Do you remember what he said?
ìThe Lord hath put away your sin.î Now, thatís good news.
Thatís a blessed man. Thatís a blessed man.