We're taught, as God teaches
us, through the delivery of sermons and messages and articles, but we ought to be able to see
through example God's work and the way that God works. We ought
to discern the signs and the the way things are done and the
way God moves and the way God meets the needs of His people.
And I was sitting there thinking that it ought to impress somebody. Somebody ought to be impressed. Somebody ought to learn from
this. As you look over this congregation
of people, it's about the same size on Sunday night, every week,
and Sunday morning, and Wednesday night, and we're not a large
church by any means. This is not what you consider
a large church at all. And yet, for these thirty-odd
years, God has, by His own power, and
in his own way, met every need of this congregation, generously
and abundantly, without one sermon on giving, without one stewardship
drive, without one pledge card being signed, without one solicitation
to anyone made. without one name ever being printed
in a bulletin, without one window or pew ever being dedicated,
without any pressure whatsoever, God Almighty has just generously,
through you, laying upon your heart, the burden to get the
gospel out, He's met the need. And that ought to say something.
I don't know why that Folks don't learn that. We don't have to
make our needs known to men. We make them known to God. He
knows them anyway. And if the Lord God is in anything,
in any work or effort, if He's in any ministry, I guarantee
you, without appealing to anybody in any way, soliciting any funds,
He'll meet that need. And if he does not supply the
funds and meet the need, he's not in it. I'm confident of that. I'm just confident of it. And
I just, I'm thankful. And I like to express a man sent
an offering in this week and said, you don't need to write
to me and thank me. But I wrote to him anyway, and
I said, I know the people who give are not giving to be thanked
or to be praised. That's not it at all. That's
not it at all. But I want everyone to know I'm
grateful and appreciative for those who support the ministry
of the Word. We don't solicit your gift, but
we thank you for it. Does that make sense? We don't
pressure anyone to do anything, but I'm deeply, in a most heartfelt
manner, grateful to everyone who utters a prayer, or makes
a contribution, or gives a gift, or teaches a lesson, or blesses
us with your fellowship, or shakes a hand, or gives a smile, or
encourages in any way this ministry of the Word of God, because we
have on every hand, much discouragement. All right now, I'm going to preach
from Romans 4, and I don't know whether you'd call it preaching,
teaching, instructing, or whatever, but I hope I can get across something
tonight that I think is vital. Now, chapter 4 of the book of
Romans will require us to go back a little bit into the preceding
chapters. And in the preceding chapters
1, 2, and 3, very simply, there are four prominent things taught. In Romans 1, 2, and 3, there
are four most prominent things that stand out. There are thousands
of things taught. You can't read one word from
the Word of God without being taught something about His glory
and majesty and redemptive work. But there are four vital truths
that stand out in the first three chapters of Romans. The first
one is this, there is absolutely no acceptance with God, no acceptance
with God for Jew or Gentile. There's absolutely no justification
before God by any man's works or deeds. Now, you can write,
that's what Paul is saying in Romans 1, 2, and 3. Absolutely
no acceptance with God, no justification by works that we've done. And
there are two reasons for this. There are two simple reasons
why you cannot be accepted of God by what you do. Number one
is the perfect law of God, which you cannot keep. That's the first
reason. That's obvious. If you do anything,
any kind of work or deed, and God accepts it outside of the
mediatore work of Christ, it'll have to be perfect. God can only
deal with and have to do with that which is essentially perfect. And that doesn't dwell in us.
Even the man at his best state is vanity. The very best work
we can do, or deed we can do, or effort we can put forth, or
word we can say, is shot full of vanity, pride, self, and sin. The law of God is perfect, and
we are imperfect, and that's the two reasons why we cannot
work our way to God. We cannot be accepted of God
by anything we do because of the perfection of the law and
the imperfection of our nature. Now let me show you that in Romans
3. Romans 3 verse 9. What then? Are we better than
they? Is the Jew better than the Gentile
or vice versa? No, and know why. We have before
proved, we've set this forth, both Jew and Gentile, they're
all under sin. They're all under sin. I mean
sin. We're under the curse of sin,
the judgment of sin. We're under the dominion of sin. God looked down from heaven to
see if there's any that did good, that did good. He found we're
all gone out of the way. He found that every imagination
of our hearts is evil. How often? Boy, I see it every
once in a while. No, continually, continually,
continually. You never thought a good thought
in your life. Not God good. He said, as it's
written, there's none righteous, No, not one. There's none that
understand it. There's none that seek after
God. They're all gone out of the way. They're all together
become unprofitable. There's none that do it good
enough. That's our problem. That's the reason we cannot be
accepted in ourselves or in anything we do. And verse 20 says this,
Therefore, summing all this up, by the deeds of the law, by the
deeds of religion, By the works of the flesh there shall no flesh
be justified in God's sight. Now that's it. Now look at verse
28. Paul said, therefore I conclude, I conclude in these first three
chapters that a man is justified by faith without deeds of the
law. That's the conclusion. That's
the conclusion you have to come to if you read the first three
chapters of Romans. All right, here's the second
prominent truth. But thank God, there is a righteousness
to be had. There's none in me. My righteousness
is a filthy rag. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Well, then a man will never be accepted of God. I beg your
pardon? Yes, sir, there is a righteousness. There is a perfect holiness.
There is a perfect standing before God that's available to you and
me. There is a righteousness, and
it's the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That's where
it is, and that's what Romans 1, 2, and 3 say. There is a righteousness. It's not found in the pool. It's
not found in the law. It's not found in the table.
It's not found in these human hearts. It's not found in the
rules and regulations of religion. It's not found in the second
work of grace. It's not found in laying hands
on people. It's not found in the gifts of
the Spirit. It's found in Jesus Christ the Lord. That's where
it's at. Look at Romans 3, verse 19. Now, we know, Romans 3, 19,
that what things soever God's law saith, that saith to them
who are under the law, that's all of us, that every mouth may
be stopped. Stop, and all the world become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now," that's what he said,
but wait a minute, before you commit suicide, hold on, wait
a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, before you go off the
deep end, wait, There's no acceptance with God, there's no justification,
there's no salvation, there's no hope for man in anything that
he does or has or says or wills or contrives. Nothing! Impossible. But wait a minute! Now hold on. But now the righteousness of
God. Now if God purposed it, and if
God ordained it, and if God effected it, it's going to be perfect. It's going to be accepted. If
God Almighty had anything to do with it, you can hang on it.
The righteousness of God without the law, without your keeping
a Sabbath day, without your not going to the show on Sunday,
not buying a Sunday paper, not walking so far, not cooking a
meal, without the law, without your obedience to the law, This
righteousness of God without the law is manifested. God has
brought it forth. God has revealed it, and it's
witnessed by the Word of God and all the prophets. Jeremiah
talks about it. He said, The Lord our righteousness.
Jehovah said, Kindle the Lord our righteousness. He said, I'll
raise up a righteous branch. In that day, Israel, Judah shall
be righteous, holy. It's witnessed by the Word, and
it's even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of,
by the faithfulness of, by the life of, by the work of, by the
obedience of Jesus Christ, the God-man. God willed it, and Christ worked
it. God purposed it, and Christ purchased it. Almighty God willed
it, and Christ perfected it. And it's for you and me. He didn't
need it for himself. He is righteous. He did it for
the unrighteous. He died just for the unjust. He might bring us unjust to God. And it's, watch it, and it's
unto all and upon all that believe, for there is no difference. There
is no difference. Old Testament, New Testament.
male or female, black or white, bond or free, rich or poor, learned
or ignorant, old or young, gifts unto all, and upon all that believe. So there's no difference, for
we're all in the same boat. We've all sinned and come short
of God's glory, but being justified freely, freely, no exchange on
our part, no contribution. Well, now, I hate it for preachers
to say, They ought to know better. If you'll do this, God will bless
you. If God blesses you for you doing anything, I'm going to
call God into question. Wouldn't you? If you do this,
God will bless you. I'll tell you, if God blesses
you, you'll do this. That's the difference. If God
blesses you, you'll do this. But don't you drive a Jew bargain
with God Almighty. Now he's not, God's not coming
to the bargaining table with you. He had justified freely. Free. You know, I always kind
of shy away from these free offers. These merchants are always having,
this is free and that's free and the other's free. Olin Mills
is going to give you some free photographs. Don't you believe
it either. But when God says free, he means free. And you
insult God if you bring your checkbook. You want to know one
way to get invited in, those photographers, is to bring your
checkbook. You want to know a way to get invited out of God's presence,
you bring your checkbook. It's free! It's free through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. I'll tell you the third
thing that we have in this first three chapters before we light
in chapter four, and that's this. This perfect righteousness of
Christ, now here's a great, great truth. This perfect righteousness
of Christ, this perfect holiness of Christ, this perfect obedience
of Christ, which is imputed to us, reckoned to us, charged to
us, freely given to us through faith in Him, not only justifies
me, the center, it not only justifies me before God, But this work
of Christ, this obedience of Christ, is of such a nature and
work that it enables God to be just and justify. It justifies
God. What a magnificent work that
Christ not only makes me holy, but by His life and death and
work, He enables God, a holy God, to forgive me. And that's
mighty important. That's mighty important. Christ
vindicates God and enables Almighty God to be just and justifier.
Turn to Romans 3, and let's look at verse 25 and 26. Listen to
this. Whom God, called MacChrist, hath
set forth, foreordained to be a propitiation, a mercy seat,
a sacrifice, through faith in his blood, to declare God's righteousness. Christ, our Lord, in His life
and death, in His blood, in His righteousness, declares God's
righteousness. He came forth from a righteous
God. Christ came down here, and He
didn't trim the law of God or alter the law of God or whittle
down the law of God. He made it full blast, just as
it is. and kept it. He didn't come down
here into this world to get God in the notion to show pity to
us. He came down here legally and judicially and met every
requirement God Almighty put upon any believer. And he declared
God's righteousness for the remission of sins that have passed the
Old Testament saints through the forbearance of God. To declare,
I say, at this very time, God's righteousness, that God may be
just, fully just, wholly just, righteously just, truthfully
just, and the justifier of everybody who believes in Christ. That's
just monumental. And you know, growing up in church
and going to preacher school, that I never heard that ever
said, expressed, preached, or taught. I never heard the question
asked about God's justice and righteousness. Nobody ever mentioned
that. Just that God pities you and
loves you and wants you to be saved, walk down, make your profession,
believe in Jesus, and it'll all be all right. Wait a minute.
Wait a minute. There's a holy God to be justified. There's a holy law to be satisfied. There's the wrath of God to be
met. And Christ did all that. And
now God can be God and save me without relinquishing one atom
of His holiness. God's not going to take us to
heaven by tricks. God's not going to do it with
mirrors. The Lord God, in the redemption of His people, did
it openly and according to His law and His standard of holiness. You see that? And I like what... I wouldn't have understood this
35 years ago if somebody said it to me. But they asked us,
a fellow like you and me, just an ordinary fellow, believer,
what if you get to heaven and start through the gate and somebody
stops you? And won't let you go in? Just
believing on Jesus Christ. Not having any works to show
or present. Well, he said, He said, God would
lose a whole lot more than I'd lose. Man said, what? He said, God would lose a whole
lot more than I'd lose. He said, what do you mean by
that? He said, I'd lose my soul, but God would lose His honor.
Because He said, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
And that's all I've got to bring is the fact that I believe on
Christ. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. But this third thing I see in
these three chapters is this perfect holiness of Christ. Not
only justifies us or gives us something to rest in or something
to claim or something to trust in, something to hold to, but
it justifies God and enables God to swing open those righteous
gates and swing open that holy of holies and say, hey, come
on in boldly. Aren't you a little reluctant
to go in? Oh, no, not robed in the righteousness of Christ.
I'd be a whole lot reluctant to go in any other way. But in
His name and in His righteousness and in His blood, I'm as holy
as God. That's right, because I've got
the righteousness of God. Now, those who are going about
to establish their own holiness, They've got a... That's another
proposition. That's another problem. All right,
now watch this. The fourth thing that's taught
all the way through these three chapters is this. All spiritual
blessings, all of this I've been talking about, this righteousness,
this justification, this sanctification, this acceptance, it's ours only
one way. One way, one word. One five-letter
word. F-A-I-T-H. all the way through
these three chapters. Look at chapter three, verse
twenty-eight. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith. My friends, this is an ordained,
God-sent, God-blessed apostle of Jesus Christ writing holy
scriptures. A man is justified by faith. You say, now what about James'
book? Talking about, was not Abraham
our father justified by works? There's one thing you need to
understand, that Paul and James are saying the same thing. James
is talking about the justification of our faith before men. Paul
is talking about the justification of our souls before God. Paul
is saying that our souls are justified before God only by
faith. And James is saying that if you're
going to justify your faith and prove you really believe in God,
you justify it before men and prove it before men by your works. Show me your faith without your
works. You can't show it to me. Not
that way. You show me your faith by your
works. Isn't that right, John? That's
what James is writing about. Paul is talking about justification
of the soul before God. by faith alone, apart from any
works. James is talking about the justification
of our works, of our faith rather, before men by our works. All right, let's read on. Chapter
3, verse 29. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing it is one God which shall
justify the circumcision of the Jew by faith, and the uncircumcision
the Gentiles, I think. That's how God justifies a sinner. Is that clear? All right, now
what Paul does in chapter four, chapter four, is he brings forth
an illustration of what he's been teaching. No acceptance
with God by words, but there is a righteousness in Christ,
and that righteousness of Christ justifies you before God and
God before His holy law and His justice. And that righteousness
is yours by faith." And then he reaches back and gets an example
of faith and puts him out here in front of you. And you know
who he chooses? Abraham. And the reason Paul chooses Abraham
to illustrate justification, redemption by faith alone, apart
from works, is because the Jews held Abraham in the highest esteem,
and rightfully so. Because God did. This man's called
a friend of God. This man, we know he justified.
We know he was righteous. God said so. We know this man
is with God. God said so. And so, whatever
way that Abraham was justified before God, then you and I can
be sure that it's the right way. So let's find out. Let's look
at verse 1. What shall we say, then, that Abraham, our father,
as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Now, Abraham is called
the father of all believers, but here he's called the father
of the Jews, as pertaining to the flesh. And what hath Abraham
found in the flesh, in the works and circumcision of the law?
Did he find the way to God? What did he find? What did he
find in this works, in this ceremony? What did he find? Did he find
righteousness? Did he find acceptance with God?
Verse 2, If he did, if Abraham our father were justified by
works, he hath brought to glory before men. Hey, I'm Abraham,
he said. You read about me? I did this,
I did that, I did the other. I had a great, great son. I had all these things. He'd
have a right to glorify, to to boast or to glory before men."
Look at the next line, "...but not before God." Because God
even knows the heart of Abraham. God knows the heart of all men,
and He certainly cannot glory before God. But what sayeth the
Scriptures? In Paul, this is something we
preachers need to learn. Effective preaching always establishes
a point and proves it from the Word of God. And Paul is saying,
what has Abraham, our father, found as pertaining to the flesh?
Not one thing. If he did, he has worked to glory
before men, but not before God. But what does the Scripture say?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for holiness. Immaculate, infinite holiness. You see, that's it. You say,
where is that found? Genesis 15, Genesis 15, verse
6. Turn back there, I want you to
see it. All the way back to the 15th chapter of Genesis. You
know, I get amused at people who talk about dispensations. They say that people were saved
in the garden in innocence, and then they fell, and they were
saved by conscience. And that didn't work, and it
was saved by judges. That didn't work, and it was
saved by law. Where does Abraham come in? They say he's saved
by law. Look at this verse, Genesis 15, verse 6. Now, this is way
back. And he believed in the Lord,
and he counted it to him for righteousness. Abraham was justified
by faith. Now, stay with me. Stay with
me. Abraham believed God. Now, look
at verse 4. Now, to any man, to any person that works, if
he works for salvation, if he works for righteousness, the
reward is not reckoned of grace. If a man works for a prize and
you give him the prize, you haven't shown him grace, you've paid
a debt. You know what that says? It says to a man that works,
if the reward is not grace, it's debt. But now wait a minute,
verse five, to him that worketh not, that doesn't mean believers
won't work, but they don't work for salvation. To him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Faith is counted for righteousness.
Since we have no works to commend us to God, we have no merit in
ourselves, we have no deeds to present to God, even David said,
look at verse six, even David said, even as David also described
the blessedness of the man unto whom God will impute, charge,
reckon righteousness without any works at all, without works. Can you take those two words,
without works? Without works. Back in Romans
3, it says, righteousness without law, without works, without law,
without deeds. Say, David wrote this, Psalm
32, happy, twice happy, blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not charge sin. That's the man that's blessed.
Brother D.J. Ward made this statement one
time. He said, Salvation is by works. Not yours, but Christ's. His work. He worked it because
you couldn't. So you wouldn't have to. He said,
Salvation is by the deeds of the law, but Christ did it. Not
you, Christ did it. And now he asked this question. He asks this question, beginning
with verse 9. Does this blessedness, what are
we talking about? Righteousness. Does this blessedness
come upon the circumcision only, that is, the Jew? Or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. How was it reckoned? When was
it reckoned? Now, what is circumcision? Well,
the Jews put a lot of stock in circumcision. It's twofold. Number one, circumcision is a
sign or a token of the covenant God made with Israel. Every male
child was circumcised when he was eight days after he was born. And that was a sign or a token
of the covenant God made with Israel concerning Canaan and
other blessings. It was a badge. It was a distinguishing
badge that distinguished Israel from the heathen, from the pagan
nations about them. Israel had a token of circumcision
and a sign or badge of circumcision in the flesh to distinguish them
as the national people of God. Now then, when was Abraham declared
righteous? After he was circumcised? After
he received the sign? or before? Fourteen years before. Did you know that? Fourteen years
before Abraham ever got the sign of circumcision, the Word of
God said he was righteous before God. That's what it says here. Verse
10, not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And you can
find that in Genesis 17, 9 through 11. Genesis 15, he was called
righteous. Genesis 17, 14 years later, God
gave him circumcision, right? So Paul is making a point, verse
11. He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of
faith, which he already had, before he ever did any work,
before he ever committed himself in any way as far as the Jewish
nation was concerned. He was righteous. He flat-believed
God. That's all. That's all. And that was in order
that, verse 11, he might be the father of all them that believe,
though they be not circumcised. They're not Jews. They may be
Americans or Russians or Arabs or Gentiles or whatever nation. That righteousness might be imputed
to them also. And the Father, verse 12, of
circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision, but
also who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham,
which he had yet being uncircumcised." The faith of Abraham. The basis,
and what's this now? Here's what I want to show you.
Look at Romans 3, 28 and 29. Let me show you something here.
Romans 2. Romans 2, 28 and 29. Let me show
you something here. There's so much preaching and
so much prophetical preaching and so much talk about Israel,
that nation over there in the Far East, Near East, or wherever
that is. Look at Romans 2, verse 28. He's not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. He's not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
He's a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not
of men, but of God. Look at chapter 3, verse 1. What
advantage then hath the Jew? What profit is there in circumcision?
Well, when this was written, there was much in every way,
but none now. There's not any now. Back here, there was some profit
in being a Jew because they had the temple, they had the sacrifices,
they had the Passover, they had the priesthood, they had the
law, they had the prophets. They don't have anything now.
They have nothing but heathenism now. There's no profit anymore
in being a Jew physically, none whatsoever. None whatsoever. Turn to Galatians. Let me show
you something here. Actually, my friends, there's
a disadvantage. They're under the judgment of
God, judicial blindness. They've got a refuge that won't
work. They're hiding in a false religion. And Judaism is a false religion. Look at Galatians 3. Now watch
this. Galatians 3, verse 6 and 7. Even
as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness,
know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same, they
are children of Abraham. People who believe. You're a
Jew. You're a Jew. You're a daughter of Abraham.
See what I'm talking about? Don't envy anybody in a nation
Don't envy, above all things, Israel, who calls himself Israel. Look, if you will, at verse 16.
Now, to Abraham and his seed, where the promise is made, he
didn't say, and the seeds, as of many, but as of one, to thy
seed, which is Christ. Look at verse 29. And if you
be Christ, you are Abraham's seed. And there it is, according
to the promise of God. Now, I've got to show you something
back here in the text, and I'm going to wind it up. You can preach
for a week on this fourth chapter of Romans. Like I asked Charlie if he'd
read that tonight, and I forget his comment was something to
this extent. There's a whole lot in that chapter, do you remember?
I don't hope to cover it all, but I want to show you something
here. You see those things I said,
four prominent things in Romans 1, 2, and 3? And he's using Abraham
as an illustration of that faith. In this third division, starting
with verse 17, Paul describes that faith. Now, there are many times that
Abraham's faith stood out. I told my class this morning,
and some of you may have studied also, that the Jews say Abraham
had ten major trials in his life, ten traumatic major trials. I don't know that I could name
them all, but some of them are when God called him out of his
father's house. to leave his father's house,
go to land he was sure of. This man was seventy-five years
old, well entrenched in his home life, with his tribe, with his
people. God said, Leave. There was another
trial when he divided the land with Lot. Lot chose the fertile
fields. Abraham went to the hills. There
was another time when he wrestled with God over Sodom. Another
time when the kings of Sodom would have made him wealthy.
Another time when he was called on to put Ishmael, his son, out
of his sight and away from his home. And then there was another
time when he was commanded of God to sacrifice his only son. But do you know the illustration
that Paul uses to illustrate Abraham's faith? Let's look at
it. Verse 17. 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
that be, that 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 a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb,
he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what God had promised, God was able to perform, and therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. He believed this. He stood and
looked at an old woman, ninety years old, far past the age of
bearing children. And this old man, a hundred years
old, and he believed that God was going to raise up a seed
from which would come Christ. And many nations would be blessed
through the redemptive work of that seed of Abraham. And God
would do it from a dead situation. And that was imputed to him.
The impossibility, look at that word back in verse 18, who against
hope, That is human hope, natural hope, natural reason. It just
can't be. But his hope was in God, who
can do what he says. That's the basis of God's blessing. He believed God. And what I see
is this. I see Christ in his redemptive
work coming from that impossible situation. Man could do nothing
about this. This womb was dead, this situation
was hopeless. Man, with all of his shenanigans
and testing, he couldn't do one thing about that. And you and I can't do one thing
about our dead situation in trespasses and sin. But I believe God can
in Christ. God can give life where there's
no life. God can raise the dead. God can
beget life where there's no life. Do you believe that? Now look at the next verse. And
Charlie read this. Now then, verse 23, what's all
this got to do with us? I'm not going to review all of
it. You just know what I've said. Now then, what's all this got
now? All this is written, not for Abraham's sake alone that
it was imputed to him. And have you seen how many times
the word imputed, reckoned, counted, and charged is in this chapter?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight times. Imputed. Imputed. Charged. When something's
imputed, when something's charged, it's reckoned to be mine. It's
mine through the work of another. It's mine as if I did it. It's
charged to me. Verse 24, But for us also, to
whom it shall be imputed, this same righteousness of Abraham,
if we join the church, And if we give our tithes and if we follow the rules and regulations
and straighten up our lives and serve God, no sir. One hedge about this, if we believe
on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Now then,
I'm not going to try to explain that. I'm not going to say, I'd
like a lot of preachers, yeah, but if you preach that, folks
will live like they want to, or people will sin all they want
to. I don't know how we get mixed
up like that, do you? See, if God does something in
me in granting repentance and faith, it's a new heart and a
new nature and a new life. I believe Christ. I belong to
Christ. I want to glorify Christ. But this righteousness has nothing
to do with what I do before or after conversion. It doesn't put any stipulations
on here but one, any conditions but one. This righteousness of
Abraham is imputed to those who believe on Christ. That's what
it says. Who was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. And one other statement, verse
1 of chapter 5, therefore being justified by faith, what do we
have? We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 2, we have access by faith
into this grace. And number three, verse two,
and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And number
four, verse three, not only so, but we've enjoyed tribulation,
knowing that tribulation works with patience. Patience, hope,
experience, all these things. You see that, is that... I've wanted to make it clear.
I hope that I have.