Okay, well, it's good to see
everybody out this morning. Got some folks to add to the prayer
list. Stephanie Shepard, Gary Shepard's
daughter, is having some real problems. She's back in the hospital.
She's not doing well, so remember her and Gary. She was a minister
to her. Gary's in good health, but not
great health, but he's staying at the hospital. We're helping
her out, so remember him and your prayers. My, my, the girl
that was married to my nephew, I call my niece-in-law, Dana
James. We haven't heard any word on
the biopsy on that, but she did have several tumors removed from
her female organs. So remember her in your prayer.
And Juanita Wilson, and just standing near family's been had.
John Bull's got, is in the hospital, so remember them in your prayers.
And also Debbie's brother. not grant Randy who's the older
the two younger brothers had an MRI and was diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer so remember him and his wife and Debbie and
Grant in your prayers if you will seek the Lord's help for
them that is a diagnosis nobody wants to get so we're hoping
it's early stage and it's isolated if it's on the right end of the
lobe and it's not connected to any other tissue they can pretty
well Fix it, but if not, it can be a death sentence. So remember
them in your prayers if you will. Let's begin our worship service
this morning. Oh, by the way, Deb's not feeling
well. That's why she's not here this morning. She's got her stomach's
acting up, so she stayed at home. Hymn number 62, crown him with
many crowns. the Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him
who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through
all eternity. Crown Him the Lord of love. Behold His hands and side. Wounds yet visible, above in
beauty glorified. No angel in the sky can fully
bear that sight. But downward bends his wandering
eye at mysteries so bright. crowned in the Lord of life,
who triumphed o'er the grave. Rose victorious to the strife
For those he came to save His glories now we sing Who died
and rose on high Who died eternal life to bring And lives that
death may die Crown him the Lord of heaven, one with the Father,
Lord, one with the Spirit. Give from yonder glorious throne
to Thee be endless praise, for Thou for us hast died. Be Thou, O Lord, through endless
days adored and magnified. After scripture, reading and
prayer, we'll sing your handout, Christ at the Cross, which is
sung to the tune of the old rugged cross. If you have your Bibles,
turn me to Romans chapter 4, the epistle to Romans chapter
4. One reason to read verses 1 through
6. What shall we say, then, that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness?
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace,
but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness, even as David also describeth its blessedness
of the man unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without
works. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven,
blessed Lord Jesus, our King and our Master, our Elder Brother,
our closest friend, the Savior, who died in our room instead,
forever settled the matter of sin between us and the Father,
putting our sins away by the sacrifice of Himself, fully propitiating
God, satisfying His law and His justice, and making His children,
His elect, accepted in the Beloved. That's all to the praise of the
glory of your grace. We know, Father, that it is grace
alone that has brought us and taught us that keeps us. We know, because it is grace,
that we could have nothing to do with it save to be a recipient
of it. Father, we pray for those on
our prayer list who are sick, those who've been diagnosed with
cancer, those who are suffering in the hospital. We ask, Lord,
you'd be with them and comfort them in Jesus Christ. We know
that sickness and sorrow is the plot of human beings as they
enter into this world. For some, it's just a terror
and fear. and they gain nothing from it
and lose so much. But for the child of God who
is blessed with the tribulations and trials of this world, every
one of them do the very best thing to bring us to the feet
of Jesus Christ. Help us this day. We pray to
worship you in spirit and in truth as we sing, as we preach,
and as we hear the gospel. to spend time around the table
and fellowship together. May it be a day that brings honor
and glory to your name. Cause us in our hearts to remove
ourself from the equation and fix our hearts and minds on Jesus
Christ. We pray in his precious name.
Amen. This is your hand. On a hill far away died the Christ
of the cross. He yielded to suffering and shame,
and there in his grace He died in my place, the purpose of God
to fulfill. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross, and before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to
the Christ of the Cross, for He is the King I must crown. Oh, the Christ of the Cross,
so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction to me. He, the dear Lamb of God, left
His glory above to bear all my sin on the tree. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross, and before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross For He is the King I must crown In the Christ of
the Cross And His blood so divine A marvelous beauty I see He opened my eyes that long had
been blind to behold Him now on His throne. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross and before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ on
the cross, for he is a King I must crown. To the Christ of the cross
I must ever be true His shame and reproach gladly bear For
in love He constrains Till all shall be gain His glory forever
I'll share So I'll cherish the Christ of the cross And before
His throne I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of the cross
For He is the King I must crown my base chops were lacking a
little bit this morning. You'll have to forgive me. I've
got a kind of raspy voice. Stan and Steve, would you receive
the office this morning, please? Let us pray. Father, again, we
come in the name of Jesus, that blessed name that is above every
name, the only name under heaven, the only name under heaven, given
among men, whereby we must be saved. he is the unspeakable
gift and with him you have freely given us all things that pertain
to godliness and life we thank you father let our thanksgiving
be performed as we render unto thee that which you have given
us we pray in Christ's name you I invite your attention back
to Romans chapter 4. These verses here in Romans chapter
4 are illumination of the truth that Paul has set forth in Romans
chapter 3 that by the flesh no man shall be justified by the
works of the flesh. No man shall be justified. In
verse 20 of chapter 6, it says, Therefore by the deeds of the
law, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified
in the sight of God. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. Paul has spent the last three
chapters of this great epistle proving this fact and bringing
the readers to the only hope of humanity before god chapter
one he sets forth the glory of the gospel but also sets forth
the reprobation of man who refuses to acknowledge god in the matter
of salvation for men acknowledge god in creation you hear it all
the time and I'm glad they do and to be honest with you sometimes
when I'm driving around these beautiful mountains I think of
the glory of god because His glory is manifest in His creation. But that leaves you without excuse.
It's a present, visible thing that is only visible to the flesh.
Therefore, it cannot be of benefit to you in the matter of faith.
For as glorious as this world is and as beautiful as it is,
it can only be enjoyed in the flesh. so it leaves you without
excuse he sets forth the wickedness of the depraved natural gentile
mind in chapter one and then in chapter two he shows the wickedness
and the depraved Hebrew mind then in chapter three beginning
he concludes all under sin both Jew and gentile alike for the
wages of sin is death And he sets forth that the only righteousness
that God will accept is the righteousness he spoke of in Romans chapter
1 and verse 16 and 17 when he said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel. Well, there is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. So unless you believe and know
the gospel, you don't know anything about the righteousness of God.
You have no idea because that's the place it's revealed. that's
the place when he talks about his righteousness he's talking
about jesus christ forces in romans 10 and chapter four christ
is the end law for righteousness to them that believe unless someone
think that there is an acceptable righteousness to be obtained
by the flesh with faith is somehow work all ads this chapter to
set to put forth a question And it's a rhetorical question that
contains the obvious answer within the question itself. When someone
asks you a rhetorical question, listen to it, because the answer's
within the question. And this question was, what shall
we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the
flesh, is found? What has Abraham found in his
flesh, in his carnal nature? What has he gained from that?
to prove the fact that there is no capability of righteousness
in the flesh. Paul takes the believer to the
father of the faithful, Abraham. To the Jew, this man represented
all that was possibly right about humanity, even though by Abraham's
own admission, he was but dust and ashes. To the believing Gentile,
Abraham is likewise his father. Other than Christ, Abraham is
a most central figure in the Word of God. If there was any
man who by some stretch of the imagination might achieve righteousness
in the flesh, Abraham would certainly have to be considered as that
man. So Paul's question, did Abraham obtain righteousness
by something that he did? Did Abraham obtain righteousness
for something he accomplished? did he find in his flesh the
wherewithal and the ability to extricate himself from nature
and bring himself to spirituality. Since he is considered, if possible,
the most likely human being to achieve this noble status, if
he cannot, according to this passage, then every other human
being is without hope in obtaining righteousness in the flesh. If
Abraham couldn't do it, That's why Abraham was used, because
he's called the father of the faithful. That's why he was used
as the example. If he could not obtain righteousness
in the flesh, don't think you can. Paul has already declared
this to be absolutely so. He continues to press the truth
in order to do two things. First, using Abraham as an example,
he will utterly discount the possibility of obtaining righteousness
in the flesh. Secondly, he's revealing that
singular way in which a man is righteous before God, and further,
he is introducing the principle doctrine that will occupy his
words for the next three chapters, for the next two chapters, mainly
the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, imputed righteousness
charged to his people. What if man could be justified
by works? This is the questions that he
answers here. He says in verse two, for if
man were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but
not before God. What if man could be justified
by works, if it were possible? that justification could only
take place in the realm of nature. His justification would consist
of the boasting of men, the accolades of men on his behalf. That's
how a man is justified in the flesh. It has to be that way
because he's not going to stand up and say it himself. He's going
to rely on others to report his great and glorious religious
acts. His righteousness would be from
the estimation of men because he would only do what he did
to be seen of men and somehow get his behavior recorded so
someone would know about it. Our Lord was righteous and he
is righteousness, the very righteousness of God. He lived in this world
for 33 years and died in the room instead of his people. He
walked this earth as a man, the God-man. God manifested in the
flesh, the Word made flesh. Perfect in everything he did. Every step he took was for the
honor of God. Every breath he breathed was
for the glory of the Father. Never sinned, never had an evil
thought, never did an evil deed. He walked perfectly. And nobody
knew it. Nobody knew he was righteous.
Nobody knew he was righteousness. I hear people talk about people
seeing Christ in them. They didn't see Christ in Christ,
so they're not going to see him in you. Trust me on this. Christ was perfectly righteous.
And it says of his brethren that lived in his house, the other
children of Mary, they didn't believe him. said that, John
chapter 7. And most of the time when the
Pharisees who knew a great deal about human righteousness would
look at him and hear him talk, they'd say, isn't this Joseph's
son? Perfectly righteous now without
sin. He hath the devil. Perfectly
righteous without sin. This is the estimation of men. He's a drunk, a wino. a winebibber,
perfectly righteous and without sin. This was the estimation
of men. So if men are going to judge
you to be righteous, they're going to have to come up with
the scale to judge you by. If you have achieved righteousness
before men, then you have a right to receive the glory of men.
This is what this passage says. If Abraham were justified by
works, he hath whereof to glory. He hath whereof to glory. If
I could be righteous by my words, I would have reason to glory
in myself if I could do it. This is the argument he's setting
forth here. Again, this is the only place
you make glory because because with men the praise of men is
the reward you're going to get. It's the reward itself. Our Lord
said when He talked in Matthew chapter 6 about giving your arms
and praying and fasting. He says you do it before men,
you'll get the glory of men. You do it to be seen of men,
you'll get the glory of men. when you pray, if you do it out
public and make long prayers and impress people with your
Christianity and pray at every meal and stuff like that, people
are going to say, well, there's a righteous man. You got your
reward. You got what you was looking
for. He said that when you fast, don't let anybody know you're
fasting. Go into a closet, fast, and after you've fasted, take
a shower, clean up and shave and come out looking like nothing's
ever happened. Because if you let people know you've been fasting,
you let them know, then you've got your glory. God ain't got
it, but you have. You've got your glory. He said
of the Pharisees in Matthew 23 and 5, they do what they do to
be seen of men. To be seen of men. Religion rewards
the flesh. It glorifies in the deeds of
the flesh and is pleasing to the flesh. The key to understanding
the exactness of this language is the disclaimer put forth in
the last phrase of verse 2. You'll get your glory before
men but not before God. Not before God. This is a blanket
disclaimer to any and all efforts of the flesh to establish righteousness
no matter how or what way you put it out there. It will never
be accepted. Never. Your efforts at righteousness,
to establish a righteousness before God, will never, ever
be accepted. And there is no exception to
this divine rule. no matter the praise and applause
of men, no matter the natural good deeds which you may perform,
and I hope you do, no matter the philanthropy, and I hope
you are philanthropic, no matter the kindness or generosity that
garners the recognition of men, listen very carefully, it means
nothing to God in the matter of righteousness.
It is a mockery. to the person and work of his
dear son, and it sets your presumed righteousness as a rival to the
righteousness of God revealed in the gospel from faith to faith.
Such a thing will never be allowed before God, but not before God. I remember in my days of religion,
men talked about positional and personal righteousness. You heard
that phrase, Sam? positional and personal righteousness. Positional is what Christ did
for you. As positional is your righteousness.
But there also has to be a personal righteousness. That's what they
would tell you. What does the word personal mean? What does
it involve if it's personal? Self. Right? So personal righteousness
is actually self-righteousness. So it's condemned completely
by the Lord God. However, everyone who knows Abraham
knows that God accounted him righteous. It says so right here. The only way to find out how
he came to be is to apply the Word of God, to come to the Word
of God. It says that Abraham believed God and it was accounted
to him for righteousness. What happened there? What happened there? The record
is found in Genesis chapter 15. We won't look there, but it's
found there when Abraham was taken out before God had promised
him a son, born a sailor. And he already had a son named
Ishmael, whom he loved. He loved his boy. No doubt about
it. Every man loves his son. and
he said, you know, let's not worry about that thing with Sarah,
let's just make it Israel, make it Ishmael, let it be, my heir. God said, no, I'm gonna give
you a son born of Sarah, whose womb is dead and she can't produce
babies, but I'm gonna give you a son born of her. When you're
too old to produce children, I'm gonna give you a son born
of your union, but it's a son born by the power of the spirit,
not the power of the flesh. And so he took Abraham out and
took him to a mountain and said, look up at the sky. He says,
tell me how many stars there are. Abraham said, I can't remember
them. He said, well, let's look down
at the shore and see how many grains of sand on that beach.
He said, so shall thy seed be. So shall thy seed be. And there Abraham believed God.
Concerning what? Concerning the seed. What's that
seed? Let's look at Galatians chapter
3. In Galatians chapter 3, first
look at verse 6 saying, what happened that night was God did
something to Abraham and did something for him. It says in
chapter 3 and verse 6, it says, even as Abraham believed God
and was accounting him for righteousness, know you 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 the gospel unto Abraham saying
what? In thee shall all nations be
blessed. God preached the gospel that
night to Abraham and he believed God. He believed God. Then in
verse 16 it says, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises
made. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, unto
thy seed, which is Christ." Abraham believed God concerning Jesus
Christ and it was accounted to him for righteousness. When Abraham
believed God concerning the seed, when he believed the gospel that
God preached to him concerning Christ, God accounted to him
for righteousness. That's what it says. Faith did
not make Abraham righteous, it made him believe. It made him
believe God concerning righteousness, which is Jesus Christ. The righteousness
recognized and approved by God is that righteousness revealed
from faith to faith, and it's only revealed in the gospel. cherish the gospel if you know
it, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. This faith can
never be attributed to the works of the flesh. It says in verse
4 of our text, for to him that worketh is the reward reckoned,
not reckoned of grace, but of death. What he's saying is if
you get there by your works, you get it because you've earned
it. But it can't be of grace. For
it says in Romans chapter 11, grace and works can never go
together. When it's work, there can be no grace. When it's grace,
there can be no works. It's that simple. He believed God. He believed
God. Abraham was not a good man. There's
no such thing. He was not a good man even when
he received faith. He had just before said, let's
poo-poo this idea about me having another son. He was not a good man. He was
simply God's man. He was a man whom God chose.
He was a man whom God graced. He did not work for it because
then he would have received it as wages. That's what this verse
says. He was graced and therefore he believed and God counted it
for righteousness. Though faith worketh by love,
there is no work in believing. That's the thing. No work in
believing. Verse 5 says, But to him that
worketh not. That's so against the idea of
religion. so it's the idea we'll work to
Jesus we used to sing it's a bunch we used to sing man in his works oh man loves
him but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly his faith is counted for righteous him that worketh
not. The hardest thing in the world
for a human being to do is to receive something and be thankful
for something that he had nothing to do with. We want to have some kind of
credit in this situation. It's hard for human beings. Us
human beings, we're sinners and we'd like somebody to take notice
of the fact that we've accomplished something. but we haven't. What a deal to
rest in Jesus Christ, to give up your works. The Bible says
you'll have good works. Yeah, it says they're ordained.
You'll get them. You won't know what they are, but you'll do
them because they're ordained. They're out there. There's a
good work everywhere. Probably every day of your life
there are good works. You don't even know what are called good works.
You wouldn't call them good works. that you're ordained. You'll walk
into it. You'll be equipped to perform it. You will perform
it and won't even know you have because you're ordained. Part of the plan that God has
set forth. Part of His purpose. But to rest in Jesus Christ,
to work not, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. resting from all labors and believing
on him that justifieth the ungodly. He does not justify the worker or the godly, but the ungodly justifies the ungodly. Aren't you supposed to be godly
to be just? No. to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly." Are you willing to take that place? God calls you a dog, are you
willing to become a dog? God calls you a wild ass as colt,
are you going to start stomping around and braying? You need
to, because that's what you are if God calls you. God calls you
ungodly. This is the wonder. Christ died
for us when we were yet sinners. Christ died for the ungodly.
The ungodly. And for the ungodly, the ungodly,
to be given faith to believe that Christ died for the ungodly. To be given faith to believe
that God justifies the ungodly. God can't set for righteous.
That's what it says. To have this righteous and imputed
to you is to be blessed of God. He's blessed His people with
spiritual, all spiritual blessings in Christ, one of which is faith. How did you get that faith? I
hear people talk about their faith all the time. I hear believers
talking about Christ. it's a different I saw so-called
gospel singer and her family she had good she's real popular lady was interviewing she said
well my faith keep I say it's God keeps me He's given me faith to believe
what He said in His Word. Faith does not make a man righteous. Faith did not make Abraham righteous. It made him believe God concerning
righteousness. Righteousness recognized and
approved by God is that righteousness of Christ, who is Jesus Christ. If you have the righteousness
that is accepted before God, it's because God has blessed
you. He's charged you with something. He's imputed something to your
account. He's imputed it to you, and it
is righteousness in which you stand. You stand before God in
righteousness, and you stand for Him as righteousness. The
evidence that you have it is not by works. because God has
given you faith to believe Him. What do you believe? What does a believer believe?
He believes that he stands before God righteous because Christ
is his righteousness. That's what he believes. That's
what faith believes. You know, our Lord said something in one
of the Gospels he said only believe now religion has that as a starting
point to your salvation that you believe and then you get
busy working the rest of it out what would it be for you and
me if we only believed just believed only believed How do you believe? Well, you believe because God
has graced you. He's given you faith, that wondrous
thing that lays hold of the truth of God. By grace you're saved
through faith. That faith is not of yourselves.
It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. How
did Abraham be considered righteous by God? He believed God concerning
Jesus Christ. In other words, he believed the
gospel because Roman 1 says the gospel concerns Jesus Christ. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name, amen.