Abraham's Justification (Romans 4:1-8)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:06.719 Let's continue to hear God's word, now from Romans four, of verses one 2 00:00:06.839 --> 00:00:12.910 through eight. Romans Four. If you're able, please remain standing as we 3 00:00:13.029 --> 00:00:25.260 hear God's word and give your undivided attention to it. Romans four, verses 4 00:00:25.379 --> 00:00:30.260 one through eight. What, then, shall we say was gained by Abraham, 5 00:00:30.539 --> 00:00:35.460 our father, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by 6 00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:40.649 works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For 7 00:00:40.729 --> 00:00:46.250 what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him 8 00:00:46.250 --> 00:00:51.359 as righteousness. Now, to the one who works, his wages are not 9 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:55.320 counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who 10 00:00:55.320 --> 00:01:00.399 does not work but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith 11 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:04.510 is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the 12 00:01:04.629 --> 00:01:10.510 one to whom God counts righteousness. Apart from works, blessed are those whose 13 00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:15.069 lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against 14 00:01:15.109 --> 00:01:40.489 whom the Lord Will Not Count His sin. You may be seated. We 15 00:01:40.609 --> 00:01:46.769 come to a passage this morning that is in many ways very straightforward and has 16 00:01:46.810 --> 00:01:51.840 a very simple point the point of the passage is one that God has been 17 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:57.120 making throughout these pages enrollments so far and we'll continue to make, and it's 18 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:04.189 simply this. You're justified by faith and not by works. It's a simple 19 00:02:04.269 --> 00:02:07.550 point and it's one that should amaze us and cause us to fall to our 20 00:02:07.550 --> 00:02:14.949 knees and thankfulness and praise. It's one that should encourage our hearts give strength 21 00:02:15.069 --> 00:02:20.900 to the way we live our lives. It has deep and lasting impacts when 22 00:02:21.979 --> 00:02:29.580 God calls to work in us, but it often seems in some ways so 23 00:02:29.699 --> 00:02:32.370 simple that we simply forget it or we don't pay much attention to it, 24 00:02:32.449 --> 00:02:36.129 or we kind of check a box and say, well, they are now. 25 00:02:36.169 --> 00:02:42.169 I understand that, but it's much more important than that. Paul it's 26 00:02:42.250 --> 00:02:46.240 been mentioning this in various ways, arguing for this point, and he's going 27 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:51.759 to press the point even further here. It's right for us to consider it 28 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:57.759 and consider this per this particular example that he gives in Abraham. I'll explain 29 00:02:57.879 --> 00:03:02.789 why in a moment, but let's begin by just remembering Paul's basic argument. 30 00:03:04.710 --> 00:03:08.349 Paul has been arguing so far that there is no way that our good works 31 00:03:08.430 --> 00:03:15.620 could ever possibly earn us anything good before God. Are Good works can't earn 32 00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:23.620 us anything good before God because our good works aren't good, because they're tainted 33 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:30.009 and broken and come from evil hearts, hearts that were born and corruption and 34 00:03:30.129 --> 00:03:35.610 sin, because of our fall and Adam they also create a situation in which 35 00:03:35.650 --> 00:03:39.250 we don't start from a blank slate and simply need to do good things to 36 00:03:39.370 --> 00:03:46.039 earn God's blessing, but we start from debt, we start from a negative 37 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:52.280 kind of situation. That's why we call it salvation. What we seek from 38 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:55.590 God and his blessing is not only blessing, but it's the blessing of salvation. 39 00:03:55.750 --> 00:04:01.389 It's something that God does for us and bringing us out of our sins. 40 00:04:03.069 --> 00:04:06.509 Now, the reason Paul has been describing it in this way, telling 41 00:04:06.590 --> 00:04:10.900 us that our good works aren't all as good as we think they are and 42 00:04:11.020 --> 00:04:14.099 that in fact, we have evil works, a cure accruing to us, 43 00:04:14.939 --> 00:04:17.860 works that are worthy of the wrath of God, is because he wants to 44 00:04:17.899 --> 00:04:24.689 tell us something about that salvation, about the blessing that comes from God through 45 00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:30.009 Jesus. What Paul has been arguing is that it's not our good works, 46 00:04:30.689 --> 00:04:34.930 but it's his that save us, good works done by the son of God, 47 00:04:35.769 --> 00:04:42.040 which are imputed to us. You remember Paul's words back in Romans Chapter 48 00:04:42.199 --> 00:04:45.519 One, where he says, for I am not ashamed of the Gospel, 49 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:49.839 for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to 50 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:54.750 the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for in it, that 51 00:04:54.949 --> 00:05:00.589 is in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. 52 00:05:00.629 --> 00:05:03.790 As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. This is 53 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:10.819 Christianity all summed up in just a couple verses. It is how we begin 54 00:05:10.939 --> 00:05:15.420 our lives. It is the way we live our lives. Life Living, 55 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:20.379 all the parts of it, beginning, middle and end, happened by faith. 56 00:05:21.009 --> 00:05:26.569 And it happens not by our righteousness, our good works, but by 57 00:05:27.490 --> 00:05:35.120 God's righteousness. We live by the righteousness of God. Now, just before 58 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:42.399 Romans, for Paul has described this kind of salvation and very particular ways. 59 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:48.959 He described it as justification, as propitiation, as redemption, these technical big 60 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:56.990 words perhaps that mean these specific things. He described our salvation of receiving, 61 00:05:58.269 --> 00:06:04.019 receiving the righteousness of God as justification. He described our salvation as God's wrath 62 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:10.779 being turned away, as a propitiation. He described our being set free from 63 00:06:11.259 --> 00:06:17.100 sin and death, being released from that bond as redemption. All of these 64 00:06:17.180 --> 00:06:21.689 things adding up to this single point that God saves us not by our good 65 00:06:21.730 --> 00:06:29.490 works but by his so that brings us to Romans for thank you for tracking 66 00:06:30.009 --> 00:06:33.839 so far. Romans for one, through a God, adds further strength to 67 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:41.639 this argument by showing how this is worked out in the particular example of Abraham. 68 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:46.670 In other words, Abraham is justified by faith and not by works. 69 00:06:49.910 --> 00:06:54.149 Now, if you don't know much about Abraham, I suspect that this point 70 00:06:54.189 --> 00:06:59.310 feels somewhat minor. A valid point, but not really a big deal. 71 00:07:00.029 --> 00:07:04.500 Okay, God justifies everyone by faith. Abraham belongs to the category of everyone. 72 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:10.420 So yes, of course Abraham was justified by faith. Move On. 73 00:07:11.860 --> 00:07:17.170 But it's not quite right to move on when we talk about Abraham. Abraham 74 00:07:17.250 --> 00:07:23.129 is not just someone else who was also justified by faith. But in thinking 75 00:07:23.170 --> 00:07:28.529 about Abraham in particular, we begin to understand certain aspects of our salvation. 76 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:35.319 It's we begin to understand how important it is that justification happens in this way. 77 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:41.680 Important not just in a general sense, but important for you and for 78 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:47.029 your lives. God chose to give us this example of Abraham in Romans for 79 00:07:47.230 --> 00:07:53.269 precisely because Abraham was a very big deal. He was a big deal two 80 00:07:53.389 --> 00:07:58.189 thousand years before Christ came and he is a big deal two thousand years after 81 00:07:58.230 --> 00:08:03.060 Christ has come. Think about what the Scriptures say in regards to Abraham and 82 00:08:03.259 --> 00:08:09.300 why he in particular might be selected as an example to prove that justification comes 83 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:16.449 by faith alone. Consider how the book of Genesis Begins. Consider how the 84 00:08:16.569 --> 00:08:22.490 Bible begins. It begins, of course, in the garden of Eden and 85 00:08:22.769 --> 00:08:28.319 moves through a series of genealogies up to Abraham and in then at that point 86 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:35.000 that the story in genesis really slows down and focuses on him in particular. 87 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:39.639 You think about the exodus and Moses and the people of Ed, people coming 88 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:45.629 out of Egypt. That was all because of Abraham, because Abraham's children had 89 00:08:45.669 --> 00:08:50.629 multiplied. God brought them out of Egypt because of his promises to Abraham. 90 00:08:52.110 --> 00:08:56.019 Even the prophets will appeal back to him over and over again. You have 91 00:08:56.220 --> 00:08:58.220 sinned, you have disobeyed, God says to his people, but because of 92 00:08:58.340 --> 00:09:05.419 my promises to Abraham, I will bring you out of Babylon, I will 93 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:11.049 bring you back and restore to you a salvation and blessing as my people. 94 00:09:13.649 --> 00:09:18.730 Even Isaiah Fifty one two specifically tells us, tells God's people, and Babylon 95 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:22.090 says, look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave 96 00:09:22.769 --> 00:09:30.039 you birth. So why is Abraham so important? Why does he receive a 97 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:37.399 so much attention? Abraham is important to God's people. He should be important 98 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:43.909 to you because it's through Abraham that God's blessings come. It's as simple as 99 00:09:43.990 --> 00:09:52.070 that. Abraham, God selects Abraham and creates through him this chosen family, 100 00:09:52.830 --> 00:09:58.940 this special family, whom he has decided to bless. That's something you should 101 00:09:58.940 --> 00:10:03.460 want to be a part of. That's something that you should want to belong 102 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:09.929 to. Some of you may be in a position where you have considered a 103 00:10:11.129 --> 00:10:13.610 move before. You're trying to decide, do I move to this place or 104 00:10:13.690 --> 00:10:18.049 this place? Maybe you're moving your family or maybe you're moving a company or 105 00:10:18.129 --> 00:10:22.759 something like that. How do you typically make those decisions? You make them 106 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:28.559 based on the opportunities often that are offered there. The taxes are better here, 107 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:33.000 the work environments here, the climate, whatever it may be. You 108 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:37.350 go to a particular place because there's good things there, you things that you 109 00:10:37.389 --> 00:10:43.750 want to have. Well, if the salvation of God comes through this particular 110 00:10:43.830 --> 00:10:52.299 family, if the salvation of God comes through a particular family, will you 111 00:10:52.419 --> 00:10:58.059 not want to belong to that family? Will you not want to be part 112 00:10:58.139 --> 00:11:05.610 of that particular family? You should, because that is what God has promised 113 00:11:05.649 --> 00:11:11.210 and what God has given. So that creates a whole series of questions. 114 00:11:11.330 --> 00:11:15.169 Well, how do we belong to that family? How can we belong to 115 00:11:15.330 --> 00:11:20.559 Abraham? How can he be our father, especially when, I'm very few 116 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:28.200 of us here can actually trace any kind of lineage to Abraham? It creates 117 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:33.509 somewhat of a conundrum, of a problem. If blessing comes through Abraham will 118 00:11:33.549 --> 00:11:41.870 then how can I be blessed? How can I be his child? Let's 119 00:11:41.870 --> 00:11:46.149 consider the blessing of Abraham as it comes to us in genesis seventeen, where 120 00:11:46.149 --> 00:11:52.740 God makes these promises to him, and you will hear why it's right to 121 00:11:52.860 --> 00:11:58.899 put it this way. First, we remember that Abraham was ninety nine years 122 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:03.809 old when these blessings came to him. He was an old man. Genesis 123 00:12:03.850 --> 00:12:09.889 Seventeen, when Abram was ninety nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram and 124 00:12:09.009 --> 00:12:13.289 said to him I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. 125 00:12:15.610 --> 00:12:20.480 Genesis Seventeen two, that I may make my covenant between me and you, 126 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:28.000 and they multiply you greatly. Now, earlier God had called Abraham out of 127 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:33.190 a very pagan environment. There's a number of ways the scriptures paint that picture 128 00:12:33.309 --> 00:12:37.669 for us in the in the genealogy itself, somewhat in the names that we 129 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:43.029 have there. But he calls Abram out of this environment, out of this 130 00:12:43.470 --> 00:12:46.580 sinful environment, and he says to him I'm going to make a covenant with 131 00:12:46.820 --> 00:12:54.820 you. He says I am going to multiply you greatly. Well, that's 132 00:12:54.820 --> 00:13:00.169 a good thing right in and of itself, but there's ways in which God 133 00:13:00.330 --> 00:13:05.009 defines that root which make it really good and which make it's in such a 134 00:13:05.090 --> 00:13:09.690 way that it's something we should want to be a part of. Will read 135 00:13:09.809 --> 00:13:13.320 on. In verse three we see read the Abraham fell on his face and 136 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:16.919 God said to him, behold, my covenant is with you, and you 137 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:22.840 shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name 138 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:26.759 be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham, for I have 139 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:31.389 made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly 140 00:13:31.669 --> 00:13:35.509 fruitful and I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you. 141 00:13:37.669 --> 00:13:45.700 Imagine if God said something like something like this to you, if God came 142 00:13:45.860 --> 00:13:54.820 to you and said, Victor Bruce Kate, I am going to make you 143 00:13:54.100 --> 00:14:00.490 into a great multitude. From you are going to come nations and kings, 144 00:14:00.769 --> 00:14:07.490 you are going to be exceedingly great. Wow, can you imagine what it 145 00:14:07.570 --> 00:14:11.519 would feel like to hear that kind of promise from one who can actually deliver 146 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:18.120 that kind of promise? No wonder Abraham fell on his face. But he 147 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:22.559 goes on and he says, I will establish my covenants between me and you 148 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:28.509 and your offspring after you, throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant to 149 00:14:28.669 --> 00:14:33.509 be God to you and to your offspring after you. So God not only 150 00:14:33.590 --> 00:14:37.789 promises to do this great thing and to supervise it all to make sure that 151 00:14:37.909 --> 00:14:43.259 it happens, but he is going to be up God to these people. 152 00:14:43.100 --> 00:14:46.059 He is going to be there, he is going to provide for them, 153 00:14:46.100 --> 00:14:50.460 he's going to take care of them, he's going to be their ruler and 154 00:14:50.620 --> 00:14:56.289 their king. Earlier we saying, God of Abram, praise, ever, 155 00:14:56.409 --> 00:15:00.169 God of Abraham, praise. That's why we praise him, because he has 156 00:15:00.210 --> 00:15:05.730 Abraham's God. Verse Eight. I will give to you and to your offspring 157 00:15:05.769 --> 00:15:11.200 after you, the land of your sojourneys, all the land of Canaan for 158 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:20.080 an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. These are amazing promises 159 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:24.950 in remind us that God is pointing to sort of something with two levels. 160 00:15:24.389 --> 00:15:28.269 On the one hand, he's going to bring them into the land of Canaan, 161 00:15:28.470 --> 00:15:31.990 he's going to give them this beautiful land, what the Bible calls almost 162 00:15:31.070 --> 00:15:37.379 glorious land, flowing with milk and honey. He's not just going to expand 163 00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:39.419 his people, but he's going to provide a place for them to live. 164 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:43.899 You see the details, you see the way in which and ways in which 165 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:50.210 God takes care of his people, and so God gives promises these things. 166 00:15:50.570 --> 00:15:56.649 But it's not only earthly he promises him in everlasting possession. Indeed, that 167 00:15:56.809 --> 00:16:03.210 inheritance that we read about in First Peter, and Abraham knew this in Hebrews 168 00:16:03.250 --> 00:16:08.679 Eleven. The the the Bible says that Abraham looked toward a heavenly city. 169 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:15.120 He knew that there was something that he was waiting for. So when God 170 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:19.710 is making these promises, he's not only making them in a kind of earthly 171 00:16:19.830 --> 00:16:26.549 blessed way, but in an altimate, heavenly kind of way, a way 172 00:16:26.669 --> 00:16:32.389 in which they don't just have a family of many, many people, with 173 00:16:32.509 --> 00:16:37.740 kings and rulers and glory and land, but one that is united and together 174 00:16:38.539 --> 00:16:44.139 and loving one another and do you ut, and called around a singular purpose 175 00:16:44.259 --> 00:16:49.809 and worshiping God, the only True God. This is what God is promising 176 00:16:49.850 --> 00:16:55.009 to Abraham. This is the kind of blessing that comes to Abraham and his 177 00:16:55.169 --> 00:17:00.330 family. Well, as we continue on in Jenesen's genesis seventeen, we read 178 00:17:00.409 --> 00:17:06.119 that this comes in particular through a son. In Verse Fifteen, God said 179 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:08.720 to Abraham, as for Sarah, your wife, you shall not call her 180 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:15.000 name Sarah, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her and, 181 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:18.630 moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless 182 00:17:18.710 --> 00:17:22.430 her and she shall become nations, kings of people shall come from her. 183 00:17:23.789 --> 00:17:30.420 Well, the Neighbraham doesn't believe. The NEBRAHAM fell on his face, not 184 00:17:30.579 --> 00:17:34.420 out of thankfulness, but he laughs and says to himself. Shall a child 185 00:17:34.460 --> 00:17:38.180 be born to a man who's a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who 186 00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:45.009 is ninety years old, bear a child? Well, that we see here 187 00:17:45.650 --> 00:17:52.450 a kind of lack of faith. But ultimately Abraham will believe, for God 188 00:17:52.569 --> 00:17:56.690 has promised. And Verse Twenty One we read, but I will establish my 189 00:17:56.849 --> 00:18:03.279 covenant with Isaac, with Whom Share Sarah shall bear to you at this time 190 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:08.119 next year. So this is the promise God gives. Now, sandwich between 191 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:14.190 these two things, we have this sign of circumcisions, which will consider next 192 00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:18.269 time from Romans, a sign of circumcision. But what we see here, 193 00:18:18.390 --> 00:18:22.190 and the main point I want to make in reading these verses this is it. 194 00:18:22.309 --> 00:18:27.140 God is making these spectacular promises to Abraham. So, going back to 195 00:18:27.220 --> 00:18:32.460 the earlier point, if we want to belong to the salvation of God, 196 00:18:33.019 --> 00:18:36.579 if we want to belong to the family of God and have the promises of 197 00:18:36.660 --> 00:18:42.130 God and the blessings of God, it's going to come through Abraham. It's 198 00:18:42.170 --> 00:18:47.170 going to come through him. That's something that ruth understood when she clung to 199 00:18:47.250 --> 00:18:52.769 Naomi and said your God will be my God. I want to be where 200 00:18:52.769 --> 00:18:57.160 you are. It's a truth that ray have understood when she hid the spies 201 00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:03.559 and and helped Israel, and it's something that the gentiles in the new testaments 202 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:10.430 understood least, sometimes struggled with as well. They had this question. God 203 00:19:10.710 --> 00:19:15.150 had been the god of Abraham since Genesis. How do we relate to that? 204 00:19:15.589 --> 00:19:19.869 We who are not of Abraham, according to the flesh, how can 205 00:19:19.950 --> 00:19:27.819 we have these blessings? This is why Abraham is important and this is why 206 00:19:27.859 --> 00:19:36.779 Paul brings him up in Romans, for the answer is in the way that 207 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:41.970 God called Abraham, in the way that he saved him. Earlier, I 208 00:19:42.009 --> 00:19:48.250 quoted Isaiah fifty one. Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, 209 00:19:48.329 --> 00:19:53.079 your mother. The verse continues on. When I called him, he 210 00:19:53.279 --> 00:20:00.359 was but one and I blessed him and made him many. Look to Abraham, 211 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:06.119 look to Sarah, because when I called him, he was one and 212 00:20:06.279 --> 00:20:12.390 I blessed him and made him many. Why does God and Isaiah want his 213 00:20:12.589 --> 00:20:18.349 people to look to Abraham? Because in Abraham we see the promises of God 214 00:20:18.549 --> 00:20:26.140 fulfilled. In Abraham we see God doing a amazing things. I called him 215 00:20:26.140 --> 00:20:30.579 and he was one, I blessed him and he was many. This is 216 00:20:30.700 --> 00:20:37.690 Paul's message to us in Romans Chapter Four. He begins by asking this question. 217 00:20:38.210 --> 00:20:41.769 What, then, shall we say, was gained by Abraham, our 218 00:20:41.890 --> 00:20:47.049 forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, 219 00:20:47.089 --> 00:20:52.359 he had something to boast about, but not before God. What does the 220 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:59.599 Scripture say? And then it quotes from Genesis hundred and twenty six. Abraham 221 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:07.190 believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Paul makes a biblical 222 00:21:07.269 --> 00:21:12.109 argument. He says, how do we know Abraham was saved? Not by 223 00:21:12.269 --> 00:21:19.220 his works, but by simply believing and receiving God's goods works. He says 224 00:21:19.259 --> 00:21:25.859 it happened. We know this because the scripture proves it, because before we 225 00:21:26.019 --> 00:21:33.930 read of circumcision in genesis seventeen, we have Abraham believing before Abraham did anything, 226 00:21:33.970 --> 00:21:41.690 before Abraham circumcised his children, before Abraham went and in faith obeyed God 227 00:21:41.809 --> 00:21:48.599 in many different ways, he simply believed the promises of God and they were 228 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:56.960 counted to him as righteousness. This corresponds well to the point that Isaiah makes. 229 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:00.670 We look at Abraham as this example and we see this one who has 230 00:22:00.710 --> 00:22:06.309 been blessed in all these ways. We see the promises of God being fulfilled 231 00:22:06.390 --> 00:22:11.390 in him. How because Abraham walked in a certain path, a certain godly 232 00:22:11.549 --> 00:22:15.819 example, and if we follow him in his footsteps, then we can be 233 00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:22.019 like him and also receive the promises of God. No, we look at 234 00:22:22.059 --> 00:22:26.220 Abraham and we see God doing this work and if we belong, if we 235 00:22:26.380 --> 00:22:30.329 want to belong to those promises, if we want to enjoy that blessing, 236 00:22:30.369 --> 00:22:37.450 if we want to belong to that family, then likewise we must believe and 237 00:22:37.730 --> 00:22:47.000 in that we belong to that family. It's a simple point. God saves 238 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:52.920 not by works, are works, but by his Abraham didn't become the father 239 00:22:53.039 --> 00:23:00.990 of a multitude at age ninety nine because he was so fertile and so powerful 240 00:23:00.150 --> 00:23:06.470 and so great. He was weak. He laughed at the fact that God 241 00:23:06.670 --> 00:23:14.940 promised these things. Abraham became what he became because of who God was and 242 00:23:15.099 --> 00:23:18.740 what God did. The same is to for us. If we want these 243 00:23:18.859 --> 00:23:23.700 blessings, if we want to enjoy this salvation that's promised to Abraham, we 244 00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:30.049 can't trust in our works like Abraham. We must believe God and have his 245 00:23:30.289 --> 00:23:37.289 good works, his power, credited to us. Paul emphasizes all this in 246 00:23:37.369 --> 00:23:41.960 verse four by saying now to the one who works his wages are not counted 247 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:47.359 as a gift, but as his due. But what is he said about 248 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:52.599 our works, our wages? What gets counted to us is our due, 249 00:23:52.720 --> 00:24:00.630 our sins. Our due is the wrath of God, the wages of sin. 250 00:24:00.789 --> 00:24:06.309 Paul has said, it's death. We don't want to live life according 251 00:24:06.349 --> 00:24:10.220 to that formula. We don't want to stand before God and say, just 252 00:24:10.380 --> 00:24:17.099 give me what's my due. That's all I ask, because we will die. 253 00:24:18.579 --> 00:24:25.730 What is David say? Paul says blessed are those whose lawless deeds are 254 00:24:25.809 --> 00:24:30.730 forgiven. Blessing comes not to the one who stands before God and says, 255 00:24:32.049 --> 00:24:34.170 look at all the great things that I've done for you this week, look 256 00:24:34.170 --> 00:24:40.000 at all my good intentions, look at the life that I've lived. Blessing 257 00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:44.240 doesn't come to the one who stands himself on his good works. Blessing comes 258 00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:51.279 to the one who's lawless deeds are forgiven. That's how we have blessing, 259 00:24:52.559 --> 00:25:02.470 who sins are covered. So God makes this point to us in Romans, 260 00:25:02.549 --> 00:25:08.220 for he tells us that justification comes to us not by our works, because 261 00:25:08.259 --> 00:25:15.579 in our works we need forgiveness. Justification comes to us by God's works. 262 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:22.130 But when we're justified, we receive not just a theological term that we can 263 00:25:22.569 --> 00:25:30.769 remember, we receive the plot promises that are given to Abraham. We become 264 00:25:32.490 --> 00:25:38.319 princes and princesses, kings and Queens. God becomes our God and we are 265 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:48.039 not bound to worshiping rocks and trees and dirt and gold, but the living 266 00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:52.750 and True God who watches over us, who protects us, who gives us 267 00:25:53.230 --> 00:26:00.509 gifts, who treats us as his children. To belong to the family of 268 00:26:00.589 --> 00:26:08.339 Abraham is to belong to the family of God. For those who love to 269 00:26:08.460 --> 00:26:15.019 stand by their works and Trumpet Their Deeds, this message is infuriating, obnoxious, 270 00:26:15.900 --> 00:26:21.170 irrelevant. The one who wants to stand on his works, who wants 271 00:26:21.210 --> 00:26:26.369 to be treated according to his due, the one who is prideful. This 272 00:26:26.529 --> 00:26:36.359 is all, as I say, irrelevant, maybe even I'm hateful. But 273 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:41.079 if, instead, you find yourself in a position of humility, if you 274 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:45.240 know the turmoils in your soul, if you know the wages that you have 275 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:51.230 earned are not life but death, if you know your sins, if you're 276 00:26:51.269 --> 00:26:59.109 aware of your regrets and your sorrows, then this message is hope. God 277 00:26:59.190 --> 00:27:04.819 has provided a salvation that is for you a salvation that is abundant and rich, 278 00:27:06.539 --> 00:27:11.420 that is filled with life and goodness, that belongs to a heavenly country, 279 00:27:11.460 --> 00:27:17.410 surrounded by a heavenly people, in a heavenly family. This is God's 280 00:27:17.450 --> 00:27:22.849 gift to you in Jesus Christ. Receive it by setting aside your works and 281 00:27:23.250 --> 00:27:32.599 your pride and trusting in him and his power to save. May God help 282 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:37.480 us to understand these things and to live by them. Let us pray