Romans 4:1-12 "Who's Your Daddy?"

1:21But at the movie's climax, and this is a spoiler, but it's 20 years old, so I don't know what to tell you, Albert learns that his real father Is not Fernand, but Edmund, the man that he knows as the Count of Monte Cristo. And knowing his real father, his true identity, would transform the way that he viewed himself for the rest of his life. Last week, Paul ended Romans chapter 3 by teaching that we are not justified by a law of works, but through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. According to Paul, God will count us righteous not by what we do, but by faith alone. To Paul's original readers, that might have sounded like a very risky proposition. I think that's still true today, because no other religion on earth teaches justification by faith. That God will count you righteous not by what you do, but by faith in Him and His promises. Every other religion teaches justification by works. If you want to be counted righteous, then you have to do certain things. So think about what we've learned in Romans so far. In Romans 1 and 2, Paul taught that human beings can look at creation and know that God exists. On top of that, our hearts and our consciences have God's law written on them, and we know everything we're doing is either right or wrong.

2:59And because we're not doing it, That we know we have sinned against this magnificent Creator. And so we conclude that we have to do something, maybe many things, to atone for our sins. We've got to do certain religious practices, we've got to offer sacrifices, we've got to do something. Doing nothing to atone for our sins is not an option in our minds. So some of Paul's readers, and probably a lot of modern people who read Romans as well, are going to find it hard to believe that God is going to justify anyone through faith.

3:40Gentiles would find it hard to believe. All pagan religions involve lots of rituals and sacrifices to atone for sins. So any claim that we will be justified by faith alone would have sounded dubious to Gentiles. And Jews would find it hard to believe. After all, the Mosaic law is very clear and very specific about what sacrifices have to be made when you sin, how they need to be offered, when and where they need to be offered. So if justification by faith sounded dubious to Gentiles, it probably sounded nearly inconceivable to Jewish people.

4:23I wonder if you also might find it hard to believe that God Will justify us through faith alone. Do you find that hard to believe? Well, here in chapter 4, Paul is going to prove that God does, in fact, count us righteous through faith alone. And he's going to do that by reminding us this morning, Jews and Gentiles, all of us, that we don't trace our spiritual lineage back to Moses, but to Abraham. Every Christian traces his or her spiritual lineage back to Abraham. He is the spiritual father of all who believe. And so this morning in Romans chapter 4, we're going to learn that like Abraham, we will be counted righteous by faith, not by works.

5:18So let's take a look again at verses 1 through 3 here in Romans 4. Paul asks, what then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now, as we've seen, up to this point, Paul has been talking about the law, the law that was given through Moses when God brought his people out of the land of Egypt. And in Scripture, the law is most often referred to as the law of Moses. That's how people referred to it in everyday language, the law of Moses. So you might expect that because Paul has been talking about the law, that of course, naturally, he's going to start talking about Moses. But he doesn't. Instead, he starts talking about Abraham. And he does this because the Jewish people and all believers in the God of the Bible trace their spiritual heritage not to Moses, but to Abraham, who lived some 500 years earlier. Paul calls Abraham our forefather according to the flesh. Why does he call him that? Look at Genesis 12 on the screen.

6:44Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Before God appeared to him, Abraham, who was known as Abram at this point in his life, was a run-of-the-mill pagan. He was not a worshipper of God. He was not even seeking God. He was just minding his own business, living with his barren wife Sarah in the land of God. Land of Haran.

7:32But then God, the one true Lord of heaven and earth, appears to him. And God commands him to leave his country and to leave his extended family and go to the land that the Lord would show him. God promised to make a people out of him, a great nation, and to bless all of the families of the earth through him. That is going to be very important to Paul's argument later on. That God promised to Abraham to bless all of the families of the earth through him.

8:02And so Paul asks the question: what then shall we say was gained by our father Abraham? Now that Greek word gained, as it's translated in the ESV, can also be translated found or discovered. In most cases, actually, it's always translated found or discovered. It's not usually translated gained. So what did Abraham gain or what did he find or discover? Through his interactions with God, did he find or discover that he would be justified by works? That he'd be counted righteous by what he did?

8:41If so, Paul says that Abraham would then have something to boast about. Not before God, of course, but before other people. Because think about it, if you're justified by works, then you're counted righteous by what you do. And you might do more works or better works than other people around you. Than your family members or your friends or your neighbors, and that would give you something to boast about. If you're justified by works, you can look around at the other people in your life and you can say, I'm better than these people. I do more good things, or I do better things than they do. I do them more often, more consistently. I feel good about myself because I'm not like them. In other words, you would be a lot like the Pharisee in the parable that Jesus tells, where he favorably compares himself to the tax collector, who wasn't as good of a person as him.

9:37But you see, that's not the case. That's not what Abraham found. That's not what Abraham discovered. Abraham wasn't justified by works. And how do we know that? Look at verse 3. For what does the scripture say? Friends, this is the most important question that we can ask in any situation. What does the scripture say? Why would Paul ask that question? Why should we ask that question? Look on the screen at 2 Timothy 3. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

10:31Friends, we believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. We believe that the Bible is profitable, that God uses it to make us complete and equipped for every good work in this life. So, in any situation, the most important question that we can ask is, what does the Scripture say? The most important question is not, what do I think? Or what do you think? Or what does this popular author think? Or what does this popular book say?

11:10That's not the most important question. The most important question is, what does the Scripture say? So, was Abraham justified by works? What does the Scripture say? Look at verse 3. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now, remember, God had appeared to Abraham in Genesis 12 and promised to make of him a great nation. But Abraham's wife, Sarah, was barren. They didn't even have one child, much less a large family that could become a great nation.

11:47But Abraham obeyed God. He left his country and his extended family, and he headed toward the land that God would show him. And God appears to him again and tells him not to fear. His reward is going to be very great. But Abraham laments and says, God, I don't have a son. I still don't have a son. My servant Eleazar is set to inherit all that I have. And look at what happens next in Genesis 15.

12:16And God brought Abraham outside and said, Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. God made a promise to Abraham, and then he reaffirmed that promise. And Abraham trusted that God would keep the promise that he made. So, friends, what Paul is doing is he's reminding us that we do not trace our spiritual lineage, our spiritual heritage, back to Moses the lawgiver. We trace our spiritual heritage back to Abraham, the man who is justified by faith and not by works. Abraham is our spiritual father. And Abraham was counted righteous by faith and not by works, as Paul goes on to explain in greater detail. Let's pick up now in verse 4.

13:20Now, to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the Ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Paul could have been an economics professor at Texas AM. Last week, he is teaching us about the idea that there is no such thing as a free lunch. If something is free, well, that means that someone else paid for it, right? Nothing in this world is free.

13:54Somebody pays for everything. And today, Paul is teaching us about the concept of wages: that when you work, your employer owes you wages. Imagine that you got hired and worked hard for two weeks. And on that second Friday, your employer came to you and said, you know what? You've been a good worker the past couple weeks, and I'm feeling pretty generous today. So here, here's a little token of my appreciation and handed you your paycheck. You would be offended. Why would you be offended? Because you were not relying on the generosity of your employer. You were not hoping that he or she would be in a good mood on the day that they were cutting checks. You agreed to work for wages. So your paycheck is not a gift. You earned them by working. That's what Paul is saying in verse 4. But what if you don't work? What if you don't do anything and you still Get paid. You aren't owed anything because you didn't work. So if you get paid, you've received a gift, not wages. You've been given something that you did not earn. That's what Paul says in verse 5. Look there. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

15:28This was true for Abraham. There was nothing that Abraham did. There was nothing that Abraham could have done. He lived 500 years before the law was given. So there's no way that Abraham could have been justified by the works of keeping the law. Why was Abraham justified? Because as verse 5 says, he believed in him who justifies the ungodly. I want you to look at those words, believes in him. This goes back to what we saw last week in Romans chapter 3. We are not saved by our faith. We are saved by God.

16:14It is not the amount of our faith that saves us, but the object of our faith that saves us. We are saved by believing in God and His promises. Friends, that is so important. Because so many professing Christians. And maybe this is true of you. So many professing Christians live with some degree of fear that they just don't have enough faith, that they're going to get to the end of their lives and God is going to reject them because they don't have enough faith or because they have some doubts or because they struggle with doubt on a regular basis. But, friends, faith doesn't save us, faith in God saves us.

16:59I think we understand that people have varying levels of faith. Some people have great faith. Some people have small faith. Some people, this is true of me, it's probably true of you, have varying degrees of faith day to day. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that faith is even a spiritual gift that God gives to some believers, enabling them to exercise faith in ways that many of us can't. So, friends, some believers never doubt God and His Word. Some battle occasional doubts. Some may be like Jesus' disciple Thomas, who walked with him three years and yet still have doubts. Some people struggle with doubt for a lot of their life.

17:47So, let me remind you: it is not the amount of your faith that saves you. Whether you have great faith or small faith, if you have faith in God and His promises, you will be counted righteous. Just like Abraham. And that brings up a very good question. Why did Abraham believe God's promises? Why do any of us believe promises? We don't trust words, we trust people. You may have noticed that our church building is next door to the regional offices for Berkshire Hathaway.

18:32And Warren Buffett has been the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970. Can you imagine? And he's got lots of famous quotes, but he famously said this: you can't make a good deal with a bad person. Isn't that true? You can't make a good deal with a bad person. That's because when it comes to promises, words don't matter at all. Character matters. The reason that Abraham didn't work, the reason that he did not think that he had to do something to earn the son that God had promised him, is because Abraham believed God.

19:19He trusted God's character, so he trusted God's promise. And in the same way, you and I can trust God's promise to justify the ungodly. Because we can trust God's character. The Bible is one gigantic record of God fulfilling his promises, especially his promise to count righteous those who believe in him and his word. And King David supplies further proof that this is true. Take a look at verse 6. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

20:10Now, that quote comes from Psalm 32. We're very familiar with that here because we read those verses together during our moment of confession on a regular basis. King David was called by God a man after my own heart. And yet, as most of us know, King David sinned greatly. The lowest moment of his life was sleeping with the wife of Uriah, one of his most loyal officers, and then having Uriah killed on purpose in battle. Uriah was so loyal. He trusted David so much that David actually handed him the envelope with his own death sentence in it in order. Him to carry it to Joab, who would carry out David's orders in that envelope, knowing that Uriah would never open it.

21:09This is the kind of man that David betrayed. So you can only imagine the tears that must have soaked the page on which David wrote Psalm 32 when he says that he speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works. How do you describe David's works? Were they good works? Taking another man's wife, deceiving him, lying to him, ordering him to be killed in battle and covering it up, making it look like he was just a casualty of war? David's works were wicked. They were lawless, they were sinful. And when the prophet Nathan confronted David about his lawless and sinful works, David did what we all must do.

22:09He owned it. He confessed it. He repented and turned away from all of it. And because of that, David came to know the blessing of those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are covered. God does not count the sins against any who confess. Them and turn from them and repent of them and believe in him who justifies the ungodly. So, friends, I do not know what you've done in your life, but you probably have not taken someone else's husband or wife and had their spouse murdered. Even if you did, you need to know that God justifies the ungodly.

22:53God can justify the ungodly because he put his son Jesus Christ to death in our place for our sins on the cross, as Paul talked about at the end of Romans 3. God put Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice for your sins and for mine. And if you believe in God and His promises, the God who justifies the ungodly, your faith will be counted as righteousness. You will be justified by His grace as a gift, not because you've earned it by anything that you've done.

23:28So, Abraham is our spiritual father, and Abraham was counted righteous by faith. So, let's conclude now in verses 9 through 12, where we'll see that we must walk in Abraham's footsteps. Verse 9. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after? After he had been circumcised, it was not after, but before he was circumcised.

24:08Remember back in verse 1, Paul referred to Abraham as our forefather according to the flesh. He's clearly talking to the Jewish Christians there in Rome. And so Paul anticipates the question that all of his readers, Jewish and Gentile, are going to have, and that is, is this blessing of justification by faith only for the circumcised, or is it also for the uncircumcised? Is it for the Jews only or for the Gentiles also? And so what does Paul do? He reminds us that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. So here's the key question: verse 10: Was Abraham counted righteous before or after he had been circumcised?

24:59Circumcision is a work. It's something that God commanded Abraham to do. And many Jewish people believed that Abraham was counted righteous not because of his faith, but because he was faithful. In other words, many Jewish people thought that Abraham was counted righteous because he obeyed God. What does Paul do? Implicitly, he does the same thing he did back in verse 3. He asks the question, What does the scripture say? The order of events in scripture is critical. In Genesis 15, God reaffirms his promise to Abraham, saying that he would bless him and give him a son and make a great nation of him. Abraham believed God and God counted it to him as righteousness. Then, a decade and a half later, two chapters later in Genesis 17, God gives Abraham the covenant of circumcision, requiring every male in his household to be circumcised, and every baby, every firstborn son, and every son thereafter to be circumcised after that point.

26:10But that's many years later. And so here's Paul's conclusion. Look at verse 11. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Paul says, by the time Abraham received the sign of circumcision, he had already received justification from God. Circumcision was a sign and a seal of the righteousness that he already had through faith while he was still uncircumcised. In other words, Abraham's faith preceded his works.

26:53And friends, this has clear implications for baptism, doesn't it? Baptism is the new covenant sign and seal of the righteousness that we already have through faith in Christ. So baptism doesn't precede faith. Faith precedes baptism. This is what Paul says in Colossians 2. Take a look on the screen. He says, in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him, look at this, through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

27:42That is why we don't baptize anyone, infants, children, or even adults, who hasn't made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Because according to Paul, baptism is the sign and seal of the righteousness that we already have through faith in the powerful working of God. And so for us, our faith must precede baptism, just as for Abraham, faith preceded his circumcision. And what was the purpose of God doing things in this way? Look at the second half of verse 11.

28:20The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. And to make him the father of the circumcised, who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. Paul says the whole point of God giving the covenant of circumcision to Abraham many years after he was counted righteous by faith was to make him the spiritual father of all who believe.

28:58That was the purpose. He is the spiritual father of the uncircumcised, that is, Gentiles, because Abraham was a Gentile when God revealed himself to him and called him and counted him righteous by faith, showing that all who believe in God will also be counted righteous by faith. And he's the spiritual father of the circumcised, that is the Jews. As long as, did you catch this, you're not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that Abraham had before he was circumcised. You see, if justification was about circumcision or any other works, we'd have something to boast about. But Abraham wasn't justified by works. The Jews weren't justified by works, and we will not be justified by works. We are justified by God's grace as a gift, and we receive that gift through faith so that no one can boast. We must walk in the faith. In the footsteps of the faith of our Father Abraham.

30:07So, for those of us who profess to believe in Jesus Christ, this passage presents us with the opportunity to consider who or what we are trusting in this morning. Some of us here today are trusting in the signs and seals of the Christian faith, especially baptism. You might reason that because you were baptized or maybe got baptized more than once, that you'll be counted righteous by God. But friends, Paul is clear in this text that if we are merely baptized, we will not be counted righteous. That is also true if you are merely a church attender, merely a Bible reader, merely a cross-necklace wearer.

30:56To be counted righteous, you need more than external signs and seals. You need to share Abraham's faith in God and his promises. Does that describe you this morning? Others are trusting in their faith to save them, believing that unless they have perfect faith, strong faith that never has any doubts, you will not be counted righteous by God. But friends, Jesus did not say that we need perfect faith to be counted righteous. Abraham's faith was not perfect. But he believed God and his promises. As long as your faith rests in God and his promises, the God who put forward Jesus Christ as an atoning sacrifice for your sins, you too will be counted righteous. Does that describe you?

31:49But I think many here today are trusting in Christ and in Christ alone to save them. Your faith is not in signs and seals. Your faith is not in the amount of your faith. Your faith is in Jesus Christ, his sinless life, his death, and his resurrection from the dead. And if that is you, you will be counted righteous. How do we know that? Because God promises. Look at 2 Corinthians 5. For our sake, God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

32:26So, friends, let us continue to walk in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham, the faith that he had before he was circumcised, before he had done works of any kind, because like Abraham, we will be counted righteous by faith and not by works. Let's pray. Father, so many of us today know the blessing of having our lawless deeds forgiven and our sins covered. I pray that we would never lose sight of that. That we would never lose that awe.

33:37That we, those people who from birth were idolaters and who dishonored our parents, and who hated people in our lives, and who told lies and who stole and who looked at men and women with lustful intentions in our hearts. May we never lose the awe, the amazing reality that our lawless deeds are forgiven and our sins are covered. I pray that it would produce in us a humility that is eager to extend the gospel to fellow sinners who also need the good news of Jesus Christ.

34:28God, we pray for Some men, some women, some children in this room this morning who need to put their trust in Christ alone. Would you speak to them and meet them today? Would you draw them to repentance and faith? That they would no longer trust in their performance, their works, their faith, anything else, but they would trust in you and you alone to save them. God, we thank you for your word. Your word allows us to ask the question: what does the scripture say?

35:08and have true and trustworthy answers every time. We praise you, God. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net. Yeah.