Sermon Transcript
Hear the word of the Lord. Romans 4, select verses. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
Now 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. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him?
Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that we would be heirs of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words, it was counted to him, were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also, It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. God’s word for us today.
All of us, regardless of our past, of our upbringing, of our religious experience, all of us us, all of us, count on something to get us through life, to make us feel whole, to give our lives meaning and significance, to make us feel validated or worthy, like we really are someone, like we matter, to give us hope when times are tough. All of us say, I’m going to be okay because of blank, whatever it is. We all have something. Around here, it’s often career. We think, I matter because I have a fancy job.
I’m at the right level of my corporation. I’m positioned to move up, and therefore I will be okay. Whatever else happens in, in life, I’m set because I’ve made it far enough professionally. You know, for others it’s not career at all, but it could be relationships. We feel we can face anything because we have our people.
Someone loves me. I know my friends have my back. I’m married well. My kids support me. My parents support me.
People at work love me. People at school love me. I admit I am not the top performer, but I am the most popular. It’s relationships that make us feel like we matter, that we are someone, that we’re going to get through what we’re going through. Through.
What’s the thing that you are counting on to know that you’re okay, to know that you have value or worth? Is it money in the bank? The way you look? You know, your looks have always opened doors for you, so you assume it will always be that way in the future. Is it your competence?
You’re the capable one, the dependable one, the one people always go to when something goes wrong. You can fix the problem. Solve the issue, handle the crisis, and deep down you believe, I’ll be okay as long as I’m the smartest person in the room or I can outwork everyone else. I still matter, I’ll get through. Maybe it’s your morality.
You know, you’re honest, you’re responsible, you show up, you care about people, and you believe that must count for something. I mean, eventually the universe has got to notice. Your moral virtue will help you come out on top in the end. Maybe it’s your health. You know, you’ve never really been sick, so you think you’re one of those people who never will be.
It’s your, your strength and your mind are going to carry you all the way until you see Jesus. It’s something.
I don’t know what you’re counting on, but I do know you’re counting on something to make you feel whole to make you feel safe, to make you feel like you matter. You may not even know what it is until you lose it, especially if we’ve kind of always had it our whole life. We may not realize how much we were depending on this thing to hold us up until it’s gone. You know, if we’ve always gotten the grades, we always got the job offer, we always got the promotion, we may not be aware that we must have We must have achievement in order to feel secure. But if suddenly, for the first time, we fail the test, we get passed over for the promotion, right, then we spiral out of control.
It’s not just that we feel disappointed, it feels like our world has ended. And if that’s the case, it means then achievement was the thing that made you feel like you matter, that you have meaning, Same as we may not realize relationships are the thing that is holding us up until maybe we are criticized by someone, especially if it’s somebody in our inner circle. You know, we may not be devastated if we lose the job, so job is not our thing, but the second one of our people criticizes us, we lose it. It’s not just that it hurts, it makes us feel like we’re nothing.
Nobody. We probably don’t know what the thing is that’s holding us up until it’s gone, until the portfolio drops, until we get our first wrinkle, start to show our age, or we can’t figure something out when we’ve always been able to figure it out, or we mess up morally. You know, if we’ve considered ourselves a good person but then we, you know, did something that we can’t even believe that we did it and we’re disgusted with ourselves. Ourselves, right? Something happens that we lose the thing, and then we lose our bearings, and it feels like life is over.
We all have something propping us up regardless of our past upbringing, religious experience. We count on something or several things to give our lives meaning and significance, to make us feel validated and worthy, to like the future is going to be worth living we all have something.
And that is how the Bible describes faith.
It’s whatever we’re counting on. The word is really putting the weight of your life on it. That’s what we have faith in, which is why some— when someone says, you know, I’m not really a person of faith, I say, yes, you are. I mean, your faith may not be in God, but it’s in something. People even talk this way.
They say, you know, I’ve lost faith in the leadership of my company. I’ve lost faith in the markets. I’ve lost faith in myself. We’re all people of faith. Now, what we have faith in may change throughout the course of our lives, And the amount of faith that we have in whatever it is, that can rise and fall depending on how much weight we put on it in order to hold us up.
So faith can grow or shrink, but none of us can live without it. If we have nothing to give us meaning and significance, if we have nothing to give us a sense of worth, if we have nothing to give us hope for a future, future. We can’t live that way. We must have faith in something. It’s necessary for the human experience.
The only question is, what do we have faith in?
We’re in the 4th week of our study of Romans, and we’ve said every week really that Romans is about the gospel, what Christ has done for us to reconcile us with God, to remove our shame guilt, to give us a future, to give us security, to conquer evil, both conquer the evil that’s out in the world and conquer the evil that’s in ourselves. The gospel is what Jesus did to make all of that possible for us. It’s the good news. Last week we said receiving the gospel is as simple as faith, which means counting on Jesus, depending on Jesus. Looking to him for our source of meaning and significance, our worth, reconcile us with God, provide us with a secure future, looking to him instead of looking to anything else.
This week in Romans 4, we’re taking a deeper dive on faith, specifically the faith to leave behind, the faith to embrace, and the difference it makes. The faith to leave behind, the faith to embrace, and the difference it makes. So first, the faith to leave behind is generational identity and our works. Paul’s audience— Paul is who wrote Romans— and his audience, at least the chapter, or at least the audience he’s addressing in this chapter, they were primarily Jewish. And the Jewish people of the day really put their faith in one of two places.
Now, of course, it was in God. If you asked them, what’s your faith in? They would have said God. But you have to look deeper than that. The question is, what were they trusting in in order to be on good terms with God?
What did they believe would give them favor with God? However they answered those kind of questions, that’s what their faith is really in. That’s the real reason, you know, why they thought they were going to be okay is whatever put them on good terms with God. And for them it was one of two possibilities. Either it was their generational identity.
I mean, they were Israelites. They were the chosen people, so of course God would give them a future. Of course they would win in the end. Of course— I mean, they’re the chosen people. What else would happen?
And so that’s one place their faith was. The other was they trusted in their works. Following the law, their morality. They believed they were on good terms with God, they had status with him because they obeyed the law. I mean, certainly they’re more moral than the heathen Gentiles, right?
If it’s them or us, it’s us, right? So generational identity and works. And Paul tells them, you’ve got to let that go.
Leave that behind. Neither of those are what puts you on good terms with God. To address faith and generational identity, Paul brings up the practice of circumcision, which is still, you know, a Jewish practice today, circumcise male babies on the 8th day. But circumcision was a sign that they were part of the covenant community, that they were Jewish, that they were part of the family, that they belonged to the group, that they belonged to this long history, and therefore they thought God would forgive them, make a future for them. So it wasn’t so much the practice of circumcision itself but more what it represented.
They were included because they were part of this heritage. They were born into it and that’s why they would have favor with God. It’s really not that dissimilar to some Christians who believe, you know, they are accepted by God because, you know, they once upon a time they were baptized or Christened just like everybody else in their family. Everybody in their family has always been Christian. It’s part of their heritage.
They kind of grew up around church. You know, maybe their grandparents were notable Christian leaders. They generally believe the Bible is true. They celebrate Christmas. So, I mean, I’m more Christian than anything else.
And that’s the card they play to say, God and I must be on good terms. He will bless me, he will grant me favor because I’m part of this family heritage. And Paul says that’s not the way it works, that’s not how you get there. And to prove it to them, he goes back to Abraham, their forefather, the man they held in maybe highest esteem, possibly even more than Moses. And Paul shows them that’s not how it worked for Abraham.
He says Abraham was included with God God. Abraham was bestowed with status with God. Abraham was promised this future before he was circumcised, really, verse 10. So it wasn’t some ritual that reconciled Abraham with God. Neither was it because he was of his, like, ethnic lineage.
I mean, he was the first one in the family. He’s the original patriarch. So he couldn’t depend on generational identity or the circumcision that represented it. That’s not why he was accepted or included with God. Abraham must have been included for some other reason.
And for Jewish people in the first century, it’s probably pretty convincing. So it’s not generational identity, but what about obeying the law? What about good works? What about their morality? Is that what put them on good terms with God?
Is that what they could trust in? Paul addresses that too. Do. Again, we’re in the, we’re in the 4th chapter of Romans, and really in each of the first 3 chapters he’s over and over again shown that if we rely on our moral obedience to give us status with God, we will, we’ll always fall short. He says instead of the law being a means by which we validate ourselves, the law really serves to humble us.
The law shows us that we’re in trouble. Verse 15, he says the law brings wrath, meaning if we trust in, if our faith is in our works or our performance to give us our worth, it won’t validate us. It will crush us. It brings wrath, not relief. If we think about it, we understand that.
We understand that if we trust in, we’ll say, our achievement, to make us feel whole, whether it’s moral achievement or even like professional achievement, it will fail to consistently make us feel like we matter or give us significance or a future. Because no matter how much we achieve, there will always be part of us that feels less than enough. We’ll look over our shoulder at people who are doing it better We’ll feel inadequate. You know, we’ll think, if I get to that level, then I’ll be okay. But then we get to that level and we’re not okay, or we’re worried about losing it.
Our works cannot validate us. It’s a little like, you probably know, apparently it’s a mostly fictional story, although they’re real people, of Mozart and Salieri. You know, depicted in the play and in the movie Amadeus. Remember this? Salieri was a preeminent composer of his day.
He’s serving in the highest courts. He’s having the most recognition and fame. And we can surmise because of his behavior later on that his faith was in his ability. His musical talents is what gave him meaning and significance, made him feel like he mattered. You know, his future was going to be right because of what he could do, perform.
It’s salvation by works, performance. I mean, you don’t need to be religious to believe in salvation by works. Plenty of people trust in their own savvy, their achievements, their titles, and they are completely secular, right? But putting faith in our works to give us worth, significance, meaning, it brings wrath. That path leads to trouble.
For Salieri, trouble came along through Mozart, who surpassed him. Even though Mozart was younger, he was this prodigy, and pretty soon Mozart was getting more acclaim than Salieri. Mozart’s works were better, it was a higher standard. Salieri couldn’t do it, so he felt like a failure. He lost his mind with jealousy.
If we trust in salvation by works, if we need to achieve to feel like we have a future or we are important, then we will be wrecked by failure. We won’t just be disappointed, it’ll feel like wrath. We’ll be utterly broken. We’ll lose all sense of our worth. You know, whenever the other guy gets the offer, if we don’t get the grade, if we aren’t accepted into the program.
Salvation by works doesn’t work. It doesn’t provide the validation that we need, or it doesn’t provide it for very long. It’s very shaky. And if it’s religious salvation by works, which is more specifically what Paul is addressing, the same thing will happen. I mean, if we count on our moral obedience to give us status, us to guarantee our future.
If that’s what our faith is in, then we’re going to hate ourselves when we don’t measure up. We’re going to feel crushed. Salvation by works brings wrath, whether it’s secular salvation by works or a religious one. So Paul says, don’t put your faith there. Leave that faith behind.
Which brings us to the faith we should embrace. The faith to embrace is in the God who justifies the ungodly. Biblical faith is really a trust transfer because we’re already, already trusting in something to give our lives meaning and significance, to make us feel whole, like we matter, like our future is bright. Already trusting in something. Biblical faith is transferring that trust to what God did for us in Jesus.
You know, for religious people, instead of trusting in our works, our morality, our baptism, our grandmama was a great Christian, instead of trusting in any of that to reconcile us to God, grant us favor with him, instead of trusting in all that is trusting in Christ. And for secular people, and really for all of us to some extent, right, instead of trusting in our education, our looks, our capability, our titles to give us meaning and significance we look to Christ because in Christ we have a worth and a bright future that is not dependent on our performance. To the contrary, it is available to us even when we are utter failures. It’s verse 5, Paul explains, in Jesus the ungodly are justified. The ungodly are made righteous.
The ungodly are bestowed with worth. The ungodly are given a future. It’s the ungodly who have it, not those who’ve earned it. He’s actually very specific about that. It’s not those who’ve earned it.
It’s the ungodly who are validated, elevated. That’s meant to jar us. Because no other system works that way. It’s certainly not the message of any other religion or really any even secular ideology. I mean, if we call someone ungodly, it’s meant to convey you haven’t measured up, you’re second rate, and to some extent therefore you’re alienated, excluded.
But Paul says those are the people who are included and exalted in Christ. It’s like failing out of school and your dad takes you for ice cream. It’s like blowing the big business deal, you know, you lose the most significant account in your company’s history, so they give you a big bonus.
It is unheard of for the ungodly to be justified. But in Christ, that’s what happens. How so? Well, clearly not by works. We know that for sure.
Clearly not because they earned it, because by definition they failed miserably if they are ungodly. So, so then how? Well, it’s explained with a word that’s used 11 times in chapter 4, which is translated as credited or counted. Abraham is credited with righteousness or counted as righteous. It’s a status was given to him that was not his before.
It just moved into his account. I mean, credited is a financial term, but in this context it means that God will treat Abraham as if Abraham is righteous, as if he aced the exam, as if he pulled the big deal together, even though he didn’t. He didn’t. That status is credited to him. All the blessings that should be bestowed on the good, godly, and perfect, all of those blessings are bestowed on Abraham who wasn’t.
That’s what we have in Christ and is received through faith by trusting in Christ, by shifting our faith away from whatever else we hope in to Jesus. Paul explains this is how it was credited to Abraham. It’s all about what he hoped in, where he placed his faith. He trusted in what God would eventually do. As Paul references verses 17 to 20, God promised Abraham that Abraham would be the father of many nations.
And more specifically, if we go back to Jesus, that some— I mean Genesis, if we go back to Genesis, some ancestor of Abraham’s would be the one who would save the world. One of Abraham’s descendants would be the one to end evil, who was promised way back in the garden, who would make it possible for us to be reconciled with God, restore everything that’s broken. God tells Abraham, an ancestor of yours will be that one. He says, through you will come, you know, the seed who will bless all nations. The whole world will have a future because of who God will bring out of Abraham’s lineage.
That’s the promise. And Abraham believed him. It’s a very primitive form of trusting in Christ. That’s a very clouded picture of Jesus, but that’s what it was. It was faith in Christ.
Jesus explains— this is John 8:56— Jesus explains, Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. He saw it and was glad. So Abraham looked forward to the day when the seed— when this seed from him would come and bless all nations, restore all things, set the world right. That was Abraham’s ultimate hope. If you asked Abraham, how’s it all gonna turn out okay for you?
Abraham, what gives your life meaning and significance? Why do you matter?
He wouldn’t say, because I’m a good person, because I was circumcised, because I come from the right family, because I’ve achieved so much. He wouldn’t say that. He would likely say it’s all going to turn out okay because God will send this seed from my line. And I don’t know what that guy’s going to do, but I know it’s going to be enough. And he will include me somehow.
Even though he comes after me, he will surpass me, and he’s going to include me. And whatever he does to include me, that’s what will give me worth and significance. That’s faith in Christ. Abraham had it. He was credited with righteousness.
Perhaps maybe most encouraging for us is that Abraham’s faith wasn’t always steady, because if you’re familiar with Abraham’s story, which Paul doesn’t bring up the whole thing here, you know, it’s multiple chapters in Genesis, but after— if you go back to back to Genesis and read about Abraham, after Abraham believed God, you know, after Abraham believed that God would miraculously provide him with descendants, specifically, you know, one descendant, um, after God would miraculously do— and it would need to be miraculous, okay, because Abraham was kind of past fathering age, his wife Sarah way past childbearing age, but Abraham somehow believed, you know, they have, you know, a child who would have children who would lead to generations. God’s going to do all that somehow, even though our bodies aren’t really capable of it. After that, as time went by, they’re still not having this child.
Abraham tried to take matters into his own hands, and he had a child with his wife’s servant at his wife’s suggestion. It’s, it’s like he thought God needed help. It seems he reverted back to trusting in his own efforts instead of trusting in God’s promise. So his faith in God’s provision, it wasn’t always steady. Nevertheless, God graciously and miraculously provided the child of promise through Sarah anyway.
It was Isaac who then eventually led to Jesus many generations later. So at what point did Abraham become fully convinced of God’s promise as Paul says he was here in verse 21? That’s unclear. Maybe he came in and out of fully convinced. Not sure.
But no matter how shaky his faith was at different points or how cloudy his picture of Jesus, he was credited with righteousness and status with God because of that faith. Faith or through that faith. Now, we, of course, have a much clearer picture of Jesus than Abraham did because we know the specifics of Abraham’s ancestor. We know how Jesus provides us with a future, includes us with God, forgives us. We say it a lot that Jesus is our substitute.
Jesus takes the blame, shame, and guilt that we deserve for the life that we have lived. He was delivered up for our trespasses. Passes. And then he gives us the credit for the life that he lived. He justifies us.
He validates us. Everything that Jesus deserves is credited to us. We have Jesus’ status with God. We have Jesus’ inheritance with God. Paul says here in chapter 4, verse 13 that we are heirs of the world.
We have the future that Christ deserves and we receive it by faith. Faith, by putting our confidence in that, in what Jesus has provided, instead of putting our confidence in for our future or our justification ourselves, our abilities, our rule keeping, or anything else. Paul explains, this is verses 24 and 25, righteousness will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Debts paid, guilt gone, totally justified, validated because of what Christ did for us. That’s the faith to embrace.
Now lastly, what difference does it make? Well, a pretty big one. It removes pride, shame, and pressure and gives us an elevated status with an unshakable hope. We’ll go through those pretty quickly, but in Christ we have resources that we don’t have if we place our faith somewhere else. We will place our faith somewhere.
We can’t get through life without meaning and hope, believing we matter for some reason, believing we have a future. Can’t get through life without faith in something, but where we place that faith faith makes a big difference. And in Christ we have the highest worth and the brightest future that we did not earn. It was given to us by sheer grace. And because it’s by grace, it removes our pride.
We can’t boast. We can’t say, look at what I accomplished. I earned this. Because we didn’t earn it. So there’s no room for boasting.
That’s verse 2. I mean, Christians should be the least haughty people on the planet. It because we know we’re not self-made. We are the ungodly, yet we have everything. That’s no boasting.
But not only does grace remove our pride, it also removes the pressure on us. We don’t have to depend on our own performance to make something of us. We depend on God’s promise-keeping power. That’s Verse 16, our future, our worth, our significance depend on him, not on us. So we can rest.
It’s not up to us to sustain our worth or have a bright future. We don’t have to carry that weight. He does. Pressure’s gone. At the same time, in Christ, our shame is removed.
You know, we don’t— we’re not the people who walk around saying, oh, I’m so unworthy. In a condemning kind of way because Christ has already carried our guilt. That’s verses 5 through 8. It’s been dealt with. Instead of seeing ourselves as guilty, we see ourselves as forgiven, even righteous.
Paul uses the word blessed. Blessed is the one whose sins are forgiven. Not shamed, blessed. I mean, we can’t, we can’t feel forgiven and guilty at the same time. I’ll say that again.
We can’t feel forgiven and guilty at the same time. If we’re forgiven, and we are, then by definition we are released from our guilt. So if you’re carrying shame, preach this self to you, to yourself, as often as you can. Tell yourself, blessed is the one whose sins are forgiven. Blessed That’s you.
You’re blessed.
And not only is our shame removed, our status is elevated. We are included in the people of God. We have the righteousness of Christ. Everything Jesus deserves is counted as ours. We’re heirs of the world, verse 13.
We could live in the most exclusive neighborhood, we could win every award, we could gain every follower, and it would still pale in comparison to what we have in Christ. Jesus is the unrivaled King of the universe. His glory shines like the sun, and he gives you his righteousness. Scripture even says, 1 Peter 1, that angels long to look into this and marvel. It’s like angels can’t believe what has been given to us.
That’s our status.
Finally, what we have in Christ gives us an unshakable hope even when everything else says otherwise. Abraham hoped against hope, it says, verse 18. For us, look, if we understand our pride is removed, our pressure is removed, our guilt is removed, we have everything that Christ deserves, If all of that is true, then it’s going to be okay in the end no matter what. Hope against hope, it’s going to be okay.
That’s the difference that faith in Christ makes. Anywhere else that we place our faith— achievement, morality, health, appearance, success, None of that can prop us up like Christ can prop us up. So put your faith in him. Put the weight of your life on him. Even if it starts small, it can grow.
Let’s pray. Father, thank you for Christ. Thank you for a worth that does not depend on our performance. Thank you for an acceptance acceptance that we don’t ever have to fear rejection because Jesus was rejected in our place. Thank you for a future that cannot be shaken because it’s the future that Christ deserves.
It’s his inheritance that is given to us freely just by receiving it through faith. Increase our faith, Lord. Let us let go of everything else that we have faith in and let us put more faith on you and find you faithful. We pray those things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Amen.
