Welcome to Life Group. We invite you to join
us in this verse -by -verse study through the
Word of God. In this study, we're going to be
looking at Romans chapter 4, starting with verse
1. Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder
of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about
being made right with God? If his good deeds
made him acceptable to God. He would have had
something to boast about. But that was not God's
way. For the scriptures tell us Abraham believed
God and God counted him as righteous because
of his faith. Now let's take a look at these
three verses and get it back into the foundation
of history. Jewish rabbis during this time taught
that Abraham was righteous. because he kept the
law before the law was even given. Now, this
verse tells us that Abraham did not become righteous
by his good deeds. I mean, that would be considered
works righteousness, and righteousness is unattainable
by good deeds. We just can't be good enough to
be righteous. But this says that Abraham received.
righteousness the gift of righteousness from
god because of his faith now when it says that
his righteousness was counted to him or other
english versions say accounted to him the greek
word there is actually like an accounting term
see he was counted or accounted righteousness
because of his faith We can look at it this way.
Righteousness was put onto his account beforehand.
It was supplied or posted in advance to his account.
See, God put to Abraham's account, placed on
deposit for him, credited to him righteousness
because of his faith. Now, when we talk about
righteousness, we... Need to understand that
it's more than the absence of evil in someone's
life or the absence of guilt in someone's life.
It's actually a positive good, meaning that God
does not just declare us innocent. He also declares
us righteous. Let's pick back up with verse four.
When people work, their wages are not a gift.
but something they have earned. But people are
counted as righteous, not because of their work,
but because of their faith in God who forgives
sinners. See, the idea of grace is opposite to
the principle of works. Grace has to do with
receiving a free gift from God. And works has
to do with earning our merit before God. I mean,
when we work for a paycheck at the end of the
week, after we put in the work, we feel that
our employer owes us the paycheck. In the same
way as the text tells us, if we think that we're
righteous because of our good works, all of a
sudden we can come to the point where we feel
like, God owes us because of our good works.
Grace is a favor done out of the spontaneous
generosity of the heart without any expectation
or return. And my definition of grace is this,
is God's actions of kindness and favor towards
us, towards you, towards me, that we don't deserve.
We haven't earned it. And we don't deserve it.
Like I said, a system of works seeks to put God
in debt to us. And it makes God owe us his favor
because of our supposedly good behavior. In works
thinking, God owes us salvation or blessing because
of our good works. We need to understand that
there are not two ways. to salvation some people
think there is and like one way is being saved
by works through keeping the law described in
the old testament and then there's another way
to be saved is by grace through faith that's
revealed in the new testament but the fact is
everyone who has ever been saved old our new
testament has been saved by grace through faith
God. There are not two ways of salvation. Let's
pick up with verse 6. David also spoke of this
when he described the happiness of those who
are declared righteous without working for it.
Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is
forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes,
what joy for those. whose record the Lord has
cleared of sin. Now this is quoting King David
from the Old Testament. See, David knew what
it was like to be guilty of adultery and murder.
He knew the seriousness of sin. If David were
judged on works alone, a righteous and holy and
just God, would definitely condemn him. But David
came to understand through experience how wonderful
it was to be forgiven. When our text read, oh,
what joy, when we look at the Greek word coming
out of Romans, it's the same word that we use
for blessed in most occasions in the New Testament.
And that word blessed, to remind us of the definition,
means supremely blessed. Not just regularly blessed,
but supremely blessed. It means fortunate. It
means well off. And it does mean happy. And this
is a result of God extending his benefits, his
grace to us, puts us in the position. of being
supremely blessed, fortunate, well -off, and
happy. Also, in other translations, it uses the
word impute. And in our translation that we're
looking at today, it's like declared righteous
or record cleared. This same Greek word that
is translated often as imputed righteousness.
It actually appears, this Greek word does, 10
times just in chapter 4. And it's where we get
our words logic or logical. To compute, to take
account, to reckon, to come to a bottom line,
to reason to a logical conclusion or a decision.
And like I said, the Holy Spirit through Paul
uses this concept. 10 times just in chapter 4,
talking about righteousness being imputed. Now,
just last week on social media, I saw a post
by someone that I don't know. It just came up
because I look at a lot of scriptural things,
biblical things, I guess. It came up and someone
was saying that imputed righteousness is false
doctrine. If I could get in touch with that person
or anyone else who believes that, I would tell
them to read Romans chapter 4. It's hard to understand
why so many religious people speak out against
imputed righteousness. That Christ replaces our
unrighteousness with his perfect righteousness
at salvation. As a matter of fact, without imputed
righteousness, no one would be born again because
imputed righteousness is actually the only way
to salvation because we've all sinned and fallen
short. Verse 9. Now, is this blessing only for
the Jews or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles?
Well, we have been saying that Abraham was counted
as righteous by God because of his faith. But
how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous
only after he was circumcised? Or was it before
he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham
before he was circumcised. Circumcision was a
sign that Abraham had already had faith and that
God had already accepted and declared him to
be righteous, even before he was circumcised.
So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who
have faith but have not been circumcised. They
are counted as righteous because of their faith,
and Abraham is also the spiritual father of those
who have been circumcised. but only if they have
the same kind of faith Abraham had before he
was circumcised. You see, for the Jewish people
of Paul's day, the significance of circumcision
was more than just social. It was the entry point
for a life lived under the law of Moses. And
most Jews believed that Gentiles had to convert
to Judaism to be Christians, since God's plan
of salvation came through to the descendants
of Abraham. But Paul here, he's refuting that
idea, since Abraham was declared righteous at
least 14 years before the mark of circumcision
began. The term Our Father Abraham was a cherished
saying of the Jews, and Gentiles converting to
Judaism, though, were not allowed to say it.
They could only say Your Father Abraham in the
synagogue. But here, Paul calls Abraham the spiritual
father of not just the Jews, but the Gentiles
also. And this opened up the door for the blessings
and all the blessings of Abraham are now not
just for the Jews, but they're for the Gentiles
too, meaning that Abraham's blessing was that
God blesses us and God blesses others through
us. God protects us. God rewards us and he increases
us. That was not just a promise then for the
Jews by saying that the Gentiles now can experience
this, the blessing of Abraham too. So picking
up in verse 13, clearly God's promise to give
the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants
was not based on his obedience to God's law,
but on a right relationship with God that comes
by faith. If God's promise is only for those
who obey the law, then faith is not necessary
and the promise is pointless. For the law always
brings punishment on those who try to obey it.
The only way to avoid breaking the law is to
have no law to break. So the promise is received
by faith. It is given as a free gift, and we
are all certain to receive it, whether or not
we live according to the law of Moses, if we
have faith like Abraham's. For Abraham is the
father of all who believe. That is what the scriptures
mean when God told him, I have made you the father
of many nations. This happened because Abraham
believed in the God who brings the dead back
to life and who creates new things out of nothing.
So what this is saying is since all God's dealings
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob happened before
the giving of the Mosaic law, we can't say that
they were based on the law. Instead, they are
based on God's declaration of Abraham's righteousness,
that imputed righteousness we were talking about,
through faith. And faith is the link to Abraham
and God's promised blessings to his spiritual
descendants, whether you're Jew or Gentile. There
are sins that do not cross the line of the law
of Moses. The root of sin isn't in breaking the
law, but in breaking trust with God. with denying
his loving, caring purpose in every command he
gives. Before Adam sinned, he broke trust with
God. And God's plan of redemption is centered
on the relationship of trusting. It's centered
on the relationship of love and faith instead
of just law keeping. Picking back up with verse
17. This happened. Because Abraham believed in
the God who brings the dead back to life and
who creates new things out of nothing. Now, this
is a powerful verse when it comes to faith. And
we know from previous study that without faith,
it's impossible to please God. And we talk about
faith a lot at Eglation Church. In other translations,
it says he believed in the God who calls those
things which do not exist as if they did. Now,
this is telling us that God calls things that
are not. He calls for things that don't exist
yet. See, God is a faith God. This word calls
comes from this idea. This is the Greek word.
Translated, it means to call forth or to invite.
It means instructing someone or something to
step forward. It means to cause something to
come into action or existence. That's the meaning
behind the words that are translated here. And
this is a key principle of faith that Abraham
believed in the God who causes something to come
into action or existence that does not exist
at that point. And the Bible encourages us to
have the God kind of faith. I mean, looking through
scripture, we see even more than this, but just
for example, God called light out of darkness.
God called forth order out of chaos and creation.
In Gideon's example, God called out a hero from
a coward. Jesus, at the storm, when he's on the
boat with his disciples, God called out peace
out of a storm. Jesus called out healing out
of... sickness. He called out by faith. And words
are an important part to us living our lives
as faith. We talk about that. Yeah, we have to
hear the Word of God. We have to wholeheartedly
believe it. We have to... put our words in agreement
with it, and then we have to act on it. Those
are the steps of faith, of taking hold of all
of God's grace gifts. I want you to think about
a thermostat on the wall. If your house is 80
degrees and you would like for it to be 72, You
can't just say, well, I'm going to set it for
80 degrees. I'm going to call for 80 degrees
because that's what it is. That's what I see.
That's what I feel. No, you have to call for
what you want. So you set the thermostat to 72
degrees if that's your preferred temperature
because you're calling for something that is
not. You're calling it to come into existence.
This verse is teaching us and it's showing us
that Abraham believed in that concept. And then
we can see in Abraham's life that he lived by
that concept when he began agreeing with God
and calling himself the father of many nations.
Even before he had a son, God led him to call
forth, call things that are not as though. They
will be speaking God's truth before he saw it.
Like I said, that's an important concept of faith
that we need to put our words in agreement with
God's promises. See, in context of what we're
talking about now, God speaks about you and me
as this is what God says about us, that we're
righteous. When we're in Christ, we're righteous.
We're justified. We're glorified. We're holy.
We're pure. We're saintly. God speaks those things
through his word about us. And to be honest,
if we look in the mirror, we don't always see
those things in our actions. But that's what
God has called us. God talks about such things
before they exist because he calls them into
existence. Let's pick up with verse 18. Even
when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept
hoping, believing that he would become the father
of many nations. For God had said to him, that's
how many descendants you will have. And Abraham's
faith did not weaken, even though at about 100
years of age, he figured his body was as good
as dead. And so was Sarah's womb. Abraham never
wavered in believing God's promise. In fact,
his faith grew stronger. And in this, he brought
glory to God. He was fully convinced. that God
is able to do whatever he promises. Wow, what
a statement concerning Abraham's faith. And he
is our example. He helps us to understand the
nature of faith that pleases God. Common sense
says that it will not happen. Human reasoning
says it cannot happen. And faith says it can
happen and it will be because I have a promise
from God. Hebrews 11 .1, this verse that we just
read was talking about him having hope. Well,
faith is a substance of things hoped for, Hebrews
11 .1. The evidence of things not seen. Just
like Abraham. There was no wavering, no doubting,
no... putting human reasoning above God's promises,
not walking by sight, but walking by faith. Hope
is seeing it with your imagination before you
see it. And in hope, we hold on to the promises
of God, just like Abraham did. Even though he
was 100 years old, his wife was 90 years old,
he didn't waver, he didn't doubt, he didn't laugh.
allow his human reasoning to go above God's promises.
He wasn't walking by sight. He saw it with his
imagination that he would become the father of
nations. He focused on the promise and faithfulness
of God instead of the circumstances and seeming
impossibilities that he was facing. Verse 22.
And because of Abraham's faith, God counted him
as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous,
it wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. It was
recorded for our benefit too, assuring us that
God will also count us as righteous if we believe
in him, the one who raised Jesus, our Lord, from
the dead. He was handed over to die because of
our sins, and he was raised to life. to make
us right with god you see it wasn't only for
abraham's benefit that god declared him righteous
through faith he is an example that we are invited
to follow it is for us only faith in what jesus
accomplished on the cross and through the empty
tomb can save us and in this chapter paul clearly
demonstrated that the old testament does not
contradict the New Testament gospel of salvation
by grace through faith. Instead, the gospel is
the fulfillment of the Old Testament. And Abraham
being justified through faith is our pattern.
Thank you for joining us for Life Group. Allow
God's Word to build your faith and transform
your life.