WHY WORKS WON”T WORK
Romans 4:1-15
Old story of frog that jumped in a bucket of milk. Instead of just giving up the frog began to swim and swim and swim. The frog swam so much that the milk turned to butter and the frog hopped out of the bucket. Great story about working so had that you eventually get to where you want to go.
Old adage that most people get money the old fashion way, ‘they earn it’. Something I read this week that the very wealthy get money the real old fashion way, ‘they inherit it’.
In God’s economy of righteousness we can never earn it but can only inherit it through the righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith.
• Going to take a deeper look at the issue of Justification by Faith: Theological explanation in chapter 3:21-31. Chapter 4 Paul gives us a practical example out of the OT.
1) Two individuals who were important in Jewish life: Abraham & David
• Paul shows us how amazing God’s saving grace really is. The Jews needed to understand the truth about grace also. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT GRACE!
JOHN NEWTON: Wrote many books, sermons & hymns. His most famous was ‘Amazing Grace’. Newton’s life proved the truth of that song.
He lived a very troubled life: Had a very godly mother but a wicked father who was often off to sea and then came home to live a wicked life.
Newton’s mother prayed for him and committed him to the Lord but John himself became a sailor on a slave ship and became involved in that terrible world.
Eventually he himself became a slave to a slave and found himself chained to a table and living off the scraps thrown to him.
Newton was given a book written in the 1400’s by Thomas A’kempis who at age 20 entered a monastery for 71 years. IT was called AN IMITATION OF CHRIST
Escaped to a passing ship and then while on the top deck during a ferocious storm he was swept overboard. He cried out to God and another huge wave washed him back upon deck.
His life was never the same.
‘Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me…I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see”
Newton understood GRACE
• Paul has attempted in the first 3 chapters of Romans to make us all understand that we are all in the same category and in need of Salvation. ALL WRETCHES/Donohue
1) We may be a good wretch or a bad wretch(Linda the good witch-a witch is a witch)
We all fall short of God’s standard and need to be saved through Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:23 All have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God.
SINNED IN ADAM Romans 5:12 – Therefore just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
SINNED PERSONALLY: Romans 7:19-23 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
If you pay only the minimum payment it can take someone an average of 20 years to pay off the balance of just one credit card debt.
God can pay off your debt of sin in a moment based upon Christ’s finished work on the cross.
None of us can work our way into God’s good standing.
No amount of good works could do it or my mom would be in.
Aunt’s Funeral: When their mother was sick, three of the five girls took turns sitting with her at the hospital. My mom took one turn and the youngest sister another and then in the nighttime Aunt Johnny came, the sister whose funeral it was would sit. After a few nights of doing this Johnny came to the hospital an sat in the same room she always had. The lights were always kept off so not to disturb their mother’s sleep. Johnny sat with her all night and when the nurse came in the morning Johnny discovered that their mother had been moved earlier in the day and that she sat up all night comforting a woman she did not know. The woman shared how grateful she was.
Ronnie Lott: Played for the 49ers and was injured during one of the years they were striving to win another Super Bowl. His injury would mean that he would miss a total of 8 weeks.
In order to save the 5 weeks left in the season Lott chose a second option. His injury was to one of his fingers so he had the end part of that finger removed so that it would not take so long to get back to playing. Extreme means for the sake of the team….giving…serving….doing
• JUSTIFICATION: Right standing before God
• Ask a Rabbi: Is it possible to be justified by works, through your own righteousness? They would point to Abraham as an example. A person who in his time was the most righteous(Noah)
• Paul would disagree and today will prove that through this passage.
1) Abraham: lived before the Law David: lived under the Law
Both were saved by the same means: Justification by Faith
2) Abraham is embraced by three religious faiths: Jews, Christians, Muslims
Paul could clinch any argument by proving it through Abraham’s life
David: Jew’s greatest warrior and King
In our national history: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson…If you can prove anything from their words or speeches then you can go a long way to prove your point in any argument about what American is supposed to be. Win the argument and not the war.
Same Congress that wrote and ratified the Constitution at the end of the 1700’s also wrote up a treaty in the Northwest US Territory. In that treaty it was stressed that they wanted Public Schools to be formed for the purpose of FUTHERING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
Today many would say such a thing is Unconstitutional while the very congress that wrote the Constitution would disagree.
Paul would say that YOU CAN LEARN A LOT BY A PROPER HISTORY LESSON
IMPORTANT REASONS WHY WORKS WON’T WORK
WORKS PROMOTE SELF GLORY: (1) What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh has found?(discovered/eureka) (2) For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
• Walk into heaven and strut up to God’s throne: ‘All those others needed Your Son to die for them but not me, I got in on my own’.
Sounds blasphemous to our ears but that is just what many are planning to do when they get to heaven…some in this very room possibly
1) Rejected the church…rejected Jesus’ death on the cross…still plan on being there…
good person who never did anything horribly bad in their own eyes..
Feel they deserve to be there!
2) Abraham would be the first to disagree that getting into heaven is possible apart from
the finished work of Jesus Christ.
• Works promote self worship instead of proper worship: something to boast about
THE CATCH: Always played on older brother’s team. Stuck out in the outfield. Team won second in the state one year. Played Westport for league championship to see who went to state: Final inning, one run lead, two outs, men(so called) on base. Up to bat came the Babe Ruth of our little league…actual hair on his legs…ALAN HUFF…Little kid out in Center field shaking was me.
One more out and we go to the state ….
Pitch…solid line drive shot…no noticeable rise….headed towards the outfield…my outfield…if I don’t get it it will land somewhere in Arkansas
Move over a few steps…stick glove up in air to protect myself…close eyes and feel a turn on my arm. I look in my glove and someone has put a ball there…I look and the entire county is running towards me screaming….the pile begins
Probably the only catch I made that day but I made THE CATCH.
RIDE HOME: Mom driving…excitement fills the car…couple of friends riding home with us….we talked about the game and THE CATCH. I decided we needed to discuss some more and more and more and more. Nothing about all the team did to win.
I still remember the looks on the faces of the other kids and on my mom that I now discern to be, ‘It would have been better to have lost than to have to hear this kid talk all the way home about what he did’. 30 minutes
How would you like to spend all of eternity in heaven with a braggart like that.
None will receive glory there but One.
Paul said that he would boast of nothing but the Cross of Christ.
• Deceptive human nature: want to promote ourselves – Mexico knees
Feel better about ourselves when we go to church…read our Bible…pray…witness?
To some extent we should since doing right things but the flesh is waiting to jump into even our obedience. The flesh will always more the glory and praise from God to ourselves.
WORKS PROMOTE SELF GLORY
WORKS CONTRADICT SCRIPTURE (3) For what does Scripture say?
(Question should end any debate for the Jew or for us. So many disagreements Christians have could end when we ask that question and accept the answer we find.
‘Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to Him as Righteousness.’
1. Quote out of the Old Testament (Genesis 15:6) Even OT states that Abraham did not work his
way but simply took God at His revealed will and trusted by faith.
Genesis 15: Abraham is coming to God and saying I am old, my wife is old and we are beyond having a child. Here is Eleazar, let him be my descendent.
Wavering faith…trying to help God out…God shows Abraham the sky, the stars(no city lights) that is the number your descendent will be…
a. Look at your impossible circumstances, your struggling faith: Look at God and His Word and
BELIEVE(Moses & snake on pole)
b. God saw Abraham’s faith and put righteousness to his account: Credited it to his account in
advance of full payment being made when Christ would come to die.
1) 2 Cor 5:21 He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him. Credited to my account…
a) Account of sins against me cleaned out
b) Replaced with the resources provided by the finished work of Christ.
2. This may not surprise us since we are accustomed to hearing the message of Christ’s death
paying for our sins but it was SHOCKING TO A JEW.
a. Taught works righteousness through keeping the Law and being circumcised.
b. Acts 15: The new church struggled with whether a Gentile had to be circumcised to become a
Christian.
Feli Jardio: 60 year old Philipino man who owned a rice farm way out away from people/saved money for years to by a new ox/went to buy but was told money was worthless/
Government had ordered a currency exchange and deadline had passed.
1975: a schoolboy wrote letter for him to President – ‘poor, ignorant ‘rice farmer’ please let his money be good’
REPLY: ‘law must be followed/deadline has passed/can no longer exchange…not even the President is exempt…but because I believe you worked hard then I am exchanging your money for that which is valuable from my own account’ God’s currency to our account
WORKS PROMOTE SELF GLORY WORKS CONTRADICT SCRIPTURE
WORKS ELIMATES GRACE (4) Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as to what is due. (5) But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.
1. Check from employer when you apply for Job would be gift but if you have worked for one or two
weeks that becomes a wage.
a. Grace is unmerited favor to those who have not earned it. Works eliminates grace.
2. Justifies the ungodly: This phrase would shake the Jew. They never thought of the ungodly of
being justified. The only person justified to them was the godly Jew.
a. Jesus condemned the Pharisees because they were unable to see their own sin: Jn 9
b. Paul is saying that the only people who are justified by God are those who recognize their sin
before Him.
3. He who believes in Him: Abraham constantly believed in God when God would speak.
This phrase should have been on Abraham’s tombstone or the bumper sticker on his camel.
a. Gen 11-12: Called out of Ur of the Chaldees
b. Gen 15: Called to trust God in spite of old age and inability to have children
c. Gen 17-18: Called on to believe that God could give him a child thru Sarah
d. Gen 22: Told to go and sacrifice the miracle child and to trust that God could work it all out.
Exact mountain temple would be built upon(sacrifices)
Abraham eft servants(disciples) put wood on Isaac(cross)
Isaac: I see the fire and wood but where is the sacrifice?.....The Lord will provide for Himself a sacrifiec’ Lit will provide himself
100+ yr old man an a teenager. Could have run. Isaac was willing to give himself over to his father’s will
WORKS PROMOTE SELF GLORY WORKS CONTRADICT SCRIPTURE WORKS ELIMATES GRACE WORKS DENY GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS (6) Just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works; (7) Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. (8) Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account
Suppose some very very godly baptist decided to give my a brand new 2008 Chevy Corvette. Spent boo koos of bucks on it. Then I got to thinking it was too much to spend so I went to them and said, ‘I hate for you to spend that much so I will pay some myself…here is a quarter’.
Someone sees me driving one day and ask, ‘Where did you get that?’
‘Me and ________ bought it together’ INSULT TO GOD
His righteousness is insulted when we try to offset His grace with out works.
1. David: Liar, murderer, deceitful, adulterer. This passage comes from the place in the OT where
David confesses his sin. This shows what grace does with confessed sin.
a. Lawless deeds…forgiven…..covered….not take into account.
b. How fortunate is the person who recognizes their sin and then allows the blood of Jesus
Christ to completely cover it. NOT A SIMPLE THING FOR GOD TO DO:
Someone owed my $100 and I said, ‘That is OK, I will forgive your debt to me’ and just absorbed the loss it would cost me $100.
It cost God to forgive sin…the death of His own Son. Christ absorbed David’s murder, Peter’s denial, Paul’s persecution of Christians, all your sin and my sin. IT ALL FELL ON JESUS
You may offend someone and for the rest of your life they hold it against you.
Never treat you the same again or trust you to the same degree.
God completely cleanses our account of sin against Him and replaces it with the faultless record of Christ’s perfect life.
Over a century ago a pirate ship called the “Nancy” was pursued by the British warship “Sparrow.” Suspected of being engaged in ipiracy, but when captured, not a scrap of incriminating evidence could be found among her papers.
It was thought that the pirates would be released if no evidence could be found.
Meanwhile another British vessel called the “Abergavenney,” had been cruising the same waters. Harpooned a shark, found inside the fish a parcel of papers, tied around with string.
These papers (still on display in Museum) related to the doings of a ship called the “Nancy” and thinking they might serve an useful purpose preserved them till they reached port, arriving there just as the case of the “Nancy” came before the courts.
The consternation of the “Nancy” captain and crew may be imagined, when, jubilant at the prospect of release, they were suddenly confronted with the misdeeds—in the papers which they thought were buried in the depths of the sea!
Deepest sea….east to west….behind God’s back..never to be taking into account against us again If ½ of one of your sins was held against you by God you could never to into heaven.
A wealthy English businessman purchased a Rolls Royce and soon afterwards took his new car to France. While in the south of France it broke down and so he phoned the Rolls Royce company in England. They flew a mechanic to France and repaired the car. He expected to receive a sizable bill but months passed and none was sent. He wrote Rolls Royce asking for his account balance and received a kind note back saying there was no record of his car having any problems.
Rolls Royce refused to acknowledge any imperfection in their product.
That is what happened with David and with us as well when it says, ‘the Lord does not impute sin’. When God forgives or fixes the problem he also blots out the record.
Suppose you had cancer. After the treatments the Doctor says, “The cancer is taken care of. The treatment worked and the cancer is eliminated from your body and It will NEVER appear again!” That would be incredible news. In fact, you would think that the news was too good and the Doctor was being presumptive. It is impossible for him to know if the cancer will appear again. However, when God says, “Never” He speaks with a surety that is unmatched.
PAUL ASKS THREE QUESTIONS
Q#1 – (9) Is this blessing then upon the circumcised(Jew), or upon the uncircumcised(non-Jew) also?
A – For we say, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness’. (10) How then was it reckoned?(put to his account) While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised but while uncircumcised. LIGHTS ON!!!
Abraham was declared justified before God before he was ever even circumcised!!
He lived before the Law was ever given. He could not have been made just through keeping the Law or through the act of circumcision.
1) By all definitions ABRAHAM WAS A GENTILE when he was made righteous before God
2) Genesis 15: he was declared righteous while 14 years later in Genesis 17 he was circumcised.
3) He lived 400 years before the Law was ever given by Moses.
Q#2 – What about circumcision? (11) and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that the righteousness might be reckoned to them.
1) It is a SIGN: Something that points to a reality beyond itself:
Can’t go to sign and get a picture taken and then leave and say you have been to _______.
You just visited the sign not the reality. Sign points beyond itself. Circumcision is meant to point
to something beyond the physical act. Sign of obedience to God in the heart.
a) All that God gave the Jews, circumcision, feasts, temple, all had deeper meaning behind them
2) It is a SEAL: Something that is a permanent reminder.
Verse 11 states that it was a seal of something that was already true beforehand.
The same is said of baptism today. It is an act that is commanded by God and we should obey.
Baptism is a sign in the fact that when we come to be baptized we are declaring to others that we are identifying with Jesus. We are looking to Him for salvation and new life.
It is a seal because every time we begin to doubt our faith and our relationship with God we can look back to our baptism and remember that we put our hope in Him. It is a seal of authenticity.
(12) and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.
It is not a question of circumcision or uncircumcision but am I demonstrating the same faith that Abraham demonstrated before he was ever circumcised. That was what justified him before God.
WHAT IS SAVING FAITH?
F = FACTS: We are all sinners in need of God’s grace, Jesus died for us, was raised from the
dead, His blood covers the guilt of our sin,
A = AGREE: we agree with these facts. Accept them as true
I = INTERNALIZE: Personalize these truths to your situation, recognize they apply to you.
T = TRUST: Trust God with a total commitment of your life and not just an intellectual agreement
in your head. Rest all that you are upon Him.
H = HOPE: Not just for the moment but for eternity
Q#3: WHAT ABOUT THE LAW? (13) For the promise to Abraham or to his descendents that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith. (14) For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise if nullified. (15) For the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law neither is there violation. Law was never meant to be a mode of salvation. Faith was from the beginning.
If the Law can save you then the promise God made is no good, nullified.
The Law apart from faith can only lead to wrath.
Harry Ironside told one time of a sheep ranch that he visited down in Texas.
He saw something and he couldn’t figure it out. It looked like a sheep with four front legs and four back legs and two heads. He said to the sheep rancher, “What in the world is this?”
The rancher said, “We had both a little lamb and a mother sheep die. That left a mother without a baby and left the lamb without a mother. We took the little lamb without a mother and put it in the pen of the mother without its baby. The mother didn’t want any part of the baby. She would lower her head and push it away.
“We got the idea that if the mother thought that that little lamb was really hers, she would adopt it and make it as her own. She would nurse it and raise it and that would solve the whole problem.
So they took the skin off the little dead lamb and put it around the little orphan lamb. We tied it on. So that is why you see four front feet, four back feet and what looks like two heads.”
The rancher went on, “When it was covered we put it in the pen with the mother and she loved it and cared for it. There is nothing horrible about it to her. It is beautiful to her. She accepted it because it is clothed in the garments of her own.”
TEST OF INSANITY in the 1800’s: Placed in a room with a sink and a mop & bucket. Sink is stopped up and the water is turned on. Water begins to overflow unto the floor.
An insane person will react by grabbing the mop and feverishly working to clean the water from the floor while it continues to pour over the sides of the sink.
Sane person will go and turn off the water and then begin to clean the floor.
Many today are working feverishly to please and satisfy God while never dealing with the root issue which is our sin nature. They work so hard and yet never acknowledge that sin continues to pour out of their lives from all sides.
