Who Picked Up the Tab?
Romans 4:1-8
Intro: Back when we were young, dumb, and kid-free, we rode AmTrak all the way from Southeastern Nebraska to Baker City. At some point on our return trip (which started in Portland), we realized that we hadn’t planned very well and were short on food and cash. We weren’t starving or anything, but certainly weren’t fat and sassy either. I thought we were being discreet and quiet about it, but somehow an older couple figured out our situation and offered to buy a meal for us. I honestly don’t remember if we took them up on it or not. We weren’t looking or asking for anything, but out of the blue, someone offered to pick up our tab so we could eat. How generous… and how rare!
-Have you ever had someone pick up your bill at a restaurant? As you go to pay you are informed that it has already been paid. Wow! Positive Life Radio has promoted something they call, Drive Through Difference, where you tell the person taking your order in the Drive Thru that you want to pay for the order from the car behind you. Then you give the cashier a note to pass on to the other car, saying something about how God loves them. One guy at Starbucks felt like the Lord wanted him to offer to pay for the man’s coffee in the car in front of him. Come to find out the man in front of him had forgotten his wallet and was amazed at the timing of someone offering to pay on this day of all days!
-None of us is more deserving of forgiveness or grace than anybody else! As I’ve heard and said before, when we share our faith, we are like beggars telling other beggars where to find bread! God is the One who provides the bread, but He gives it freely to all who will trust Him for it.
-In our reading today, Paul is speaking primarily to the Jews who are part of the church at Rome. In chapter 3 he has used Jewish Scriptures to show that we are all guilty before God – we all have sinned and are under sin. Now in ch. 4 Paul is using the example of one of the greatest heroes of the Jewish faith and history (Abraham) to show that forgiveness and grace cannot be earned or deserved. We have nothing to offer to pay for our sins or to save ourselves. Even on our best day we fall miserably short of the mark of making ourselves right with God! It cannot be done by human effort – it only comes by faith! And when I say faith, please understand that faith is more than just mentally agreeing with a fact. Biblical faith always operates in the context of relationship. We can trust God because He has introduced Himself to us through the Bible and through His Holy Spirit. He is always showing us Who He is! He claims to be faithful and trustworthy, and if we believe Him and respond to His love for us, and begin to do life with Him, that is what faith is all about.
-Let’s look at a few thoughts today that will help us understand how faith can make us right with God – nothing else can! Trusting God that what Jesus did on the cross was enough to take away our sins – that is the faith we all need today!
1. Make No Boast: We cannot cover our own tab!
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?
2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-- but not before God.
Reasons why Abraham was chosen as the example”
▸ Abraham lived about 2,000 years before Paul wrote this letter, demonstrating that the principle of salvation by faith rather than by works was not new in Judaism. Abraham was the first and foremost Hebrew patriarch. He lived 600 years before the Old Covenant was established through Moses. He therefore lived long before the law was given and obviously could not have been saved by obedience to it.
▸ Paul used Abraham simply because he was a human being. Until this point in Romans, Paul has been speaking primarily about theological truths in the abstract. In Abraham he gives a flesh and blood illustration of justification by faith.
▸ Possibly the most important reason that Paul used Abraham as the example of justification by faith was that, although rabbinical teaching and popular Jewish belief were contrary to Scripture as far as the basis of Abraham’s righteousness was concerned, they agreed that Abraham was the O.T. supreme example of a godly righteous man who is acceptable to the Lord.
-“What shall we say” Paul is challenging what the Rabbis were saying about Abraham.
Many Jews in Paul’s day believed that Abraham was made right with God because of his own righteous character. They believed God chose Abraham to be the father of His people Israel because Abraham was the most righteous man on earth during his time.
Like many cults today, they interpreted certain scriptural passages in a way that supported their preconceived ideas.
∙ Abraham was the prime example of a man who was justified by his works, as rabbinic literature eloquently testifies. The Mishnah’s third division Kiddushin (4.14) interprets Genesis 26:5 as follows: “and we find that Abraham our father had performed the whole law before it was given, for it is written ‘Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.’ (Gen 26:5).
∙ The earlier Book of Jubilees (100 BC) similarly says, “For Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord, and well-pleasing in righteousness all the days of his life.”
∙ Abraham thought to be so perfect that another book, The Prayer of Manasses, concluded that he never had need of repentance: “Thou, therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the righteous, hast not appointed repentance unto the righteous, unto Abraham. . . .”
∙ Consider these claims! 1) Abraham performed the whole Law before it was written, 2) he was perfect in all his deeds, and 3) he had no need of repentance. Conclusion: Abraham was justified by his works and therefore is an example to follow.
-By using Abraham as the supreme scriptural example of justification, or salvation, by faith alone, Paul was striking at the very heart of traditional Judaism.
∙ By demonstrating that Abraham was not justified by works, Paul demolished the foundation of rabbinical teaching—that man is made right with God by keeping the law, that is, on the basis of his own religious efforts and works.
∙ If Abraham was not and could not have been justified by his works, then everyone else must be justified in the same way, since Abraham is the biblical standard of a righteous man.
-There was, of course, no doubt about the caliber of Abraham’s life—in fact, God called him, “my friend” (Isa. 41:8) and said, “Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Gen. 26:5).
-Abraham, having received such an endorsement from God, could presumably be well satisfied with his success and indulge in a little boasting about his accomplishments and God’s unstinting praise.
∙ Paul, however, remarks that Abraham might be able to boast, “but not before God.”
∙ In other words, the argument sounds great and is certainly most convincing except where it really matters, and that is “before God.”
∙ A man’s works might earn him the applause of men, but never the applause of God, for God’s standards are higher and holier than anything conceived by man. [The bulk of material for this 1st point was adapted from Ted Sutherland, sermoncentral.com, Freely Forgiven]
-We cannot cover our own bill! Nothing we have to offer can take away our sins!
2. Make No Demands: God owes us nothing!
3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
-How many of you parents have ever bribed your kids? “If you are good, I will get you an ice cream.” When all else fails, use bribery! This may contribute to the mindset that if I behave myself and do the right things, then I will get a special reward. Now, external motivations have their place, and what begins externally can change to become a genuine value for a person. However, as Christians we need to realize that as God helps us be good and do good, we cannot take the credit and expect a special reward. We are simply unprofitable servants who are doing what we should be doing.
-Whether you are a follow of Jesus yet or not, please understand that God does not owe us anything! No matter how many acts of kindness we have done, God is not obligated to pardon our sins based on our good works! There is no leniency for good behavior. The good does not cancel out the bad! There is only one thing that cancels out the bad – and that is the goodness of Jesus Himself!
3. Make No Mistake: God picked up the tab for us!
6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."
-Paul now turns to another Jewish hero, King David. This state of blessedness or happiness did not come to David based on His good behavior. No, if you read about the life of David, you will see that he was at times a man behaving badly. He found himself guilty of the sexual sin of adultery, dishonesty, theft, and eventually murder. Did his good deeds outweigh his bad deeds? It doesn’t matter, because they could never cancel his bad deeds! Only after throwing himself at the mercy of God like he did in Psalm 51 could David joyfully sing about being forgiven and clean before God!
-Another of Paul’s letters has very fitting words for us in relation to all this:
Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
-Our English word “count” in Romans 4:8 is the Greek word logidzomai, and is used several times in these verses. It basically means to put on someone’s account. Well, for those who trust God and are in right relationship with Him, God picks up the tab for every one of their sins! Instead of putting those sins on our tab, Jesus picks up the tab, having paid once and for all with His life blood on the cross. Jesus has already paid for the sins that you will commit in the future! That doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want, though. Paul addresses this in the next chapter. But it amazes me that God already has us covered in the future, not just the past and present.
4. Make a New Start: Do life WITH GOD!
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
-Since God has picked up our tab (if we are trusting Him), we are free to do life with Him! You can start over right now! More than just turning over a new leaf, when we trust God, He turns us over and makes us into a new person! When we believe God and confess Jesus as Lord who died and rose again, we are changed! Where there was darkness there is light! Where there was death there is life! And where we were separated from God, now there is love and a desire to do what pleases Him!
Close: If you need to make a new start, I hope you will do it today and not put it off! For every reason to wait, there are 10 reasons to join your life with God’s! He loves you and wants to do a new work in your life! Will you let Him?
