What will we carry into Eternity? Romans 4:13-25
1 Timothy 6:7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it
We will not carry into eternity Good Works
We will not carry with us into enternity religious laws
We will not carry with us into enternity christian legacy of our families
We will not carry with us into enternity denominational afflitation
We will not carry with us into enternity correct doctrine
Let us consider the man Abraham what great works he had, yet it was his faith that reckoned to him as righteousness he agreed to the call to leave his homeland and go where God would send him, this did not make him righteous
Abraham’s stuning willingness to sacrifice his own son did not make him righteous
Because Abraham is known as the Father of many Nations or "the ancestor of a multitude"
did not make Father Abraham righteous.
The key to the passage -- despite these great works, yes "his faith ’was reckoned ( credited ) to him as righteousness’" (v. 22).
And likewise for all of us after Abraham, our right standing with God "will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead" (v. 24).
What we will carry with us into eternity is Faith in the person of Jesus Christ
1st Paul says Jews and Gentiles are seperated from God
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
1. This you will carry to eternity Faith
Romans 4:3What does the Scripture say?
"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
2. This I will take to eternity with me What I beleived not by law but by Faith
13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
A. This I will carry to eternity Amazing Grace Guaranteed to all who have Faith vs 16
Eph 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9not by works, so that no one can boast
B. I will carry with me into eternity my hope in God. Sarah was barron agaist all hope though her womb was dead yet it came alive and gave birth to a son Issac
18Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed
19Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--well, his body was 100 years old and sure enough Sarah’s womb was dead. 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, 21being fully persuaded that God
had power to do what he had promised
C. This we can carry to enternity Confidence in God’s Promise
21Abraham ,being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness."
3. This I will take to eternity with me The One who
poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors- Isaiah 52:12
This will I take to eternity with me this assurance .
25He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification
Thomas Watson (1557-1592) - God does not justify us because we are worthy, but by justifying us makes us worthy
The 16th century theologian Wilhelmus `a Brakel said, "Justification is the soul of Christianity and the fountainhead of all true comfort and sanctification. He who errs in this doctrine errs to his eternal destruction."
The Ability of the Cross is to Justify, this you will take into eternity.
Idea for sermon came from Homiletics March Issue 2012.
