Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
“THE WAY TO BE RIGHT WITH GOD”
BY: Kenneth Emerson Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport
News, VA
A lot of us think we can become acceptable or right with God by simply doing the best
we can.
Many of us actually believe that we can gain God’s approval by being reasonably
good--by being a respectable and upright citizen, and by occasionally helping others who
are less fortunate.
But in our scripture lesson for this morning we are faced with an amazing fact: human
beings can not get right with God by simply doing good works.
We can only get right with God through faith!
Let’s take another look at verses 4 and 5.
“Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.
However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith
is credited as righteousness.”
When a person works, someone owes them something.
And if we could work for righteousness, that is, work so that God would owe us
righteousness, God would owe us something!
But God, being God, is completely self-sufficient--God cannot be put in debt to
anyone!
Therefore the only way we can be righteous in the eyes of God is to do what Abraham
did--and that is to believe God.
Romans Chapter 5 states that it is the ungodly people--those ungodly people who
believe God--
Those are the people who are counted as righteous.
But how can this be?
It’s because we are all ungodly. We are all sinners. We all fall short of God’s glory!
There is no one who is perfect! Not one!
Therefore we all must admit our ungodliness--rejecting self--knowing that we need
God!
We must give ourselves up completely, and give our lives to God alone.
We must believe God through faith that God is more than willing, and more than able
to save us from our sins.
But if we do not admit our ungodliness, reject self, and call on God for God’s help--
Then we have declared ourselves to be self-sufficient and self-righteous.
And we have condemned ourselves to be unjustified.
Not because God rejects us, but because we have not believed God--and therefore
have rejected God!
As Jesus states so clearly in John chapter 3, “Whoever believes in Him is not
condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not
believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
And just think of how many people do not believe!
The Bible states that without faith there is no forgiveness.
And without forgiveness there is no salvation, there is no relationship with God, there is
only condemnation.
Therefore, as Christians our job is one of urgency!
We’ve got to get out the Word!
We’ve got to lead others in the right direction--the direction that leads to faith in Jesus
Christ--the direction that brings humankind into a right relationship with God.
We who have been saved through faith have the truth!
We who have been saved through faith have the light!
Are we letting our lights shine?
Are we inviting others to church?
Are we telling others about the difference that our faith in Christ has made in our lives?
Are we doing what God requests of us?
The Bible says that Abraham did as God requested.
He went out not knowing where he went.
He completely and unquestionably trusted God and took God at God’s Word.
Notice that it was not Abraham’s keeping of the law that pleased God.
As a matter of fact, the law had not even been given yet!
What pleased God and what caused God to justify Abraham was that Abraham did what
God said.
Abraham simply believed the promise of God that God would give him a new life--in a
new nation--with a new people.
And isn’t this what God promises those of us who put our faith in Christ?
How many testimonies from how many Christians down through the ages have there
been--where the converted never would have expected the new life that faith in Christ
brings--would never have expected to become a citizen of heaven while still on earth--would
never have expected to be surrounded by a community of faith--a new people?
Let’s look at verses 14 and 15:
“For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,
because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.”
The law voids faith: it erases any hope of ever recieving the promise of eternal
life--because the law demands perfection.
The law insists that it be obeyed.
But no person can keep from coming short and breaking the law of God at some point.
Every person is a lawbreaker.
Every one of us are imperfect and short of God’s glory.
Everyone is to be condemned and punished!
The pharisees thought they were righteous because they tried to keep God’s law...but
Jesus told them otherwise.
He called them hypocrits, snakes, a brood of vipers, and asked them “How will you
escape being condemned to hell?”
Of course the only answer is through faith in Jesus Christ....the only one who is able to
forgive sins.
But they didn’t want to hear that.
They didn’t see themselves as sinners.
I think that is why Jesus told them that if they even look at another person with lust they
have already committed sin in their hearts.
And if they are angry at or hate their brother, they have already committed murder in
their hearts.
Basically Jesus was saying.... “Get over it! You are all sinners! You all need me!”
And in a sense...We all need to get over it!
I knew a girl in college who was dealing with some pretty heavy spiritual warfare.
She wanted to be right with God, but she felt as if she were missing the mark.
She had gotten caught up in some things of the world that she just couldn’t seem to
shake.
She felt as if God did not love her, or approve of her.
She felt as if her life was a wash.
No matter how hard she tried...she was never good enough.
And this made her very unhappy.
This brought her down into the depths of deep clinical depression--and intense
anxiety.
She could hardly function.
She had become suicidal.
She nearly gave up.
Then one day she was walking through a record store on the college campus.
And there was a familiar song playing in the store.
It was a Billy Joel song, “I love You Just the Way You Are”.
At that moment, she felt as if God were talking directly to her...through this song.
And she came to a realization.....a realization that saved her life, and got her right with
God.
There is nothing she could do that could make God love her any more than He already
does.
As a matter of fact...sins and all....God loved that girl just the way she was....so much
so that God sent God’s One and only Son into the world to save that girl--to take the sins of that
girl upon Himself, to die the death that girl deserves, and to free that girl from the condemnation
which comes from the law of death.
That realization is what changed that girl.
Belief in the love, the grace and the mercy of God is what changed that girl.
And she did change.
Slowly but surely, the things that she had been unable to shake off on her own were lifted
from her by the only One who can....
She’s not perfect.
She never will be perfect...not on this earth at least.
But she is at peace.
She has joy in her heart.
She knows that all she needs to do is to believe God, not knowing where she will be
sent...but going just the same....beleiving that God loves her that much!
And you know what?
He does. He does.
She’s now a Methodist minister.
And she knows about faith, and she knows about the law.
God loves all of us just the way we are....Just believe it! Stop trying to change yourself!
Let go, and let God!
The law shouts out at us: “Break me and you become guilty, condemned, and are going to
be punished!”
The law causes us to see God as being some legalistic Person who hovers over us like
Santa Clause, watching every move we make.
Making a list...checking it twice...
But this is not who God is....God is Jesus Christ who has come to give us abundant life
filled with love, joy and peace.
That’s who God is.
The problem with the law is that the law can only accuse--it cannot deliver.
It can only point out sin--it cannot save us from sin.
It can only show us where we have failed--it cannot show us how to keep from failing.
It can only condemn--it has no power to save!
Faith is the only thing which brings grace.
The word for grace means a gift, a free gift, a gift given without expectng anything in
return.
It means favor, approval, goodwill, assistance, help, and kindness.
And this grace is freely given to anyone who falls to their knees, confesses their sin,
confesses their inadequacy to save themself, cries to God to have mercy and to forgive their sin,
and thanks God that He does forgive sin through faith in Jesus Christ the Lord.
Faith assures us that the promise of eternal life is for everyone.
That it is available to all.
Jesus did not come to earth to save some exclusive club...or to set up some new
clich...Jesus came to save all who would believe....people from every nation, race, or class.
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Do we believe God?
