The question of the ages is "How can sinful man be made right in the sight of a Holy God?" Can we work for it ?
Ro. Ch 1-3 show that all are sinful.
Paul asks the question "How were the Patriarchs justified?"
I) ABRAHAM WAS JUSTIFIED WITHOUT WORKS Vss. 1-3
A) ABRAHAM’S WORKS Vs. 2
If anybody could boast it was him.
His grounds for boasting – He :
–Left his father’s house at God’s call (Gen 12).
–Separated from Lot in a noble manner (Gen 13:9).
–Gave 1/10th of the spoils of war to Melchisedec (Heb 7).
–Offered Isaac on the alter (Gen 22).
–Received the Abrahamic covenant.
i) THE PROBLEM WITH BOASTING...
- It takes the focus off God – puts it on man.
Have you ever met someone with an “I” problem ?
- It leads to comparison...
Pride resulting in Judgment – if you out perform someone.
Jealousy – if someone out performs you.
- It shows I am not trusting completely in Him…
Any time I boast even slightly I am not relying completely on the finished work.
Why do I boast?
Insecurity - I don’t understand what He has done for me.
I am relying in my works, not His.
Wrong identity – I don’t understand who I am in Him.
Identity comes from whose I am, not what I have done.
What does He think of you ? You are…
- Wonderfully made,
- His workmanship created in Christ Jesus,
- He thinks so much of you that He gave His Son for you.
My self worth, self esteem, security, & value can only come through who I am in Him.
Do you believe you are saved by works? NO, but if I boast I am trusting, to some extent, my own efforts.
He didn’t boast because he knew…
ii) THE PROBLEM WITH WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS...
i.e. deeds to improve our standing before God that only Christ’s death can accomplish.
- God is not impressed with our self righteous works
They don’t begin to compare to His work on the cross.
They are an insult to God
- Our self righteous works don’t last
They are never enough.
It becomes an addiction. (Performance junkies).
Always striving to get someplace works can never take you.
–They subtly replace Christ’s righteousness
Works mixed with faith can replace Christ’s righteousness.
B) ABRAHAM’S RECORD IN SCRIPTURE Vs. 3
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Dr. James Montgomery Boice – This is the most important verse in the Bible for the doctrine of salvation. This is the first verse that brings faith, justification, and righteousness together.
Notice : He was declared righteous...
–14 years before being circumcised. (Gen 17:24).
–Before offering Isaac (Gen 22).
–Before the Law of Moses (Exodus).
–He believed the Lord, i.e. Trust, not just that He exists.
–Jas 2:23 adds "...and he was called the friend of God".
C) ABRAHAM’S FAITH Vs. 3
- His faith was imperfect : He lied about Sarai (Gen 12:13),
: He took Hagar (Gen 16).
Yet his imperfect faith justified him perfectly.
It didn’t take strong faith to save him.
If only strong faith saves then faith is a work.
- His faith produced good works
Faith alone justifies but justifying faith is never alone.
II) DAVID WAS JUSTIFIED WITHOUT WORKS Vss. 6-8
DAVID DESCRIBES THE JUSTIFIED MAN :
A) ...HE IS BLESSED Vs. 6
David was under the Law of Moses.
Abraham was before the Law of Moses.
Paul agrees with both.
The man who does absolutely nothing to earn heaven without works is blessed.
Ask a person of any other religion :
Are you the blessed man of Ro. 4:6 ?
If you are then you don’t trust in your own merits.
B) ...HE IS FORGIVEN Vs. 7
Qu. from Psa 32:2 KJV Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Written after sin with Bathsheba, his hands still red with the blood of Uriah.
He broke 3 of the 10 commandments :
Adultery, murder, and coveting his neighbor’s wife.
There was no sacrifice for the first two.
David understood forgiveness.
C) ...HIS SIN IS NOT HELD AGAINST HIM Vs. 8
An accounting term – to charge to one’s account.
How would you like to have a Visa credit card that was in somebody else’s name and you could charge all you want ?
What if you were on death row and you could use the charge card to pay your debt ?
You had a sentence of death upon you. (Ro. 6:23)
You have a charge card in Jesus’ name.
If our sin is imputed to Him, therefore :
1) We can not pay the penalty for any of it.
No amount of good deeds, penance, purgatory... can make it up.
2)There is no more condemnation on our part.
Jesus took the full punishment for sin on the cross.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus....
3) Past, present, and future sins are paid for.
If He only died for past sins we are in big trouble.
Not only is our sin imputed to Him, His righteousness is imputed to us.
The great exchange of Ro. 4.
2 Cor 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Does this mean I can sin all I want ? (Rom 5:20)
Rom 6:1,2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
III) ALL BELIEVERS ARE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH WITHOUT WORKS Vss 4-5
A) THE HUMAN SYSTEM – PAYMENT FOR LABOR Vs. 4
Wages are paid to a worker, they are not given as a gift.
We are taught from school age to work hard to earn our way.
This is not so when it comes to justification.
You can never work hard enough, long enough, diligently enough to merit His love.
Yet some don’t believe this :
"…man, in union with the grace of Holy Spirit must merit heaven by his good works. These works are meritorious only when they are performed in the state of grace and with good intention.... We have shown that according to Holy Scripture the Christian can actually merit heaven for himself by his good works."
Matthias Premm, Dogmatic Theology for the Laity (Rockford, Ill.: TAN Books, 1977), pp.262-263.
B) THE DIVINE SYSTEM – FAITH THAT JUSTIFIES Vs. 5
THE JUSTIFIED MAN :
1) Does not work to earn justification
Is Paul telling us not to do good works ?
No, he is saying that they don’t add to our justification.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
Not only are we not justified by our works, they play NO part in our right standing before God.
What part do good works play ? They follow after justification.
2) Simply believes
The Gospel is simple
“Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
Man loves to complecate the Gospel.
He wants to think he contributes to salvation.
Salvation is from Christ alone.
3) Was an ungodly man
God doesn’t justify the self righteous – they have no need.
You don’t need to clean your self up before coming to Him.
If you do it who gets the glory ?
4)His faith is accounted for righteousness
Righteousness dikaiosunhn {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay} SRN 1343
Vine’s Expository Dict. of the N.T. “This righteousness is unattainable by obedience to any law, or by any merit of man’s own, or any other condition than that of faith in Christ ... The man who trusts in Christ becomes in Christ all that God requires a man to be, all that he could never be in himself.”
CONC :
Understanding justification by grace alone through faith without works will motivate us to do good works out of love for Christ.
