It’s the Same Old (But Wonderful) Song
(Romans 4:1-25)
1. PITTSBURGH (Reuters)- "One felony, extra crispy, please." City police on Friday said they were looking for a man who called a KFC restaurant and placed an unusual takeout order — a robbery.
The man called the restaurant March 31 and told the manager he was a police officer. The caller told the manager that a robber was on his way to the store and that the store employees should cooperate so nobody would get hurt. Police planned to grab the robber as he left the store, the caller said.
Moments later, a robber showed up and took $200, but no police arrived to arrest him — fueling police suspicion that the telephone "cop" and restaurant robber are the same person.
Police said at a news conference Friday they believe the same man is responsible for at least 10 other robberies in the city since late January. The other stores weren’t called ahead of time.
The robber was caught on video at the KFC, and the images match a description given in the other heists.
2. Phone calls can be used creatively, as in the above case.
3. But don’t you wish you could give God a phone call? Prayer is pretty close…
4. But what would some of the great men and women of the Bible tell us if they phoned us? Sometimes we know.
Main Idea: I. God Saved People Before ___Christ__ Came Just As He Saves Us (1-8)
1. In the last chapter, we saw that the atonement of Christ is the basis for all salvation (OT and NT)… see Romans 3:24-26.
2. God justified (saved) Abraham at the __point___ of belief
(1) Abraham is revered by Jews, Christians, and Moslems, so his example is powerful and convincing
(2) Some Jewish Christians were unconvinced of salvation by grace through faith apart from works, just as many folks today remain unconvinced….Abraham was considered the “rock from which (the Israelites) we cut,” according to Isaiah 51:1
(3) Now many forms of Christianity teach a plan of salvation that is foreign to the NT (salvation by sacraments, baptism); the proper plan of salvation should transfer back into OT times…if it does not, you hold to an error…Paul certainly accepted this standard…if it’s new, it’s not true!
(4) So how was Abraham justified? Turn to Genesis 15:6 and read it out of there!
(5) This means that Paul’s teaching of justification by faith is not something he pulled out of the air!
(6) If the God of the Bible is the true God, we would expect a continuity between the testaments (both unity and diversity)
3. Saving faith occurs at a __point___ in time, but it shows itself over time; true believers, ”walk in the footsteps of the faith” (4:12). Faith is taking God at His Word, responding to what He has believed…
(1) in previous sermons, we saw that we exist to glorify God, to highlight what is unique about God’s character and enjoy His blessings
(2) When we trust God, we are saying that He has good character; when we doubt Him, we are insulting His integrity…
(3) faith aligns us with God; unbelief puts us in an adversarial position, so faith has a lot to do with an attitude of submission, and the issue of faith is God’s integrity…
(4) even we human beings dislike it when others we know do not trust us…
4. We should not think of saving faith as a one-time decision with no residual effect….it is the beginning of a walk by faith….but that initial faith is what saves you, the walk merely flows from genuine faith and evidences its genuiness…
(1) Jesus’ parable of the sower
(2) only the ground that bore fruit represent SAVING faith…
5. Verses 4 and 5 provide a contrast to what most people think…you might memorize these…
6. The second most respected man by the Jews was King David. If David was saved the same way Abraham was saved, and Paul was teaching salvation in the same way these two men taught it, then Paul’s argument is potent indeed…and it is!
7. Notice David’s words quoted in verses 7 and 8 from the 32nd Psalm…
II. God Saved People on an __Individual_ Basis Back When, Just As He Does Now (9-12)
1. Many Jews, like many forms of Christianity, thought that salvation came by being born within a believing nation or a “group plan.”
2. In the Jewish New Testament Commentary, David Stern writes, “There can be no doubt that in the 1st Century…the doctrine was widespread that descendants can benefit and even claim salvation on the ground of their ancestors’ righteousness…”
3. Many Jews believed they were automatically saved because they were descendents of Abraham. As John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:9, “And do not think you can say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”
4. God covenants with the individual…God has no grandchildren
5. God saved Abraham BEFORE he was circumcised…
6. Remember, no rituals or rites save us. Rituals like circumcision in the OT and baptism in the NT have a rich symbolism…it is what they represent that is powerful, not the rituals themselves…No outward event can save our inner being…
III. God Saved People By _Faith_, Never By Law (13-15)
1. Most of the Bible does not deal with salvation…
2. I have heard people say they can take any verse of the Bible and use that to lead someone to Christ….that’s not good interpretation, just a good imagination…
3. The Bible does explain salvation, but much of it is written to help mature and nurture believers…
4. Because so much of the Bible emphasizes the Law and commandments, people tend to be predisposed to believe that the plan of salvation is trying to obey the 10 Commandments; but besides offering direction and guidance, the Law is meant to convict us as we see or inability to obey it…and it should humble us and direct us toward the need for forgiveness…
"Do this and live!" the law demands,
But gives me neither feet nor hands.
A better word his grace doth bring."
It bids me fly, but gives me wings.
5. Abraham
(1) was saved by believing God’s promises
(2) He could not have been saved by the Law, because the Law came with Moses hundreds of years later
(3) He believed God ….THE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE STRENGTH OF OUR FAITH…
IV. Abraham’s __Spiritual__ Family Consists of Those Who Are Credited with __Righteousness__ By Grace Through Faith (16-25)
1. The “Guinness Book of World Records. It lists many records for achievement. How much does it list as the weight of the heaviest man? He weighed 1,069 pounds. How tall was the tallest man? He was 8’ 11". What is the world’s record for bearing children? It lists it at sixty-nine. The record states that a Russian peasant women achieved this great honor. She had eight sets of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. And this leaves another sixteen individual births. She was pregnant over thirty-five times. I think she will probably keep that record intact. But where the Guinness Book of World Records is wrong is that it states that the oldest mother gave birth in October, 1956 at the age of fifty-seven. Sarah would beat that record by a comfortable margin.” (David Hoke, Sermon Central) Sarah was 90 when she conceived Isaac.
2. When you think of Abraham, you associate him with faith (20-21)
(1) strengthened by faith
(2) gave glory to God by faith
(3) persuaded by faith
(4) credited as righteous by faith
3. Abraham was promised descendents as the sand of the sea and the stars of the sky….
Abraham went on to father many nations, including the Arabs. His physical descendents in the line of promise through Isaac are the Jews; but His spiritual descendents are numerous as well.
4. All who trust in Jesus Christ are Abraham’s spiritual offspring…He is the prototype for who know God…
5. I mentioned that Abraham was called the “little rock” by the Jewish people, meaning he is the prototype, the example. In NT, Jesus called Peter the Rock. This meant that his faith and his confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” is the prototype, the creed for all who follow Christ; just as Abraham’s faith is the our example for how to be saved, Peter’s faith is our example as to what we are to believe about Jesus.
6. Abraham’s family is the family of the redeemed. Are you part of that family?
