Romans 4:1-25

Key verse 4:3

"What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God and was credited to him as righteousness.’"

In Romans chapter 3:21-31 we learned that we have a righteousness from God through faith in Jesus. God, by his wonderful grace, justified all of us, freely. He did it by Jesus’ sacrifice of his life and precious blood on the cross. As a result, we are all delivered from our slave life of sin. We are now declared "not guilty!" in God’s sight. This means that it is not by law or by works that we are justified and made right with God, but through faith in Jesus alone.

Today’s passage, Romans 4:1-25, Apostle Paul gives a case study, using the examples of Abraham and David, as to how a person is credited right with God apart from works and the law. It helps answer the question, "How can wicked sinners like us be right with the holy and perfect God?" Through this passage, may God help us to learn from the good examples of Abraham and David. May God give us humble and learning minds so that we may trust in Jesus and on the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus. May God plant in your hearts his righteousness so that you may be right with God.

Let’s read verses 1-2, "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about---but not before God." Romans chapter 3 taught us that we are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. A man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. This includes both Jew and Gentile; circumcised or uncircumcised. Yet, people still like to boast about what they have done. They like to boast about what they accomplished. But boasting is a sin because it does not give glory to God. Instead it reveals that the person who boasts is making himself the object of glory. Boasting comes from a proud and arrogant heart. There is danger in boasting. Mohammed Ali used to boast that he was the greatest boxer in the world. It was true that no one could beat him. But then he got too old to fight. Now he has Parkinson’s disease and is helpless. The Jews boasted that they were God’s people. This boasting made them proud because they forgot that it was God who made them his people, not their works. So when Jesus came, they stumbled in unbelief because they could not accept humble Jesus and the Kingdom of God.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 says, "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord." We should boast in the Lord, not ourselves or in what we have accomplished. All our human boasting reveals one’s thirsty heart and the need of the righteousness that comes by faith.

. Let’s read verse 3, "What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Paul now gives an example of Abraham’s faith that made him righteous before God.

Paul takes this quote in verse 3 from the book of Genesis chapter 15:6.Aftter Abraham had won a great victory to rescue his nephew Lot, fear and discouragement came into his heart. Abraham revealed to God his no son problem that was still in his heart. It had been 10 years since God called him and gave him the promise, "I will make you into a great nation." Still, now, Abraham had no son. There was no sign, even from Sarah, that she was pregnant. God had given Abraham his promises, but still there was no evidence, no sign. It was like ordering pizza and waiting for it to come and hearing the pizza delivery man saying, "It’s coming" but nothing happens.

God, however, wanted Abraham to believe, despite there being no physical evidence, even after 10 years. God decided to help Abraham with a visual display in order to encourage his faith. Genesis 15:5 says, "He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’" When Abraham saw the stars in the sky and began to count them he began to open his heart to God. Through counting the stars Abraham believed what God said. God then credited his faith as righteousness. Abraham’s faith was simple. He trusted God and believed. He had no evidence, nor was he able to do anything. He simply trusted and believed. Then God made him right. This faith of Abraham became a major theme in the Bible. A man is credited righteousness by faith in God’s promises, not by any human works. As we have studied in Romans so far, this is its theme as well, "The righteous will live by faith." It is very important that we accept that we are made right with God by faith, not by our works. Those who think that they need to do many works to be right with God eventually become burdened. Our spiritual lives can become very burdensome if we think I must do many works to be right with God

Let’s read verse 4, "Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as gift but as an obligation. However, to the man who trusts in God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited to him as righteousness." When we work, we receive a paycheck. It is not a gift. It is an obligation. It is because we worked for it. It is ours. Missionary Maria Park became angry one time when her boss did not give her paycheck on time. Though she worked very hard for him. Many people think salvation is this way. That they have to work hard to earn it. That they have to work hard to forgive themselves. They think that if they work hard, somehow, they will feel right with God and right with themselves. But this is not the teaching of Romans or of the Bible.

According to verse 5, wicked people must trust in God and not expect that work will make them right with God or justify them before God. Who are the wicked people? That is all of us.. This is what we studied in chapter 3. There is no one righteous, not even one. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Our throats, tongues and lips are dirty, revealing our dirty desires and dirty hearts before God. There is no way for us by our works to be made right with God. Our hearts are too dirty and too defiled to be made right with God by doing any kind of humanly good works, even religious works. Jesus gave an example of this in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee was confident of his own self-righteousness and looked down on others, so he proudly went to the temple one day and prayed about himself, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." But when the tax collector went up to pray, he beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Jesus said, that it was the tax collector, not the Pharisee who was justified by God. (Luke 18:9-14)

A man is justified by only faith in Jesus because we are too sinful and too dirty before God. All our righteousness and works are like filthy rags before God. We need to accept this fact that we are justified by faith in Jesus and made right with him, not by works. In verses 6-8, Paul gives King David as another case study of the example of being right with God by faith, apart from works

Let’s read verses 6-8, "David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.’" David was Israel’s greatest king. He worked hard to win many battles to secure Israel and to give it peace and safety. Not only was he a successful warrior and king, but he was also a poet, a musician. He was called by God as a man after God’s own heart.

However, he also experienced the righteousness that comes by faith apart from works. Paul gives the quote from Psalm 32 in verses 7-8. This passage recalls David’s great sin. His great sin was that he committed adultery with a young woman named Bathsheba. After he did this he tried to justify his act in his own eyes by having her husband, one of his most loyal and bravest fighting men, Uriah, killed on the battlefield. King David thought he could cover up these acts. But God saw and knew. God sent his servant the prophet Nathan to rebuke David for this act. How did David respond? Did he have Nathan put in jail, like King Herod did to John the Baptist? How did David respond? 2 Samuel 12:13 says, "I have sinned against the Lord." David knew that as king, he could hide his act before men, but not before God. When his sin was revealed, he humbly repented. This was because he had such agony in his heart and such torment in his heart when he did not confess his sin and trust in God.

Psalm 32:3-4 reveals his inner agony, guilt, and heavy burden of his heart when he did not confess. He said, "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of the summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord---and you forgave the guilt of my sins." Perhaps David tried to do many works to be right with God and to remove the guilt from his heart, but he couldn’t. The guilt and agony kept growing. He became weaker and weaker and more and more burdened. He only had peace with God when he repented and accepted that he was right with God by faith and justified by faith that God would forgive his sins when he repented.

When David trusted God by faith that his terrible and wicked act of adultery and murder were forgiven by God, not by works, he felt he was the most blessed man. This is why he could say for all believers, "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.’" Blessed means "happy." The happy one is the one whose sins are forgiven by God.

Human happiness is not based on what one has. It is based on having a right relationship with God and this means trusting in Jesus that our sins are forgiven. Some people think that if they were a king, like David, that they would be happy. Our misconception is that money, power, success and recognition from others will make us happy. But this is never the case if we are not right with God. Many young women dream of the perfect wedding and perfect marriage with the man of their dreams, thinking this is the happy life. But without the forgiveness of sins from God, there is no happiness. Others try to work hard at their jobs and in their family hoping this will bring them to be happy. But without forgiveness of sins, there is no happiness inside our souls. We are only increasingly burdened day after day by the heavy weight of sins. We are like Cain who said he was a restless wanderer. So what must we do? We must accept the righteousness that is by faith. We must accept that Jesus unconditionally forgives wicked sinners like us. There is nothing we can do. We can only come to God like David did, and confess our guilt and sins and trust in his promise.

Jennifer Roberts could not love her father for giving all his attention on her sick brother. She felt ignored and hurt. She also felt burdened by her sins. But when she studied the Bible, she experienced this blessedness of forgiveness of sins after she accepted Jesus’ promise that he would forgive all her sins. As a result, she could love her father and invite him to Sunday worship. And she could dance like King David and be truly happy. Now she lives by the righteousness that comes by faith. Let’s accept that we are the most blessed people when we accept that all our wicked sins have been forgiven by Jesus. Let’ accept the fact that we can’t be saved from our terrible sins by any human works, but only trusting in Jesus.

In verses 9-10 Paul asks some questions. They are to help us to accept that we are righteous by faith apart from works. Let’s read verses 9-10, "Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised or before? It was not after, but before!" Paul emphasizes Abraham’s faith was credited as righteousness before the act of circumcision. That is, before any kind of works. He emphasizes it emphatically to his Jewish audience who put tremendous value in the act of circumcision thinking that was what made them right with God. Paul uses an exclamation mark at the end of verse 10 in order to silence them and their self-righteousness. "It was not after, but before!" It actually was over 13 years later from the time Abraham was credited as righteousness before God and the act of circumcision took place. Thirteen years! . Let’s read verses 11-12, "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised."

Paul specifically answers the questions he posed in verses 9-10. It is not by circumcision that he was credited as righteousness before God. It was his faith. Circumcision or uncircumcision does not matter. What matters is faith. Abraham is the father of the faith to those who are circumcised and uncircumcised. The condition again is faith. As long as they walk in the footsteps of faith as Abraham did before he was circumcised.

Let’s read verses 13-15, "It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 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." Again, Paul answers his question. It is not through the law that we are made right with God, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. The law only brings God’s wrath on us not matter how hard we try to live by it. Some churches emphasize their works and laws. Some believe that you have to be baptized. Or you have to wash the feet of the saints to be right with God. When they emphasize these things and many works, one can only become burdened when they try to do them and guilty if they don’t. This is because they do not know the righteousness that comes by faith. So they feel inside they are still under God’s wrath. But when we live by faith, like Abraham, simply trusting in God, then we are not under his wrath. We are under his grace because we trust in Jesus’ blood which continues to flow for forgiven sinners like us.

In UBF we try to write daily bread and testimonies. This is not a law and we know that we don’t need it to be right with God. But often we make it a law for ourselves. Then we can feel guilty if we miss our daily bread in the morning. I know because I experienced this. It is not the act of writing a testimony that makes me right with God. It is the righteousness that comes by faith. It is simple trust in Jesus. Missionary Sarah Lee confessed in her testimony last week that when she stayed home with her children for their Summer vacation and was unable to go to campus, she felt a sense of guilt. But she realized that she was trying to be right with God by her works. She then realized she needed to trust in Jesus’ righteousness.

Look at verse 16, "Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring---not only to those of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all." Once again, Paul emphasizes faith. The promise comes not by works, not by law, not by anything we can do. It comes to us by faith. Therefore it is for us to believe and then to receive righteousness from God. Then like Abraham, and with Abraham, we become heirs of God and coheirs with Jesus Christ. Are we Abraham’s offspring? Yes, we are when we believe by faith. Then the promises are also given to us. The God of Abraham who helped Abraham, becomes our God and we become his people. We become a nation of faith. We become a blessed people.

Look at verse 17, "As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." Father Abraham’s faith is exemplary because he believed when there was no sign and no evidence. God’s promises to this old man looked ridiculous and crazy.

Let’s examine Father Abraham’s faith. Let’s read verse 18, "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’" We can describe Abraham’s human condition as hopeless. This means he did not have one ounce of hope in his body. When God gave him his wonderful promises that he would make him into a great nation, hope sprang up in his heart and he followed God’s call to go to Canaan. But Abraham’s hope still remained in himself and in Sarah and especially in this world. He thought it might still be possible for Sarah at age 60 to have a son.

But still after many years, there was no sign. Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90. His body was as good as dead and Sarah’s womb was also dead. There was no life in them. There was no hope now. But in this time of zero hope, Abraham had hope. His hope now after 25 years was in God. After 25 years of training God had taught him not to put hope in anything in this world, but to put hope in God Almighty. So we see that Abraham’s hope had to be changed. It had to be changed from hope in himself, his abilities and in Sarah. It had to be changed to put hope in God 100%.

This is why God trains us as his people. We go through many difficulties and hardships because God wants to train us to put hope in God alone. God wants to completely break us from our attachments to worldly things and human hopes. Human hopes are like the mist of the morning. They are here for a moment, then gone. But those who put their hope in God are not weakened but strengthened.

Verse 19 shows Abraham’s hopeless human condition. Verses20-21ows us what happened when Abraham put hope in God and believed. Let’s read verses20-21, he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised." It says that he did not waiver. It says that he was strengthened in his faith. When he put hope in God and the promises of God, he became convinced that God Almighty could take his dead human condition and hopeless human condition and make him into a blessing to the world.

These days we are faced with many problems. Sometimes we felt like we were dead, especially when the problems kept coming again and again. Some of us are wondering, "What is going on?" But these things are happening so that we may not put hope in what we have but hope in God and his power to do what he has promised, like Abraham. Paul had the same kind of problems. He said this in his letter to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, of the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him, we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us."

Paul, like Abraham, realized and accepted that his hope had to be in God’s promises. Then he could experience victory and peace. Especially, he could be right with God. Paul accepted the promise of Jesus that Jesus would be with him to the very end of the age. Paul believed the promise that God who raised Jesus from the dead would be with him and give him the same strength to endure all hardships. Like Abraham and like Paul, each of us must have the promises of God in our hearts. Then we won’t waiver in our faith or become weak. We will believe that God will make the impossible to become possible.

God’s promise to us is our hope. I realized I easily wavered in my faith that God would raise up one Abraham and one Sarah of faith at George Mason University when many sheep did not commit to God. I thought that I could raise up one Abraham with my experience as a shepherd and with my Bible knowledge and human faithfulness. But I failed. From this passage I want to put my hope not in myself to raise up an Abraham of faith, but in God. By faith I want to believe that God has the power to raise up one Abraham.

Abraham believed God had power to do what he promised. He was persuaded that God could do anything and make him into a great nation when he put his hope in God and his promises. Abraham’s faith was credited it to him as righteousness. Let’s read verses 23-25, "The words, ‘It was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification."

Paul concludes this passage by bringing in Jesus Christ. When we believe in Jesus we, like Abraham are credited as right with God. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, when we believe, we are justified and forgiven. In Jesus, our faith is made perfect. Through Jesus, we see that it is not by works, but by faith alone that we are made right and justified. Thank God that he credits wicked sinners like us as righteous through this faith in Jesus. I pray that God may help you to hold onto this promise, so that you may not have unnecessary burdens by trying to live by works and law. May God help us all to simply trust in Jesus. May God give us hope in Jesus and the promise of God.