Well, we continue our study in the book of Romans tonight. I invite you to turn to Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. We'll read 1 through 12. The text tonight is verses 6 through 12. But to set the context, we'll back up to 4 verse 1. Let's give our attention tonight, page 1019. let's give our attention tonight to the Lord's holy word what then shall we say was gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh for if Abraham was justified by works he has something to boast about but not before God for what does this scripture say Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness now to the one who works his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due and to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly his faith is counted as righteousness now our text just as david also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom god counts righteousness apart from works blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man against whom the lord will not count his sin is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised for we say that faith was counted to abraham as righteousness how then was it counted to him was it before or after he had been circumcised it was not after but before he was circumcised he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised the purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness would be counted to them as well and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised and there ends the reading of God's word well we have gone through uh the dark difficult chapters of the first three chapters of romans and in the middle of romans 3 we got to really good news and i i believe if you could have looked at the face of the apostle as he was telling these things he was overjoyed uh to communicate this great truth this is what he had been building to this is what he was excited to explain the heart of this great book this pastoral letter if you will is the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone but the the chapter sort of presents to us challenges with this doctrine not challenges with the doctrine itself but challenges because it's just so glorious it's the most difficult truth for us to accept and to receive it is that good this this news that he's given to us uh the title says too good to be true there should have been a question mark after that is this really too good to be true um this is such an important chapter tonight uh that you think when you look at this great truth and you look at the history of how this truth has been fought against and all the confusion that has been around this doctrine it the reason is is because we it's almost like receiving a great gift you say there's got to be strings attached there's got to be strings attached to this it can't be this good from god himself well what what chapter four is doing here is making this case and he's raising two great figures in the history of the old testament that israel looked to as champions and actually looked to sinfully entrusting in them but it raises these two great figures to prove this great truth of justification by grace through faith alone and he's working with Abraham and he's working with David and we have to really consider the joy that Paul has to explain this he began last time as we looked in Romans with this great figure Abraham and Paul gloried in this great truth that God looked down from heaven And you think about the great gospel that we confess. He looked down from heaven and he saw all of our unrighteousness. And he saw all of our rebellion. And he saw that only the thoughts and intents, Genesis 6, of the human heart were evil continually. And instead of pouring out wrath, instead of dealing with us that way, he showed forth his love by giving his Son for us. being think about this totally unable ourselves to make payment and to justify ourselves for the sin that we have accumulated and done before his majesty god did the unimaginable before us he from his own resources gave a gift to us he sent his beloved son in whom was all his delight the one as we considered triune god the second person of the godhead of the trinity who is truly god assumed our human nature and came down to this earth and humbled himself philippians 2 by becoming obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross taking on the human nature carrying our burdens all the way to the cross every sin past present and future that we would do was laid upon his back fulfilling righteousness for us in his righteous life this is the gospel of god paul wanted to explain to us from the beginning when he called it that the gospel of god the good news of god to a fallen realm to a fallen world that he's announced for thousands think about it in our new covenant era for thousands of years and here we are in escondido receiving it it's been a sweeping success to the ends of the earth well i want to take my son's perfect life he said a sweet smelling aroma to me who lived perfectly for you and his blood was shed for you to cover you in the robes of righteousness to impute our accounts his righteousness legally so that the debt was canceled all the legal demands of the law were canceled so that we're forgiven god freely now notice i said that that was that was such an important word in romans 3 god freely it's for us it's a free gift justifies someone by faith alone resting and receiving christ and grants and credits to him all the benefits of christ's work all in our place all in what we say our stead all as our representative that we stand now completely justified and acquitted by faith before the holy justice of God. That free gift is just something to ponder the rest of life, isn't it? Nothing else is needed. You don't do one work to add to it. You don't do anything to achieve it. This is why he's been saying is either all of works or all of grace. And if you're going to talk about works and you're going to talk about boasting, but you can't do it before God because no one can meet the standard so then it's all freely of grace that he gives this to us we are simply recipients with an outstretched arm to receive the free gift that's what he wants that's it but the faith that he gives us to receive it how do you communicate that it's um it's so wonderful imagine doing the the worst thing that you could ever do to somebody hate them despise them ridiculed them shamed them earning a life in prison and a man the man you did that to comes to your aid he forgives you pays the entire debt because he loved you merely in human terms we can barely comprehend that but this is god this is the gospel of god paul's wanted to prove this with two great figures he's wanted to show us this with two great figures the stories we all all know well so he began with father abraham used to sing that as a child father abraham many sons and that's exactly how he ends this section he asked the question fundamentally about abraham and we won't go back into this but we looked at this last time fundamentally about abraham what did abraham believe about himself what did he learn about himself what was gained by father abraham according to the flesh if if he had set himself in this life and you know this is how people generally believe if you ask them on the street why do you think you're going to heaven they're going to point to generally that they've done good before god it's built into us from creation we were created to work what did abraham learn about himself what did he learn about his sinful nature that's the question we wrestled with last time how do we view father abraham that's important for us children that's important for us because we look at these great heroes of the old testament and we think could we really be like them we could never achieve to achieve to their righteousness we could never be as good as them or as great as them and the whole message is listen to the testimony listen to the record what kind of righteousness did abraham have the reality was the narrative wanted to show us over and over and over abraham's life and it's a it's a interesting balance because they'd also wants to capture the life of faith but it doesn't the old testament narratives never want us to miss what's being revealed about them his life was full of sin and disaster and mess we looked at that last time if there was something abraham could point to well then he could boast but he couldn't do it before the lord that wasn't the truth of the matter i mean the man sold off his wife twice he tried to produce the promise himself he was a liar I could go through it all again. But Paul now raises David. There's a figure to think about. Was David a good man? Was David a good man? One of the worst failings of life, think about it, of your life, would be to wreck your marriage, to commit adultery, to bring great shame to the name of the Lord in your vocation and then go out and commit murder and then live in that sin? Could you imagine this mess in the church? Could you imagine us having to deal with this in the church? Where would you begin? What if that was your life put on record for millions and millions and billions of people to read. It began with your lust problem. This would utterly ruin somebody's life. And in our day of very sensitivity to abuse, it was abusive. It was abusive in every way. The shame of the whole thing. And it was a big deal. But David suffered greatly for it because of the shame and dishonor he brought to the name of the Lord who had done all this for him. Imagine that your life recorded that way. Imagine everyone knowing it. What did David discover about himself? All you have to do is read the Psalms. Was David, as Rome says, Justified by a faith working through love? I'll just ask Uriah about that. David was an adulterer and David was a killer. The pinnacle here of both men to this is this, the great statement of Romans. And this is the offense of the gospel, beloved. This is the offense of the gospel. You see why it's so offensive. To the one who does not work, what do you mean this guy has to pay for it this guy has to pay for what he did to the one who does not work but believes on him who justifies the wicked that's the language god justifies the wicked and all that makes us very uncomfortable when we look at the lives of other people but then you ask what have you learned of yourself what are you capable of what am i capable of paul takes this great psalm of david really the most remarkable psalm in the psalter next psalm 51 when it comes to confession and he drives it home right in the middle of romans 4 what did David understand about the blessedness of this life the blessedness of this truth the blessedness of justification by grace through faith alone is what he's saying that's the blessedness he's talking about what did what did David learn about the blessedness of the gospel the gospel we confess what did Abraham learn about the blessedness of the gospel there's one great truth of the Christian faith that makes us marvel as we walk through this life that takes us right into eternity we will marvel at throughout eternity when we look upon the risen and sanctified holes of our savior in the wrists and it's this verse 6 david describes the blessedness of the man to whom god listen carefully imputes righteousness reckons righteousness legally court terms apart from works he reckons and credits to us the righteousness of christ it may appeal to your consciences that are often deeply disturbed by sin because i don't think it's that most people a lot of people may be um what do you say they may be just um presumptuous that may be true but i think a lot of people if you press them are deeply wondering and are unsure and are not quite sure if god really could love them do you consider the figures here consider them consider them let me appeal to your consciences that are troubled by sin what has he done for you think about the great truth we're declaring tonight. You're hearing tonight. This all anticipates Romans 5. Having been justified by faith, you have peace with God. This anticipates Romans 8.1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. When you believe the gospel and you receive the gospel and you trust in Christ and you look to his word and you believe those promises, God grants right then and there once and for all. He credits to you. He forgives you. He washes you. And He justifies you. Period. It's done. You never fall back into His anger. You never fall back into alienation. You never fall back into His wrath. He's not angry at you. He's for you. That's why He gave His Son. Your sin is not greater than the free gift. Do you understand that? The free gift is that great, that powerful, that good, that good for us. And he wants you to believe it. Now, how do you prove this in sort of real time? That's where this gets a little bit technical, but it's so important. Does the scripture make the case this very truth happened in the life of Father Abraham? Did this really happen to him? is this doctrine of justification some new idea that paul was teaching as they all charged him to teaching antinomianism by the way if you preach the gospel right you will be accused of that at times you have to be accused of that he was not an antinomian of course that's what romans 6 says shall we continue in sin that grace may abound but if you hear it correctly it makes people nervous does the scripture make the case that this great truth of justification happened in the life of father abraham and that's the last sort of great thing i think paul does before he applies begins to apply the doctrine here working through all of the objections to the to the idea that he knew would come throughout history especially for the jews but especially for notice Jew and Gentile here that there's a relationship of Jew and Gentile to the doctrine of justification but there's one great roadblock here that he had to deal with for people to receive it and understand it of Jew and Gentiles the gospel went out to the ends of the earth and that's the issue of circumcision. Paul says okay let's talk about that let me show you how father Abraham was justified and when father Abraham was justified when he was acquitted when he was forgiven paul knew that the issue of circumcision would be a huge hindrance to the gospel message not because circumcision should have been that or baptism should ever be that it's because of what people do to these sacraments so we can imagine a jew hearing this great truth if you can stand there and think of a jew hearing this gospel i don't i don't know about that or a gentile for that matter might object well didn't god give circumcision to abraham was that not a way of his justification that's this is a real basic simple line of reasoning that paul's working with here through the act of circumcision didn't he please god to get his favor because he had he had the identity marker he had what identified him as a true child of God, didn't that show, didn't that, isn't that the issue of how God was pleased with them? All right, Paul, well, what then is the value of circumcision? I don't know what the sign was. It was a sign of cutting away of the foreskin that symbolized and signified the cutting away that needed to happen of sin out of the human heart. Surely, Paul, you're not going to say that's meaningless. Did they understand it? Paul reacts in verse 9 with a question. Okay, you give this much credence to circumcision. And I know, I said before, it was 2024. Who wants to come listen to a sermon on circumcision? It's the most awkward thing to preach about. But it's important. It's important. I'll show you why, I hope. If you give that much credence to this, let me ask you, when was Abraham justified? When? Let's talk about timing for a minute. Does this blessedness, verse 9, you'll notice here, is the blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham as righteousness. Does this blessing of what I just talked about, the blessedness of being justified by grace through faith alone, totally and completely declared, Think about this, right in the presence of God that Abraham, David received, does justification only come upon those who receive circumcision, the sign of the covenant, or can it come upon the uncircumcised? I tried to capture how important this was to the Jews. We don't understand this today, so that's why we're a little disconnected from it. But you have to stand sort of in first century shoes to understand the point and to appreciate it. Listen to the book of Jubilees to make the point. Everyone that is born, the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised on the eighth day, belongs not to the children of the covenant which the Lord made with Abraham, for he belongs to the children of destruction. Nor is there moreover any sign to him that he is the Lord's, but he is destined to be destroyed and slain from all the earth that paul has to overcome doesn't he if you weren't circumcised you're right on the path to be destroyed you are you are well he calls a child of destruction the book of jubilees so what happened was is that eternal security for the jews was based on the right of circumcision i mean it's similar to what people do with baptism today in the book of moses one of the rabbis wrote our rabbis have said no circumcised man will see hell circumcision guaranteed access to heaven and these have been reform problems today where people have done the same thing to baptism federal vision look this was such a problem that all the churches had to come together in Acts 15 to deal with this major issue. Think of it. And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you are cast out of Israel. You cannot be with Israelites. You cannot be saved. So you understand why the whole Jerusalem council had to happen. Now think about the importance of this then in that history, in that brief history. Does the blessedness of justification by grace through faith alone come only upon the circumcised? That would have been an immense moment for anyone hearing this. Does the blessedness of justification come only to those who have the sacrament of circumcision? Same with baptism. Paul says, for we say, notice this here. For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. And notice what he follows up with. How then was it counted to him? And notice it's a timing issue. Was it before or after he had been circumcised? Paul's saying, listen. Abraham was justified far before the whole right of circumcision was administered. If you'll recognize this, then you also have to recognize that circumcision or anything that we do becomes no basis by which someone's justified before God. so you remember the story god calls abraham out of ur of the chaldeans and he makes a promise to him and you all the gentiles of the earth will be blessed all the nations all the peoples you get to genesis 15 he brings them outside and he says i want you abraham to to stop and i want you to look up beautiful skies that are out there i want you to look up in the dark snow lights all you see are all those stars up there. I want you to think about the sand down there on the seashore. Can you count it? Look now and count the stars if you are able to number them. And God said, so shall your descendants be. What a promise. At the bare promise, right then and there, Here's what happened. Genesis 15, 6. And he believed in the Lord. And he counted it to him for righteousness. It was done. Did you hear me? It was done. He was forever acquitted before the throne room of God. Right then and there. He believed the Lord. He was completely washed. He was completely acquitted. God would never hold one sin against him ever again in his life. And that would carry him right into eternity. Then God cut the covenant. Abraham was asleep, prefiguring the death of Christ. The major point of Paul in verses 9-12 is to tell us Genesis is very specific on the timing of Abraham's justification. very specific he was totally absolved totally declared righteous fully assured that he was the lord's and there was no going back when and you see i think this is the beauty paul wants to communicate as a pastoral encouragement to christians right here right here you have to weed through it a little bit but right here christ went around preaching good news and when he preached good news and he called people to come to him come to me all you who are labor and we say what do you mean come what do you mean come you see it all the time in the gospels as soon as they believed in them think of the man who is lowered through the roof he didn't even say anything so they're lowering him through the roof the pharisees are sitting their critical and he looks at him and he says to the man son forgiven are your sins that was the moment for the man right then and there and of course the pharisee says who is this man he's a blasphemer only god can forgive sins amen right then and there he was justified because he looked right into the heart of the man without him even saying a word and saw that the man be believed and that's why over and over in the gospels you see all of these people constantly coming blind bartimaeus believing and they are justified once and for all acquitted before the throne room of god so when abraham believed god at that very moment the righteousness of christ was credited to him in anticipation of the work what an encouragement what an encouragement and and why is it so important i just add to be in church you know what if your child right now is hearing this finally you know i was i was 21 years old and had sat in the church all my life and finally this thing clicked one day when a pastor was preaching it and i believed it you see why we're here it's really hard to convince people of this today They just don't take that in. What an encouragement about your children when they believe it's done. They may make a lot of failings along the way. It's done. Abraham in the next chapter does a pretty bad failing with Hagar. He was justified. Did that make him an antinomian? Of course not. Chapter 18, the Lord says, stop it. Start walking in righteousness because you're my child. Is this blessedness only for the circumcised? Or can Gentiles have it too? And now you see what he just did. On the one hand, Jews felt their acceptance with God was because of circumcision. He just took that whole thing away. And on the other hand, the Gentiles feel they're excluded from God because they're without circumcision. He just took that away. He leveled the playing field for everyone. It's by faith. Faith alone. And Paul says, look at Abraham. The righteousness that came by faith didn't even occur with circumcision in the equation. And if you fast forward to chapter 17 of Abraham's life, 14 years later, God comes and establishes the covenant of circumcision, telling him and his children to keep the covenant he and his household eight days old and this is what james is i just want to say as a side note this is what james is working with people get this really confused when james talks about so you see see that abraham was justified by works he's talking about it what we call demonstratively he's proving before the world that he's justified he's not talking about Genesis 15. Legal declaration. What an amazing moment. He's looking at the Gentiles saying, do you hear this? It's just as much for you. It's just as much for you. It's God's plan. He sent the gospel out. Believe him and trust him. Abraham's faith that he received was accounted to him while he was uncircumcised. Well, this is so important tonight. Do you notice the ending of this the purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness would be counted to them as well he's talking right about you the same story same reality and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who walk in the footsteps of all the faith it's faith whether you're circumcised or not that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. Why is it so important tonight? Well, I hope I've made that case. First, God wants everyone to look at Abraham as the example not of meriting anything, but as the example of faith, as an encouragement to us. David the same. There's another reason. You know God loves you so much that He knows you struggle with assurance why would he ever even give circumcision to begin with why did he ever give baptism to begin with well because you're burdened with sin and doubt god knew this would be a problem for you in this life and he adds to his word of promise and as i've justified you freely by a free gift of grace Notice verse 11, he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Circumcision was the sign and seal for him of what he believed. That Christ cut away the sin. Christ threw it as far as the east is from the west. In the new covenant, I said before, it's not that circumcision is done away with, it's done away with outwardly. But He has taken the reality of what it all signified and said, in Him you also were circumcised. You're circumcised as Christians, not in the old covenant way, not in the physical way. Not with a circumcision performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ. He circumcised you. He did it. He already did it when you believed. having been buried with him in baptism in which you were raised with him through your faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead and who has removed all the legal demands against you. And listen to this, Colossians 2. Having forgiven you all your trespasses. It's done. It's done. That's what he's done. freely by grace. And your baptism is a sign and a seal to encourage you that that's done. You see, I think we're a little ashamed to talk about baptism. We're afraid we're going to trust in it. No, don't do that. Look to it as a testimony. Look to it as a sign. Look to it as a way that God has given you something visible to say you're mine. I did that for you. Your sin is washed away. That's what it signifies. All that should be an immense encouragement to us tonight. God set it up that Abraham would receive the sign and the seal way after so that you would always understand justification by grace is through faith alone. It was God's purpose to make him the father of all who believe. Blessed is the man whose lawless deeds are forgiven. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will never count his iniquity. Isn't that a marvel? but i close with this i don't think you see it any more clearly than the scene on the cross two men hung next to jesus both were guilty both had lived a notoriously wicked life both their hands and their feet were tied up nailed into the wood they could do nothing physical couldn't do one work one of them mocked God the other right then and there at the end of his life believed and right then and there listen right then and there at the last minute of his life. He was justified. Let that set in. An entire life of rebellion, right then and there, God cleared him. You might have a son and a daughter walking away. You might have a parent. You don't know if that will be their story. But isn't it a marvel that that's what He does? Trust His promises. That's the Gospel. May we treasure it all of our days, holding tightly to it, never letting go of this glorious message of a Savior who has fully assured us that He's given to us and granted and credited to us the righteousness of His Son as if we had never sinned or been a sinner as if we had been perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for us we must receive that gift with a believing heart Amen Heavenly Father thank you for such a message thank you for such truth encourage our hearts and strengthen all those here Lord in this great truth and maybe there's some tonight who, like me at 21 years old, finally heard it and was justified once and for all. I want to marvel to gather around the throne of grace and hear this truth. May indeed we stop taking it for granted. In Jesus' name, amen.