we're turning tonight in our bibles returning to our study in the the book of romans uh chapter four and our text tonight will be verses nine through twelve i will read verses one through twelve set the context again romans uh four beginning at verse one 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 what does scripture say abraham believed god and it was accounted 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 just as david also speaks of the blessed 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's 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 also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Well, everyone seems to know in the world of consumerism when something seems too good to be true, probably is, right? You get the call from the telemarketer and he's got a great thing to offer you and he states that you have won this prize maybe with no strings attached and then you find out there was a lot more attached to that than you realized. I hope none of you have ever bought in any of those. After a while, we stop buying the pitch, don't we? That may be true in the world of consumerism. We get so sick of that, we get sick of all of the offerings that are false and all of the chicanery and all of the weird things that go on but when it comes to the promises of god though something may seem too good to be true since god said it no matter how magnificent it may be it is true it is true that essentially is what drives romans 4 it is that good it is that exciting it is that amazing this is what god has done and romans 4 paul is just thrilled to announce the gospel of free justification by grace through faith alone he is really excited to announce this you can you can see this he's beaming to tell the Gentiles about this. That's what really comes out in this section tonight. But the chapter itself assumes all sorts of challenges with the doctrine. Not with the doctrine itself, but challenges that because this is so glorious, this news is so good, people are really going to struggle accepting it. And it's going to be really hard to hold on to. and i'm sure our professors would tell us tonight history testifies of that right history testifies of that so here we are paul if you're going to really teach this grace doctrine what were some of the things that he was facing that we've already come across in romans if you're going to really teach this great grace doctrine well then might as well go on doing whatever you want to do it's one thing he faced and we'll know that he will deal with that as the end of chapter three um he says paul says well he knows another objection what does your doctrine do to the law of god paul what does your doctrine do to the law of god you are making the whole that you are casting out the law of god you are going to make people be careless you're going to make them antinomians that is the great charge at the end of romans 3 he's he's dealing he knows that he knows it's what people are going to say and he's going to raise it again in chapter 6 and deal with that can't we go on sinning that grace may abound heaven forbid that we do that who is saying that why would you ever come up with that you don't understand this he's going to say when he gets to Romans 5 and 6 he's going to build to that because he's going to say you don't understand what happened to the old Adam. You don't understand what Christ has done the last Adam by killing the old Adam and raising somebody new and he will develop the whole doctrine of union with Christ and then he will unpack that there's a difference now. Of course there's a difference. But what he wants us to understand tonight and he's not left this yet he wants us and he's dealing with something that's very important for us and and maybe we feel a little bit disconnected from this living in 2012 but if i could put you tonight in the first century this would have been the great passage that they had to really wrestle with and think about it was a immensely important passage for the first century church because what paul is doing is he's he's he's shown us the doctrine of justification by faith alone and he's validating he's showing us that this is what the old testament saints believe this is what they clung to this is where their hope was and paul has this excitement to uh to say this tonight this wonderful gospel consider it what he's what he's unpacked for us it's absolutely wonderful god has looked down from heaven and he has seen all of our unrighteousness he has seen all of our rebellion that we considered this morning he has seen that the intents of the thoughts of our hearts are only evil continually Genesis 6 and instead of pouring out wrath he loved us he loved us and he didn't just do that willy-nilly he didn't just throw aside his justice he didn't just ah it's it's all right I'll just love you know what he did he delivered his son and we've heard that so much now but do we think about it the way that we should? He gave His only begotten Son, His eternal Son. And the intense wrath of God was poured out upon Him. And He came here and He took on our nature and He fulfilled all righteousness for us. And He announces to the ends of the earth today this good news. That when we turn from ourselves like we saw this morning and we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and we humble ourselves before His sight, which is all, as you saw, a real working of His mercy. I take the perfect righteousness of my Son who lived it all perfectly for you and the shedding of blood to cover you and I reckon to your accounts His perfect righteousness. So that when I look upon you, I see you in His clean garment. And Paul has been saying there's only one way we receive that. It's by faith alone. Faith is embracing the promise with a believing heart. Trusting everything He's revealed in His Word. Believing the Gospel. Receiving with an outstretched hand all of Christ's righteousness. Now, the issue that Paul is dealing with here is now to raise what Abraham believed and to show that this was the belief that great father Abraham held to and great King David held to. Father Abraham, he says in verse 1, what do we say about father Abraham? What was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh what did he think about himself what did abraham learn about himself and we wrestled with that last time which was which is really an immensely important question for us that we really need to think about because how do we view father abraham how do we view the old testament saints what do we think about when we look at them well we put them up on a pedestal and we exalt them and we think they were the giants don't we you're forced to say one of two things about father abraham you either say he was basically a good man and earned god's approval and justification or this greatest figure in the old testament fits exactly the description that paul has unpacked for us in chapter three that there is absolutely none righteous no not one and that includes granddaddy Abraham. Now this is an important issue that has to be answered because it determines how we're going to understand justification by faith alone. I can't stress that enough. It determines what we view Abraham needed and how we believe Abraham was able to stand before this holy God. It comes down to this because we have a major tradition still to this day, like Rome. Who would look at Abraham, and you know what they would say about Abraham? They would say that Abraham was basically blameless in his own righteousness. In other words, he had a faith that inherently had enough virtue and enough good qualities to please God. That's what they would say. And you see, Abraham was either blameless enough to please God or not. No middle. And that's why, you know, Calvin would say in Psalm 32 that the works of the saints, and I loved reading this on the sermon that we considered this morning, the works of the saints are unworthy of reward because they are spotted with stains. Even our best work, says Calvin. But he says this, this seems to be an impossible saying for the papists. They can't understand that. They won't accept that basic premise that all of their works were stained with unrighteousness. And so you see, that has to be the starting point of what God says here if he's going to justify a sinner because it's not just an outward civic righteousness. We may look around and say, well, we see good things in men and we see civic righteousness and get a little bit confused here because we do see kinds of morality in society. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about the kind of morality, the kind of righteousness that can appease this holy God. No stains. And you see, the reality about Father Abraham was, I say this respectfully, I don't know if I can say this respectfully, but he was a bum. Father Abraham dumped off his wife twice. Father Abraham went into another woman to try to achieve the promise. Father Abraham dumped off land and seed, the two basic aspects of the Abrahamic promise. Threw it away. Abraham was not a flattering figure. That's hard for us, isn't it? And that's what Paul's saying. If Abraham had something to boast about, he could do it, but not before God, because God is really honest about human nature. God has no confidence in the edemic nature, if you will. And so Paul then moves on. And Paul goes on, well, okay, what about David? And this is a one-two punch. Because now, what Jew could disagree about the great King David? And Paul, in the middle of this, puts down Psalm 32 that we considered this morning. And so if someone wants to say, well, David had a faith that was inherently virtuous enough to please God, you think Uriah agreed with that? So I want you to think of the moment. Paul takes David's great psalm, puts it right here in Romans 4 to make the very same point that what David understood about God's blessedness upon him was that his forgiveness was rooted in the one-time declaration that the righteousness of Jesus Christ was imputed to him when he believed. And he got to enjoy that blessedness of a forgiven life. And Paul is saying that's what Abraham understood. This is what David understood. They have the exact same testimony. The testimony is not different. Summarize for us in verse 6 tonight. David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness, that's what's imputed, apart from works. That's the heart of what he's developing. But you see, Paul knew that there was one last hurdle to deal with. And there's one last hurdle that he has to deal with to make very clear the doctrine of justification by faith alone. And that's why I said tonight, preaching this is a bit of a challenge in 2012 because maybe we don't connect with this the way that we should, but it's the issue of circumcision. This has always been a kind of problem though among the people of God. We are prone to take that which is meant to strengthen faith, that which is meant to confirm God's promises and to encourage us and assure us. And we are prone to take that and turn that back into a way of our trying to please God. That's essentially what's going on here and what Paul's dealing with. And Paul knew that the issue of circumcision would be a huge hindrance to the propagating and the dispersing of the gospel to the ends of the earth. And so we can imagine a Jew hearing this and we can imagine a Gentile hearing this doctrine of justification for the first time at least they shouldn't have heard it for the first time they should have known it like abraham and david but here many gentiles are hearing this for the first time and what's the question they're asking the question they're asking is well well didn't god give circumcision to abraham wasn't that a way of justification before god you knew the jews were running around saying this and through the act of circumcision did he not did he not please god and gain his favor that was his entrance into the covenant and that secured that kind of blessing you know haven't you forgot that abraham was the father of the circumcised paul you taking that into consideration what is the value of circumcision then in your doctrine what purpose can that even have it's meaningless if you're going to teach grace that way paul's reacting to this and he knows they don't even understand circumcision and so he asked the question basically in verse 9 if you give this much credence to circumcision let me ask you when was abraham justified that's the single great question he's answering for you tonight that may seem simple but that is a death blow to their view look at verse 9 does this blessedness come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also does this is this blessedness that we've been describing of a free justification by grace through faith alone totally and completely declared righteous in the presence of god that abraham and david received does justification come only upon those who receive circumcision the sign of the covenant or does it come upon the uncircumcised you know i've tried to capture what the jews believed about this uh here's another one just to set it again uh everyone this is the jewish book of jubilees 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 of him that he is the Lord's, but that he is destined to be destroyed and slain from the earth. Now, how in the world is the gospel going out with that? You see? How could you ever announce a gospel if that's the view so eternal security for the jew was circumcision that is eternal security they had a doctrine of eternal security it was the act of of circumcision in the book of moses one of the rabbis wrote our rabbis have said no circumcised man will see hell circumcision guaranteed the access this was such a problem uh to show you how deep the problem was you have the very first church council dealing with one major issue and what was it in acts 15 and certain men came down from judea and taught the brethren now listen to this unless you are circumcised according to the custom of moses you are cast out of israel you cannot be israelites you cannot be saved. Now, do you get a sense of the importance if you're a Gentile living in the first century of Romans 4? And how important this is for the Jews? Does this blessing come upon only the circumcised? This would have been just a huge question and moment for those hearing. What is Paul asking? Does this blessing of justification come only for those who get the sacrament. Paul says, we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. So Paul is saying something very clear tonight. This took place way before. Don't you know your history? God comes to Abram and he makes this great promise and he calls him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and he says, Abraham, I am your exceeding great reward, your shield. And in you, Abraham, all the Gentiles of the earth are going to be blessed. It was always meant to be that. In you, you're going to be the father of many Gentiles and many nations. And I want you to look up at all these stars, Abraham. try to count them and i want you to look at the sand of the sea count it if you're able and the next thing you read is abraham believed god and it was accounted to him for righteousness and paul wants you to know there is a moment of justification oh there is a moment when your status changes and you are legally declared righteous and there's no going back beautiful when you believe the gospel promise and you turn from yourself and look to christ you are declared righteous right then and there and paul is saying that's genesis 15 that's what happened in genesis 15 and then abraham falls in a sleep and god does some serious cutting of the covenant all alone to make the point he will fulfill all righteousness so here we are and this was the beauty of the christian gospel like this morning when jesus was going around and he was preaching and he could look at a paralytic and declare right when he looked at his faith son your sins are forgiven you're justified that man who beat his chest went down to his house justified now paul's posing the question for the jews and the gentiles well when did this happen well is this blessedness only for the circumcised or can you gentiles have this blessing too can you have the very same blessedness that david and abraham enjoyed can you live in that blessedness so you see the the importance on the one hand the jews feel that they have acceptance with god because of circumcision on the other hand the gentiles feel they are excluded from god because of circumcision and paul is saying no no no look at abraham he's the prototype he's the prototype of faith alone in christ alone having the righteousness imputed to him received by grace alone look at him well when was he circumcised well dear jews if you studied your history you would know that that happened in genesis 17 and that was 14 years later 14 years later god comes and establishes this covenant of circumcision with abraham telling him to keep his covenant he and his household and to be circumcised including all of his eight-day-old children every male amazing moment he's looking at the gentile says do you do you see this it's just as much for you as it is for them it was god's plan to include you and you see it through father abraham believe abraham's faith that received the righteousness of christ was accounted to him while he was uncircumcised and you say pastor this is 2012 why are you talking about circumcision we've heard this we know this do we circumcision maybe feels to us like a barbaric ancient custom and maybe uncomfortable even to preach in a service today it's just uncomfortable is that helpful two reasons the first reason tonight God wants all of you to look at Abraham as an example of true faith as a spiritual father yes showing us the great truth of how a sinner is right with God look at him God gives us many examples in the scripture of people who are very messed up and who demonstrate simple gospel trust in the promise. That's the first thing. There's another reason tonight. God loves you so much. He knows you struggle with assurance. And yes, we're all called to live by faith in His wondrous Word, but you know what I struggle with? I want a little bit more. I want to see more. I want a little more glory. I want to feel it and experience it just like you. It's a problem. God knew this would be a problem. And so he says, I want you to look what I did for Abraham. I added something to my word, a promise that he believed and was justified. I gave a confirmation. I gave a sign and a seal. And Paul says that in verse 11. Why was circumcision there? as it was a Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Paul says God did something for Abraham. When Abraham believed the gospel promises and he received after the sign of circumcision, it became a sign, it became a seal that he could see tangibly, that he could understand when it was given and that His people received it. That He was right with God. That in Christ, all of our sins are cut away. That's the imagery. That's what circumcision outwardly signified. Yeah, it was bloody. The cross was bloody. It was awful. But something had to be cut out of the heart, didn't it? And I can't see that. And the Lord wanted Abraham to know he had done that as he embraced the promises by faith. It was a sign and a seal of the righteousness that comes by faith alone. That's it. You know, baptism's the same thing for you. It's a sign and a seal to encourage you tonight, boys and girls, to encourage you. That sign's been put on you. of God's gospel love. And that the Holy Spirit, when we believe these promises, has cleansed our hearts. And He knows that we struggle and He wants us to understand that. It was Calvin who used to say, when your conscience is troubled or when you're reminded of your many faults, you need to remind yourself of your baptism. Now let me make us a little nervous. But we know what Calvin's saying, don't we? Calvin is saying this, that from it we may be confirmed in assurance of that perpetual cleansing that we have received from Christ's blood. Martin Luther would, when he struggled with sin and questions about his faith, you know what he would write on the board? I am baptized. I'd give you the Latin, but I'll butcher it. His hope wasn't in baptism, but it was in what the sign pointed to. Now this should be of immense encouragement to us tonight. The reason Paul spends so much time on this is because of what people do to the sacraments. What do they do to the sacraments? What are meant to confirm and to strengthen, then they try to turn them into a means of trying to please God with and earn a right standing with. and that's what he's reacting against the jews are running around saying well we are of the circumcision and these guys are going to hell because they don't have the circumcision there is a big movement back to rome today and i think we need to again teach on just what rome taught i'm going to close with this here the council of trent declared this this was the roman catholic council if anyone denies that by the grace of our lord jesus christ which is conferred in baptism the guilt of original sin is remitted or even asserts that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away this is through baptism let him be anathema get that trent said very clearly if you don't believe that the act of baptism takes away your sin original sin you are eternally condemned if you say differently this is serious isn't it and that's incredibly sad i'm sad that romans 4 has to be here to be honest with you i'm sad that paul would have to to say all this to clear away what was meant to be the greatest blessing to us and encouragement to us as paul is saying all these people are beginning to trust in this these things paul is saying dear jews and gentiles to you tonight i close with this god set it up that Abraham would receive a sign and a seal way after his justification so that the message would be very clear to you Gentiles tonight, way later for you tonight that it was always God's purpose to make Abraham the father of many nations who would believe being uncircumcised so that tonight you would know that the same promise that he believed by faith, that he trusted in the Lord, that same righteousness that was imputed to him is imputed to you. That's our gospel. That's all you need. And God confirms and assures you through sacraments. So do you see that any more clear tonight than on the cross? Here's Jesus. Here's two men. One is a blasphemer. The other has his hands tied behind his back or pinned up. He can't move. He hasn't done one single work. Probably hadn't been circumcised. Probably Gentile. And he's nailed to the wood and he looks at Jesus with a believing heart and crying he says, Lord, remember me when you enter. and at the last moment of his life for the last breath he takes after an entire life of rebellion not one single work jesus justifies him what an overwhelming account to encourage you tonight when anyone believes what would said what was said of zacchaeus by our lord is true of you today today salvation has come to this house since he is a son of abraham and that's what we are by grace through faith that is the gospel and i pray that we treasure it all the days of our life and go forward in its strength the lord wants you to know that what a blessed day to be in his house isn't it to worship him to hear about his forgiveness and to know that You stand absolved, all who believe and trust in His Son. Let's pray. O Lord our God, we are so grateful for Your Gospel. And we confess that Father Abraham and David, just like them, we have sinned greatly against You. And our only claim is the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness, which we receive by faith alone. thank you that you care to even give us visible words to confirm and assure us of your love may our faith solely and always be in the person and the work of our Savior and if there's any here tonight who do not believe convict them greatly of their need that they too would enjoy this blessedness that comes upon all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in His name we pray. Amen.