Our Holiness in Christ

Our Holiness in Christ

Romans chapter 4. And today we are going to be reading Romans chapter 4 verses 1 through 8 in our series on holiness. As we mentioned earlier, we are in a summer series. We have looked last week at the holiness of God.

Today we are going to look at our holiness in Christ. And then beginning next week, for the next few Sundays after, we are going to look at practical daily holiness. But as we will note today something important.

Before we can even recognize, before we can even begin to discuss practical daily holiness, we need to understand our identity in Christ. And I think if we think of it this way, identity precedes imperative.

That who we are precedes what we do. We don't become the children of God by what we do, but we have been made the children of God because of what Christ has done, therefore we do. And that is a much different paradigm.

And so today it is about recognizing what has been done for us by and through and in our Lord Jesus Christ. So let's stand together and let us read our opening scripture. This is Romans chapter 4. I'll be reading from the English Standard Version.

It will be on the screen if you would like to read along or in your own Bibles. We'll read down from verse 1 to verse 8. What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh?

For if Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the 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 who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. 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. Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. As we come to you this morning, Father, I lay myself before you and beg that the sermon would be preached in your strength and not my own.

That your name would be glorified, that you would be lifted up, that your people would be edified, that I would decrease and that Christ would increase. And that we would see today that our very standing as the people of God rests upon the work of Jesus Christ.

And may we recognize that when we are declared holy, it is because he came and lived for us and died for us. And Lord, I pray for those who have trusted in Jesus, that they would understand the blessing of the holiness that they possess.

And for those who are outside of Christ today, who have not yet believed in the name of the Son of God, who have not yet bowed the knee to the Savior, who have not yet followed after him in faith, that they would hear of this one who came to save and that they would trust in him.

I pray this in Jesus' name, Lord keep me from error, in Christ's name, amen. In our message last week, we began to discuss the subject of holiness and one of the things that we did in that message was we defined what the word holy means.

If you'll remember, we said holy means to be separate, holy means to be set apart. It can also refer to something that has been consecrated, consecration is to set it apart. When we pray at the communion table, if you remember last year, I did a series on corporate worship and I said that we do different prayers during the worship service.

We have a prayer of invocation, we have a prayer of benediction, we have a prayer of intercession, but the prayer at the communion table is the prayer of consecration. We are setting apart this bread, this is not like other bread, this is the bread which is representing the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the cup that represents his blood. This is set apart, this is different, it is distinct, it is holy. This is why we call it holy communion. So in our message last week, I said that holiness is a characteristic that belongs to God alone in one respect and that is that he is the only one who is truly holy in and of himself.

He is the only one who can be referred to as completely, perfectly, and absolutely holy. This is why he is defined by the seraphim as holy, holy, holy. And yet this holy God is able to set apart things, to consecrate things, and thereby make them holy.

We say God is other, there is none like him. But then God does things in this world where he makes things separate, he makes things different, he makes things other. Not in the way that he is other, and please do not misunderstand me, but think of the most basic thing that God did when he created the world.

He created the world in six days and then he rested on the seventh day and then when he gave the Ten Commandments, he said what? That day is holy. That day is separate. That day is different than the other days.

That day is consecrated. That day is distinct. This is where we get the term holiday. The word holiday is etymologically tied to the idea of a holy day. A holy day or a holiday isn't necessarily something that's tied to religion.

Yesterday, our country celebrated its 250th anniversary, its 250th birthday, and for Americans that was a holiday. I don't think so for the British, I don't think they were celebrating, I think they call it, what is it, the day of rebellion or something, I don't know, they call it something different than we do, but we celebrate as a holiday, it's a separate day, it's a day set apart, because it's a special day.

Over in Europe, when they go on vacation, what do they call it? They call it going on holiday, because it's different than the rest of the year. The rest of the year, we're at work every day, we're doing things, but this time of year is the holiday, it's a special time.

So when we talk about the word holy, there's this semantic range where we can talk about God's holiness, but then we can talk about the fact that God makes things holy. God made the seventh day holy, God made the items of the temple holy, when they were consecrated, right, He made them holy.

God sets apart things as holy. Well today, what I want us to see is God makes us holy. In fact, many of you I'm sure know this, but the word saint means holy one. In fact, it's etymologically the same root in the Greek.

In the Greek, the words holy, the words sanctify, and the word saint all come from the root hagios, which is where we get our word holy, sanctified, or saint. You are hagios, Dale. I could call you Saint Dale.

I won't, but I could. You know, we have, over the centuries, chosen to define certain people by the characteristic of saint, and we still do it to this day. Most of us don't just say Augustine, we say Saint Augustine, or if you're from here, Saint Augustine, or we'll say Saint John Chrysostom, or Saint Thomas Aquinas.

We'll speak of these men with reverence by applying the word saint to their name, and we understand that in Roman Catholic canon law, that means they have been officially recognized to have been given sainthood.

That is not biblical, because biblically, every single person who is in the Lord Jesus Christ is a saint. It is not something that is reserved for the only specific upper echelon of those who have made some contribution to the faith, and I would never say that Saint Augustine didn't make tremendous contributions to the faith.

I believe that he did, and many people who have the title saint made tremendous contributions to the faith, and I don't diminish what they have done, but I do think we run the risk of misunderstanding what Christ has done when we begin to categorize, this one is saint and this one is not, because we have all been called saints.

We are called holy ones. We are called this royal priesthood that's not just the preacher, and not just the elders, but it's the priesthood of all believers. We have all been consecrated. We've all been made holy because of what Christ has done.

Therefore, Paul can write to the saints of the church when he writes. Not just one saint, but to the saints. Holiness is tied to the idea, as I said a minute ago, of sanctification. Now, if you've been around Reformed teaching, and you have studied any form of systematic theology, you have probably heard the term sanctification as it relates to the doctrines of justification and glorification.

But, perhaps some of you have not, and for just a moment, I do want to distinguish these as I think it is important to do so. Because when you are saved, we talk about salvation as if it's a one-time thing, and in one sense it is, if we're referring to justification.

Justification cannot increase. Justification cannot change. We're either justified or we're not. And when we are justified, our sins are forgiven and we are declared righteous. And so we say salvation begins with justification.

Justification is our salvation from sin's penalty. You deserved the wrath of God. You deserved to pay the penalty for your sin. And if anyone in here can say that you've no sin in your life from the birth to this day that you know there should be a penalty for, then I've got news for you.

You are mistaken. There is no one in here who does not have sins that are deserving of a penalty. But justification is salvation from that penalty. Because God has taken your sin and He has applied it to the Lord Jesus Christ and He has taken the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and He has applied it to you.

Therefore you are able to be legally, we call this forensic justification. And if you don't know the term forensic, it refers to a legal pronouncement. It is something that happens in the courtroom. This is why you talk about forensics when it comes to a crime scene, going and doing forensic.

This is about getting evidence for the crime. This is referring to law. And so we have forensic justification. We have been legally declared righteous. It is a one time thing. But then we have sanctification.

Sanctification is our having been saved not only from sin's penalty, but saved from sin's power. You say, but wait a minute, I still feel myself being drawn to sin in certain areas of my life. Yes, but you have been given a new heart.

The Bible says the old man is dead. We have been given a new heart and a new life and a spirit within us whereby we walk by faith. There is a new power and that power is the power of sanctification. In a moment I'm going to break sanctification down further, but I do want to point out this idea of sanctification is different from justification, but I'll show in a moment how they're tied together.

Now glorification is that great and wonderful day whereby you and I all will shed this flesh completely and be given a new body. Actually, I don't think we'll shed it completely. We will have it transformed.

Let me just to be clear, wanting to be not pedantic, but accurate. The Bible says we will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the trumpet sounds and we will be given a new body. Not a spiritual cherub who sits on a cloud strumming a harp and does nothing all day.

We're going to have a new earth, completely renewed, new bodies, completely renewed, and that new body will be a spiritual body. I was telling this to my kids the other day. They said, does that mean we're ghosts?

No, it's a spiritual body. It's run by, empowered by, enabled by the spirit, but it's still a body. I believe we're going to have in the new heaven and the new earth, we're going to have bodies that function like nothing we've ever felt or seen or heard.

And I don't even understand what it's going to be like, but I'm excited to think of what life will be like when we're there. No more, no more temptation, no more desire, but a new body. So that sends presence.

So in systematic theology, we say salvation is not just justification. And this is where confusion comes in. Because a lot of people, especially Baptists, and I are one, so I can talk about us, because I are one.

Baptists oftentimes limit our salvation to that one-time experience of belief. Well, what you're doing is you're truncating everything into justification. And that's not good. We understand that justification is where our sins are forgiven and we're given the righteousness of Christ, whereby our standing with God is now righteous, and we can, at that moment, walk before the throne of God.

But then we are sanctified. And sanctification actually involves three things as well. Sanctification, and again, I'm not trying to be confusing, and I know I'm dumping a lot on you, but this is a systematic theology lesson as well as a sermon.

Sanctification comes in three ways. When Christ saves us, when we believe, we are positionally sanctified, which means we are actually made holy in the eyes of God. Because we have been justified, because our sins have been forgiven, because of those things, we're now made holy.

We are holy before God. We are His holy people, declared righteous before Him, forensically, legally justified, and positionally sanctified. But we're also not yet perfectly holy in our actions. Amen?

Because you woke up this morning, and you've been awake for maybe three or four hours by now, and I don't think anybody in here could stand up and say, in the last few hours since the time you woke up to right now, you haven't at least experienced a sinful thought, or performed a sinful deed, or said a sinful word.

And if you could say, maybe in the last four hours I haven't, I would simply press back upon you, and I would say that the greatest commandment according to our Lord Jesus Christ is that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you love your neighbor as yourself.

Have you done that perfectly since the moment you woke up? Have you loved the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength from the moment you woke up to this very moment right now?

No, you haven't. I don't have to ask. I can answer on your behalf. The answer is you have not. And therefore, you are still not perfect. Right? And that perfection will come when we are in our new bodies.

We'll have a body that we're in. We are able at that moment to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But until then, we will progress in our sanctification. Now here's the thing that a lot of people get confused by.

A lot of people think the progress of sanctification is sort of like this. You know, sort of like this microphone right here. You start here. You believe on Jesus, and then it's a steady progress. It's not.

It kind of goes like, you know, I'm just, you know, I'm glad he turned the mic off so I can do this without making it pop. But you understand the progress of sanctification can be at times difficult. In fact, this is one of the reasons why I so love the book Pilgrim's Progress.

My wife and I are currently reading another version of it to our children. We found a version that it's written in poetic form, and it's such a beautiful poem, and it's specifically for kids, and it's so good.

And you just are reminded of Christian going through all of life's trials, going through the slough of Despond, going through Vanity Fair, going through Doubting Castle, going through all these. If you've never read the Pilgrim's Progress, these are just moments that if you're a Christian and you read the book, you'll say, yeah, I've been there.

Or yeah, I know somebody who has walked through that valley. I know somebody who's struggling with that. And that's that process of sanctification that happens. We go through this process. But one day we will be perfectly sanctified, not only positionally, but perfectly when we receive our new body.

So as I said, this is where understanding all of this comes together. And again, holiness and sanctification are from the same Greek word. So when we talk about the holiness that we have in Christ, we're talking about our sanctification.

Because it's all hageos. It's all that same root idea of being set apart, being separated, being consecrated, being cleansed. That's all that. And so, with all of those things in our mind, I want us to consider now what we learn from the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 4.

Now, I must admit that in my study and preparation for this sermon, as I was considering this, it dawned on me, and it probably has on you already, but wait a minute, Pastor. Paul's talking about justification in this passage.

And that is true from the perspective of systematics. There is no systematic theology textbook in the Bible. But the closest thing we have is the book of Romans. And Romans begins, the first two chapters deal with sin.

The 3, 4, and 5 deal with justification. 6, 7, and 8 deal with sanctification. 9, 10, and 11 deal with election and God's relationship to Israel and the church. And then chapter 12 to chapter 16 deals with the outworking of those doctrines and the practical application thereof.

That's the whole book of Romans in one minute. So, in chapter 4, Paul is ensconced in his doctrine of justification. In fact, chapters 1 and 2 of Romans is all about how every single man, whether they be Jew or Gentile, is a sinner before God.

Chapter 1, he goes down the line. This is how everyone is a sinner. And then chapter 2, he says, but what about the Jews? And he says, nope, they're sinners too. And they're even worse because they have the law and didn't do the law.

Like those who didn't have the law, they still don't have an excuse because God has revealed himself to them in their heart. But, even if they had the law, they haven't done the law. Therefore, he gets to chapter 3 and he says, thus it is written, that all are sinners.

There is none good, no not one, none who understands, none who seeks after God. All have gone their way. The venom of asps is under their lips. That's the venom of a snake. The way of peace they have not known and there's no fear of God before their eyes.

This is how Paul, pulling from the Psalms, uses those texts to describe us. We are sinful before our God. And what are we going to do? Are we going to work our way out of this pickle? No. And that's the point that Paul begins to establish in chapter 3.

Is that the righteousness that we need, we are devoid of. And we cannot establish it through our own works. So chapter 3, Paul begins to establish this doctrine of justification. And he begins to establish for us this standing that we have before God.

By basing it not in our goodness, but in the goodness of Christ. Not in our righteousness, but in trusting in the righteousness of Christ. And this is why he says God did it this way. So that he could be both just and the justifier of the one who trusts in Jesus.

What does that mean? God is just. That means God is righteous. But God is also merciful. So God stands at this position with man. Man has sin that deserves to be punished. God is just. But God is merciful.

He desires to make that man who is sinful righteous before him. But it can't be established by this guy's good works. He cannot do this. It would be like, and I know some of you have heard this illustration before.

But it would be like being in a courtroom with someone who's committed a heinous crime. And the judge says, well I know you've committed this heinous crime. I know you've committed all those robberies and all those murders.

But you also were a boy scout. And you helped old ladies across the street. And you went and got groceries for the poor. And you fed the hungry. And you worked at a shelter. And because you did all those good things, they outweigh your bad.

And you're free to go. What do you think the families of the victims would say to that judge? Yeah, you cannot. You cannot be a judge who is just and wink at crime and iniquity and injustice. So God does not look at our sin and simply go, it's okay.

No, God in his justice chooses to punish sin. But because God is able to choose how this punishment will be meted out, he chooses to punish through a substitute. One who stands in the place of the sinner.

The one who is able to stand there because he's the only one in all of human history who never sinned. He's the only one who can stand there having done no unrighteousness of his own, but only being perfectly righteous in and of himself.

He can take upon himself the punishment of the sinner. Therefore God is just. He's punishing the sinner. But God is also merciful, justifier. Because he's allowing the sinner to receive mercy because of the work of the one who's taking their punishment.

Some people have really sought to attack this doctrine. Because that doctrine, if you're not familiar with, is referred to as penal substitution. Many people have sought to attack that doctrine by saying that God, if he did such a thing, would be like a cosmic child abuser who just wants to strike his son.

If you can look at what was done to Jesus on the cross and see God as evil, you are the one whose eyes are still closed. Because God, in crushing his son, did so because he is just and the justifier. He is both meeting out his justice while at the same time applying his mercy.

And Christ did it willingly. Remember, Christ did not go to the cross unwillingly. You say, but wait a minute, on the night before he said, if there be another way, take this cup from me. You say, well that means he was unwilling.

No, finish the sentence. He says, nevertheless, nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. What was Jesus saying? Is there another way? And the answer from heaven was no. There is no other way for God to be just and for the sinner to be justified, for both of those things to be true at the same time.

There was no other way. This was the way God had established. Jesus says, Father, if there be another way, and the answer from heaven is silence. Because there is no other way. No other way. So Christ receives the punishment.

We receive the righteousness. Now, that's chapter 3 of Romans. We finally get to chapter 4. And in chapter 4, what we find, is we find Paul now choosing to give a biblical illustration. Meaning, that Paul wants to now say, listen everyone.

If you think that what I have said from Romans 1 to Romans 3, if you think this is theological novum, theological novum is new theology or new understanding. If you think this is new, if you think this is something that I made up out of thin air, if you think that this is something I created, then you need to understand that everything I am saying so far is in accord with what God did with Abraham.

Remember this, my friends. Abraham was saved the same way you are. By grace alone, through faith alone, and the promise of God. Which is through Jesus Christ alone. Did Abraham know as much about Jesus as you do?

We don't know how much Abraham knew. We do know this. John chapter 8 says he looked forward to the coming of Jesus. He longed to see his day. He rejoiced to see his day. So we don't know as much as Abraham knew.

Abraham ate with the Lord under the oaks of Mamre. We don't know what they talked about, but Jesus was the one he was eating with. So the point is, he might know a lot more than we do. But what they did have in the Old Testament is they had all of these types and shadows and signs that pointed to Jesus.

These types and shadows that pointed to the Savior. That there would be one who would come. Who would provide for them the righteousness that they so needed. And so, let's begin at verse 1. After that rather lengthy introduction.

Paul asks a question. Because he's just taught justification by faith. He's just given the doctrine. We are justified by faith. And now what does he say? What shall we say then was gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh?

The question here is simple. What did Abraham earn from God? Did Abraham earn his righteousness? Did Abraham earn his standing? I would even ask this. Did Abraham earn his position with God that was his reason for being called out?

There is nothing about Abraham that we know of prior to God calling him out of Ur of the Chaldees and sending him to the Promised Land. All we know is that he was in a family of idolaters. And we can't say for certain what his investment was in idolatry.

But we can say this. He was probably among them. He was probably one of the ones who grew up worshipping false gods. And yet God in his mercy, God in his sovereignty, chose Abraham to be the object of his mercy and the seed of his promise.

From his seed would come the promise of Jesus Christ. So he says, what shall we say was gained by Abraham? The answer is nothing. And he goes on to say, for if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about.

But not before God. Now, time does not allow me today to do what I want to do. And that is I want to jump over to James 2 and walk through James 2. Because James 2 makes a different argument than Paul is making here.

But James does say that Abraham was justified by works. And you say, only one of two things can be true. Either those two are inharmonious and contradict one another, which we don't believe. Or those things can be harmonized and do not contradict one another, and that's what we do believe.

How is it that James can say that Abraham was justified by works and Paul here says he was not justified by works? James is referring to, and he says it very clearly. I said I wasn't going to do this, but I'm going to do it at least a bit.

James very clearly is asking the question of what does genuine faith look like? Because he says, if a man says he has faith and has not works, can that faith save him? The word that faith is actually in the Greek.

The definite article is there to indicate that it is a type of faith that doesn't save. And the type of faith that doesn't save is empty profession without obedience. Empty profession without a desire to follow Christ.

And many people do that. I mean, how many people do we know who have made an empty profession of Jesus Christ and have had no desire to follow after him? That is not saving faith and James is talking about that.

But, coming back to Romans 4, I want you to note one thing. Paul clearly says, and people argue, did James come first? Did Romans come first? I think it's pretty clear James came first. And some people say, well is Paul then correcting James?

I don't think Paul's correcting James in the sense that he read what James wrote and now he's writing something else to correct it because that would mean, again, contradiction. But I do think there's clarification here.

Here's the clarification. He says, if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. See, our works do demonstrate our faith to one another. But God, who knows the heart, knows if we have true faith or not.

God, who knows the heart, knows the very moment we believe. In fact, I would even say this, our faith is a gift from him. He knows when he gives it. He knows when we express it. He knows when we're living by it.

He knows. So Paul is here saying, is Abraham justified by his works? If he did, he'd have something to boast about, but not before God. Because God knows his heart. God is not going to have a man boast in anything before him.

For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. By the way, that is one of the most important scriptures in the Bible. If you don't know where that is, that is in Genesis chapter 15 and verse 6.

Three major events that you need to be reminded of in the life of Abraham. Abraham is given the Abrahamic promise in Genesis 12. He's given the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 15. That covenant is then given the covenantal sign in Genesis 17.

So he says, go out from your house and your kindred and your people. Go to the land that I'll show you. I'll make you a great people. I'll bless those who bless you, curse those who curse you, and in you all the nations will be blessed.

That's the Abrahamic promise. That's Genesis 12, 1 to 3. Then in chapter 15, God has made this promise. You're going to be a great seed. Abraham says, I don't even have a child. I don't even have a kid.

I've got one guy, and he is an adopted child. It's Eleazar of Damascus. He's not even of my own seed. He's probably one of the servant's children that he's taken in as basically like an heir because he doesn't have an heir.

He says, God, I don't have a child. And God says, look at the stars in the sky. So shall your offspring be. And Abraham believed God. And the King James Version says it was imputed unto him as righteousness.

Modern versions say it was counted to him as righteousness. Now, that word is such an important word. The idea of righteousness being counted to us. It's the idea of something being charged to our account.

It's the idea of you who had an empty account having something put into your account. Like if I took $100 out of my wallet and I walked over and I took Dale's wallet and I put $100 in his wallet and I closed his wallet and I put it in his pocket.

I've now imputed that to Dale. It is now his. I've counted it to him. It's no longer mine. It's his. He has it. And the text says Abraham believed God. And it was counted to him. It was imputed to him.

Righteousness. He was declared righteous by God in that moment. There's a lot of different ways to describe our theology. We can describe our theology as Baptist. I'm a Baptist. We can describe our theology as Calvinist.

I'm a Calvinist. We can describe our theology as Reformed. Even though there are people who would say we're not allowed to do that because we're Baptists. I'll take it for today. I'll take one on the chin and say we're Reformed Baptists.

But another term, which I actually tend to like even more, is we are Imputationists. Because we believe in three imputations. That Adam's sin has been imputed to us, thereby we are born sinners. That our sin, when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, is imputed to him, thereby we are forgiven.

And Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, therefore we are declared righteous. So we are nothing if we are not Imputationists. Because we believe not in what we have done, but what God has done for us.

Abraham believed God. 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.

He is declared righteous by God. Because of faith, not because of works. I love this illustration that Paul makes here. He makes the illustration of work and wage. Work and wage is a very important descriptor.

Because when we talk about works, we talk about anything that we do to earn. There's a big debate. I've even had discussions with men from other denominations who want to divide up works by works of the law versus works done in faith and things like that.

And you are saved by works done in faith, but you're not saved by works of the law. And there's this whole argument about what works save and what works don't. No works save. None. Because there's nothing you can do to contribute an iota to anything Christ has done.

So Paul's point here is not that you go subdividing works of the law and try to figure out what works he's talking about. None. Because your works cannot contribute to the perfect work of Christ. And I'll say this.

I told Mike I was going to say this. Floor is beautiful, isn't it? Mike did such a wonderful job for us. And all the guys who helped, I'm thankful. But with everything that's been going on with me, I wasn't able to be here a lot.

I wasn't able to put a lot into this. And I was just so thankful to have somebody I trusted. I knew he was going to do a great job. And I said, just run with it, brother, and do whatever needs to be done.

And he did it. So thank you. And I want to say Mike did that as a gift. We're not going to get a bill for his labor. We're not going to get a bill for much of the materials. I mean, we paid for some things, some vanities and stuff.

But everything he did that was his talent and time, that was all given as a gift. Now, he has every right in the world to say, you know what? I deserve to get paid for this because it's thousands of dollars worth of work.

But he said, I want to give it as a gift. And we're grateful to receive that gift. But here's what would be super insulting. And I would say even blasphemous if it were God. If I walked up to Mike and said, this is a great job.

Here's $5 for your trouble. Because of the thousands of dollars of work and time and effort and talent, to simply offer him $5 and say, this is worth what you did, that would be an insult to my friend.

Would it not? How much more insulting is it when we think that anything we do contributes to what Christ has done? I know, I just imagine God going, what are you doing? Nothing in my hand I bring, only to the cross I cling.

Naked, come to thee for dress. Helpless, come to thee for grace. This is what we understand the gospel is. I bring nothing except the sin that makes it necessary. Christ is my salvation. But he's also my holiness.

Because what did God do in Abraham in this scenario? He took him out of his land and he put him in the new land. He moved him not only from a position of being unjustified to justified, but he moved him to being his friend.