Book of Romans - Ch. 3, Vs. 26-Ch. 4, Vs. 22 (05/19/2002)

We're in Romans 3 .26.

You can wait if you want to, but I'm going to start.

"...to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness,

that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believe in Jesus.".

Greg, how can God be just and yet justify the sinner?

Well, yes,

let's

get on with this.

God is just and the justifier of the sinner.

The reason he can do this is because justice was fully satisfied

when the sinless Christ died.

He didn't die for himself, but to please God, and that brought his people to

righteousness.

The believer is in Christ, and Christ has paid the penalty for all

who are found in him.

Romans 3 .27, where is boasting

then?

It is excluded.

By what law is it excluded?

Of works, but of the law

of faith.

Now I want you to think about if salvation

were by works.

If salvation is by works, name some things that would have to occur.

Greg, we'll start with you.

All right, you could lose it.

God would have to love everybody the same if it were by works.

He can't do that.

God would be waiting on you to decide, but he will not do that.

You would need to make a spiritual decision even though you were dead spiritually, which

you cannot do.

28, therefore we conclude that a man

is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Now they've tried forever to get the law back into this,

but it is not in this.

That brings me to a conclusion.

Man, and check this out, man will not accept anything

unless he can add a little bit of himself to it.

Man has always been trying to add to.

Years ago, there was a cake mix on the market that all

you had to do was add water.

It didn't sell.

Then they got wise, they come out with it, and all you had to do was add

flour and water, and it sold like hotcakes.

So it's true, man will not accept anything unless he can add something to it.

This keeps all men, except those that Christ

revealed himself to, keeps all of them out of God.

29, yes, all right,

if it were by works, then it follows that God would have to love everybody equally.

And he doesn't do that.

29, is he the God of the Jew only?

Is he not also of the Gentiles?

Yes, of the Gentiles also.

So he's God of both, seeing it is one God

which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through

faith.

Do we then make void the law through faith?

God forbid, yea, we establish the law of faith.

Now, I have put together a test for you.

How is God glorified in us?

By what means is he glorified in us?

Well, I'll give you the answer on the first one.

It is by his grace.

What does his grace work in us,

David?

Well, it works through holiness in us.

Now, what is it, what is his motive in doing all of this?

That's right, that's the only motive that we can come to.

It pleases him.

For, by whom does he give us this salvation?

Jesus Christ.

How has Christ obtained this for us?

By redeeming us.

What price did he give for us?

What?

His blood.

What does his blood affect?

What does his blood affect in us?

I can't understand.

It affects sin?

No, it reconciles us.

What does his blood affect?

And that's to reconcile us.

God's not reconciled, we are reconciled.

How is his blood applied?

By faith.

Who has given this victim?

The Father.

What does his grace perform?

Pardons sin, purifies the heart.

For whom is this designed?

The whole thing is designed for who?

His, his children.

It's all designed for his children in Jesus Christ.

Now, I would ask you this question.

Is all evil sin?

Or is all sin evil?

Yes,

all evil is not sin.

Evil is a relative term.

That's looking at it from our side.

That's right.

There's no in between.

But how can God send evil?

What?

What?

Well,

all right.

Let's move on.

To Romans 4.

Does God react to man, Greg?

No.

Now, are you saying that just because that's what I've always said?

Or do you believe that?

God does not react to man.

Period.

Justification is the very hinge and pillar of

Christianity.

Would you not agree?

If we were not justified, it'd be for nothing.

So, it goes that an error about justification is more

dangerous to you than a crack in the foundation.

Question.

How is God glorified in us?

By his grace.

What does his grace work in us?

His holiness.

What is his motive?

Because it pleased him.

I know of no other motive.

By whom does he give us this salvation?

Jesus Christ.

How has Christ obtained it for us?

Through his blood.

Now, we come to Romans 4 .1.

What shall we say, then, that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

Now, go all the way back to Abraham.

The doctrine of justification by faith is shown by the case of Abraham.

We're going to look at Abraham for a little bit.

He received the promise through the righteousness of faith.

And we are justified in the same way of believing.

It is said that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.

The it is not believing, it's faith.

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.

If you want to brag about your works, you do that among yourself.

Don't try to switch it over to God.

That's right.

So, that proves it can be only by faith, not by works.

Justification.

This is something done for you.

We had nothing to do with our justification.

Sanctification, something done in me, in you.

The one changes our state, the other changes our nature.

One is perfect, the other is gradual.

The one from the obedience of Jesus the Christ, the other from his Holy Spirit.

One gives us title to heaven, the other makes us fit for heaven.

Self -justification.

I tried to think of an illustration and all I could come up with.

It's like a person overtaken in a rainstorm and running inside of a barn that has no

roof.

Self -justification.

Now, I want you to think real hard.

Can faith conceive great things?

Well, it can't.

All faith can do is cause us to be placed as an instrument in God's hand

and to guide us as we do his will.

For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

It was put to his account, even though it had not been paid yet.

It was the same as paid.

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt,

soul.

Greg, if you could work for your salvation and finally attain it, it would be by work

and not by grace.

Grace, that's right.

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is

counted for righteousness.

Were you wanting to say something?

I thought there was a hand up.

Work is simply energy that you expend to get a result, whether it's

mental or physical.

God can never be put into a position of debtor or subservient.

We've settled that.

He will never owe anybody anything, any time.

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God

imputeth righteousness without works, saying blessed are they

whose inequities are forgiven and whose sins are covered, that's you and I.

Profession does not consist of a feeling or knowledge of a bare agreement,

much less in perverted thinking, but in

obedience.

And all those and those only are brought to obedience of the faith who are

effectually called of Jesus Christ.

Don't be afraid to make a decision.

You belong to God.

When you're faced with a decision this way or this way, you make the very best decision you know,

because that's right.

Yes,

it was counted what?

Yes, it was.

Well, where after?

Where after?

Credited.

Well, you could say his was credited because later he,

it was.

See, there is no time with God.

We keep forgetting that.

There is no time whatsoever with God.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

The spirit of Christian has been in us, the elect, forever.

In Revelation 17, 8, you don't need to turn to it, let me read it.

The beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and

go into perdition.

And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the

book of life from the foundation of the world.

And what group is that?

The unbelievers.

When they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is.

The thing I wanted to get out of that was that their names never been in the book.

Not that he keeps books, but that's the way we think.

9, cometh this blessedness upon them, upon the circumcision only

or upon the uncircumcision also.

For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

Now, was Abraham a Jew, Russell?

No.

Isaac was the first.

Can you sin by breaking the Mosaic law?

David, say no.

And another reason you were born in sin.

You come into the world in sin.

You'd already broke the law.

10, how was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or in

uncircumcision?

Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

Was Abraham called by God because God knew what he would do?

Or was he called, did Abraham do what he did because he was called?

That's right.

Everything is already finished.

I have to keep telling myself that.

That's hard for me to conceive that today is already finished.

This year is already finished.

Well, Abraham, yes, time is already finished.

Well, Abraham did what he did because he was called of God.

11, and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the

righteousness of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised,

that he might be the father of all of them that believe.

You're a child of Abraham.

Though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them

also.

Now you can seal only that which is in existence.

You can't seal something that would not be here.

Does faith exercise you, or do you exercise faith, Greg?

If it were the other way, it means you could call on faith any time you wanted to.

We see our faith only in retrospect.

And the father of circumcision to them who are not the

circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that

faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet

uncircumcised for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not

to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but

through righteousness of faith.

The promise was not the reward for obedience, in other words,

but a free gift.

The faith of Abraham was not a simple childlike dependence on the naked word of God.

He believed God.

For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void,

and the promise made of none effect.

What's the difference between eternal and everlasting,

Roger?

That's right.

Eternal had no beginning.

That's something else hard for me to conceive.

Something without a beginning.

I go back in my mind and try to think of God before.

I can't.

What is the most important thought a person can ever have?

Now, you might need to think about that.

I'll give you a clue.

It's your personal relationship to the father.

Most important thought you can ever have.

15.

Because the law worketh wrath, for where is no law, where no law is,

there is no transgression.

In verses 8 to 15, we must show love for our friends not only by prayer

for them, but by praise of God for them.

As in our purpose, so in our desires.

We must remember to say, if it is the Lord's will, and submit to that.

In James 4 .15, for that you ought to say, if the Lord will,

we shall live and do this or that.

If the Lord wills.

We don't know tomorrow, he does.

Our journeys are made prosperous or otherwise according to the will of

God.

We should readily impart to others what God has trusted to us,

rejoicing to make others joyful, especially taking pleasure in communing with

those who believe the same with us.

If redeemed by the blood and converted by the grace of the Lord,

Jesus, we are all together his, and for his sake we are

debtors to all men.

To do all the good we can, such services, it's our duty.

16.

Therefore, it is of faith that it might be by grace

to the end, and the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that

only which is of the law, but to that which is of faith of Abraham,

who is the father of us all.

Therefore, the inheriting, the promise is the outcome of

faith, and depends entirely on faith, in

order that it might be by grace.

If it were not by faith, it couldn't be a grace.

If it were not by faith, it could not be the same for everybody.

Anytime you're discussing your salvation, I don't mean you're in

argument about salvation, but you're discussing the fact, and you have

someone that does not agree with you, there's one question you can

ask.

What is the controlling agent in your salvation?

Now, if they're genuinely concerned,

they would have to admit that he is the

person you're talking to, and that can't be.

What is the controlling interest, Bill?

The controlling agent, yes.

Okay.

That's right.

He has an exclusive right to it.

No.

The promise was made to Abraham long before the law.

It points to Christ, and it refers to the promise.

In Genesis 12 -1, turn over to that.

Genesis 12 -1.

Bill, will you read it, please?

Read one, two, and three.

It's pretty plain, isn't it?

The law worketh wrath by showing that every transgressor is exposed

to his divine displeasure.

As God intended to give his people a title to the promised blessings, so he appointed

it to be by faith that it might be holy by grace.

To make it sure to all who were of the like precious faith with Abraham.

So he made us like Abraham.

17.

As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations.

Now, the Jew, the unsaved Jew, looks at that as

Abraham, the father of all of us, the Jews.

Is that what it means, Joy?

Yes.

As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations before whom he believed, even

God, who quickened the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

God speaks of things future and the past and present tense.

Yes.

That's right.

He was the first called out man.

The first man to be called out.

He's called out of Arakaldes.

He was called out to be for Christ.

God speaks of things past or present tense

because whatever God has purposed before time will have its actual

accomplishment in time.

God declares the end from the beginning.

Now, go to Isaiah 46, somebody, and read verses

9, 10,

and 11.

Greg, do you have that?

All right.

All right.

God says, I'll do whatever I say.

My word shall not return to me void.

18.

Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations, according

to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be.

Now, whose seed are we talking about here?

The seed of God through Abraham, the elect,

you and I.

The confession of evil works is the beginning of good works.

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead

when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,

but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

What does the word staggered mean?

Roger, waver.

He didn't vacillate in and out.

He believed.

We give praise to the glory of God when we believe his promises.

We see the perfections of God's redemptive character actively engaged to

fulfill his promise.

We know that it is utterly impossible for the true and living God to

fail in any way.

It is absolutely vital that we see that it is impossible to

give God this praise as long as we think that God

promised to save all without exception.

Now, let me back up here.

It is impossible for anyone if they

think that God promised to save all without exception.

Each and every one of Abraham's fallen descendants.

We know that the multitudes perished, and if they perish whom God purposed

to save, God is either unfaithful or unable to provide all means

and remove all obstacles.

We cannot say that Abraham was justified simply believing that God would give him a

son by miraculous birth.

Abraham knew he would, and he did because God said so.

Twenty -one, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was

able also to perform.

Abraham believed God's promise of salvation conditioned on Christ

alone.

We had another word in that sentence, being fully persuaded.

Dennis, what does that mean, being fully persuaded?

All right.

An example would be if there was a sign on this front pew, wet paint,

how many of you would come by and touch it to see if it was wet?

This means you don't touch it.

You're fully persuaded.

There's no doubt in your mind.

Remember it was through Isaac, the son of promise,

through whom Christ came according to the flesh,

according to that which was spoken by God.

This shows that Abraham's exception rested solely upon God's purpose, even though by

all natural principles it seemed impossible.

He believed him anyhow.

Twenty -two, and therefore was imputed to him for righteousness.

Another question.

We'll stop on this question, and you can have this

week to think about it.

Is faith a condition for salvation?

Don't answer.

Think about it.

Is faith a condition for salvation?

All right, anybody have any questions concerning today's lesson?

Yes.

That's right.

Yes.

Remember the Old Testament is as though the spiritual is acted out.

Yes, because it's a spiritual separation.

The Old Testament is a physical religion.

It acts out everything that we do spiritually.

Remember that.

It may help.

Anything else?

That's right.

That's absolutely right.

Because we can't.

Roger, will you dismiss us, please?