WWUTT 1212 His Faith is Counted as Righteousness? (Romans 4:4-8)

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If a person was saved by their works, then we would obligate God to have to give us something because of something that we did.

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But we can't do that. God is righteous and we are not. We are saved by faith, by His grace, when we understand the text.

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You're listening to When We Understand the Text, committed to the sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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And don't forget our website, www .utt .com. Here's our host,

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We are in Romans chapter 4 this week. If you want to join me there in your

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Bible, I'm going to begin by reading the first eight verses. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church that was in Rome, What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

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For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

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For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

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Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due.

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And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

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Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.

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Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

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Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

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It's here in chapter four that the Apostle Paul is using Abraham as an example, as our example of someone who is justified by faith.

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And once again, as I mentioned yesterday, this demonstrates that justification by faith is not some new doctrine that came about when

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Jesus showed up, when he died on the cross, when he proclaimed, repent and believe, and those who believe in him will have their sins forgiven.

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This didn't just come about with Christ, but it has been spoken about all the while.

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This is how God has always intended a person to receive righteousness, that they believe in and trust in God and his promises.

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So Paul sets out by using Abraham as an example, but he kind of pauses on this example of Abraham to reflect upon the words of David.

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So it's not just limited to Abraham. We also have David, but then he's going to come back to the example of Abraham, which we'll look at tomorrow when we finish the rest of chapter four.

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So in the meantime today, we look at these words from David in the

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Psalms, and specifically what Paul is quoting from here is Psalm 32. So in verse four, it says, now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but his due.

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And I've made this comparison many times before when it comes to grace. When we talk about the grace of God, we're talking about receiving something that we do not deserve, nor can we do anything to earn it.

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It is by God's grace. If you think you have to do something in order to receive salvation, the favor of God, the love of God, any of these things, you think that you do something to earn that, then what

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God gives to you is not grace. It's therefore owed to you because you did something to earn it.

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Paul makes that argument right here. It wouldn't work. It would not be the righteousness of God. Whatever it is that you receive, you earn it because it's owed to you, but it would not be the righteousness of God.

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Because as Paul had said earlier, if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about before men, but not before God.

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So it would not therefore be the righteousness of God. It would be Abraham boasting in his own works, but he would not receive the goodness of the

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Lord imputed to him by faith in God, in God's words, in God's promises.

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This is how we receive the righteousness of God. This is the only way that we are justified, by faith.

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And if it were not that we were justified by faith, if it was by some other way, then the grace of God would not be grace.

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Wouldn't be grace at all. Because God wouldn't be giving it to us out of the goodness of his heart.

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He would be giving it to us because he owed it to us. And we cannot bind

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God or obligate him to anything. God owes you nothing.

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You do nothing to earn anything from God. He gives you anything that he gives you out of his grace, out of his goodness.

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And he even apportions to each person what they receive. Paul will talk about that when we get to Romans chapter 12, verse 3.

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Even the measure of faith that we receive is by the grace of God. So whatever measure you get, be grateful for it.

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For whatever measure of faith you have is enough faith to save your soul.

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Remember Jesus talking about faith, the size of a mustard seed, right? Luke 17 6.

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If you had faith like a grain of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you.

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All of this is the gracious work of God in our lives. If you do something in order to earn your salvation, then you've been saved by works.

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And that's a different gospel. If you think you have to pray a prayer in order to be saved, that's salvation by works.

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And you're believing in a different gospel. If you believe that you have to be baptized in order to be saved, you're believing in salvation by works.

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And that's a different gospel. If you believe that you have to speak in tongues in order to receive the

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Holy Spirit, that is a gospel of works, which is a different gospel.

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We are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and no other way.

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Now, there are those whose belief in this matter are inconsistent. Doesn't necessarily matter.

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It doesn't necessarily mean that what they believe is heretical or a damnable heresy that would therefore lead them to hell.

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Like, for example, say that you've got a young believer who does believe that, hey, they prayed a prayer and therefore they're saved.

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So because I prayed this prayer, God has saved me. So they have that Arminian sort of soteriology.

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There are certain things that we do, like God has reached his hand down halfway and we reach our hand up the rest of the way.

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Or he's 99 % there and we have to go the other 1%, whatever it is. But you have that kind of Arminian mindset of soteriology or the study of salvation.

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Mankind is not really all that bad. We at least have enough goodness in us to make some sort of decision to follow

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God. And we do that. God doesn't make us do anything. He just has his arms open wide and we have to run to them.

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Let's say that somebody has that kind of mentality. Now, I would say to you that that is a gospel of works.

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That is that is believing that we are saved by our works. When you think that you have to reach yourself a certain to a certain point in order for God to then give us this salvation.

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I did this, so God gave me that. It's a different gospel. But I wouldn't call it a damnable heresy. Why wouldn't

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I call it that? Because that kind of belief is immature. It comes from a person still having a grip on their autonomy that has not yet been worked out of them in their maturity in the spirit.

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Some people are far more mature when they become saved in their understanding of how salvation was given to them.

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And that's wonderful. But there are others that still think with their limited mindset, without a good knowledge of the scriptures, they have too high a view of man and not a high enough view of God.

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And that is that comes from immaturity. Hopefully, by their study of the scriptures, that's going to work that out.

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They're going to recognize their total inability to make this decision to follow God. And all of this was the work of God that brought us to salvation.

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After all, I was there. I was one who at one point believed that I did something and therefore

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I'm saved. And I used to check with all of my friends, too. I used to believe in the sinner's prayer.

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And as long as you prayed this prayer, then boom, you're saved, no matter what happens to you for the rest of your life, which is a totally incorrect view of how we come to salvation and even of the perseverance of the saints.

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But I even did this with my siblings. Hey, I just want to check with you. I know that you're not walking with the Lord, but you at least prayed that prayer, right?

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You asked Jesus to come into your heart. OK, good. Therefore, I can I can rest a little easy, a little easier.

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That kind of question was really to just satisfy myself. It was not out of a genuine concern for my wayward friend or sibling who was not walking with the

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Lord anymore. That kind of, well, pseudo evangelism, if you want to call it that, was just born out of immaturity.

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It didn't mean that I wasn't saved. But I did not have a high enough view of God, really, according to what he has said in his word.

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And it's in maturing in the scripture that we get less and less of the mindset of worldliness and more and more of a mindset of heavenliness that we begin to see the picture starts to open wider for us.

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And we see the work that God had done to bring us from lostness to being found.

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When we sing about it in Amazing Grace, I once was lost, but now I'm found. You didn't find yourself.

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God found you. You were lost. You couldn't do anything to find yourself or find your way.

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It is the Lord who came and sought for us and rescued us, gave us sight where previously we were blind, opened our ears where previously we were deaf.

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So we might see and hear what the spirit says to us, according to his word.

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It's the Bible that we read that gives us an understanding of how faith works, how

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God brought us from death to life. We read about this in the scriptures. This is not some sort of general knowledge that a person is going to come to just by studying the world.

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We come to this knowledge and understanding of God's work in our lives from our study of his word.

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When a person says that they are saved by grace, but they did something to earn that salvation, they're just extremely inconsistent in that belief.

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Maybe they believe something as heretical as Pelagianism. You just kind of have to see where else or like to what extent they think regarding salvation.

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If they believe like what Pelagius believed, that it is mankind who really saves himself, well, that's just straight up heresy.

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Then you have semi Pelagianism, which is mankind is not totally depraved, but he's able to do enough to kind of lift himself out of his pit, to raise up his own dead body, to follow

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God, that's semi Pelagianism. And then of course, that kind of is the varying degrees of Arminianism.

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But the understanding of God's grace, to know that it is truly God's grace means that he's done all this work.

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If we do anything, it isn't by grace. We obligate God to have to give something to us.

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And that's the argument that Paul's making here in verse four. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due.

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God has to give it to you because you've obligated him to give it to you. Yet, what do we read in Romans chapter 11, which is really kind of the conclusion of all of this argument that Paul has made regarding justification by faith.

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And then we see the work of sanctification when we get to chapter 12. But at the end of Romans 11, we have this beautiful benediction or this doxology rather, in Romans 11 verses 33 through 36.

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Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.

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How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways for who has known the mind of the

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Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid for from him and through him and to him are all things.

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To him be glory forever. Amen. And the glory only truly and fully belongs to God if he's the one who has done this work fully himself.

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Not by our cooperation, but God is the one who has done this work and may his name be praised for all the wonderful things that he has done.

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Paul explicitly says there in Romans 11, 35, who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid.

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The answer to that question? No one. No one is given anything to God that forces

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God to have to repay us with what we deserve for the thing that we said or did.

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We do not obligate God to anything. You deserve nothing.

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You deserve nothing but death. But God by his grace has given us a life through faith in his son,

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Jesus Christ. And then that's what Paul goes on to say in verse five to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly.

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His faith is counted as righteousness. It is by the very fact that we believe that is how we've received righteousness.

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And it is the object of our faith that has resulted in the righteousness that we receive.

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Jesus Christ, the righteous one, the only one who has ever been righteous to have walked this earth and never sinned.

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He was completely perfect. The spotless lamb who laid down his life on the cross for our sins so that by our faith in him, our sins have been imputed to him on the cross.

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And he atoned for them there. And his righteousness has been imputed to us.

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And we are clothed in white garments. If you have been underlining passages as we've been going through Romans, Romans 4 .5

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is a key passage to the teaching of this letter. If Romans 1 .16

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is the thesis statement to Romans, as I said that back when we were in chapter one,

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Romans one, Romans 4 .5 is a close second. To him, to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly.

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His faith is counted as righteousness. There you go. You've got a thesis statement right there to the doctrine of justification by faith.

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And we've been using Abraham as our example. That's the way that Paul opened up the chapter. And we're going to come back to the example of Abraham tomorrow.

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But then he gets to David here. So it's not just Abraham. It's also David. It's all of the

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Old Testament faithful. They believed and God granted them righteousness because of faith in God, not by their own works, but by trusting in the work of God.

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So David, verse six, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom

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God counts righteousness apart from works. Now David certainly believed this, but David is even speaking of anyone who believes in this way.

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So the statement that we had that we referenced yesterday out of Genesis regarding Abraham's faith, and that was quoted in verse three,

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Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. That's from Genesis, but that's just related to Abraham.

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Here, Paul references David and the statement that David makes is with regards to anyone.

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So now we're not just talking about a specific person. Now we're saying anyone who believes by faith receives the righteousness of God.

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Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom

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God counts righteousness apart from works. And the

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Psalm that is referenced is Psalm 32. Here's how we have it in Romans four, seven and eight.

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Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the

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Lord will not count his sin. Now that as it's worded has been translated from the

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Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. That's what Paul would have been referencing from when he cited that verse here in Romans four.

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When we go to Psalm 32, it reads slightly different, but only because what you're reading in your

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Bible in the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew rather than from Greek into English.

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In Psalm 32 verse one, here is what we have. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

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Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

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So here's what we understand by that. I'm gonna keep going here in Psalm 32 because this is really quite a wonderful Psalm of repentance.

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But here's what we have here. We have come to faith in God because God by his grace counted no iniquity in us and found in our spirit no deceit.

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By his grace, this was the case because he had atoned for our sins through the

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Lord Jesus Christ. In the case of the Old Testament faithful, it was a future atonement that was to come.

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But we read about this back in Romans chapter three about God's divine forbearance.

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Verse 25, this was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins.

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So even the one who was saved in the Old Testament, though Christ had not yet died, this was by God's grace who in his divine forbearance had passed over former sins.

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And he by his grace counted no iniquity in the one on whom he had showed his blessing.

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Are you following me? So as we read on about the faith that one has in God here in Psalm 32, this faith is the effect of the fact that God has blessed that person, not counted sins against them, and they believe

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God and it's counted to them as righteousness. So we go on in Psalm 32, three, for when

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I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

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For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

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Selah, I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity.

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I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

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Selah, we have this selah, this pause come up multiple times throughout this Psalm because the

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Psalmist, David in this case is truly beholding the wonderful mercy of God.

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Though what is deserved is punishment unto death, yet God has shown his grace.

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Verse six, therefore, let everyone who is godly offer a prayer to you at a time when you may be found.

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Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me.

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You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance.

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Then we have that pause again, selah. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

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I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding which must be curbed with bit and bridle or it will not stay near you.

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Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the

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Lord. Steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the

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Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy all you upright in heart who have been made upright by the blessing of God.

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So that's the reference that Paul makes to David and that all of us receive this blessing of God, this righteousness by faith in Christ.

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And it is the one who believes God who in his faith is justified.

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Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the goodness and grace you show to us, not by our works,

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O Lord, but by your work and let your will continue to be done in our lives.

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As Paul prayed with the Philippians that it is God who works in us to will and to work for his good pleasure.

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So work in our hearts, work an understanding of your grace that we may have higher praise of you and exalt your name with an exaltation that is worthy of your name.

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May we be all the more confident as we go throughout our day, not because of any work that we have done, but because of the continued work of God in our lives.

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And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.