Who is the Blessed Man?

Justification by Faith in Romans 4

Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist. Today we're going to be looking at Romans Chapter 4. Now, Romans Chapter 4 is Paul really getting into the meat of his argument regarding the doctrine of justification.

If you remember, the first three chapters was Paul explaining the doctrine of sin. In Chapter 1, he explains how men rebel against the knowledge that they have that God has revealed to them in nature and even in their conscience.

And they rebel against that. They suppress that truth in unrighteousness. In Chapter 2, he talks about even people with the law, the Jews, have gone against the law. They have not kept the law. And because they continue to be lawbreakers, they continue to be just as much sinners as the Gentiles.

The Jews would have looked at the Gentiles and called them sinners. We see this in Galatians. When Paul is talking to Peter, he says, we're not Gentile sinners. And he's referring to the fact that when they spoke about the Gentiles, the Gentiles were inherently evil.

They were seen as inherently sinful, but the Jews were seen as somehow inherently righteous. But Paul is making the argument that they were not inherently righteous simply because they had the law. In fact, if anything, they're more responsible because they have the law and they have violated it.

So we get to Chapter 3, and in Chapter 3, he condemns all men under sin. He says, there's none righteous, no, not one. And then at the end of Chapter 3, he begins to explain what God has done to overcome this problem, the problem of man's sin.

What has God done to deal with the problem of man's sin? And what God has done is God has provided justification. Justification is the declaration of righteousness. God is able to declare the sinner to be righteous, even though the sinner is not righteous.

And you say, well, how can God do that? Is God a liar? No, God is not a liar. He declares us righteous based on the righteousness of someone else. Jesus Christ was fully and completely righteous. He never sinned in thought, word, or deed.

And so his righteousness becomes our righteousness. And our sin becomes his sin. And when he went to the cross, he bore the wrath for our sin. And so there's a great transaction. Christ takes our sin, we receive his righteousness.

And God is able to be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. We see this at the end of Chapter 3. So then we get into Chapter 4 and Paul begins to explain how this works out in history.

He uses the example of Abraham. And he says to us, what was gained by Abraham according to the flesh? And the answer is nothing. Abraham was not saved because of what he did. Abraham was saved because of the promises of God.

He was not justified by his works. He was justified by faith alone. And we see this if we read beginning in verse 1. It says, what shall we say then was gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh?

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. That is a quote of Genesis 15 verse 6.

A very important passage for the Apostle Paul. One that he would quote several times and in several different scenarios. And we need to keep that in mind because that's one of the foundation stones of the doctrine of justification.

We are justified the same way Abraham was. We are justified by faith. Abraham was justified by faith. Therefore, we are not justified by our works, but we are justified by faith. And as the reformers said, sola fide, we are justified by faith alone.

Not faith plus works, not faith plus any activity on our part, but by faith alone. And so, one of the passages that's in chapter 4 that I wanted to point you to is one of my favorite texts in all of the Bible.

And it's in verses 7 and 8. Paul is explaining justification by faith alone. He's using Abraham as his example. And in verses 7 and 8, he says this. 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. That is a wonderful blessing. The blessing of knowing that our sins will not be counted against us. And that is the blessing that every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ possesses.

It's not something he has to look forward to. It's something that he currently possesses, the possession of forgiveness. Years ago, Dr. James White was in a debate with a Roman Catholic theologian. And during the debate, James read this passage.

And he says that it says here, blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. And he asked the Roman Catholic theologian, he said, who is the blessed man? And at first, he was a little confused by the question.

And I don't fault him for that. In the midst of debate, things can get rather confusing. And at first, he said he thought it was Jesus. And then he went back and read it. He says, no, no, no, certainly not Jesus because Jesus never sinned.

And so Dr. White said, well, who is the blessed man? Who is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin? And the Roman Catholic said, well, I hope to be. And honestly, in the system of Roman Catholicism, that's all you really have is a vain hope.

Because they base the doctrine of justification not upon the finished work of Christ, but upon what they contribute. And the question is always going to be, have we done enough? When we base it on our contributions, when we base it on what we have done, our level of faith, our level of justifying works, our level of commitment, our level of penance, our participation in the mass.

Anytime justification is based on we, we, us, us, our, our, it's always going to be the question mark of is it enough? But when we fully and completely trust in the finished work of Christ alone, not in anything that we have done, but only in what he has done, only then will we be able to say, yes, because of Christ, I am the blessed man.

Because of Christ, I know that God will not count my sins against me. My lawless deeds have been forgiven. I hope this has been an encouragement to you today. And I hope that you are one who can say that you know Christ and that you know that your sins have been forgiven.

If you're enjoying these videos, I want to encourage you to please go to the subscribe button, hit subscribe, and then you'll be alerted every time we put up a new video. Like it by hitting a thumbs up.

And if you're watching us on Facebook, please like, comment, and share this video so that we can reach a wider audience. I appreciate you being with me today. Again, my name is Keith Foskey, and I've been your Calvinist.