Faith Counted for
Righteousness
Romans
4:1-8
Preached:
9/15/96
Pastor
C. W. Powell
What did Abraham find, and why is it relevant today?
It is relevant for one major reason: You and I came naked into the
world, but we did not come into a naked world. We were born into a world rich
in religious culture, ideas, and customs. There is no way that we can ignore
them. There are two major events in the religious history of the world that
have exercised a dominating effect upon the world.
Mt Sinai
The first event was on Mt. Sinai. What happened at Sinai changed a
group of people from a rag-tag group of slaves newly come out of Egypt into a
nation that would bear witness of the unity of God for the rest of human
history. Whatever you think about the sons of Abraham, you will have to admit
that something dramatic happened at Sinai, and transformed this nation into a
witness against the polytheism of the ancient world, and drew down wrath and
hatred upon them. “I the Lord thy God am One” would be the message they would
deliver to the world, and would continue to deliver. Included in that message
was that God made moral demands upon the world, and unity of ethics and moral
behavior that bound all the nations of the world to a single ethical standard.
Israel condemned not only the idolatry of the ancient world but the moral
relativism that debased and degraded that world.
There was a problem. The
message that Israel delivered, though true, could not transform the world,
because there is a great difference between being made aware of your
shortcomings and having the power to overcome your shortcomings. This the world
lacked, and so did the witnesses, for Israel never lived up to the moral
demands that their professed monotheism made on them. In rejecting Christ, they
rejected the full doctrine of the Triune God and found no sense of forgiveness
and mercy, for without the Trinity there can be no reconciliation between mercy
and truth.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The second event was the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The
resurrection of Jesus Christ did for His followers what Sinai did for Israel,
but in a far more powerful and wonderful sense. It transformed the followers of
Jesus from a rag-tag group of fearful fishermen, tax-collectors, and others
into a band of witnesses as to the transforming power of Jesus Christ. For the
message of the church was the completion and fulfillment of the message of
Israel: There is salvation from your sin. Our God has come to dwell with us. He
has announced forgiveness of sins, redemption and mercy. Jesus Christ promised
to His followers what the law could not do: a transformation of heart and mind;
the creation by the Spirit of God of a new nature, conformable to the nature of
Jesus Christ, a nature that would love God and keep His precepts.
The Importance of Abraham
This is why Abraham is important, for Abraham, the father of the
nation of Israel, is set forth by the Apostle Paul as an example of all those
who would benefit from the coming of Christ into the world. In fact, Jesus
Himself said that "Abraham rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was
glad." So if you want to benefit from the coming of Christ into the world,
then you must do as Abraham did. This is the reason that he is called the
father of the faithful.
So this brings us back to our question. Why is Abraham relevant?
Because of this: the way that Abraham gained the favor of God is the same way
that you and I obtain the favor of God. He received it by faith. Because of
this, I want very simply to set forth two basic ideas today: How did Abraham
gain favor with God, and what the benefits were that he received.
Our text says that he gained it by faith. He was pronounced
blessed because of his faith. But be careful.
Don't Go Astray!
Now we must be careful here, for it is easy to go astray. Satan is
a great deceiver and he will throw dust in our eyes to keep us from thinking
clearly. In our great Reformed heritage there is a document known as the Canons
of Dort. This document came into being as the result of a movement in the
churches of the Netherlands in the early 17th century called the Remonstrance,
which confused several important doctrines of the faith, and the Canons, or
Lists of doctrines, were formulated by the faithful to counteract this
confusion.
The Nature of Justification by Faith
Among other things, there was confusion about the nature of
justification by faith. The confused party in the Netherlands thought that it
meant that God accepted faith instead of righteousness. It went something like
this: God from Sinai gave His law to Israel and demanded perfect obedience. But
no one can keep the law. Because God is merciful, He provided another way for
us to be saved: this salvation is by faith, for God accepts our faith instead
of obedience.
In this, they were confused about the words of Paul here in Romans
4. They thought Paul was saying that God accepted faith instead of obedience,
and that God blessed Abraham because Abraham offered God faith instead of
obedience. Sadly, that wrong idea is still widely thought to be true.
But this idea does not really do justice to the truth of the
Bible. For one thing, God cannot deny Himself: he cannot pretend that something
is true when it is not true. He cannot pretend that a man is a good man when he
is not a good man. He cannot pretend that a man has not sinned, when the man
has sinned. If his very nature demands perfect obedience to all his commands,
then he cannot accept a $5 bill for a million dollar debt; faith cannot be
accepted instead of righteousness, unless it is understood in a very special
way. Charles Hodge, the great Princeton theologian, pointed out that when it
says that Abraham's faith was “counted” or “credited” for righteousness, the
key word to understand is “faith.” Faith did not substitute for righteousness,
but faith was able to access the righteousness which God accepts.
This would mean that “Faith” stands for the object of faith, Jesus
Christ, and it is His righteousness which is acceptable to God.
The faith that saves is a special faith which unites us to Jesus
Christ.
This is the meaning of Romans 5:1, 2. Faith brings access to the grace of God; it
is the means whereby we access the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ,
so that faith becomes the means whereby we are united to Christ, and God
accepts HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS in place of our UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. Faith is never
considered in the Bible as an end in itself, but as a means of accessing God,
and entering into fellowship with Jesus Christ. This is the reason that faith
saves, for without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that comes to
God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek for Him, according to the writer of Hebrews.
This is what Abraham teaches us: for he teaches us the true nature
of faith--that it is the means of laying hold on God and accessing the
righteousness that is in Christ. Faith is not the treasure, but is the means of
laying hold of the treasure. The treasure is Christ; and we are united to Him
by faith. This Abraham did, for he believed the promises concerning Christ, and
rejoiced in them.
This is the way of blessings, for if you believe in Christ and
trust Him, then God does not count your sins against you, but your faith brings
the righteousness of Christ to your account, and you are counted forgiven,
innocent and good, as He was. You are hidden in Christ and belong to Christ,
your sins being counted to Him, and His goodness being counted to you. This is
the meaning of faith, and the heart of faith.
II.
What then, were the benefits that Abraham received?
We will deal only with the spiritual benefits, which also apply to
us, and rejoice our hearts. There were three major blessings that God promised
Abraham that he received by faith. They are expressed in a figure, but they
include the sum total of the Christian faith: These were the three commands
that Abraham obeyed by faith:
First Benefit: A City with Foundations
Genesis 12:1: “Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out
of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land
that I will show thee.”
Abraham left his home and his family by faith to seek a heavenly
reward. Heb. 11 says “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he
would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not
know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a
stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who
were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city
with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Think of it!! By faith, Abraham knew he was going to heaven, and
this world was not his home. How sobering and exhilarating that is! Listen to
the words of Christ in John 17: “I pray for them: I pray not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine.”
How sobering! Jesus prayers are for those who are strangers and
pilgrims in the world. Do you love the world? Does the love of the world keep
you from Jesus Christ? Turn from the world, and embrace Jesus by faith that you
might be saved.
Now, if Abraham had a certain hope of heaven and eternal life,
then he must have had his sins forgiven. This is exactly the case. His sins
were forgiven him by faith: this is the meaning of Romans 4:7, speaking of
Abraham, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Now
this was the first benefit of the faith of Abraham: his sins were forgiven.
This was the reason that Abraham was given the sign of
circumcision. Romans 4:9. Circumcision was given to Abraham as a seal of the
righteousness of faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised. In this way,
Abraham is the father of all those who believe, not only the Jews, but also the
Gentiles who walk in the faith that he had while he was yet
uncircumcised..Romans 4:13 is an interesting verse: “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 the righteousness of faith.”
Heir of the World
What does it mean to be “heir of the world”? In the first place,
it does not mean to receive the world, for Abraham did not even receive the
land of Canaan, let alone the world. It means to be the world's heir: to
receive that for which the world and all in it were created: it means to
receive the purpose for which the world was created and Adam was created. What
was the purpose? to have fellowship with God and enjoy the blessedness of
eternal life forever.
Abraham received this by faith, and his circumcision was the seal
of his faith. The sacrament of bloody offerings had pointed to Lamb of God who
would take away the sins of the world. Now the sign of circumcision pointed to
the nature of the One who would be the Lamb of God: One who would be of the
seed of Abraham but not according the flesh; not according to the works of man.
He would be of the children of Abraham, but not after the natural order. Even
Isaac couldn't really fit the bill, for his birth was miraculous, and of the
promise, but he was still born of the natural seed of Abraham, from the
revitalized body of Abraham. Isaac was only a figure and type of the True Seed
of Abraham, who is Christ.
Circumcision indicated that the seed of man was contaminated and
deserved to be cut off. The Savior would have to be One who was of the seed of
Abraham, but not of the seed of Abraham. Only Jesus Christ could fit this: for
He was not born of the seed of man, but He was conceived of the Holy Ghost,
born of the Promise that was given to Eve at the Garden of Eden, that the seed
of the Woman would bruise the head of the Serpent. But from the body of the
Virgin Mary He was truly descended from Abraham and was truly bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh.
Paul writing in another place (Galatians 4:28): “Now we,
brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” The promise
concerning Jesus Christ included all the elect, so His birth at Bethlehem
certainly and surely guaranteed our new birth to newness of life. So we are in
reality children of the promise, of which Isaac is a type and figure.
All those in Christ are children of Abraham in a way that fleshly
Israel could never be. Abraham's faith included the promise of the Seed of
Woman who would come to destroy the seed of the serpent; or his faith, was
faith in Christ, with the hope of eternal life, to the extent that knowledge
had been revealed to that time.
This is the meaning of Galatians 3:16, 17: “Now to Abraham and
his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as
of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant,
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and
thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it would make the promise of none
effect.”
Abraham and his seed had a promise from God, confirmed in Christ
that had nothing to do with the law of Moses. It was this promise and Abraham's
faith in this promise that was sealed by the sacrament of circumcision. The law
had nothing to do with it and could not annul it. So there is one aspect of
circumcision that has nothing to do with the law, but everything to do with
grace, mercy, justification by faith in Jesus Christ, and the hope of eternal
life.
Second Benefit: Removal of Fear
Gen. 15:1: “After these things the word of the Lord came unto
Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding
great reward.” Abraham abandoned fear. Along with the love of the world is the
fear of men. Many people do not follow Christ because they are afraid of
something. They are afraid that they won't be successful; or that people will
not like them; or--especially in the modern day—that they won't be relevant.
How sad it is! How timid so many professing Christian are! The love of the
world has taught them to be afraid.
Think of Abraham. His faith taught him to trust God for
everything. Even when God said take your only son, the one whom you love, and
go offer him as a sacrifice, Abraham did not stagger. He trusted that God would
raise his son from the dead, if necessary, for God was faithful and would
fulfill all His promises. Fear has torment, and faith brings us to love and
trust Jesus Christ, which casts out fear. God was his shield and his exceeding
great reward. Abraham's faith that God would send the promised redeemer assured
him that God would raise Isaac from the dead if necessary. For faith knows that
it is impossible for God to lie.
Third Benefit: Sanctification
Gen. 17:1: “When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord
appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me,
and be thou perfect.” Abraham walked before the Lord and was upright.
Walking is an act of great balance and organization. A lot of things have to
work right before you can walk. You have
to have your act together before you can walk. Even a little fluid in your
inner ear can cause havoc. Even a sore toe
or a sore back. This is the great benefit of faith. Faith teaches us to walk
before the Lord and to love and obey Him.
Some of you may have had trouble getting your act together; it
would be highly unusual if even in a small congregation, all of you had your
act together. But let me tell you the key: faith is the key. For you see, the
just shall live by faith. It is by faith that you have fellowship with Jesus
Christ, that you have access into the grace of God, that the Holy Spirit is
given to you to transform and change you. For if you belong to Jesus Christ,
then He has ordained, has predestined you, to be conformed to the image of
Jesus Christ, and faith is the means that He has chosen for you to access the
righteousness of Jesus Christ.
These three things in principle make up the sum total of the
Christian faith. If you have received these blessings by faith, then you are
blessed indeed, your sins are forgiven you, and heaven is your home.
May God bless you. Trust
Christ and lean only upon Him; rejoice always. Amen.
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Write:
Pastor C. W. Powell
6050 Del Paz Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
719-590-1477
mailto:budpow@prodigy.net