So this last week, we wrapped up Romans 3. For those of you keeping track, we’ve had 25 messages covering those 3 chapters. So it’s taken us about 2.5 months to get through 3 chapters. If you’re looking ahead you may notice that Romans is 16 chapters long, do a little math and figure that we’re on pace to wrap up our study of Romans in the beginning of October next year. Now, if we did take that long, I assure you, it would be time well spent, however, that is not my plan. I’m going to start speeding things up a bit, with the exception of Romans 5 and Romans 9. There’s just no way to do those chapters justice without taking some time there. I want these emails to be encouraging, and not burdensome, so brevity may win out over lengthy exposition in some cases.
That said my encouragement to you, is to dig into Romans yourself during this time if you are able to do so. If you read 2 chapters of Romans a day on average, you could make it through the entire book in 8 days. If you committed yourself to that task for a month, you would have almost ready Romans all the way through, 4 times. If you committed to start today, by the end of the year, you would have read through all of Romans 6 times. What a treasure that would be to have the gospel saturating your heart in that way. What a blessing that would be to your own life and others.
With all that said, let’s start into Romans 4. Here Paul is continuing his argument that we are justified (declared righteous) by God through faith, not works. He is appealing to the faith of Abraham, as an example to us of how our faith is credited to us as righteousness.
Romans 4:1-8 – “What then shall we say 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.” 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, 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.”
Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Notice it doesn’t say Abraham believed in God, it says he believed God. Big difference. Especially when in James 2:19 we are told – “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” Faith is not believing in God, faith is believing God. Meaning, faith is not simply a passive intellectual acknowledgment to God’s existence, what He has done on the cross through Christ, or even right thoughts about the character and nature of God. Satan has seen God face to face and Satan saw Christ crucified and risen. Knowledge of God, is not faith. Our enemy, would love nothing more than for people to coast by in their “faith”, never truly trusting God, never praying for God to give them faith to believe, to die to themselves and follow Him. Faith is heart consuming, life altering, believing God. In Genesis 15, Abraham believed God and did exactly what God told Him to do, which was trusting and believing in God.
Many people get mixed up with the book of James, when it is said that we are justified by works. Some people are even afraid to preach through James because they believe it’s confusing. Some may even see what James has to say about being justified with works as a contradiction to what Paul is saying here, so let’s go ahead and clear that up right now. James 2:21-24 – “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
This is not a contradiction, James is saying the exact same thing as Paul. The faith Paul is describing is not a passive faith in God, but an active believing God and trusting His Word to us. This is the same faith described by James. What can you say then about the intersection of faith and works? Can the person who is declared righteous through faith in the shed blood of Christ continue in unrighteousness? NO! Can’t you see that all unrighteousness is rooted in unbelief of God and His Word? It is a lack of belief that Christ is a treasure above anything the world might offer, and He has reconciled us to God. This is why later in Romans 14, Paul says “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” If you believe God, then your life will follow that belief, and you will walk in obedience to Him, trusting Him.
Lets get a picture going… Let’s say that you have a rough day, and you fall into sin, and let out some of your frustration on a waiter. I know none of you reading this have ever allowed your frustrations to overflow to an unrelated party… but assuming you did, let’s continue. Now, you go off to the bathroom to wash up before the food arrives, and come back very thirsty. Your good friend you’re eating with tells you that while you were in the bathroom, he witnessed your waiter spit into the tasty beverage that’s now in front of you. You are really thirsty, so what do you do? If you believe your friend, you will not drink it. If you do not believe your friend, you will. Don’t you see how actions manifest your belief? Either way, your actions are evidencing your belief. Either drinking or not drinking. You cannot separate faith and works. True faith will always result in works that manifest that belief. God has given us the entire Bible, His Word to us, and we will either believe Him, and follow after Him, or we will not. Our actions will give witness to whether or not we believe God. Make no mistake though, Abraham was not credited as righteous because he believed in God, but because he believed God, and his actions followed that belief. There is a faith that saves and a “faith” that is useless that cannot save. One results in heart and life change by the Spirit of God, the other in mere head knowledge about God and an unregenerate heart.
We are not saved by our works. We are not saved by our faith + works. We are saved because we believe God. We are saved by faith alone. Our lawless deeds are forgiven, our sins past, present, and future are covered in Christ’s blood – blessed are we whom the Lord will not count our sin against us. We believe that God has sent His only Son, Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sin, that He was buried, that He was raised on the 3rd day by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that we who trust in Him have been reconciled to God – declared righteous by our faith. Now, let our light so shine before the world, that they will see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. As we die to ourselves daily to follow after Christ, believing Him, let the world marvel at how great a surpassing treasure we have in Christ, even amidst struggles, loss, and suffering. Pray earnestly for the faith that saves. Encourage others daily, to not only believe in God and the gospel, but encourage them to greater faith through God’s promises in His Word to believe God and live out the gospel.
Grace and Peace,
Adam
Following the Way 