Romans 4:1-12
“Worth before Works”
Vs. 1-3 Grace before good works
Vs. 4-5 Having begun in the Spirit
Vs. 6-8 Man after God’s heart?
Vs. 9-12 More of God less of me
Intro
The final 11 verses of chapter 3 must have blown the minds of the readers of Paul’s letter; “Self worth, value, apart from doing or keeping anything?” Why such a teaching goes against all of human nature, against all religions and philosophies. What will happen to society if we tell folks they aren’t of value because they are trying to be good, they are of value solely on the basis of their relationship to God who is good? Won’t society plummet into chaos, anarchy and lawlessness where people will have nothing to restrain them? To prove his point Paul calls to the witness stand two revered ancestors Abraham and David. The history of the Jewish people didn’t begin with Moses, it began with Abraham and their kingdom began with David. Paul uses Abraham as an example of being declared of worth by faith apart from works and he will address three important questions about Abraham:
How Abraham was made righteous?
When Abraham was made righteous?
Why was Abraham made righteous?
Vs. 1-3 Grace before good works
Vs. 1-3 Paul answers the first question in these three verses by saying that Abraham was a “good man”, you will see that as you read about him in Genesis. He trusted God to lead him out of his home country to one that God would show him. Over and over again we see that Abraham was a man of “good works,” and Paul doesn’t dispute that. Instead Paul says that those “good works” were not what caused God to declare him of value. Most folks learn early on like Abraham that a way of gaining a sense of significance and self-worth is “performance”. If you perform at your word or above expectation you will be highly regarded by our peers. And clearly Abraham could boast about his good works before his fellow man. Ah but it doesn’t work that way with God as He is never impressed by our outward performance because He isn’t limited by what we humans see as He looks beyond the action to the heart. He sees the selfishness and self-centeredness behind our actions. He sees all the maneuvering and manipulation in what we do to get what we want.
That’s why Paul says Abraham could brag some to us but not before God! When did Abraham realize that his self worth wasn’t based upon his good works? Well in Gen. 15:5, God showed Abraham the stars in the sky and said, “Even if you could count all those stars, you still wouldn’t be able to count how many descendants you will have.” God spoke this to a man who didn’t have any children and he and his wife Sarah were well past the age of being able to produce children. And Abraham simply believed God and it was accounted to him as “self worth”.
Just by believing God’s blessing he had self-worth, he hadn’t done anything to have God say that, there was no condition made upon that statement by God, and it was his by faith. Based upon Paul’s words to the Galatians God had made it clear to Abraham that He was talking to him about His Son Jesus and that through Him not only would Abraham have earthly descendants he would have spiritual ones as well. That is what Jesus told the religious leaders in John 8:39, 56 who claimed that a heritage to Abraham when He said “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day and he saw it and was glad.” James also uses this section in Genesis and adds that he was called God’s friend not because of the way he behaved but because of the way he believed!
God didn’t declare Abraham of value or worth when he left Ur of the Chaldees Neither was it when he offered his only son Isaac on Mount Moriah God declared him of value and worth in Gen. 15:16 when he simply trusted God at His word.
Even more amazing is that even though Abraham trusted God to keep his word he soon doubted and took matters in his own hands and tried to produce a child of faith through his wife’s hand maiden Hagar.
Yet even this didn’t dislodge God’s declaration of being of value and worth. Abraham was not declared righteous when he followed God obediently or when he offered himself sacrificially, he was declared right when he trusted God supremely! The one and only thing that man can do is trust God to do what He said He was going to do!
Vs. 4-5 Having begun in the Spirit
Vs. 4-5 If God had declared Abraham of value and worth because of his obedience or sacrifice then his value would have been based upon works and effort and he would have simply have received what his effort had earned him. God would have only paid Abraham what He owed Him. That’s Paul’s point here Abraham didn’t do anything that merited God’s blessings. He uses an illustration that we have within our IRS regulations which state that if money under a certain amount is given you as a gift then it is not taxable. But if you are being compensated for work you are doing then it is taxable. If you work then it isn’t a gift it is wages for your labor and there is an obligation to pay you.
It’s amazing how many Christians fall into this wrongful thinking. Though they realize they trusted in Jesus for their eternal destiny they spend the rest of their lives trying to earn God’s approval and self worth. Apparently the Galatians struggled with this as Paul wrote them in his letter to them in 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” If we are doing things to ensure God’s favor thinking that in doing so God “Owes us”, we deceive ourselves. We can’t do anything to secure God’s favor, we already have it the moment we trust in Jesus. Our doing things now is because we have God’s blessings and favor not to get them. It isn’t our “great faith” “prevailing prayer”, “dedicated devotion,” or “tireless work” that has been the secret behind the innumerable blessings lavished upon our lives.
“It’s unmerited, undeserved and unearned favor,” and all I can do in light of this is worship Him! Oh saints, far too much of our “bible reading, prayer and service” is to earn a reward from God instead of as Paul wrote in Ephes. 1:3 that, “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”. “Are you saying not to read my Bible, pray and serve?” No, I’m saying that all the above things are not to fulfill an obligation or to earn a reward, they are because you love Him and want to spend time with Him. God isn’t impressed with your effort. He is blessed when you want to be near Him. Saints, our being declared of value is not God making us perfectly right, but counting us as perfectly right. After God counts us as right, then He begins making us truly right, which will culminate in our resurrection when we will see Him face to face. Dear ones, Jesus’ work on the cross is so great that He does not just declare of value the “godly” He declares of worth the “ungodly”.
The Greek word grace “Signifies spontaneous generosity of the heart without any expectation or return.” The other day I cut my finger and Hannah (my Grand daughter) was following me around and I asked if she would like to help Grandpa and she said, “Yeh, sure yeh!” So I got a Band-Aid and she pulled the backing off as I wrapped it around my finger then unsolicited she said, “Gama, Hani kiss and make it better!” I hadn’t told her if she did that then I would give her something she did all on her own! It is not the penitent man, or the praying man that God has declared of worth, it is the ungodly man!
Vs. 6-8 Man after God’s heart?
Vs. 6-8 Paul uses another person as an example and he too is a giant among them, David. Paul says that David spoke of the blessedness of a man to whom God credits His self-worth apart from works with regards to failure. The quote here is Psalm 32 where he writes about how he found this gift of self-worth when he was suffering from a guilty conscience as he had committed adultery and murder. David knew what it was like to be a guilty sinner; he knew the seriousness of sin and how good it is to be truly forgiven. If David was judged on works alone, then God must condemn him. “No sinner can carry their own sins and come back cleansed of guilt. No amount of money, no science, nor any other earthly power can carry away from the sinner one little sin and its guilt. Once committed, every sin and its guilt cling to the sinner as close as does his own shadow, to all eternity unless God carries them away.”
You talk about a guy not earning self-worth, what could David ever DO to regain self-worth after sinning like this? In 1 Samuel 13:14 we are told that “The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart”. God being all knowing knew that David was going to blow it; so what is it that made him a man after His heart? I believe that it is the fact that he would simply receive his self-worth from God and not attempt to earn it. The believer is not merely a pardoned criminal, but one who has been placed in a right relationship with the One he offended. The state of being right before God covers the past, present and future! God no longer sees us as sinners, screw-ups, He sees us as His children. Two men, one called “a friend of God” the other “a man after God’s heart” and they both have in common receiving their self worth by trusting God not by performance.
Vs. 9-12 More of God less of me
Vs. 9-11a Paul now moves to the 2nd question “When Abraham was made righteous?” God chose the symbol of circumcision to describe the cutting away of the flesh. Paul’s point here is that Abraham received the symbol 14 years after he was pronounced as being righteous by faith and a friend of God. So clearly nothing, not even this symbol of cutting away the flesh caused God to give Abraham self worth. It wasn’t circumcision that caused God to say, “Ok, now you can be my friend!” The same could be said today of church affiliation, baptism or any other thing.
Vs. 11b-12 Finally Paul explains “Why was Abraham made righteous?” It was to make the father of all who believe! Circumcision stands for the “Gift of self worth from God” and was given Abraham as an outward sign and a reminder for everyone that we can only receive self worth we can never earn it. What a change this makes in our motivation if we know that we do not have to earn God’s love, His favor, His forgiveness, it’s already ours in Christ. We no longer need to seek to get our self worth from others; we don’t have to show folks our value and significance by our works. You are set free from that tread mill. Instead you are free from performance based self worth and now free to simply love God and people because of His love for you.
Faith always involves a twofold process:
Renunciation of self: Faith implies the cessation from self reliance and dependence.
Reliance on God: Faith also implies the commencement of total dependence upon God. Our trust responds to His truth, our faith to His faithfulness.
The basic thought of Christianity is that all man can do is take God at His word and stake everything on the faith that His promises are true! .
Romans
“The Righteousness of God Revealed”
Vs. 13-16 No Hassel, faith
Vs. 16-20a Two things to remember about faith
Vs. 20b-25 Four objectives of our faith
Intro
Paul has paraded before us Abraham as a witness that God grants by unmerited favor, self worth and value apart from works. What makes Abraham all the more remarkable as an example of a man of faith is what he didn’t have:
A Bible to read, he only had God’s word hidden in his heart Other believers cheering him on in his trust, he was alone
A record of folks who blazed the trail before him; he was blazing the trail for us
Yet with that said Abraham was more a person of faith without all the things we are. Now this morning we will look at some specifics with regard to Abraham’s faith. Friends, faith reasons from God and His word not from self and circumstances; it is God’s ability that is the foundation to faith’s stability.
Vs. 13-16 No Hassel, faith
Vs. 13-15 In these verses Paul make two points:
Vs. 13-14 That all of God’s dealings with Abraham happened (according to Galatians 3:17-18) 430 years before the law was given. Based on this Paul tells us that faith is not about trying to obey or to live up to a standard. Faith does not expect God to accept and love us because we have tried our best.
Vs. 15 Paul’s second point is that works as a basis of worth requires us to do something that we can’t. You may say, “Pastor, I’ll give you a million dollars if right now you fly around the room!” It isn’t a problem of the reward, it is a problem of the request because you are asking me to do something that is impossible for me to do. The law asks us in our own natural abilities to LOVE God and my fellow man all the time perfectly without failure. If I can’t love people who love me how am I going to be able to always love those who don’t love me? Therefore the law is worthless for obtaining the promise.
Vs. 16 We are not saved by faith, we are saved by God’s grace, and grace is appropriated by faith. Grace cannot be obtained through works, whether they be past, present, or promised. If works was the basis of our salvation, then our salvation would depend on our performance and no one can keep the law good enough to be saved by it and as such would never be certain they are saved at any given moment.
With our Salvation:
The Father thought it
The Son bought it
The Spirit taught it
The Bible brought it
Satan fought it
By God’s grace we got it
The word “all” in the Greek means “ALL” which includes you and me! I can’t stand all the promises made by some companies that come with restrictions. I booked a flight for the pastor’s conference with flight miles from “The No Hassel” card. Then as I booked it came all the restrictions and hassles. The poor fellow on the other end of the phone had to read the list of “Hassles” from the no Hassle list of restrictions for well over a minute.
Vs. 16-20a Two things to remember about faith
Vs. 17 Notice the tense of this verse as Paul quotes God as telling Abraham, “I have made you a father of many nations.” Not “will make” but “have made” yet in reality it hadn’t happened yet. God speaks of His promises towards us as if they had already happened even though we haven’t seen them yet and He does this so that we will know the certainty of the things He has promised. “God calls those things which do not exist as though they did!” Saints, think through the implications of this truth as God declares us as already glorified which frees us up to see ourselves in His glorious work and not in our failure. Paul in Philip. 1:6 says “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”.
Based upon verses 19-21 we see that Abraham did four things with his faith:
Vs. 19 He didn’t look at his limitations: At 86 years of age Abraham received the promise and 14 years later at 100 he still believed that God could do what He said He was going to do and give them a child. Reproductively his body was dead, physiologically Sarah was barren her whole life but Abraham chose not to look at his situation but trust God to be faithful to keep His word. There may very well be a gap between the promise of God and the performance of God and it’s there to prepare you for the presence of God! Don’t allow the limitations to blind you to the One who is limitless.
Vs. 20 He didn’t lower his expectations: Abraham’s original name Abram meant “Exalted Father,” and we can only imagine the taunts that he and Sarah had to endure being without a child for 100 years. But at 100 years of age God changed his name to Abraham “Father of many nations” and Abraham still believed even though he hadn’t even held one child in his arms.
Vs. 20b He gave God adulation: He gave God glory before he received the promise not just after. Oh what confidence in God when we give Him the glory before we have received the promise. Doubt will have no place to lodge when you fill the rooms of your heart with praise before you receive what God has promised you!
Vs. 21 He handed God the situation: Abraham knew that if God promised him then it was up to God to fulfill what He had promised. He didn’t try to figure out what, how or when God was going to do what He had promised. And even when Abraham staggered in his trust as Sarah said, “Honey, I’m 76 and barren we are going to have to help God out!” Even though they had “flawed faith” God had “flawless faithfulness, and kept His promise even though Abraham and Sarah couldn’t keep their eyes on Him.
Paul gives us three things about our faith:
Object: Vs. 17b Paul says that the object of our faith must be the God of Abraham. The truth is the quality of your faith is only as good as the object it has placed its trust in! The amount of faith or trust I have in something is not the determining factor that is why Jesus said all we need is to have faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains. We shouldn’t emphasize the amount of our faith rather we should emphasize the object of our faith Jesus Christ. The question isn’t how little or large our faith is, the question is how little or large our God is! There were two things that helped Abraham in this with regards to trusting God:
It is God who gives life: Abraham realized that the object of his faith was in God who makes dead things live. He alone can make those things that once lived and function but are not broken start to work as they were designed to do. Saints do you have some area in your life that just doesn’t function, it’s broken and you are hopeless that it ever will be the way it once was? Well put your trust in the One that makes broken and ruined things work as they were designed.
It is God who calls those things which do not exist as though they did: Oh you may say, “Pastor this area of my life has never worked, it’s not DIS-FUNCTIONAL it’s NON-FUNCTIONAL.” No worries my friend, God calls those things which do not exist as though they did as we read in the 1st chapter of Genesis “Let there be!”
Obstacles: Next Paul speaks of the obstacles of faith and he mentions two polar opposites:
Vs. 18-19 Hopeless Circumstances: The hopeless circumstances Abraham had to battle were both His body and his wife Sarah’s body. At age 100 Abraham’s body was sexually dead so there was no seed to fertilize Sarah’s egg which was also dead, things couldn’t get any worse from a human perspective. Ah but God told Abraham that through this union there would come a SEED (Jesus) in whom all the world would be blessed. Abraham at 100 and Sarah at 90 without ever having a child but God was so certain in His promise to them that He said “I’m not only going to bless you I’m going to use your blessing to bless the world!” Abraham didn’t deny the human facts but he didn’t limit God who promised and instead of saying “No way” he said, “I believe You!”
Vs. 20 Staggering Possibilities: Paul says that Abraham had to battle the, “It’s too good to be true” syndrome, which I think sometimes is harder than hopeless circumstances. Can you imagine Abraham coming in after his morning devotions to sit down for breakfast with Sarah, “How was your time with the Lord this morning? She asked. Well babe it was amazing God spoke to me the most amazing promise; in fact it’s what we have waited for our whole lives! What are you mumbling about? We are going to have a baby, baby!” Sarah laughed in unbelief. Too good to be true! Ah but in time when she began to put on a few pounds, began to feel that promised life moved inside her she began to believe that what God said He would do He had done.
Objectives: Vs. 20b-25 Saints, the hardest thing God asks us to do is trust Him, keep trusting Him and live like you trust Him. Paul speaks of four objectives of our faith!
Vs. 20b Faith grows: Like Sarah you may have only a little seed of faith but as God begins to show us that He is going to do what He said He was our faith grows.
Vs. 20c Faith glorifies God: As our trust in God’s word grows, so too will an attitude of gratitude. Faith always ends up in praise because we are never the object of our trust, God is.
Vs. 21 Faith grounds us in His word: Faith grasps God’s promises and continues to grow and we become more grounded in our trust in His word instead of trying to do things to help God out.
Vs. 23-25 Faith gives: That’s the amazing thing about faith, you just can’t shut it up in a box as we are told the promises made to Abraham and Sarah sprung out and became our gift as well. God’s declaring Abraham of worth and value apart from works is the same basis in which God declares us of worth and value. We ought to be pretty exciting people to be around don’t you think? Whenever there is a situation that is either hopeless or too good to be true we ought to be right in there telling folks about our God who does the impossible.