Credited
Romans 4:1-8
November 4, 2017
This morning we did a brief character sketch of the man Abraham,
And the reason is because he is a great picture of faith.
But also because Romans 4 is all about Abraham.
He was the poster boy for the Jews.
He was the first and chief patriarch.
And by using Abraham as an example,
Paul could make a powerful point.
If Abraham was saved by works, then we need to be like Abraham.
If Abraham was saved by faith, then we must be saved that way too.
That is why Paul reminds the Jews in verse 1, that Abraham is “our forefather”.
The Jews might not believe Paul,
But surely they would believe Abraham.
And Paul begins this chapter by picking up
The theme of chapter 3 and running with it.
Romans 3:27-28 “Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
We talked about this last Sunday night,
Despite the wickedness of man,
Despite the fact that the Bible continually says that all men are this wicked.
Despite the fact that it is only by the divine mercy of God that any man is saved,
Man still has the propensity to slip into arrogance and act as though he deserved the salvation he received.
We call it “boasting”
The Jews certainly did it, but sadly, we even do it today.
Remember Jesus parable of the vineyard.
Matthew 20:1-7 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. “When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. “And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. “Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. “And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ “They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’”
And the point thus far in the parable
Is that salvation is completely by the mercy of God.
Every hired hand is at the mercy of the employer.
They only get the job if he chooses to hire them.
Matthew 20:8-9 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ “When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius.”
BECAUSE IT IS BASED ON MERCY
Everyone gets a denarius for accepting the vineyard owner’s offer
But some didn’t grasp that.
Matthew 20:10-16 “When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.” When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ “But he answered and said to one of them, ‘ Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ “So the last shall be first, and the first last.”
They had devised in their mind that they were worth more,
Because they had worked more.
Now, from human perspective, that might be true.
BUT FROM GOD “whose thought are higher than our thoughts”
THAT IS NOT TRUE
ACCORDING TO GOD, NO ONE DESERVED THE DENARIUS
No one can boast before Him.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
But at times we still boast.
We think we are more worthy than others.
That is also what the vineyard workers were doing.
They thought they deserved their wages.
They thought they deserved eternal life.
Paul confronted this thought in the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 4:6-7 “Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
And that is the question.
WHO IN HERE GAVE THE MOST FOR THEIR SALVATION.
LET’S SEE WHO WORKED THE HARDEST…
LET’S SEE WHO DESERVED IT THE MOST…
That is human logic.
Luke 7:1-5 “When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum. And a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.”
So this guy deserved healing
Because he was sympathetic to Israel, and benevolent with his time.
IS THAT ALL IT TAKES TO GET THE BENEFITS OF GOD?
This man wasn’t healed out of merit,
But because Jesus was merciful and Jesus was powerful.
And perhaps that is the greatest problem.
When you take credit for your salvation,
You are robbing it from the One who deserves the credit.
And that was Paul’s point to end chapter 3.
There is no room for boasting,
God deserves every ounce of credit for what happened in your life.
And it is that theme Paul continues in Romans 4.
This time using as an example
The one man the Jews thought did actually deserve salvation: Abraham.
But by looking at what Paul teaches about Abraham (and even David for a moment) we can learn three important truths.
#1 BOASTING IS IMPOSSIBLE
Romans 4:1-3
Paul starts this out with a very intellectual argument.
He is in essence asking the readers to deliver their verdict.
“What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?”
In other words, why do you think Abraham was saved?
And then Paul tells them why he asked that question.
(2) “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about”
Because if Abraham could boast, then there is room for us to boast,
But if Abraham could not boast, then we can’t either.
But then Paul reveals the answer, “but not before God”
Maybe he could brag about being the best rock thrower in Canaan…
Maybe he could boast about being a great financial wizard…
Maybe he could boast about his ability to marry a beautiful woman…
But in regard to salvation, Abraham could not boast.
WHY?
(3) “For what does the Scripture say?”
And before we move on, that is a great question.
He started by asking, “What then shall we say..?”
The only answer that matters is “What does the Scripture say?”
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK,
IT ONLY MATTERS WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS.
SO WHAT DOES IT SAY?
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Paul lists all Abraham did to make God accept him, what was it?
“believed”
We saw pretty clearly this morning,
That Abraham’s works were not all that impressive.
But the faith of Abraham was truly amazing.
Abraham didn’t do anything to earn salvation,
Which is evidenced by what the Bible says.
“it was credited to him as righteousness.”
“credited” translates LOGIZOMAI (log-id-zom-ahee)
It is an accountant’s word used when someone pays off a debt.
If Abraham had earned salvation, it would use a different word.
Possibly the word used in Romans 6:23
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
But Scripture doesn’t say, “his wages were righteousness”
Righteousness is not what he earned, it is what God gave him.
And I hope you see Paul’s point.
Even Abraham, the father of Israel, did not earn salvation.
Even he was not good enough to force God to save him.
Even Abraham’s salvation was an act of divine grace.
And think about it.
Abraham was from a pagan land.
Nowhere in Scripture does it say
Why God chose Abraham from the rest of the pagans.
It was only because of God’s divine grace.
There was no merit involved.
BOASTING IS IMPOSSIBLE
The next time you want to raise your hand
And act like you did something great in getting saved, don’t.
The glory for salvation belongs solely to God.
Boasting is impossible
#2 BELIEVING IS IMPERATIVE
Romans 4:4-5
Here Paul continues with his reasoning, revealing that
If Abraham had indeed earned salvation,
God would not have used the word
“credited”
(4) “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.”
God was pointing out that Abraham did not work for salvation.
SO WHAT DID ABRAHAM DO?
(5) “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,”
There is only one thing that God credits, and that is faith.
There is only one way to be justified before God, and that is faith.
SALVATION REQUIRES FAITH, AND THAT FAITH MUST BE IN JESUS.
Any other offering than faith…
Any other subject than Jesus…
SALVATION CANNOT HAPPEN
IF A PERSON BELIEVES THAT THEY ARE SAVED
BECAUSE OF ANYTHING OTHER THAN FAITH IN JESUS,
THEY ARE NOT SAVED.
Listen to what Paul told the Galatian church.
Galatians 5:2-4 “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
They were trying to add circumcision to Jesus,
In order to make their salvation truly effective,
But it doesn’t work like that.
WHY?
Because if you try to add anything to Jesus,
It immediately renders Jesus ineffective.
“if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.”
But there is another reason.
“I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.”
If you are trying to please God through works
YOU DO NOT GET TO CHOOSE WHICH ONES.
And then Paul delivers the verdict
“You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
If you are going to try and earn it,
You don’t need Jesus, and you don’t need grace.
You have rendered them absolutely useless.
HERE IS MY POINT:
Mankind is justified by faith in Jesus Christ.
If you think you are saved because of Jesus and something you did,
You are lost.
YOU CANNOT ADD WORKS TO THE EQUATION.
It is not imperative that you do something.
It is imperative that you believe in Jesus.
“to the one WHO DOES NOT WORK, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,”
So according to God’s salvation:
Boasting is Impossible
Believing is Imperative
#3 BLESSING IS INVALUABLE
Romans 4:6-8
Some people will absolutely fight you over that previous point.
There are some who get absolutely furious at the notion
That God will save you apart from any effort of your own
They hate the notion that God forgives freely.
They hate the notion that grace is freely bestowed.
They are like the grumbling vineyard workers.
They fight because they want to be able to boast.
BUT WHAT A TRAGEDY
THEY ARE MISSING A BLESSING
It is a blessing to have the forgiveness of God.
“just as David also speaks of the blessing of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:”
Turn with me to: Hebrews 3.
In Hebrews 3:7-11, the writer is quoting from Psalms 95.
Of course that is in reference to the fact that the children of Israel wouldn’t believe God, and so God would not allow them to enter the promised land.
In verse 12, the writer applies their faithlessness to us.
Hebrews 3:19 “So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.”
Then in chapter 4, the writer continues with why they didn’t enter rest.
Hebrews 4:1-3
Since David says, “Today”, then obviously
The only rest God was referring to wasn’t the promised land.
Hebrews 4:8-9
And then the writer gives the golden nugget.
Hebrews 4:10
THIS IS HUGE!
And it falls in line with what Paul is talking about here.
“the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.”
That person is FREE.
They are no longer living their lives under the pressure
Of trying to live up to some unattainable standard.
THAT PERSON CAN REST
That is why Paul told the Galatians.
Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”
Paul told the Colossians the same thing.
Colossians 2:20-23 “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) — in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
Don’t let someone steal your REST
Or your FREEDOM, or your BLESSING.
But to help you understand why it is a blessing,
David gives you three reasons.
It is the three things that God, because of His mercy, promises to do with your sin.
1) HE PROMISES TO FORGIVE IT
(7a) “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,”
Notice David didn’t say those deeds have been “paid off” or “worked off”
There is no blessing in that.
Psalms 103:8-14 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”
Lamentations 3:22-25 “The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.”
That is a blessing to have God be merciful enough to forgive your sin.
2) HE PROMISES TO FORSAKE IT
(7b) “And whose sins have been covered”
Not only does God forgive
But notice what God does here.
He puts your sin away and doesn’t look at any more.
Isaiah 38:17 “Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”
Micah 7:19 “He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.”
3) HE PROMISES TO FORGET IT
(8) “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account”
That word “account” is the same word as “credited” earlier.
God credits righteousness, but He doesn’t credit sin.
That was credited to Jesus.
But the main idea here is that not only has God put it away,
God has forgotten it. It will never come up again.
Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.”
Jeremiah 31:34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
That is the blessing of being justified by grace through faith.
There is no other way to try it.
If you desire to earn it, you never pay off your sin,
God always remembers it, and your debt is never forgotten.
And yet people try that way just so they can boast about it.
HOW FOOLISH
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
