The Purpose of Works
Romans 4:9-12
November 11, 2007
We began last week studying Romans 4,
Which is focused solely on the doctrine of “Justification by Faith”.
By lifting up the example of Abraham,
We see there is only one way a man is made just before God,
And that is by believing God.
Man cannot possibly do anything good enough to get to God,
But because God is so merciful,
If man will place his faith in God,
Then God will credit that faith as righteousness.
It is the absolute blessing of being forgiven.
Romans 4:6-8 “just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”
It is a blessing to be freely forgiven by God.
So Paul has been hammering “Justification by Faith”
Romans 3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
Romans 4:4-5 “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,”
But you and I know, there is a flip side to every argument.
If works don’t get us to God,
Then why do you always talk about works?
Do I work, or not work?
Does it help, or no help?
WHERE IS THE BALANCE BETWEEN FAITH AND WORKS?
It is that point that Paul will explain to us this morning.
And in our text, I want you to learn two main points.
#1 FAITH PRECEDES WORKS
Romans 4:9-10
“Is this blessing..?”
Of course he is referring to the blessing
He mentioned in verse 6 that David spoke of.
The blessing of having your sin forgiven…
The blessing of having your sin forsaken…
The blessing of having your sin forgotten…
Paul is here asking the question.
“Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also?”
And that is a very critical question to ask.
He is wanting to know, exactly when forgiveness of sin takes place
Does it occur immediately after faith,
Or does it occur after faith and a few works.
Many of you will remember the “Caprock Bible Study” about a year ago
In which the preacher quoted from the gospel of Mark.
Mark 16:16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”
He then commenced to say that in order to be saved,
A person must have faith and baptism or else he could not be saved.
It was faith plus this one work.
That is the question that Paul is asking here.
When does forgiveness occur?
The Jews said, it was faith plus circumcision before you could be forgiven.
Paul is asking if that is true here.
And so Paul begins to answer the question.
“For we say, “FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?
AT WHAT POINT DID GOD FORGIVE ABRAHAM?
AFTER FAITH OR AFTER FAITH AND CIRCUMCISION?
“Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised;”
Abraham’s forgiveness came after faith and before circumcision.
Forgiveness:
Genesis 15:6 “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
Circumcision:
Genesis 17:24 “Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.”
Please notice that the time span had to be at least 13 years, for Ishmael was born in chapter 16, and Abraham isn’t circumcised until Ishmael is 13 years old.
And the point is OBVIOUS
FAITH PRECEDES WORKS
FORGIVENESS FOLLOWS FAITH AND PRECEDES WORKS
In order for a person to get to God, faith alone is required.
There is no moral pre-requisite,
There is no standard of goodness to first be attained.
Only faith in Jesus is required.
Romans 3:23-24 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;”
In regard to the preacher who wrote the Bible study.
He quoted one half of one verse
And built his entire theology upon it.
Look at that verse again.
Mark 16:16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”
When the second half of that verse is read,
It becomes most apparent that believing and not working determines salvation.
IF A PERSON TAKES SCRIPTURE AS A WHOLE,
You will see that Scripture overwhelmingly teaches
That faith and faith alone is required for salvation.
John 3:14-18 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
John 6:40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”
John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 12:44-46 “And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”
And that is just the book of John.
In order for God to forgive a person and credit righteousness to their account, the only thing required is faith in Jesus.
WHY?
BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T HAVE FAITH, WORKS ARE USELESS
Jeremiah 7:22-23 “For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘ Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’”
Jeremiah 9:25-26 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised — Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”
Going to church…
Lord’s supper…
Baptism…
Are not means of attaining salvation,
And if they occur before salvation, they are out of order.
In fact, in many cases,
They only succeed in giving the lost a false sense of salvation.
That is what Paul spent chapter 2 revealing.
Forgiveness occurs directly after faith.
Not directly after works.
Therefore, we conclude that FAITH PRECEDES WORKS
Ephesians 2:8-10 “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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
But there is a second truth that we must understand
In order to have a complete understanding of Scripture.
#2 WORKS PROVE FAITH
Romans 4:11-12
Paul really gives us some tremendous
Insight there in the first part of verse 11.
Paul called circumcision two different things, did you catch that?
1) SIGN
2) SEAL
Works don’t precede faith, they prove your faith is real.
If a man has no works – he has no faith.
If a man has no faith – he has no salvation.
James 2:14-17 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”
We would have to be blind to miss James’s point.
The idea is that if a man’s faith is not accompanied by action,
Then that man has no real faith.
He would continue.
James 2:18-19 “But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”
Here James lays down a challenge for all to answer.
“show my your faith without the works,”
And of course you can’t.
Which is why James says next, “I will show you my faith by my works.”
If you don’t have works, then you don’t have faith.
James 2:20-26 “But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”
And that also fits our example of Abraham.
We know he was saved by faith alone.
But how do we know he had faith?
WORKS PROVE THAT FAITH IS REAL
And this is seen even in the New Testament.
John 8:31-32 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Matthew 7:16-20 “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
It is not works that save you.
Works aren’t even required to be saved.
But if you don’t have works, then you don’t have faith.
That is what Paul is speaking of here,
And he gives 3 ways that works prove faith.
1) WORKS SIGNIFY YOUR FAITH
“and he received the sign of circumcision”
Paul is very clear when he says that circumcision was a sign.
“sign” translates SEMEION (say-mi-on)
That which distinguishes a person or thing from others.
It is the word that is used when the crowd wanted to see proof from Jesus that He really was the Son of God.
Matthew 12:38-39 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;”
They heard Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah
They heard Jesus’ claims to be the Son of God
They wanted proof.
So it is with our faith.
We can claim to have it, but is there any way to prove it?
Sure, we call it works.
In Abraham’s case, the first was circumcision.
And ultimately the willingness to sacrifice his son.
Isn’t that when God said:
Genesis 22:12 “ He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
It was proof that his faith was no fluke.
Today, the first step of faith is baptism, but that is just the first.
Righteous living…
Loving your brother…
Loving the poor…
Loving the lost…
ARE ALL WORKS TO PROVE OUR FAITH IS REAL
But that is what works do.
They prove to God, that when you claimed to believe in Him,
You meant it.
But there are more.
2) WORKS SEAL YOUR FAITH
“a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised”
In one sense, we present that sign to God, that we really do believe.
But that is not the only purpose of works.
Works also are a seal of our faith.
“seal” translates SPHRAGIS (sfrag-ece)
A signet, the stamp impressed as a mark of privacy or genuineness.
We may present our works to God as a sign that our faith is real, But here Scripture says that God presents works to us
As a seal that our faith is real.
WE PROVE OUR FAITH TO GOD
GOD APPROVES OUR FAITH TO US
BOTH ARE DONE WITH WORKS
LISTEN HERE
Satan loves to try and knock a Christian out of the saddle.
Satan loves to cause doubt in the mind of true believers.
And at times he is quite effective.
It will leave you begging God,
“If I’m yours, please tell me I’m yours.”
Paul says here, He already has.
God has given you His seal to prove your are His.
THAT SEAL IS YOUR WORKS
When you get to a point, where you doubt your salvation.
Then do exactly what Paul has said to do.
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”
HOW DO I DO THAT?
Look at your fruit.
FRUIT ONLY COMES FROM A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
That means if you have fruit, you are the real deal,
Because you can’t have fruit if you are not.
Matthew 7:17-18 “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.”
That is why John wrote his first letter.
1 John 3:13-20 “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”
John said, we will know we are true believers when our fruit is of God.
And that is only one type of fruit, but you get the point.
Works are not only a sign that you give God to prove your faith,
But works are also a seal that God gives to you
To show your faith is approved.
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Works serve as a seal.
It is a constant stamp of approval
That we can look at to know we are God’s.
And it has been true throughout Scripture.
Ezekiel 9:4-6 “The LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. “Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders who were before the temple.”
You will see it again in the end times.
Revelation 7:1-3 “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, ” Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
Revelation 9:3-4 “Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”
When God sees our faith is genuine
He gives us the ability to do good works
Which serve as a seal that we really are righteous
This is what John had in mind.
1 John 3:7-10 “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”
If God gives you the ability to be righteous,
Then let that keep someone from deceiving you that you aren’t.
DON’T LOOK BACK TO SOME POINT IN THE PAST
LOOK AT YOUR FRUIT TODAY, SEE IF YOUR FAITH IS REAL
They signify your faith to God They seal your faith in God
3) WORKS SHOW YOUR FAITH
“so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.”
Here Paul lists two different categories.
The lost Gentile who is not circumcised.
The lost Jew who is circumcised.
Abraham’s works were meant to show each of them what God required.
The fact that Abraham was justified by faith apart from works
Shows the uncircumcised sinner that he can be saved
And it shows the circumcised Jew that he still needs faith
Works don’t save you, but they are a powerful testimony
To an unbelieving world.
This is why I love to see a baptism.
Baptize a thug, it only reveals that God will save anyone.
Baptize a religious person, it only reveals that God must save everyone.
WORKS ARE A POWERFUL TESTIMONY TO LEAD OTHERS TO FAITH.
That’s what James said wasn’t it?
James 2:18 “But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Works don’t save you.
They never have, they never will.
BUT WORKS DO HAVE A PURPOSE
They signify your faith – They seal your faith – They show your faith
THIS MORNING, I ASK THAT YOU DO JUST AS PAUL COMMANDS.
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”
What do your works say to God?
What do your works say to you?
What do your works say to other?
Faith precedes works & Works prove faith
Ephesians 2:8-10 “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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
