Epistles of Paul 72

Well, good evening brethren. Romans is one of the most important books, as far as a need to understand, because it's one of the three books that people quite often use to derail brethren and people away with false doctrine. The other two books are Galatians and Colossians. So it is extremely important for us to understand really the background and what is being explained by Paul in the book of Romans. And it really helps us to understand some important terms like law, grace, reconciliation, propitiation and atonement. As we mentioned before, the book of Romans' basic theme is God's plan of salvation. And in the first eight chapters, it shows God's plan to redeem mankind from the wages of human sin. And in the next set of chapters from round about chapter 8 through 11, it shows God's dealing with the Jews and his concern for them. And it concludes, well, I should say more like chapter 9, not chapter 8, so chapter 9.

So and then it concludes by exhorting the Romans, or more specifically the Roman brethren, but it exhorts us all to grow, addressing key areas, addressing a number of key areas that we all need to focus on. And that is in the last few chapters from chapter 12 through 15. Now, we've just concluded going through the first three chapters in which first Paul writes to the Gentiles about their previous mis-education and tells them that they have nothing to brag about.

And then he addresses the Jews starting from chapter 2 verse 17 because they had the law and they felt superior because of the law, but they themselves also don't have anything to brag about because he would say to them, you have the law, but you don't keep it. And then in the third chapter, in the third chapter, then he says that we all, all mankind, Jews and Gentiles, we all need to be made right with God.

And that is absolutely the main point that we all need to understand. We need to have the relationship with God healed. In other words, we need to be justified. Our relationship with God needs to be made right. In other words, we need to be made righteous. In other words, God's righteousness, in other words, God's righteousness needs to be imputed upon us. And then we need to live without breaking that relationship again. That is, by being faithful till the end. So we're going to recap this conclusion of chapter three as we go into chapter four because today we're going to cover chapter four.

But we're going to recap this conclusion of chapter three because it is extremely important and many, many do not comprehend it. And so the question is, how are we justified? And in Romans chapter five, let's just look at Romans chapter five verse eight through ten, it says, God demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more than having now been justified by his blood. We are justified by his blood. That's how we're made just with God. That's how we're made right with God. We are justified by his blood. We shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son. And so we reconciled through the death of Jesus Christ. And therefore he gave his life and the life is in the blood. He gave that to us.

And therefore we are reconciled. We are justified. Our relationship is, let's call it, healed from being enemies of God. And we are now made at one with God, reconciled with God. So this mercy and gracious opportunity to be reconciled to God is none other than the righteousness of God imputed upon us apart from the law.

So let's pick that up on Romans or in Romans chapter 3 verse 21. So we're gonna review that this end section of chapter 3 before we get onto chapter 4. Verse 21 and 22 says, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Yeah, it was witnessed, in other words, was prophesied or mentioned or forecast in the law and in the prophets. And the righteousness of God is revealed through what Jesus Christ did. And that's what we see verse 22, even the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ, as we read in King James Version, to all and on all who believe.

So the righteousness of God is revealed through what Christ did. It was what God did through Christ because Christ had absolutely confidence and trust in the Father, and therefore they did this act, which we have to believe in, which is good enough for us. We have to trust in what they've done. And as we made reference to last time, but let's go back to it, is Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8, and it says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. By grace you are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, as it puts it in King James Version, it is the gift of God.

We saved through faith, and that faith is not of ourselves, it's the gift of God. God gives us that faith. It's a gift. God's righteous is imputed to us all, as we read in verse 22 of Romans 3, God's righteousness is imputed to us all and on all who believe.

That's what it says there in verse 22, God's righteous through the faith of Christ to all and on all who believe. So we have to believe. We have to also trust. We, therefore, are made right with God. In other words, God's right. We are righteous before God or justified because we believe. We trust in what God has said and done.

Then in verse 23 and 24, for we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but we are being justified freely by His grace through the redeeming that is in Christ Jesus. We all sin, but His righteousness is given to us. God's righteousness is given to us by Jesus Christ, by us back. It was through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Verse 25, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood. God gave us Christ as a propitiation by His blood. In other words, Christ is an atoning victim through faith in His blood, as it is in King James Version and in English majority text version.

And so faith, we can see, it's mutual. It's a mutual trust. And this demonstrates God's righteousness as it says here. It's demonstrated God's righteousness at the middle of verse 25 to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance God has passed over the sins that were previously committed. In other words, this demonstrates God's righteousness because of His patience, because of His self-control, and leniency. In other words, because of His forbearance, He has forgiven our past sins previously committed. So we've forgiven from past sins. Verse 26, it says, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So God is just and He's the justifier if we have faith in Jesus. And verse 27, so where is the boast in them? It is excluded by what law of works now, but by the law of faith. So it's not my works, as we saw in Ephesians 2 a little moment ago when we turned to Ephesians 2 verse 8. It's not my works of faith. It's by faith in what God has done. And because Jesus Christ had that mutual trust with the Father, knowing that the Father would not forsake Him, faith that He would be resurrected, and the faith of the trust that the Father had in His Son that He would not sin, and the faith that such a great act and grace would lead us to repent us, and the faith that God the Father and the Son give us to make this all work, because it is a gift from God, a gift of faith from God. It is a gift. It's not our works of faith. So we need to believe that what God and Jesus Christ have done for us is sufficient, is sufficient to pay for all our sins, even our worst and most terrible sins. Yes, which we have caused and cause, and we cause so much sorrow, pain, and suffering to one another, to our brethren, to our brothers and sisters in the faith, and even to others, maybe to even members in our family, and to others around us. And then, because of this, God imputes His righteousness upon us. There is our sins are forgiven. Verse 28, it says, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. It doesn't say by faith alone, like Martin Luther said, but we are justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Out then, verse 30, it says that do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law. So how then do we establish the law of God? Well, we get back to the basic function of God's law, because the basic function of God's law, besides showing us what is sin, the basic function of God's law, is the reflection of the mind and character of God and Christ. God's law is love, and God is love. So God's law is the reflection, is the expression, of God's mind and character. And so once you and I know that we are forgiven, that gives you and I that act of being forgiven, of being imputed righteous, it gives you and I a greater intense incentive to try and please and obey God. Therefore, faith establishes the law.

So with that background reviewed and made very clear, I hope, we are now ready to start chapter 4. Let me read verse 1 through 4. What then shall we say that Abram, our father, has found according to the flesh? For if Abram was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and he was accounted to him, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt, as a wage, as a salary. And so can we earn God's gifts? No, because it is a gift. It is a gift, this gift of grace, in fact this gift of righteousness being imputed upon us. It's a gift. Now the Pharisee of a psychotype approach is that, oh well, it's something we can do to earn like a gift. So it's forgiveness, or it's something I can earn. But if that is the case, it's no longer a gift. It's a wage. It's a salary of some work done. But righteousness being imputed upon us, it's a gift. So let's now read verse five of Romans chapter four. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. So he who does not work, does not do or obey the law, thinking it is going to earn anything. But he does it. He obeys God's law because it is their desire to become more like God. So you are not obeying the law with the thinking or the intent that it's going to earn you righteousness. No, you and I do obey God's law because it is our desire to have God's mind, God's character, to be more like God, to be loving like God. So we are not obeying, thinking that it is to earn anything.

So we are, we believe on God, and we who believe on God, that God makes us righteous, then we don't feel guilty.

Once again, we believe on God who makes us righteous, then there's no guilt. We then are righteous because of two things. Two things. Number one, we are righteous because there's no guilt. In other words, that's the negative part. And two, we are righteous because Christ is now living in us. That's the positive part.

See, so God imputes righteousness upon us and that it takes sin away. That's the negative part. Now we stay in that status because we have Christ living in us, and the Father sees His Son inside us, creating in us a new man. And therefore, the fruit of God's only Spirit is being developed in us. Now let's read verse 6. Verse 6 says, Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. This, in a sense, is a definition of the term imputed righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. You see, it's not imputed upon you, and it doesn't matter what you do now, but it means, in the eyes of the Phoenician, verse 7, Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. So, when God imputes righteousness, that means your sins have been forgiven. That negative part. The positive part, as I mentioned, is that Christ is now in us, and Christ is developing in us, or making us, a new man. A new life is being formed. That is the positive part. But the imputing righteousness is that the sins have been forgiven. And so now, as being a new man, by receiving God's early Spirit and growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, understanding, however, that all the human nature has not gone away. It's still true, but we are now in a new reality. We have to work with God's early Spirit, and we can't just lay back and say, I'm saved. God, you do it all. We have to do our part. We read in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19, not to quench the Holy Spirit. Let's just turn to 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19. It says, Do not quench the Spirit. We have to use God's power to overcome.

Philippians chapter 2 verse 12. Philippians chapter 2 verse 12.

Now therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. We've got to work out our salvation. We have to use God's early Spirit to overcome.

So yes, righteousness was imputed, which means our sins were forgiven and our righteous before God. But now we have to do our part. We have to be like a good soldier enduring hardship and doing what God wants us to do. And that we read in 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 3 through 5. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 3 through 5. It says, you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Not one engaged in warfare, no one engaged in warfare, entangles himself with the fears of this life. In other words, we don't entangle and get caught up with our human nature. We are striving to overcome it. We are fighting it. It was with the affairs of this life that it may please him we enlisted him as a soldier. We are not yet to please our carnal pleasures, no. And also, if anyone competes in athletics, is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. And so we have to endure hardship as a good soldier and obey the law. But it's not that obedience that makes us righteous. We made righteous that righteousness of God is imputed upon us graciously. Then, because of that, we have to do our part. And in the same chapter, 2 Timothy chapter 2, in verse 15, we also read, be diligent to present yourselves a proof to God, a worker who does not be ashamed, rightly dividing the world of truth. We are to do our part. We have to do all for the coming. And also part of that is also not being deceived by the junk and false ideas of this world. We have to be participating in our own salvation. We got to do our own part, our own part. Yes, God does His part, like 99 percent. But we have to do our one percent. We have to do our part. It's like somebody said, it's 99 percent perspiration and one percent inspiration. God does His part. The part that God does is enormous because nowhere could we pay for our sins. No way! And He does His part. And furthermore, He gives us His only Spirit to help us overcome. So continue now in Romans chapter 4. We're going to now go to continuing with verse 9 and 10. And it says, Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abram for righteousness. How then was it accounted while he was circumcised or uncircumcised? You see, so this faith was given to Abram. But how?

Well, we know by going back, we know that God made a covenant with Abram. Let's just quickly look at that. In Genesis 17, Genesis 17 verse 1, we see then Abram was 99 years old and the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I'm a Almighty God. Walk before me and be blameless. And then a little bit later in verse 11, it says, And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your four skins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between you and me. And so circumcision was a sign of that covenant when Abram was 99 years old and the relationship between God and Abram had already been established. The promises had already been made. What do you mean? You see, the promise has been made in Genesis 12, right at the beginning. Genesis 12, when it says, And the Lord said to Abram, Abram, get out of your country and from your family and from father's house to a land that I'll show you, and I'll make you a great nation. So there's the promises. And then he says, I'll bless those who bless you, and I'll curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In you, in your seed. So there was already a relationship being built over a number of years. This was quite a bit earlier when Abram was 75 years old. So we can see the circumcision came when he was 99 years old. So 75, 85, 95. So it's like 24 years later. So that was a relationship being built for a number of years. Look at also in Genesis 13. In Genesis 13, verse 14 and 17 said, And the Lord said to Abram, After a lot that separated from him, Lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, and westward. For all the land which you see I'll give to you, and your descendants forever. And I'll make your descendants as the dust of the earth. And then he says, Arise and walk in the land, for I give it to you. And you also see that in Genesis 15, a little later in Genesis 15 verse 3 to 6. Now this is important because then Abram then Abram said, Look, you've given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my hair. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This one that shall not be away, but one who shall come from your own body shall be away. And then he brought him outside and said, Look, now towards heaven and counter-stars, if you are able to number them. And he said to him, so shall his descendants be. And then in verse 6, Abram believed, believed. And now at this time he was 85 years old. So it's 10 years later. And he believed. He trusted God. He believed what God said and said, It is possible. And that was still about 14 years before the circumcision.

And he accounted to him. God accounted to him for righteousness.

That's where that expression comes there. Accountant to him for righteousness. And that is 14 years before the circumcision. So let's go back to Romans. We were reading in Romans chapter 4 verse 11. Well, we read verse 10. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised. Which the scene was when he was uncircumcised about 14 years before.

14 years before. And then in verse 11, he says, And he believed the sign of circumcision, which then is later, a seal of the righteousness of faith which he had while still uncircumcised. You see, that then became a seal of the righteousness of the faith he had. Right? While still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of those, of all those who believe. So yeah, we have that he trusted. Though, and he says, the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also. Because righteous was imputed to Abram also while he was uncircumcised. So, as we saw, Abram had the promises of God, promises of salvation, promises of salvation through his seed, Jesus Christ, and of having inherited all these lands to his children even before Abram was circumcised. And so, therefore, yeah, we see or it shows the relative, quote-unquote, unimportance of the physical act of circumcision to the Gentiles. Now, continuing verse 12, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but also, but also who walk in the steps of faith which our father Abram had while still uncircumcised. Abram also walked while still uncircumcised. And we know in Genesis 26 verse 5, verse 5, that it says he kept God's laws and commandments. And let me just read Genesis 26 verse 5. It says, because Abram obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. So we can see he obeyed God.

And he also walked while still uncircumcised. But righteous was not imputed because he obeyed God's law. Righteous was imputed because he believed and trust what God had said to him about his descendants that he would have a child even though he was already quite old.

And then he was told to do one of the most difficult things. After he had Isaac in Genesis 22, we see he was even then given a very huge test in Genesis 22 verse 1. He says, now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abram. And Abram said, here I am. And we know what that test was. And he was tested to prove because he was asked to give his son as an offering, as a burnt offering. But then, as we read in verse 11 and 12 of Genesis 22, but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abram, Abram. And so he said, here I am, just as he was with the knife, getting ready to kill his son in absolute trust. Because God had said, through that son, all nations will be blessed. And so God can't lie. And he had that son already in his old age and also Sarah in his old age. So out of the two shall be one flesh. That one flesh would bear that descendant. How would that be possible? Because God does not lie and he absolutely trusted in God. And then it says, verse 12 of Genesis 22, do not lay your hand on your lad or do anything to him. For now I know, now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. You see, so it was a lot of faith there as well. A lot of believing, a lot of trusting in God. So, but it was not the works that saved or justified him. Let's go back to Romans chapter 4. Now we're going to read verse 13 and 14. For the promise that he would be the hair of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

See, so the promise was through faith. He was at an age that he could not have a child. He had this promise through faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and a promise made of no effect. See, the promise of heir through the seed, and the seed is the Lamb of God, which is Christ, would come through faith, through that descent, that line of Abraham, Isaac, and later Jacob. Verse 15, because the law brings about wrath. You see, law brings about the situation that sooner or later we break it, and we need to pay for the penalty of law, which is death, for breaking the law. For there is no law, for where there is no law, there's no transgression. If there's no law, you can't transgress. But there is a law. The law exists, even the Gentiles, even though they do not know it, the law exists. They transgressed, and they under the penalty of sin. Therefore, you know, verse 16, if it is of faith, then it might be accounted to grace, so that the promises might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. So forgiveness of sin is indeed because of God's righteousness. Faith in what God has done to take sin away and impute as righteousness, as righteous, freely by what Christ did by giving his life, by shedding his blood for us. The promise is sure to all who believe. Not just to those of the law, in other words, not just to the Israelites or to the Jews, but to all. Verse 17, as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations, in the presence of him whom he believed God, and it was in the presence of God whom he believed, Abraham believed, he is made him a father of all nations. And God, who gives life to the dead, and resurrects people, and calls those things which do not exist, as though they already do exist. And so it's the same faith or same trust as Abraham had. What we need to have. It is God who gives life, resurrects, and we're going to trust God in that. And it is God who can make sure that things that are not there, they will be so. We have to trust God that what we can't see, it'll be so, because he is able to make it as if it has already happened. Verse 18, who contrary to hope, in hope, believed. Now this is an interesting description of Abraham's faith. Contrary to hope, in hope, he believed. So that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, so shall you descend and so shall you be. What physical basis did he, Abraham, have that Sarah would bear his son? Because Sarah was already past the age of childbearing. But he trusted God in hope, in hope, against all possible physical hope. So for him, he had to have that because it's called, yeah, contrary to hope, in hope, he believed. He trusted God in hope. He trusted to be that God would make him the father of many nations through Isaac, through his son that he didn't have yet. And then later he had trust that God would not let Isaac die somehow. He just didn't know, but he trusted God. Now, I understand that Ishmael came through Agath, but the promised seed, the descendant, Christ, and the blessing of the nations under him, it will be through Isaac. Really, the promised seed, Christ, will be through Isaac.

So when we read here in verse 18, it says, so shall your descendants be. In the King James version, version says, so shall your seed be. And this comes out of Genesis 15 verse 5. Let's go back to Genesis 15 verse 5, and then it says, at the end of verse 5, and he brought him outside and said, look now towards heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. In the King James version, he says, so shall your seed be. And he believed in the Lord and encountered to him for righteousness. This is before, before he had a child, and he believed, he trusted. So let's go back to verse 19.

And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body. Now, his own body, that means his flesh. The two shall be one flesh, that is he, Abraham, with Sarah, that is that one flesh. Do not consider that one flesh already dead, since he was already 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. So the two, his old age and Sarah, that was that body, the two shall be one flesh, was already physically dead as far as childbirth. But he says, he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief. But it was strengthening faith, giving glory to God. He did not doubt that promise. When God said, you will have a child through you and Sarah, you do not doubt.

Is there any promises of God that you and I stagger?

For instance, we have a promise that you are going to be perfect sons of God in the family of God. Do we stagger in front of that promise? Do we doubt?

Through your deeds and through my deeds, it's impossible. But it is God's work in us through the power of God's Holy Spirit, and he is able to do it. It is God's work. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26.

For you see your calling, brethren, and not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world, for which it's you and I, to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to which we are, to put to shame the things which are mighty. And God has chosen the base things of the world and the things that are despised. And we are nothing in this world. God has chosen us and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. It is God's work. It's God's glory. Do we stagger in front of these questions, of these promises of faith? We must not stagger. We must not stagger. We must have absolute faith. We must not be anxious through unbelief.

But we need to be strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, as we read in verse 20 of Romans chapter 4. And then in verse 21 it says, "...but being fully convinced that what he had promised he was able to perform." There is a great definition of faith. A great definition of faith. If God has said that he's going to do it, he will do it. We need to be fully convinced that God, what God has promised, he will able to do it.

God has promised that you'll be in the kingdom. He wants you in the kingdom, unless you and I throw it away. So if we don't throw it away, and when things go a-wire, and things are going just all over the floor, we have to trust God. And we have to be fully convinced that what he has promised, you'll be able to perform. As we get closer to the end time, as we see the situation in the world around us, we will be tested. Not that we're tested every time. I mean, Abraham wasn't tested every time. I mean, the test of his son was once, but it's not a continuous test. But they are tests when they come. And really, a fiery test will come. We have to remain faithful. Sometimes those tests also take a long time, like a fiery test, particularly of health, sometimes can take a long time.

But it says we must be fully convinced that what he has promised is able to perform. It's his wisdom, his choice of when to do it, but he's able to do it. One other test is when we are disappointed by other people in the church. But we must not be disappointed. We must keep going.

Verse 22, and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. It was imputed to him for righteousness. His past sins were forgiven, and he was declared righteous. It covered all his past sins. He was made right. He was justified before God. He was reconciled with God. Verse 23, now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but also for us. You see, it was recorded in scriptures, so you and I can read it. So you and I can grow in faith from these scriptures for our benefit as well. Verse 24, it shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.

It will be imputed on us. Our past sins will be forgiven, and God's righteous is imputed on us if we believe in God who resurrected Jesus Christ. Who, verse 25, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification? He was allowed to suffer and die for our sins, to pay for our sins, to buy us back to life from the grave. And why? So that you and I could be justified. That's what it is, because of our offenses and raised because of our justification. So that we could have God's righteousness imputed on us because of the sin had to be paid. God will not compromise on that, and so Christ had to die for us. But once paid by what God did through Christ, we have to believe in him that he has done sufficient for us. Now, now we must do our part, committing ourselves to be a new man, receiving and using God's Holy Spirit to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, understanding that human nature is not going away. But we have now a new reality. We have to become and overcome. Become more like God and overcome with the help of God's Holy Spirit.