Romans 4: Abraham, Justification, and Righteousness

In Romans 3, Paul makes clear the incredible benefit of growing up with the Word of God. That's what we had read in times past. The Jews in the Church at the time knew the Old Testament because they had grown up in it. They had been raised with God's Word. They were well familiar with God's law. They knew of the Holy Days. Although they had come out of a skewed system of belief, because remember the belief system they had was principally one that excluded Jesus Christ in the New Covenant. Once they had gained those in the Church, had gained an understanding of what the New Covenant entailed, sadly, as we see Paul write, those who happened to be Jews in the Church had grown lax in keeping the law.

That was the grievance that Paul had whenever he began the book of Romans, the letter of Romans. As we move through Romans 3, we're reminded that all people, Jew and Gentile alike, Romans 3, 23, have fallen short of the glory of God. While Paul makes clear obedience is necessary to the calling, it's here that he really begins to emphasize for the Jews and Gentiles that they could never be holy through obedience. Indeed, obedience requires genuine repentance, and more importantly, if not certainly the foundation of our calling, the sacrifice of Christ has to be applied to sin so that those sins are removed.

It's Christ's blood that removes those sins. It's then in Romans and Galatians that Paul addresses this role, the relationship between obedience, repentance, and especially Christ's sacrifice. It's only by Christ's sacrifice that our sins are taken away, and Paul reminds us of that in the book of Romans. It's only by Christ's blood that we're considered righteous in God's eyes, and it's by his spilled blood that salvation is made possible.

Now, this theme that I've touched upon there is one that shows up through those first several chapters of Romans. And today we're going to move into Romans 4, and we're going to touch upon a topic that for whatever reason, and I'm not sure why this is, and I've thought a long time about this. I wasn't necessarily sure if I had selective listening growing up or what, but for whatever reason, when I got to Ambassador College in 1986 and sat in 1988 through a course with Dr. Don Ward, and then a separate one in 1989, he was adamant about pointing out the importance of justification. Now, I happen to think to myself, do I have a definition for justification?

And he spent a lot of time on this in both courses, and we're going to spend some time on it today. In part as a refresher as we move forward, but also to understand what it is that Paul is doing principally in Romans 4, but also in Romans 2 through 5, because these chapters are all about this term justification. So I've entitled this sermon today Romans 4, Abraham Justification and Righteousness. Now, by background, I should quote some source material here. So my Ambassador College notes served as a foundation for this.

I also, and I've noted this before, I'll oftentimes go and listen to what the ABC classes offer on the topic, so I need to cite that as well. I also need to reference the United Church of God booklet on the New Covenant, because it has a couple of excellent sections about what we'll be addressing here today. And there is a separate article by Mr. Ken Murray that's entitled, What Does It Mean to Be Justified?

And so we'll touch upon that as well. So let's again think about context here. We know Paul is our author, and as you recall by background here, Paul's immediate audience are those in the church at Rome. He's dealing with two select groups. We've already established that. Jews being one, those who've grown up with the knowledge of God's truth, particularly because they had the Old Testament Scriptures in their entire life. And if you recall, we can liken these individuals as first-generation Christians. No, forgive me. Second and third-generation Christians, because they were the ones who'd grown up in the church. Just as many of us as young people grew up, and that's all we knew, so too was the background of the Jews at the time.

And the Gentiles can be likened to, in a case like this, first-generation Christians, those who'd come into contact with the truth for the very first time. And so that gives us some sense of applicability in terms of what Christ is going to deal with here. If we deal with, then, the topic of justification, and I think that this is valuable that we do so prior to getting into the meat of Romans 4, what we find is that between Romans 2 and Romans 5, and as noted here, if you were to just go and count, the number of times the term justification is used, just through these three chapters, it appears 30 times.

Paul really gets focused on this topic of justification here, and its significance is actually underscored. Now, you likely, because I've seen many of us do so, you already have your Bible open to Romans 8. I'm going to ask you to go to Romans 8, 30 and 32. Again, we're laying a foundation for what's in Romans 4 by understanding what is stressed about this topic of justification. Romans 8, verses 30 and 32 through 32, it says, So we get a sequencing here.

That's what I'm touching upon. Verse 31, So we're getting a sense here, a developmental pattern, if you will, about how our conversion occurs. So I might then ask, what is justification? This may sound criminal. I began asking several different people, because I had asked myself, do I know what the term justification means? In all its Hebrew and Greek variations, justification means to be made righteous. To be made righteous, or made right before God. The only way that we know what is right before God is by understanding God's law and understanding how it's applied.

So in a case like this, without aiming to sound like an exclusivist, those who are not called have no idea of what God's law is, and thereby they cannot be justified. William Unger makes clear that justification is an act from God, where He recognizes a sinner as righteous. If it helps, justification can then be likened to a state, a stage, or a category where we are viewed as acceptable to God. Now here, I'll go back to my first, I guess, specific attention to what justification was.

I tended to think, and I don't necessarily know why I got this, is that upon being called, having faith and being baptized, that, wow, this is not going to be fair in terms of language I'm going to use, that I was in the club, and thereby in the club, that's aiming not to minimize what it is to be called and chosen, but that there's not much to do once I am baptized, as long as I think through, as I am repentant along the way.

What I was missing, and this was the part that really kind of hit me between the eyes, particularly in those courses when I was at ABC, is that I have just as much in terms of responsibility to do after conversion, after being baptized, as I do before. That that one had to really settle in with me, because I'm not necessarily sure if I thought of conversion as autopilot, but this topic of justification addresses that. So what we find here is that this state of acceptability involves specific things. You know, if you go and look at what justification is in Scripture, because justified justification appears in so many different ways, particularly as I've noted here in Romans and Galatians, it's helpful to understand categorically how God inspires this word to be used in the Hebrew and the Greek.

And generally, justification comes in two forms. The first is what we term initial justification, and this is what happens after baptism, whereby God views us as righteous after we have had sins removed through baptism. There is then initial justification. The second type, though, and this is the one that Paul is tackling here, is actually termed behavioral or ongoing justification. So that said, let's deal with, first of all, initial justification. If you will, we're in Romans. We're going to stay in Romans.

Let's go to Romans 5. Because here Paul and his treatise on justification really makes clear a complex subject of which many scholars have difficulty with. But as we see here, God is inspiring Paul to make clear what initial justification is, what this separate category entails after baptism. I'm in Romans 5. Let's go to verses 9 and 10, and it reads this way.

Much more than having now been 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, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. One of the biggest privileges that I have whenever I am, as a pastor, able to baptize someone is the removal of sins and telling someone at that point that they are clean before God. And that's nothing I've done. That's only something that God has done. That is initial justification. That removal of sins is by Christ's blood.

Now, I'll make reference to Acts 2, verses 37 and 38, and also 1 Peter 3, verse 21. I'll let you go look those up on your own. But the reason why I offer that is because it only underscores the privilege I have in making that statement. 1 Peter 3, 21 says, water is a picture of baptism. I'm reading from the New Living Translation or quoting that. Which now saves you not by removing of dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience.

God, by Christ's sacrifice, cleans us up. It ends then in verse 21 this way. It is effective because of the resurrection of Christ. So what we find is that there is initial justification whereby after baptism God completely cleans us.

But we can't be in a holding pattern. And that's where the behavioral justification that Paul spends so much time on addressing here focuses. Behavioral justification is separate. And in general it involves the following. It involves faith. It involves obedience. And it involves repentance. Now by faith we know what faith is. Faith is defined in Hebrews 11. We know that faith is necessary in verse 6 of Hebrews 11 in order to please God. So faith has to be first. In an ongoing process we have to continually have faith. And we're also told to not just have the same faith but to grow in faith over time.

So there has to be faith for us to remain justified. Secondly, there has to be obedience. Now I've already made mention that obedience is necessary only when we know God's law. 1 John 3, 4 is a reminder of that. You know, we're reflecting in a case like this, whenever we're obedient, not our righteousness, we're reflecting God's righteousness. And it's only by God's Spirit and Christ working through us.

Galatians 2, 20, that we have the ability to remain in a state of justification. Romans 10, 14 reminds us, and I'll flip over to Romans 10, 14 because it's an easy flip since we're already here, that Christ is the end of the law. Romans 10, 14 talks about this, how then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in whom they have not heard, and whom shall they hear without a preacher. The aim here is... not boy, my eyes are having a hard time falling on that.

The aim here, though, is that Christ is the culmination of the law. He is the aim. He is the focus of the law. For whatever reason, that scripture doesn't look right as I'm reading it and I have it in my notes, so something's got to be awry. But that said, Christ is our focus. Our aim is to be like Christ. The last point, then, is in terms of sequencing, in order for us to remain in a state of behavioral justification, is that we have to be repentant.

And I'll ask you to go to Ephesians 4. So we're going to stray from Romans for a second, and then we'll be back momentarily. Ephesians 4. Galatians 4. Galatians Ephesians 4, verse 22. So here is a reminder about the importance that we must continually be repentant, otherwise we, in essence, place ourselves...we distance ourselves from God. Ephesians 4, verse 22. One of the things that's important for us to recognize in terms of behavioral repentance, in terms of behavior, is that God expects after we repent, and we're baptized, and we're converted, and we walk this walk, that there has to be a continual state of repentance, or we take ourselves out of a justification state.

We are no longer justified in God's eyes. If we choose to keep sinning and not repenting of that sin, we can't allow there is no room for someone converted to commit the same sin over and over and over. At one point, God makes us accountable. He recognizes the violation of sin, and he will be repentant of that sin. He'll allow...I mean, he'll forgive that sin. He'll remove it. But if we don't repent of that sin, we are no longer in a state of justification for God.

That's what he makes clear. So, and I've heard it placed this way, and maybe this might help. God has a way of, for example, on Monday, if you sin and you go to him and you repent on Tuesday, God wipes away Monday. But if we sin on Tuesday and go through the same process on Wednesday and ask for repentance, and we commit the same sin on Wednesday and ask for repentance, we've got a pattern going here. And the same carries through all that week.

We have taken ourselves out of that unique relationship of justification with God. That doesn't mean that we are not human, because we know that we go through trials. We know that for whatever reason we go through difficult times. But that's where God expects you and me to not just stop repenting and be repentant, not just repent, but to stop sinning. You can't go and continue to commit a sin and be right in God's eyes. I can't go and continue to commit the same sin and be right in God's eyes. That's not how it works. And that's why God finds it so imperative, and he tells us so many different ways, James 4, 7, and 8, to draw near to him.

Our responsibility, particularly during times when we go through trials, where we are repeating the same sin, we draw close to God. How do we do that? We read his word. We study it. We go to him in prayer. We let him talk to us first. We talk to him. And then, in particular, which we see in the Gospels and we see in other places, if we are in the middle of a trial and we've got a repetitive sin that's going, God says, some things only work by fasting.

Fasting is a... talk about a reality check, a spiritual check. It is hard to sin. It is hard to perpetuate a behavioral pattern if you're not eating for 24 hours or a longer period of time. So when I say that, this topic of justification, as was stressed to me at that point, and the articles that I've noted and the booklet on our New Covenant, underscore this importance.

Paul is addressing behavioral justification. Ongoing or continual justification. It is a classification that God, where God sees us as cleansed, removed from guilt, so that we can move on to righteousness. What you kind of see here, and sometimes we talk about this in class, is life is a series of stages. And what we kind of find here is that indeed the conversion process is just not baptism and then given God's Spirit and proof we're in God's kingdom. It requires something of us the whole way.

It requires that we maintain a relationship with God, that we are on our game doing our part, that God has provided the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, so it's possible. To summarize, then, justification is a necessary part of our calling.

It places us, if it helps, in a category of acceptability to God. As we then move to Romans 4, Paul is then dealing with those in the church at Rome. He's dealing with, if you recall here, the Jews who believed themselves superior because they always had a knowledge of the law. So there was this kind of pride issue going on, and he's dealing with the Gentiles in the church who believed themselves superior because they didn't necessarily have the baggage, and they understood, in their own estimation, the gifts of the Spirit based upon their conversion.

So they were dealing with these issues of pride. And in this case, pride was a problem for both parties, but for different reasons. It's then, if we go back just to here, before we start Romans 4, we go back to Romans 2, verses 17 through 24, is Paul is actually making a point to the Jews in particular, but he's doing so for the benefit of both Jew and Gentile, of both first generation and second and third generation Christian, all at the same time.

Romans 2, verse 17 reads this way, At the time, the Jews were kind of braggards. I mean, at church, there was a sense of superiority because, after all, we'd always known the law. Even before we were called, we always had a familiarity with the law. So that makes us a better group, going forward in 18 and know His will and approve the things that are excellent being instructed out of the law.

And are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You know what He's saying? Turn the mirror on yourself. For whatever reason, you've gotten a little too high-minded here.

You who preach that a man should not steal, do you not steal? You who say, do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For the name, here's the issue that He was having, for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you as it is written.

So He was hitting them between the eyes. Now, at the same time, He was also sending a lesson to the Gentiles for this, and it's a lesson applicable for you and me today. We have a responsibility once called to continue to grow. We talk grow in grace and knowledge. That's our responsibility. And that means we have to go through, on a daily basis, faith, obedience, and repentance in order to stay in a state of justification with God.

Okay, so with that said, let's go to Romans 4. Let's deal with the section of Romans 4. It's 25 verses, if I recall. It's a little bit longer than that. Oh, spot on. 4. I'm looking at chapter 3. And let's break it down in two brief sections. The first one is reference to Abraham, an example of justification. And then the second one is, and that's verses 1 through 8. And then 9 through 25 is the role and the connection between faith and righteousness. So, if you will, let's start reading in verse 1, and we can stop periodically for some additional information that can lend something to what we're reading here in text.

Verse 1. What then shall we say that Abraham our Father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something of which to boast, but not before God. So the point he's making here is that we can, though the Jews thought this at times, or they tended to lean back to this idea because they'd grown up with it, we can never earn salvation on our own.

It is not possible. And the Jews were convinced of that, that they could earn salvation. Now, the Jews prior to coming into the church, that they could earn salvation. I mean, you go back in the Gospels, and that was the problem that Christ had with the Pharisees and Sadducees. You can't do this. They had set up a whole system whereby it was only by keeping the law that salvation was possible.

And so he's questioning that here. Verse 3. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Verse 4. Now, to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. You know, we can never do enough to be saved. Again, by Jewish tradition, they could. The New Covenant, though, had made clear that salvation is only responsible, excuse me, is only possible by a gift from God. It's something that God gives us. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. So these are David's words. Blessed are those who lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. You know, humans are the beneficiaries of God's love prior to their calling. In a case like that, David knew of all of this. Though this was prior to Christ's sacrifice, David was well aware of that, and we can see that in his writings, in terms of the prophecies that he's able to pin. He understood this before Christ's sacrifice, and it is by Christ's sacrifice that we are counted as righteous after baptism.

This whole notion, then, of righteousness is that God does not see us as sinful.

Verses 7 and 8 then explain that. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. So that first section we get to see an example of Abraham. This is interesting how God inspires Paul to do this. He pulls in Abraham as an example, and we'll see on the latter end why, latter into this chapter. And he pulls in David as an example here. You know, I'll stop only momentarily, because I think it's valuable that we recognize this. And I had a conversation with one individual a while back, and the individual said, I just don't understand why we spend time talking about our experiences, our conversion with others.

What's the big deal? And I thought back to the example that Paul uses here in other places. One of the invaluable ways in which we show the work of God is by telling others about how God is working with us. About the failings we have, the frustrations we have, and how the gains we make. And in doing so, we really act as a form of a testimony for God to see His Spirit working in us. And that's in part what David is touching upon here.

You know, by a separate analogy here, as we see, and it's helpful maybe to remind us, be reminded of this, is that it's God who saves us, but we have to do our part. God doesn't do 100%, and certainly He requires of us our choice in the matter. I had heard an analogy at one time that our calling is much like us going down the middle of a river with the inevitability that we're going to go over the falls. And as we reach a point in the river, the only way we're going to be saved is by God extending a hand, where God goes 90%.

It still requires us to give the 10% in order to make contact, to hold God's hand so that we can make it. We have to do our part. And that's what we find here. We can never do enough for salvation. Obedience is expected, but God has extended a hand to save us. So let's move into the second part of Romans 4.

We move to the first part pretty rapidly. Verse 9 reads this way, Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised only? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it counted? Well, he was circumcised or uncircumcised. Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. You know, if you go back, and I'll just make reference to Genesis 22, verse 5, because Abraham was faithful. God told him to go, and what did he do? Did he stand up with his hands on his hips and go, Well, I'm not really thinking about this, or I've got all these other things. You don't have all the work I have to do. That's not what Abraham did, did he?

God said, You go, and the only language we get in Scripture is what? He went. He was unquestioning there. What we find by example is that circumcision was a symbolic act that reflected Abraham's heart and mind. Because as we get to the New Testament, as a reminder, there was this, you know, there was Acts 15. There was all this argument about, well, circumcision, uncircumcision, and it had nothing to do with the flesh. Now, we know it's beneficial in terms of hygiene.

We not know this now, but in terms of one's conversion, it didn't have anything to do with it. The beauty is that circumcision of the heart shows our commitment to God, our love to God. And that's what they're concerned by. That's what Paul's addressing. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal, verse 11, of the righteousness of faith, which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness may be imputed to them also. And the father of circumcision to those who are not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father, Abraham, had, while still uncircumcised.

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. The promise made to Abraham was really one that through faith and obedience and repentance, God made to him so that Abraham, and his seed being, as we know, Isaac and eventually Christ, was that he would be an heir of God.

That was the promise made to Abraham. And Abraham had no problem with that. Once told, you tell me where to go. The old line my dad used to say from the Navy is, they used to say, you know, how high do you jump? Tell me when to jump, how high? It's got to be instantaneous. And that's what we see from Abraham here by example. Abraham had no issues with this. And that's why Abraham was the father of the faithful.

Verse 14, then moving forward, for if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect. Because the law brings about wrath, for where there is no law, there is no transgression. So the law has got to be necessary in order to understand the transgressions. Verse 16, therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise 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.

As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations, in the presence of him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead, and calls those things which do not exist as though they did, who, contrary to hope, and hope believed, so that he became father of many nations according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be.

This whole section here, verses 16 through 18, which by language seems a bit confusing in synopsis, is that what we find here is that relationship between faith and obedience and repentance. In a case like this, Abraham was wholly faithful. He did not waver, and he moved forward, and that's what we find here.

We see an example of faith by Abraham. In verse 19, and not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead, since he was about a hundred years old in the deadness of Sarah's womb. You know, in a case like this, he was promised to have a child. He was a hundred years old.

I mean, how does that work? Well, Abraham didn't question this. Sarah got a good laugh out of it, but Abraham didn't question this. And because of that, God actually provided that offspring. Remember, it was Abraham who had hope. Although Sarah indicated, you know, she thought, maybe not. That's a good laugh. The reality is that Abraham never waver, and he believed that God could do the impossible, and God did the impossible. Thereby, Sarah wound up having Isaac, sure enough as the son of promise. And note here, despite the fact, by prior relationship, this was not Ishmael as the son of promise by Hagar. This was because they tried to work out things on their own, and that didn't work so well.

It was actually Isaac, and so God provided a miracle so that she could have Isaac. Verse 20, and he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was able to perform.

And therefore, it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.

The latter end of 24, I think that this is important, and it touches upon the point that I made a little bit earlier, is that that which was recorded was, yes, valuable for Abraham, but it was equally valuable for us.

Because we see in Abraham someone who God worked with, and he was unwaveringly faithful, thereby he stayed in a state of ongoing justification with God because he did those things that were necessary. He was faithful. He was obedient. He was repentant.

So what might we then take from Romans 4, because we move through it a bit rapidly there, and that's okay. I think the first lesson that we can take is one that we've already addressed, and that is we see that justification is a critical step to our conversion. We can't miss that. Now, I've talked with people and counseled with people who've told me, well, I've got this issue, and this issue keeps coming up. Certainly God will understand, I'm doing the best I can. I'm trying to overcome whatever this problem is. And my comment is, but we are still accountable for being obedient. Now, sometimes in a case where someone, for example, has had extreme great difficulties, that individual may have to seek further professional help. But God still makes you and me accountable. I can't keep doing the same sin. That's not how it works. I have to come to God, and I have to be repentant, and I have to recognize that that repentance means that I take action on that sin. I relapse, but the reality is, I have to be in that state of justification for God to find me acceptable, to work with me on an ongoing basis. So the first lesson is that we can't miss that justification is a critical step of our conversion. Hebrews 9, verse 14. I'll go to Hebrews 9, verse 14. And then we'll come back to Romans 2. Hebrews 9, verse 14.

Hebrews 9, verse 14 reads this way. You know, you can go back in verse 12, this whole explanation of the New Covenant and the New Covenant's sacrifice, that begins in 12, not with the blood of goats and calves, but his own blood he entered the most holy place, once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if, verse 13, the blood of bulls and goats and ashes of a heifer, sprinkling and unclean sacrifices, sanctified for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? It's by Christ's sacrifice that those sins may be removed. If you go back with me, and hopefully you left a marker there, to Romans 2. Romans 2, verse 13, is a reminder that we have to be doing something. We can't be on the sidelines. We can't be passive Christians. We have to be actively keeping the law. Actively keeping the law. Romans 2, verse 13. For not the hearers of the law are just. Here's the term justified again in the sight of God, but the doers of the law. Now, what does that mean? What is the whole notion of doers? I was laying there this morning and I thought, you know, that's applicable from a omission and a commission side. So I can violate the law in a case like this, and I need to be repentant in terms of not violating the law. Or I can omit to keep the law. I can go stretches, for example, where I'm negligent and not close to God. I'm not praying like I should. I'm not studying like I should. The commitment we make at baptism is one that every day, just as with our marriages, every day we will work to draw closer to God till the day they stick us in a ground in a wooden box.

That's the commitment we make. And we cannot slight that commitment. That's what justification is about. We have to be keepers of the law. We have to be doers of the law. Now the realization is that is our part in our calling. The other lesson that I think we should draw attention to is one I've already addressed here, is that God finds human beings made in His image so valuable that He's choosing to fulfill His plan through us.

I'll just make mention of Luke 3, verse 8. It says, remember there, it says, God can raise up stones to do what He wants. The reality is He doesn't need you in me. He's given you in me an invitation. He can use anything He wants to complete His plan of salvation. He has given you in me an opportunity, a miracle, if you will, to be a part of the family of God. If it helps, this is the part where sometimes people go, so what are you going to do with it? Sometimes, I've heard this in the past, every once in a while it will come up on a TV show or a movie. You're given a gift. What are you going to do with that gift?

God has chosen to fulfill His plan through us, through humans. Romans 4.24, as we just read, the latter end, well, 23 and 24, talks about how it's written for Abraham's sake, for it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but also for us. His lesson is for us to be encouraged by that. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. You know, by this we actually see faith in action. We see this example, and the whole mindset of, well, if Abraham can do it, I can do it. If David can do it, I can do it. If Paul can do it, I can do it. I was talking with someone a while back, and an individual said, I am the least person that God should be dealing with. And I thought, I don't even know if I said this. I don't think I said this. I thought, well, what do you think Paul thought? Paul had been an accuser of the brethren his whole life. Every time Paul went to whatever area it might be or wrote a letter, think about the baggage that was there, because Paul had oftentimes been instrumental in killing families. And yet, we wind up seeing through Paul and through his struggles and the way God used him, we wind up seeing an example that we can follow that gives us encouragement. One of the reasons why I wrote even yesterday what I did on the email that I sent out is because one of the reasons why we come together on the Sabbath is to hear what each other is dealing with, so we don't feel so alone. Because otherwise we can feel like what we're dealing with. We're the only one in the whole world going through this garbage.

We come to church on the Sabbath for one reason, and that's to share. In addition to the fellowship, we share what we're going through. And so I hear what Sam is going through. I hear what Steve is going through. I hear what other people in the room are going through. And I think to myself, yeah, I can do better. God's worked with that individual. He can work with me. Also helps for us to pray for one another. So what we find here is God lists Abraham's example for the benefit of all. I'll remind us of what's in Matthew 5, 14, and 16, Sermon on the Mount.

That we are lights. Don't put the light under a basket.

And one of the valuable ways we do so, we show God's spirit working in us. We show God's working with us is by the fruit we bear when we're with others. So today we've gone through a little bit of background in terms of justification. We've moved through Romans 4, and we've identified a few lessons. As we move to Romans 5, we will see Paul further elaborate on what justification entails. So here's where I'm not going to... Well, maybe it's homework if you want to view it as homework. If you haven't gone and read the section in the New Covenant booklet, United Offers on Justification, I would encourage you to go there. The article by Mr. Ken Thompson is also a good one... Excuse me, Ken Murray, entitled, What Does It Mean to be Justified? A valuable article in terms of clarifying what justification is. You know, we see Paul in Romans 4 as we anticipate 5, emphasize the critical role of Christ's death and resurrection in God's plan. And we see that Christ did so, He sacrificed Himself, so that everyone, you and me included, everyone who chooses life can be a part of the family of God. Colossians 3, verse 17, as we're all in, then, Let our words and our actions be done in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Let us be about our Father's business, and when we do, we will be doing those things, we'll be acting on the things provided for us in Romans 4 and the first part of Romans.