Transcript

One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, “Jump! I’ll catch you.” He knew the boy had to jump to save his life.

All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept imploring: “Jump! Jump! I will catch you.”

But the boy protested, “Dad, I can’t see you.” The father replied, “But I can see you and that’s all that matters.” The boy jumped and fell into his father’s arms.

Romans teaches us that we are justified by faith alone. We are called to faith, to trust that God’s Word is truth, to trust that Christ paid for all our sins at the Cross, and that He died for us and rose again.

When we take that step of faith to save our soul from the fires of God’s eternal judgment, we are caught by our heavenly Father and we are safe in Christ.

We are then called to live for the Lord the same way we are saved, by faith in Christ. In this episode of our series of Key Words of our Faith, we’ll be looking at the word “faith.”

Romans 4:1-5: “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

Paul begins this chapter with a rhetorical question: “What then shall we say?” He asked what his readers could learn from the biblical record of Abraham’s example.

Abraham was clearly an example of a justified man in God’s sight, so Paul uses him as an example to determine the basis of his justification.

Paul then posed a hypothetical condition he knew to be false, but he assumed it to be true for the sake of examination: “For if Abraham were justified by works,” or was Abraham declared righteous by God based on what he did or by his good works.

Paul said that if this were true, the logical conclusion is that he would have something to boast about, he would have the right to praise his own accomplishments.

He could pat himself on the back for earning a righteous standing before God. He would have something to boast about because he would have earned his own salvation.

But Abraham had no ground for boasting “before God,” because he received justification by faith, not “by works.” And Paul then demonstrates this from Scripture.

“For what saith the Scripture?” Paul wrote. That is always the question when it comes to any issue and in determining truth. What does the Scripture say?

The Word of God is truth. We must always look to the Scriptures. It is the authority in all matters of faith and practice.

As Paul wrote in Romans 10:17: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” The Word is the basis for our faith.

Faith is confidence in the trustworthiness of God. It is the conviction that what God says in His Word is true. The revelation from God in His Word is the foundation for our faith.

Paul appealed to Scripture here and quoted Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

What Abraham believed is in Genesis 15:5: “And He [the Lord] brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”

Abraham and Sarah had had no children. She was barren. Abraham was now in his eighties. Sarah, his wife, was in her seventies. Then God tells Abraham to look up to heaven to see if he could count the stars, and that this is how huge his posterity would be.

And though that might have seemed impossible, Abraham believed the Lord. Abraham simply believed what God told him. He believed that God was willing and able to fulfill what He had said and promised him.

So Abraham did the one thing that a person can do without doing anything, he believed God. And on no other basis, God imputed His righteousness to Abraham’s account. In other words, Abraham was justified by faith alone.

Works had nothing to do with Abraham receiving righteousness. He did not earn it or deserve it. In believing the faithful God, the honor and glory was God’s, where it belongs.

And God responded to Abraham’s faith in Him by crediting his spiritual bank account with His righteousness.

What was true regarding Abraham’s faith and being righteous before God is true in regard to our faith and being righteous before God. It’s not by works. It’s by faith alone.

In our witness for the Lord, verses four and five are good verses to commit to memory, because they state what most people don’t typically think about how to be saved.

Most believe that the way to be right before God is to be good and to earn it and work for it by doing good things. These verses say something completely different.

In verse 4, Paul says, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” When person works at their job and they get their paycheck, they are entitled to their wages. They earned them.

You worked for it and have a right to expect whatever you have coming based on an agreed upon salary. And the employer is indebted to pay their employees for their work.

No one goes to their employer after receiving their paycheck and thanked him or her for that gracious gift of money and protested that they didn’t deserve it.

Instead, as we all do, we take that check and go home knowing that we earned it and we are being reimbursed for our time and labor.

Many want to believe it’s this way for salvation, that you work for it and earn it and you get what’s coming to you, that salvation is a reward. But that is not the way it is in salvation or being given the righteousness of God.

It is the complete opposite way. It is “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

No one receives salvation and God’s righteousness by working for it. It is given “to him that worketh not.” We have nothing to offer God in our unrighteous state.

And God’s righteousness is not earned. It’s not something you work for and God owes it to you, it’s something you receive by faith alone in Christ.

Work yields wages that the person working deserves or earns. Faith receives a gift that the person believing does not deserve or earn.

To have God’s righteousness imputed to our account, and to be justified and declared righteous by God, we simply, “[believe] on Him that justifieth the ungodly.” We trust the Lord. We take God at His Word.

We place our faith in Him when He says that Christ died for your sins and rose again, and that trusting this you are righteous before God. We trust God and His good news and we are justified and declared eternally righteous by God.

We know and believe that God justifies, not the godly or the good, but the ungodly by their faith in Him. Romans 3 tells us that “There is none righteous, no, not one” and that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” All are ungodly and unrighteous. We are all sinners. We are all undeserving. We are justified by grace as a gift through faith.

God justifies the ungodly, because there are no godly for Him to justify! All are ungodly in His sight. But He justifies any who believe in Him in their ungodly state.

We don’t need to clean up our act first or repent and turn from our sins to be saved. You just come as you are, as an ungodly sinner and throw yourself on the grace and mercy of God and believe. You just trust Christ as your Savior and that’s it. Salvation is a gift of God’s grace. You receive His gift of righteousness by faith alone.

Abraham was justified, not because he worked for it, but because he trusted God, and his faith “was counted unto him for righteousness” (v. 3).

Paul shows how it’s the same way for us. We don’t work for it, we just believe on Him that justifies the ungodly and our “faith is counted for righteousness” (v. 5).

Through Christ and what He accomplished for us at the Cross in taking our sins on Himself and paying their penalty, when we place our faith in Him, God imputes Christ’s righteousness to our account, and we are justified, and ready for heaven.

Romans 4:17-22: “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

“Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

“And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.”

Faith really is central to all of life. For example, you go to a doctor whose name you cannot pronounce and whose degrees you have never verified.

He gives you a prescription you cannot read. You take it to a pharmacist you have never seen before. They give you a chemical compound you do not understand.

Then you go home and take the pill according to the instructions on the bottle. All in trusting, sincere faith!

That’s what Christ wants from us in the Christian life, an unquestioning, trusting, sincere faith; trusting the One Who in every way is trustworthy.

In this section, we find many strong biblical statements and definitions about faith.

Regarding the fact that Abraham and Sarah were aged and Sarah was barren and they had no children, Abraham “against hope believed in hope” that Sarah would give birth.

In verse 17, Abraham’s faith was based in God who told him that he would be a father of many nations. He believed in God, who “quickeneth” or gives life to the dead, and who “calleth those things which be not as though they were.”

Abraham trusted God that he would “become the father of many nations,” that God was able to give life to “the deadness of Sara’s womb,” and that the things which had not happened yet would take place.

Think of that in relation to you and me and our salvation. God gives life to the dead. We trust the One as verse 24 says, who “raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” We place our faith in the God of the resurrection and that Christ is risen from the dead to be saved.

And we are DEAD in trespasses and sins outside of Christ. But we trust that God quickens or gives life to the dead. As Ephesians 2:5 says, “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).”

When we trust that Christ died for our sins and rose again, we are made alive and given spiritual, eternal life by God who quickens the dead.

Ephesians 2:6 further tells us that God “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Now for me here in Germantown, Wisconsin, and for you who are sitting watching this program wherever you are at, it doesn’t look like we are seated in heavenly places in Christ.

But our faith is in the One who “calleth those things which be not as though they were.” Our salvation is so sure and secure, that in God’s eyes we’re already there, seated in heavenly places in Christ.

One day, our faith will be realized and we will be seated in heavenly places in Christ. Think about reading that verse in heaven in eternity, when it will have taken place.

It’s like what Joshua 21:45 says, “Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken…All came to pass.”

Abraham “against hope believed in hope” that he would become the father of many nations because he believed in God. And he believed God’s Word, because his faith was based on “according to that which was spoken,” spoken to him by God that is.

Abraham placed his hope in the supernatural power of God to accomplish what was hopeless by any normal, natural means. From a human vantage point, there was no hope of Abraham ever having a child at his and Sarah’s age.

Abraham’s faith was both CONTRARY TO hope, as far as the normal, natural course of things could give hope, and RESTED ON hope that God could and would overrule the normal, natural course of things and do what He promised. This gave him true hope.

So far as the normal, everyday course of things go, our faith too is against hope yet we believe in hope.

We trust that Christ died on the cross and He was buried. And against hope, we believe in hope, and we trust God’s Word that Christ rose again the third day, triumphant over sin and death, giving us the sure hope of eternal life and our own resurrection.

By faith, against hope we believe in hope, that God overruled the normal, natural course of things and did exactly what He said in His Word, and Christ rose from the dead.

In verse 19, Paul wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that Abraham was “not weak in faith.” This is actually encouraging believe it or not. Because when you read the account of Abraham in Genesis you see examples of Abraham’s faith being a little wobbly.

Both Abraham and Sarah laughed at different times at God’s promise. Instead of waiting on God, Abraham and Sarah decided to use Abraham’s handmaid Hagar to accomplish the promise. From our perspective as you read it, Abraham and Sarah wavered along the way with their faith in God’s promise.

Yet, Paul by inspiration said that he was not weak in faith or that he did not doubt or waver in faith. God, however, saw the overall picture of his faith. Being not weak in faith does not mean that Abraham never had momentary hesitations or occasional setback, but that he avoided a deep-seated, permanent distrust in God and His promise.

That’s where the encouraging part is, because if we’re honest, we all have moments of doubt, uncertainty and distrust like Abraham. We all at times feel like the man in the Gospels who told the Lord, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”

But God saw Abraham’s faith in the overall sense and declared Abraham was not weak in faith. He was not weak in faith when “he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb.”

He believed in “God, who quickeneth the dead” as verse 17 says. He believed that God could overcome and give life to the deadness of his body at 100 years of age to be able to produce a child, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

From a reproductive point of view, both of them were dead. Humanly speaking, it was impossible, but Abraham had faith. He believed that nothing was too hard for God.

And in verse 20, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.” There’s another good definition of faith: to stagger not at the promise of God.

The apparent impossibility of the promise didn’t stagger Abraham; it didn’t cause him to hesitate, withdraw or pull away from God in unbelief. He would not be moved.

For Abraham the only impossibility was that God could ever lie. That’s the only impossibility that we trust and know as well.

The word “staggered” means to waver or dispute between 2 opinions. He didn’t continually waver between two opinions, such as, Yes! God can do it or maybe God can’t do it.

Abraham was “strong in faith.” It’s been said that “The steps of faith fall upon the seeming void, and find the rock beneath.” As our faith is in God and in His Word, our steps find the Rock beneath our feet. God is faithful. Everything He has promised to us the Body of Christ in His Word is sure and true and will take place.

Like Abraham, we should be strong in faith in Him. And we should grow in our faith by His Word so that it becomes increasingly stronger.

Faith glorifies God. Abraham’s faith honored God as the One who could be depended on to fulfill His Word in spite of any and all obstacles. All who place their faith in God and His Word do honor to him. Like Abraham, by our faith we bear testimony to God that He is worthy of our confidence and we affirm His trustworthy character, and this glorifies God.

God is always pleased to find a person who will take Him at His Word. And when we trust Him and His Word and live by it, our lives will be transformed by His grace.

Verse 21 is my favorite definition of faith: “And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.”

Faith is being fully persuaded, entirely convinced, having conviction, that what God has promised, He will perform. And He performs it because He is able, more than able.

Abraham did not know exactly how God would fulfill His Word, but that didn’t matter. He just trusted that God was fully able to do what He had promised. God’s promise was certain and His power was sufficient, and so he believed Him.

The story is told about old “Uncle Oscar” and his first airplane ride. Knowing that he had been somewhat apprehensive about it, his friends were eager to hear how it went. At the first opportunity they asked him if he enjoyed the flight. “Well,” he said, “it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. But I’ll tell you this. I never did put all my weight down!”

God’s Word is the surest thing in the universe. There is no surer thing to trust. Our faith is assured. We can put all our weight down on God’s Word and trust Him and rest completely upon God’s performance of what He has promised.

In verse 22, after he had proved the point he set out to demonstrate, as a conclusion the apostle restates verse 3, that it was because of Abraham’s faith that righteousness was imputed to his account, and that he was justified by his faith, not by his works.

Romans 4:23-25: “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

“Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

Now Paul comes to the application of Abraham’s faith for us, the Body of Christ. The account of Abraham “was not written for his sake alone…but for us also,” Paul says.

Later this this book, Paul wrote that the things “written aforetime were written for our learning” (Rom. 15:4). Abraham’s example is for our learning. His testimony teaches us about faith, and receiving God’s righteousness by faith alone.

There are parallels between Abraham and how he had God’s righteousness imputed to him, and us today under grace and how we have God’s righteousness imputed to us.

Like Abraham, the object of our faith is God Himself. In verse 3, Abraham believed God. Likewise, we are called to “believe on Him.” Abraham believed God’s Word. We believe God’s Word.

Abraham believed God and it was counted unto Him for righteousness, and was justified by faith alone. Likewise, we believe God and it is counted to us for righteousness and we are justified by faith alone.

In verse 17, Abraham “believed…God, who quickeneth the dead.” He believed in God who can give life to the dead, i.e., that God could give life to the deadness of his body and Sarah’s dead womb and give them a child. “But for us also,” righteousness will be imputed, “if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.”

Abraham “against hope believed in hope.” Abraham placed his hope in the power of God to accomplish what was hopeless by any normal, natural hope or means.

Likewise, we, against hope believe in hope, the hope of our salvation. We place our hope in the power of God to save us from our sins, to accomplish for us what we could never do ourselves. We are hopeless and helpless outside of Christ. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot bridge that gap of sin that separates us from God or ever take away our sins.

But we stagger not at the promise of God through unbelief. We are fully persuaded that what God has promised He is able also to perform. And God has told us that we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

By faith alone in Christ, trusting His sacrifice for our sins and that He rose again, God takes our sins away, imputes His righteousness to us, and declares us righteous and we are saved from our sins and have a right standing with God forever.

We are declared righteous by faith: “if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” And we are declared righteous because our Lord “was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification.”

Christ was delivered up at the Cross to serve the sentence of death that our offences deserved. And He was raised up from the dead having provided our justification before God that we could never attain.

The death of Christ paid the price for all our sins. The resurrection proves that our sins were paid for in full. Our justification is assured in our risen Savior. There could be no justification if Christ had remained in the tomb.

But because He lives, this tells us the work of redemption is finished, the price has been paid, and God can credit His righteousness to the account of any person who responds by faith to God’s provision of salvation in Christ.

We pray that you will respond in faith to what Christ did for you and believe that Christ died for your sins and rose again.