Romans No.7 The Case of Abraham

Let's go to Romans, and where are we? Chapter 4. Romans 4, and let's read together the first 12 verses. This marvelous, wonderful letter from the Apostle Paul. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God.

What does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now, when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sins the Lord will never count against him.

Isn't that super? Is this blessedness only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised or before? It was not after, but before. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

So then, he is the father of all who believe, but have not been circumcised in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. Well, let's leave the Lord to answer Michael's prayer that God will make plain to us that passage of Scripture, which might seem a little difficult at first reading, but actually is chock-a-block of some of the most marvelous deduction and reasoning that the Apostle Paul is inspired to make.

That was a beautiful hymn that we sung that jumped out of the 18th century, which has in the final stanza the words, Hail Abraham's God and mine. And I recall some year or so ago going to All Nations Bible College and sharing a mission seminar with one of the more provocative lecturers in that faculty. And he was bold enough to say to the gathered august company, mainly of missionaries and pastors, that unless you were a Jew, which he was, you couldn't really understand the New Testament.

And I thought, well, that's got rid of John Calvin. It's got rid of a German theologian by the name of Karl Barth. It's also got rid of Martin Lloyd-Jones.

But there is a sense in which he wasn't being too extravagant, because I think if you can approach the New Testament from the eyes of a Jew, a converted Jew, you have a very, very good perspective from which to understand the reasoning of the Apostle Paul and to understand the context of the ministry of our Lord Jesus. Now, it's not too easy a task for Gentiles to grasp the position that Abraham had in Old Testament theology and indeed amongst Jewish people today. He was one of the two, let's be just a little wider in that bit of arithmetic, one of the three most remarkable men in Old Testament times.

I would put alongside Abraham, Moses and David. And yet, perhaps in a special sense, even amongst those two illustrious companions, Abraham still tops the three. Because, of course, he was the founder of the Jewish race.

From him, all Jews take their descent. To him, to express it differently, they trace their ancestry. Now, here's the Apostle, and he's been preaching around the Roman Empire.

And when he comes into a new town, he immediately goes to the synagogue, because the gospel, you remember from Romans 1, is for the Jew first and also the Gentile. And the Jews would constantly be putting up arguments against what Paul was teaching in regard to Jesus Christ and this remarkable way in which he was claiming that God makes men and women right. And Paul seemed to be, though he wasn't entirely, bypassing a lot of Old Testament teaching.

In fact, far from bypassing, Paul goes on to show that the Old Testament was fulfilled in the teaching and indeed in the life of our Lord Jesus. So, when he comes to this fourth chapter of Romans, through Jewish eyes and with a Jewish goal in mind, he brings attention to the problem, or if you like, the challenge of Abraham. Now, let me give you a prece of what's happened thus far in Paul's argument.

In the first chapter, you recall, he's been dealing with the Gentiles. He's discovered that the Gentiles, though they have a knowledge of God through nature and through conscience, are deficient in as much as they've not lived up to what they know that God wants. Indeed, Paul is very, very condemning of the Gentiles.

He refers to them as God-haters. Did you know that man naturally has hatred in his heart towards God? That's what Paul says in Romans 1. And when he deals with the Jews, he finds that the Jews are, in one sense, in a greater state of condemnation than the Gentiles, because in addition to conscience and nature, they have the Word of God given to them, the Old Testament Scriptures, chapter 3, verse 1. How is the Jew better off than the Gentile? Now, much in every way, says the apostle, first of all, they've been entrusted with the very words of God. But they weren't able to live up to them, the Mosaic legislation, the whole of what the prophets had to say.

Though it was clear and they understood what God required of them, they did not give to God what he wanted. And as a result, they join in the general condemnation which Paul meets out to the whole world. There is no fear of God before their eyes, verse 18, chapter 3. Summarized perhaps even more clearly, verse 12, all have turned away.

They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. So you see, Paul has condemned, so to speak, the world.

There is no way in which man on his own initiative can ever be right with this great, great God. Well, Paul imagines now his Jewish objector coming in, in the fourth chapter. And he quotes to him the case of Abraham, verse 1. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in the matter? Later on you will remember in Paul's life, the occasion comes when he appeals to Caesar.

In the balance is Paul's own well-being, and he's a Roman citizen. And therefore, he says in the presence of Roman authorities, I appeal to Caesar. And the response is, well, to Caesar you have appealed, to Caesar you shall go.

Now it seems to me that in a very interesting fashion, you get almost an anticipation of this in the sort of Jewish argument over against what Paul is trying to teach. This is what you say, but we appeal to Abraham. All right, says Paul, let's go to Abraham.

Let's see what happened in the case of Abraham, how he was made right before God. You see, very much to the forefront is that the Jewish attraction to the fact that Abraham is their forefather, and because of that, all will be well. Do you recall the teaching of John the Baptist? You find it in Matthew chapter 3 and also in Luke 3. John is dealing with this false-based optimism on the part of the Jews.

And the Baptist says that God could create from a handful of stones. Do you remember that? God could create children of Abraham. In other words, simply to say that Abraham is your father does not guarantee your spiritual well-being.

And yet for the Jew, the fact that Abraham was the founder of the race was of great significance. When Matthew commences his gospel, he traces the genealogy, the table of names, you remember, in the first chapter right back to Abraham. Matthew writing for a Jewish audience.

Okay then, Paul appeals to Abraham alongside the contention of the Jewish antagonist, the Jewish opponent, that they should look together into the experience of this founder of the faith. Verse 2, here is, if you like, the fulcrum on which the whole argument is now going to swing. If in fact Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God.

What, says Paul, does the scripture say? Let's settle it, because Paul is a man of the book. He will always have recourse to the prophets and the law, the Old Testament scriptures. What do they say about Abraham? And Paul is devastating now in his logic.

And they can't really oppose what he's arguing, inasmuch as he reminds them that in Genesis 15, it is said that Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. In other words, Abraham was declared to be in a right relationship with God in Old Testament times. Just like the apostle is saying that those who belong to the Lord Jesus, those who have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, are also made righteous.

Now, says the apostle, on what basis is Abraham reckoned to be in a right standing before the Lord? Is it because of something he did? Because if it was as a result of some achievement on the human level, then Abraham is an illustration of a man who earns his salvation, who is right before God as a result of human effort. And he uses this illustration. Verse 4, of a man earning his wages.

Karl Marx, when he was writing Das Kapital, in the reading room of the British Museum, before the turn of last century, he was, in effect, saying that there were, in this country, groups of men who were exploiting the working classes. And Marx was right in many ways. The folk who were working in the Lancashire woollen mills and were just getting a pittance for a wage, they were being exploited.

The labor that they were offering should have brought them more finance. It was terrible what was being done in the 18th and in the 19th centuries. What was rightfully theirs was being kept by the greedy employer.

Now, when the employer did give a fair wage, he wasn't doing so on the basis of charity, but rather on the basis of honesty. These men and women had given labor, and he was buying their labor with a right wage. So it wasn't the fact that the employer was being kindly.

He was giving them what they deserved. Now, that's precisely the point Paul is making in this fourth verse. When a man works and he gets wages, then he is earning as a result of his effort.

He is not receiving a grace gift from the employer. If Abraham is counted righteous before God for what he has done, then the glory behind him being declared righteous does not redound to God. It redounds to Abraham.

All right? Is that clear? So what you have got to do, says the apostle, in effect, is to get to this statement in Genesis 15 and examine the historical context. When was Abraham declared righteous? And how was he declared righteous? What was it that was done? What was it that God did? And those of you who are familiar with the story will know that way back in the early chapters of the Old Testament scriptures, Abraham was reckoned righteous before God because he believed the word of the Lord. Let's go to Genesis chapter 15.

And as you're finding it, I'll give you a summary of its contents. Abraham has been selected by God to be one of the most remarkable men in the world, the founder of a very special race. He's a man who's happily married to a woman called Sarai.

Together they leave the Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham, notice the short version of his name, and notice the way that I pronounced the name of his wife at that point. Though happily married, they are barren.

There is no child. Now, in those days, the tragedy, if tragedy it be, was to some degree ameliorated, lessened, by the man taking his trusted servant as his heir. In other words, he adopted him.

And all the blessings of the firstborn will be deflected to the servant. Now, that was the possibility for Abraham. And so the suggestion is made that Eliezer of Damascus, verse 2, might be the one who would, if you like, continue Abraham's line.

But, verse 4, the word of the Lord comes to Abraham, saying, this man, your servant, will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir. And then God showed him the heavens, the stars. Later on, he shows him the sand on the beach.

And he says, count them. If you can, then you will arrive at the figure that ultimately will be the sum total of your descendants. Now, you've got this in mind, have you? Abraham's an old man.

Paul says later on in Romans 4, he's as good as dead. The womb of his wife has withered. They are about, or he is, about 100 years of age.

Now, it's not often that a person that old fathers a child. It's not often a woman who's just short of that age, mothers, gives birth to a child. But God has spoken.

As God speaks to the world in Jesus Christ, as God speaks his word through the prophets in Old Testament days, God has spoken to Abraham. What does God look for in terms of response when he speaks? One, a hearing, and two, obedience. And that's precisely what Abraham, or how Abraham reacts to the impossible of the human level word of God.

Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness. In other words, the Lord sees Abraham as a man in right relationship to him on the basis that Abraham believed his word. Now, that's very, very important, because the principle is applied time and time and time and time again in the New Testament.

What does God want of you? Your good works? Well, yes and no. Yes, inasmuch as he wants you to live in a way that is comparable to the Lord Jesus. But no, if you feel that your good works will qualify you for salvation.

They won't, because they will always be less than the ideal. What God basically wants from you is obedience to the revealed word that he speaks in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you respond to the Lord Jesus as your savior, then God declares you righteous.

Not because of something that you have done, but because of what God has done. God promises salvation in the Lord Jesus as God promises Abraham a son. And as Abraham believed, and as you believe, we are reckoned as righteous before God.

Now, when you're reckoned as righteous before God, what does that mean as far as God is concerned? Well, it elevates you from the standing that was yours by creation to becoming a son or a daughter of God. I'm digressing for a moment, but you'll understand what I'm getting at as I link this in with my teaching of last Sunday morning a week ago. You remember I quoted the hymn, What a friend we have in Jesus.

But Jesus says to the disciples, If you obey me, and as you obey me, and because you obey me, I've told you the future, the immediate future, you have in effect become my friends. What a friend they were to Jesus. Now, how is Abraham evaluated in the New Testament? As the friend of God.

That's what James says. He's the friend of God because he's been declared righteous, as you, my brother and sister, have been declared righteous through God's grace, his grace, gift of the Lord Jesus, and you have responded to God's word of faith. So it's terribly important that you appreciate, says Paul to his Jewish antagonist, just what happened to Abraham.

He didn't earn his salvation by any means. He responded to the gift that God offered. Now, he turns the spotlight not just on Abraham, but also on David, and here we'll have to accelerate a little.

One of the three great men of the Old Testament. Having said three, I'm having a little war at the back of my mind because another name keeps cropping up. What about Daniel? And then when I've conceded Daniel, another name keeps cropping up.

What about Joseph? So all I will say is that there were several very great men in the Old Testament, and Abraham was perhaps the greatest of the lot. But here's David. Now, there are two mistakes, actually, in my notes there.

I make reference to Uriah the prophet. I wrote those notes on my word processor quite late at night, and of course it's not Uriah as you all knew as soon as you read it. It was Nathan.

It's not Psalm 51. It's Psalm 32. But that aside, here is David, and he's in trouble, isn't he? Because he's engaged in a multiple bout of sinning, murder, adultery.

He's disgraced the name of God amongst the Israelites and amongst the surrounding hostile pagan nations. And the prophet brings to David the enormity of his crime. And thou art the man.

Now, David's in a mess. See, it's no use going to the Mosaic law. That can't help.

The Mosaic law, I've told you, is the lighthouse that warns. But a lighthouse is clearly incapable of saving. It shows you where the rocks are, but if you're on the rocks, then you're on your own.

No help from that particular warning beam. So David's in trouble. What does he do? Well, David, fortunately, has some idea on the character of God.

As to the character of God, he's a merciful God. He's a God to whom you can come and say, Look, nothing in my hands I bring. David could hardly have carried that on with, Simply to thy cross I cling, because our Lord hadn't been born.

But it's the benefits of the cross which are prospective. They affect people who live after Jesus. And retrospective, they affect people who live before the Lord Jesus.

That is going to be basic in meeting the needs of David. So what does David do? He can't earn forgiveness. So he flings himself upon the mercy of God.

Twice he says in the 7th and 8th verse, Blessed, blessed are those, 1, whose transgressions are forgiven, 2, whose sins the Lord will never count against him. Now how is David justified? David was a rich man. Psalm 51, You won't be satisfied even though I bring to you umpteen offerings.

You can't fob God off. You can't pay him by writing a large check and dropping it in the offering as though that will compensate for your misdemeanor. There is only one way that sin can be forgiven, and a man declared righteous, and it is as a result of the character of God and him offering on his base of grace and love alone the freedom and the pardon that is required.

Now isn't that marvelous, my friend? You see, David's favorite hymn would have been, had he been a member of the Worthing Tabernacle, and I'm sure in Worthing, if he'd lived here, he would have joined us. How far a circle can you get? I've even forgotten the hymn. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, My sin, not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to his cross, and I bear it no more, Blessed rest, blessed hope of my soul.

Now, here is Paul, you see, relentless with his logic. Verse 8, is this blessedness only for the circumcised or for the uncircumcised? Quickly, let's go through his argument. No, of course not.

It is for those who are Jew and gentle. How do you know that, Paul? Well, he takes you back to Abraham. Abraham in Genesis 15.

Look at Abraham's body, if you dare, if you can. There is not a mark of circumcision on it. Moses was circumcised years after he was declared righteous by God.

This ring, which I should be wearing on my fourth finger, but it's too narrow to go on my fourth finger. Age increases your width in various parts of your body. Indicates my marriage, but if I didn't, I can't get it off, if I didn't wear my ring, I would still be a married man.

A ring is a visible sign of a verbal transaction, which in my place, in my part, took place some 20 or so years ago. Circumcision was the ring that indicated the relationship that Abraham had enjoyed with God years before the mark was made on his body. Now, you see, this was the Jewish heresy.

They believed circumcision plus law equaled righteousness, and that Jesus found obnoxious, and he corrects the Jews in John 8. That John the Baptist found obnoxious, and he corrects the Jews in Luke 3 and Matthew 3. And this is what the Apostle Paul is saying with his remarkable inspired logic. Abraham was righteous way before circumcision was ever brought in as being the visible sign of what had spiritually been transacted in the experience of Abraham. Therefore, you see, in an uncircumcised state, Abraham is declared just before the Lord.

That's what Paul says in verse 10, repeats it again in verse 11, and then halfway through verse 11, he makes this staggering deduction, We got that. So then he, Abraham, is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who are not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

What's Abraham? What's Paul, in effect, done? He's shown us who are the true sons of Abraham. And this is why I say that the writer of that first hymn, or the only hymn I think that we sang this evening, unless you sang one before I came in, Thomas Oliver, was quite right and I was correct in pointing out to you the importance for Christian people to realize that we are part of Abraham's descendants, part of Abraham's family, therefore we can sing, Hail Abraham's God and mine. Who is a Jew? Well, the New Testament teaches, my brothers and sisters, that you and I are Jews.

Inasmuch as a Jew, the Hebrew word Jew means praise, and a true Jew is someone who walks in the footsteps of Abraham, not because they bear the mark of circumcision, but rather they have responded to the grace of God with belief, as Abraham did, and as a result have become his offsprings. Now this mighty teaching of the Apostle Paul, he continues throughout the whole of the chapter, and we shall come back to another facet of it next week. But thank you for listening so well during those past 30 minutes.

I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of Him shall be sweet.

I will be glad, I will be glad in the Lord. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul, praise ye the Lord. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul, praise ye the Lord.

Bless thou the Lord, O my soul, praise ye the Lord. Bless Thou the Lord, O my soul, praise ye Thou.