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The River ChurchSermons

Righteousness

Righteousness Illustrated, Pt. 1

John Carter · Sunday, 8 June 2025 · Romans 4:1-12 · 53:21 · 8,119 words

Romans S7 · 4:1-12 Flushing

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

Using Abraham as an example from Romans 4, the sermon explores the difference between claiming faith and living faith that moves. It warns against relying on religious identity or rituals instead of a relationship with God, challenging listeners to examine whether their belief changes how they act. The message emphasizes that true faith trusts in Jesus, follows His word, and walks with God, especially in difficult moments. It encourages those with doubt to take a step toward God, engage with Scripture, and let faith transform their life.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

trust 52 faith 83 claim 27 count 30 abraham 31 believe 66 substance 8 sign 15 aspect 15 circumcised 11 move 19 identity 11

Topics

Faith 33 Abraham 12 Righteousness 7 The Law 3 Grace 2 Justification 2 Sin 1 Obedience 1 Baptism 1 Prayer 1 The Flesh 1

Scripture referenced 26

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 4 1:10 Romans 3 7:24 Romans 4 7:24 James 2:19 15:50 James 2:19 15:50 Romans 3 15:58 Romans 4:1 17:26 Romans 4 17:26 Genesis 15 19:11 Genesis 15 20:14 Luke 6:46 25:29 Genesis 15 26:21 Genesis 15:4-5 26:59 Genesis 15:4 27:11 Romans 4:5 28:41 Romans 4:5 29:34 Psalms 32 34:52 Psalms 32:1-2 34:52 Psalms 32:7 34:52 Romans 4:9 41:07 Romans 4:9 41:13 Genesis 15 42:16 Genesis 7 42:22 Genesis 7:12 42:39 Hebrews 11:1 47:01 Hebrews 11:1 48:15

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 18 lines, 0:46. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

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Good morning, everyone.

How are we doing this morning,

this wonderful Sunday morning?

Oh, that's not a good sign.

Not a good sign.

I feel you, though.

I'll be honest.

I'm a little tired myself,

but that's okay.

We'll get through it.

It's been a busy week.

Glad you're here this morning.

If you have your Bibles,

go ahead and open them to Romans chapter 4

as we continue in our series in Romans.

Before we get into the text,

I want to get you to think about something a little bit

as we are going to navigate a little bit

of what Paul's going to use

and teach us through the example of Abraham.

You know, in our world,

in our society today,

there are a lot of claims that are made.

Are there not?

I mean, we live in a social media world

where people will snap a picture real quick

and claim that they are living a certain lifestyle

or a certain way

or claim that there are,

no problems maybe,

or maybe they claim they have nothing but problems

one way or the other, right?

Like, I don't know which way it goes,

but there's a lot of claims made.

But the reality is sometimes a little different.

Is it not?

Like, we recognize this.

Even, I mean, I think in my mind

as I was thinking about the claims

versus the reality conversation,

and I'm not trying to rip on any politicians,

but that's usually the first place we go, right?

We say, hey, man, politicians make all these claims,

but the reality is it never comes through.

It never lives up to being,

what they claim.

But I was thinking about maybe some things,

and I'm not trying to step on anybody's toes.

Think of some things that maybe we might relate to.

Like, I'll just use me for example.

And I claim, maybe,

to want to live a healthy lifestyle.

I'm a diabetic, so man,

I got to stay away from sugar and all that.

But I'll tell you what,

when I get that bowl of ice cream,

that claim goes right out the window.

Or a donut, ugh, I'm in trouble.

Right?

Like, I don't know if anybody else feels,

that way, or maybe it's just me, right?

The claims we make,

the claims we try to proclaim,

versus what we actually walk through

when it's right in front of us, right?

And so we also have this claim like,

man, maybe we're really passionate

about certain aspects within our community.

I was thinking, my kids love animals.

They absolutely love them.

And they will claim, and if I let them,

they would actually live out their claim

and bring every single animal home that they would want

to pick up.

In fact, I want to say about six years ago,

my wife, which is really odd for her,

this is not in her normal character,

but she brought home a stray golden retriever

to our house.

Like, the dog was lost and stray,

and she brought it home,

and that dog was gone within a week.

Because that's, I was like, this is too much for us.

We can't handle it.

But my kids, the claim to say, hey, I love something,

I'm involved with something,

but then the reality of, do I actually,

do I actually get involved with it?

Do I actually get engaged with that circumstance

or that avenue or what it's going to take

to actually care for and move that identity

or whatever you're proclaiming as part of your life?

So the question is this,

what about when we claim to believe in God?

There's a lot of people that claim to believe in God,

but their lives never move in His direction.

What do we do with that circumstance?

What is that circumstance,

that tension of that circumstance create within our own life?

You ever done a trust fall?

This is often done, like, in a workplace.

Maybe they'll have you stand behind somebody,

and you say, hey, I trust you enough

to be stiff as a board and fall backwards,

and I know you'll catch me.

I think there's even a more elevated version of this

where they have you stand on a chair

and a group of, say, coworkers,

this is all to build teams, right,

to trust teams, and they'll,

have you stand in a chair and they tell you fall backwards and they have their arms crossed and

you're supposed to fall backwards and the team's to catch you, right? I mean, it's one thing to

claim, hey, I trust you. It's a whole nother thing to let go of your inhibitions. Someone want to

catch me? And just, no, right? And fall backwards, right? Like it's a whole nother thing to say,

hey, I'm going to actually commit and walk through this statement that I'm making, this claim that

I'm making, and I'm going to trust you. This is what Paul is walking through, and he's using the

example of Abraham for us to really understand this aspect of what we claim when we say, I believe

in Jesus, or I believe in God. You see, as we're going to look at this, Paul's going to walk us

through this. He's going to show us through Abraham that he didn't just say, I believe, as a claim,

null and void of the full entrusted.

in submission to the word of God. So we're going to look at that today as we look at Romans chapter

four. So let's open with the word of prayer and really take a dive into what Paul is going to try

to teach us in the first part of Romans four. Go to the Lord. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you

so much for this morning. Lord, this beautiful week, there's been a lot of different things

happening. And Lord, I'm sure many of us are tired, but Lord, we are so glad to be in your

presence. Lord, we love that your spirit is here this morning. Lord, amidst the chaos,

we know that we can find peace in your presence. And so Lord, we're so grateful for that. Be with

us this morning. Lead us, lead me, Lord, as I open your word, guide me. Let me be put to the side and

your word really shine brightly for people here, for myself and in our hearts and those watching

online. We love you and thank you. In Jesus name. Amen. All right, trying to get you caught up.

Last week, we walked through the shift, right? So the first portions of Roman, man, Paul is hammering

the fact that we are all guilty of sin. We all fall short. And last week, he does this incredible

shift towards the hope and promise of the manifested righteousness of God in the person

of Jesus. And in that, we didn't cover this in an extensive amount, but I want to read just a few

verses from the latter part of chapter three as we go into chapter four to really help set the

context of what four is really going to be dealing with. In Romans three, verse twenty,

eight, Paul says these things. You may remember this from last week. For we hold that one is

justified. There's that legal term, right? Is justified by faith. If you are one that likes

to highlight or circle, circle the word faith and see how many times that word shows up in the next

few verses. We are, we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. And then

he goes in and he says, is God the God of the Jew only? In a rhetorical question.

Is not he the God of the Gentiles also? Obviously, the answer to that is yes, of the Gentiles also,

since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Key point there, whether you're a Jew in that word circumcision, I'm not going to go into the

details of it, but that's really an aspect that was used to describe a person's nationality,

if you will.

Identity as a nation. And the Jewish religion had turned this aspect, this sign, and we'll walk into

this, as an identity, not just of a follower of Jesus, but as a national identity for who they

were as a people. They missed the substance and focused solely on the sign. And here we see this

aspect, regardless of your background, regardless of where you come from, there is this key element

in the conversation. And circle that.

The second and the third time it says it, that those, whether you're circumcised or uncircumcised,

the key is faith. The key is faith. He goes on and he says, hey, does this faith then

overthrow the law? No, by no means, he says. It's actually the exact opposite. And oftentimes,

for whatever reason, in our culture and even in our churches, often we juxtapose the law

with our faith. Paul says, no, it's the exact opposite.

Not opposed to each other. Because without the law, first and foremost, we wouldn't even

recognize our guilt, which is what he laid down in the first part of Romans. And secondly,

without the law, we don't recognize

the righteousness the holiness of God so these are very crucial in us understanding what we are

actually putting our faith in it's very important to recognize that they're not opposed to each

other they work together to point us to a our need for a savior and be the one who actually is

the savior his righteousness and so this is and of course what he says when we say when he says

it's on the contrary we uphold the law so faith is the key topic of the the passage that we're

going to walk through faith is absolutely important and so here's a question as we

think about what kind of faith the title of my message is this faith that counts is faith that

moves faith that counts I want you to think through that is faith that moves and before I go

through my points about what faith actually counts I want to give you some

answer to that question because I want to give you some answer to that question because I want to

give you some answer to that question because I want to give you some answer to that question because

I want to give you some answer to that question because I want to give you some answer to that question

antithesis the opposite of so you can kind of as you're working through this maybe examine and

look at and and take a look at hey what is my faith actually look like so here are what I would

say is faith that does not count and some of the aspects of that that might be important for us to

examine first of all faith that does not count agrees with the truth of God they might sit there

and say yeah I think that's a good thing they might sit there and say I think that's a good thing

yeah I think those are you know like if you you lay down the very fundamental aspect thou shalt not

kill man most of us would agree with that that's a great idea let's let's not do that but then

they never act on the aspects of their actions when they come to when it comes to hating other

people scripture lays those comparisons very closely Jesus himself very closely compares

murder with hate as synonymous ouch how about this the belief in the existence of God

in a general sense yeah there's probably a God that is there a higher being maybe you might call

it there's something or someone up there if you've ever been to a meeting that's a very common phrase

right a higher power so you believe in the existence of God in the general sense but you

never make it a personal aspect of your life as I was working through this and looking at some of

the other aspects of how what kind of faith like here's

one with one one's faith that doesn't count tends to have this aspect of relying on identity rather

than person what does that mean to rely on identity rather than person well sometimes that means we put

our trust our identity our belief structure in a religion in a ritual or in a tradition for example

circumcision which is one of the things that Paul has to deal with quite extensively in his day and

era it is not a religion it is a tradition it is a tradition it is a tradition it is a tradition

it is not something that we in this modern world even it hardly ever crosses our mind so it may

seem weird for us to even have that conversation but but let's try to make it more relevant to us

in our day and age how about baptism our identity is rooted in the fact that well I was baptized in

this church or that church or through this denomination or that denomination ignoring

the substance of the person and putting your whole trust and faith in the fact that you did something

maybe that's

church attendance well I go to this church or I go to that church so obviously I'm a Christian I

believe in God because I go to church clearly that shows that I have faith in God there's a lot of

modern aspects that we can tie into though we we won't really connect circumcision that's not

something we deal with but there are a lot of things that we deal with in our culture in our

day and age how about this the identity in your social media where you you post scripture verses

all the time but when it comes to the reality of your life you're not going to be able to

understand it you're not going to be able to understand what's going on in your life you never

live those scriptures out you're showing everybody you've got the sign of Christianity you get the

Christian tattoos maybe it says some kind of Hebrew writing I'm not saying these are bad please don't

None of these things are wrong, but if our identity is rooted in the fact that, hey, look, I'm showing

everybody I'm a Christian. I got a Christian tattoo, or I wear a cross around my neck. These aren't bad.

We show the signs. We make the claims. How about a bumper sticker on the back of your car that says

something about Jesus, and when someone cuts you off, you're giving them the middle finger. I'm sure

nobody's done that ever. The point is this, that as we look at our faith, and as we look and examine

our life, and what we say we believe, there has to be faith that moves us in a direction that's

different than where we used to be, and this is what Paul is going to walk us through. In fact, I want

to read this from James chapter 2, verse 19. James deals with this aspect a little bit. In verse 19,

he says this, you believe that God is one. This is very much in line with what Paul says in Romans 3

there, the passages we just read. You believe that God is one. You do well. That's good.

It's good to know that God is for every single person. It doesn't matter your creed, your

nationality, your race. None of that matters. Your bank, none of that matters. God is for everyone.

You do well, but look at what he says in the next line. Even the demons believe. Even the demons

believe, and they shudder. The implication that James is making here is this. Listen, you make the

claim, but if you don't show the work, if you don't show the action of change in your life, the

transformative relationship with Jesus, you don't do well. You don't do well. You don't do well. You

listen, even the demons say they believe, and at least they are operating in this aspect of

fear and recognition of the holiness and the righteousness of God. They shudder because they

know what awaits them. Do we? So as we walk into this passage, my first point for the faith that

counts, as we examine the person of Abraham, as Paul points us to, my first point is this. Faith

that counts trusts God at his word. Faith that counts trusts God at his word. Faith that counts

trusts God at his word. Let's read it in verse one of chapter four. What then shall we say was

gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? This is really just Paul saying and

speaking to the group of people that he's writing to in Rome that are fellow Jews. And they're

saying, hey, listen, I'm going to give you an example. And in the Jewish culture, Abraham is

esteemed as one of the father of the faith, if you will. So Paul goes right to the top guy,

if you will. If you want to look at an example of what faith looks,

let's look at the top guy, the father of faith. He is, in fact, the heritage. It's where their

family comes from. That's what he's referencing when he says, according to the flesh, this is not

a spiritual implication in the sense of Abraham being a sinful man. He says, for if Abraham was

justified, there's that word, that legal word that means really and truly just to be declared

righteous in God's courtroom. If Abraham was justified by works, then he has something to

boast about.

We talked about this last week. What Paul is saying is if Abraham was truly justified by some

action he took or some work that he did, then he would be able to stand in God's courtroom and say,

hey, Lord, this action that I took is good enough and equal to the blood of your son.

Don't you agree with me? Pretty sure the Lord would say not a chance. And of course, Paul agrees. He

says he would have something to boast about, but not before God, not before the father.

For what does the scripture say? Paul goes right back to Genesis,

15. That's what he's quoting here. Genesis 15, Paul says and quotes the scripture,

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. It was counted to him as

righteousness when he believed God. But wait a minute, the demons believe. What's the difference?

Clearly, there's a difference. I'm pretty sure there aren't going to be any demons in heaven

or in the kingdom of God. In fact, their judgment is already been declared, though it has not been

The lake of fire is for them. But they believe. What's the difference between what the demons

believe versus what Abraham believes and how Abraham is counted to be righteousness?

it is righteousness. I love that Paul walks through this and really I want to make some

clarity here as this as we examine this word believe. So Paul writes it in Greek. You go back

to Genesis 15. It's written in Hebrew. The Greek word means to trust or to fully rely on. Obviously

it comes and it can be translated in many ways to believe, to trust, to have faith, or to be fully

convinced. Okay, now a lot of times we in our culture associate that with a mental assessment.

In my brain I say, okay, that's true. And this word has that implication that there is

acknowledgement that this is a true statement. Now maybe some of you parents can relate to this.

When you tell your kids, hey, I need you to go do this or I need you to go do that,

and they say, yeah, I'll do it. Our desire as parents is to go, man, I fully believe they're

going to do it. No, man, I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it.

They said they were going to do it. It's getting done, right? I see some of you laughing. I already

know. Your house is no different than my house. But we have this notion of like, man, I believe it.

But then there's this part of us that goes, well, I don't know. Maybe if it was so-and-so, then I

would know they would get it done. But maybe you have one or two or three children that are like,

if I ask them and they said yes, I probably got to remind them or at least get on them a couple of

times to just help encourage them to do it. And then you have this notion of, well, I don't know

what they said they would do. So believe does have this mental acknowledgement. And the child

sits there and says, yeah, I know mom told me to do this or dad told me to do this, and I should

probably do it. That would be a good thing for me to do. I acknowledge it is a true statement that

mom and dad told me to do this. But what is the difference between them acknowledging it and them

actually doing it? See, this word believe goes even further in understanding and implication.

There is a relational trust associated with the word

believe. That means this, that there is a leaning on a person's character. There is a relational

aspect to this word believe where it is this leaning on to a person's character to accomplish

whatever needs to be done. So when I go to, or this trust fall example, like when I say, hey,

John, I'm going to use you as an example. Catch me, I'm going to fall, okay? And I say, I trust you.

He won't. He already told me he won't. So I trust that he will not catch me.

Right? This is a true thing. But maybe I grab four or five guys or 10 guys. I don't know. I'm a pretty

big guy, right? Like, so, and I fall back and I say, I trust you. At some point there is this,

there is this personal, like I have to rely on the character and the word of the person that says,

hey, I've got you. I've got you. This word actually goes even one step further in depth

in understanding where it says there is a faithful loyalty, a commitment, an allegiance to. Now put

this in your head. I'm going to say, I'm going to trust you. I'm going to trust you. I'm going to

put this in context to our relationship with God and Jesus. Our relationship is this full trust,

this full faith that not only will God justify us, right? That's what we talked about last week.

But this faith is I can trust in his character and his loyalty and his commitment to me. It is a full

reliance on. The Hebrew word is no different to stand firm or to place full confidence in. The

word of God means more than just thinking he exists. Believing in God means more than thinking

he exists. It means trusting him with your whole life. That's where our claim and our living out

sometimes they don't align. It looks different. Belief that doesn't move us to obey him and trust

his word is not really belief at all. It's simply an opinion. Think about that for a minute. Belief

that doesn't move us

to obey or trust in the words of God is really not belief at all. It's just merely an opinion.

I have this opinion that this is true, but it just stays in the opinion side. It never changes

to a movement. Because I believe it's true, I'm going to move differently. Even Jesus puts this

notion or this question before in Luke chapter 6, 46. He says, why do you call me Lord? Lord,

not do what I tell you. Paul will dive into this much deeper into Romans when he says, listen,

I know that there is this battle of flesh within me where I don't do the things I ought to,

and I do the things I ought not to do. So Paul's going to go into this depth later,

but we have to acknowledge what this word faith and belief truly mean in our life. And even as

Jesus says, don't call me Lord. Don't call me Lord if you're not going to move in my direction,

with me and trusting me. See, that Abraham wasn't trying to earn God's approval when we go back to

Genesis 15. He simply trusted God and he obeyed God and he trusted him at his word. See, Paul makes

it very clear that this kind of trust leads to righteousness. Not because this action of trust

works harder than anything else, but because this kind of faith understands unequivocally the gift,

and we talked about this last week, the gift,

and the cost that's being offered. And the gift is to be received, which goes to my second point.

Faith that counts, receives. It's not a faith that is earned. Beginning in verse four through five,

Paul again illustrates a very clear imagery for them to understand, to recognize the difference

between what he is walking them through, what this belief means. Verse four,

now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift,

but as his due. I want you to think about this. I'm sure everybody gets a paycheck at some point,

whether it's weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, semi, every, I don't know how, some, some are, you know,

like commissions. So when you get a sale, it might not be on a monthly basis, but everybody gets a

paycheck. Can you imagine if your employer comes to you at the end of the day or end of the week

or whenever and says, hey man, you're awesome. Hey, I want to give you a gift. And they sign their

check and they say, your paycheck is a gift to you. I just, just watch, man, you're going to get a paycheck.

Man, you, you're awesome. I appreciate you being here. Here's a gift. I just appreciate your

presence. You're going to look at that and go, wait a minute. Did that mean I didn't have to

be here? You would have given me this gift, whether I was here or not. And immediately we

recognize, well, that ain't happening. You ain't getting paid if you don't show up, right? And

that's the illustration that Paul is using to help us understand this free gift, this gift that God

gives us. This notion that, listen, wait, you're not going to ever earn God's grace. It's

something that he gives freely to all who put their trust and faith in his word, his promises.

Ultimately, look at what he says in verse five and to the one who does not work, but believes in him

who justifies the ungodly. Wow. Circle that whole phrase, believes in him who justifies the ungodly.

Here's that word again. His faith is counted as righteousness. Paul uses this clear imagery of

that are earned versus righteousness that that we are looking for that is credited to us and how do

we get this righteousness that's credited to us how do we get this righteousness to count for us

paul's not i mean he's there's no question about this it is by faith by faith this passage here

at verse five where he says god believes or the one who believes in him who justifies the ungodly

if you will turn you don't have to open your bibles there but if you want to turn to romans

3 26 we talked about this last week it says this it was to show his righteousness at the present

time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one

who has faith in Jesus. These two verses go hand in hand because the only one who is just and the

only one who has the ability to justify the ungodly is God. He's the only one. He's the only one that

sets the conditions, if you will. And the condition he said is, I want you to put your faith and trust

in my son Jesus and the work that he did across. That's hard for us to believe sometimes. It's hard

for us to rationalize and grasp what it means to put my faith and trust in the work of someone else,

the work of Jesus. Oftentimes our ego or our pride prohibits us from fully walking into a gift.

Have you ever been in a place in your life where maybe you were down on your luck, you needed some

help? I can tell you, so I think of this story because my daughter's starting to drive. And when

I first started to drive, I didn't have cell phone. I'm dating myself a little bit there, I

know. But I took the wrong direction one day and I ended up way in this remote part of Michigan

called Bath. I had no idea. I took a wrong turn. I was supposed to, if you're familiar with Lansing

area, there's a exit to get off on 69. I think I took the wrong exit or 127, one of those.

And I was a new driver and I was new to America and I got way lost. And I ran out of gas and I

had no money in my pocket and I was desperate. So I walk into the gas station, I'm like, hey,

can I get some money? Listen, I did not care. Did not care. If I look like a bum off the street,

I'm like, hey, I need some money. Can I get some money? And the attendant's like, I can't do that.

I'll lose my job. Luckily, there was a nice man behind me who said, hey, I'll give you 20 bucks.

And I said, listen, give me your address. I'll make sure you get paid back. I'm just stuck and

I have no way to contact my mom or dad. And my bank account's zero because I'm a high school kid

and I didn't have any money. And can you help me? When you're in that position,

it's very humbling. Now that's just a silly example, but sometimes those examples extend

in a much more serious context. In the context that we're walking through with Abraham, with Paul,

that humility, that humbling is recognizing, hey, I need help. I'm broken. I'm a sinner. I need help.

And Paul is using this example of, listen, we're not talking about you working for something that

you get. We're talking about a gift that God gives to you freely with no paybacks, no I.O.

use. Price, paid in full, have a nice day. And when we understand that faith that counts,

receives, walks in that state of humility, and it's not earned, it's important for us to recognize

that for our life. You see, many want righteousness, but they want it without

surrender. As we covered that the word believe is not just a passive idea that Abraham, that Paul

is using. It's an active movement towards something. Here, Paul is saying God justifies those who

move toward the acceptance or the receiving of the free gift of God by trusting him and not trying

to earn favor with him, by trusting in him. My third point, faith that counts brings the blessings

of forgiveness. So Paul, as he is walking through this, he's bringing in another witness to this

account. So Abraham would have been a man that the Jewish people, that they would have understand as,

hey, he's top dog.

This is the father of our faith. But so is David. David was the king that is most revered in their

culture. So here, Paul is bringing Abraham into the conversation and saying, hey, listen, this is

how Abraham's righteousness was acquitted to him by his faith. David also affirms this. He says this

in verse six, just as David also speaks of the blessing, look at the wording here, of the one to

whom God accounts or counts righteousness apart from works.

And then Paul quotes Psalms 32 verses one through two in verse seven. He says,

blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man

against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Now, I don't know about you, but I read that and I go,

I want that. Please, I need that. I got to have that. Where my lawless deeds are forgiven,

who's on board for that? I know I am. Where my sins are covered, man, absolutely, please,

where do I got to sign? Put my name there. Where my sin will not be counted against me. Now,

remember, if you know the story of David, David was not a perfect man. In fact, he committed quite

a few lawless deeds. If you don't know the story, I encourage you to go into the Old Testament and

read some of those lawless deeds he did. So this is coming from a man who understands the blessing

of the gift is more than just having righteousness given to us. It is the blessing of the forgiveness,

the covering, the removal of the consequences of sin in our life. I love that Paul throws that in

there. See, God's righteousness being gifted to us doesn't mean we've reached perfection. It means

we receive the blessing of being declared clean, being declared righteous, innocent, quitted,

because we believe, we believe wholeheartedly, not just acknowledging the truth in our head,

we believe because we lean into the character and behavior of Christ,

because we act and move towards that gift, because we believe that is the only way we believe in the

saving power of the work of Jesus at his death, his burial, and his resurrection. This is what we

put our faith in. So far, Paul's walked and shown us that Abraham's faith brought him righteousness.

David confirms this, that the same kind of faith also brings the blessing of forgiveness. Then Paul

raises these questions, right? Like this is just such an oddity to us in our culture, where he asks

or he engages with the question before it's asked, well, what about circumcision? Because the people

in that culture, in that time, believed that this was truly how you identified as God's people. Man,

this is not a new conversation in the book of Romans. If you have time, I encourage you to read

the book of Galatians. Paul does not hold back. I'm not trying to be crude or crass here, but I

want you to understand the depth of what Paul is fighting and why this is so crucial and important.

It's not in our culture. This is so foreign to us. This has nothing to do with anything in our

modern day that we fully grasp or understand. But what they were claiming, and please hear me,

I'm not trying to be gross. What they were claiming was the blood of their penis was greater than or

equal to the blood of Christ. That was what they were putting their faith in. And in Galatians,

Paul says this, just cut the whole member off then. Those are some harsh words, but that's not

even the harshest words that Paul says to them. He says, just cut the whole member off then.

Paul says, listen, if this is where your faith is, if this is what you're putting your hope and

your trust and your belief in, if this is what your faith looks like, you are severed from Christ.

You have no relationship. You're done. You're in the same position as you were before. There's

no change. You're done. You're severed from Christ. Those are harsh words. I would actually

say those are harsher words than the previous of emasculating themselves. So the faith that we have,

and listen, it's easy to say, wow, those people, they're crazy. They're crazy. They're crazy. They're

crazy. Way back then, they're nuts. We've talked about some of this stuff, but there are some

identities of the sign that we hold to. I mentioned a few of them earlier. Baptism. I go to church

every week. I was raised in a Christian home. I was talking to someone. I think they actually

said this. Well, I'm an American. Of course I'm Christian. Okay. That's interesting.

whether it's wearing a cross necklace, having a tattoo, or slapping a bumper sticker on the back.

Yeah, we can put the signs out there, but if we don't have the substance of the person of Jesus,

we're missing the mark. Our belief is in something that other than the person, and this is what Paul

is talking about, and I want to say this because this is also something that is very common in our

culture. In our social media world, it's easy to show our sign or our symbols without actually

living the surrender. Faith isn't proven by what we post, how we walk. Do you know you can be

circumcised and still be far from God? True. Just like you can attend church, just like you can wear

a cross, just like you can post a verse and still have no relationship with Christ. Paul points us

to in verse 9, he's like, listen, you guys are putting all your faith and trust in signs and

missing the substance. In verse 9, he says this, is this blessing, the blessing of forgiveness of sins,

the gift being counted as righteousness, then only for the circumcised or also for the

uncircumcised. For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it

counted to him? Paul begins to ask these questions, which every Jewish person would have known and

learned and understood. How was it then counted to him? Was it before or after he had been

circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign

of circumcision as a seal, here it is, of the righteousness that he had already received by

faith while he was still uncircumcised. And the purpose of this was to make him the father of all

who believe without being circumcised so that the righteousness would be counted to them as well.

What does Paul say? He said, hey, go look at the timeline, what you're holding to. Genesis 15,

Paul or Abraham is declared as righteous. Genesis 7,

is when the sign of circumcision shows up. And Paul says the timeline that you're putting your

faith in is off. You're holding to a sign or a symbol and missing the substance, missing the

person. The next point is this, faith that counts follows in obedience. Verse 12, and to make him

the father, this is speaking of Abraham, of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised. Now,

I want you to see this, put it in the context of the scriptures we're reading. This is for both.

He is the father of all.

Whether you're Jew, whether you're Gentile, whether you're circumcised or whether you're

uncircumcised. And I feel like I've said that word way too much in a sermon. Just saying,

maybe you're thinking the same thing. But the reality says, he says this here, but who also,

that who also is for either or, not one or the other, it's either or, who also walk in the

footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. What was the footsteps

of faith that Abraham walked in?

We too are also called to walk in. When Abraham sat there and listened to what God was promising

him. Hey, I'm going to make a nation out of you. I'm going to give you a son. Abraham didn't see

it. And he's like, dude, I'm a hundred years old. And we're going to go into that next week.

My wife's old too. And she's never had a kid. That ain't going to happen would be the logical

response. But Abraham didn't do that. He said, God, you said it. I believe you. I trust you.

I am going to, if you will,

into your promises for me. He listened, he trusted, and he obeyed. He followed, he moved.

He literally left his hometown. It cost him everything. Yet he trusted what God had said.

And that was enough for Abraham. Abraham didn't just believe in an idea. Abraham believed in a

person and that person's character and that person's behavior and that person's word.

person's promise. And if you're here today, if you're here today and you've never trusted in God,

you've always had this doubt. I'm not telling you to walk in a blind faith. This is why Paul

lays down the foundation of the examples of both Abraham and David. And there are many in this room

who can also attest. I will attest. Listen, I have nothing as a pastor. That doesn't mean

diddly for God. The only thing I have to stand on is what Jesus did for me on the cross. And then

when I say I believe in Jesus and his work that he accomplished for me, when things are hard,

when things are difficult, when my health doesn't go the way it needs to go, when I'm exhausted,

when I'm tired, I can't forget what I am putting my faith and trust in. That's the person of Jesus.

At the end of the day, I still have to trust what his word said, what his promises,

what his promises said. I can't forget what I am putting my faith and trust in.

I can't forget what I am putting my faith and trust in. That's the person of Jesus.

When I screw up, we're not talking about perfection here. I have to go back to the

promises of God, the word of God that says, God, I'm sorry I messed up. Please forgive me. I know

you have the authority, the power to justify me even in my sin. So the question is, when we say,

do I believe, do you actually believe? Are you willing to move, to take a step forward,

to change your life in a sense that aligns with what he is saying? Say, I trust you.

I trust in Jesus. I believe in Jesus. I'm going to make him my Lord, my King. I'm going to follow

him. This is one of my favorite passages in all of scripture. And if I get emotional, I'm sorry,

because it's what changed my whole world. Hebrews 11.1. I was a young man in my 20s, hated God,

didn't know if I could trust him, didn't know if I could believe anything he said. But I came across

this passage and I started to examine his character and his behavior. And when I did, I realized very

rapidly that his words are true, reliable, and trustworthy. I was living in a house with a drug

dealer. We were having crazy parties, living a life of total debauchery. When I talk about being

lawless, trust me when I say that, not only in the spiritual sense, but I would probably say in the

legal sense in our country. But I read this passage and it really opened my eyes to understand because

all the time in my life, I always thought, well, faith is just this blind notion of if God says to

jump off a bridge, and I used to say this, would you do it? Well, then you must not have faith in

God. That's not what faith is. It's not this blind jumping off of a bridge. Hebrews 11.1 says this,

faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And it goes on,

and he says, for by it, the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith, we understand that

the worlds were framed by the very words of God, so that the things which are seen are not made

of things which are visible. The word substance and evidence changed my world. If you're struggling

with this notion of, hey, can I trust in God? Can I believe him at his word? I'm here to tell you,

and I would encourage you to examine the substance and the evidence of his character and his

behavior. Because time and time and time and time again, not just in the word, but in my own life,

and I'm sure there are many other believers in this room that will attest to this, God keeps

showing up. He keeps showing up. In my head, I go, well, there's got to be a limit to it at some

point. Skeptic. But there's not a limit. I've been following Jesus for nearly 20 years, and he

keeps showing up. Not just once, not just twice, not just occasionally, but every single day of

my life. His grace and his mercy get poured out in my life. And I'm not special, guys.

this is the free gift that's offered to anybody and everybody. And if you're sitting here wrestling

with this relationship with God and you don't know what it looks like, I'm here to tell you

there is nothing more important for you to nail down and secure than what you believe about the

person of Jesus and the person of God. Paul uses this example of Abraham and David. He recognizes

that faith that is counted by God is faith that walks with God, has relationship with God, leans,

leans in, who literally falls into his arms. That illustration of the trust fall. That's what we're

called as believers. And maybe you're sitting here and you're like, man, my faith is stagnant.

I feel like my faith isn't doing anything. It's not moving. It's not going anywhere. Well, listen,

there's lots of ways to get moving. Get in the Word. Start praying. Start talking.

To him, engage the relationship again. Listen, if you never talk to him, guess what?

The relationship's never going to kickstart again. I don't know where you're at in your walk with

Christ, but I want to encourage you. If you have put that faith, you have put that trust and you

feel like your relationship is stagnant, man, don't let it be stagnant. Nothing better than

walking every day, all the time with Jesus. See, faith that counts is faith that moves.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. Thank you for sending Jesus.

To this earth for me and accomplishing things that I could never do. Thank you for the blood

that he shed for my sins, the covering of my sins. Lord, we love you and we know that you love us.

Lord, help us as first and foremost as Christians to live out in the day in and the day out what we

proclaim, what we say we believe. Help us, Lord, in those difficult moments when it seems like

it's going to cost us everything that we would stay faithful and true and loyal to.

You and your word. Lord, if there's someone here watching online that has never, ever trusted in

you, they've never put their belief in you. Lord, I pray that you would open your arms and receive

them. I know you will help them to overcome their doubt, their skepticism. Lord, I've walked through

it. It is a hard hurdle to overcome, but if they have it, Lord, I know your spirit can move in

their heart. And I pray, Lord, that they would move. Just take one step towards you. And with

that one step, you would move into their life and transform.

I ask this in Jesus' holy name. Amen.