Abraham

Why? Because with Abraham, they were connected, the father Abraham. But in this day, this was the most common name. And this. This name described both their racial background and their religious background. And this is what Paul's going to speak into. Now, there is a quote from a pastor that I may quote like 11 times in the sermon, because I think it is so it's so wonderful and it's so clear about what this passage of Scripture means and what it is saying.

It was their main identity. It was their religion, nationality. It was no longer to be in Christ or be a part of Christ, be a follower of Jesus. It became their mainstay or identity. I'm not in Christ, I'm a Jew. And that is more important. Many of them, as I introduced a couple weeks ago, they identified themselves as a Jew, and so I'm okay. folktale or folklore of Abraham. Many Jews to this day study or think this, where Abraham sits at the gate of hell. And so as a Jew, when one dies, they head to the gate of hell and Abraham does not allow them to enter. That is a lie from the pit of hell. Yet many of them believe this. And you're saying, well, how does that apply in my life today? Well, it applies more than you think. It's for many of us, if you were placed, I am a Jew, I attend this church. And so I am going to go to heaven. Or some of you may have grown up, you know, I'm a Baptist

Now, in the case of Judaism, these things were actually true. Some of them, the Jewish people were categorically, right? God's chosen people. We know this, but it did not mean that they were saved like everyone else. The Jewish person needed to be saved. They were God's chosen people. But it did not mean that they were automatically saved people. And in fact, Paul, that's one of Paul's major points. As we get to Romans chapter 4, Paul will show that the patriarch of all of Judaism, of the Hebrew people, the patriarch of Abraham, Abraham had to be saved.

Paul returns to this subject a little later, says in verse 11, he and the he here is Abraham. So Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So it's not like, hey, Abraham, I need you to be circumcised so that you will be righteous. That you will be in relationship with me. No, you're in relationship with me. And this is going to be a personal mark of that relationship.

Now, to understand circumcision, I'm just going to read the scripture. So I'll let scripture explain it. So in Genesis chapter 17 to Abraham. Abraham, father of the Jewish people, the Lord gave this to him as a sign. Genesis 17, God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you.

It's going to save you. The one that it's talking about is the one who's going to set you free from your sin. We are only right with God, or righteous, through that faith in Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross. But faith has always been the way to righteousness. If you, we're not going to turn there, but in Hebrews chapter 11, that chapter is called the Hall of Faith. It's about Old Testament and they were saved the same way we are, through faith. They didn't know who the Messiah was going to be. They didn't know that he was going to go to the cross. They should have. By Psalm 22, they should have known that. But they didn't really understand it. But they had faith that God was going to have a plan to take care of their problem of sin. And Hebrews chapter 11 talks about lots of these Old Testament saints and their problems of sin. And Hebrews chapter 11 talks about lots of their fa

see this and Paul continues to lay this foundation down that this is in fact what the law as well as the prophets are pointing to or are revealing. Genesis, I mean we see this in 15 6. You don't have to turn there, but Genesis 15 6 when Abraham put his faith and trust in the work and words of Jesus or in the work and words of God, his faith was counted to him as righteousness. Paul's going to walk through this aspect of this righteousness of God. Isaiah 53 is a prophet that foretold and was revealing in his prophecy the coming Messiah that would do wondrous things for us. He says, and I'm just going to read three verses.

actually used noah to preach the about him to speak about him to try to for people to repent none did but when the time came god closed the door of the ark and wrath came it's going to be the same for us he's patient now hoping that we turn but at some point it's going to change sodom and gomorrah same thing it was as two cities filled with sin but abraham said god if i can find ten well he started way high and then he kept working his way down they they agreed on ten said if i can find ten righteous people ten people who tried to who serve you will you spare the cities god says yep i will it was patient abraham couldn't find ten i don't even think he found one god's wrath came god is patient verse 26 paul goes on and says it was to show his righteousness in the present time so that he might be just and the justifier who has faith in jesus i love this passage because god in his character

Romans 4, 1. So Paul says, What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to... The flesh. Now, Abraham was the first of the Hebrews, first of the Jews. He was a giant, a hero to the people of Israel. Hold your spot in Romans 3 and go to the left to the Gospel of John. John chapter number 8. Keep in mind that this would be thousands of years after. Roughly around 2,000 years, give or take some time, after Abraham had lived.

dense passage. And so as we move from that tone shift, what Paul does to begin to help us chew through the reality of what he's talking about is he begins a kind of a case study on one specific character from the Old Testament, Abraham, and how Abraham was not saved according to his works, but saved through his faith. The point that he made, for us, that we are saved according to. And so we're going to dive into that at the beginning of chapter four, but let's pray together before we jump into God's word. Lord, give us wisdom and understanding. That is what we need so desperately. We need to understand your word. We need to understand who you call us to be and why you call us to be that way. And then we need the wisdom to live it out every day in our lives. Lord, I pray that your word would provide deep, rich understanding and life change for us today. Lord, guide us, direct us, and illu

Abraham, and we studied Abraham back in family month, back in February, so some of this will be a little review, possibly, but Abraham was, or is, an extreme Old Testament example of a godly man. He was a righteous man, and he was acceptable to the Lord. He is an example, and he's not only an example to Christians, but he's also... really a huge example to Jewish people, and also even to Islam, okay? He chose Abraham, all right?

Well, their response to Jesus, verse 33, they answered him, We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. Their response to Jesus is, we don't need you to set us free. Abraham is our ancestor. We're already free. Jump down to verse number 39.

They answered him. So they respond to Jesus again. Abraham is our father. Think about this. Their defense against Jesus, revealing their character, questioning their belief, faithfulness, relationship with God. They're kind of in their mind, their trump card, so to speak, is, well, Abraham's our father. We're all set. They repeat it again. Verse 39. Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did.

And the Jews wanted to believe that the reason God chose Abraham... Let me back up. God chose Abraham to be the patriarch who started, from his offspring, the nation of Israel began, okay? And God called him into that role. But later on, in Jesus' day... In Paul's day, and even now, the Jews believe that the reason God chose Abraham is because he was already righteous. He was doing the works of God, so God chose him.

But if we read the scripture, we find out that is not the case. Because Abraham, first of all, he was not a Jew to begin with, right? He ended up being the first Jew. He was a pagan who worshiped... He worshiped the moon, him and his family. He lived in a pagan land, and God chose him and said, hey, I want you to leave here and go here. I'm not going to tell you where you're going. Just pack up and start heading that way, and Abraham did it.

So their defense to Jesus about their behavior. Their claim to heaven, their claim to eternal life was based upon who their ancestor was. Let's go back to Romans chapter 4. Paul says here, what then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh. So let's talk about our hero of the faith. What was gained by his efforts? Was anything gained before God? Verse 2. Abraham was justified by works.

He had faith enough to do that. So that's who Abraham is. So like I said, he wasn't a Jew. He wasn't righteous. He was a Gentile, but God chose him anyways, okay? And in Romans 4... Or verses 1 and 2, Paul says this. Remember, he's speaking of Abraham as an example of righteousness and how we obtain righteousness. So he asks a question. He says, What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh?

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

He has something to boast about. That word justified, the idea of being made right before God. So if Abraham was right before God, in right standing with God, his status before God was right by his works. Paul says, well, if that was the case, hypothetically, he has something to boast about. But Paul just lays it out here, but not before God. The Jews believed that Abraham was not just a hero, of their faith, but in some of their own writings, they claimed that Abraham had kept all of God's holy law, even before the law was written.

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. So basically what Paul... The question he's asking here, he's saying... Since Abraham is the extreme example of righteousness, let's look carefully at him on the basis of righteousness. Let's look carefully. And he uses the word, he says, for if Abraham was justified. He uses the word justified, and I want to be clear that we understand what that is.

And we understand and read Romans with that clear understanding. And so we're gonna look a little bit more at righteousness this morning. But in Romans chapter four, verse one, it says, what then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

He is their father, right, if you will. So Father Abraham had many sons, many. How many? You don't know this song. Okay, some of you are like, I don't know what you're saying. Some of you, that's the only thing you'll hear for the rest of the day. You will sing Father Abraham for the rest of the day. Well, you're welcome. All right, so he is the first and thus the father of the Jewish people, the Hebrew nation. Now, God made a covenant with Abraham.

They even claimed that Abraham did not need to repent or be forgiven of any sin. So Paul writing to the church in Rome, which was comprised of Gentiles, but also a lot of Jews. He says, let's talk about Abraham. Did Abraham gain anything? Did Abraham gain anything by his works? Well, if he did, I want you to know that it wouldn't matter before God. Because everyone, including Abraham's boasting, is excluded before God.

Last week we talked about righteousness. Righteousness is when we are in right standing with God. We're right before God. Justified means... Justified means to be declared righteous. So I hope that makes sense. Justified means to be declared righteous. Okay? So, was Abraham justified by his works or by something else? That's the question that we want to answer here. So, if Abraham... Paul says this at the end of chapter 2.

And so this is a monumental thing, right? Abraham is such an important person. And in their minds, if there was a perfect Jew, it was Abraham. And so if anyone was saved by being Jewish, right, right, which in their mind, that is how people were saved. It was Abraham. He was the model. Well, then the second person that we'll see this morning is a man named David. And of course, David would be the next most important person in Jewish history.

He was their king. He was their hero. David would be the poster child for salvation because he was, you know, quote unquote, right, a man after God's own heart. What a wonderful description. But like Abraham, God would make a covenant with David. And so in their mind, right, David was like automatically saved. Abraham was automatically saved because of who they were. Well, here's the question. Here's the question. How were they saved?

If Abraham could be righteous by something he did, he would have a reason to brag about it. Wouldn't you say? But he says, not before God. Because that's not what the Bible says. The truth is, Abraham had nothing to brag about. Neither do any of us. For us to be righteous, and for Abraham to be righteous, God requires perfection. Perfection. Jesus even speaks about this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, verse 48.

Is this blessing 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? 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 of righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness would be counted to them as well.

Right? Were they in need? Was Abraham in need? Was David in need? Were they saved by simply being who they were? Or were they saved in the same way that you and I are? Well, we're going to answer that today. And so let's talk about Abraham. Was Abraham saved by? His own goodness? Was he saved by his own rightness? Was he saved because he was the first Jewish person? Well, look at verse one. Paul asks, what then do we say?

Now, Abraham was revered by the Jewish people of the day, by the religious people. Because he was known as the father of their faith. He was the one that God showed up to and he called to follow him. And kind of every one of them can trace both their physical lineage and their spiritual lineage to Abraham. Right? He is the forefather, the forerunner. And so we did a series on Abraham earlier this year, but I wanted to recap some of the things that Abraham did as he followed God. Because this guy was a seriously devoted guy to the Lord.

What does the Bible say? And let me just say this to you. If God said it, you can bank on it. He is true, and the Bible says, let God be true, and every man, by comparison, be a liar. What does the scripture say? So Paul asks the church that. Now, he's referencing back to the Old Testament. And he quotes from the Old Testament. Verse 3. The quote is, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Let's hold our spot in Romans and go back to the first book of the Bible, Genesis.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our father has found according to the flesh? Okay, so get what's being asked here. The word found means what did Abraham discover to be true? Okay, about eternal salvation. That's what we're talking about. What is Abraham? Abraham found out about how a person is saved. Is it related to human ability? That's the question. Look what it says. What then shall we say that Abraham, our father has found to be true according to the flesh?

Abraham was not perfect by any means. And if you study the book of Genesis, and all about Abraham, you realize right away that he was far from perfect. He made a lot of mistakes. And he... He liked to take situations or hardships into his own hands, instead of trusting God. And on two occasions, he lied about his wife. And he told her to lie too, and said, Tell people that you're my sister, so we won't be killed. Right?

And we'll look at Genesis chapter number 15. Paul says, your tradition claims that Abraham earned God's favor, earned a right status before God. But what does the scripture say? Paul quotes Genesis chapter number 15. And we'll get to that verse in a moment. Let's begin. Verse 1. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram. This is even before his name was changed to Abraham. The word of the Lord comes to Abram in a vision.

Is it possible for a person to be saved according to the flesh? We said it last week. You could say according to human ability. Was Abraham saved by keeping the law? Was Abraham saved? Was Abraham saved by being a Jewish person? Was Abraham saved by being good, by being right or kind or nice or serving or giving or any other thing? How was Abraham saved? Again, in their mind, Abraham was the perfect example of what it means to be a Jewish person.

Two times he did that. Also, God had promised a child to Abraham and his wife, Sarah. And it hadn't happened. Ten years had went by. And it happened. And it happened. And it happened. And it happened. And it hadn't happened. So Abraham, Ham, and Sarah took matters into their own hands. And Abraham had a child with Sarah's servant, Hagar. But that wasn't God's plan. He was not a righteous man on his own. He was far from it.

He represented everything that made them God's chosen people. So Paul says this, verse two, for if, and this is a big if, right? If Abraham was justified by works or by human effort, well, he has something to boast about between us, right? He could boast that he was better than I am, right? And he would be right, but not before God. He's not going to be able to boast before God. See the word, justified, remember what it means? Have you broken it down at all this week? Just as if I'd never sinned. That's what the word justified means. It doesn't mean you're kind of forgiven. It means it is as though you have never sinned ever, right? So when it says here that Abraham was justified by works, it means he was forgiven of all past, present, and future sin, all at one point, at one moment, justified. Just as if he had never sinned ever in the first place. And how did this happen?

So let's read a little bit. Chapter four, verses one through 12. So when you see the word count, just go, oh, there it is. Oh, there it is. Okay, just follow along. So Romans four, it says, what then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefathers, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what? What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

And then he answers the question. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. It had nothing to do with anything he did. It was counted to him as righteous. What does Scripture say? To look at Scripture. We believe things. And we may even read the Scripture. And I've had people say, I know what the Scripture says, but I believe this. But here's the truth. Our beliefs don't line up with Scripture.

says. The scripture that is being referred to here is the area of scripture that describes, please catch this, the moment of Abraham's salvation. It was not a progression. It was a moment of salvation. And this is monumental that you understand what this is saying. It takes us back to Genesis 15. And to give you some of the background of this, if you weren't here for our Abraham series, um, a few months back, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, if you remember, they are elderly, uh, nearly a hundred. They are childless. They've gone their whole lives without having children. And, uh, they are now past the age of bearing children, but they do not turn away from the Lord through this process. Instead, they are going to have children. And they are going to have they follow him. They love him. They serve him. And they just sort of, I guess, resign themselves to the fact that they are not going to h