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Justified By Faith - Romans 4

In 2006 a group of children travelled from Britain to Germany to watch the World Cup. Unfortunately when they got to the stadium they discovered their tickets were forgeries and they couldn't get in. Tickets for the match were hard to come by and only available at high inflated prices. The key question for them and for thousands of other people was how do I get in?

The question of entering God's presence is in a way the question behind the Book of Romans. How do I get entry into God's presence? Or to put it in more theological words, as used in Romans how do I gain righteousness? How am I justified before God?

Gaining entry into God's presence is a problem. For God is holy that is he is morally perfect. There is not one speck of wrong in him. God is holy but we are not. He is righteous but we are not. If we look back in the first three chapters of Romans we see why Paul's diagnosis of the human situation makes sense. There he shows how all mankind has turned it's back on God and ignored him. He shows how we have chosen to go our own way and consequently paid the price. We are without excuse. It is not just the "bad" but all of us who break God's law. This includes the religious and the irreligious, the upright and the depraved are all in the same boat. Paul sums up the situation in Romans 3 verse 23 with these words "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

We affirm this diagnosis of our human situation when we begin a service with a confession of sin. We also witness to it in the baptism service. Here people promise to reject the devil and all rebellion against God, to renounce sin and the corruption of evil, and repent of sins that separate us from God and neighbour.

That is the human problem but what is the solution? It is a question that must be answered. For a God made the universe and controls space and time our peace and ultimate well being depends on being with a right relationship with him. We cannot know harmony if we are out of sorts with the one who ordered the universe. One day we must face God and his judgment. At the end of Romans chapter 3, Paul in a nutshell explains the solution. The Message version (a contemporary translation) puts it this way "since we have complied this long and sorry record of sinners (both us and them) and proved we were utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we were in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Christ Jesus. God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear the world of sin."

The implications of this are very radical. It explains the solution in terms of what God did and not in terms of what we could do. It is saying that we can do nothing, nothing at all to put ourselves right with God. Our good works, morality or religion are a complete and utter waste of time as far as being made righteous with God is concerned. Note this is not saying these things have no value at all, but as far as putting us right with God they are no value. They are of no value because God cannot ignore sin and God owes us nothing. We have no claim on God for anything. We cannot earn or buy our way back into his presence. All this is a very humbling idea, for it means it is only by God's action in Jesus Christ that we are made righteous.

If this comes as a shock or offends our pride and gives us questions it was also very much in the case of the Jewish people in Paul's time. Having explained it once Paul explains it again and he does so using an example the Jewish people will understand. He writes about Abraham the founding farther of the Jewish people who lived about 2000BC at the very dawning of recorded time.

Paul teaches out what righteousness by faith is through Abraham's story. He does this specifically in terms of three negatives, that righteousness by faith means that it is not, not by circumcision, not by law. As a result we are only made righteous with God by Grace.

Not by Works - verses 1 - 8

We do not get right with God by our good works. As good works this would include such things as being generally a nice person, being the sort of person which is good to know, being someone who is already to do "anything for anyone", or a good citizen or the sort of person you would like to move into the house of flat next door to you when it is empty. All these are ways in which the express the idea of good works in our culture.

In verse 2 we see Paul looking back at the life of Abraham and his walk with God. If Abraham had been made right with God by his works he would have had something to boast about. However rather (verse 3) we see that Abraham's righteousness was given to him as a gift. If you work for someone at the end of the week or the month you have a legal right to your wages. You can be proud of your work. However rather (verse 3 and verse 5) it says that his righteousness was credited to him as a gift. Credited to him means something like put on his account. It means that is not because of his goodness but of his trust in God on what he has specifically done through Jesus Christ that he was declared righteous.

To drive the point home Paul gives another example from the writing of Israel's greatest King, King David. If we look in verses 7 to 8 he quotes a Psalm about the wonder of God's forgiveness. But nowhere is any mention of David being forgiven and received his blessing because of anything he has done. When we consider this it goes completely against the way our world thinks. See verse 5 hear we read "to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." It turns everything we know upside down. Surely it is normally the one who works who gets paid? Imagine if this principle applied to the work place. How would it be to run a company on this basis? Or what about the one who works in such a place? Is it a charter for laziness? It is saying come to work, do nothing, laze around and play computer games and make endless phone calls and then at the end of the month you get a fat cheque to credit into your account. All for doing nothing! If the work place were like that it would both be wrong and unfair.

That is what is God has done in saving us. For there is no other way we can be put right with God other than by his totally undeserved gift.

Not by Circumcision verses 9 to 12

All adult male Jews were required to be circumcised. It was a sign of belonging to God and a very important sign at that. As with many signs in time it became so important that it took on a life of it's own. A sign of belonging became an end in itself which signaled more national identity than specifically a spiritual relationship with God.

The issue for people in Paul's day was circumcision. For us it may be any outward religious sign. It reminds us, the sign, be it baptism for adults or infants or confirmation is only of value in the end if there is faith with it.

When did Abraham declare God as righteous? If you look in verses 9 and 10 we see that this blessing was not after he had been circumcised but before. If you go and look at the story of Abraham in Genesis 11 to 20 you can see how he trusted God with the promise of having a son and then fourteen years later God commanded him to be circumcised. As a result (verse 12) we see he is a spiritual father of both those who have been circumcised and those who have not been circumcised.

Not by Law verses 13 to 17

Here we see the third means of being made right with God and inadequate. That is the Law. By this we mean the keeping of God's commandments.

However such a way of being put right with God is not incompatible with the idea of faith. The problem of trying to be made right with God through law is that we break God's law. Lest we think that's to big a deal remember God looks into our heart, our thoughts, words and deeds stand under his judgment. Since God is holy he is rightly angry. And we se there the results (verse 15) that God is wrathful i.e. he is righteously angry.

So if God is angry how can we come into his presence? The ways like the religious person, like to Jewish person might have tried - good works, religion or keep the Law fail. How do we get in? Well in exactly the same way that Abraham got in. Abraham is a model for all of us. In both verse 11 and 16 Paul has written "He is the Father of us all." He is the Father of both the circumcised and the uncircumcised, those you think they may have a special claim on God and those who feel far from him. And the way in is not by human effort but by faith in what God has done.

Only by Grace verses 18 to 22

When we look at the end of the passage in verse 18 towards the end, you see how Abraham was promised a son. This seemed humanly impossible he and his wife Sarai had no children and they were both well past the normal age of having children. But Abraham trusted God, that is he took God at his word his attitude was God said it would be so and thus it will happen. That provides a model for us today. The issue for us is not having children, but finding the forgiveness of sins and being made right with God. How dos this happen? Its by faith.

Let me explain what faith is a little bit more. Faith as the Bible sees it is not simply believing in the existence of God, for if that was the case we would find the devil in heaven! After all the devil believes that God exists but it doesn’t make any difference. Nor is faith simply believing that God can do a lot; that God is strong; that he can heal etc. Jesus was once speaking to the people who doubted said "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move from here and it will move." (Matthew 17 verse 20). If that was the case we would only find the optimist and the self confident in heaven. There would be no room for the pessimist and those who struggle with life and doubt easily. This is what faith is - an active trust in God. Indeed we say in the baptism service, not simply I believe in God, but I believe and trust in him. So you may have a weak and wobbly faith that is full of doubts but if you are prepared to trust God with your will that is enough.

Let me read a bit from the Message version which sums up what Abraham did "when everything was hopeless Abraham believed anyway deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he could not do but on what God said he would do... He did not tiptoe around asking God cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged straight into the promise and came out strong ready for God sure God would make good what he had said." For Abraham this was the promise of a son. For us to it is the promise of the Son - the Son of God. When we believe that Jesus died in our place bearing our sins and put our trust in him and repent of our sins we are put right with God

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