WEBVTT 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:22.399 Our reading today is from Romans chapter four, verses one to twelve. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:32.079 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham or forefather according to the flesh? 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:38.159 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:40.640 For what does the scripture say? 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:45.200 Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:50.799 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:58.640 And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:04.640 Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:09.359 Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:14.000 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:19.599 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.000 For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:26.159 How then was it counted to him? 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:29.439 Was it before or after he had been circumcised? 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:32.640 It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:39.920 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:47.680 The purpose was to make him the father of all who believed without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:58.000 And to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:01:59.680 And so reads God's word. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:23.680 City Church has lived a bit of a nomadic lifestyle over the last uh month or so. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:31.759 And if you're in City Church, you know that uh we continue to be in search for uh a new uh space to meet and a new building. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:34.319 So here's my suggestion: let's just stay. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:39.520 Most of them are away in Grosvenor or in uh Evoka. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:44.879 No, seriously, it is a joy to be gathering with you guys. 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:57.120 There's long been an affection and partnership between Grosvenor and City, and uh for Ed and the elders uh to extend the offer to meet uh here for us is really significant. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:58.159 Um the St. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:02:59.439 Patrick's Day is wonderful. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:00.800 We are grateful for the ministry of St. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:01.280 Patrick. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:01.680 The St. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:11.439 Patrick's Day Parade is a pen when you are when you are a church that meets uh uh when it falls on a Sunday, and you meet on a Sunday in the city center. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:13.199 So we really are grateful to you. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:16.159 Can I make one other uh city church-based announcement? 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:24.400 It's not really uh exclusively to them, uh, but over on the tea and coffee table, you'll uh notice little flyers from Irish Church Missions. 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:30.479 Uh, Irish Church Missions is the uh the umbrella mission organization that City Church is part of. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:45.360 We are a daughter church of them, and they have uh new literature uh telling you about their work and how you might be able to pray for it, and also inviting you to consider uh giving a small amount monthly to support the work of Irish Church Missions. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:52.560 Of course, uh those of you from Grosvenor Road are very welcome uh to take uh one of those, uh, but I wouldn't presume upon it. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:04:03.680 Uh it's primarily for uh for city church folk to to grab one of those flyers and to take it home uh for your prayers and prayerful consideration for uh supporting the uh the work there. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:07.759 Let's uh let's jump into to Romans chapter four. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:12.159 Uh we are in a series uh in that if you want to pull it up. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:18.319 Uh we uh just it just dawned on us as Philippo was reading that we have a slight Bible translation clash. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:27.279 Uh, just realized that you guys have NIVs uh and on your chairs, and what was read was from the NIV from the N from the ESV. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:33.279 But hopefully there won't be too much of a uh a change and you'll be able to uh to stay together. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:40.000 But you can pull it up on your phone in the English Standard Version if you want to track with what I'm going to be speaking through uh as well. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:47.439 Uh I've said uh probably the city church before, uh, but I'll confess it here as well, uh, to the remnant from Grosvenor. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:56.480 Uh but one of the things that I really uh dislike and feel personally uncomfortable with is I don't really like feeling beholden to people. 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:03.920 Uh I don't like the idea of being invited round to a dinner party and arriving, as my mother would say, with both arms the one length. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:19.680 Uh, I feel like I want to bring some, I want to bring a uh a dessert or a bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates or something in order to uh contribute to uh to the the gift that is uh that evening. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:24.240 Uh I don't really like the idea of uh of being dependent on people. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:33.040 In fact, I'm I I would much I'd be I would feel much more comfortable lending you 20 euro than having you uh have to lend me 20 euro. 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:37.279 That is to say, if you all come up to me after the service and say, can I borrow 20 euro? 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:39.040 That's gonna be a problem. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:46.480 Uh but you get the idea, I don't like to be in, as I perceive it, uh, somebody's debt. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:56.240 And you might kind of nod your head, and I don't know, maybe that's an Irish thing, but I suspect that perhaps it's more a human thing. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:03.680 That one of the things that we struggle the most with is this idea of being beholden to someone, of being in someone's debt. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:05.279 And that's a problem. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:11.439 That's a problem when it comes to what Christians believe. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:20.079 Because we believe that we are completely and utterly in God's debt. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:28.639 That if we are going to enjoy forgiveness and new life with Him, that that is not something that we can contribute to. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:43.279 That that's not something that we bring our bargaining chips, our little bit, our box of chocolates, spiritually speaking, and offer it and go, it's great that you're forgiving me, but but would you enjoy these uh as well? 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:44.959 It doesn't work that way. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:54.160 It's one of the things that I think is most uncomfortable about Christianity is that salvation is an unearned gift of God. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:59.759 It's uncomfortable because the human heart instinctively wants to contribute something. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:04.639 We want to say, oh well, I did my bit as well. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:07.120 I tried my best. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:11.920 The Bible says, no, you cannot merit it. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:16.319 You cannot earn it, you cannot pay back God for it. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:25.680 He and I, or you and he, do not collaborate together in order to bring about your salvation. 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:32.480 It's a gift from start to finish of his grace. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:38.879 You might sit here and go, yes. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:39.839 Amen. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:41.120 Absolutely. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:44.560 And you would be a good and well-taught believer. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:51.600 You might think that that's a quite a straightforward thing to grasp, but I think that many of us live as though it's not true. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:08:04.959 How many of us live and we think, well, Jesus is more pleased with me on the days that I read my Bible, and he's less pleased with me on the days that I don't? 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:07.199 Do you ever think like that? 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:18.000 Or do you think he's more pleased with me when I don't fall into that habitual sin? 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:22.639 And he's less pleased with me when I do. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:42.799 Or isn't it easy to think that Jesus forgives my sin, but I need to I need to work hard to show that his sacrifice was really worth it for me. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:51.279 Or we can think perhaps that forgiveness kind of, it's like the starter motor in a car. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:09:07.039 That Jesus forgives your sins and it gets you off and running, but it's with the help of the Spirit that you live a positively righteous life, and in the end, God accepts you on that basis. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:14.960 In verse 5 of the reading, Paul says something that is quite uncomfortable. 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:23.759 He says that God justifies the ungodly. 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:25.120 Do you see that? 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:35.440 The one who does not work but believes in him, that's God, who justifies, we're going to look at what that means, the ungodly. 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:49.759 That is, God declares ungodly people, people who are not like God in terms of their moral character, he declares those people to be righteous. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:57.840 No inherent moral goodness, no waiting to see if they can clean up their act, how the rest of their life will pan out. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:11.279 No, God looks at men and women who are hostile to him in thought and word and deed and have no merit of their own, and he says, You are righteous. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:14.480 Justifies the ungodly. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:22.879 Now, in a sense, Paul's been saying this from the from the start, and uh forgive me, Grosner Remnant. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:28.960 Let me kind of bring you up to speed with where where we are uh in in terms of the book. 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:49.360 Um, but it uh Paul has been making this case that by human uh human nature is ungodly, that we by nature and choice suppress the truth about God in our unrighteousness, we reject him and his authority over our lives and live contrary to his law and design. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:54.879 And as a result, we rightly deserve his wrath, his judgment. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:07.279 And yet, what we read here from Paul in Romans 5, Romans 4, verse 5, is that God justifies, declares righteous people like that. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:14.879 People who suppress the truth and their own righteousness, people who are hostile to God in their mind. 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:19.360 He justifies the ungodly. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:28.320 And Paul has been showing us that that has been God's intention all along. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:38.720 That in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament, people are saved by God as a gift of his grace. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:56.000 And in chapter 4, he is going to establish that this is how it has always been, and he's going to help us to understand how is it that God, the Holy One, could declare sinful people like you and I to be righteous. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:57.679 How is it? 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:05.919 And he establishes this argument by going back to the Old Testament and looking at two key characters from the Old Testament. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:08.960 First is Abraham, and the second is David. 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:12.320 And this is uh this is very important for Paul. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:20.639 This is a very good way of arguing for it because of the significance that these two people occupied. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:23.600 Abraham was the was the O T O G. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:30.000 He was the man of faith, the father of all who believed. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:33.360 And David was the goat in terms of Israel's kings. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:35.840 You know, goat, greatest of all time. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:41.279 That's me being street and hip. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:55.919 But David represented the high watermark of Israel's kingdom, and so you have the father of faith and the greatest king that Israel had ever known. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:02.480 And Paul is saying that both of those back up what I am saying. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:17.519 And if he can show that they understood that salvation was by grace alone, through faith in God alone, then he can firmly establish that the message of Christianity stands in that same vein. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:20.320 So let's ask a couple of questions of this passage. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:27.600 First question is this What does it mean that God justifies the ungodly? 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:35.519 Because using what we don't usually use the word justify, and it's not entirely clear what the word ungodly means. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:40.000 So, what does it mean that God justifies the ungodly? 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:42.720 Two things on this point. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:48.320 First is God treats you as though you lived a righteous life. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:54.080 God treats you as though you lived a righteous life. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:57.759 Now, some of you might look back on your life. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:03.600 You might even just look back on the last week and think, well, how can that be? 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:12.960 How can it be that God would treat me as though I lived a perfect life? 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:25.120 Paul, in a sense, comes to you at the start of Romans 4, and he puts his arm around your shoulder and he says, Yeah, but do you remember Abraham? 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:28.320 It was the same for him. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:40.720 We think of Abraham, and certainly the Jews thought of Abraham, primarily in terms of the great things that he did towards the end of his life. 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:49.679 You think of his faithful obedience to the call of God to sacrifice Isaac, his son. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:15:03.840 And you think of that great, tense, emotionally breathless moment with Abraham with dagger raised as an expression of his faith and the angel calling from heaven, Abraham, Abraham. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:12.240 And Isaac is spared, and the ram is sacrificed in his stead. 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:23.919 We think of that, but we forget that actually he's walked with God for 30 years in order to get to this point. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:26.960 And so Paul takes us much earlier. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:36.799 He takes us all the way back to Genesis 15, to a point when Abraham, frankly, was struggling with the promises of God. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:38.639 He had doubts, he had questions. 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:47.840 He just won a great battle, but God's promise of an heir, God's promise of a son, seemed still unrealized. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:53.919 His faith was not what it would be in Genesis 22. 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:02.960 And yet God comes to him in Genesis 15 and reassures him of his promises. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:11.279 And then Paul quotes Genesis 15, verse 6, and he quotes it here in our reading in verse 3. 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:12.320 Look at it with me. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:15.200 He asks the question for what does the scripture say? 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:24.000 Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:28.639 Abraham believed God, and what did God do? 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:33.440 He counted it to him as righteousness. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:36.720 Now, the word counted is key for our understanding here. 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:38.320 It's an accounting term. 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:43.519 It means to credit to someone's account. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:51.679 It comes up ten times in this chapter, six times just in the reading that we're looking at in this portion. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:54.080 And so it is a key term. 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:59.120 It means to put credit into someone's account. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:01.679 That is, Abraham was not perfect. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:04.480 He was not blameless in himself. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:11.759 Yet, when he believed in God, God treated him as though he were. 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:17.920 He was not perfect, and God treated him as though he was. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:24.400 We are all in the red, spiritually speaking. 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:27.039 We are morally bankrupt. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:38.400 Trusting God means that God doesn't just clear our debts and bring us to bring us to zero in our account. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:42.640 No, he credits our account. 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:45.200 He makes us righteous. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:47.440 Do you understand that? 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:54.480 Sometimes we teach our children that to be justified means just as if I'd never sinned. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:57.200 But that's only half the story. 00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:59.039 That's what Paul's saying here. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:03.039 It's only half the story to say, just as if I'd never sinned. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:07.839 Just as if I'd never sinned is clear your debt, bring you up to zero. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:11.119 But how do you get positive righteousness? 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:12.640 How do you get into credit? 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:14.640 Do you do it by working really hard? 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:16.799 Do you do it by participation in the sacraments? 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:19.119 No, Paul says. 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:23.200 God makes you positively righteous. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:26.720 It's not just as if I'd never sinned. 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:31.839 It's just as if I'd always obeyed. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:35.119 Just as if I'd always obeyed. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:45.920 God looked at Abraham as one who had always perfectly obeyed his law. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:49.039 He justified the ungodly. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:57.119 Abraham believed God and God counted it to him as righteousness. 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:11.839 Another way of thinking about this is that God changed Abraham's status before he changed Abraham's character. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:18.079 He changed Abraham's status before he changed his character. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:21.200 God treated him as righteous. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:27.680 And then over time, over the course of his life, he made him righteous. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:38.400 If you're here this morning and you're trusting in Jesus, you are a perfect sinner. 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:40.079 Did you know that? 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:41.839 You think, oh yeah, no, I am. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:43.519 I am a perfect sinner. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:46.880 No, you're a perfect sinner. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:49.599 This is what Martin Luther said. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:20:02.640 Martin Luther said that the Christian was, I'm gonna be fancy now and quote some Latin, so if you're older and did classics, things like that, said that you're similar eustus et picator, simultaneously justified and sinful. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:05.039 That is the Christian life. 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:06.799 You are a perfect sinner. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:15.359 You are regarded by God as being perfectly obedient, as being righteous. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:19.680 And over the course of your life, he'll change your character. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:24.000 But he's already changed your status by faith in Jesus. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:28.000 We're perfect sinners. 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:36.240 Your character, I am sure, is a bit of a work in progress. 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:38.960 You've got some rough edges to smooth out. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:46.960 But your status is one of the blameless. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:48.559 Why? 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.640 Because you have been credited with a righteousness. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.480 The question then is, whose righteousness is it? 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:09.599 Remember, or look back with me rather, at verse 2, where Paul says, Well, if Abraham was justified by works, he's got something to boast about, but not before God. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:15.200 That is, if Abraham's life was, he was it was pretty godly in the end. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:24.319 You know, he he did a lot, he listened to God, and he obeyed a lot, and and if he was justified by those works, well, he'd be able to boast to you and I, because he's better than us. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:28.640 He'd be able to kind of go, well, you know, um, I took my son to Mount Moriah. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:37.039 I I led 300 men in battle against the the king of uh Sodom and the kings of the valley, and uh, you know, I did I did all of these things. 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:42.640 He would sometimes have something to boast about, but Paul kind of tips his hand and goes, Yeah, but not before God. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:50.960 Because none of those things are able to change his status. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:59.759 When God credits us with a righteousness, it is a righteousness that is not our own. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.480 A righteousness that is alien to us. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:09.920 It is a righteousness that belongs to the Lord Jesus. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:11.119 Do you realize that? 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:12.880 Why did Jesus even live a life? 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:20.720 Do you ever think, you know, if we if we focus so much on the cross and resurrection on Easter, and the cross and resurrection are pretty important. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:22.640 Don't mishear me. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:26.880 But why wasn't Jesus just zapped down from heaven like Mr. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:30.799 Bean on Thursday evening and then die the next day? 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:35.279 Well, because his sinless life mattered. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:46.640 He lived a sinless life in order so that on that cross, his sinless, perfect life of righteousness might be credited to your account. 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:51.440 That you might be clothed in that righteousness. 00:22:51.599 --> 00:23:00.000 In the same way that when the prodigal returns, the father, after he's embraced his son, says, Go and get the best robe and put it on him. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:04.400 Who owns the best robe in a house in those days? 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:07.440 It's the Father Himself. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:11.119 He's saying, Go get my robe and put it on my son. 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:18.720 Jesus on that cross took off his righteousness and placed it around all those who would put their faith in him. 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:20.960 That is what it means. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:25.200 When it says that God justifies the ungodly. 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:32.880 So that was God treats you as though you lived a righteous life. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:40.000 But the second aspect of this is the aspect that David brings in, and that is that God doesn't count your sins against you. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:47.119 God treats you as though you'd lived a righteous life, and then he doesn't count your sins against you. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:24:01.039 Here, Paul quotes Psalm 34 in verses 7 and 8, where he says, Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:10.400 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count, see that word again, not count his sin, or not credit his sin. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:19.119 David, if you know anything of David's life, you know that David is somewhat aware of his sinfulness, and indeed still are we. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:25.119 We can think of some of David's great successes, but some of David's terrible failures. 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:29.839 Not least of all the episode with Bathsheba and Uriah. 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:39.519 We and David also are aware of his sin. 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:45.680 And it is because of his awareness of his own sin that he rejoices. 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:46.720 He says, Blessed. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:54.720 I have been blessed by God, because God does not hold me to my sin. 00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:01.759 He does not hold my sin against me, and so he rejoices in it. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:11.920 What a thing, David says, that we might have our sinful deeds forgiven, that God would not hold those against us. 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:18.480 Isn't it a terrible thing to have somebody to continue to lord something over you? 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:24.559 Somebody who struggles to forgive you, who keeps on bringing up that thing that you have done. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:27.759 God is not like that. 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:32.000 He does not hold our sins against us. 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:41.119 And so, in a sense, both Abraham and David go together in our experience of grace in the Christian life. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:46.240 We are given a righteousness not of our own. 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:54.640 And our sin is taken from us and not counted against us. 00:25:56.640 --> 00:25:58.400 Well, how is it dealt with? 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:02.799 Well, that's what we saw in chapter three, right towards the end. 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:05.519 That it is dealt with on the cross of the Lord Jesus. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:24.480 And so you see the two aspects of what Martin Luther calls the great exchange, that just as just as Christ's righteousness is taken from him and placed on our backs, so our sin is taken from us and placed upon him. 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:27.440 Both go together. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:33.359 It is not just that Christ takes our sin, that will be bringing us up to zero again, remember? 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:39.039 It's not just that Christ takes our sin, though wonderfully and graciously he does. 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:46.640 It is that he is disrobed of his righteousness and it is placed upon sinful people like you and I. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:50.960 That is what Paul is saying has always been the case. 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:53.920 It is what Abraham and David understood. 00:26:54.240 --> 00:27:01.519 It is what it is how God, the Holy One, can justify the ungodly. 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:06.880 And that is our second question. 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:12.079 How does that justification come to us? 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:13.839 How do we realize it? 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:21.279 Well, on one level, we could be all be in Sunday school now and we could just stick up our hands and go faith and then all go home, or rather stay for lunch. 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:26.079 It's a simple answer. 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:29.839 And yet it's worth being unpacked. 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:36.319 Because what does it mean that we are justified by faith? 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:41.279 Paul helps us to understand here in these verses. 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:46.000 First, it is faith over and against works. 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:48.880 It is faith, not works. 00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:53.039 This is his illustration in verse 4. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:59.359 Now, to the one who works, his wages are counted not, not counted as a gift, but as his due. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:07.680 And to the one who does not work but believe in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:15.200 There are two primary ways in which some money can land in your bank account. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:20.640 You can work hard every day of the month or however frequently you get paid. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:34.319 You can work hard for your employer, do all of the tasks that they require of you, all of the demands that they place upon you, and then at the end of the week or at the end of the month, they pay you, you hope. 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:53.680 Your work demands, requires a compensation for the hours given for the labor exerted. 00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:57.519 You are owed your wages. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:04.319 That is primarily in our world how money tends to land in your bank account. 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:10.000 The other way that some money can land in your bank account is by a gift. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:24.400 Granny logs on to her banking app and she sends you a hundred euro, or she places it in a card, and she gives it to you. 00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:25.200 Why? 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:28.079 Because you've exerted hours and fulfilled all of her demands? 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:29.440 Well, probably not. 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:32.720 Simply because she loves you. 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:38.079 Abraham wasn't credited with righteousness because he'd earned it. 00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:42.640 In fact, he was credited with righteousness before he had ever earned it. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:50.880 It was given to him as a gift, and that gift comes by faith. 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:57.440 Faith and works are two different types of trust. 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:25.279 To work is to trust in your exertion, to trust in your obedience, to trust in your merit, to trust in your participation in religious activity, and then to say that on that basis, God in exchange gives me life. 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:28.559 You are trusting in those works. 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:43.920 Faith is to transfer our trust, to stop trusting in what we do, and to trust in what God has done. 00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:49.599 Faith is the antithesis of works. 00:30:52.319 --> 00:31:09.519 Second, faith is not abstract belief, it is not the simple affirming that God is there, a kind of trust in a deity, or to say that you're open to spiritual things or a religious person. 00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:14.160 No, faith is not an abstract idea. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:19.279 It must have an object, it must have something that it is grasping. 00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:24.480 It is a dependence, a reliance on something or someone. 00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:31.759 And here it is a reliance upon the promises of God and on the provision of a savior. 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:44.079 Notice what Paul says in verse 5 to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:53.920 Abraham did not simply believe that God existed, he placed his trust in God. 00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:56.400 He took him at his word. 00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:04.000 And so can I encourage you, brothers and sisters, friends, do not be content to be someone who says, Well, I believe in God. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:08.400 The question is rather, do you take him at his word? 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:10.559 Do you trust his promises? 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:15.599 Do you depend upon him for forgiveness and for life? 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:20.799 Faith is not works, it is not an abstract belief. 00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:24.400 And finally, faith is not a trade. 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:33.279 Sometimes we can think that faith is what I owe God in exchange for forgiveness. 00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:39.119 So we we you listen to what I've said and say, you know, it's not about moral goodness and doing religious things. 00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:40.319 You go, yeah, absolutely. 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:42.559 I like I'm not trusting in any of those things. 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:52.799 But the way that you regard your faith is that is what I offer God, and God in exchange gives me forgiveness in life. 00:32:53.119 --> 00:32:56.079 Faith is the part that I play. 00:32:57.599 --> 00:32:59.839 It's my side of the trade. 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:05.039 It's not a good deed, it's it's this kind of spiritual thing. 00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:11.039 But that's what I offer, and God gives me forgiveness. 00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:14.000 Faith is not a trade. 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:17.920 Do not think of it as something that you exchange with God. 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:25.519 Rather, faith is the channel through which forgiveness flows. 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:30.319 It is not an exchange for righteousness. 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:35.599 It is a channel along which righteousness flows. 00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:43.440 You see, if faith were something that you traded with God, then your righteousness would not be a gift. 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:45.039 Faith would be the work. 00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:50.079 But faith is not a work that you have to perform. 00:33:51.279 --> 00:34:00.400 It is the mechanism, it is the way by which the undeserving sinner is made righteous. 00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:10.639 When then does God justify the ungodly? 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:16.239 So we have seen what does it mean for God to justify the ungodly? 00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:31.519 That is, that he regards you as though you'd always lived a righteous life, he does not count your sin against you, that it comes to us by faith, not works, not abstract belief, but a trust in God, and not a trade that we offer to God. 00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:35.440 When does God justify the ungodly? 00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:43.519 Well, we are told in verses 9 through 12, and I'll deal with them very briefly because uh we will be looking at it in more detail next week. 00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:46.079 Um sorry to you, uh Grosvenorites. 00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:49.920 You can come to the Odeon and uh hear the rest of the chapter if you so desire. 00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:57.360 Uh, but very briefly, the question that 9 to 12 deals with is well, when did God justify Abraham? 00:34:57.519 --> 00:35:00.800 Was it before or after he was circumcised? 00:35:00.960 --> 00:35:06.719 And the emphasis on circumcision here is well, was it before or after he had done a religious work? 00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:09.920 He had done a big obedient thing. 00:35:10.480 --> 00:35:14.719 And Paul's point is, well, God justified him before. 00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:22.000 Justified him before he had ever done any religious, obedient work. 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:28.559 Status always comes before character. 00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:36.000 God changed his status, and then over time he changed his character. 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:42.800 God is committed to making you more like Jesus, he will see that work done. 00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:53.360 He is committed to making you more like his son, but you need to know that he regards you as his son now if you are trusting in him. 00:35:56.480 --> 00:36:02.400 God justified Abraham before he did anything to deserve it, because salvation is by faith. 00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:05.119 It's by grace through faith. 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:10.400 It is a gift, not an exchange for any work done. 00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:22.880 And as a result, and this is what Paul goes on to expand, is that Abraham, therefore, is the father of all who trust in God. 00:36:23.679 --> 00:36:30.079 That to be a son or a daughter of Abraham is not about genetics and ethnicity and lineage. 00:36:31.199 --> 00:36:37.440 No, no, the sons and daughters of Abraham are the people who share in Abraham's faith. 00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:49.039 So you sit here and you think, well, I don't have any, I don't think I've got any Jewish descent, and uh I think that I'm just a true blood Gentile, and but am I a child of Abraham? 00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:51.199 Well, do you share in Abraham's faith? 00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:52.320 Yes, I do. 00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:54.079 Then yes, you are. 00:36:55.360 --> 00:37:03.840 So rather than there being division between Jew and Gentile, what Paul goes on to show us here is that Abraham is the father of one united church. 00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:08.639 As we finish, why does any of this matter? 00:37:11.440 --> 00:37:21.360 If we were saved by works, if we were saved by our moral goodness and our obedience, then we would have no solid basis for assurance. 00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:27.679 There would always be that gnawing sense of, well, have I done enough? 00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:31.440 What if I undo what I have done? 00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:42.559 Being justified by faith alone as a gift grinds our assurance not in us, but in God and his grace. 00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:53.760 And so we were able to move forward with a with a humble thankfulness for what he has done. 00:37:54.880 --> 00:38:02.880 Not arrogant because it wasn't it was never our works to begin with, but humbly assured of his love for us. 00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:14.960 If we're saved by works, then the culture of a church would be one of competition and division. 00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:29.440 That we would exclude the sinful and elevate the seemingly moral, that we would divide in order to show our superiority over and against others. 00:38:34.400 --> 00:38:37.199 Why was Grosner so kind to let us meet in this building? 00:38:37.360 --> 00:38:41.599 Is it just because you're just you're just nice Southsiders taking pity on the Northsiders? 00:38:41.840 --> 00:38:43.199 Is that what it was? 00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:46.880 I'm sure you all are very nice people. 00:38:48.320 --> 00:38:53.920 But that's not really, not really, not when you dig down through it, what's going on. 00:38:56.159 --> 00:39:02.480 The reason why we're able to worship together is because we all understand justification by faith alone. 00:39:02.960 --> 00:39:09.920 And that when we understand it, we're able to set aside our possessiveness. 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:21.840 We're able to be generous, we're able to elevate others and be a blessing to others because we know that in doing so, it doesn't push us down, it doesn't denigrate our status. 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:25.840 There's no competition in this, right? 00:39:28.800 --> 00:39:35.760 That does not come from an understanding that we are saved by our works. 00:39:36.639 --> 00:39:49.199 Being justified by faith alone unites believers together, Jew and Gentile, Grosvenor and Sidney, under Christ. 00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:52.559 As we express this morning. 00:39:54.079 --> 00:40:03.679 If we are saved by works, then our obedience is motivated by a desire to gain, to place God in our debt in order to earn his favor. 00:40:04.239 --> 00:40:16.800 But being justified by faith alone means that we're set free, we're set free to obey out of gratitude and out of love, not out of a sense of obligation. 00:40:18.239 --> 00:40:38.719 And when we realize these things, even though we might wrestle with the idea of being in somebody's debt, and we might still struggle with the idea of turning up to someone's house with both arms the one length, we can look at our Savior and think, well, perhaps it's not so bad after all.