Paul says to the church, “You are not justified (or made righteous) by what you do, but by faith (or belief) alone in Jesus.” This is a radical statement for both Jews and Gentiles in the church in Rome. This idea is counter-cultural in many ways.
Justification means being declared righteous—as though we never sinned at all.
Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted a relationship with someone, but something stood in the way?
Remember, what does God want from you? He wants you. He wants a relationship with his human family, but Paul points out in the first two chapters of Romans that we are all guilty of sin, and our sin keeps us from the relationship God wants with us.
But because God is both just and loving, he made a way to repair the relationship. God is both judge and justifier. He doesn’t just turn a blind eye to our sin; instead, the judge, the one passing the sentence, paid the required price for our sin by sending Jesus to die on the cross, but three days later, God raised Him from the dead. Faith is the only thing required to receive this gift of justification. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done; trusting in God and His gift is all that is required to be justified.
There are not many ways to God or many ways to heaven; there is only one way! Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.
Some would say it’s pretty narrow-minded to think there is only one way. That’s not a very inclusive thing to say. First of all, I didn’t say it. Jesus said it. Second, it is marvelous to know there is just one way to find assurance that my relationship with God is secure.
What a horrible thing it would be to wonder if I’ve done enough or to wonder if the list of good things I’ve done outweighs the bad things I’ve done, or whether or not I have enough faith.
Someone once said to me that it is too simple. There has to be more to it. Understand this: It is simple on purpose. God is not trying to keep people from knowing Him. God is not vetting people to ensure they measure up or check a series of boxes. The only requirement is faith. God takes you as you are; whatever condition you are in.
This week, I picked up a truck camper FOR FREE! Yep you heard that right; it was free. The inside is really nice but it has been parked outside in the open for 34 years. It’s really dirty and has a couple things on the outside that need some attention.
When I got home from work, Olivia was already home and I come in the house and she looks at me, points outside and says, “What is that!? I said, “You just need a little vision. The outside is a little rough but the inside is pretty nice. You just need to look past the dirt and rough stuff and see the possibilities.”
God sees beyond what we see. Man is concerned about the external but God is concerned with the heart. If you think you have to clean yourself up before you follow Jesus, think again. Now, God won’t leave you in the same condition He finds you. He will bind your wounds, give you a new purpose, and set you on the path of obedience to His Word. But He will take you in whatever condition He finds you.
This is the radical message of the gospel. It is the good news.
Now, we get to chapter 4 of Romans and Paul says, “If you’re still not convinced, let me give you an example. Let’s talk about Abraham’s Faith.
Rom 4:1-3 (CSB)—What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 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 credited to him for righteousness.
Abraham was revered by the Jews. He was Father Abraham, the father of the Jewish people. God established the Jewish nation through Abraham, and it was with Abraham that God made His covenant.
But here’s the thing. Abraham was a bit of a scoundrel. His relationship with the truth was tenuous.
In Gen 12, God calls Abraham (Abram) to leave his people and follow God. God then makes this covenant with him:
Gen 12:1-3 (CSB)—Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
If you skip down to verse 10, just seven verses later, Abram decides to go to Egypt because there is a famine and Egypt has food. But before they go into Egypt, he pulls his wife, Sarah, aside and says, “Look, you’re a beautiful woman, and I’m afraid that the Egyptians will kill me so they can take you. So, tell everyone you’re my sister so they won’t hurt me.”
The Egyptians see that she is beautiful, and Pharaoh takes her into his harem until they find out the truth: Sarah is actually Abram’s wife, not his sister.
If that weren’t bad enough Abram does it a second time in Gen 20. He is traveling to a city called Gerar where a man named Abimelech is King. Abimelech takes Sarah thinking she is Abram’s sister. That is until God comes to Abimelech in a dream and sets him straight and tells him not to touch Sarah, she is actually Abram’s wife.
Abram and Sarai have no children but God promises Abram, in Gen 15, that he and Sarai will have a son.
Look what it says in verse 6:
Gen 15:6 (CSB)—Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
But just a few verses later, Abram takes matters into his own hands and thinks he is helping God fulfill his promise by taking his wife’s advice to have sex with her handmaiden so they will have a child. The handmaiden gets pregnant, and that creates a whole set of new problems.
My point is this: Even though Abraham has his failings and is a bit of a scoundrel at times, God declares him righteous. Why? It wasn’t because of his stellar moral record. It was because of his faith; it was because he believed God.
Rom 4:4-5 (CSB)—Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.
If Abraham had been declared righteous because he left his people to follow God, or because he was willing to sacrifice his son Issac, then he would have been given salvation as a reward. God would have been paying off a debt. But Paul’s argument is that it was nothing Abraham did or didn’t do—other than believe what God said was true—justified him.
If you are trying to work your way into God’s favor—either before or after your salvation—then He owes justification to you. Sometimes we may think, Now, Lord, I prayed a whole bunch today, so I know it’s going to be a great day. The implication of that thinking is, Lord, You owe me a great day because I was so good. And that nullifies grace. God will not be a debtor to any man. He won’t owe us anything.
Jesus illustrates this in a parable in Matt 20.
He tells the story of a land owner who hires some guys in the morning to work on his land. He then hires some more guys at noon and then a few more guys late in the afternoon. At the end of the day he pays everyone the same amount. The guys who were hired in the morning begin to complain that they should get more then the guys who were hired later.
Matt 20:15-16 (CSB)—Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what is mine? Are you jealous because I’m generous?, “So the last will be first, and the first last.”
That is why there will be no boasting in heaven—not only with regard to our salvation, but with regard to any of God’s blessings. We often forget that and think it’s because of our great faith or our amazing prayer life, our good works or our personal devotion that God has blessed us.
It’s a hard thing to say, but it’s true: Some of the greatest blessings both in my life and flowing through my life have come when I have not been in prayer, when I have not had strong faith, when I’ve not been what I should or want to be. God’s blessings during those times remind me that everything that comes my way is because of grace—unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor.
Understanding that these things come to me by grace creates in me a heart that wants to love the Lord and worship Him rather than a tendency to say, “If I’ve accomplished this with three hours of prayer, I wonder what I could do with six!”
I’m not telling you not to pray, but the motivation of hearts when we pray is of utmost importance.
Remember, the thing that was causing division in the church in Rome was the insistence by the Jewish believers that the Gentile believers be circumcised and followed the law.
Rom 4:9-11 (CSB)—Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. In what way, then, was it credited—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith, while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also.
In verses 9-11, Paul points something out to his readers who are very concerned about circumcision; at what point did God make his covenant with Abram? Abram was pronounced righteous in Genesis 15 before he was circumcised.
Paul here is saying Abraham is the father not only of the circumcised Jew, but of the uncircumcised Gentile because Abraham was pronounced righteous before he was circumcised. Circumcision did not provide righteousness. It confirmed righteousness.
For us, let’s compare this to baptism. You can be baptized a dozen times, but it won’t save you. What God is concerned about is that you believe in your heart that the work is done, that the price is already paid for your sin. The basis of everything we enjoy is that which God has done for us and on that fact that He views us through the lens of His Son.
I get baptized because I want to go on record externally, declaring what I know is already true internally.
I take Communion because I want to do outwardly what I’m excited about inwardly.
I don’t study my Bible to earn His favor, but because He has already shown me such favor.
It’s not responsibility; it’s response.
Why is it so hard for us to understand this?
Could it be because our culture says, “There’s no free lunch,” and “God helps those who help themselves”? Could it be because our flesh says, “Set the alarm earlier. Stay up later. Memorize more. Study harder. And maybe, just maybe, God will bless you”?
If I could communicate one thing to you this morning, it would be this:
Quit trying to give God a reason to bless you.
It’ll never work because God will be a debtor to no man. Just marvel at His goodness. Enjoy an intimate relationship with Him. Pursue Him and watch what He can pour out on you because you won’t be taking the credit.
In the final verse of this section Paul, using Abraham as his example, gives a beautiful description of faith.
Rom 4:18-25 (CSB)—He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
When everything seemed hopeless, he did not waiver but gave God the glory because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.
Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.
—Martin Luther
- Is there a seemingly hopeless situation in your life? Ask God to help you trust that He is able to do what He has promised.
- Have you been working, trying to give God a reason to bless you? Confess that to Him this morning and ask Him to begin to change your working out of a sense of responsibility to simply responding to His goodnes and mercy and grace.
Chris Hankel 
Leave a comment