Sermon – Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 “Justified by Faith”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 “Justified by Faith”
Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church
March 8, 2020

Last week we began the Lenten Season by looking at the doctrine of Original Sin.  We saw that our desire to decide for ourselves right from wrong allows us to set the bar lower and lower so that we mistakenly think that sin is out of our lives.  But, no matter what we might think, sin is still with us and something must be done about it.  We have no ability to do anything about sin.  So today we will look at what God has done to rectify this situation we find ourselves in.  We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.

Lord God, we have messed up our lives through sin.  Once again we bow before you in confession and plead for forgiveness.  We thank you for the free gift of our salvation through our faith in Jesus Christ.  Open our ears and our hearts today to hear the message you have for us.  In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Romans 4:1-5  NRS Romans 4:1 What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh?  2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  3 For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."  4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.  5 But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

Romans 4:13-17   13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.  14 If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.  15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.  16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us,  17 as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations")-- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

God promised to bless Abraham.  The promise was huge. Abraham’s children would be more numerous than all the stars in heaven or all the grains of sand in the sea.  They would form a great nation that would extend from the Red Sea to the River Euphrates and eventually around the world.  But the question that has perplexed scholars for thousands of years was:  Why did God make this promise to Abraham; why was Abraham chosen?

One of the ancient biblical scholars who tackled this issue was a rabbi named Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sirach who wrote in the second century before Christ.  His book of instruction was well known by Jewish and Christian writers during the New Testament period.  The Apostle Paul would have been very familiar with his writings.  Ben Sirach said that the reason Abraham received this promise of a blessing from God was that Abraham had kept the law of the Most High God.  Abraham had obeyed God’s commands and decrees.  And thus he was a role model for the faithful.  If we obey God’s law then God will bless us too, or, put another way, good things happen to good people.

This is what the apostle Paul was taught as a Jew and a rising Pharisee.  But as Paul experienced God’s blessings for himself he realized that ben Sirach’s connection of law and blessing was flawed.  Paul was as lawless as they come.  He thought he was keeping the law as a good Pharisee but realized later that this had been a rationalization.  He had just set the bar lower.  His behavior, of persecuting Christians and permitting the stoning of Stephen, was evil.  Paul realized that he had been a great sinner.  And even though he was one of the worst sinners of his time, God blessed him richly.

As Paul searched the scripture he saw that Abraham too was a sinner.  Soon after arriving in Canaan with his wife Sarah a great drought occurred and they were forced to flee to Egypt.  Abraham convinced Sarah to pretend to be his sister and traded her to Pharaoh for sheep, oxen, donkeys, and slaves.  Pimping out your wife is peculiar behavior for someone who supposedly always obeys God’s law.

Paul realized that God blessed Abraham not because of Abraham's behavior.  Paul also realized that God had not provided the law to his people until the time of Moses, many generations after Abraham.  There was no way that Abraham could have kept God’s law because the law did not yet exist.  So God’s blessing of Abraham could have nothing to do with obeying the law.

So if Abraham’s behavior did not merit God’s blessing and if there was no law to keep why did God bless Abraham?  Paul searched scripture and found this.

Genesis 15:6 And he (Abraham) believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Paul realized that righteousness must be a free gift from God.  Abraham, obviously, had done nothing to deserve a promise of great blessing, and neither had Paul.  But both of them had been blessed by God.  The only explanation was that this blessing was a free gift from God, called grace.

  There was one thing that both Abraham and Paul had in abundance.  They both had ample portions of faith in God.  And faith was the reason God had blessed Abraham.  The reason God blessed Abraham was because of Abraham’s faith.  Paul realized that God would bless the faithful even if they were ungodly.  This became an important doctrine in the church called justification by faith through grace.

You will remember from last week that the reason we are blocked from eating the tree of life is because of sin.  But God wants us back in the garden eating from the tree of life.  So God forgives our sins and gives us eternal life as a free gift.  And we receive this free gift through our faith in Jesus Christ.

Justification, God’s blessing of the ungodly, has three important aspects.  First, it is provided to us by our creator who loves us, forgives us and offers us eternal life.  Second, it is a free gift with no cost to the believer.  And third, the only thing you have to do is to have faith in Jesus Christ.

In the 16th century, the church was divided by arguments over what “justification” meant.  This period was called the Protestant Reformation and is the reason why we have so many different churches today.  Some churches emphasized the fact that justification comes from God.  Others emphasized the fact that justification is a free gift.  And still, others emphasized the fact that faith is necessary.

The Roman Catholics have focused on the need to be faithful.  They ask, “What does it mean to be a faithful person?  The Bible teaches us that being faithful is not just believing something in your head.  It goes beyond that to having a way of life that comes from a relationship with Jesus.  And so they argue that justification requires living a faithful life as a follower of Jesus Christ.

 But if the need to be faithful is emphasized too much it begins to look like justification is no longer a free gift.  If faith becomes something we do to earn justification then justification is no longer free.  So we have to be careful not to overemphasize the working out of our faith as a part of justification, and accept this blessing from God as a free gift.

The Lutherans have focused on the fact that justification comes from God as a free gift of God’s grace.  They asked, “How do we find a gracious God?”  The Bible teaches us that we don’t find God at all.  Rather God finds us.  God sent his own Son into the world to save us. There is nothing that we have to do.  The Lutheran slogan, “by faith alone”, indicates that there is nothing that we do, no law to keep, to earn God’s blessing.  God’s blessing of the ungodly with forgiveness of sins and eternal life is a free gift from a loving God.

But if the idea of a free gift is emphasized too much it begins to look like justification requires no behavioral change at all.  We think that we can keep on sinning confident that God will keep on forgiving us.  But the Bible is clear we must not keep on sinning.  Repentance and amendment of life are important.  So we must be careful not to overemphasize the importance of the free gift as part of justification, and realize our obligations as faithful people.

We Presbyterians and other Reformed churches have focused not on our faithfulness nor on the free gift.   We focus on our sovereign God who decided to bless the ungodly with forgiveness of sin and eternal life.  Our response to God’s free gift of justification is to live gratefully according to God’s law.  That is why we are using the Ten Commandments as our thankful response to God’s gift of forgiveness in our liturgy during Lent.  God alone chooses who will be blessed.  As faithful people, we joyously thank God for his blessings with our obedience.

But if God has already chosen who will be blessed then why is faith important? Why should we evangelize nonbelievers and demand conversion and faith before someone can receive God’s blessings if there is nothing they have to do?  An overemphasis on God’s choice minimizes our need to choose God and be faithful.  So we must be careful not to overemphasize the fact that it is God who justifies us and remember that we must believe in Jesus Christ and follow him as Lord.

So the doctrine of justification rests on a three-legged stool.  The first leg stands on the choice of God to forgive us.  The second leg is that faith in Jesus Christ is required.   And the third leg is that this blessing from God is a free give for which we respond with grateful obedience.  All three legs are important and have to be balanced for us to have a correct understanding of the doctrine of justification, that God blesses the ungodly.  In other words, our loving God chose us, to be faithful and receive, as a free gift of grace, our blessing of forgiveness of sin and eternal life.  John put it so elegantly this way: 

John 3:16  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

If you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and that he was raised from the dead, then you can be assured that God will bless you with the forgiveness of sin and eternal life.  I urge you now to obey God’s commandments as your thankful response for this free gift.

If you do not accept  Jesus Christ as your Lord and believe in his resurrection,  I cannot give you the assurance that God will bless you.  If you would like to know that your sins are forgiven and that you will enjoy eternal life I invite you to pray asking God for the gift of faith which will lead to forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

Justification, God's blessing of the ungodly, is available to all who have faith in his Son, Jesus Christ.  It comes to us from God as a free gift.  In gratitude let us follow Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives.   Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, I ask for the gift of faith in your son, be given to everyone in this congregation.   For all who gladly receive this wonderful gift I ask for your blessing of forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life.   Help us all to gratefully respond to this wonderful gift by joyously obeying your holy law.   In Jesus’ name, we pray.   Amen.