Lesson 52
Romans Chapter Four
Justification Illustrated
Observations:
1. Notice the tight logic Paul uses; Justification is of faith, then its of
grace therefore its of God;
- God's plan rests upon faith as man's part in order that
on God's side it might be according to grace; faith is not a work;
2. Any law system has no grace. Its sole principle is merit!
- Man does not want to, and fights against what he must
do; and that is to give up years of being religious; years of attempting to do
good works to impress God.
3. The truth that man alone will never come up with, none of man's
philosophies will come up with is this;
that one should be declared righteous on the basis of a perfect work
performed by one other than themselves!
4. Abraham here is set before us as the example of justification by
faith, and he never heard of the 10 commandments; never heard yet he was justified!
5. Abraham's Circumcision Paul said was a sign, a seal of the
righteousness of faith. Its a sign of but is not the reality.
- Point is this: whatever ritual that is appropriate as a
sign is totally useless as a reality.
- The reality is only realized by faith in Christ and his
word.
6. The BD of Justification by faith creates a unity in the
church.
- Think: Is not your
eternal future important enough to stay focused on what God said not on what man might
say?
7. Nothing is secure that is based on human merit; vs:16
#3 Strength of Abraham's faith 4:17-22.
- Paul is once again making his point by appealing to the
only authoritative source;
Scripture! What does the
Scripture say?
Genesis
speaks of what is future from Abraham's standpoint; Historically Isaac does not
exist yet!
Here
Paul puts it in the past completed tense [perf] which
puts it from the divine perspective; if
God said it, its as good as done!
And it has lasting results!
- Not just any god; He is a God who gives life to the
dead; and calls into being that which
does not exist.
- Since God is the source of life it is no surprise that
He is referred to as the one who gives life to the dead.
- God is in the business of giving life to those who are
dead; Eph 2:1,5; Jn 5:24; 1 Jn 5:10-12
- The second statement about God speaks more directly to
this aspect; and calls into being that which does not exist.
Speaks
of the creative power of God;
lit. calls the things not existing as
existing;
- Also in the context of Salvation is this not what also
happens when one
responds to the convicting ministry of the H/S and believes;
God not
only gives life to the dead as we noted but is in reality calling into
existence what was not existing; a new creation in Christ! With a whole new basis for
living life now and forever.
In
1. His
faith was in hope against hope vs:18
2. His
faith was opposed to the circumstances vs:19
3. His
faith was not divided
vs:20
4. His
faith was based on the character of God vs:21
1. 4:18 - His faith was in hope against hope
- Against hope
looks at vs:19 which details the sexual deadness
and inability of both Abraham and Sarah
at 100 and 90 years old.
- In hope looks
back to the one who made the promise; the one who gives life to the dead and
calls into being that which does not exist.
2. 4:19 His
faith was opposed to the circumstances faced.
- Faith
does not hide from the facts, the reality of the situation.
He
objectively looked at their physical situation; only conclusion you could come to was that they were
sexually dead.
Are we to
live by sight or by faith?
*** Some things to think about!
When God
first gave the promise in Gen 12; ratified in Gen 15; it was given when it was
possible for them to actually have children;
Now when
you get to point referenced in our context, Gen 17, they're at a point where it
is impossible physically to have children, but God says they will!
God did
not fulfill the promise when they were able but when it was humanly impossible!
Do you
suppose that maybe God at times takes us to the point in our lives that we run
out of human solutions to deal with the situation.
Why is
it that so often we have to just push the situation until we run out of human resources before we
finally turn to Him and to His provision?
Is it
possible that at times God makes His grace known in human weakness?
It was
in weakness that God's grace was perfected, made complete; 2 Cor 12:9-10