Romans 4 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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1. 0:00Romans chapter 4 verse 1. Now,
2. 0:03this is getting a little deep.
3. 0:05Paul is contrasting
4. 0:08and explaining
5. 0:10faith versus the law. And what he's
6. 0:12really contrasting [music] is he's ask
7. 0:14answering the question of whether you
8. 0:15can be justified under the Jewish system
9. 0:18without coming to faith in [music] Jesus
10. 0:20or whether you have to come to faith in
11. 0:22Jesus.
12. 0:23So now in chapter 4 he's going to
13. 0:25elucidate what that faith is and what it
14. 0:27looks like and who really started
15. 0:31the
16. 0:32community, [music] the covenant of
17. 0:33faith.
18. 0:35Romans chapter 4 verse 1.
19. 0:39What then shall we say that Abraham, our
20. 0:42forefather according to the flesh, has
21. 0:45found?
22. 0:47For if Abraham was justified by works,
23. 0:51he has something to boast about,
24. 0:53but not before God.
25. 0:55For what does the scripture say? Abraham
26. 0:58believed God,
27. 1:00and it, his belief, was credited to him
28. 1:05as righteousness.
29. 1:08Now, to the one who works,
30. 1:11his wage
31. 1:13is not credited as a favor, but as what
32. 1:17is due.
33. 1:19Do you get that? When you go to work
34. 1:21and somebody cuts you a paycheck, do you
35. 1:23say, "Oh, thank you for this gift?" No.
36. 1:26You say,
37. 1:27>> [music]
38. 1:27>> "Thank you for my paycheck. This is what
39. 1:30you owed me."
40. 1:31Right? So Paul's saying, "When you work
41. 1:35to be good enough,
42. 1:36when you do the works of the law
43. 1:38thinking that's going to save you,
44. 1:41then God owes you salvation.
45. 1:43Salvation is a paycheck on what you
46. 1:46worked for. Right? But he says,
47. 1:49"That's not how it works,
48. 1:51so to speak, in this equation.
49. 1:55But to the one who does not work, but
50. 1:57believes in him who justifies the
51. 2:00ungodly, his faith is credited as
52. 2:03righteousness.
53. 2:05So, God wants you to have an attitude of
54. 2:07heart. He wants you to have an attitude
55. 2:10of trust. He wants you to have an
56. 2:12ongoing trust and obedience in his
57. 2:16goodness.
58. 2:18In who he is and what he's called you to
59. 2:20be. And that we call faith. And if you
60. 2:23have that,
61. 2:25that is the basis upon which God will
62. 2:27give you the gift of salvation.
63. 2:31He doesn't owe it to you because of what
64. 2:33you did.
65. 2:35He owes it to you because of what he
66. 2:37did.
67. 2:38But you don't get it unless you trust
68. 2:40him.
69. 2:41You don't get it unless you walk by
70. 2:43faith.
71. 2:45Does that make sense? Does this faith
72. 2:47include action? Well, of course.
73. 2:50It does not exclude action at all, but
74. 2:52it's not the works of the law. You're
75. 2:55not brokering your salvation by earning
76. 2:57brownie points about how good you are.
77. 3:00Now you can get what God gave.
78. 3:03Doesn't work like that.
79. 3:05Just as David also speaks of the
80. 3:06blessing on the man to whom God credits
81. 3:09righteousness apart from works.
82. 3:12And he quotes David. "Blessed are those
83. 3:15whose lawless deeds have been forgiven
84. 3:18and whose sins have been covered.
85. 3:20Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord
86. 3:24will not take into account.
87. 3:27Is this blessing then on the circumcised
88. 3:31or on the uncircumcised also? So, the
89. 3:34works that he's talking about are not a
90. 3:37life and a behavior that reveals and
91. 3:41expresses your true trust and faith in
92. 3:43God. That's not what he's talking about.
93. 3:45He's talking about the law.
94. 3:47Okay? So, he says,
95. 3:50"This blessing that David speaks of,
96. 3:52does it belong only to those who cut
97. 3:54their flesh in circumcision, or does it
98. 3:56belong to those who are uncircumcised in
99. 3:58their flesh?
100. 3:59He says,
101. 4:01"Is this blessing then on the
102. 4:02circumcised or on the uncircumcised
103. 4:05also? For he says, 'Faith was credited
104. 4:08to Abraham as righteousness.'"
105. 4:11"How then was it credited? While he was
106. 4:14circumcised
107. 4:16or uncircumcised?
108. 4:18Not while circumcised, but while
109. 4:21uncircumcised."
110. 4:23So, there was this journey in Abraham's
111. 4:26walk with God, okay? And the Lord is
112. 4:29talking to Abraham and leading Abraham,
113. 4:31and as soon as Abraham is trusting God
114. 4:34and following him,
115. 4:35he has faith. And as soon as he has
116. 4:37faith, that faith is treated as
117. 4:41Abraham's righteousness. It's credited
118. 4:43to Abraham as righteousness, okay? And
119. 4:45Paul says,
120. 4:47"Was it credited before Abraham got
121. 4:49circumcised or after?" And he answers
122. 4:51his own question. He says, "He had this
123. 4:54credit before he was circumcised." God
124. 4:57was looking at his heart posture.
125. 4:59Now, Abraham was commanded by God to be
126. 5:02circumcised, and he had to be
127. 5:04circumcised. If he had disobeyed God,
128. 5:06that credit would have gone away.
129. 5:09But his Paul's point is he didn't get
130. 5:11the credit because he was circumcised,
131. 5:14he got the credit because he had faith.
132. 5:16He got the credit because he was walking
133. 5:18in trusting relationship with God. And
134. 5:21in the same way, God's going to tell us
135. 5:23many things to do, but we're not saved
136. 5:25because we do them. We're saved because
137. 5:28we trust him. And if we don't act in
138. 5:31accordance with that trust, then it's
139. 5:33not real.
140. 5:35But we're not saved because of how many
141. 5:37things we did right. We're saved because
142. 5:39we trust him as Lord and Savior.
143. 5:44And he received the sign of
144. 5:46circumcision, a seal of the
145. 5:48righteousness of faith which he had
146. 5:50while uncircumcised, so that he might be
147. 5:53the father of all who believe without
148. 5:55being circumcised, that righteousness
149. 5:57might be credited to them. And the
150. 5:59father of circumcision to those who not
151. 6:02only are of the circumcision, but also
152. 6:04follow in the steps of faith of our
153. 6:08father Abraham, which he had while
154. 6:11uncircumcised.
155. 6:12Notice that little word that Paul puts
156. 6:15in.
157. 6:16He says Abraham's going to be the father
158. 6:17of the Gentiles who don't get cut in the
159. 6:19flesh.
160. 6:20They don't have to follow the Levitical
161. 6:22law. He's going to be the father
162. 6:25of those
163. 6:27who walk in the steps
164. 6:30of faith.
165. 6:32And in this we get a definition of the
166. 6:35kind of faith Paul wants from us.
167. 6:37He doesn't want a static, complacent, I
168. 6:40believe Jesus existed faith.
169. 6:42He doesn't want a mental ascent only.
170. 6:46He wants people who are walking in the
171. 6:49steps of faith. And that's when we
172. 6:52become children of Abraham
173. 6:56and heirs of the same kind of faith that
174. 6:58justified him.
175. 7:01The steps of faith of our father
176. 7:03Abraham, which he had while
177. 7:05uncircumcised. For the promise to
178. 7:07Abraham or to his descendants that he
179. 7:10would be heir of the world was not
180. 7:13through the law, but through the
181. 7:14righteousness of faith.
182. 7:17Paul is basically telling us, he's
183. 7:19creating a a principle that the faith of
184. 7:22Christians doesn't attach so much to
185. 7:25what happened on Sinai
186. 7:31Faith is what God wants from us.
187. 7:34Faith that hears the word of God and
188. 7:36believes it.
189. 7:37Faith that believes the word of God and
190. 7:39acts on it. Faith that keeps on walking
191. 7:42in the steps.
192. 7:44Amen. Not faith that is perfect,
193. 7:48but a faith that is being perfected and
194. 7:50that never quits.
195. 7:52Who by patient continuance in doing good
196. 7:56keep seeking for glory, honor, and
197. 7:58immortality. That faith finds eternal
198. 8:01life.
199. 8:05For if those who are of the law are
200. 8:07heirs, faith is made void and the
201. 8:10promise is nullified.
202. 8:12If you can become a saved child of God
203. 8:14through the law,
204. 8:16Jesus died in vain. You don't need
205. 8:17faith.
206. 8:19Just do the works of the law.
207. 8:21For the law brings about wrath,
208. 8:24but where there is no law, there also is
209. 8:26no violation.
210. 8:28For this reason, it is by faith in order
211. 8:30that it may be in accordance with grace,
212. 8:33so that the promise will be guaranteed
213. 8:36to all the descendants,
214. 8:38not only of those who are of the law,
215. 8:41but also those who are of the faith of
216. 8:44Abraham, who is the father of us all.
217. 8:49So, what is the faith of Abraham?
218. 8:51To hear the call of God and to move your
219. 8:54family out of Ur.
220. 8:57To walk before him and be blameless.
221. 9:00To walk in the steps of faith. To offer
222. 9:04up your greatest possession, your only
223. 9:06son,
224. 9:08whom you love. Faith is hearing the
225. 9:10voice of God. Faith is leading your
226. 9:13family in an exodus. Faith is believing
227. 9:17in the impossible. Faith is receiving
228. 9:20the supernatural promise
229. 9:22of a spiritual birth with Isaac. Faith
230. 9:25is putting your children in the hands of
231. 9:27God. Faith is never quitting and
232. 9:30trusting, but continuing to walk in the
233. 9:33steps of Abraham. If Abraham is our
234. 9:36definition of faith, it's not easy
235. 9:38believism. It's a journey, it's a life,
236. 9:41it's obedience.
237. 9:43And that's the basis
238. 9:45for the imputation of Christ's
239. 9:47righteousness.
240. 9:49As it is written, a father of many
241. 9:51nations have I made you in the presence
242. 9:55of him whom he believed, even God who
243. 9:58gives life to the dead and calls into
244. 10:01being that which does not exist.
245. 10:04So now Paul's going to give us more of a
246. 10:06visual of what kind of faith Abraham had
247. 10:09that we need to have in order to get
248. 10:11this righteousness imputed to us.
249. 10:14In hope against hope, he believed.
250. 10:19So he's saying
251. 10:21he had a hope when there was nothing to
252. 10:23hope in except the presence and voice of
253. 10:25God. He believed so that he might become
254. 10:28a father of many nations according to
255. 10:31that which had been spoken, so shall
256. 10:34your descendants be.
257. 10:35Without becoming weak in faith, he
258. 10:39contemplated his own body.
259. 10:42Now, as good as dead since he was about
260. 10:44100 years old.
261. 10:46And he contemplated the deadness of
262. 10:49Sarah's womb.
263. 10:51Yet with respect to the promise of God,
264. 10:54he did not waver.
265. 10:57Wavering would have been a loss of
266. 10:59faith, but faith does not waver. Faith
267. 11:04looks at impossibility. Faith looks at
268. 11:06personal weakness,
269. 11:08but it keeps on trusting, it keeps on
270. 11:11believing, and it keeps on moving
271. 11:14on the basis of God, who he is, what he
272. 11:17said, not on the basis of me.
273. 11:20Yet with respect to the promise of God,
274. 11:22he Abraham did not waver in unbelief,
275. 11:26but grew strong in faith, giving glory
276. 11:30to God.
277. 11:32How do we give glory to God? How do we
278. 11:34fulfill the reason why we were made? By
279. 11:37growing strong in faith. When we say I
280. 11:40can't do this.
281. 11:42I'm not able.
282. 11:43I'm past the years where this is
283. 11:45possible and my partner is no help
284. 11:48either.
285. 11:49Yet I'm not going to grow weak in faith
286. 11:52because all of that only points to my
287. 11:54inability, but God is going to work in
288. 11:57us to will and do his good pleasure. So
289. 12:00I'm actually going to grow stronger in
290. 12:01faith.
291. 12:02It's not going to be based in me, it's
292. 12:04going to be based in him. [music]
293. 12:06And being fully assured that what God
294. 12:09had promised he was able to perform.
295. 12:13God's going to perform it. God's going
296. 12:15to do it.
297. 12:16Therefore, it was also credited to him
298. 12:19as righteousness. [music]
299. 12:20What was credited to him as
300. 12:22righteousness?
301. 12:23The knowledge of his flesh that didn't
302. 12:26produce a doubt toward [music] God that
303. 12:29kept him from wavering, that made him
304. 12:31grow stronger in faith
305. 12:33and become fully assured that what God
306. 12:37had promised God would accomplish.
307. 12:41That's what was credited. Now, not for
308. 12:44his sake only [music] was it written
309. 12:46that it was credited to him,
310. 12:48but for our sake also,
311. 12:51to whom it will be credited
312. 12:52>> [music]
313. 12:53>> as those who believe in him
314. 12:56who raised Jesus our [music] Lord from
315. 12:59the dead.
316. 13:00He who was delivered over because of our
317. 13:03transgressions
318. 13:05and was raised for our justification.
319. 13:09So,
320. 13:10he says, [music] we've got to have the
321. 13:12same faith. We got to trust God to
322. 13:15change us in this life and in the
323. 13:17resurrection at the afterlife.
324. 13:20We've got to trust in the one who raised
325. 13:23Jesus [music] from the dead.
326. 13:25And we can we got to say that God can
327. 13:28work in me mightily.
328. 13:30That God can work in [music] me to will
329. 13:32and do his good pleasure.
330. 13:34He who was delivered over because of our
331. 13:35transgression.
332. 13:37He died because of our sins.
333. 13:39And he was raised
334. 13:42because of, [music] but the literal is
335. 13:44for our justification.
336. 13:48His resurrection means we don't have to
337. 13:50be under the power of our sin anymore.
338. 13:53The same power that raised him from the
339. 13:54dead will give life to us and empower us
340. 13:58by the spirit to put to death the deeds
341. 14:01of the body so that we might live.
342. 14:05>> [music]
343. 14:15[music]