Footsteps to Faith

Notes from Scott Sutton's sermon on Sunday, April 14, 2024.

Sermon text: Romans 4:1-12

V. 1-3 “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather 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 counted to him as righteousness.”

Abraham was not justified by works.

Paul chooses Abraham as an example because it is likely that at this point some of the listeners, especially the Rabbis, would have thought, “No one has room to boast? What about our Father Abraham?” There was a cultural perspective in the Jewish community about Abraham that can be read in the books of Jubilees and Maccabbees. “Abraham was perfect in his dealings with the Lord and gained favor by his righteousness throughout his life”… and they quoted Genesis 15, the very verse that Paul is using here, saying, “was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness?” So Paul is arguing that Abraham was not justified by works, because many in the Roman church believed that Abraham was justified by works! This isn’t just an emphasis in a few chapters, it is the heart of the whole letter. Paul is saying, “If he was justified by works, then sure, he can boast before God, but he is not!” And there is a phrase in verse 3 that we must make sure not to gloss over. How does Paul prove this point and bring clarity to their error? FOR WHAT DOES THE SCRIPTURE SAY?

• We must understand the Biblical narrative because the cultural narrative is always changing.

Far more wisdom and effort has gone into the canonization of Scripture than has gone into the picking it apart to prove someone’s point in a certain cultural moment in time. Some today argue that they are listening to Jesus, but not the Bible because they are separating what Jesus says and what the Bible says. It’s an argumentation technique to say, “Well, Jesus didn’t say that. Paul did.” And the result is that people present themselves and posture themselves to look like followers of Christ while dismissing how Christ fulfills all of Scripture. So what does Paul say to the Roman church who was struggling with how this Gospel of Jesus was going against their cultural norms? “What do the Scriptures say?” Justification by faith isn’t some new idea in Jesus. In fact, Father Abraham was justified by faith. 

V. 4  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

God did not owe Abraham

Imagine getting your paycheck and it is labeled “a gift from management”!

You would probably say, “No, I earned that! Thank you very much! That’s not a gift. That is my money.”

Now imagine, going to God, and saying of your right standing before Him, “No, I earned that! That is mine. You owe it to me!” 

Paul’s hope for the Roman church, and for us today, is that we would really consider thoughts like that and really reckon with the reality that we cannot earn our justification. Paul is saying, “I know I have already said it and defended it and given Abraham as an example of the reality that we can only be justified by faith, but I am saying it yet another way so that you would search yourself. If God owed Abraham, then maybe God could owe you, and God owes no man. For the wages if sin is death. That is our due. That is what we are owed. 

V. 5-8 “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ⁶ just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, 

and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” 

Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

Paul wants the church to see that Jesus is the thread that runs through all of human history. We can see Jesus in the life of Abraham and we can also see Jesus in the life of David. Two of the most prominent figures in Jewish history are who Paul chooses to prove justification by faith alone. 

• When it comes to justification, faith is opposed to work. 
• God justifies the ungodly because there are no godly ones to be justified.

When you hear that Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness, it might be easy to quickly modify that in your mind, and think, “Oh, so Abraham was faithful, and by being faithful, he became righteous… almost like his faithfulness was a substitute for good works…” And that is wrong. There is a HUGE difference between saying “Through faith Abraham became righteous” and “Through faith Abraham was counted as righteous.” It is a judicial reckoning by God. Or for us it is the difference between saying “Now I am righteous” and “Now I am counted as righteous”… Paul wants the church to know that they need something from God that they cannot achieve on their own, and if they are chasing righteousness by trying to live in the right way by saying and doing the right things, they will never find it. You need for God to not count your sin against you. 

V. 9-12  Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. ¹⁰ How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. ¹¹ He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, ¹² 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. 

Circumcision is a sign.

So for those asking, “Was Abraham’s faith counted to him as righteousness before or after the act of circumcision?”, Paul’s answer is simply, “before”. Why? Because it was a sign.

Application:

Walk in the Footsteps of Faith…

• Abraham was not justified by works… I am not justified by works.
• God did not owe Abraham anything… God does not owe me anything.
• Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness… Faith can be counted to me as righteousness.
• Circumcision is a sign… By faith in Christ, I am brought into a rich heritage where my story is the story of a people who were only ever justified by faith alone. So rather than resting in my works, I can rest in Christ. 

Discipleship Questions:

1. If we know we cannot earn a right standing before God, why do so many of us continue to try?
2. Are there any ways in which you still act and think as if God owes you something?
3. How is circumcision still beneficial to Gentiles in 2024?
4. How does an understanding of the Biblical narrative help us against an ever-changing cultural narrative? Be specific.
5. What are some specific cultural narratives that you and your children struggle with? How does the Biblical narrative help to bring understanding and peace? 
6. Why does it matter that your story is the story of a people?
7. Of the 4 footsteps of faith mentioned, which do you struggle with the most? Why? Faith is trusting God's promises. What are some promises that we can lay hold of and rest in?