Opening comments
If we are in Christ, if we trust in Him alone, we have His righteousness credited to our account. When God looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Christ and no longer deems us guilty, and He will remember our sins no more. This is the good news — that we who by no means could earn God’s favor have been freely granted it on the basis of Christ’s finished work alone, and it is ours to believe that God has done this through His Son Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
How not to be Justified
There was an artist who painted a picture of a part of the city where he lived. He wanted to include in this picture, certain characters well known in the town. There was a street sweeper who was always seen in his public appearance as really grubby looking, with a dirty hat, dirty coat and old baggy pants . This man was part of the ambiance of the town. So the artist looked him up and told him that he would pay him well if he would pause in his workday long enough so that the artist’s painting could properly depict him . The man agreed, so the next day, the artist went out to meet the street sweeper and when he saw him he turned around and went back to his studio, totally disappointed. Because the man had washed his face, combed his hair, donned a top hat, and had put on a suit of clean clothes. The artist needed him as the poor dirty ragged old street sweeper that he really was, and not as a false representation of someone that the city's residents would not recognize. Actually, God wants us to come to him just as we are. There is no amount of cleanup we can do, and God does not look upon that with any favor, in fact it disappoints him, that anyone even thinks he can improve on what Christ’s finished work has done to save our souls.
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Opening Prayer
Dear God, We do truly believe that it is the gift of Jesus, Your Son, whose life was given for our salvation, that has credited our account with perfect righteousness. Your very own words tell us that Jesus died to save our souls. And because of Jesus’ finished work we have only to believe and we shall spend eternity in Heaven We pray that no word be spoken here tonight that is contrary to your will and that this study will add substance to our belief and strengthen our faith…. Amen.
Scripture reading Romans 4: 1-8
Rom 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about--but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them."
Discussion
Paul brings up Abraham because the Jews revered Abraham as the father of their nation and their faith. Many Jews assumed that Abraham was right with God, because of his life of obedience to God. It was a short step from that assumption for the Jews to believing that any Jew who follows Abraham’s example of obeying God would be accepted by God.
Paul is teaching us here that We Christians should not confuse obedience to God with being the way to our salvation. Although obedience to His word is what God desires of us, there is a danger in the fact of our belief about our own righteous obedience.
If we are dependent upon God to save us because of our own righteousness, we are in deep trouble, and deserving of nothing from God. We can become enamored with our own righteousness and rely on our own good works to earn our salvation, and in so doing we can lose sight of the saving grace of God. It is incumbent upon each one of us to understand that God desires of us to have an abiding faith that it is Jesus who saves us, and not we ourselves
Questions
Q.1 How was it that Abraham became justified before God?
Q.2 What did Abraham’s Faith do for him?
Q.3 Is obedience to God a prerequisite to our salvation?
Q.4 Of the two thieves crucified with Jesus, one was promised paradise, and the other not, why?
Q.5 How does one acquire the blessedness of which David speaks in verses 7 & 8?
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Scripture reading Romans 4: 9-12
9. Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Discussion
The mind of man naturally finds faith alone as the way to God an unlikely way to salvation. For the Christian, doing good is a concept that most of the world understands as that which equates to righteousness, and it follows that righteousness should earn our salvation. Do you agree? The true happiness of forgiveness of sins and a clear account before God has been credited “apart from works” (4:6). That then leads to the logical "next" question ‘If it is not by works that God gives this blessing then surely it is due to one’s religious heritage.
Most Jews of that day thought that God was for them and against the Gentiles. But God shows grace to the circumcised and also to the uncircumcised—the Gentile. And a Gentile does not need to become a Jew in order to be accepted by God. The living God created Jew and Gentile; and as Redeemer, He saves Jews and Gentiles as well, through the righteousness of Christ. Neither circumcision, baptism, church membership, nor works make for ones justification before God.
Questions
Q.1 Why does Paul want to bring up the question about circumcision?
Q.2 Abraham and his descendants were to be circumcised, why? Read Genesis 17:9-14
Q.3 What do church membership and baptism have in common?
Q.4 Why did the Jews think that works were beneficial for justification before God.
Gen 17: 9-14 Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner--those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
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Who Are The Justified ?
A. THE JUSTIFIED CANNOT EARN SALVATION.
Paul clearly spells it out, “to the one who does not work….” If you try to blend your works with God’s grace, you fail to grasp what Christ’s work has done for you. If you believe it takes effort to earn your salvation, that alone will make Christ’s sacrifice for your sins irrelevant. If we have to work for it, then God would owe us our salvation because we earned it, and that makes God a debtor to us. God is Merciful and Mighty, and is a debtor to none. You cannot do anything to earn your salvation, it is the gift from God in Christ Jesus.
Q. What is meant by” one who does not work”?
B. THE JUSTIFIED ARE SINNERS
God justifies only one kind of person: the repentant, sinner. If you begin to determine for yourself who is deserving of God's mercy, you remove yourself from those for whom Christ died “There is none righteous, not even one.” We all fall short of the glory of God. We must be repentant true believers. That makes us recipients of God’s free grace, because we rely on the finished work of Jesus to provide for our justification.
Q. Who are the unrepentant sinners?
C. THE JUSTIFIED SHARE CHRISTS BLOOD AS SALVATION .
Faith means taking God at His word when He promises to justify the true believer who has faith in Jesus. You trust God’s promise that “while we were yet sinners, at the right time Christ died for us. And God will forgive our wickedness and remember our sins no more.
Q. Have you ever been lost and without help?
D. THE JUSTIFIED ARE PRESENTED BEFORE GOD AS RIGHTEOUS BY JESUS.
If justification were based on how righteous we were in actual conduct, then as Paul says “there would be none righteous, not even one”. We will always have some indwelling sin. We need Christ’s perfect righteousness credited to our account. That transaction takes place the instant that we become a true believer in Jesus’ finished work of our salvation.
2 Cor. 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Q. What has the finished work of Jesus has done for you ?
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Meditation
Faith is something we exercise, but Paul does not consider it a work in the same way that obedience to the law is. Works involve the bringing of what we do to God and saying that we deserve justification. Faith involves the admission that nothing we can do makes us deserving of salvation. Our best efforts to serve God cannot earn our salvation. Jesus has already finished our salvation and that part of our life has been settled.
If you are a believer, you have been justified. You are one who believes what God has done for you has saved your soul, and when you die, you will stand in judgment, and be declared justified. A true believer is one who lives that promise as if it were already accomplished because it has been. It was accomplished some 2000 years ago on a cross at the very moment of Jesus speaking the words "It is finished" That means that Jesus Christ has prepaid your debt. Your sins have been stricken from the book of life, and God will remember them no more. God has determined that He will not regard you as the guilty sinner that you are but as His spotless, perfect child. In this simple process are displayed all the wonders of the love, grace, and mercy of our redeeming God.
To help us understand what that means, the apostle brought in the example of Abraham in chapter four. Before the Law was given, Abraham was justified by faith. He was declared to be acceptable to God. He was God's friend. Abraham didn't earn that. He was given that right at the beginning of his relationship with God, when he believed God. That is what faith means. When Abraham believed that God could and would do what he had promised, Abraham was declared the friend of God and he entered into that close relationship with God that characterized his life.
Then, Paul says, there is a way by which you can test whether you really do believe that and have been justified by faith: Since we have been justified by faith, the sure result is that we have peace with God. As you think about your life and your relationship with God, if you really have believed that God justifies the ungodly, you will have peace with God. You are in the family of God. You are at peace with him.
If you have peace with God, you have an answer to the accusation of your own conscience when you sin. What do you say to your accusing conscience that says to you then, Could you possibly be a Christian and act like this? That is where justification by faith comes in. You remind yourself: My standing and my acceptance by God does not depend upon me. Even my sin doesn't cancel it out. The whole essence of this truth is that God has found a way to put aside my sin, by faith in the work of his beloved Son on my behalf. In that truth, Lord, I confess my sin, and put my trust in you.
Closing Prayer:
God forgive us for even giving thought to earning our salvation. Grant us the grace to accept who we are, no more than just a common sinner, without hope of reconciliation with You except we come just as we are to You through or faith in Jesus, Help us we pray to become true believers, We pray now for those of our acquaintance who are suffering health issues________ Give these our friends and loved ones The strength and comfort of your healing presence. Grant us thy peace as we leave this place and bring us back together next week. In Jesus name we pray Amen.
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