Justified by Faith Alone
4 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.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.5 And to the one who does not work but believes in[a] 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:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
9 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.
Prayer:
Here is a story of good news, the gospel, grace, as Paul makes the theological argument of justification or being justified by faith in Christ alone.
Them: What does it mean to be justified by faith?
Me: In Christian theology, justification is God's righteous act of removing the condemnation, guilt, and penalty of sin, by grace, while, at the same time, declaring the unrighteous to be righteous, through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice.
So as Jesus began his walk or entry into Jerusalem we commemorate, we are reminded, that Palm Sunday commemorates the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, also it serves as a reminder of the welcoming of Jesus into our hearts and of our willingness to follow him. when palm branches were placed in
his path, and the people shouted Hosanna! Hosanna! Before Passover, before his arrest on Holy Thursday and his crucifixion on Good Friday.
Them: What was good about Friday?
Me: This was the day justification was defined by our savior Jesus Christ! By His righteous act of removing the condemnation, guilt, and penalty of sin, by grace, while, at the same time, declaring the unrighteous to be righteous. What a mighty God!
Point #1- Trust God.
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.”
So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.”
Gen.15:4-6 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son [b] shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Them: What does it mean to believe or have faith in God?
Me: It means to have complete trust, confidence, and reliance in God.
Point #2- Your faith in God is counted as righteousness.
4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.5 And to the one who does not work but believes in [a] him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Your works does not equate to being righteous...
If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift. Salvation is the gift.
“Salvation is a gift, plain and simple. If you just reach out your hand and take it, then it's yours. But if you work for it, you dismiss the gift and treat it as a wage that is earned.
Many people will stand before God and list their credentials: I went to church every Sunday; I helped the needy; I read my bible. But God will not grant salvation as something owed.” Tony Evans
Ephesians.2:8-9 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
Point #3- Blessed to be forgiven.
6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts
righteousness apart from works: (Psalms.32:1-2)
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.
NIV 6-9 David confirms this way of looking at it, saying that the one who trusts God to do the putting-everything-right without insisting on having a say in it is one fortunate man:
Fortunate those whose crimes are whisked away, whose sins are wiped clean from the slate.
Fortunate the person against
whom the Lord does not keep score.
Do you think for a minute that this blessing is only pronounced over those of us who keep our religious ways and are circumcised? Or do you think it possible that the blessing could be given to those who never even heard of our ways, who were never brought up in the disciplines of God? We all agree, don’t we, that it was by embracing what God did for him that Abraham was declared fit before God?
Blessed to be forgiven.
How joyful is the one
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!
How joyful is a person whom
the LORD does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit!
The joy of forgiveness...
Point #4 Before faith and After faith you belong to God
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,
Now think: Was that declaration made before or after he was marked by the covenant rite of circumcision? That’s right, before he was marked. That means that he underwent circumcision as evidence and confirmation of what God had done long before to bring him into this acceptable standing with himself, an act of God he had embraced with his whole life.
Abraham was righteous before God, before he was circumcised, and therefore circumcision is unnecessary in order to belong to God
Circumcision was the sign and seal of Abrahams righteousness that belonged to him by faith. In other words, circumcision documented and ratified the righteousness by faith that Abraham enjoyed before his circumcision.
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.
And it means further that Abraham is father of all people who embrace what God does for them while they are still on the “outs” with God, as yet unidentified as God’s, in an “uncircumcised” condition. It is precisely these people in this condition who are called “set right by God and with God”! Abraham is also, of course, father of those who have undergone the religious rite of circumcision not just because of the ritual but because they were willing to live in the risky faith- embrace of God’s action for them, the way Abraham lived long before he was marked by circumcision.