Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from Romans 4. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- The call of Abraham – which initiates the life of the “church,” people who are called by God to know Him, to receive His blessings, and to follow Him – is rather remarkable. Think of Abraham living in Haran, a small city in what is now modern day Iraq. He was minding his own business, living near his kindred, doing what they were doing – making a living and worshiping false gods and idols. There are millions of people doing the same in the world today – not only in the Middle East, but also here in America.
- God simply appears to Abraham and instructs him, but God also gives Him a great promise, a foundational promise, one which I’m certain Abraham could scarcely understand or appreciate: “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
- This promise is intact to this very day, and remains the most decisive and fundamental reality for every human being even today! The fulfillment of this promise is Jesus Christ – so that now “whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” All of this is by “GOD’S GRACE” and all of it is received by “FAITH,” just as was the case with Abraham, and as Jesus makes clear to Nicodemus.
- In our text, the apostle Paul makes this even more clear – using what strikes us as absurd words, speaking of God as the One Who “justifies the ungodly.” Yes, our text is about the universal, eternal message of “GOD’S GRACE AND FAITH” – what God has spoken to mankind since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin. The first reality is simple and fundamental:
I. All Good And Blessedness Originates From God, His Goodness And Love
A. Certainly This Was The Case With The Call Of Abraham
Text: “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.”
B. Likewise, The Promises To Abraham, In Regard To Temporal Blessings, Came By God’s Grace And Goodness
OT Lesson – Gen. 12:2 “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
C. So Also God’s Promise Of A Savior – In Whom All The Families Of The Earth Would Be Blessed – Was Given Simply By God’s Grace, Out Of His Goodness And Love
OT Lesson – Gen. 12:3 “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
This promise was of the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the “offspring” of Abraham – as God made clear also to Isaac, Abraham’s son of the promise:
Gen. 26:3,4 [God said to Isaac] “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”
Statement: From the very beginning, as Paul makes clear in our text, God’s blessings – including forgiveness, salvation, justification [our being declared righteous in the sight of God, in our relationship with Him] – is a matter of God’s grace, His goodness and love, undeserved, not of our “works” or our “deserving,” but purely by His gracious mercy. This was the case with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and all of Israel. This was the case for Nicodemus – according to Jesus’ own counsel and teaching. This was the case for Paul and all New Testament believers, the “new Israel,” God’s people of faith.
Application: So we are certain that it is the case also for us today – for God does not lie, He does not renege on His promises, and He does not change His Word. What was established in the Garden, God’s promise to Adam and Eve of a “seed of the woman” Who would save us, was re-established to Abraham, and was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the Savior of the world. All blessedness, peace with God, knowledge of God, is based in His goodness and grace – and if we would have God and know Him as our Heavenly Father, we must simply receive His grace. The way of “law” – our obedience and our performance – is a horrible dead end, for as Paul assures us: “the law brings wrath.”
Transition: And it is clear from the example of Abraham, and also the clear teaching and assertion of Jesus, our blessed Savior, that:
II. All Good And Blessing That God Provides To Us By His Grace Is Received By Faith In God’s Promises, Simple Faith Alone
A. This Principle Excludes Human Works, Human “Goodness,” And Human Self-Determination As The Means Or Basis Of Relationship With God
Text: “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.’ Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.”
B. Instead, It Has Always Been A Matter Of God’s Grace, His Promise, His Justification In The “Seed,” In Jesus, And Received By Faith
Text: “The promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. It depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring . . . to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”
Statement: Many people did not believe this in times past – the rebellious Israelites, the Scribes and Pharisees, whole nations of people like the Edomites, Moabites, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Many people do not believe this today – both outside of visible Christendom, and even within the various churches, including our own church body. Now, Luther believed this – and taught it in the Catechism bearing his name; and we have committed ourselves to this as a “Lutheran” and genuinely Christian congregation – so hopefully none of us rejects this reality of the salvation and blessing of God by “GOD’S GRACE” and received solely by “FAITH.” To do so, to reject this in unbelief is the greatest darkness imaginable!
Application: So let us heed God’s Word, for “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Yes, it is true that:
III. Faith Also Comes By The Grace Of God, His Gift, His New Creation
A. Faith Comes Through The Gift Of Baptism – God’s New Birth Of Water And Spirit
Gospel – John 3:3,5 “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. . . . Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
B. And Faith Also Comes Through The Powerful Gift Of God’s Word – Which Re-Created Abraham As A New Person
Text: “As it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’ in the presence of the God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”
Rom. 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
1 Pet. 1:23-25 “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God; for ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord remains forever.’ And this Word is the good news that was preached to you.”
Statement: And this is the good Word that is preached to you to this very day – as written in God’s Holy Word, the Bible. Our text, and many others, continue to proclaim the foundation of God’s relationship with fallen and sinful human beings – like Abraham, Isaac, David, Nicodemus, and Paul, and like you and me – “GOD’S GRACE AND FAITH” in His gracious love and mercy, His promises, all that He has done for us in Christ Jesus!
Application: So let us also see God’s grace, hear His Word, His call to faith, and let us simply believe.
Conclusion: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man was lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”
Blessed are you if you believe – for then you join Abraham, David, Paul, and all of God’s people of all times and places, as those who are saved. God grant it to us all, Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.