LENT 2 – March 8, 2020 – Rom. 4:1-8, 12-17
Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning is the Epistle Lesson just read, from Romans 4. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- When Abraham was called to become one of the Lord’s special servants, he was an idolater in Haran, a Chaldean. He was a descendant of Shem, Noah’s more pious son. But faith in God had been lost even within this family. Abram’s calling was not just remarkable and gracious, it was also a calling “FROM DEATH TO LIFE.” This coming Thursday we will meditate on this fantastic act of God!
- Jesus said the same to Nicodemus – about coming to know the only true and living God. Anyone who comes into a new relationship with God, in which we truly know Him as He is, must “be born again.” The person whom God has called to faith in Jesus Christ has been moved “FROM DEATH TO LIFE.”
- Because this happened to us as little children, for most of us, in our baptism – which is being “born again of water and the Spirit,” we have a hard time grasping just what a huge difference this truly is. For those who were “born again” later in life, brought to faith by the Spirit of God through the Word of God, there is a greater chance of sensing the difference. But sometimes the changes occur slowly and subtly. Nonetheless, all who have come to know God through His Son Jesus our Savior, have been “born again” and have been moved “FROM DEATH TO LIFE.”
- So it is important for us to be clear and certain about the dynamics of all of this – and that is the import of the Apostle Paul in our text for this morning. He wants us to clearly understand the graciousness of this “resurrecting and recreating” work of God in us. He wants us to understand the nature and basis of this gracious act of God. And He wants us to understand the results, the fruits, the outcome of this new life that God works in us. So we look at:
I. The First Issue: Is This New Life From Death A Matter Of Wages, Or A Gift From God?
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. 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.”
Text: “For 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. . . . That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring . . . to all who share the faith of Abraham.”
Statement: This dynamic is required if any human being is to be saved. Jesus intimated it when He said, “You must be born again.” The reality of fallen human nature, which we are all born with, is deadness. Remember, Adam, after the fall, fathered children “in his image and likeness,” not in the image of God. Paul describes the reality: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” [Eph. 2:1-3]
Application: Obviously, dead people cannot do anything for themselves. This was no different for father Abraham, and no different for us. Dead people are passive, especially when it comes to being made alive again! So, because it had to be, and because of God’s love, His gracious and merciful love, our rebirth “FROM DEATH TO LIFE” was a matter of God’s gift, and it is never a matter of earning, deserving, or human accomplishment!
This should bring us the utmost joy and certainty – for if God is worth believing in and having as God, God is love. And if God is love, then He must be truthful and faithful. Our salvation is much surer in God’s hands than in our own! To help us understand this, we must also consider:
II. The Second Issue, The Nature Of The Gift, The Forgiveness Of Sins And God Counting Righteousness To Us
Text: “As David 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.”
Statement: We must remember that whatever is given to us is given by the grace and mercy of God – apart from our works! And the nature of this gift is the full and complete forgiveness of all our sins. You remember what the Scripture says: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from ALL sin.” “He is the blood atonement for our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
This is the “passive” aspect of our salvation – the taking away of our sin and guilt, which is the basis for death and damnation. You remember: “The wages of sin is death.” “The soul that sins shall die.” “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The “active” aspect of our salvation is the righteousness that God accounts to us, the perfect obedience and righteousness of Jesus. Paul talks about the need and the beauty of having this righteousness: “I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
Application: With this gift comes peace with God, eternal life, the kingdom of heaven, the resurrection to glory. And again, it is all simply given to us by God, from His love and grace! And if we grasp this, and keep it firmly in mind, then we will also love Him, and love Him by loving one another. And this brings us to:
III. The Third Issue: The Results Of God’s Gift Of Rebirth, Life From Death And Nothingness
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.”
Statement: Our call to faith, as with the call to Abraham, is truly a miraculous call to “LIFE FROM THE DEAD.” No spiritual life existed in Abraham or in us – until God called it forth through His gospel Word, and brought us to faith. Remember, when Abraham was given the promise that he would be the “father of many nations,” he and Sarah were old, and Sarah had already gone through menopause. There was no reproductive life left in her. No problem for God. He loved and He created new life, fulfilling His promises, out of nothing!
Application: And once God has brought us “FROM DEATH TO LIFE” we have “living” to do as well. Abraham built an altar to God, worshiping Him, and sacrificing to Him. Abraham continued his journey. He called on “the Name of the Lord.” He loved, and performed many good deeds of love and kindness. He remained faithful to God and His Word!
We have this same “life” and are blessed to do these same things – to worship God, to bring offerings to Him, to call on God’s Name, to love as we have been loved, to remain faithful to God’s Word, and to carry out our journeying through life to our true home in heaven! For we have life, eternal life – and genuine human life in the gracious goodness and fellowship of God.
Conclusion: So it is important for us to be clear and certain about the dynamics of all of this – and that is the import of the Apostle Paul in our text for this morning. God wants us to clearly understand the graciousness of this “resurrecting and recreating” work He does in us. He wants us to understand the nature and basis of this gracious act of His – His mercy, forgiveness, and justification of us. And He wants us to understand the results, the fruits, the outcome of this new life that He works in us.
God has moved us “FROM DEATH TO LIFE.” Thanks and praise be to God, 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.