Two Journeys

Please take your Bibles and turn to Romans, Chapter 4. This will be for a little while, anyway, maybe even a long while, our last sermon in Romans. We've been looking at the first four chapters in Romans and it stands as a unit. And together, those four chapters prepare you for the greatest day of your life, the day in which you'll stand before God to give an account for your soul, to prepare you for Judgment Day.

Now that's weighty, isn't it? And we've seen exactly how weighty that is, for Judgment Day stands before us, the heavenly court will be seated. The books will be opened and we will give an account. And if there is a message in this world that can take sinners like us and declare us righteous before such a holy judge, then it's well worth listening to. And we have listened all year.

Now, as we've looked at the message of Paul in Romans, it's been clear that justification, namely, that moment in which the righteous judge, God himself declares sinners like us, not guilty, justification occurs by faith alone. Now we're going to see out of the text this morning, the question comes, why faith? Why did God choose that attribute? Why not other things? Now perhaps some of you have seen this book, The Book of Virtues. It's a great book, written by William Bennett, or compiled really, by William Bennett. He was a former Secretary of Education. And he put this together. Books like this have been done for a long time. As a matter of fact, the oldest book in my library published in 1848 is a cyclopedia. I didn't know what a cyclopedia was, but it's an encyclopedia without the en, I guess.

Cyclopedia of Religious and Moral Anecdotes, same thing. Stories that illustrate moral behavior. And he lists 10 some odd attributes or virtues that would grace any godly character or any human being really for that matter. It's written for a secular audience. And so the stories are secular. But they point to virtues that are worth considering, for example, self-discipline or compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, and loyalty among others. So as he lists these virtues, I got to thinking, "Well, what would be wrong with some of those for justification?"

Self Discipline is Insufficient for Judgement Day

For example, he talks about the self-discipline of George Washington. George Washington, from an early age, trained himself to be a disciplined young man, even before he entered the military. And by the time he took control of the continental army, that self-discipline had reached it's full flower and it enabled him to go through incredible suffering and difficulty. Valley Forge, one set back after another to keep the continental army together, self-discipline. But if George Washington stood before God, justified of all his sins, it was not on the basis of his self-discipline, however admirable.

Compassion is Insufficient for Judgement Day

Or compassion for example. Clara Barton is someone that William Bennett talks about. Clara Barton is the founder of the Red Cross. She was called the angel of the battlefield. She went out on Civil War battlefields one after another, risked her life to tend to those that had been grievously wounded. Back in those days if you were wounded seriously, you probably were going to die. And she gave incredible comfort and care with amazing courage. And her vision of compassion has spread to include, not just warfare but hurricanes, and earthquakes, and all kinds of natural disasters and that's a vision she had even before she died. But if Clara Barton stood before the judgment seat of God declared righteous for all her sins, it was not on the basis of her compassion, however admirable.

Responsibility is Insufficient for Judgement Day

What about responsibility? We live in a time when people are becoming more and more irresponsible. They don't take responsibility. They don't feel a sense of responsibility because it costs something. Frederick Douglas is an example of responsibility. He was an escaped slave who labored tirelessly to help those who were still suffering from bondage simply because he felt an overwhelming sense of duty and responsibility to his people. And not only that but to the whole nation. Through his writings and his messages, his speeches, he held the "scorching iron of moral reproach" to America's conscience, holding each American citizen responsible for this moral evil called slavery. Thus, he was a hero to thousands for this undying sense of responsibility. But again, if Douglas stood before God declared righteous of all his sins, it was not because of his sense of responsibility.

Perseverance is Insufficient for Judgement Day

Or how about perseverance? Thomas Edison worked hard every day of his life to make the most of the creativity that God had given him, not a believer but he worked hard persevering, laboring. If you ever read the story of the invention of the light bulb, you know what I mean. All the different filaments and fibers he tried to make work and he was the one that said, "genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration" and he put in that perspiration, hours of unremitting labor. But if a man like Edison stood before God justified, it was not on the basis of perseverance.

Courage is Insufficient for Judgement Day

Or what about courage? Harriet Tubman led over 300 slaves through the underground railroad during the time before the Civil War, risked her life to do so. 20 trips she made, can't imagine the terror that would come in your heart at various times, incredible courage. But if Harriet Tubman stood before God justified for all her sins, it was not on the basis of her courage, however admirable.

Even Love is Insufficient for Judgement Day

You know, one trait that he left out was love. Isn't that one of the virtues you think of maybe number one? When you think of somebody who's exemplified love in a very public way, perhaps Mother Theresa would come to mind. She went to Calcutta and put those little bony arms of love around people that almost anybody else would have rejected. It's a terrible city. Poverty stricken, struck by one natural disaster after another. And for her conspicuous love and her courageous love, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But if Mother Teresa stood before God, justified, that is declared righteous on Judgment Day, it's not on the basis of her love, however admirable.

Why did God choose faith? That is before us today. And not just any faith, a kind of a nebulous faith but according to our text, the faith in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead. That is the faith that justifies. Let's look now at Romans 4. Let's begin at Verse 18 and read to the end of the chapter.

"Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be'. Without weakening in his faith, Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old and that Sarah's womb was also dead, yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God that was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God."

And here's that definition we got last time Verse 21, "Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised." Therefore, it's a good translation, "Therefore, it was credited to him as righteousness. The words 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will be credit righteousness, for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification."

So I'm going to ask three questions of this text and they come right out of the text. First question is, Why did God choose faith? What is there about faith that justifies? Why did he choose that as the virtue, if you could call it that? And second of all, what is the origin and the sustaining power of this faith? Where does it come from? What is the relationship between Scripture, for example, and the faith that justifies and I would contend sanctifies as well? And then finally, what do we get out of this? What is our portion, our connection to this whole matter? These are the three questions I'm going to ask.

Let's begin by asking, "Why did God choose faith?" We went through a number of virtues, you can think of others, perhaps, that you would choose or exemplify, desire to exemplify in your life. But it is faith. Now look at Verse 22. Verse 22 in the NIV says, "This is why," or in other versions it says, "therefore, it was credited to him."

So there's something about faith that brings about the crediting of righteousness and that brings the question up, then what is it? What is in the nature of faith? Why did God choose faith? Now last week, we talked about what is justifying faith, what is the nature of it? There's no reason to preach that sermon again. I'm sure you remember all the points very well. But the fact of the matter is, Verse 21 gives us a beautiful definition of faith. Faith is a full assurance or a confidence in God that he has power to do the things he's promised. Isn't that a great definition? And God's made many promises in Scripture, hasn't he? He's covered us with promises. And it says in Corinthians that, "All of those promises are in Christ." Yes and amen. They all come to us through Christ.

And so we believe in a God, an invisible God, who's made promises to us and we believe those promises though we may see no evidence for it around us. And we've seen in Romans 4 an example of that kind of faith. Abraham was made an incredible promise, namely that he would have as many descendants as there were stars in the sky. "So shall your offspring be," said God to him. And Abraham believed that promise and he was justified. Declared righteous by God. So that is faith. It's Hebrews 11:1, "The assurance of things hoped for. The conviction or certainty of things not seen." And then Romans adds that it was based on the character and faithfulness of God who made the promise.

Well, I would give three answers to why it is that God chose faith. Number one, faith glorifies God. Faith glorifies God. Look at verse 20. It says that Abraham did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith giving glory to God. In other words, the strengthening of Abraham's faith gave glory to God. Now, glory to God means it reveals something of who God is. It exemplifies something of God's character.

The Universe Was Created for the Glory of God

Now, lest we forget, and it's easy to forget, this universe and everything in it was created for the glory of God. That's why we're here. And how easy it is for us to forget that. We get so centered on ourselves, don't we? We forget that we exist, that our heart is beating every moment for the glory of God. Whether we acknowledge that or not, we're created for that. And the heavens, which God pointed to when he said, "So shall your offspring be." The heavens exist for the glory of God. Psalm 19:1. "The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands." That's what it's here for. That's what you're here for.

Humanity was created particularly to bring glory to God. I love Psalm 96:7-8, "Ascribe to the Lord, oh families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name," the glory he deserves for the kind of God he is. That is our job description as human beings. But we don't do it, do we? We have forsaken the glory of God. We have, according to the Book of Romans, exchanged the glory of God for something lesser. We've traded it. The very thing that was our inheritance and our birthright, the thing that we should have been living for. We exchanged the glory of God for earthly things that don't matter. That's the essence of sin. We exchanged the glory of God, for all have sinned and lack the glory of God.

God is the Focus of Faith

Now salvation calls us back to the glory of God and therefore the thing that saves us must do the same. Do you see that? If we were to elevate one of these human virtues and say, "That is the thing which will declare us righteous," do you see the focus is on ourself, our love, our compassion, our self-discipline, you see? But faith looks outside of ourselves to God. There's nothing to boast in about faith. We're looking to a God who is faithful to keep his promises. And so you see why faith was chosen instead of these other virtues. These virtues could be complete and assembled and still have a dark, almost demonic pride behind them because we boast that we are so compassionate, boast that we are so loving or so disciplined.

But faith, where is the boasting? We are just reaching out with arms saying, "God, give me the thing you promised. And so faith glorifies God. Well, how does it glorify God? First, faith glorifies God because God is the focus of faith. Self can never be focus of faith. Let's not get confused about the modern language that is so annoying. You just need to believe in yourself. Well, that won't do on Judgment Day. It will not do on Judgment Day to believe in yourself. It will lead to hell. You must get up out of yourself to believe in the God who presents salvation to us in this message. The focus of faith is God. It's not a matter of see what I can do, but rather see what God has done and what he will do in me by his power.

Verse 25 says, "He, [mainly Christ] was delivered over to death for our sins," note the passive. Who delivered Christ over for our sins? It was God the Father. God delivered him over. God did this. He was delivered over to death for our sins, and he was raised to life, note the passive, who raised Jesus from the dead? It was God who raised him from the dead. You see, faith gets up out of ourselves to look at a God who has done these great things.

God is the Author of Faith

Secondly, God is the author of faith. He invented it. As a matter of fact, if you're a believer today, he wrote it on your heart. I like what it says in Hebrews 12:2 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." He wrote faith on your heart at some point in your life. When you heard the gospel and believed, he wrote it. And then that verse that we have considered probably 36 times, "For it is by grace you are saved through faith and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Not by works. You see, God gives the faith. It's a gift of God. God also not only gives the faith, he sustains it and perfects it. He nurtures the faith. If you've already come to faith in Christ, this is your business now. The sustaining and nurturing of your faith through something called sanctification and obedience, and the same one that gave you the faith for justification is going to nurture it and strengthen it right until you're finished.

God is the Sustainer of Faith

Now we started to consider this verse last time, but I had it printed on your bulletin, and that is Luke 22:31-32, just look at your bulletin. This is such a significant verse. And I'll tell you why it's significant, because there are many in this room here today who are claiming Jesus as your savior and Lord. You believe that Jesus will save you. You believe it, don't you, today? But how do you know you will believe it 20 years from now if God lets you live that long? How do you know? What is your assurance that what you believe today, you will believe 20 years from now?

If your answer is because I'm such a good believer, you've missed the whole message of Romans, but rather it is God who sustains faith in you. And here's good scriptural back up to prove it. Right before Jesus died, Jesus was breaking the news to his disciples that they are about to go through the trial of their life. "Simon, Simon," Jesus said, "Satan has demanded to sift you as wheat." Look at verse 32. "But I have prayed for you, Simon." "To what end have you prayed for me, Lord? To what end have you prayed for me? What did you pray for Jesus? I'd like to know." "I have prayed that your faith may not fail," that your faith may not give out through this trial."

Now I've asked before… Think about, who did Jesus pray to? To the Father. What business has the Father to interfere with Simon's faith? Every business. He's the one that gave it to him, and he's the one that will sustain it through the worst time in his life. Oh, yes, Simon will weep bitterly. Oh, he'll hit low. He will hit the bottom and he'll bounce. That's how low he will be, but he will not give in. His faith will not give out. And why? Because Jesus has prayed to the Father, that his faith may not fail and it won't fail. So let me ask the question again.

If you're a believer in Jesus today, what guarantee do you have that you'll still believe in him 20 years from now? Here's your guarantee. Jesus ministry in you will sustain your faith for every trial you go through. Now, Simon could've made it a lot easier for himself if he hadn't denied the Lord three times. We put ourselves through incredible pain through our sin, don't we? We don't have to go through the pain that leads us to weeping bitterly. If we choose that painful route, Jesus prays for us that our faith may not fail. "And when you have turned," Jesus said, "strengthen your brothers." There's no "if" in Jesus language here. It's an iffy thing. It's a coin toss, whether he will return. No. When you have turned, strengthen your brothers. You see that? There's your guarantee. God is the sustainer of faith.

God is the Tester of Faith

And then, finally, God is the tester of faith. He brings you through tough things, doesn't he? As you go through those trials, your faith gets stronger. He wants a strong mature faith. Not just the beginner faith of justification, but the strong faith of a mature, godly man or woman. And he's going to bring you through trials so that your faith gets stronger. Faith glorifies God.

Now, the second answer to why God chooses faith is that faith accords with grace and guarantees salvation. Remember what Romans has taught us about ourselves. Who are we really? If you want to know who you really are, then read Romans. Romans Chapter 3 is a good summary of who we really are.

"As it is written, there is no one righteous. No, not one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes." Conversion happens when you put your name in each of those verses, and say, this is me apart from Christ. This is who I am, if it weren't for Jesus. And so, how do people like us get saved? Grace. God gives it to us as a gift, apart from what we deserve.

If we start listing our virtues, we haven't understood grace. It's not on the basis of any virtues that God sees in us, but rather, just because he is gracious, and loving, and does not treat us as our sins deserve. That's why. And so faith lines up well with that. And therefore, from that, we get a guarantee of salvation because it's not in you, do you see? It's coming from a God who is determined to save you.

Remember the back up for this, the scriptural verse, Romans 4:16. "Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring." Remember we talked about that word, guarantee. That's a sweet word. It means on Judgment Day, you will be welcomed by God despite all your sin. Guaranteed. Sing for joy at that word today. Sing again. I hope you sang when I preached it last time. Sing again. The guarantee, but it must be by faith. If it's some virtue in yourself, you may not have it sufficiently. It leads you to insecurity. Am I compassionate enough, if God has chosen compassion? Am I loving enough, if God has chosen love? Am I self-disciplined enough, if God has chosen that one? It leads to insecurity and therefore no guarantee of salvation, but faith looks outside of yourself and gives you a guarantee that you will be saved.

Now, again, you can choose to violate the principles of your faith. You can choose to go into sin, you can choose to try to test God's determination to save you. You're just going to hurt yourself, but you're not going to break that iron will. You're just going to hurt yourself. Believe me, God is vigorous in this matter of salvation. And if you choose to test him through sin, he will discipline you if you're a child of God. He will discipline you, and make your life miserable. But his determination to save you cannot be broken. It's a guarantee.

And then finally, because faith humbles humanity. All of this humbled us, do you see that? The answer isn't in us. It's not because we're such great believers that we get saved. But rather because by faith we are saved. Faith humbles us. Trusting in virtue leads to pride, but faith leads to humility. Therefore boasting is excluded. It's out. Except boasting in the Lord. These are the reasons I believe that God has chosen faith. Because faith glorifies God, because faith accords with grace and guarantees salvation to everyone who believes, and because faith humbles us when we need to be humbled.

You know what I've come to see as the opposite of faith in this sense, then? In 2 Corinthians, Chapter 1, Paul talks about some terrible trials he was going through so that he despaired even of life itself. And he said, but these things have happened, these trials have come to teach us not to rely on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. That's the same thing he says here in Romans 4. To get our eyes off ourselves and look to God. When you get in over your head, you look to God, and you trust him and him alone. So therefore, the opposite of faith in that sense is what? Self-reliance. Self-reliance in the matter of salvation damns souls. But, if you get up out of yourself and look to Jesus and to him alone, you'll be saved. The opposite of faith is self-reliance in this sense.

The second question we want to ask is, what role the Scripture play in this faith? Now, look what it says in Verse 23-24. "The words, ‘It was credited to him’ were written not for him alone by also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." 

So Paul is here getting to the issue of why was Scripture written? This leads us right to Paul's doctrine of Scripture. These words were written by God through Moses, Genesis 15, so that we might understand how we can be saved. We might understand how we can be saved. "All Scripture is God-breathed," he says in 2 Timothy 3:16. But what's its primary function? He said in Verse 15, 2 Timothy 3:15, "To make you wise for salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus." So, when you read Genesis 15:6, "it was credited to him as righteousness on the basis of his faith," you learn how you can be saved too. You see how it works? Do you realize that all of Romans 4 is just Paul's extended exegesis on just one half of one verse of the Old Testament?

He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Isn't that what he's been talking about the whole chapter? One little verse and now he's saying, why was that verse written? It was written for people like you and me who live here in Durham, North Carolina, the year 2000 to read the Scripture that we may know how we can stand before a holy, righteous God on Judgment Day and be justified for our sins. That's why Scripture is given. And so later, Paul will say in Romans 10:17, "So then faith comes from hearing the word." It comes from hearing the word. That's where it comes from. God uses Scripture to give birth to faith. James 1:18 says the same thing. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, so that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. The birth came when we heard the word. That's when the birth came. And therefore, Scripture is foundational to our salvation.

Now why did God choose to do it this way? Well, God can do anything he wants. But I think I can guess at what it is. Suppose all of you took a small piece of paper and wrote your name on it. Folded it up and put it in a vacuum packed, hermetically sealed, iron container and put it 100 feet under the earth and left it there. If the Lord didn't return 500 years later, somebody dug it up and they opened up that little container. And they pulled that paper out and unfolded it, what would it say? It would say your name. 500 years later, the same thing as the day you wrote it, doesn't change. And so the Dead Sea scrolls can be on earth, and 2000 years later they say the same thing the day they were written.

And so it points to a timeless, changeless God who makes promises that will never change. You see how Scripture supports faith. You read the Scripture and say, "Boy, it reads the same as it did when I was a boy." It's the same words, they're still here. God hasn't changed. In the midst of all this changeful world we live in, when I'm changing too, all the time God's word never changes. Heaven and earth will pass away, but his word will never pass away. And that gives us security, doesn't it?

And secondly, Scripture sustains and matures faith. Do you realize what this means? The same faith that justifies you, must move on now to sanctify you. Now I don't know when God is going to lead me back to Romans 5, 6, 7 and 8, four of the greatest chapters in all the Bible. But this is all about sanctification. What now? Now that we're justified, now what? Put sin to death. Grow in holiness. Be obedient to him. Well, that takes faith, doesn't it? Well, I contend it's the same faith that justified us, it just matures up into sanctifying faith and obedience faith. It's the same faith, there's no difference.

And so it said in Romans 1:16, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes," that's faith, first for the Jews, then for the gentile, "for in the gospel the righteousness from God..." that's credited to righteousness, we'll get to that in a minute. "…Righteousness from God is revealed, the righteousness that is from faith to faith." The faith that justifies will bring you all the way home. Alright then, your business, as believers in Christ, is to strengthen your faith, alright? How do you do that?

Through Scripture, through considering what I'm saying to you this morning. Through going home and saying, "I can't get enough of the Bible, I want to read it again." And guess what? Your faith will grow stronger. And if you don't do this, if you neglect the word of God, your faith will be little and immature and so will your life. But if you give yourself to full attention to the word of God, you will grow up. 1 Peter 2:2, it says, "Like newborn babies, crave the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."

The third question we're going to ask today is, what is the result of this faith? Where does it come from? What do we get for it? What comes to us? Isn't it a fact what you're asking? What do I get through all of this? Is there a portion for me, is there a place for me at the table? Is there a table setting for me? Do I get to eat at this banquet? And what do I eat? Faith brings us into union with Christ. That is our portion. That's what we get. It's interesting to me the number of times "our" is in this little section here. Verse 25, "He was delivered over to death for our sins." It was our sins that nailed Jesus to the tree, isn't it? That, by the way, is your one true contribution to your own salvation. Your sins. Everything else comes from God. That's what you own. That's yours alone. That's what you contribute to your salvation. Our sins. And he was delivered over to death in place of our sins, to take the place, to receive God's punishment by his death on the cross. It was our sins that nailed Christ to the tree.

Also, it's our reading of Scripture. Look what it says in Verse 23 and 24, "the words were written not for him alone…" But also for who? For us! You're sitting here and reading the words. This is your reading. Therefore it's your faith that's getting built. This is your partaking in the feast, and our faith. Verse 24, "For us who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord from the dead." We are the ones who believe. We are the ones who exert faith. When God has written it in our hearts. We are the one that reach out and trust and believe, it is our faith, and therefore finally it is our imputed righteousness.

Do you know that 11 times in this chapter he talks about this? 11 times Paul. We get it. Oh no, you don't. I've said it 10 times, I need to say it one more time. 11 times. Verse 3, "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." Verse 5, "However to the man who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited to him as righteousness." Verse 6, "David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness, apart from works." Verse 9 and 10, "we have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited?" Do you get it? Do you see what Paul's doing? He's talking about a righteousness that isn't yours, that gets imputed or credited to your account.

Verse 22-24, "This is why it was credited to him as righteousness. The words it was credited to him were written not for him alone, but also for us to whom God will credit righteousness." Again and again, he says the same thing and you know why? This is our only hope folks. This is the only hope we have to stand before God on Judgment Day and be declared righteous. A credited righteousness that comes from outside of us that is not based on our good virtues, not at all, but comes to us simply by faith. It's our only hope. And it's a sure, certain secure hope, because God is the one who's made the promise. And our final portion is our Lord. Ain't that beautiful? The last time it says at Verse 24, "For us who believed in him, who raised, look, Jesus our Lord from the dead."

If you're saved, he's your Lord. He's our Lord. And he loves you. And he is all over your life. He's walking in and around it and through it, looking at it. He's sanctifying you. He's working in you. He is your Lord. That is your portion. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh, and my heart may fail, will fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Well, how do we apply this? Well, first of all, what's this I'm talking about? Am I talking about just this one sermon or four chapters of Romans over 30 sermons? How do we apply this? Well, let's just focus on this one sermon today. Total assurance if you're a believer. Someday, you're going to see God face to face and nothing can change that. Nothing. Now you can have a happy journey, an obedient fruitful journey or a miserable one. If you choose misery, eventually you're going to repent if you're a true child of God. Don't be too confident if you see nothing but sin in your life and never the fruit of repentance. Test yourself. But if you're truly a believer in Jesus Christ, total assurance is yours because of the doctrines that we've shared today. But your faith must grow from immature faith to mature faith. From like Jesus always said to his disciples, "You of little faith," to a full strong mature faith.

How does that happen? Do you know the answer? Read the Bible. Immerse yourself in its message. Never get enough. Eat it every day. Man does not live on bread alone said Jesus, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Read it. Saturate your mind in it. But buy it, you may grow up in your salvation.

And secondly to you believers, when you go through trials, rejoice. God is using it to strengthen your faith so that you do not rely on yourself, but on God who raises the dead. That's our doctrine. Rejoice when you go through that. And now there may be some who know themselves to be unbelievers. You know that you've never come to this kind of faith in Christ. Can I urge you, don't put it off? It's not going to be long before you'll stand before God to give an account for your life. The court will be seated and the books will be open. If you stand before God on the basis of your virtues, you will die and go to hell. But if you stand before God on the basis of the virtue of Jesus Christ and his imputed righteousness, you have pleasures at his right hand forevermore. Come to faith in Christ today.

In a few moments, we're going to sing a closing hymn. I'm going to be down at the front. If you want to come talk to me about your soul, we'll begin a conversation there, and once the music's over and the service is over, we'll continue. Please come and talk to me. And also if you would like to be a member of the church, you can come forward and talk to me about that as well. We'd love to have you take part in what God is doing here. To take part in the growth of this church. If you're a non-believer, don't let today go by. This is an opportunity to give your lives to Jesus Christ. Let's close in prayer.

Please take your Bibles if you would, and open to Romans chapter 4. We're going to be looking this morning at verses 17-22 on the nature of true faith. Now, last week as we took a break from Romans, I began by talking to you about Charles Spurgeon, who preached in England. And he said that the blessings lavished on England of a worldwide empire were given by God for the purpose of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we ourselves need to realize that, that any wealth, or any advantage, or blessing we have is for a purpose. And the purpose is to advance the gospel. Well recently, I've been reading some biographies of some godly Christian leaders, and I just noticed something. I started to see something and it came together, that all three of these godly men who I'm reading about these days werealive at the same time. Their ministries all began in Great Britain. And they were all working at the same time. And it all kind of came together in one year in 1857. In that year in England, George Mueller, great man of faith, for the first time took a major faith step away from just simply taking care of a handful of orphans to trust God for 700 orphans. Now you stop and think about that. What would you do with 700 orphans?

How would you care for them? Three meals a day, changes of clothing, bedding, and shelter. But he believed that God was laying this on his heart, this great burden. Some of these orphans he'd found on the dock, some he'd found wailing in alleys and on streets. And every one of them spoke to him of his personal responsibility. And so there was a tremendous burden laid on him. And he could not have borne that burden, except that God had given him a promise from scripture, Psalm 81:10, in which he says, "Open wide your mouth and I will fill it." And time and again, he went to that. Again and again, and he was on his knees, he was praying and trusting God. And this verse would come up and he'd say, "All right, Lord, we're needy. We need food, we need clothing again," etcetera. More than anything, they needed a place big enough to house all these orphans. And in that year, 1857, the money started rolling in. Wealthy English businessmen that he had never met heard about what he was doing. And he would open not just wide his mouth, but open envelopes with 500 pounds, 1,000 pounds, 3,000 pounds. In one envelope, the most money he'd ever seen in one place at one time, 8,100 pounds. And as this money just rolled in, he just kept remembering this promise, "Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it." He was trusting God for something far bigger than him. And God was faithful to His word.

Meanwhile, halfway around the world in China, another man, Hudson Taylor was taking a major step of faith at that point. He had moved away from the coast of China, where all the missionaries were doing their work, and had moved inland to the Inland regions of China. God had laid China, the inland regions, on his heart. And around about that time, I don't know the exact year, but 1856, 1857, he decided to discard his European dress, to dye his hair and have a long pony tail and wear the traditional outfit of a Chinese teacher. Now in doing so, he discarded any advantages he might have had in being European, but doors started opening to him and he started preaching the gospel in powerful ways, 1857. Now God had given Hudson Taylor a tremendous burden, far greater than he could bear. Tens of millions of Chinese people who had never heard of Jesus Christ. And this burden was fit to crush him, except that God had given him a scripture verse. In this case, it was John 4:14, in which Jesus said to the woman at the well, "Whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never thirst." And so 20 times a day, he says in his diary, he went back to that verse and said, "I'm thirsty, fill me up. I need you. Help me through this." And God was faithful to His word. And from that came that great slogan that we know Hudson Taylor by, "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply," based on a scripture verse.

Now a third man that perhaps many of you haven't heard about, we're reading this biography right now in our family. John Paton. Perhaps many of you have never heard of John Paton. But John Paton was a Scotsman, and he was doing a fruitful inner-city ministry in Glasgow leading many people to Christ, training young people. And God laid on him the New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific. He had heard the story of their need, he had heard that the last missionary that had been sent there had been killed by a cannibal tribe right there on the beach, while the boat that had let him off observed. Now, what kind of courage would it take to get on a boat and sail back to that island and preach the gospel? Incredible courage. What a burden. Far greater than anything he could bear. And there was an elderly gentleman who was a good friend of his, named Mr. Dickson. And he said, "Please don't go. You'll be eaten by cannibals."

And I'll never forget his response. I'm going to read it. He said, "Mr. Dickson, you're advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave and there to be eaten by worms. I confess to you that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I'm eaten by cannibals or by worms. And in the great day, my resurrection body will arise every bit as fair as yours." Isn’t that a marvelous faith-filled response? "I just want to live and die for Jesus", said John Paton. And in 1857, he got on that boat and sailed. And he led them to Christ. Incredible. Now, how do we unify these three stories to our text? George Mueller was trusting God for something far bigger than him based on the faithfulness of God to his promise. 700 orphans. Hudson Taylor was trusting God for something far greater than he could imagine. Tens of millions of inland Chinese, based on a promise of God. John Paton was courageous enough to face his own death, perhaps even a gruesome death, because of his faith in a promise of God.

Now, this is what I'm saying to you, all of you who are Christians today, you are trusting God for something far greater than anything these three men trusted God for in this world. You are trusting God simply because you heard a promise that a holy, holy, holy God is going to welcome you on judgment day. He's going to accept you, He's going to forgive all of your sins. He's going to welcome you into His very presence. He's going to glorify you with His own glory. Not only that, but at the end of the world, He's going to give you a resurrection body, and there you will live with God forever and ever. Now as you look at the three stories I've told you, and this, that you as a Christian are trusting God for, which is greater? And the same faith which enabled these three men to step out and do great things for God, they were clinging to for their own salvation as well. And it is the faith of Abraham as explained in our text today.

Look at it in verses 17-22. "As it is written, 'I have made you a father of many nations.' He is our father in the sight of God in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed, and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, so shall your offspring be. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead, since he was about 100 years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."

Now, the question before us in Romans 4 is simply this; what kind of faith justifies sinners? Now we've seen in Romans 1, 2 and 3 that all of us are sinners. Every last one of us has violated God's law. None of us has righteousness on our own. We will not survive judgment day through our own righteousness. Every last one of us, for the scripture says, "There is no one righteous, no, not one." So we need a savior. Romans 3, the savior is provided, Jesus Christ. He died on the cross, his blood was shed. He drank the cup of God's wrath. He has fully paid the penalty for our sin. And that we have access to that justification, that declaration that we are righteous in God's sight, we have access to it by faith alone, apart from works. And then He raises up Abraham in Romans 4 as an example of faith, so we can see positively what it looks like.

Now, James gives us the negative answer. What kind of faith does not justify? We looked at that, it would be dead faith, which produces no good works, that does not justify. Or demon faith, which knows all the right answers doctrinally, but hates God at its core. Or useless faith, which comes in and makes no change whatsoever in your life. Now that faith, that kind of faith, dead faith, demon faith, useless faith, does not justify. But what kind of faith does justify? Positively, you look at Abraham if you want the answer. And that's what Romans 4 is about. For you who are not sure whether you're Christians or not, read Romans 4, and you will understand what kind of faith you must have in order to be justified for your sins. And so he says in verse 1 of this chapter, "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?" Namely, how was Abraham made right with God? How was he declared to be righteous? He is set up as an example of justifying faith.

Now in our text today, we're going to see four aspects of that. True faith or justifying faith contemplates God's almighty power. It has eyes only for what God can do. Secondly, true faith or justifying faith produces supernatural hope. Thirdly, true faith is born and strengthened by God's word of promise. And then fourthly, true faith does not weaken or waver at massive obstacles. So let's look and see a little more carefully. First, let's get a definition of true faith. Now many people, when they say, what's the definition of faith, they go to Hebrews 11, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." That's a great definition.

But I think we have a good one right here in our text. If you were to look at the cover of your worship bulletin today, we have the verse right there. This is a great definition of saving faith or true faith. That Abraham, it says, "Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." Isn't that a good definition of faith? Full persuasion that God has power to do the things He's promised to do. It's a great definition. Let's pull it apart. First, it says fully persuaded. The Greek word really means filled up. We're filled up with a certainty about God. Filled up with Him, filled up with the sense of who He is, what kind of being He is. Filled up, complete assurance, utter confidence, no question about it, fully persuaded. Secondly, fully persuaded that God... You see, true faith focuses on God and on nothing else. The characteristic posture of faith is reaching up. "God, give me what you have promised." Like a spiritual beggar, we're reaching out to a God who is fully capable. Fully persuaded that God. So faith zeroes in on God. Who is this being? He's created the ends of the Earth. His power is displayed in all that He's made, that's the being that we're focused on. True faith zeroes in on Him. And it says that God had power to do. Not just God as we invent Him, but a God who is omnipotent, a God who is powerful, who can do anything that He sets out to do, anything that can be done by power, God can do.

And so the issue is, what is His will? It's got nothing to do with whether He can do something, like the father of that demon possessed boy who said to Jesus, "If you can, help him." And Jesus said, "If you can?" Do you know who you're talking to? There's no if you can with God. With God, all things are possible. Anything that can be done by power, God can do. Being fully persuaded that God had power to do, now here's the issue, what He had promised. See, once he declares his intention, now we know what his will is. There may be many things that God is powerful to do he will not do. But the matter is what has he promised to do? And once he's promised it, he will keep his promise. That is faith. Whatever he's promised must come to pass.

Alright, now let's look at the aspects to it. First, true faith contemplates God's almighty power. Faith begins in the mind. We tend to think that there's some kind of an argument or disagreement between the rational process and faith. When I was a student at MIT, I used to have discussions with people. I'd say, "What is the matter with you? You have a good mind. You love science. How can you believe these things?" As though somehow my faith contradicted my reason. Not at all. Faith just goes beyond reason. It tends to go in the complete same direction as reason, just beyond it, if reason won't be twisted by the sin nature. It goes completely in the same direction, just beyond it. And so it begins in the mind. There's assurance, a conviction. What part of your body does assuring? What part of your body is convinced? It's up here. That's where assurance is. That's where conviction is. So faith begins in the mind, and it's not at all contrary to reason. When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, how was it that he was able to do this?

In Hebrews 11 it says that he reasoned that God could raise the dead. You see how it works? He thought it through and said, "Okay. This is the child of promise. No way he's going to die ultimately. God wants to kill him temporarily. He'll raise him up. And that's what he... That's how he worked it through and he went and did it. Faith reasons things out based on the fact that there's a powerful God who speaks. In this way, faith is totally contrary to law, totally contrary. That's why the whole antithesis is set up. Justification by faith versus justification by law. Law focuses on what you can do. It focuses on your capabilities, on your power, on your obedience. When you are reading a command, you look inward and say, "Can I do this?" You see. Faith doesn't look inward. Faith looks upward to a God who can do all things, even make a sinner like me obey his commands. That's the way it works. But law does not do this.

And so as we focus inward on ourselves through law, God gets no glory, and we get no justification. And so there's an antithesis between faith and law. But faith builds itself up with the power of God. We have a feast on the power of God, and our faith is strengthened when we contemplate who God is. We'll talk more about that in a minute. But the focus here is on, "Can God do this? Can the omnipotent creator of the universe do this thing that's in my mind?" Now, what do we know about that creator? Well, you see evidence of him every day. You walk out and you see the sunrise, that blazing ball of fire that's been putting out heat for thousands of years, incredible heat, the power of God. And that's just a little star, just a little one.

You remember, in order to help Abraham believe, what did God do with Abraham? "Come out of your tent. Look up at the stars. Who created all these? I'm powerful, so shall your offspring be." The first thought was, "Look at my power," then comes the promise. You see, that's how it works. And Abraham was able to believe God because of the view, the vision of the power of God. "If I can make these, all of these stars more than you can count, do you think I can't bring a son from your own body? Of course, I can do this." So that's the reasoning process of faith. If you can believe Genesis 1:1, you can believe everything that follows. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." If you can believe that and see what kind of power, and wisdom, and intricacy was woven into that, you can believe anything. If God has promised, He can do it. But the specific nature of God's power is clear. And Paul is so brilliant in this. He's focusing and kind of shading the way he's talking about this account with Abraham to make it available to us as Gentiles, to the whole world as we believe in Jesus Christ. Look what he says in verse 17. What kind of God is he? He's "the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." This is a God with resurrecting power. Resurrecting power. Isn't that what you're trusting God for? The grave stands to mock your whole life if there's no resurrection.

If there's no life after death, then why do we live? What do we do? We're trusting in a God with resurrecting power, aren't we? The God who gives life to the dead. Now, it's related to Abraham in that his body was dead in terms of reproduction. He was 100 years old. Sara's womb had been dead all along. She was barren. And so he needed to give life to the dead in terms of their ability to have a child, but in the same way that he did that, he does it with us spiritually. That's the point. It's essential to the gospel. And you know why? Don't overestimate yourself. Realize Ephesians Chapter 2 says that apart from Christ, you are "dead in your transgressions and sins in which you lived." It's a living death. Yes, you're physically alive, but you're spiritually dead. And if God doesn't raise you from the dead, you will have no life. And so we're counting on a God who has resurrecting power for our own salvation. And then it says, "God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." He speaks the name and it comes to life. Do you realize that everything comes from the word of God? All of it. Let's consider the stars for example, Psalm 147:4-5, it says, "He determines the number of stars and calls them each by name." Now, that's a big job. How many stars are there?

He's got a name for everyone. He created every single one of them and calls them by name. Isaiah 40 says, "Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." And in the same way as He calls physical things into existence, He calls us by name as well. As He does with Abraham's children. Every one of us has name. Have you ever noticed how Jesus delights to say people's names, twice even? "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" "Simon, Simon, Satan is determined to sift you like wheat." He loves to say our names. And if we're his sheep, your salvation began the moment he spoke your name. John chapter 10, "He calls His own sheep by name… and his sheep follow Him." That's salvation. This is our God. Romans 4:17, he brings "life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." Now, which came first, light or the word light? Which came first? The word came first, didn't it? The word precedes the universe.

Do you understand that? God said, "Let there be light," and then there was light. The word comes first. You know nothing about God apart from His word. Do you understand that? That includes physical creation. God speaks and you understand who he is. The word comes first above all things. And so the word has power. He doesn't just speak a word and it just doesn't happen, but when He says the word light, there is light. And the God who said, "Let there be light, " called light into your soul. it says in 2 Corinthians 4:6. He spoke light into your soul and gave you eternal life. Just like He said, "Lazarus come forth," and gave him life and speaking his name, so also He does for you in salvation. This is a powerful God. You see what Paul's doing, Abraham body was dead, Sarah's womb was dead, God brought a son up out of that deadness. So also we are dead in our transgressions and sins, and by faith we come to life because God speaks our name.

Now, secondly, true faith produces supernatural hope. Have you ever heard hope against hope? It's kind of an odd expression that comes from this verse.

In hope or against hope, Abraham in hope believed. What does that mean? Well, I'm not quite sure in all honesty. As your pastor when I'm sure, I'd like to tell you I'm sure, when I'm not sure I'm going to tell you I'm not sure. I told you back in Genesis 9, when the animals came up Noah's ark, that they'd have to give an accounting to God for the life blood? I don't know how animals give an accounting. I told you then I don't know, I still don't know. I have my ideas.

I'm not 100% sure about what it means against hope Abraham and in hope believe but I'll give you my idea. There are two different kinds of hope in this world, there's a natural hope, and there's a supernatural hope. Natural hope works this way: "I hope my team wins the championship this year," if you like sports. "I hope my team wins the championship this year." That's the earthly or natural hope. And that hope is strengthened when you look at the roster and see a bunch of good players who've done well in the past. You see how that works? And then it goes even higher when they go undefeated through their first 10 games. You say, "Boy, they're looking good." Your hope is getting stronger, why? Because of circumstances. Things you're seeing naturally. Then if they hit a little bit of a rough patch, start to lose, the hope wanes a little bit. If the star player goes down with a season ending injury, that hope is gone. That is earthly or natural hope. And we live with it all the time, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just the way we are. And it's totally tied to circumstances.

But then there's a supernatural hope which has nothing to do with circumstances, and God actually delights to set it up against circumstances. He likes to put it up against obstacles and say, "Believe me anyway 'cause I can do anything." And so against the one kind of hope, Abraham received the second kind of hope, namely supernatural hope, to believe God for something which is physically impossible. And what was that? It was the birth of a son from a 90-year-old woman from a 100-year-old man. Physically impossible.

And Christian hope therefore is utterly unshakable. It's not tied to circumstances, there's no up or down. It doesn't waver, it's always the same. It's tied to who God is and has nothing to do with ups and downs. And it's so sad… Do you remember the two disciples walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus? And they're so downcast and so discouraged. Oh Christian, why are you ever downcast or discouraged? Why am I? Why do we ever get anxious? Why do we ever get depressed or down? Is God not on His throne? Will He not still be on His throne the day you die? But here they are, walking with the resurrected Jesus Christ, the happiest day in history of the world, and they're discouraged, they're down. You remember what they said, "We had hoped that He was the one that God would send." We had hoped, that's earthly natural hope, but the circumstances looked bad. Remember what Jesus said, "How foolish you are, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." This was not a natural hope, this was supernatural hope and nothing could change it. "God has raised me from the dead." Is your hope a supernatural hope, unshakable? I hope so.

And then lastly true faith is born and strengthened by God's word of promise. Faith came to life in Abraham when he heard the promise. The moment that God spoke the promise, that's when faith came. So it was with you when you heard the Gospel, I mean really heard it for the first time. Might have been your mother, might have been your father, an evangelist, a friend, neighbor, somebody spoke, a pastor. But when you first heard it, when you really heard it, that's when faith came to life. Faith comes by hearing, scripture says. When you hear the word faith comes. And faith is strengthened by hearing. All of you who are already Christians, you're being strengthened by hearing this again. I know I am. It strengthens me to remember who it is that's talking to us. Faith is born by God's word of promise. We're not born with faith. Did you know that? Infants don't come into the world with faith. Faith is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are you saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works." 2 Thessalonians 3:2, Paul says, "Pray for us that God may deliver us from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith."

It's not like we all have it, some use it and some don't. Not everyone has it, okay? But God gives it as a gift. And that faith comes the moment we hear, really hear the message. And not only does God give it that way, but He sustains and strengthens it. It says in verse 20 and 21 that Abraham did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. Now, on this wavering, same thing is true when we say that true faith doesn't weaken at massive obstacles.

Do you remember the days of AM radio? Maybe for you it's still the day of AM radio, I don't know. I don't listen to it much because when you go under the bridge, what happens? You lose the signal. When there's an electrical storm, you lose the signal. Sometimes at night the stations dim their power a little bit and you lose the signal. I remember when I was a kid I used to listen to sporting events and trying to turn my body in just the right way to keep the signal strong. That's the way some people are with their faith. It waxes and it wanes. It gets stronger and it gets weaker. But Abraham, he didn't do that. He didn't waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but he was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. And therefore true faith does not weaken at massive obstacles. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old and that Sarah's womb was also dead.

The world accuse us and says we keep our head stuck in the sand. It's like we're ostriches and we've got our head in the sand contrary to the facts we believe. Not at all. We face all the obstacles, we glory in obstacles, we rejoice in them, because they give glory to God when we overcome them. You see that? That was his attitude. He considered the obstacles. He knew about his body. He said, "I can't do this. Sarah can't do it. Believe me, we've tried. Been married a long time. No children. We know we can't do this. But God can do it." He faced the obstacles and he did not waver through unbelief.

Now, what is the outcome of true faith? Well, it's simple, glory for God, let's keep that first, because the universe was created for God's glory. You exist for the glory of God. Everything you see around you exists for the glory of God. He redeemed us for His own glory, created the universe and redeemed us for His own glory, and so faith glorifies God. Now, how does it glorify God? Well, the origin of faith glorifies God because he gave it. The sustaining of faith glorifies God because He sustains our faith. The focus of faith glorifies God because we're not looking at ourselves, but at what God can do. The victory of faith glorifies God. When at the end of your life, you see him face to face, you will not boast about your works and you will not boast about your faith, you will boast about God who saved you. The victory of faith glorifies God. The outcome of faith glorifies God. In the end you will see him and you will love his glory and you will live on it and feast on it forever and ever and ever. It glorifies God.

But this kind of faith also justifies sinners, and that's the point for us today. This is the kind of faith that justifies a sinner. And it says in verse 22, "That is why it was credited to him as righteousness." Do you know that kind of faith? Has this kind of faith been found in you so that God saw it and justified you? Have you ever come to the cross of Jesus Christ and seen there God's promise of salvation to any who believe? Whosoever will, let him come. Let him come and let him believe. Have you come? And have you trusted that Jesus is your savior? That's what Romans 4 is about. This kind of faith saves. It's not a dead faith, not a demon faith, not a useless faith, it is a true gift of God, a saving faith which God has put in your heart.

Now, if you've already trusted in God, let me ask you a question, have you taken the same faith which you are trusting God for the removal of all your sins, the resurrection of your body, all of these things and applied it to lesser things like the evangelization of China? Or witnessing right here in the inner city? Or to international students that have come? Do you have a faith vision? Remember, we don't have the useless faith or the dead faith, we have the kind that does things. Are you stepping out in faith the way John Paton did? Willing to risk his life when there's a theory the last guy did get killed. He went anyway. He said, "I just want to live and die for Jesus." Do you have a faith burden that you'd be crushed by if you didn't have a sustaining promise from God? If not, can I urge you to get one? Let's close in prayer.

Good morning. Please take your Bibles and open to Romans chapter 4. We're going to be looking this morning at verses 13-17 in which God makes such an incredible promise to us that I can scarcely imagine my ability to explain it to you. And then He goes beyond it and guarantees it to every one of us who have faith in Jesus Christ. He makes an extraordinary promise to us and then guarantees it. This should make any child of God sit up and take notice. Where else would you rather be than right here, right now, listening to this? It's extraordinary. A guarantee. And you begin to look in your life and you look around and you say, is anything guaranteed? Is anything guaranteed? Everything seems so changeful. Everything seems so weak. Can we really bank or guarantee on anything?

In 1861, a man named John Wanamaker started a clothing bazaar in Philadelphia. Have you ever heard of Wanamaker, the store? He was a Christian, a committed Christian. He began to do some extraordinary things with his store because of his conviction that we should do to others what we would have them do to us, the golden rule. And he thought that he ought to bring that right into his store, that we should treat the customers the way we'd want to be treated if we were a customer. Up to that point, most shop owners and mercantiles had worked on this principle, "let the buyer beware." Ever heard of that expression? And so they would have their articles of clothing or whatever it is they were trying to sell and they knew what the true value of it and the worth of that and the quality of it, and it was up to you to be aware. Furthermore, no one had any idea how much these things were worth to the shop owner and so you would come in there and you would dicker and bargain over the prices.

John Wanamaker changed all that. He was the first one to put a simple thing called a price tag on all of his articles of clothing. Never been heard of before. The price was set before you got there. The shop owner was to assess the value of the article and put a price tag on it. And you came in and if you wanted that, you would pay that price. That removed all the dickering. And then you could compare one shop to another and see whether you were getting a good deal. But soon, another radical concept rocked the mercantile world.

A notice appeared in the newspaper one morning that Wanamaker had put in there, and this is what it said: "Wanamaker and Brown desire to say, that the quality of all goods sold at their clothing bazaar will be guaranteed. Any article that does not fit well, is not the proper color or quality, does not please the folks at home, or for any other reason is not perfectly satisfactory should be brought back at once. And if it is returned as purchased within 10 days, we will refund the money. It is our intention always to give value for value in every sale we make. And those who are not pleased with what they buy will do us a positive favor to return the goods and get their money back."

Well, his rival shop owner said, "He's going to be out of business in one year." Money back guarantee? But yet, it was soon they who were changing their practices. He was the one who focused the attention on the quality and was willing to put his own character behind a guarantee, but that's the whole issue with a guarantee. It is only as good as the character and the quality of the man who makes it. Are there any guarantees in this life?

Benjamin Franklin cynically said, yes, death and taxes are guaranteed to us. Death and taxes. But we have a word from the Lord this morning that says more than death and taxes are guaranteed. Eternal life. And even more than that, that we should be heirs of the world. I'm going to open that expression up to you this morning. Is guaranteed to us. Look down, if you would, to Romans 4:13-17. "It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by the law or heirs faith has no value and the promise is worthless because law brings wrath and where there is no law, there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all as it is written, 'I have made you the father of many nations.'"

Now, in order to get our bearings and understand the context here, let's take a step back and look at the big picture. The gospel of Jesus Christ is most clearly laid out in the Book of Romans. That is exactly why Paul wrote this letter. He came to preach the gospel. He was a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, an apostle called for that purpose. And he's writing Romans that we may understand the message of the gospel. So often these days, people think they understand the gospel. They don't know what it is. It's found in Romans. And Paul said in Romans 1:16, he said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, the righteousness from God is revealed, the righteousness that is from faith to faith, just as it is written, the just or the righteous shall live by faith." He then expounds over the next two chapters, the fact that every single one of us needs to be saved by faith alone because we're all sinners. None of us can stand before the righteous throne of God's grace.

None of us can stand before God on Judgment Day on our own righteousness or on our own merits, for all have sinned and lack the glory of God. And if anyone is to be justified, we are to be justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. That's what he's been explaining. So we are not going to be justified by our works, by our efforts, by our striving, by how good we are, We're going to be justified by faith alone. Then he brings up in chapter 4 an example of what it means to be justified by faith, and that is Abraham. Abraham is our example of faith. He is our father of faith. The way that Abraham was justified or vindicated before God's justice is the same way we will as well, by faith.

And the way it works is that God makes a promise to Abraham, and Abraham simply believes the promise, that's all. Abraham simply believed the promise-giver and the promise, and at the moment of belief in the promise, God justified it. God read his heart, He saw his faith and He justified him by faith alone. That's the purpose of Roman's chapter 4. Now, in the verses we're looking here, we're talking about the expanding of that promise and the relationship between law and the promise. It was not through law that he received the promise. It's not through law that he believed it. It's not through law the promise was given to begin with, but rather simply by faith. And that gives a guarantee to the promise, that's the whole section that we're looking at here. And now we've set it in its proper context.

Well, let's take a step back and look at the nature of this promise. What is the promise that God made? First of all, what is a promise? Isn't a promise a verbal covenant? It's a statement of intention about the future. I promise you that I will behave in such and such a way or that I will do this or I will do that. And again, the promise is only as good, like a check, the promise is only as good as the account that stands behind the promise.

You write a check, if there's no money behind the account, the check bounces, and so does your reputation as a faithful check writer. If you're going to make a promise and do not keep the promise, your reputation as a faithful promise keeper goes down, and that's the way it is with all of us. Every one of us have had promises made to us that have been broken. And so therefore, we tend to distrust promises, don't we? But why is it that the promises get diluted or broken? Human promises are diluted or they're nullified by the wickedness of our own hearts. We may intend something, but we do not see it through. We may even have lied. We may have promised something we never intended to do.

Second of all, human promises are diluted by our changefulness. We may have intended to do something good, but then we change our minds, our hearts change. We shift around, we blow around. We are divided beings, aren't we? There's a pulling within us. Sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another. And so we'll make a promise, but we will not see it through. Human promises are also diluted by our own weakness and frailty. We may not have lied, we may have intended, we may not have changed our mind but we lack the power to bring the promise about. Isn't that the case? We don't even know if we'll be alive tomorrow.

So how can we make any promise about the future? So you can see the weakness of a human promise, diluted by our own wickedness, diluted by our changefulness and diluted by our lack of power to bring it about. But God is not that way. Amen. He is not that way. God never changes. God says very clearly, Numbers 23:19, a great verse. Numbers 23:19 stands behind any promise that God makes. "God is not a man that He should lie nor the son of man that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?" That is our God. When He makes a promise, He keeps it every time. Numbers 23:19, God never lies. God never changes His mind and God never lacks power to bring about the very thing He's promised. And your salvation, your guarantee that I'm talking about today, depends on that. It depends on the changeless character and nature of eternal God. If you're a child of God, it is my prayer, you'll walk out of here today with a sense of the guaranteed certainty of your salvation on the changeless character and nature of God. He's made the promise. He's made many, many promises. He's going to keep every one of them.

Well, let's look at the promise that God made to Abraham. What did He say? In Genesis 15:1-7, He says this. "After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.' But Abram said, 'Oh, sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estates is Eliezer of Damascus?' And Abram said, 'You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir.' Then the word of the Lord came to him. 'This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.' He took him outside and said, 'Look up at the Heavens and count the stars, if indeed you can count them.' And then He said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'" That's a promise. Did you hear the promise? This is how many offspring you will have. "Abraham believed the Lord and He credited it to him as righteousness." He justified him at that moment. He also said to him, verse 7, "I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."

Numerous Descendants

So there's two aspects to the promise. Many descendants and a promised land. These are the two aspects of the promise that God made to him. Many descendants, He said, "So shall your offspring be." "Look up at the stars and count them if you can." You can't count them, Abraham, "So shall your offspring be." Made him a promise, and that he would be the father of many nations, not just one descendant, but a whole world full of descendants, father of many nations. He establishes this in Genesis 17 when he changes his name from Abram to Abraham. He says God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram, your name will be Abraham for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful. I will make nations of you and kings will come from you." And Paul picks up on that in our passage this morning in verse 17, where it says, "As it is written, I have you made you a father of many nations." 

So this is the nature of His promise, the first part of it, namely that he would have numerous descendants. Now, Paul gives us a greater or a broader understanding of this, that all we Gentiles who are believers in Jesus Christ by faith look to Abraham as our father in faith. He is our father as well, our father in faith. And so he is the father of many nations. That was the first aspect of the promise.

Possession of the Land

The second aspect of the promise was possession of the land, the land that he was traversing on, the land that he was pitching his tent on. He said, "I will give it to your descendants. It's going to be your Promised Land."

But in our passage today, Paul lifts our eyes up above that promise, the Promised Land, to something far more glorious. He uses an expression that's not found in the Genesis account, in which he calls Abraham heir of the world. Not just to the Promised Land, that he would inherit the Promised Land, but heir of the world. Because as it turns out, Abraham did not receive the Promised Land in his lifetime, did he? He did not receive it. He looked ahead by faith to something that hadn't come to him yet. This is all made clear in Hebrews 11:9-16. Very plainly, it says there, "By faith, Abraham made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country." He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who are heirs with him of the same promise. They didn't settle down in the Promised Land. It wasn't their true home. "They were aliens and strangers," it says in Hebrews 11, "In that Promised Land." But it says in verse 16 of Hebrews 11, "Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them."

God is not ashamed to be called your God because you're hoping for something better than this. You're waiting for something better than you can see with your eyes on this Earth. You're waiting to be an heir of the world. You will inherit the Earth. Isn't that incredible? You stop and think about that. You are an heir of the world just as Abram, Abraham, all those who have followed him in faith, we are all heirs of the world. Jesus said this, didn't He? Matthew 5:5, remember the Sermon on the Mount? Blessed are the meek for they will, what? Inherit the Earth. Isn't that just one place? This is many places. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you will inherit the Earth, but not this Earth. Not this one. We know about this one in Romans chapter 8, it's chained to corruption and futility, isn't it? It's chained to corruption and futility. No matter how beauteous it is, it is not the world you will inherit. 2 Peter 3:13 says, "In keeping with His promise, we are looking forward, looking ahead to a new heaven and a new Earth, the home of righteousness, or where righteousness dwells." That's the Earth that Abraham will inherit. That's the Earth that you will inherit as a believer in Christ.

Recently, I got a book which goes through all the country, the United States, all the national parks, and just kind of unfolds the beauty there through photography, the Rocky Coasts of Maine, Acadia National Park. They're so majestic with the pine trees and the rocks right up to that cold blue ocean, all the way down to the much lighter blue of the Florida Keys. I don't know if you ever seen that, the white sand, and there's the bridge. It seems to go right through the ocean, but there's a little spread of sand on either side. Just recently on our vacation, we crossed the mighty Mississippi River, which graces the cover of, I think, Time Magazine, or at least last week it did. Ancient Mississippi, a powerful river. And then the strange colors and the depths of the Grand Canyon, how many have you seen it? I've never seen it. I wanted to see it. I thought I could drive from LA to the Grand Canyon in one day, you can't do it. The country spreads out. It gets really big once you cross the Mississippi River. Where I'm from in New England, the states are real small. But out there, they get very big. You can't just drive from LA to the Grand Canyon. I want to see it someday, though.

And then how much more the great Denali National Park in Alaska, a strange place, almost like from another country, rolling mountains and hills. Not a soul to be found there unless they were helicoptered in to do some hunting and perhaps some skiing. A very remote and distant place, but part of this Earth. None of it compares with the glory that is coming. None of it. And your feet will walk that holy soil, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ. You are going to inherit the new Earth someday. It's not the pastor of First Baptist that's saying this. This is God who has promised this to you, that you'll be inheritor of the world.

What is the promise? Well, to Abraham, it was a real and symbolic promise, a real promise to him, but also symbolic of future glory that would come, numerous offspring, a Promised Land. A Promised Land in Canaan and his descendants did inherit it, although they were eventually evicted because they could not obey the law. And that's relevant to where we're going. They couldn't obey the law and they were evicted from the Promised Land. That is the nature of the promise.

Now, the question we have to ask here is, how is the promise obtained? How do we receive the promise? That's kind of important, isn't it? We're talking about big things here, important things. Well, how do we receive this promise? Negatively, it does not come through law.

Positively, it does come by faith. That's what the text says. Look at it. In verse 13, it says, "It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world." Now, the law here means a command and obedience to the command. It's not the law of Moses that's in view here. How do we know that? Because the law didn't come for another four and a half centuries. It's not that law. It's just God giving you a command and you obeying the command that God's given. That law does not produce the promise. It does not grant the promise. That is not the law here. And it is not through law that Abraham and his offspring received this promise. Positively, it is by faith, verse 13, specifically, through the righteousness that comes by faith.

What is at stake? Becoming an heir of the world. We've been talking about that. Well, according to Peter, I told you, that that new Heavens and new Earth is the home of righteousness or where righteousness dwells. I'll read it again. 2 Peter 3:13, "In keeping with His promise, we are looking forward to a new Heaven and a new Earth, the home of righteousness." What does that mean? If you're unrighteous, you can't live there. You don't belong there, if you're unrighteous. You will not be welcome there. And so, on what basis will you enter that new Earth? On the basis of a righteousness that is not yours. On a basis of a righteousness that comes by faith, the very thing we've been talking about all this time. A righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ; that robe of righteousness, which will cover you on Judgment Day, will also escort you into the new Heavens and the new Earth.I can't wait to see it. Covered with the righteousness of Christ, living in a place where righteousness alone dwells. I look forward to it, can't wait to see it. And what is going to give it to me? Simple faith. That's all. Not any obedience of the law. Now, the question you have to ask now is,

"Why is the promise obtained this way? What is God getting at, so that He assigned all of this to faith and not to anything else? Why faith?"

God Wants the Glory and He Wants You to Have the Guarantee

We're going to talk more about this over the next two times, but I think the issue comes down to this. Two things. God wants the glory and He wants to give you the guarantee. I think that's what we're getting to from this text. God wants the glory and He wants you to have the guarantee. Now, let me unpack what it is I mean by that. First of all, the nature of law is, no glory for God and no guarantee for you. Do you see that? No glory comes to God, if it's by law, and no guarantee comes to you. The law is absolutely no platform to obtain righteousness. For the law invalidates or nullifies faith. Look at verse 14, "For those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless." In other words, if you get it by law, the promise is worthless. I'll explain what that means in a minute, but look at how law works. Law looks inwardly to the self. Law looks inside. Can I do it? God's given a command, now can I do it? I will do it. I'm determined to do it. I'm going to try to do it. And then, this will never happen, but then, "I did it. Now, give me what I deserve." That's how it works. That's how law works. There is no glory for God in that. The focus actually is totally on self and self-effort, self-achievement. Faith, however. Where does faith look? Does faith look to self? Absolutely not.

The standard posture of faith is, "Give to me what you have promised." Do you see that? It's a reception of what God has promised. It's a looking out of yourself to the power of God to accomplish what He has promised. That is the nature of faith. "Can God do this?", is the question that faith asks. "God can do this," is the answer that faith gives. He will do this for me. And then when it's all done, "God did it. Glory to God in the highest." That's how faith works. The focus isn't on self at all, but on what God can do in fulfilling His promise. And so who gets the glory when you get saved? God gets it. Isn't that where it belongs? We've already disqualified ourselves from that glory. We've been through that, Romans 1, Romans 2, Romans 3. All have sinned. There's no glory coming on your own. The glory has to come from the outside. By faith. Now, if God made law-keepers heirs, let me ask you a question. What would we need faith for? Would you need faith? If you could get it by law, would you need faith? Let me ask a deeper question. If you could get it by law, would you need Christ? Would you need Christ, if you could get it on your own?

Paul answered that one in Galatians 5:2. He says, "Mark my words. I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised," that is, obey the law of Moses, as though that's your righteousness, "If you let yourself be circumcised, Christ would be of no value to you at all." You don't need Jesus. Why did He come from Heaven to Earth and die on the cross then if it can be done by law? It can't be done by law. Therefore, law nullifies promise. If the promise is conditional on law keeping, by the way, you'll never get it. Do you know yourself well enough to say 'Amen' to that? Do you know that if it comes down to whether you obey the commands of God, you're not getting it? If you don't think that, I would urge you to come back to the cross and realize just what God has done there. You're trusting in yourself and your own efforts. You should know yourself well enough by now to know that if it depends on law, you'll never get it.

Now, we were talking a little while ago in a staff meeting and Bill told us a story about a woman that she knew in Oklahoma City. This woman was in poverty. She had a number of children and difficulty. I think the husband was disabled and they had been supporting and caring for her and just providing for her financially, in many cases, showing the love of Christ to her. Well, one day, she came in with a new outfit, a new dress. Her hair had been done. She looked great and she started talking. She started making promises. She said, "I'm going to buy the choir new robes." Well, obviously, the people were amazed and wanted to know what had made this transformation. And she said, "Well, I just received the incredible word that I have won $1 million. A letter came in the mail and said, 'Congratulations! You have won $1 million!' Said so, right on the outside of the envelope." Well, that was before the lawsuit with the clearing house publishers, clearing house thing, where they're not allowed to do that from then on, because there's a little word "if" on the inside. From then on they had to put the word "if" on the outside of the envelope. It was tragic, isn't it? A little humorous but tragic. This woman had gone into some debt buying the new clothes and doing some other things because she'd based it on a promise which was conditional, and she did not meet the conditions.

Her number had to line up with a string of numbers that were found on the inside. And lo and behold, it didn't, she did not win the $1 million. She did not meet the condition. So it doesn't really matter how grandiose the promise, if there's an if connected to it which you will not meet. See what I'm saying? We're wasting our time. But God has removed that because of the issue of grace and how grace works. By the way, if you don't believe what I'm saying, think about this. Look at Adam and Eve in the Garden. Adam and Eve had never sinned. They had no sin nature. They had no surrounding sinful culture. They had one simple command from God. How did they do? They failed. You have an indwelling sin nature, a surrounding sinful environment, and many commands from God. How will you do? Will you succeed? If it's by law, you will not get the promise. The law only brings wrath and verse 15, it says that, because law brings wrath and where there is no law, there is no transgression. Law also nullifies grace. Paul says in Galatians 2:21, "I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing." If you could do it without grace, without Christ, then why did Jesus die?

Now, remember, I've said that the big issues here are glory for God and security for you, guaranteed for you. Well, grace does both, isn't that beautiful? Grace gives glory to God for your salvation and gives guarantee to you as the believer. Look what it says, verse 16, "Therefore, the promise comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed or made sure and certain for you who believe." Now, what is grace? Grace is God's sovereign decision as a King to give incredible riches and blessing to you who deserve eternal condemnation. That is grace, His determination as a King to give unbelievable blessings to people who deserve the opposite because of their rebellion against Him. Grace does not depend on anything it sees within you. God isn't searching you to find something to be gracious toward, that's not it. Grace is all about something inside God. He determines to be gracious. Faith is a pipeline established by God into the heart in which blessings just roll down, it is a gift from God, part of the salvation which He gives, I've said it before, I'll say it again. Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are you saved through faith, through faith, through faith and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God." Faith is a gift of God.

So God establishes the pipeline and then just rolls blessings down the pipeline called faith as you get your eyes off yourself and look up and receive what He's given, and there's guarantee in all this. Glory for God, guarantee for you. There's a kind of a chain here, grace, faith, guarantee, that's how it works. Promise comes by faith, it may be by grace, it may be guaranteed, you should just leap for joy at the word guarantee, leap for joy at it. Nothing can take it away from you. It's absolutely guaranteed that you will inherit the world. God's incredible love is so strong, He wants you to understand the certainty of the promise. And so God labors in so many verses to give you the security. John 6: 39 and 40. This is Jesus' words as your good shepherd. "This is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but shall raise them up on the last day, for my Father's will is that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life and I will raise them up at the last day." What can break that? Is there any power on Earth strong enough to break that? Now, if all of this comes by faith, do you understand the connection? Do you understand what that means? It means your faith will never fail. I'm going to talk more about this next time, but your faith will not fail.

The things you believe today, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, the things you believe today you'll be believing on your deathbed, because God is going to make you stand firm by faith. 2 Corinthians 1:21, "It is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ." He can do this. It says the same things in Romans, "To the Lords, to his master, he will stand and the Lord is able to make him stand." The Lord is able to make a stand. Your faith is strong because God is going to energize it. Sometimes you may feel my faith is getting weak. God sees. He knows. He will give you what you need. He's going to strengthen your faith. We'll talk more about that next time. Now, the central issue in all of this is not your salvation, it isn't. For you it may seem that way, and I understand that because I'm a sinner too and I look forward to these things, I'm glad to receive them. What is the central issue here, though? Isn't it the glory of God? Didn't He exist before the world was made? The central issue here is God's glory, and God is glorified by this kind of salvation. Next time we're going to look at this. But the magnitude of the promise glorifies God. The obstacles to the promise glorify God, we'll talk about this next time. Abraham is an old man, but he believed God anyway. The obstacles glorify God. Faith itself, its nature glorifies God. The guarantee glorifies God, but confidence in the law does not glorify God.

Now, what application can we make to this? What can we do with this truth? First of all, can I just say praise God to you? Praise God for the magnitude of the promise. Praise God for what He's promised you, that you are going to live someday in a home of righteousness, and He's going to fit you for that. He's going to get you ready for it. Praise God for the magnitude of that, all sins forgiven, power over death through Christ's resurrection, eternal friendship with God, a rich inheritance as the heir of the world and fellowship with others who are also heirs of the world and, by the way, unlike now, we won't be fighting over it. Well, what hill do you want? What do you want? Like Abraham and Lot dividing it? Not going to be like that. "You take it." "No, you take it." "I want you to have it." That kind of thing. Such a oneness and a unity which we do not experience on this Earth because of our selfish sin nature. But in Heaven, and on Earth, a new Heaven and new Earth, perfect unity. Praise God for the magnitude of these promises.

Number two, trust God that He's going to do it. Trust God that He's going to give you all these things simply by faith. Get your eyes off of yourself. Don't look at your own capabilities, but look to the God who made the promise. We break promises all the time, but God never breaks His promise. Number three, understand the grace, the faith, grace guaranteed connection. There's an absolute guarantee here, because this comes by faith. Nothing was in you that motivated God to do this and nothing will be in you which will turn His love away from you. God will sanctify you through and through by His power.

And then finally, and this is very direct. Cease striving for Earthly things. Do you understand the logic? You're going to get it anyway. It's all going to be yours. Why struggle for it now? It's corrupt now anyway. You can't hold on to it. There's a filter called death and you can't pull it through. Let it go. Use it for God's Kingdom. Pour yourselves out. Use every hour, every minute, every dollar, every effort for the Kingdom of God. You're going to get it anyway. Didn't Paul say that, 1 Corinthians, he said, "All things are yours…" so stop squabbling over things now. They're all yours through faith in Jesus Christ.

Please take your Bibles if you would and open to Romans chapter 4. This morning we're going to be looking at verses 9-12 on the issue of Abraham's circumcision. Now as we've been moving through Romans, we start to see the train of thought and we start to see exactly why it is that Paul gave us these words. The Book of Romans is written that sinners like you and me might stand before God on judgment day free of our sins. I can't say it any more plainly because all of us have sins, every last one of us. We know it and we experience it every day. And we may or may not have a sense of God's attitude towards those sins, of His holiness, His righteousness, His blamelessness. But as we read the Scripture, we can't miss it that our God is a God who has a great wrath against sin. A great wrath. And that wrath is removed only in one place, and that is the cross of Jesus Christ. And we've seen that, we've seen the nature of our sin and how deeply it's woven into our very being, so that we cannot escape, we can't help ourselves. But we struggle against sin day after day and there's no way to escape it apart from the salvation that God has given us. And as we have seen, that salvation is so beautifully manifested in the cross of Jesus Christ. It's the only place of salvation and that we are connected to it only by faith.

And so we're talking about justification by faith alone, apart from works. And you have to ask yourself as you go through this, and as we move from chapter 3, on into chapter 4 and then into chapter 5, Paul, why? Why so much on this one theme of justification by faith alone, apart from works. William James, author, said this, "Men of genius differ from ordinary men, not in brain power, but in the aims and purposes on which they concentrate and the degree of concentration which they achieve." In other words, what separates a genius from the rest of regular people is the thing that they're concentrating on and how powerfully and totally they can concentrate on that. Napoleon said the same thing. He spoke of his own ability or mental power to concentrate on his objectives for a long periods of time without tiring. And so also it was with Churchill, that same kind of genius. In the midst of all the swirling activities in the '30s, when all kinds of events were coming and going, he had his mind and his concentration fixed on what was happening in Hitlerite Germany. That was what mattered. All the other things were trifles, and he was right. Total concentration on one thing despite all the other swirling things. And so it was with Paul.

That is the genius that he brings to us here, he is concentrating on what really matters; how sinners like us can be made right before God like him. Justification by faith alone. And so with Paul we get a total concentration on Christ. How many times in the writings of Paul do we have a phrase like 'In Him.', 'In Christ.', 'Through Him.', 'Through our Lord Jesus Christ.' A total concentration on Christ. And so also a total concentration on Heaven, the glory that waits for us. Which I have already referred to, the fact that every day brings us Christians closer to seeing it. And that we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Every day brings us closer to that glory. And so Paul also just saturated with Heaven. You couldn't get near him without him talking about the glory that is to come and the way that we sinners can see it through justification. And a total concentration from Paul on pure doctrine, the gospel of our salvation, the message which can transform us and bring us into Heaven. Total concentration. And here again, as we come to this section, we see justification by faith alone. And we're tempted to say, "Paul we got it. We got it, we understand. We understand Romans 3:22, that there's a righteousness from God apart from law. And this righteousness comes to us by faith alone. We got it."

We got it in Romans 3:28, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law." We got it. And then we got it with the illustration of Abraham, "What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather discovered in this matter. If in fact Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about. But not before God." We got it. Romans 4:1-5. And then Romans 4:6-8 the same thing. David's experience with all the sin in his life with Bathsheba, the whole thing. How is that sin cleansed? By faith alone. We got it, a blessedness. But Paul isn't finished, now he's going to deal with the issue of circumcision and through that, I think connected with that, the whole thing of observing the law. How does that relate to our justification? And he's going to move on through the rest of chapter 4, on into chapter 5. And he's going to keep teaching this doctrine until we get it. And why is it? I think perhaps because of our nature. There's something inside us that wants to save ourselves, thank you very much. We want to do it ourselves. Have you ever seen a little child? "Me do it. Me do it." From very early age, they're grabbing the crayon from your hand. They want to show that they can do it. We want to do the same thing with our own salvation, that we may save ourselves. Paul says not possible.

Now I want to give you the blessedness that comes from a salvation apart from yourself. I want to give you the blessedness of getting your eyes off your own puny powers, onto an immeasurable power which is at work in you, to confirm your salvation. That's what he's doing. And so he's going to take us through this whole discussion of justification by faith alone and we're going to understand it.

And so we come to Romans 4:9-12. Look down at the text with me if you would. Beginning at verse 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. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised? Or before? Is was not after but before. And he received the sign of circumcision, 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. And he is also the father of the circumcised, who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised." And what is Paul saying in these verses? He begins by speaking of a blessedness. Verse 9, "Is this blessedness only for the circumcised?" What is the blessedness he's referring to? Well, he just got done talking about it.

Romans 4:6,7 & 8, the word blessing or blessedness in there three times. It is the blessing or the blessedness of the state of justification, that you as a sinner can stand before God free of your sins. Remember, we've been saying that justification has a positive and a negative side. Positively, that Jesus Christ will take His righteousness, and cover you with it. Remember, we've called that an Asbestos robe that enables you to survive the fire of judgment day. It's a righteousness that doesn't belong to you. It's Jesus' and He'll cloak it on you by faith positively. Then we saw the negative side of justification, whereas Jesus' righteousness is imputed to you or considered to you by God. Your sins, however many they may be, are not thought of by God. They're not imputed to you for He has covered them in the blood of Christ. Now, that is a blessedness, isn't it? And the question Paul asked here is, "Is this blessedness only available for Jews? Is it only available for the circumcised? And do we Gentiles, do we need to become Jews in order to get into this thing? Do we have to become circumcised? Do we have to follow the law of Moses?" That's what he's dealing with here.

The Jewish Perspective: Circumcision is Part of the Covenant

Now, what would the Jews of Paul's day have said? "Oh yes, oh yes, we are the children of Abraham, and blessedness comes to us alone through the covenant." And circumcision is part of that covenant. If you don't keep that covenant, you have no blessedness. There is no forgiveness of sins apart from that covenant. And so they divided all the world into two categories, circumcised and uncircumcised. Now, where would we fit into that categorization? Every last one of us were Gentiles as far as I know. We're Gentiles. And is it possible for Gentiles like us to receive the blessedness of justification? Now, they called Gentiles by such cute names as dogs, Gentile dogs, and all that. I think they were worn out by five empires one after the other, tramping on the promised land, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, Persians, Romans, one after the other trampling on it. They're worn out, so they hated the Gentiles. Furthermore, within God's own law, there were some barriers, weren't there? There were some walls, which prevented us as Gentiles from coming into the presence of God, couldn't come close.

And if you as a Gentile, you wanted to be saved, you could become a Jewish convert. You would have to be baptized, a cleansing ceremony, washing away all that Gentileishness from you, and of course you would have to be circumcised if you're a male. And in this way, you could become somewhat of a Jew, but you're still a second class citizen because you couldn't call Abraham, father. That was reserved only to the genetic descendants of Abraham. And Paul cuts through all of this, and he does with it Scripture. He asked about this blessedness, and he says, "Okay, what are we going to do? Do you Gentiles have to become like us Jews in order to be saved?" And everywhere that Paul went, he preached the gospel to Gentiles. They're coming to faith in Christ. They're believing. And in his trail is this group of Jewish Christians maybe who were coming along and saying, "The gentiles must be required to obey the law of Moses." They were called Judaizers. And everywhere they went, they said, "You've got to follow the laws of Moses or you can't go to heaven." Well, this brought them into great dispute. And there was a controversy, and they worked it out in Acts 15. Praise God that they got it right under the authority and the inspiration the leading of the Holy Spirit, so that we Gentiles are not troubled with the burden, the crushing burden of the law of Moses in order that we may be saved.

What Dos the Scripture Say? – The Chronology is Crucial

But Paul just cuts through it very simply here in Chapter 4, doesn't he? And he does it by asking a simple question. We've asked it before. "What does the Scripture say?" Sit up when you hear that. "What does the Scripture say?" It answers everything.  The Scripture answers these questions. And Paul just simply goes back into Genesis, and asks a simple question. "What does the scripture say? How was Abraham justified? And how did his circumcision relate?" And he answers it very plainly. "Was Abraham circumcised when he was justified? No, he was not." And in effect, therefore, Abraham was a Gentile when he was justified. He's a Gentile, just like you and me, uncircumcised. And look what he says. He goes back in time. He says, "Under what circumstances was Abraham's faith credited as righteousness?" Verse 10. "Was it after he was circumcised or before?" Verse 10, "It was not after but before." Remember the context, Genesis 15. God invites Abraham out of his tent and says, "Come on out and look up at the stars. Look up at all the stars, and see them. Count them if you can, so shall your offspring be. You're going to have that many descendants, even though you're childless." And Abraham believed God. He thought "it's true."  And at that moment, God saw his faith, invisible. But He saw his faith and justified him. He declared that all of his sins are forgiven. Past, present, future, all of it wiped away.

Now at that moment, Abraham had not yet been circumcised, for that came later in Genesis 17:9 and following. "Then God said to Abraham, 'As for you, you must keep my covenant. You and your descendants after you for the generations to come. And this is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep. Every male among you shall be circumcised.'" And He goes on to say, "If you're not circumcised, you're not part of the covenant." So what is Paul doing? It's a simple chronological argument. Genesis 15 happens before Genesis 17. In Genesis 15, Abraham is not circumcised. He's justified in that chapter. Genesis 17 comes anywhere, we don't really know, but from 12 to 30 years later, and all that time Abraham was justified by faith alone without being circumcised. It's just simple, a simple argument. Chronology.

And so therefore, Paul draws out some conclusions. Circumcision is not the source of Abraham's justification. Couldn't be, because he was justified before he had it. It is instead a sign and a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith. Sign and seal, not source. That's what he's speaking. Well, then you may ask then why did He give circumcision? And that brings us into the whole reason for all those regulations and the dietary laws and all that stuff in the Law of Moses. I think He wanted the Jewish people to be a separate people until the Christ came. And when the Christ came, the need for all that separation from the Gentiles was over. It was over. It was fulfilled, in the fullness of time Jesus came. Born under the law, but to free us from all that law that we might be justified by faith.

Justification by Faith Alone Excludes Boasting

Now to take a step back and look at this, we have to ask again why is this so important to Paul? Why justification by faith? And I think there's five answers. We're going to look at each one of them. The first is that justification by faith alone excludes boasting. Now we've already seen this at the end of chapter three, you remember? In verse 27. It says, "Where then is boasting? In the face of the cross of Jesus Christ, how can we boast?" Answer, it is excluded. It's left out. There's no boasting available. He deals with the same thing at the beginning of this chapter. If Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about. Now, why is this boasting thing such an important thing? Well, it has to do with our nature. It's in our nature to boast about ourselves. We live in the most self-focused, self-esteeming, boastful age, perhaps in the history of the world. And it's funny as you look at the curriculum and all the other thing, what we need is more and more self-esteem. Self, self, self. I'm thinking, "Oh my goodness. You are trying to put out a fire with kerosene."

We need to have our pride slain, not encouraged. And the gospel does that. It humbles us. And you say, "Well, why do have to be humbled? Why do have to have the boasting removed? Do I have to have my boasting removed?" It's like asking a doctor, "Do I have to have the infection removed in order to get well?" Oh, yes. You must have the infection removed in order to get well. You must. And justification by faith alone is good at that. There's nothing in us to boast. How does boasting fit into justification? Jesus answered that with a parable. To some who are confident of their own righteousness and look down on everybody else Jesus told this parable, "Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself." He prayed about himself. What a topic. How limited is that? I'd rather pray about God. But this man, who stood up and prayed about himself, "God, I thank you that I'm not like other men. Robbers, evildoers, adulterers, even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get."

Oh, by the way, that last little part, that's the resume, that's intrinsic to justification by works. You've got to have a resume. You've got to be able to say what good things you did. "I went to church for 20, 30 years. I was on this committee. I did that." That's your resume. And if you're standing on the basis of that, then you're no different that this Pharisee who's standing on the basis of his fasting and his tithing and the other good things he did. "And I'm not like this other person. But the tax collector stood off at a distance and he wouldn't even look up to heaven but instead beat his chest and said, 'Be merciful to me, oh God, a sinner.' And then the one who has been appointed as judge of all humanity," that's Jesus Christ, "He said, 'I'll tell you the truth. That one went home justified.'" He went home justified because of his broken-hearted faith. "Be merciful to me, oh God, the sinner." And so we must have our boasting slain. We must have it destroyed, and justification by faith alone does this.

Justification by Faith Alone Ensures Imputed Righteousness

Secondly, justification by faith alone ensures a righteousness for us. It ensures that on Judgment Day, we're going to be covered with something that'll stand up to the test. It ensures that we will be as righteous as Jesus Christ because of an imputed righteous, a gift of righteousness that is not ours. Now, we've talked about that so much, there's no need to belabor it, but it comes by faith alone. It ensures imputed righteousness. And thirdly, it explains the relationship between faith and works. We talked about this last time, remember? We're always confused about this. We always get the order wrong. Which comes first, faith or works? Well if they're genuine works, faith always comes first. Justification by faith alone enables us to stand holy and blameless before God, and from that standing comes a river, a lifetime of good works not the other way around. And if you try to present to God a river of lifetime of good works and say, "On the basis of this justify me", then you're like the Pharisee.

Justification by Faith Alone Explains Relationship Between Faith and Works

Now we've talked about the strife or the conflict between Paul and James on this point, there is none. The faith that justifies always produces good works, that's all. And justification by faith alone explains the relationship between faith and works. We see it here in verse 11, look down with me. It says that Abraham received the sign of circumcision. A seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So therefore Paul calls circumcision two things here. He calls circumcision a sign of inner righteousness and also a seal of inner righteousness. In other words the righteousness is there first and then the act of circumcision comes along as a sign and a seal. Just like this wedding ring is a sign or a symbol of my marriage but it is not my marriage. It's just a symbol of it. External, visible to all who can see my hand but it represents my relationship does not consist in it, it's not the source of it.

And so also circumcision, a seal of the righteousness. And so what does this mean, the seal? Well back in those days if you're writing a document or writing a letter they would take a candle and they'd melt some wax on it and then they'd take their signet ring, or a seal and they'd push it into the molten wax and it would leave an imprint. And it meant this letter comes from me, this is mine. It's almost like a seal of ownership. An authoritative seal of ownership. And so also circumcision sealed these people as God's people and also when one did this, when one was circumcised, they were putting their own seal to the fact they were children of the covenant. That's how the sealing worked. Paul talks about his sealing as an apostle. In 1 Corinthians 9, there were some people questioning him, they're saying, "Is he really an apostle?", and then there's others that were boasting and very strong in themselves and Paul says, "I've got a seal of my apostleship."

You know what the seal of Paul's apostleship was? The Corinthians. "I led you to Christ. I came to your town, you were pagans. Utter pagans before I got there, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, now you're believers in Jesus Christ, you are the seal of my apostleship." Let me ask you a question. Was Paul an apostle before they came to Christ? Absolutely. But they were the outward, visible sign or seal of the fact that Paul was truly an apostle. "You are the seal of my apostleship." Now you can come along and say, "Now if there was nothing like that, if there was no seal like that, would Paul still have been an apostle?" Foolish question, because apostles bear fruits don't they? They're indwelled by the Holy Spirit, everywhere they go they speak with passion, with power, there's going to be fruit. That's an absurd question, you can't separate the faith and works. You can't separate the righteousness and the seal. And so we understand it properly.

Justification by Faith Alone Empowers Worldwide Evangelism

The fourth point is this, that justification by faith alone empowers worldwide evangelism. Look what it says in verse 11, "So then he is the Father of all who believe, that have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness may be credited to them." The law of Moses was symbolized by circumcision, in other words circumcision represented the whole law. If you're going to be circumcised, you got to keep the whole law, and that involved all kinds of regulations other than just circumcision. For example, dietary regulations. Have you ever read the list of foods that you are and are not allowed to eat in Deuteronomy? I actually was only able to identify less than half of what these beings, these animals, were, but there was a very careful list of what you were and were not able to eat. And they gave regulations about whether they chewed the cud, or their hoof was divided and all this kind of thing. You know one food they definitely couldn't eat was pig. All of these dietary regulations.

Now what was the purpose of all this? Now you would say the purpose was, and I've heard this before, the purpose was they didn't have refrigeration back then. Have you ever heard this argument? They didn't have refrigeration and so God was trying to protect them from all those diseases that came from eating pig. Don't you believe it, because God forbid the Jews from eating it, but said that the gentile guests can eat it, go ahead. So God doesn't care about them? And even more Jesus, in Mark 7, declared all foods clean.

Did you know they didn't have refrigeration in Jesus' age either? I don't think they had Amana or anything else back then. They still didn't have refrigeration and yet Jesus coldly, cruelly declares all foods clean? What is that? It's not for protection, it was that the Jews might be a separate people. That they might be a different people. And when He declared all foods clean, Jews and gentiles alike, go ahead and eat pig. There may be other reasons not to eat the pig, find out about those in the 20th century. There are other reasons, but it's not for this. The time had come because the Messiah had come and the need for the separation of the Jewish people was no longer, the Messiah had been identified. He was a child of Abraham, born under the law, but the time for those ceremonial regulations was over.

Wasn't just food, it extended to your clothing, you couldn't wear clothes with a certain fibers woven together. It extended to your hair style, you had to let the hair in the corners of your head grow long, you couldn't trim the edges of your beard. Have you ever seen Hasidic Jews? And they have those long locks going down from here? That's because of the literalistic reading of that text. Let me ask you a question. Can you take a gospel like that to the ends of the earth? I've been reading recently this wonderful missionary biography, Peace Child, by Don Richardson. I don't know if any of you have heard of it, it's an incredible story. In 1962, Don Richardson and his wife Carol and their seven month old baby went to Irian Jaya, Netherlands New Guinea.

It's a wild island north of Australia. Went there to preach the Gospel, and they worked with the Sawi people. Now, the Sawi tribe were a bunch of head hunting cannibals. Great place to bring a seven month old, but they had faith and God had called them. Head hunting cannibals. And in their culture, they came to found out that these people revered and respected treachery above all things. That makes sense for head hunting cannibals. And they had a saying that they were fattening so and so for the day of slaughter with friendship. You see how that works? You befriend them, you're kind, you welcome them in and then the day of slaughter comes, and they never suspect it. Let me ask you a question. As you think about the Gospel and all the events that led up to Jesus' arrest, the whole thing, who would be the real hero of the story in that mindset? Not Jesus, but Judas. You see? Judas is the real hero. Jesus is the weak one, and Judas' kiss is the moment of triumph. How perverted is that? But they came to understand through what Richardson calls a redemptive analogy.

Two Sawi tribes when they're at war with each other and they want to make peace, they give each other a peace child, a son of one of the chieftains. And as long as that child lives, there's peace between the two tribes, but if the child dies, there's no peace, and as soon as the child died they'd be back at war again. And Jesus was in effect God's peace child to the world, but He lives forever and as long as He stands firm and lives forever there's peace between God and man. Well, he explained the Gospel and they came to Christ. What's fascinating about the Sawi tribe is that they revered and respected treachery but also strength with a bow, and their chief became chief, because he was able to take a bow and an arrow and drive it through a wild boar all the way through without hitting bone. Amazing. Now, let's say we go and preach this Gospel, the Gospel of Justification by law, by Moses, by works and all that, and they have to submit to all those rules and regulations. And you're saying to the Sawi tribe, "You aren't allowed to eat pig. You must be circumcised. You're not allowed to eat pig. You have to go to Jerusalem three times a year. I don't know how you're going to get the plane fare, but we'll figure that out later.

You're gonna have to do all of these rules and regulations in order that you may be saved." Is that gospel transportable to the ends of the earth? Absolutely not. No, the time for that had passed. The Gospel is simple as this: If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved, and the Sawi tribe they were saved. It's a simple Gospel message.

Justification by Faith Alone Enables final unity between Jew and Gentile

And fifthly, justification by faith alone enables final unity between Jew and Gentile. Let me ask you a question. How in world can a believing Jew and a former head hunting cannibal Sawi tribesman truly be one? The way is through justification by faith alone, because God does the exact same thing in both of them, the exact same thing. Look what he says in verse 12. "He [Abraham], is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our Father Abraham had before he was circumcised." In other words, he is the father of the Sawi tribesman who comes to simple faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit enters the Sawi tribesman and He begins to put sin to death. He begins to walk by faith. He begins to serve God. And how does it work out?

By the law, by the law but not that old law… The law of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself. The Holy Spirit fulfills that in the Sawi tribesman; does the same thing in the believing Jew. It's not the Law of Moses anymore but the same law, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself." And when you're justified by faith, the Holy Spirit enters you and you are able, empowered to obey those two laws. What does he say here? "Those that walk in the footsteps of the faith that our Father Abraham had." Have you ever seen a child walking behind a father maybe on the beach or in the snow trying to keep in step with the father, jumping from footprint to footprint? That's the image I get here; Abraham a giant of faith. And what it meant was that Abraham's faith had footprints. Do you see that? Abraham's faith had footprints. You could trace out his life.

His life was different, because he believed and so also will yours be if you are justified by faith, and you're going to follow in those footsteps of Abraham, the same faith. And God by His Spirit is going to work it in you, and you're not going to talk about the footprints. You're not going to talk about all the work you did and present it to God on Judgment Day. You're going to talk about Jesus Christ and Him alone, and Paul clears this whole thing up. It is not circumcision that saves the Jew. If you're Jewish living in the first century, cast it aside. Cast it aside.

Galatians 5:6 "For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. The only thing that counts is faith working itself out through love." Faith which works itself out through loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; loving your neighbor as yourself. Well, today we've looked again at the issue of justification by faith alone. We've seen Paul continuing to concentrate on this one thing, that we may turn away from our confidence in our own obedience, our own law keeping, our good deeds, that we may turn away from these things. The Jews had an obstacle to all this. It was circumcision. "Now, God told us to be circumcised. You're telling us now that we shouldn't have been or that we should disobey that? God gave us a warning that if we're not circumcised, we're going to be cut off." Paul explains all of that. We're in a New Covenant now. There's no need any longer for circumcision. Abraham himself was a Gentile when he was justified. He's our example.

Righteousness comes by faith. And we've seen how this excludes boasting, that we may not boast in anything but Jesus Christ. It ensures a righteousness that is not ours, but will cover us on judgment day. It explains the relationship between faith and works. It empowers worldwide evangelism, a gospel that's transportable to the ends of the earth. And it enables the final unity between Jew and Gentile in heaven. But what are the applications for us? I've written them out for you on your outline.

The first is a lesson on right boasting. "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." Your salvation is all of Him. If in your quiet moments you think, "On what basis am I going to heaven?" And you begin to think to yourself of good things you've done, you're in trouble. You have not understood justification by faith alone apart from works. Let him who boasts, boast in what Jesus Christ has accomplished and Him alone.

Second is a lesson on ritual baptism. Now where does baptism come in here? Well, what is the sign and seal, the outward visible sign and seal of our inward justification? What ceremony has God given to us? Baptism. Baptism. And may I say to you that your baptism doesn't save you anymore than Abraham's circumcision saved him. Your baptism does not save you any more than Abraham's circumcision saved him. Both of them commanded by God, both of them in and of themselves good righteous obedience. But they are not the source of anyone's righteousness, only a sign and seal of it. Don't rely on religious ritual even if God commanded it.

And it's sad to me if I go and meet with people who may be on the edge of death, and I talk to them, and all they can talk about is certain things in the past. "I was baptized, I walked the aisle, I signed the card, I did, I did, I did, I did." Your righteousness is Christ. Talk to Him, praise Him, give honor to Him, and don't rely on ritual baptism for your salvation.

The third is a lesson on radical obedience. What are the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had? Where did his faith carry him? To another land, a distant place. It was an incredible life of radical obedience. Are you living that kind of a life? Is your faith in Jesus Christ radically changing your life? Has it made any difference in your life at all? Are you following Abraham's footsteps? And furthermore, what kind of footsteps are you leaving so that others will follow in your tracks? What legacy are you leaving to your children? What kind of footsteps are you leaving behind you? Are they footsteps of faith, faith in God alone?

And then the final is a lesson on worldwide evangelism. Are you living to take the gospel to the ends of the earth? This gospel travels light and moves. Are you involved in the worldwide evangelistic endeavor? Are you praying for our missionaries in Uganda? It's a simple way. They saw someone come to Christ this week. Somebody say Amen. Amen. And all of you who prayed, you have a part in this, 2 Corinthians 1. We take part in our prayers, by our prayers. We take shares. We're not to be credited for that anymore than they are. It is God who gives new birth in Christ. But are you taking part in the worldwide outreach?

God has brought some of the world right to our door. We've got international students. Are you taking part in the harvest? You may say, "God hasn't called me to go to the ends of the earth." Well, all right, God made it easy for you, brought the ends of the earth right to you. Are you involved through your prayer and through your footsteps? Is there any action, any activity in your life toward worldwide evangelism? If not, just let God work it in you. Let Him work it in you. There's nothing like the life that follows in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised. Will you close with me in prayer please?