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Being Justified By Faith - J. Kennedy · Faith On A Hill

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  Also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the
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  Have you ever noticed that some of the most important phrases in the Bible are some of the most mistaught and misunderstood?
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  We think about the phrase that Lee just read for us that we are justified by faith.
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  Now, there are many in the religious world who will say, take this to mean, well, that's faith alone.
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  You're justified by faith apart from everything else.
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  As long as you believe in Christ, as long as you believe in God, well, that's enough.
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  That's all you have to do.
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  But when we look at this phrase, which is a biblical phrase, we must keep it in context and realize that when we look at what faith is, it is never apart from action.
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  It is never to be taken as being faith alone.
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  In fact, the only time when faith alone is mentioned in Scripture.
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  is where James says that faith being alone is dead.
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  It is empty, without works, without accompanying actions.
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  While we are not technically in Romans chapter 5, as we have been going through the book of Romans in our sermons that I whenever I've been able to be preaching, we're on Romans
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  chapter 4.
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  And you might say, okay, well, if we're on Romans chapter 4, why did we start off with Romans chapter 5?
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  Going a little backwards, aren't you?
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  Well, personally, I bl I would say that Romans chapter 5 needs to start down a little bit further.
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  Because
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  What Paul is saying here is concluded.
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  His what he is saying in Romans chapter 4 is concluded in Romans chapter 5 in the beginning.
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  We notice that with that, therefore.
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  But as we are discussing this idea of being justified by faith, and if you would open with me to Romans chapter 4, as we're discussing being justified by faith, we want to
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  understand what this faith is.
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  You see, Paul does not
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  Leave us questioning, but rather gives us information as to what faith looks like, what it is.
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  We must keep in mind, of course, as we enter our discussion on Romans 4, the context that we have been discussing so far.
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  In Romans, Paul has been addressing the fact that there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, but that all how are guilty of sin, all need salvation.
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  That God extended his salvation, his saving grace to all who are willing to be obedient to him.
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  And as Paul picks up in Romans chapter 4, he is helping these Jewish Christians to understand that their icon of faith, the man that they would look to to say, this is the
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  one who is the most faithful in Scripture, that being Abraham, was not saved through the works of the law of Moses.
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  He was not accounted righteous in God's sight through the law of Moses, which these Jewish Christians were trying to bind on the Gentile.
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  We're trying to say to these Gentile Christians, you have to follow the old law.
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  You have to be circumcised.
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  You have to be obedient to the law of Moses in order to have salvation in Christ.
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  But Paul is addressing this and revealing the truth of God's word regarding this discussion of faith.
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  And so as we look at what Paul describes faith as being, we note first that the faith that justifies.
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  The faith that can declare one righteous is not based in human boasting.
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  We think about the idea of boasting.
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  We we might consider a phrase such as, Well, I'm a self-made man.
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  I don't need anyone else.
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  I can handle everything on my own.
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  I pull myself up by my own bootstraps, so to speak.
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  But when we stop and consider who we are as human beings, when we stop and consider our failings, our weaknesses, we come to realize that we can't be self-made men, self-made
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  women.
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  If God is the one that made us, we can't be self made human beings without God.
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  We without God are nothing.
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  The story was told while I was still in school.
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  Brother Mosier told the story of an individual who was fed up with his children praying to God and thanking him for the food that they had before them.
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  They sat down at the table to eat dinner and they pray, thanking God for the food.
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  And he snaps and he looks at his children.
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  He says, God didn't provide you that food I did.
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  I worked, and I provided you this food that's on your table.
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  Brother Mosier remarked concerning that story, saying, Who gave that man breath to do the job?
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  Who gave that man strength to work and to earn that living?
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  Was it not God?
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  You see, without God, we are hopeless.
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  We are without strength.
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  And so when we look at this idea of faith, when we look at this idea of being justified in the sight of God, we are not justified in the sight of God as to say to God, you owe me
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  justification.
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  You owe me heaven as an eternal home.
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  Let's look at Romans chapter four, starting in verses one and two.
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  What shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found?
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  For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.
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  Paul is noting that Abraham did not have to glory in himself.
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  He had no room to say that God owed him justification.
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  He had no room to look at God and say, I am a self-justified man.
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  That's not how this works.
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  And Paul addresses this very plainly.
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  That Abraham did not make himself righteous.
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  He did not pull himself up by his own bootstraps.
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  He could not.
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  But rather, what we see is that Abraham was not justified by works, performed apart from faith.
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  And this really is the key to what we're discussing in Romans chapter four: is that it's not faith or works.
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  It's not faith without works or works without faith.
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  It's faith and works in tandem.
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  Together.
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  That's how we can be justified.
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  That's how we can be righteous in the sight of God.
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  And Abraham.
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  As we read in verse three, For what saith the scripture?
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  Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
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  Abraham was not declared righteous, was not counted righteous in the sight of God because he did good things.
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  But rather, he was declared righteous in the sight of God because he did good things and believed in God.
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  He followed God.
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  We think about the calling of Abraham, how God comes to Abraham and he says, Leave your father's house, go into a land that I will show you.
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  If Abraham had remained in Ur, if he had denied the Lord's command, we wouldn't be reading about him as the father of the faithful.
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  We wouldn't be reading about him as being one who was justified.
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  But you see, just simply leaving Ur of the Chaldees was also not enough for him to be righteous in the sight of God.
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  The two work together.
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  Faith and works are to be taken together.
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  And truthfully, the same aspect of the same truth is applying to us today.
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  We read in verse 4: Now to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
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  What Paul is saying here is that it's not a situation where we can declare to God, you owe me.
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  It's not a situation where we can work hard enough, we can do enough good deeds to where we are earning our salvation.
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  No, our salvation is not earned, it is not had by a Christian apart from grace.
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  Rather, we need the grace of God.
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  We mentioned in the teen class about grace, about how it is receiving that which we do not deserve.
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  As human beings, we deserve death.
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  We deserve punishment for our sins, but yet through the grace of God, we can be saved.
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  We can have justification through God's grace.
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  Ephesians 2 and verses 8 through 9 tell us that.
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  We're not saved by works that we have done, lest any man should boast.
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  We are saved by grace, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.
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  Again, Paul is addressing this idea that we can't boast in our salvation as if we have earned it, as if we are good enough.
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  But rather we rejoice in the fact that God extends to us salvation if we take it, if we are obedient to Him.
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  His grace is extended toward all who will take it.
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  The faith that justifies is not built on human boasting, but rather it is built in the promises of God, specifically the promise of God that we can be saved from our sins.
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  That's the faith that justifies.
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  Number two this morning, the faith that justifies is not built on ethnic privilege.
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  Now, unfortunately, we live in a world where that terminology is thrown around quite frequently, and sometimes with merit.
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  But when we think about this idea of ethnic privilege, it's this idea of a race or an ethnicity being preferred over another.
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  I I chuckle to myself sometimes as I remember an economics class I took in in high school.
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  And in the class they were tell they were taught the teacher was talking about how you should look up what scholarships are available to you because of your race or ethnicity.
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  And I'm sitting over here as a as a white man laughing because I know there's no such scholarship out there for me.
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  We think about this idea of ethnic privilege, and it's a real thing.
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  But when we look at it in terms of scripture, God did not prefer one race or one ethnicity over another.
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  But don't take my word for it.
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  Don't take my word for it that the blessings of God are extended to all.
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  Let's read it together.
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  Inverse
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  In verse number five, he says, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
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  His faith, not the Jews' faith, but anyone who is following Christ, who is following God.
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  And as we think about this idea of it being extended to all, about God's grace, God's forgiveness, the justification found in God.
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  That about how that has extended to all, we think back to the first century.
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  And we realize that in the time when Paul was writing, this was a major issue, where the Jewish Christians were looking down on Gentile Christians.
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  They were viewing them as lesser.
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  They were viewing them as those who had to also keep the law of Moses, who had to obey Jewish customs in order to be saved.
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  In Acts 21, verses 27 through 29.
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  Paul is arrested simply because he was teaching the gospel to the Gentiles.
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  Now, the Jewish leaders who arrested Paul, they also disagreed with the message that Paul was preaching.
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  But the thing that made them angry, the thing that led them to arrest the apostle, was simply the fact that he was teaching Gentiles.
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  That's hatred.
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  And when read in Acts chapter 15, verses 1 and 5, the Jewish Christians were trying to bind these things of the old law, of Jewish tradition, on to Gentile Christians.
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  In Acts 15, that where in Jerusalem, where the elders of the church in Jerusalem and the apostles get together, they look at scripture.
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  They ask the Lord for understanding as to what his plan is.
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  And God reveals to them that there that his plan hasn't changed.
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  His plan was for all men to be saved, regardless of race, regardless of ethnicity.
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  Salvation is extended to all.
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  And when we think about the Jew of Jews, so to speak, the one that the Jewish people held in the highest of esteem, it was Abraham.
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  It was Abraham, the father of the nation.
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  And yet Paul points out that Abraham wasn't declared righteous.
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  He wasn't declared right in the sight of God while he was following the law of Moses, or while he was circumcised even, but before.
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  Let's read together Romans chapter four, starting in verse nine.
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  Let's actually back up to verse 8 starting.
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  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
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  Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also?
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  For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
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  How was it then reckoned?
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  When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision?
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  Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
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  Paul makes this point very clear that these things that the Jewish people are holding to the highest of standards, to say that you can't be a Christian without doing these things,
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  Paul says Abraham was saved before that.
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  He was righteous in the sight of God before being circumcised.
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  Point that Paul is drawing out here is it's not about custom.
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  It's not about tradition.
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  Righteousness, salvation is all about doing what God said and having enough faith in Him to do so.
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  Having enough faith in God to say, I trust your word, that when you say I can do these things and be declared righteous in your sight,
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  That if I do those things, I will be.
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  I will be a part of your church, your kingdom, your saved body.
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  When we think back to what God had planned, He did not plan for man to be divided in salvation.
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  He did not want there to be a church for every race, for every ethnicity.
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  No, he wanted there to be one body, one people justified in his sight.
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  So no matter who you are, no matter what your background is, you can be justified in God's eyes.
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  You can have salvation from your sins.
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  What a blessing that is.
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  What a blessing that is that God does not look on the outward appearance, but on the heart.
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  That God does not consider who you are as your individual nature.
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  or rather your your individual appearance, but rather he cares about whether or not you have faith in him, whether or not you trust in him enough to be obedient to him.
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  The faith that justifies.
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  It's not built on ethnic privilege.
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  It's not built on following the traditions of men.
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  It's built on obedience to God.
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  It's built on trusting in the Lord.
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  Number three, the faith that justifies is not without obedience.
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  Now we've been discussing this to some extent as we've been going through.
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  But I really want this to be a point of focus for us.
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  Because so many people in this world think that faith without works is okay.
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  That faith apart from obedience is right in God's sight, and it's simply not.
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  Abraham, despite his great faith, still had to obey God.
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  Abraham still had to do what God said to do.
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  We think about Abraham's belief in God.
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  What good would it do him if he sat back and said, Well, God, I I trust in you.
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  I believe in you that you're going to raise up a nation from my descendants.
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  But I'm not going to do anything about it.
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  I'm just going to sit here and flip through a book.
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  Well, God, I I believe that it I trust in you that you will be faithful in keeping your word to me, but I really like Ur of the Chaldees, and I think I'll stay here.
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  Well, God, I know that you are a God who is jealous, a God who wants to be served above all these other false gods, but the gods of my fathers seem pretty nice.
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  I think I'll follow them, but but you'll still keep your word, right?
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  What we see with Abraham is that he was a man of great faith, but his faith was accompanied by action.
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  His faith produced a desire.
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  His faith led him to obey God, to do what God said to do, and to be countered righteous in his sight.
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  It was said by I believe it was Mart Martin Luther, the Reformation.
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  Minister.
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  He claimed that James was a right straw epistle.
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  He looked at the book of James and said, this just completely destroys everything I've been saying about faith only.
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  And he even thought that Rome, that the book of Romans and the book of James were in conflict with one another.
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  But when we look at the two books, there's not a conflict.
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  There's not a contradiction.
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  Rather, there is an explanation, an expounding, a building upon, a unified message.
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  You see, the message of Paul was that Abraham's faith was built on trust and confidence, a confident belief in God's promise.
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  We read this in Romans 4, verses 19 through 21.
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  Where he says, And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
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  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded what he had promised, he was able to perform.
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  Abraham had trust in God.
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  He believed what God had promised.
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  And through that belief, he was obedient to God.
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  Look with me at James chapter 2.
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  We mentioned it as we began this morning, but James chapter 2, starting in verse 21.
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  James writes, Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
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  Seeest thou how faith wrought with his works?
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  And by works was faith made perfect.
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  And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
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  Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith.
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  James says that Abraham's strong faith manifested itself in the works that he did.
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  The fact that Abraham trusted in God was why he was willing to offer his son.
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  The fact that he trusted in God was why he was willing to leave his father's house.
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  The fact that he trusted in God was the reason why he was granted Isaac as a son.
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  Action and faith together.
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  That's what we see in Scripture.
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  Paul and James are not in disagreement, but rather in agreement that Abraham did not justify himself or declare himself to be righteous.
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  God did that.
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  God declared him righteous.
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  But only after Abraham let his faith lead him to be obedient to God.
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  His faith was not, it did not stop internally.
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  It did not stop with a recognition of God's faithfulness, of God's righteousness, of God's trustworthiness, or even his existence.
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  Abraham's faith manifested itself in the works that he did.
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  And so the faith that justifies is not built without obedience, but rather it is combined with obedience.
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  Working in tandem to present a man justified in the sight of God.
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  The faith that justifies.
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  It's devoid of arrogance.
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  It is without prejudice.
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  It is manifested in obedience.
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  This is the picture that Paul paints for us of the faith that justifies us, of the faith that allows us to have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Abraham was accounted as a righteous man, and so can we.
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  We can be accounted as righteous as well.
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  We can be right in the sight of God, but only if we have a faith that is accompanied with action.
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  Only if we don't stop with a realization that God exists, with a realization that we're in sin, with a realization that His word is true.
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  We can't stop there.
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  We have to keep going and follow God into obedience.
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  Abraham's faith was not perfect because Abraham was not perfect.
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  But Abraham's faith was justified.
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  It was a justifying faith because it trusted in God enough to do what he said to do.
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  Question that comes to each of us today is will we?
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  Do we have enough faith to trust in God enough to say, I will follow your commands?
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  I will live for you and not for myself?
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  Do we have enough faith in God to ask the question that was asked in Acts 2 and verse 37 what shall we do?
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  Men and brethren, what shall we do after Peter has been preaching so powerfully?
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  As he has been revealing to these Jews the fact that they had crucified the Son of God, the Messiah, that they were longing for.
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  The Jews assembled there asked Peter, What shall we do?
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  They didn't let their faith in what the mess in the message stop internally.
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  They didn't let their faith in God stop internally, but rather asked what they needed to do to be saved, to be righteous in God's eyes.
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  And Peter did not tell them, well, you've done everything.
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  You believe that Jesus is the Christ, so you've done everything you need to do.
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  Nor did he say, Well, now let's all bow our heads and repeat after me, and this prayer will save you.
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  That's not what we read.
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  What we read is that Peter tells them to repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins.
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  Peter says if you want to be saved, if you want to be righteous in God's sight, it does not stop with hearing.
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  It does not stop with believing.
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  It does not stop with confessing that Jesus is the Christ.
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  It does not stop even with your decision to turn from your wickedness and to follow God.
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  But it is manifest in action.
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  Specifically in the action of baptism, of being baptized for the remission of your sins.
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  But as you look at your life and you realize that you've already done those things, but your faith has waned.
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  You are not where you know you need to be.
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  God does not forsake you.
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  He does not stop loving you.
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  He wants you to come back to him.
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  He wants you to be right with him.
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  As you look at your life, as you compare yourself to Scripture, and you see the flaws that need fixing, if we can help you to be right in God's sight, if we can help you to manifest
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  your faith in action that makes you right in God's sight, then come forward now as we stand and as we sing.
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  I need you to be something.
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  The Savior is waiting to give you a place in his sanctified throne Why not why not Why not come to Him now?
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  Why not come to him?
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  What do you hold their brother to gain by a further deal?
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  There's no one to save you by Jesus.
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  There is no other way like this way.
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  Why not why not come to him now?
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  Why not why?
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  Why not come to him?
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  Is passing away.
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  Your savior is longing to bless you.
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  There's danger and death in you.
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  uh
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  Come down.
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  Come down.
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  Please be soon.