How to be Right with God

Over the next two weeks I hope to cover a few of the main topics of chapter 4. As Conner reminded us, each chapter unboxes a piece of the bigger understanding of salvation. By taking our time going through each passage the way we are, we get a little more insight each week, but we are not (at this time) getting the entire picture.

The concern about this is that any one piece, if not understood in the context of the rest, can lead to false or incomplete understanding and application of salvation.

EXAMPLE: you heard last week, and you will continue to see in Romans 4, that is faith that saves. Believe and be saved. That thought alone can lead to some abuses such as:

• I believe, and i am forgiven so I can do whatever I want. (Romans 6-7)

And when Paul said that “there are no good people” in chapter 3, that might lead people to abuses like:

• cannot help it, I am a sinner, or the devil made me do (Romans 7-8)

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If you find your self uneasy because you have seen abuses, people taking a light view of salvation or living a life different than that which Jesus requires, you are not alone! Paul’s audience would have felt the same way! I am sure they were ready to jump out of their chairs at times! Patience, Paul understood the issues, the heart of man, and the abuses and will address them in time.

For NOW, we get to look into the life of Abraham and what it was about him that made him “right” in Gods eyes. So, let’s see what Paul has to say. Turn in your Bibles to the book or Genesis, chapter 12. (we are going to read a lot today to get the big picture and context, next week I hope to dive into the specifics.)

Genesis 12:1–7 CSB

¹ The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. ⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵ He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem, at the oak of Moreh. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring^, I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

God approached Abram an gave him a command. Abram obey and he left all that was familiar and familial and went to a new land. That is a good thing.

THOUGHT: You would think that if God was telling you to pack up everything and go where he sends you, that he would surely allow you to stay there and bless you for obeying, right?

But… later there was a famine in the land so they go to Egypt.

Genesis 12:11–13 CSB

¹¹ When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live. ¹³ Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.”

If Abram had truly believed God, he would not have worried for his life. God made a promise and Pharaoh was not greater than God. But Abram had not come to that point yet.

WHY would God allow Abraham to go to Egypt and live through a famine? [because God wanted Abram to trust him]

Eventually, they left Egypt and settled in Bethel. Lot split from Abram and then God appears to him again:

Genesis 13:14–18 CSB

¹⁴ After Lot had separated from him, the Lord said to Abram, “Look from the place where you are. Look north and south, east and west, ¹⁵ for I will give you and your offspring forever all the land that you see. ¹⁶ I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted. ¹⁷ Get up and walk around the land, through its length and width, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.

So God promised Abram the land, again.

In chapter 14, Abram goes to war to rescue his nephew Lot. God gives him victory. And then in chapter 15 we read this:

Genesis 15:1–5 CSB

¹ After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great. ² But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.” ⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”

God approached Abram and told him, “Do not be afraid. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Why would God need to say that to Abram? He just won a decisive victory in battle! He was protected from Pharaoh. What was going on in Abrams heart that God need to say that?

My guess is that there was some doubt about whether God was going to keep his promises. But God wanted Abram to trust him, to believe him.

At the time of this encounter, Abram had lived in Canaan for 10 years. (Gen 16:4) So, after 10 year of waiting for God to keep his promises, God approached him and told him, “You can trust me.”

THEN we have this significant verse:

Genesis 15:6 CSB

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

It was not his obedience up to that point that made him right with God. It was this point, 10 years later, when he “believed” Yahweh, that it was credited to him as righteousness.

After this, Abram and Sarai took matters in their own hands to have a child. Ismael was born when Abram was 86 years old. That means Abram had waited 11 years to have a son. (Gen 16:16) That is a long time.

But we know that Ismael was not the son God promised to Abram.

Genesis 17:1–2 CSB

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless. ² I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”

14 years after Abram “believed” God and it was credited to him as being right in God’s eyes, God appeared to him again.

Most of chapter 17 is about the covenant and the ceremony that takes place to seal that covenant. And there was a condition to this covenant:

Genesis 17:9–10 CSB

⁹ God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant. ¹⁰ This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised.

God promised that he and Sarai will have a child, and Abram responds with great humanity and maturity -> he falls down laughing. This might be the first recorded ROFL moment!

Abram’s name was changed to Abraham, and Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah. Abraham and all of his household were circumcised and AFTER THAT Sarah became pregnant with Isaac:

Genesis 21:1–5 CSB

¹ The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. ² Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. ³ Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac. ⁴ When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

›     ask: PATIENCE: How long are you willing to wait for someone to keep a promise?

That is a long story. It is a long testimony of the life and faith of Abraham. Why did we go through this exercise? Because THIS story, the life and faith of Abraham, is what Paul is going to use to back his claim that there is one thing they need to do to be saved.

Let’s go back to Romans:

Romans 4:1–3 CSB

¹ What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? ² If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.

Abraham was not considered right with God just because he obeyed. Yes, he did obey. But the point at which he was considered right with God was when he did what? Believed.

Romans 4:3 CSB

³ For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.

Genesis 15:6 CSB

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Abraham had a long journey of learning that God can be trusted. Eventually, he learned to trust God. He believed God.

God used all of the circumstances before that: moving around, famine, Pharaoh, his age, battles, to get Abram to finally come to the place where he could trust God. And even that point, God had to remind him -> “I am your shield and your great reward.”

AT THIS POINT if you are a Jew you are upset! BUT we are people of the circumcision! God gave it to us through Abraham. That and the law are how we are saved!

If you do some math, it was at least 14 years later that Abraham was circumcised. Which is why Paul goes on to write:

Romans 4:9–12 CSB

⁹ Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰ In what way, then, was it credited—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised. ¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also. ¹² And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.

Paul is trying to help the Jews understand that though they had a covenant with God, one of circumcision, that was NOT what made them God’s children. All who are God’s children are those who share in Abraham’s FAITH or BELIEVE IN GOD.

I want to finish reading the chapter because I want us to understand why the story of Abraham matters and what Paul wants his listeners to understand as he is unpacking the gospel:

Romans 4:13–21 CSB

¹³ For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴ If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified, ¹⁵ because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. ¹⁶ This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to the one who is of the law but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. ¹⁸ He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. ¹⁹ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.

In case you are wondering what faith or belief is… in the Greek they share the same root. Believe is the verb. Faith is the noun. But by way of defining it, we get a definition in 20-21:

Romans 4:20–21 NIV

²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Faith is being fully persuaded that God has the power to do what he promised. The God “who gives life to the dead and called all things into existence”.

He did not “act” on anything at that time. Remember, it was 14 years later when Isaac was born. He also didn’t act to take over the land that was promised. He never saw that com to fruition.

According to the author of Hebrews:

Hebrews 11:1–2 CSB

¹ Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. ² For by this our ancestors were approved.

Hebrews 11:8–12 CSB

⁸ By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹ By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. ¹² Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.

Abraham’s faith was the kind of faith that affected the way he lived. He certainly did not get it right all the time! Neither did Sarah! But that never affected God’s faithfulness.

Faith leads to obedience. True faith anyway. James addresses that in his letter. Faith that does not alter our way of living is no faith at all, it is empty.

Abraham had the kind of faith that changed where he lived, how he lived, what he hoped for, and who he gave the credit to.

Paul wanted the Jews to know that keeping the law (mere obedience) is not enough to make someone right with God – to save them. Keeping the covenant of circumcision was not enough to save them.

Faith that believes God is who he said he is, faith that believes Jesus is who he said he is, faith that believes that the only way to live is in obedience to God, THAT kind of faith saves.

Romans 4:23–25 CSB

²³ Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, ²⁴ but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

This is a summary of what Conner shared about “righteousnessificiation” -> God is true to his character and his words and proved to be both merciful and wrathful, just and compassionate, because he punishes sin, but chose to take that punishment out on himself for those who believe in Him.

It is also a summary of what Justin shared last week. It is not a combination of faith+ the law, or faith+ circumcision, or faith+ anything. Abraham believed God and was counted right with God. Even James, who seems  to (but does not really) contract Paul on this says:

James 2:23 NIV

²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.

Genesis 15:6
Romans 4:9
James 2:23
That same quote is made verbatim 3 times in the Bible.

The process for you and I to be saved, to beginning our lives as sons and daughters of God, begins with faith. Believe. God can be trusted. God is our shield. God can be trusted, he is righteous. The God who called all things into existence and raised the dead is able to be trusted. The God who has proven his own righteousness by being both merciful and just and paying the penalty for our sins can be trusted.

Believe that Jesus was delivered up for your sins.
Believe that God raised him from the dead.
Believe that we can be made right with God through the work of Jesus on the cross.

I am going to “cheat” as Conner put it, and jump ahead. Paul makes this very clear later in this letter:

Romans 10:9–10 CSB

⁹ 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. ¹⁰ One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

There is nothing more simple and yet nothing more challenging. For to admit that God is who he said he is requires that we admit that he deserves to rule and reign in our lives from this day forward.

We cannot earn our salvation.

We cannot justify ourselves before God with our good deeds, our church attendance, our Bible knowledge, our financial contributions to the church or missionaries. We cannot justify ourselves at all.

We stand justified because of Jesus when we believe in him – when we place our faith in God who sacrificed Jesus for us.

• I need to do more
• I need to be better
• I need to clean up stuff first

Those are works. God does not need those to save you.

We are saved by faith. And that life of faith allows us to do the work of God while on this earth. Faith is the foundation of the believer’s relationship with God. True righteousness dwells in trusting God’s character and promise, rather than legalistic achievements. Your relationship with God relies on HIS righteousness not on your performance.

Trust him. He is trustworthy. The doing, the living, the holiness all comes later and God even gives us himself, the Spirit, to help us live out our faith. But it starts by simply believing.

Hebrews 11:6 CSB

⁶ Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Where are you in your faith journey?

• have you believed in God?
• have you been believing he can be trusted each day?
• do you believe he rewards those that live for him?