Romans 4

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Romans 4:1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

• Or, let's consider Abraham's experience.
• Abraham = father of many nations
• Genesis 17:5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

• Abraham's good works were glorious, but not necessarily in God's viewpoint.
• Glory = a boast (by implication, the act) in a good or a bad sense: boasting, (whereof) to glory (of), glorying, rejoice(-ing).

3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

• That's quite plain.
• His belief, his faith, was what glorious in God's sight, and remember Abraham was the one given the promise and covenant.
• By his seed, he would become the father of many nations.  

4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

• Salvation is a gift, but someone that goes strictly by works counts it as a debt, or he wrongly thinks it is owed to him.
• The gift of salvation is given freely on your faith.

5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,

• Psalm 32:1 A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
  2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
  3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
  4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
  5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
  6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
  7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
  8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
  9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
  10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
  11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

• Covered means put out of sight.
• Read the 32nd Psalm and you'll learn God is the only one who can cover your sins or hold you not accountable for them.

8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

• If you confide in God and ask for His help, He will forgive you.

9 Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

• Was Abraham given the promise because he obeyed the law or because of his faith?

10 How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

• This is redundant and bulky in English.
• It refer to the fact Abraham was given the promise and covenant before he was circumcised, so the question answers itself.
• Abraham was blessed because he believed God, so it was through faith and not the law.
• And how strong the faith of Abraham!
• He was tested severely; he was even going to sacrifice his son and had his arm raised with the sword that would destroy his son's life, when the Father said to stop.
• Abraham's believed God and obeyed Him even to this extent, and remember he did this by faith before he came under the written law or Commandments, which were later given to Moses.

11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

• First through faith, he received the reward and then was circumcised later.
• I'd like you to notice here also that the total plan of salvation for all nation was so decreed even back to this time.
• It must be noted that the plan of salvation had already been defined, when the law was given to Israel.
• In all events of yesterday, today and tomorrow are part of God's over-all plan for the world.

12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

• You see that Abraham found favor with God before the law of circumcision came into being for him.

13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

• You might say that he had faith in God and this seed that would bring Christ.

14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:

15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

• They couldn't live up to the law, which brings the wrath of God, but where there is no law, there is no sin.

16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

• By faith comes this free gift and not only to Israel of the law, but to all who have the faith of Abraham.
• He is father of us all when it concerns faith; not seed.

17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

• This is God's promise to Abraham, and "many nations" means not only Israel but even other nations.
• Abraham = father of many nations
• Genesis 17:5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

• Abraham believed beyond any shadow of a doubt when his wildest hopes should not have let him hope, because he was 100 years old.
• Yet God told him he would, and he didn't doubt.
• He believed because God spake it.

19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

• Genesis 17:7 Sarah was 90 years old.
• Looking at this in a normal way, her pregnancy would have been an impossibility, and Sarah had never had a child, but God said it would be so and Abraham believed.

20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

• He doubted not, but instead thanked God.

21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

• Again, no doubts.
• He knew that God could carry out that promise, and he would father a child.

22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

• God gave him this gift because of his faith.

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

• Now I'd like to ask you something here.
• God has told you that very soon He's going to call on you to be a witness to the whole world.
• Will you have Abraham faith to know that He'll be with you all the way?
• Can you have enough faith to speak out to reach the seed spoken of here at the time the false christ comes in the near future?
• It is not an impossibly that you shall stand up for the Lord and be delivered up, Christ will speak through you, and the gospel will be preached to the whole world.
• Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
• And with loving words and kind thoughts, you will take and lead the people to that time when the real Christ will come.

• Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.

 

•  The first tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.

 

• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt - page 25