DIG DEEP Bible Study, Pastor David Cooper, Riches in Romans #13

DIG DEEP Bible Study, Pastor David Cooper, Riches In Romans #13

Romans 4:1-11

Where you start in life determines where and how you end. Every beginning is just a seed in your destiny. Many religious leaders of Judaism made the mistake of beginning their faith with Moses instead of Abraham. They turned religion into law instead of love; works instead of faith. The law was added 430 years after the promise was given to Abraham. “ For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed (Jesus) to whom the promise referred had come…So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian” (Galatians 4:18-19, 24). Who was Abraham? A man who grew up in Babylon a land of idols. Yet he believed in the one true God. He trusted God to save him from his sins and give him eternal life. He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). This the essential message of the entire Bible and the emphasis of Romans – we can only be right with God by faith in his saving grace through the redemption of Jesus. Paul was a legalistic Pharisee. After his salvation, he understood that from the beginning of time righteousness comes by faith not by law or works or rituals. Paul consistently uses Abraham as the example of what it means to put your faith in Jesus. The Christian faith doesn’t begin with Romans but the Gospels that tell of the coming of Jesus to redeem us. The apostolic letters build on the foundation of the Gospels. We don’t follow the apostles, or the reformers of any minister today. We follow Jesus alone as we fix our eyes on him. The great discovery is the discovery that salvation comes by faith not works.

1. ABRAHAM’S EXPERIENCE.

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

2. A GIFT NOT A WORK 4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

1. Saved by faith not works

2. All Scripture reiterates this truth

3. SALVATION IS THE SAME FOR ALL 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… So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.

1. Jew and Gentile alike need salvation.

2. Circumcision was an external sign of an inward work of grace the same as baptism is for believers.

3.We are to walk in the footsteps of Abraham’s faith.