What is Saving Faith
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
REVIEW QUESTIONS
QUESTION:
ANSWER:
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Justified by Faith Before God
Justified by Faith Before God
Romans 4:1–5“What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.””
What we have here is an OT example of someone becoming justified
What does it mean to be justified?
It means to stand before God as if we have never sinned
Justification is something we are, righteousness is something we have
Abraham had them both and remarkably before the atonement of Jesus Christ.
What was the plan of salvation in Abraham’s day?
Saved by faith
What is the plan of salvation today?
Saved by faith
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”
What did Abraham believe to cause God to credit righteousness to his account?
Genesis 15:1–6 “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
God told Abraham that he would have a child and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars
What I want us to see is that Abraham did nothing but believe God. The entire act of crediting righteousness to Abraham was done right then as soon as he believed what God had told him.
Now I suspect Abraham had no idea that God had credited righteousness to Him. I know when I came to faith, and God washed my sins away, I do not know the day or hour. I k now the day I made it public. But I do not know the day God began seeing me as righteous.
But I do believe that this is the way it must always happen. That God speaks to us, maybe in our hearts, maybe by preaching, maybe by reading the Bible, somehow God speaks and then we have the choice, are we going to believe God or not.
Are we going to believe going God’s way is THE WAY.
Are we going to believe what God says about sin is true
Are we going to believe the warnings in Scripture
Are we going to believe the promises in Scripture?
Are we going to believe indefinitely?
QUESTION: Anyone remember that point in your life?
Now how do we know that we have truly believed God? Because if it was up to us, we could probably convince ourselves regardless of the life we live
Turn to the book of James 2:21. James talks about Abrahams faith but in an entirely different way than Paul.
Paul is teaching us that God justified Abraham without any kind of works. No circumcision, the Law had not even been written yet so he did not earn it by following God’s rules.
But James says Abraham is justified by his works which seems to contradict exactly what Paul is teaching.
Justified by works before men
Justified by works before men
James 2:21–24 “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
We can do nothing to earn or achieve it; by faith we receive it as a gift. For James, faith is not true faith unless it produces generous, radical, godly living.
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