Friends and family, join us on the Lord's Day for worship. And if you are visiting this morning, just a reminder or maybe an update to you, if you're a visitor, we do have a fellowship dinner today at noon. So you're certainly welcome to stay for that and join us for a time of food and fellowship. And before we have our call to worship, let me draw your attention to one item in the bulletin this morning. You open it up on that right hand column on the inside. Partway down near the top, we have the privilege this morning of welcoming a new family into membership here at Cornerstone. Andy and Jennifer Prince, along with their baptized children, Drew, Mariah, and Desiree, are welcomed this morning as members. So Andy and Jen and the family, if I can have you stand just for a minute. I know most of us know who the princes are, but welcome on behalf of the congregation. And we look forward to, Lord willing, many years of service and membership together. So thank you. So Andy and Jen and their family will be near the back of the fellowship hall following the service this morning. That will give all of us an opportunity to greet them in the Lord and extend that right hand of fellowship to them. So as we've come together this morning to worship, the privilege that we have is knowing that it is God who calls us to render worship. And that call to worship this morning is here In Psalm 116, I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore, I will call on Him as long as I live. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. When I was brought low, He saved me. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. So let's remember God's grace given to us in Christ and approach Him together in silent prayer and ask for His blessing on our service this morning. Beloved congregation, our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Receive God's greetings. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen. Well, we heard that call to worship, and God has indeed welcomed us into His presence. So let's turn to number 169. Number 169, my song forever shall record the tender mercies of the Lord. We'll sing stanzas one, two, three, and nine, and we'll have stanza three a cappella. Mom? Forever we'll, with word and truth, Of faithfulness that never dies, As heavenly saints thus in the skies. We hold God's truth and praise displayed, For he has faithful covenant made, And he has sworn that David's son Shall ever sit upon his throne. The world and all therein are Thine. Thou, O creations, art the strength, the weight, its weight. As we hear from the law this morning, we want to be reminded of the need we have in light of that law that points the accusatory finger at all of us. We want to be reminded of the need we have to be forgiven for our sins, to be forgiven of our sins. And so the law serves not just as a reminder that we have transgressed the standard God has set, but with his blessing upon that use of the law, it reminds us of our need for the gospel and drives us then through faith in Christ to receive a full and free forgiveness for all of our many sins. So the law drives us with God's blessing to the gospel. It tells us then in Exodus 20, And God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. So there we have the 10 commandments in God's law. Let's respond to that with a song that gives us opportunity not only to confess God's greatness and to extol his mercy, but as well to confess our sins and to look to him for the joy of forgiving grace. Number 72, taken from Psalm 40, we'll sing all five stanzas together. Thee, Lord, and people, I confess Of the gifts of Thy righteousness. Thou knowest for them Thy heav'nly King. Thy great salvation, Lord, Light, truth, and faith obey us this way, Our loving kindness show. Faithful now the water is flowing, And lead me every way. Let all who seek you sing thy praise. God is love, he shall love, forever more proclaim. All praise the Lord, who loves the Lord, heaven and earth by his name. ♪ Amen ♪ Sing now, my savior. Joyful, joyful, song of praise. And when He's gone, when He's gone, shall we love again? Think about that line we sang in verse four. Really does summarize, it seems to me, the heart of a sinner saved by grace. Although I poor and needy be, the Lord in love takes thought for me. So remember congregation, we love him only because he first loved us. And so listen to the assurance of pardon this morning at the end of Micah chapter seven. Who is a God like you? Pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. So what a wonderful word, congregation, that announces forgiving grace to all who believe in and belong to Jesus Christ. And in that light of forgiveness, the prophet Micah says elsewhere, he has shown you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you. But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. The life of gratitude then following the outpouring of grace that God provides for us in Christ our Lord. Well, let's keep those things in mind as we come in congregational prayer. For through Christ, of course, we have access and acceptance with God. But before we come to the Lord in prayer, one item to add to our prayer list this morning that has come to us as a request. We want to pray for the Jake Roos family. Jake is a young man from Sheldon. who was killed in a trucking accident just these last few days. He was scheduled to be in the wedding with Austin Gunnerman and Jade Voss. So we want to remember them as well in our prayers. And let's include that then as part of what we ask God to hear us on behalf of an answer in grace. Shall we pray together? Our Heavenly Father, we bow before you in our congregational prayer this morning and although we are and pray that we always will be thankful and joyful that in Christ you have given us access and acceptance with yourself and that you promise to receive us in grace when we approach you in his name, that we yet, Father, have a heavy heart It seems as though, Lord, many afflictions have come upon us and our loved ones of late, and we see in them how the weights and burdens of life are more than we can bear. So that reminds us, O God, not to be crushed by those things that are calamitous and troublesome, but it reminds us to seek refuge in you. to come to you in Christ for shelter and care, to hide ourselves in that haven of rest that you have provided for us through the death and resurrection of our blessed Lord. For we have the full promise, O God, that all of what comes to us is appointed to work itself out by your hand and with your blessing for the good of all who are the called according to your purpose, who love you, O God, because you have first loved us. And so we ask, Father, that as we face trials of different kinds, whatever they might be, that on the one hand, we would recognize the weight and the burden that they bring, but that that very thing would remind us that this life truly is nothing but a constant death. and that we long for a city whose builder and maker is God. We look for a new heaven and a new earth in which dwells righteousness. And we long for the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who will bring with him the fullness of his blessed kingdom, and who will usher in, O Lord, a perfect and eternal state where there is not the slightest trace of the curse and every tear has been wiped away from our eyes. Because you say to us, behold, all things are new. Father, we pray this morning for the health and life of our congregation. And we know many of the needs among us and others, Lord, suffer silently and quietly. We pray for both. We think especially of Jane Rorida and the Williamson's, but of the others, Lord, who are recovering from surgery or injury, and pray that you would grant strength and recovery according to your will, that in time, oh Lord, if you bestow it, there might be improvement, and that in the meantime, you would have an outpouring of patience provided, a reminder, oh Lord, that lives individually and collectively are in your hands. And that in these things, not only those we pray for, but all of us might humble ourselves before you and see, O God, in due time that you hear and answer our prayers. We pray tonight, or we pray this morning, Lord, for those in our midst who have lost loved ones. We pray, Father, for The Iwima family, who laid a wife and mother and grandmother to rest this past week. We pray for the Van Wyk family, who has been touched, oh Lord, by a sudden and terrible tragedy. And we pray as well for the Jake Roos family, who likewise has seen, oh Lord, something sudden and final and unforeseen come upon them. Father, may each of these families that we care for know peace that surpasses all understanding. Father, would you bless Jim and his family in particular, and Renee and her family as well. Help us, O Lord, when we are threatened to be overwhelmed. Uphold us, O God, lest we fall. Encourage us, lest, O God, we give in to despair. Sustain us, O God, lest we think as though there is no way to continue. And remind us, remind us of the promise of Christ, of the surpassing greatness of your mercy, and of the way in which trouble and calamity here that touches us in life cannot take away the promises You have given to us in our blessed Lord, and are that which is unable to shake the firm foundation that we stand upon by Your grace alone as You have given us to Christ and given Him to us. So show us in these things, O Lord, and those we pray for, that the light of Your countenance drives away the darkness of doubt and despair. We pray as well, oh God, for the work week ahead, for the labor associated with the harvest, we pray for safety and success, and for the duties we have at home, at school, and at other forms of work for wisdom and faithfulness. Father, for our community, we ask that you would receive our thanks for providing us with a place to live and a time frame in which to be active and use the gifts and opportunities that you provide. We pray thereby your blessing upon Sanborn and O'Brien County, upon the state of Iowa and the United States, and ask, O Lord, that in these things you might bless us to be productive citizens, to be good neighbors and to carry the name of Christ in all that we do Monday through Saturday in such a way that gives honor to our Lord and is an encouragement to those we come into contact with. For any and all in our community that need your blessing, we pray, oh Lord, you would lead them to receive that. We pray that as your word goes forth and is heard, hearts and lives might be touched and transformed. and that as we might have opportunity to interact, O Lord, that you would make our words to be timely and seasonable as well. As we take the offering later in the service, Father, bless the gifts and givings of your people, that they might be done in joy, that they might be received in humility, and that they might be administered according to the needs at hand as you give our deacons wisdom and compassion in their work. So go ahead of us, we pray, in these things, O God, And though there be many more prayers and matters that are on our hearts and in our minds, we lay these before you looking for the answer that we know you will be pleased to provide according to your will. For we call upon you in Christ's name. Amen. Well, let's turn to number 273. That comes to us from Psalm 130, from out the depths I cry. Number 273, all the stanzas together. So I cry, O Lord, to Thee, O hear my call. For I love Thee, Lord, for Thou dost keep my plea, O hear me call. Sing well while I write them. I will foretell the morning on his word my hope relies. Till Christ arrives, I'll look for Him to drive away my pride. Behold and watch, He'll look for glory wide. waiting sings, and he will well provide. For mercy and redemption, whole and free, with him abide. From sin and evil, mighty Lord, we sing. Well, let's turn over to Romans chapter three, and we'll have a reading from God's word in connection with the preaching of that word. So Romans 3, we'll begin reading there in verse 19. And then we'll read down through chapter 4, verse 12, just for a little bit of context. And our preaching passage will be the opening of chapter 4, verses 1 through 8. So here we are, God's word, Romans chapter 3, Beginning in verse 19, it says, now, we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. But we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law. What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by words, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now, to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from work. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised. so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. And to make him the father of the circumcised, who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. So there we have a reading in Romans, including chapter four, verses one through eight, which is our preaching passage. Well, let's open with a prayer for illumination and ask for God's blessing, shall we? Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you, O God, that it speaks to us so wonderfully, no matter what the occasion is, and that it holds out to us clearly and faithfully. the beauty and glory of the Gospel promise. Namely, that in Christ there is forgiveness for all of our sins, as well as the counting of righteousness in your sight. So Father, help each of us to grasp, if only in measure, the profundity and wonder of that Gospel promise, that our conscience might be clear, that our feet might be steady, And that we might have full assurance of faith and no doubt that you accept us as your children, pure and clean and holy, only for the sake of Christ who stands for us and is given to us. So that in the week ahead, O Lord, we might have that comfort and that all the days of our life we might live in the same. And that whenever that time might come for us to draw Our final breath, we might then die in that same promise and comfort. We are not our own, but belong unto our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. So hear us in what we ask, O God, and answer, we pray, in grace and for His sake. Amen. Well, beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ and maybe boys and girls and young people in particular, this coming Tuesday, October 31st, will mark the 500th anniversary the occasion where a young Augustinian monk, I guess young is relative, but an Augustinian monk who was just a week and a bit shy of his 34th birthday, he nailed 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. And doing so was that culture and time periods way of then making these things publicly known as a topic of debate and discussion. Maybe we could use modern illustration and say what this young monk did on that day was issue a blog post for everyone to comment on and then have occasion to discuss and talk about together. And of course that Augustinian monk was Martin Luther. And so began the movement known as the Protestant Reformation. That blog post went viral, and Western culture has never been the same since. But what was the Protestant Reformation all about? How would you answer that question? If on Tuesday, let's say a co-worker or a friend asked you, what was the Reformation all about anyway? What was all the fuss? Was it merely theological wrangling? Was it just an ivory tower academic discussion among the theological elite about doctrine and dogma? Or was there something else? Was there something to it? Something pertinent? Something profound? Something practical at stake in this whole issue of reformation? Well, it's the latter, of course. It was pertinent, practical, and profound. After all, the issue of the day was this. How can sinful man be accepted by the Holy God? That was the question. And the reformers came to make a distinction, or rather a distinction came to be made about this issue of how that question got addressed through what's known as the formal cause of the Protestant Reformation and the material cause of the Protestant Reformation. The formal cause was the authority of scripture, hence that Reformation battle cry, Sola Scriptura. While the material cause, the rub of the matter, if you will, what really gets to the heart of the issue of how can sinful man be accepted by a holy God, was this doctrine of justification by faith alone. And so you have the other battle cries of sola fide, sola gratia, and solus Christus. Faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone. And as the question, how can sinful man be accepted by the Holy God? As that question was answered, God's glory in the salvation of the sinner was on full and open display for everyone to hear and to see. And so that Reformation battle cry, which was like an exclamation point, Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone. be the glory. And maybe just, this is overly simplified, but just to illustrate the difference between the Roman Catholic view of justification and the Protestant view of justification, maybe we can put it in sort of a math-like equation. The Roman Catholics said in the end that it's faith plus works is unto justification. Whereas the Protestants said, no, faith in Christ is unto justification and a life of works follows. That's a simple but profound distinction and difference between the way in which the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant reformers understood, by God's word, this promise of the gospel. We read there in Romans chapter 4, verses 1 through 8. It's part of a larger section, of course. It begins officially, I would say, back in verse 21 of chapter 3. And it goes all the way to the end of chapter 8. And if you look back in the reading just briefly, verse 21 of chapter 3, this righteousness of God manifested apart from the law and prophets, although they bear witness to it. And verse 26, where Paul says that God is then the just and the justifier. the one who has faith in Jesus. Those are really sort of building blocks upon which chapter 4 verses 1 through 8 are built as it picks up on the opening of this larger section back in verse 21. So in any case, If you have one of the themen, one of the inserts rather, you can see the themen points this morning. Very simple themen points. Justification by faith alone is the heart of the gospel. And to see that this is so, let's ask these two questions. First of all, what do we find out from Abraham? That's verses one, two, and three. And then secondly, what do we hear about from David? That's verses four through eight. So that first question then, what do we find out from Abraham. Well, Genesis 15 verse 6, that's the Old Testament background. We see that in verse 3. And what we're told in verses 1 and 2, and then Paul confirms it in verse 3, is that Abraham had nothing to boast about. To use the language of the ESV, he had no gain in and of himself. And so listen, we see right out of the gate, That justification by faith alone, which is exactly what Paul is dealing with in these opening chapters of this second main section in Romans. Justification by faith alone, it forbids anyone from boasting in their own accomplishments or touting themselves and their own righteousness. Because listen, faith, faith has its boast in Christ. That's where the gospel gives us opportunity to brag and to boast about Him, our Savior. And so we have to pause for a minute to let that sink in. You and me both, we're all prone to pride and self-righteousness, to throw our shoulder out by patting ourselves on the back and thinking that we're all such swell people. We have to remember and keep in mind and always have in our heart that our hope is in Christ alone. After all, the gospel message, it's not faith plus works equals justification. It's not a Jesus plus gospel. Even if we say 99% Jesus did, I've got 1% on my own that I've contributed. That's not how it goes. Like I've said before, if you made a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and you followed that recipe, and you added one crumb of dog poop to that batch of chocolate chip cookies. The entire batch would be corrupted, not just one cookie that came out of it. If we try to add something to the work of Christ, it compromises and corrupts the entire thing. Because it's no longer Jesus who is Savior, but it's Jesus plus something I've done. So there's no boasting in our baptism. There's no boasting that we've stood up here and made public profession a faith. There's no boasting in the fact that we're lifelong charter members of a Dutch reformed church. There's no boasting in the fact I attend church twice every Sunday. And in the back of our mind, we add to that, unlike so-and-so, There's no boasting in any of those things that are part of the rhythm and routine of our lives as God's people. Those are all good things. Baptism, church membership, profession of faith, attending church twice on Sunday. Those are all good things. But Jesus paid it all. And all to Him I owe. In the end, that was the issue in the 16th century. And that's still the issue today. Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul. So, our only hope, congregation, for any of us is in Christ. That's why the gospel call is to believe in Him. And to receive in Him all of what you need. To rest in that foundation of Christ that God has so wonderfully provided for you. And then to rejoice and be glad that He accepts you for Jesus' sake. As you go with all of your weaknesses and shortcomings, still attend to your service and live for Him. Look at the passage in verse 1. Paul's opening question, it really sets the stage for the way things unfold. And he answers the question for us. He doesn't leave us a mystery what the answer to the question in verse 1 is. And verses 2 and 3 are really the answer that Paul provides. And in what he says here in answer to that question, here's what we see. Verse 2 is the premise. If Abraham was justified by works, then he has something to boast about. It's a classic if-then statement. If this, then that. Righteousness of works equals a ground for boasting. Since Abraham wasn't justified by works, then he has no boast before God, does he? It's a simple conclusion, but it's a profound argument, very short, that leads us to the finding that Paul so clearly sets before us in this opening part of the passage. And to top it all off, it's not just that reasoning in verse two that Paul puts before us, But in good rabbinic fashion, Paul reaches back into the Old Testament, he grabs onto Genesis chapter 15 verse 6, and he pulls it all the way in and nails it right through our passage here. It's his own thesis that he puts before us. That's where verse 3 comes in. So, what is it that Rabbi Saul wants us to see here? Well, in his own time, in his own ministry, in his own work as an apostle. He wants us to see from Genesis chapter 15, verse six, two things. One, and we heard it in verses nine through 12. One, Abraham is the example of everyone who is justified by faith alone. And secondly, this is picked up in verses nine to 12 as well. Abraham serves as a rebuke to the Jews who boasted in him because they boasted in their own supposed self and works righteousness. Because what does the scripture say? It says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Maybe you heard in verses nine through 12 where Paul makes that special point to say that Abraham received that reckoning of righteousness before he was circumcised. So he couldn't have boasted in his circumcision if God had already previously reckoned him as righteous apart from circumcision. And Paul says circumcision served for Abraham like it did for the rest of the Jews, not as something to boast about, but as a seal of the righteousness that comes through faith. And so notice three things. If you look at verse 3, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. One, God is the object of Abraham's faith. And in context, here in Genesis 3, it's God's promise to provide Abraham with a seed in whom all families of the earth will be blessed. It's God's promise of that that Abraham in particular believes. So Christ, even for Abraham, was the object of his faith. Faith is then the means by which righteousness is received and righteousness from God is counted, reckoned. That's a bookkeeping and accounting term to Abraham. And so notice, with just a few short strokes of the pen, Paul shows us that justification by faith alone is actually an Old Testament doctrine. That's always been the way God has accepted sinners. That's the only way that anyone can be right with God. Here's what Calvin said about Genesis 15.6 and the way Paul uses it here. About Abraham, Calvin said this, he was not otherwise just than as one trusting in God's goodness and venturing to hope for all things from Him. And so let me ask, is that your testimony? Do you venture to hope and trust God to provide you with everything you need for your salvation? Because justification by faith, that's not a Protestant invention. No, that's Old Testament narrative. That's in the very first book of the Bible. It's not something Luther and Calvin and whoever else we want to name among the Reformers sort of came up with. It's not that they were theological instigators and they just wanted to rub things the wrong way when it came to the Roman Catholic Church. No, they search the scriptures. They return to the things that church had been taught by the prophets and apostles. Justification by faith is not a Protestant invention. It's good news from God. Justification by faith alone is a call to humble trust. It points us to Christ as the only one in whom there is anything and everything for us. So here, hear the promise of the gospel congregation. Respond in faith as God opens your heart to understand and receive these things. Know that in Christ there is remission for your sins and there is the reckoning of righteousness. And then boast in Him unto a full assurance of salvation. After all, the heart Just like justification by faith alone is the heart of the gospel. The heart of justification is this matter of an imputed righteousness, being reckoned righteous in God's sight for the sake of what someone else has done for us. It's not an infused righteousness, which is what was taught, and what the Reformers still is taught, and what Reformed churches object to. Justification by faith alone is not a legal fiction. Saying something that's true about someone, that they're free of sin and righteous in God's sight, but they're not really that. Well, it's not a legal fiction because we are free of sin and we are reckoned righteous in God's sight. Even though we're not those things, since Christ has done that work for us and we belong to Him, then our sins are forgiven and we are fully accepted in God's sight. It's not legal fiction, it's the truth of what God promises to all who belong to Christ and are united to Him. And so let me ask this question. Do you believe in Christ? Do you belong to Him? Well, then guess what? If you answer those questions with yes, then guess what? God accepts you fully. There is nothing more that needs to be done. Because Jesus has done it all. And God accepts you fully now in Christ. And God accepts you fully forever in Christ. That's what justification means and entails. Wow. Remember that good news. Keep it with you and go in that light as you have freedom of conscience, freedom of grace, and freedom to serve. Not in order that you might be good enough to one day have acceptance with God, but since God has already accepted you in Christ, He now calls you to serve Him humbly and depending upon Him for continued patience all along the way. There's no debtor's ethic when it comes to salvation. There's simply deliverance that gives us then freedom. Let's keep that in mind as we make the transition to verses four through eight. We asked that second question, what do we hear about from David? Well, just like Genesis 15, verse six was sort of the context for the opening part of the passage. Now in verses seven and eight, you see that it's Psalm 32, verses one and two, that's in view here. And what Paul is going to tell us in verses four through eight is this. that David sang about the exact same thing that Abraham experienced and that we're told about in that narrative. In a nutshell, Paul says that what happened with Abraham accords with David's statement in Psalm 32. Look at chapter 3, verse 21. This gospel that is Verse 21, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. He's bringing the law and the prophets with Genesis and Psalms here to show us that the law and the prophets do indeed bear witness to this justification by faith alone. And if you look at the passage, just a quick overview. In verses four and five, Paul distinguishes between a wage and a gift, an obvious distinction. And he applies that distinction to justification by faith alone. In verse 6, Paul prepares us for the next Old Testament quote that he's going to pull out of his pocket. And he gives us an extended introduction to what he's going to say from Psalm 32, emphasizing in verse 6 that David sings about a tremendous blessing. And then finally, in verses seven and eight, we have the citation itself as that word blessed is highlighted in both of those stanzas, just like it's picked up with that word blessing in verse six. So before we go any further, I want to make sure that we don't lose the personal, experiential, and spiritual emphasis of justification by faith alone. This isn't an academic doctrine. There are theological fine points, and if you read our confessions or the Westminster Standards, you see how things have been formulated very carefully to guard This issue that Christ might be acknowledged in every way possible as our only Savior, and that faith is simply instrumental as a means by which God has ordained that we share in His benefits. But this isn't academic. This is personal. This is experiential. This is spiritual. The gospel announces a blessing, congregation. The gospel announces a gift of God's righteousness to undeserving sinners. The gospel announces a message of grace. Psalm 32 is not a dirge. It's not a funeral song. Is it a confession of sin? Yes. Does it involve repentance? Yes. Psalm 32 is a psalm of joy. It's a psalm of celebration. It's a psalm of gladness. It's a psalm of praise. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count sin. Think of it this way. Boys and girls, young people, By the time David came to write Psalm 32, he had been a believer for a number of years. By the time David came to write Psalm 32, he was already a justified man. So when David sinned against Bathsheba in 2 Samuel chapter 11, That sin that David committed didn't cancel out his justification as though he had lost everything that he had received from God. No, David knew that even though he had sinned and sinned greatly, that God was forgiving to those he justifies. And that God's gifts, once they are given, are not taken back or pulled away or removed. God's gifts are irrevocable. That is the foundation upon which David stands here by singing in Psalm 32. So let that encourage you, congregation, not as a license to sin. Justification is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. I've got my hall pass. I can do whatever I want. I can chew gum in class without the teacher being able to touch me. It's not that. Justification by faith alone and recognizing the permanence of God's promise and the greatness of His gift is that which comes alongside of us when we sin to remind us that we still stand by grace even as we go forward. And so justification addresses our acceptance with God. And the other side of that coin, distinct and yet always related, is sanctification. A life that we are called to live unto the praise of God by seeking to follow His words and His ways. To use that old line that I've said before from Benjamin Keech, we put down works and performance in any point of dependence and we pick up works in every point of performance. We seek zealously and earnestly to serve God, and yet we don't trust in any of that because our hope is in Christ alone. That's the gist of the context here in which David's life comes to have him write Psalm 32. Look at verses four and five taken together. They're in airtight. Waterproof, ironclad argument. Here it is. If you work for something and you earn it, then it's given to you as your due. It's not a gift, but Look how verse five begins. It's what's known as disjunctive, but to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. With God, it's not the case that you earn what you receive. With God, it's the case where those who don't work, but who believe, they are the ones that receive the gift. Now that's clear to understand, right? But it's counterintuitive as well. There's only two religions, congregation. One religion, whatever they might go by in terms of their name, one religion says, you can earn acceptance with God. The other religion says, earning acceptance with God is out of the question. It's simply a gift of grace that comes through faith in Christ, who has done all that needs to be done for anyone to be saved. Let's pause here as we look at verse five. His faith is counted as righteousness at the end of the verse. We need to be careful how we understand that. It's not as though faith itself is reckoned as righteousness because faith is somehow worthy or faith is somehow that which fulfills a lesser command. It's not that faith is really the issue or the object of the reckoning that God makes. No, faith is counted as righteousness Because through faith, we receive Christ, who is our righteousness. In other words, faith is unto righteousness. God justifies us through faith, on account of Christ, as a gift of His grace. Go home this afternoon, look up Lord's Day 23, question 61, and it addresses this exact issue. Belgic Confession articles 22 and 23 address this issue. Philippians chapter 3 verse 9 addresses this issue. It's not faith that's the boast. It's Christ who's the boast, and through faith we are counted as righteous. Here's what Calvin illustrates. It's a beautiful illustration, lively and vivid. Listen to what Calvin says. This is from his Institutes. He says, faith, even though of itself, is of no worth or price can justify us by bringing us to Christ. Just as a pot crammed with money makes a man rich. Do you get the illustration that Calvin uses in the biblical teaching? Faith is an empty vessel that God provides for us. By itself, it's nothing. But that empty vessel of faith is what God fills with the riches of Christ. So that the one who has that God-given faith, the means or instrument of receiving the treasures of the Lord Jesus, is the one who is justified in God's sight. So just like the pot crammed with money isn't what's valuable, it's the money in the pot, so too faith that receives Christ and is counted as righteous. Faith isn't the thing that's valuable, it's Christ through whom Faith receives. In the end, the gospel message isn't do this, that, and the other. In the end, the gospel message is one of done. All has been done by Christ, so believe in Him. Believe in Him and have remission of all your sins and the full reckoning of righteousness in God's sight. And so let me ask this. Do you know that blessedness that Paul writes about in verse six and that David sings about in Psalm 32. Is the gift of forgiving grace and being counted righteous in God's sight, is that yours? Can you raise your right hand, so to speak, and look in the mirror and say, I'm nothing other than an ungodly sinner who has been justified by faith alone, because of Christ alone. Three things we need to remember. The gospel call is one for us to humble ourselves in God's sight, confess our sins, and repent of them. The gospel call is that we flee to Christ, that we might be forgiven of our sins. That is that we believe in Him, to be united to Him, and to participate in Him, And in light of those things, there's that simple call to go and to serve with confidence, to walk in thankfulness, because God has been so great in his mercy to us. We could close things out by looking at verses 7 and 8. This is what Paul's been aiming at since verse 4. He's led us by the hand. He's taken us step by step along the way. David's words are exclamatory. I'm not saying there should be. There could be an exclamation point at the end of these quotations here. Oh, the blessedness of the man. This is something emphatic, something enthusiastic. And so it's not wishful thinking that David is outlining here in Psalm 32. It's not hope against hope. Boy, I really hope there's blessing for the one I'm going to describe. No. What David begins Psalm 32 with is affirmation and it's confession. Those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered are blessed. The one against whom God does not count his sin is blessed. So think about that. Imagine this, forgiveness of your sins as a present and eternal possession. Imagine your sins covered in God's sight. Imagine your sins not held against you ever again. Now listen, everybody look. Your list of wrongdoings and my list of wrongdoings are as long as the eye can see. Right? I've done plenty of nasty things, and so have all of you. And guess what? Not a single one of us can clean ourselves up. Not a single one of us can improve. upon what Christ has done by His perfect life, His sacrificial death, and His victorious resurrection. So what do we do? Well, we personalize Genesis 15 verse 6, don't we? Believe in Christ, and it will be counted as righteous unto you, because He will be your faithful Savior. That's the gospel promise, congregation. It doesn't take a PhD in theology to hear and understand those things. It just takes God's grace giving us ears to hear, a heart to receive, and a will to respond to that call to repentance and faith. Here, congregation, believe, be counted as righteous, and rejoice in your salvation, now and forevermore. Amen. Well, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, O Lord, for your word and pray that you would make it to be a blessing to us. We also give you thanks, O God, that we could welcome Andy and Jen and their family into our congregation this morning. We know they've been around for a little while and are well-known and familiar to many of us. And so we pray for your blessing upon them as a family. We pray for your blessing upon them, Lord, in their work and in their home life and in their school. And pray for your blessing upon them, O God, as they take up the service with us here as members together. And we look forward with that blessing to many years together. So go ahead of us, we pray, Lord, and establish your word in our hearts and lives. And knit us together, we pray, as members of Christ, that we might see ourselves as one body, but we ask it all in His name. Amen. Well, let's turn over to number 388. Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. We'll sing all four stanzas and we'll have stanza three, a cappella. Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself within. Let the water and the blood from my wounded side withdraw. Lead us in the power pure. Save the guilt that made me pure. Lord, my Lord, he lives! Good-night, still, all anchored low! Good-night, tears, forever flow! All for sin, good God is known! Thou not saved, yet Thou alone! Loving in mine and thy brain, Simply to thy cross I cling. Make it crowned to thee for dress, Helpless look to thee for grace. How I to the fountain fly, Watch me, Savior, or I die. When I draw near this freezing breath, When my life is close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown, See beyond my judgment throne, God and angels clamoring, Let me hide myself in Thee. As the deacons come forward to receive the offering this morning, let me remind you that our closing doxology will be number 125, stanzas 1 and 2. And may God bless you as you give. Okay. you ♪ With our God in might to reign ♪ ♪ And in Him see the leaders ♪ ♪ Look at Him in life's reign ♪ ♪ Precious to Thee our offer ♪ ♪ Why then, who did we lack? ♪ ♪ Who great and now to hold on ♪ ♪ With God within? ♪ The God of our salvation, who for his people cares. Our God is near to help us. Our God is strong to save. The Lord alone is able to ransom from the grave. Beloved, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.