I would ask you to turn in your Bibles or listen as I read from the Bible. We are in the book of Romans today, chapter 4, verses 9 through 16. And this chapter is largely about Abraham. And we talked about Abraham last night around the table. And the thing that stands out about Abraham is his faith. And we'll talk about that today, but there are other things in his life that we need to look at, specifically as it's related to this issue of justification by faith. So let's now hear the Word of God, Romans 4, beginning in verse 9. Well, let me let me go back to verse 6 just for a little context I wasn't here last week and so you may have forgotten but Two weeks ago I preached on the first eight verses and beginning in verse 6 and Paul says just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works I Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, that is the Jews, or the uncircumcised also, the Gentiles? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted while he was circumcised? or uncircumcised, not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of the circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect. because the law brings about wrath. For where there is no law, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all to see, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we, I've heard your word with our ears. May we receive it and embrace it now by faith in our hearts and live it out in our lives in Jesus name. Amen. So if you've been with us over the last month or so, you know that in chapter three we began looking at the doctrine of justification by faith. Before that, we looked at length at the doctrine of sin, the sinfulness and guilt and depravity of humanity. But today we're going to learn a little bit more about this doctrine of justification. Well, there are a lot of things in scripture that we A lot of things in scripture we need to learn. One of the ways we learn is repetition. It triggers a phenomenon known, according to some, as long-term potentiation. You don't have to memorize that term. Basically, if something is repeated, our brain interprets it as important. If something is repeated, our brain interprets it as important. And repetition helps to transfer knowledge from our short-term memory to long-term memory. Now, a lot of things, we come to church, we hear a sermon, and maybe that afternoon we can remember some of it. But what about by Friday afternoon? Will you remember what was said? Well, repetition will help. Repetition leads to retention. And so today we're going to study the doctrine of justification once again, specifically the relationship of justification and circumcision in Abraham's life and in anyone's life, and then also the relation of justification to the law. We've talked about that before, but there's more to be said. So first of all, there are three points today. First of all, Abraham and circumcision. Abraham and circumcision. Verses six through eight, as I went back and read from the previous time we were in Romans. Paul was speaking about David. He does interject David in this chapter, but briefly. And he talked about the blessedness of those whose sins were not imputed to them. In other words, the blessedness of those whose sins were forgiven. And then the beginning of our passage today in verse nine, Paul asked a question. Does this blessedness of justification then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? Now he's intentionally addressing the Jewish converts in the church at Rome here, and anywhere, of course. So what he's saying, justification, yes, indeed, is a great blessing, this blessedness that we have, and that's what we need to to stop and pause for just a moment to think about the great blessing, perhaps the single most valuable blessing that we have, it really is the door that opens to all other blessings that we have from God, is to be justified, is to be made right with God, to be forgiven of our sins, to be declared righteous in Christ. It's a gift of God, and it comes through the finished work of Jesus. Jesus paid it all, remember? And so we receive that as a gift of grace. And this is why Paul stresses justification more than any other doctrine in the book of Romans. If Romans is Paul's systematic theology, doctrine of justification is the central doctrine of that work of systematic theology. Paul knows that until a person is justified by faith, that person cannot go forward in faith. It's the beginning step of the Christian life. It's the beginning point of becoming a Christian and then living as a Christian. You have to first put your faith personally in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. And when you trust in him, At that very moment, not a year later, not 10 years later, not 50 years later, but at that very moment, you are fully justified, as fully justified as you'll ever be. God wants you to know, God wants us to know that we are justified. He wants us to know what it means to be justified. He wants to know how we are justified and how we're not justified. He wants those who have put their faith in Jesus to have certainty, to be assured of their justification. He wants us to be so grounded in this doctrine that though we might grow weary of hearing about it, that we would never lose sight of it. So this doctrine of justification is meant to teach us that Jesus alone is the source of our hope, the ground of our hope for this life and for all eternity. And there are advantages to having assurance. Not every Christian has that assurance. I think there are some Christians who truly know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, but they're just not very sure. And there's some who have an assurance, maybe that's a false assurance. They don't really know the Lord, but they just think they do. There's that possibility, too. But God wants you to know the Lord and know that you know it, to have certainty about it. That will enable you to overcome doubt, to have that assurance. It's going to mitigate doubt. It's going to help you overcome the devil. It's absolutely essential for discipleship. You can't learn how to follow Jesus if you don't know Jesus, if you don't know how he saves you. Justification is the A in the ABCs. And so we need to go deep into our understanding of it and not just slight, you know, over it. Now we've learned that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. Abraham lived a long time ago. And we think, well, he never heard of Jesus. But Jesus said this about Abraham. He said, Abraham saw my day and was glad. He didn't see him as clearly as you and I see him. But then again, you and I don't see him as clearly as those who are already in heaven with him. We all see through a glass darkly that we don't see in fullness yet. But Abraham saw Jesus. He saw him in a sense when he was to offer up his son Isaac. And God commanded him to slay Isaac as a sacrifice, the son of promise. And right at the very moment he was going to take the knife and kill his son Isaac, the angel of the Lord stayed his hand, and Abraham saw a ram in the thicket. And he had already said, the Lord, in answer to Isaac's question, where's the sacrifice going to be? God will provide the lamb. And so that's what Abraham was thinking about, probably, and looking at the way God provides a substitute for us. Well, that's faith in Jesus Christ. But the question Paul is getting at here is that, you know, in verse 10, how then was it accounted? How was his faith accounted as righteousness? Was it while he was circumcised or while he was uncircumcised? Circumcision means literally, the meaning of the term is cutting around. So Abraham commanded, I mean, God commanded Abraham to make this sign of the covenant. And to do so, not only for himself, Abraham was circumcised when he was 99 years old. But he said, not only you, but your descendants shall be circumcised. So he commanded him to circumcise all the males of his household, including all male children that would be born in his household when they were eight days old. In Genesis 17, God told him, He said, the person who is uncircumcised, quote, shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. So circumcision was a powerful thing, a sign of the covenant. Dr. Ligon Duncan writes in the Old Testament, to refuse circumcision was to refuse God. To refuse circumcision was to repudiate the covenant community and the promises God had made. It was not a light matter. we heard in Sunday school about Moses and his sons. Moses had neglected to have his son circumcised and God was going to put him to death for it. But his wife intervened and helped Moses out and circumcised their son so that Moses would live. So you can see With that background, how difficult it would have been for the Jews to hear from the lips of the Apostle Paul that essentially the Gentiles can be saved without circumcision. What? How can that be? And so what Paul does, he says, well, let's go back to Abraham and think about this. Father Abraham, the one that you look to as the beginning point of the old covenant people of God. And he brings out this truth that Abraham was justified before he was circumcised. Really, he was a Gentile, you see, at that time. He was originally a Gentile. He was an idol worshiper. And he was justified by faith. before anything like circumcision in particular could take place. Now, many Jews believed in Jesus' day, and throughout probably the history of the Jewish people, that if you have been circumcised, you are automatically saved. And in the early church, as there were many Jewish converts, most of the converts on the day of Pentecost were Jews. And many after that came into the faith who had been Jewish. And that's a good thing. But a group of Jews in the early church known as the Judaizers, it's a term by which we call them, they stressed, they said, well, you know, it's not enough to believe in Jesus. If you're a Gentile, you also need to be circumcised. And again, you can see how they would feel the necessity of that, because it was drummed into them, but they made too much of circumcision. Now we read about this problem in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 15, verse 1 says, certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, this is in the church now, unless you're circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. That's pretty blunt. You see, you can't be saved unless you're circumcised. So the apostles and the elders met together in Jerusalem. They had a council, if you will. And they came together and they considered this, this is a serious thing. And in Acts 15.11, their conclusion was this. We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus, we shall be saved, we Jews shall be saved in the same manner as they, the Gentiles. That it's by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ and that plus nothing else. That's how Jews and Gentiles are saved. It's how you are saved if you're saved through faith alone apart from any sign. Now, in the church today, the debate is not so much about circumcision because we have a new sign that has replaced the old covenant sign of circumcision, and that is baptism. Baptism represents really the same thing, the removal of sin, and it's a mark or a sign of God's covenant. And so baptism is a sign of washing away of sins. But in the church today, There are those who teach the necessity of baptism for salvation. Now, we can see why some people would think that, because baptism, it is important, and you need to know that. Anything I say about baptism today, I don't want you to think that I'm denigrating baptism, or circumcision, for that matter. It is very important, but we have to understand and make distinctions about these things. Certain churches teach that baptism is required, is necessary for your salvation. Now our church does not teach that. We believe it's about faith alone. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that baptism is required for salvation. There are other groups, just to name a few, United Pentecostalism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists hold to the requirement, to the necessity of obedience to the biblical command to be baptized in order to actually appropriate salvation. In other words, you must believe in Jesus, but it's not until you're baptized that you're actually saved. They believe that it's the cause of the new birth. We call it the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. I remember many years ago when I was first introduced to the writings of the Baptist preacher, C.H. Spurgeon, and there was a booklet, probably was a sermon or a tract that he wrote many years ago. It was just titled, Baptismal Regeneration. And I learned a lot from that. We are not regenerated through the act of water baptism. We are regenerated by the act of the Holy Spirit as he regenerates our hearts. I had a conversation once with a pastor of a church of Christ. And so the churches of Christ also teach this doctrine of baptismal regeneration or the necessity of baptism for salvation. And I remember asking him, I said, well, if someone comes to you and asks, what must I do to be saved? What do you tell them? You remember what Paul told the Philippian jailer? First of all, he said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. All right. He didn't add anything to that. But when I asked this Church of Christ pastor, what would you say to the person who asked you, what must I do to be saved? He said, well, I would tell him he has to repent, he has to believe in Jesus, and he has to be baptized by mercy. And I think he added one too many things in this equation. And so he was simply repeating what the church that he preaches in believes. But Paul would stress, and I think it's so, It's very much implied in this passage, even though baptism isn't mentioned here, that just as circumcision was not a requirement as a sign of a covenant for justification, not to Abraham because he wasn't circumcised when he was justified. So baptism cannot be a requirement for salvation today for us. because it's a sign of the covenant and it's not the actual means by which we're saved. Justification is not brought about by circumcision, by baptism, or any other outward ordinance, but it's received by faith only. You know, when Jesus came and taught, he always emphasized the heart. And, you know, these people honor me with their lips, with the outward. but their hearts are far from me." See, the heart is the heart of the matter. The heart, faith from the heart in Jesus Christ alone, that's how justification comes to us. So Abraham, he was saved, he was justified before he ever had the covenant sign of circumcision. It came after he was justified. Now, the ceremony of circumcision, again, was commanded by God. It was a sign and seal. Romans uses both of those terms. A silent seal of the righteousness that comes by faith. It's important in that it pointed to, that circumcision pointed to the grace of God. But it could not justify and did not justify Abraham. It was 14 years he believed and was justified 14 years before he was circumcised. So he wasn't saved by circumcision and neither are you and I saved by baptism. Now if you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are commanded to be baptized. And I would say you're also commanded to have your children baptized. Just as in the old covenant, God told Abraham to have his children, his male children circumcised. So these are commands and they're important, but circumcision didn't save Abraham. Baptism doesn't save you and me. They are signs. Now, a sign is useful, isn't it? A sign points to something. I spoke with another pastor this week, and he says, oh, you're the one on the sign as I come off the interstate every week, you know? And yeah, that's our church, because there's a sign out front that tells you. But if you are traveling to Atlanta after church today, and you wanted to go there, You take it right out of the parking lot. And you'll come on to an exit. And there's two exits. One says Spartanburg, I think, or Greenville. And the other says Atlanta. If you want to go to Atlanta, you follow that sign. Now, that sign will not take you to Atlanta, OK? But it does a good job of pointing you in the right direction. So we are saved by Jesus Christ, period. And yet, these signs point. to that salvation, but they don't give us, they don't bring it to us. God does that through faith. So again, if Abraham wasn't saved by circumcision, why did he have him undergo this procedure at all? What value did it have? Verse 11, he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith he had while uncircumcised. So it was not the ground of salvation, but it was a sign and a seal. And another thing about sign, not only does it point to something else, it symbolizes and pictures and points to something, but it's also a distinguishing mark. The sign of circumcision was clearly a permanent mark, if you will. Baptism marks us out as members of God's church, members of the covenant, and as those who belong to God in Christ. And so that's what baptism does for us. And it's a sign of the new covenant and it identifies us as believers and it has great value as a sign. The problem with many today is that we fail to distinguish between the sign and the thing signified. We have baptism, we have the Lord's Supper, and they are signs, and they represent something. What do they signify? That's what's most important about these things. So baptism doesn't save us. It does a good job of being a sign, but as soon as we trust in that sign, we lose sight of the salvation that it represents. I like what Charles Hodge, great Princeton theologian of yesteryear, comments that what, he says, what answers well as a sign, whether it's baptism or circumcision, is a miserable substitute for the thing signified. You see, if you trust in the sign, you lose what's signified by it. The sign is to help us trust in the Lord and to remind us of what God does for those who do trust in him. He justifies us, he forgives our sins, and so on. So Abraham justified before circumcision. Now his children were circumcised before they were justified. And we have a hard time with that sometimes because you say, well, why would you put the sign on the children because they can't believe yet? Well, here's the thing. Either way, it's not the sign that saves. It is through faith that we're justified. It doesn't matter when you were baptized. whether as an infant or whether as after you believed, because the sign doesn't save you. If you were baptized as an infant, you may not remember that, but you know that you've been baptized. If you've been baptized, there is a powerful statement there that you, as a child or young person, need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ And be saved you will receive what that baptism represents When you trust in jesus, so you need to trust in jesus Don't just say i've been baptized. I must be okay with the lord. No, you need to examine your heart You need to ask the lord jesus into your heart and to be your savior But also according to verse 11 circumcision was a seal What is a seal? In ancient times, important letters and documents were sealed with molten wax and there was the imprint of a signet ring of a ruler on that so that you knew that document had been sent by that person in authority. It's the same thing as we might say the presidential seal today. If you see the presidential seal on a document, then that affirms that it comes from the office of the president. Well, circumcision was the seal of God. It represented his guarantee of the righteousness of faith. And likewise, baptism is also a seal that confirms the truth that it represents, that our sins are washed away, that we are claimed as belonging to God, and that we are saved by his grace. Jesus instituted baptism for the church. Just as God instituted the circumcision in the Old Covenant, Jesus institutes the outward ordinance of baptism. Why? A number of things. Again, to point to the truth that it represents. But he gave it to us to reassure us. It's a tangible way to say, I've been baptized. I know then that by faith, if I have trusted in Jesus, I have been cleansed of sin. It confirms that we belong to Christ. A seal in the ancient times marked out ownership. God's put his seal on you. He says, you're mine. You must believe in me. You must serve me. You belong to me. And you can take comfort in that, that there's responsibility, but there's blessing that comes through that. So it's a tangible promise that marks out those who belong to the Lord by faith, that if we have trusted in him, we have all that he has promised. Moving on now, secondly and more briefly, the last section in Romans 4, Abraham and the law. Acts 15.5 said this, again, that that issue that came up in the early church. Some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed in Jesus rose up saying it's necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. So they didn't want to just add the sign of circumcision, they wanted to add the whole law of Moses that they found in the Old Testament. They wanted to stay in the Old Covenant, in other words. But Paul emphatically states in our passage that it was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise. Now, Abraham was justified before circumcision by 14 years, but it was 400 years until the law was given. So Abraham didn't have the law of Moses, and yet he was justified. You see, you were justified, Abraham and his offspring, it's not through the law, but it's by receiving the promise. Abraham didn't have the law, but he had the promise, and that's all he needed to be saved. Know the way that Abraham or any Jew or any of you can be saved by keeping the law. Yet this is what many Jews believed then and what many believe today. Verse 14, for those who are of the law are heirs. Faith is made void and their promise made of no effect. When he says here, those who are of the law, he's not talking about Jews. He's just talking about anyone who seeks to be justified and accepted by keeping the law. If you try to be justified by your own efforts, you invalidate faith, you invalidate the promise. You don't have justification if you are trying to do it yourself. It's one or the other. If you try to be saved by the law, your own works, you exclude faith in God's promise. You can't have both ways. Now, a lot of people, when you ask them, why should I let you, why should God let you into heaven? Well, I've lived a pretty good life. I've tried to keep the Ten Commandments. You see, someone who says that doesn't understand this from James. James says, well, whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he's guilty of all. We can't keep the law, because God demands perfect, perpetual obedience. And there's only one who did that, and that's Jesus Christ. Reason no one can be saved by keeping the law is found in verse 15, because the law brings about wrath. The law is not given to save you, but it's given to show you that you need to be saved. It's given to show you that you are condemned the sight of the law. We all sin by breaking God's law and so we all deserve the wrath of God. Romans 3 20, we back up to Romans 3, therefore no one to be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law rather through the law we become conscious of sin. So Abraham didn't get saved by law, he didn't even have it. You can't be saved by the law, and you can only be saved by faith, just like Abraham was. Now lastly, just briefly again, consider Abraham and you. What does Abraham have to do with you? He lived a long time ago. You've never seen Abraham, but we hear about him. And verse 16 says, therefore, it is a faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed. This certainty comes to the seed, the descendants of Abraham. Are you a descendant of Abraham? Well, you are if you believe in Jesus. And there's two reasons why Paul stresses this. He says that it might be according to grace. The Bible stresses the grace of God, not merit. Grace, not law. Grace, not works. Grace, not the sacraments. And so God magnifies his grace so that his name alone can be glorified. And then secondly, he says that it might be sure to all the seed. And again, who are the seed? Who are the offspring, the descendants of Abraham? He goes on, not only to those who are of the law. Now he's talking actually about the Jews here. But to those who are of the faith of Abraham. If you have Abraham's faith, who believed God and was credited to him as righteousness, then you have also that righteousness credited to you. It's an amazing heritage to think that we can trace our faith all the way back to Abraham. We'll see him one day in heaven if we know the Lord. And Jesus, you see, is the ultimate seed, the ultimate descendant of Abraham. It's through Christ. And through faith in him that we're fellow heirs with Abraham and Paul put it this way in Galatians 3 29 if you belong to Jesus Christ Then you are Abraham's descendants heirs according to the promise Connect yourself to Christ you're connected to Abraham Father Abraham he had many sons many sons had father Abraham I Am one of them. So are you? if you trust in the Lord Jesus that Abraham trusted. So what about you? Do you have this certainty of salvation? Do you have the assurance? You see, that's why Paul's writing here, that the promise might be sure to all to see. This certainty is not a thing to be, again, to be taken lightly. How can you be certain? Well, if you booked a plane to fly to New York, and you drive up to Greenville, I don't know if this plane is going to take me to New York. Well, just look at your ticket. It'll tell you. Flight, so-and-so, and this is the flight. You get on the plane. You keep looking back at that ticket. Am I on the right plane? Is this going to New York? At this certain time, yes, you reassure yourself when you look at what's written on the ticket. Well, if you want to be certain and reassured that you're going to heaven, look at the promises of God in Scripture. And they're made to you. And they're made so that you can look at those and know that that promise is sure to everyone who believes in Jesus. So put your faith in Jesus and what is written in his word about him. There is no greater assurance than simply taking God at his word and trusting in that promise. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we are so blessed to know these things that we've been looking at today. Perhaps we have questions, we have thoughts, But Lord, would you continue to teach us so that we learn more and more about how great your salvation is? And I pray, Lord, that for each and every person in this room, that there might be a full assurance of salvation. In Jesus name, amen.