Tuesday, October 23rd

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is John 7-8

Today's scripture focus is Romans 5:1-5

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

I appreciated MacArthur's introduction to Chapter 5....

begins in the epistle of the Romans by dealing with the wrath of God against sinful men. And then he offers an escape from the wrath of God. The wrath of God is unfolded in chapter 1, chapter 2, and the first half of chapter 3, and then the escape is unfolded in chapter 3, the second half, and chapter 4. And he says if you believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, simply believing that is by true, genuine saving faith, you are justified or made right with God. There's no works involved, there's no self-effort involved, there's no human enterprise involved, it's a matter of believing what God has done in Christ. Justification by faith, being made right with God by believing in Jesus Christ.

Now, that seems so incredibly simple to the Jew that it would be very difficult for him to handle that. Because, you see, he was basically reared in a works system. It even would seem incredible to a Gentile who was raised with a religion of human achievement, which all false religion is. And to hear that all you need to do is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you can be made right with God forever is more than they could have hoped for. And so the natural question that follows that is that you're going to say to yourself -Well, boy, this seems too simple, too...too...too clear, too easy, there's got to be more than just believing. And so you ask yourself -Is this enough? If all I do is believe, can that really save me? Can that keep me? Will that be enough in the day of judgment when I stand before a holy God and it's time to find out the real issue of eternity, is my faith alone in Jesus Christ going to hold me there? Am I going to survive the judgment? And that is why in chapter 5 Paul speaks to this issue. Because anyone who is newly converted and comes to Christ through faith is going to naturally ask the question -How long is this good for? How do I keep it? Is there anything I do to lose it? Now that I've got it is it mine forever? And that is the reason he approaches the subject in the way that he does. 

Paul affirms the fact that salvation is forever.  We can be absolutely secure in our salvation.  MacArthur then goes on to describe several links in an unbreakable chain that unites us to our Saviour.

First - we are at peace with God (v1).  It's not so much that we are hostile against God (though some people are), but the real issue is that God is hostile against us.  Our holy God is angry about our sin, and is angry with the wicked every single day.
Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day.
But God's wrath was satisfied in the death of Jesus Christ, His anger is satisfied, and because of that we have peace with God.

Second - we stand in grace (v2).  Now grace operates where there is sin. If you don't have any sin then you don't need any grace, right? So, grace operates where there is sin. Now if we stand in grace, then when we sin...what happens? Grace operates. And what does grace do? Forgives our sin because of Christ. And so we are secure then, not only because we've made peace with God and His wrath has been spent on Christ, but because we stand in grace. And grace is God's undeserved favor to sinners.

Third - we are eternally linked with God through the hope of glory (v2b-4). we are secure because God saved us to bring us to glory. There are three tenses to salvation: past, present, future We have been saved. We are being saved. We shall be yet saved. We wait for the full salvation, the redemption of our bodies, the full and ultimate glorification...He has saved us to bring us to glory. Salvation wouldn't even be salvation. You couldn't even call it that if you could lose it. You can't even define it that way because salvation can only be defined as three parts: past, that is we have been saved from the sins of the past; present, we are being saved; future, we shall yet be saved in full glory. And so the hope of glory links us to Christ....we know that tribulation not only does it not take away our salvation, not only does it not weaken us, but rather it produces endurance and endurance produces proven character and proven character has a greater hope. So, Paul is saying we are anchored to the Savior by the promise of ultimate glory and even when we go through trial that just increases our hope of glory because trials produce proven character. And the more spiritual character you have, the more spiritually mature you are. The more confident you are in the hope of ultimate salvation.

Fourth - the possession of love (v5). God has begun a love relationship that stretches through all eternity. We have become the possessors of love.....When you become a Christian, God deposits in you the Holy Spirit and Paul the Apostle calls Him in Ephesians, the earnest, or the arrabon. it means engagement ring. or down payment, or guarantee. In other words, when you become a Christian you're given a guarantee, and that is the guarantee of your ultimate glory, the guarantee of your ultimate salvation, the guarantee of heaven, the guarantee of your perseverance, your security. And that guarantee is none other than the indwelling Holy Spirit given to every Christian. And the Holy Spirit, then produces in us an awareness of the love of God....it speaks of a personal, internal, intimate ministry of God through the Holy Spirit which takes security out of the cognitive area. It takes security out of the mind and plunges into the heart. It is not intellectual. It is emotional. It is not objective so much, it is subjective now. God is assuring our hearts that we belong to Him by pouring out love..... the truth is that God's love for us has been deposited in our hearts by the presence of the Holy Spirit....

Now, at this point I want to say something that I think is very important in understanding this truth. You will forfeit the sense of assurance that comes by the Spirit ministering to you that God loves you, you'll forfeit that if you live in disobedience.  Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit is love     If in your life by disobedience you quench the Spirit, if in your life by unrighteousness, by unconfessed sin, by disobedience you grieve the Spirit, you will cause the Spirit to bear no fruit. You will hinder that operation. And what you will lose is the sense of love....

God's love is not dripped on us one drop at a time, it is profusely poured out. And so our hearts are filled with the sense of His love as the Spirit of God confirms it to us....

The Holy Spirit is the agent by which God works in the life of the believer. He is the gift of God's love...The very fact that the Holy Spirit lives in a believer is in itself a massive testimony to the love of God. Is it not? Would God give you His Spirit if He didn't love you? Would God plant His Spirit. the third member of the trinity, within the life of a believer if He didn't love that believer? The very fact that the Spirit of God is there in residence in your heart is the great testimony of the love of God.

Romans 8:35, 38-39  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?...For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have been justified by faith through grace when we believe.  And when we believe, we have peace with God, we stand in grace, we have the hope of glory and experience God's love for us intimately through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  What an amazing God we serve who would do so much for sinners so unworthy!

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 5:6-8

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: John 9:1-10:21

Monday, October 22nd

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Matthew 18

Today's scripture focus is Romans 4:18-25

¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”¹⁹ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ²² This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” ²³ The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, ²⁴ but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Salvation comes through divine power, not human effort.

That's why the promise had to be fulfilled through Isaac and not Ishmael.  Ishmael was the product of natural human effort.  Isaac was the product of supernatural intervention.  Which makes Ishmael and Isaac the perfect illustrations of salvation.  True salvation cannot be the product of human effort, only divine intervention.

And Paul goes on to describe Abraham's faith.

Abraham hoped against all hope (v18).  He hoped when there was no realistic hope left.  There was no humanly possible way for Abraham and Sarah to have children in their 90's.  It just wasn't possible. And yet Abraham hoped against all hope.  He believed God.

Abraham did not have a weak faith (v19), he had a strong faith (v20).  He believed God even though after 25 years he still did not have a child.  The reason Abraham never lost hope and continued to have strong faith year after year was because he believed two things about God - he believed in the God of creation (He could create a son) and the God of resurrection (should he be required to slay Isaac, God could resurrect him).  His faith was based upon the character of God.

He was not discouraged by his own human, natural weakness (v19).  Yes, Abraham was utterly impotent, but he knew that God is all powerful.

His faith did not waver (v20).  Yes, Abraham had moments where he doubted.  He was not perfect.  But he struggled through those doubts and landed on the side of conviction.  And in fact, that struggling likely only increased his faith.

His faith also gave glory to God (v20).  When Abraham believed God's promise, even though it was utterly outlandish from a human perspective, it was a proclamation of God's faithfulness and gave glory to God.  When we doubt God, we dishonor Him.  When we believe Him, we glorify Him.

He lived in confidence of God's power (v21).  He had no hope in his human resources, but total confidence in God.

And what happens when we have that kind of faith?  God credits His righteousness to us.  MacArthur...
He did not have righteousness, only God had that. But because of his faith, God gave him righteousness and that's how the transaction works. We believe God and it isn't on the merit of our believing but it is that our believing receives the gift He offers. God gave him righteousness. And the therefore indicates consequence. The ground of his justification was his faith. He believed God therefore he was made right with God. 

I love v23.  This whole story was not written down for Abraham's sake or for Paul's sake, or even for the sake of the Romans.  It was written down for our sake.  We, who believe in God, who raised Christ Jesus from the dead, who was the sacrifice for our sins and bore the penalty completely.  We will be made righteous if we believe God.

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 5:1-5

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: John 7-8

Sunday, October 21st

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9:28-62

Today's scripture focus is Romans 4:16-17

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

I love John Piper's explanation of this passage.

God makes faith the only way to receive the righteousness of God and obtain the promise.

The first reason (that we saw yesterday) He does this is that the alternative to faith is trying to obtain justification through the law and since there is no way to possibly do that, it just brings wrath and nullifies the promise of God.

The second reason (today's passage) that faith is the only way to be justified is that faith is in accordance with grace which is important because that's why it's guaranteed. God's grace is the only thing that guarantees the promise that we will be an heir.

Your faith is essential, but the reason it's essential is that it is the only condition of the heart that accords with grace. And God's grace is the deepest foundation of our guarantee....The only way that our eternal future can be guaranteed is if it rests on God's grace. Grace is the free and undeserved work of God to bring his people to glory. Grace is the mighty, omnipotent purpose of God to make sure we get our inheritance. Grace is the ground of our guarantee. And faith is the only condition of the heart that "accords" with that free and undeserved work....

The opposite of faith is working, and the opposite of grace is due (or debt or desert). If you try to work for righteousness instead of trusting God, he says you will get a wage that you are due, and that is not "in accordance with grace," but is the opposite of grace. But if you don't try to work for your righteous standing with God, but trust him who justifies the ungodly, God's righteousness will be credited to you as a gift. That is grace and the only condition of the heart that corresponds to it is faith.

So grace is the purpose of God to give you the righteousness and the promise that you do not deserve. That is why grace is the guarantee of the promise. It overrides our demerit....

What condition of the heart "accords with" this grace? Faith alone. Faith is the restful experience of the work of grace in our lives. If we think of that first act of justifying faith in Christ, we can say faith is to grace what seeing is to light and what hearing is to sound and what waking up is to the alarm clock. Faith corresponds to grace the way tasting sweetness corresponds to honey on the tongue....God's grace actually awakens the faith - the way light awakens sight and sound awakens hearing and honey awakens the taste of sweetness..

The point is this: in order for Abraham to have a guarantee that he would inherit the promise, God must bring life from death and call into being what does not exist. This is sovereign, omnipotent, free grace. He is describing here what he means by the grace that guarantees the promise. Deadness must come to life and non-existence must exist. That is what grace does. Man cannot do this. Man cannot raise the dead. And man cannot create something out of nothing. But God can and God does in order to guarantee the promises for his people. That is the meaning of grace.....

Without the birth of Isaac, the promise to Abraham will have failed. But Isaac does not exist, and humanly cannot exist. His Father is ninety-nine years old. His mother is ninety and barren all her life. Human works and resources have been tried: a concubine named Hagar and a son named Ishmael. But God says, No. The promise will be fulfilled and guaranteed not by my cooperation with your human resources, but by my sovereign grace to do the humanly impossible....

grace is precisely this: it is the work of God to raise spiritually the dead - to do for us what we could never do for ourselves.....

This is faith. This accords with grace that gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. And that sovereign grace guarantees, above all human fickleness and frailty, that you will inherit the world.



Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 4:18-25

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Matthew 18

Saturday, October 20- Pamela

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Matthew 16, Mark 8, Luke 9:18-27

Today's scripture focus is Romans 4:13-15

Romans 4:13-15

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

¹³ It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴ For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵ because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

New Life Version (NLV)

¹³ God promised to give the world to him and to all his family after him. He did not make this promise because Abraham obeyed the Law. He promised to give the world to Abraham because he put his trust in God. This made him right with God. ¹⁴ If those who obey the Law are to get the world, then a person putting his trust in God means nothing. God’s promise to Abraham would be worth nothing. ¹⁵ God’s anger comes on a man when he does not obey the Law. But if there were no Law, then no one could break it.

The Message (MSG)

^13-15 That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God’s decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That’s not a holy promise; that’s a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply apromise—and God’s promise at that—you can’t break it.

I loved reading through the different translations of this verse and so I posted some of my favourites. I think one of the things that stood out for me was that God's promise to Abraham was not based on Abraham's actions but rather on his faith in what God was promising. This reminded me of lyrics from this song:

"Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are"

When God promises something, He follows through. Not because of who we are or what we've done but because of who He is and what He has done. It's all about Him...and not about us. It is, however, for us to accept God and His promises.

This commentary reminds us that we have the choice:

"These verses teach - and the whole Bible teaches - that you have two possible futures in front of you. One is to inherit the world, the other is to inherit wrath. You see in verse 13, "The promise to Abraham or to his descendants [is] that he would be heir of the world . . ." And we know from verses 11 and 12 that the "descendants" of Abraham are not just Jewish people, but all those who have the faith of Abraham. So you may or may not be among that number. It depends on your faith. And we see in verse 15, "The Law brings wrath." If you live under the Law you will inherit wrath....you have two possible futures in front of you. One is to inherit the world, the other is to inherit wrath. Whether you inherit the one or the other hangs on one fundamental thing: the righteousness of God. Has it been credited to your account or does it stand as a witness against you? What makes the difference? The difference is whether you trust Christ to cover your sins and to be God's righteousness for you. So trust him. Trust him. Do it right now. Trust him."

What we deserve is God's wrath, what we receive is based on our decision to accept or reject God's gift of forgiveness. We are unworthy, we are sinners, we don't deserve it and yet God offers it to us freely.

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 4:16-17

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Matt 17; Mark 9; Luke 9:28-62

Friday, October 19th

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Matthew 15; Mark 7.

Today's scripture focus is Romans 4:9-12.

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. ¹⁰ Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! ¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. ¹² And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

The Jews thought and taught that circumcision was what justified Abraham and what justified them.  So, after Paul reminds them that the OT actually teaches salvation through faith and not works, the first thing he's going to have to deal with is the circumcision issue.

Paul reminds them that Abraham was declared righteous by God because he believed, and this declaration was made while he was uncircumcised.  In fact, it was made at least 13 years before Abraham was circumcised.  Abraham was 99 yrs old when when he was circumcised, and Ishmael was circumcised on the same day, when he was 13 yrs old.  But when God declared Abraham righteous Ishmael had not yet been born.  So Abraham lived, justified and declared righteous by God Himself, for at least 13 yrs uncircumcised.  MacArthur makes an interesting point....

You say, "Why did God permit him to wait so long?" I think so that Paul could say this right here ... and end the chaos and the confusion. Circumcision had nothing to do with it. Abraham was made righteous inside the covenant before he was circumcised. Ishmael was circumcised and never was in the covenant. So the circumcision is not even an issue in terms of covenant relationship, in terms of righteousness. And may I extrapolate from that and say no religious rite and no religious ceremony confers any righteousness on anybody ever.

Circumcision doesn't justify you.  Celebrating the Passover doesn't justify you.  Taking communion doesn't justify you.  Being baptized doesn't justify you.

So, what's the point then?  Why did God command Abraham and all his males descendants to be circumcised?

It was a sign.

A sign is never the thing itself, it points to the thing.  For example, if you go on a trip to DisneyWorld and you see a sign for DisneyWorld, you don't stop the van and camp out on the sign thinking you've arrived!  No, the sign is pointing towards your destination.  A sign is not the reality itself, it points to the reality.

Circumcision was a sign.  First, it was a sign of racial identity. God had separated them as a people group and this was the sign that that person was a son of Abraham, a Jew.  Secondly, it was a mark of God's covenant.  Not only had He separated them as a people group, but circumcision pointed to the fact that God was their God, they were the covenant people.

But it's even more than that.  It's a spiritual sign.
It is a seal of the righteousness of Abraham's uncircumcised faith. Every time you see circumcision, you should be reminded that God justified Abraham by faith....Every time you see circumcision occur, let it be a symbol to you that what is occurring on the outside is exactly what God wants to do...where? ... inside. He wants to cut away the sinful covering. He wants to purge. What is the point of circumcision? Yes, it has a racial identification. Yes, it has a covenantal identification. But far more than that Paul says i has as its purpose to be a seal‑‑and by the way, a sign and a seal have a shade of difference, it's not only a sign, it's a seal. A sign points to something, a seal guarantees it. When they put a seal and stamped it, that was a guarantee, that was the authentication, that was the promise that God would fulfill what He said.

And so, circumcision, then, is saying that God wants to circumcise the inside just like you see on the outside. And every time you circumcise a male child, be reminded that that's exactly what God wants to do in the inside is cut away the foreskin of your hearts. And every circumcision is a seal and a guarantee that God will do that for the ready heart.

So, circumcision was laid down by God as the mark borne by every Jewish male to remind them and all the succeeding generations that God desired and was ready to circumcise their hearts.

And, once again, this wasn't anything new!
Deuteronomy 30:6  The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

God always wanted to do that. God always wanted to circumcise the heart. God always wanted to cut away the skin that crowded the heart with sin. God always wanted to purge. And they would have read it in their own Pentateuch. For that was always God's plan and every circumcised child was to be a reminder of that.

Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem
Jeremiah 9:24-26 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—  Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

Wow, I can only imagine the horror of the Jew thinking that they could be punished alongside the uncircumcised Gentile!  But that's exactly what God said He would do to those whose circumcision was only external and not internal.

Taking communion doesn't save us.  It is a sign.  It reminds us that we need to be saved, God wants to save us and He is ready to save us.

Same thing with baptism.  When we are baptized we proclaim unity with Christ in His death and resurrection, but the act of baptism does not save us.  It reminds us again that we need to be saved, and it is an outward expression of an inward reality, of an inward commitment, of faith.

And so was circumcision a sign that God was eager to purge the heart through faith and impute His righteousness by grace. And tragically the Jews had abandoned the reality and they were left only with a disconnected and isolated symbol that meant nothing.

When you turn the sign into the reality you lose grace, you lose faith, you turn it into a works based religion, and it means nothing, and you aren't saved.

The Passover was collective. They all celebrated it together. Circumcision was very individual. Now I see a marvelous parallel there. In the church, we too have two great remembrances. They had the Passover and circumcision. We have communion. That's collective. Baptism, that's individual. And so we have collectively a testimony that God will save. We have individually a testimony that God will save ... just as they did. The Passover sees the saving act as the Lord's Table sees the saving act. Circumcision saw the cleansing of the individual; baptism sees the cleansing of the individual. Marvelous parallels.

No, Abraham was not justified by circumcision.  It simply symbolized on the outside what God wanted to do, what we needed Him to do, on the inside.

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 4:13-15

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  Matthew 16, Mark 8, Luke 9:18-27

Thursday, October 18 ~ Miriam

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is John 6.

Today's scripture focus is  Romans 4:4-8.

⁴ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. ⁶ David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷ “Blessed are those
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
⁸ Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”^[a]

So, basically what Paul is saying here is that when we work, our wages are owed to us.  If we believe that we could earn our way into heaven based on how we act or what we do, we're essentially saying God would OWE us righteousness, or entry into heaven's glory.  God doesn't owe us anything!  We, on the other hand, owe HIM EVERYTHING!  He is the one who justifies us through faith in Jesus Christ.  He is the one who makes us righteous and holy when we accept our own wretchedness and confess that on our own we are vile sinners, no matter how hard we may try to be good.  He is the one that provided us grace and redemption because HE gave us Someone to take our place, to assume our filthy rags, to bear the punishment for our sins.  It's all from Him, so all we do must be for HIM, not for ourselves.  Oh, how easy it is to lose sight of that.  MacArthur says the following:

The word in verse 4 is interesting, katergazomai, the word that talks about working there. It means "to do that which brings results." If we received righteousness because of some work of our own doing, then there would be no grace involved, it would just be meritio ... it would just be like going to work, putting in your eight hours, collecting your check at the end of the week. You don't go to your boss and say, "Hey, I've given a full week, please be gracious and pay me." You don't want grace, you want pay for your works, he's in debt to you. And God is not. God is not. God is in the debt of no man, you can earn no saving wages, God owes you absolutely nothing and that is abundantly clear in the Scripture. Because the intended purpose, you see, of all men and all creation and everything that is, the intended purpose of all of this is to give God what? Glory and if men were redeemed by works, it would violate the intended purpose of the universe. All things are by Him and for Him.

Later on in Romans, I think Paul makes an excellent affirmation of this great truth as he comes to the great benediction at the end of chapter 11 and says: "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever, amen." And as you read the great paean of praise that is the first chapter of Ephesians, you see that everything He does in redemption He does to the praise of His glory, to the praise of His glory, to the praise of His glory. You see in chapter 3 of Ephesians that everything He does through the Holy Spirit's power in the church is that He might be glorified in the church, that everything that is is that God may be glorified. And so, there is no wage paid to man else he steal the glory of God.

And then we have David saying in verses 7-8, "blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered... whose sin the Lord will never count..."  That's not because of us.  Basically, he's saying we all have transgressions and the only people who are blessed are those whose sins Jesus' blood has covered and therefore their sins will not be counted against them.  That can only happen through God's grace and forgiveness, and only through our belief that our sin cannot be removed from us unless we accept the gift of Jesus having taken our just punishment upon himself.  There is no great scale of justice, no weighing of good vs. bad that we've done in our lifetime, nothing we can do that is good enough to cover up or prevent God's noticing the bad.  Only by grace through faith.  Only by grace through faith.  What an amazingly gracious, generous, loving and forgiving God we serve.

Tomorrow's scripture focus:  Romans 4:9-12.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  Matthew 15; Mark 7.

Wednesday, October 17th

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9:1-17

Today's scripture focus is Romans 4:1-3

4 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.”

Paul has just declared to the Jews that you are not saved by works you are saved by faith.

And now he gives them the example of Abraham.  He selects Abraham for his illustration for several reasons.

First of all, Abraham is not only from the OT, he precedes Moses, he even precedes the nation of Israel, so this would demonstrated this truth is timeless and not something new.

Secondly, he selects Abraham because he is the supreme example of faith.  Galatians calls him the father of all who believe.  As MacArthur says... Abraham is not an example of a righteous man whom God chose, he is an example of an unrighteous man whom God chose. He is not an example of a man who earned salvation by his good works, he is an example of a man who received salvation by grace through believing. 

Thirdly, he needed to take theology out of the abstract and make it concrete by giving it flesh and blood.

This whole chapter really focuses on Abraham and the fact that he was justified by faith not works (v1-8), grace not law (v9-17) and divine power not human effort (v18-25)

when Paul attacks the opponents of justification or salvation by faith at the point of Abraham, he is storming the very fortress of Judaism. He is smashing down the walls of their strongest arsenal. Because if Abraham couldn't be justified by works then nobody can be because they said he was the most righteous man of all. And if you can show that Abraham cannot be justified by his works then nobody can.

Secondly, and conversely, if it can be demonstrated that Abraham was justified by faith then everyone must be justified by faith for Abraham is the standard. If Abraham can't glory and boast then nobody can because it must be of grace. So, this is critical.

The rabbis pretty much taught that Abraham was perfect, but they had to do some selective ignoring, highlighting, and twisting of scripture to get there.
For ex. Genesis 26:4-5  I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.” 

But they have it twisted around.  God didn't save Abraham because he was righteous.  Abraham was righteous because God saved him.

Paul simply says, if Abraham was justified by his works then he would have every right to boast about it.  But he wasn't justified by his works, therefore he had nothing to boast about.  And he goes straight to scripture to back up his claim.  OT scripture.  Nothing new, nothing that hadn't been there all along.
Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
How did Abraham gain righteousness?  How did he become right with God?  By believing God.  By faith.

Galatians 3:6-9  Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Galatians 3:26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus

Hebrews 11:8-12 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.  By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.  And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Why did Abraham leave the only land he had ever known?  Because he believed God and acted on faith.  And his faith was patient - he never saw the complete fulfillment of the promise but he still believed God.

Hebrews 11:17-19  By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”  Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead,and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

Why was Abraham willing to kill Isaac, the very fulfillment of the promise?  Because he believed God.  He believed God could raise Isaac from the dead - and he'd never seen a resurrection before.  He believed God.  He acted in faith.

Abraham was not perfect.  Not by a long shot. He brought his family with him instead of leaving them behind as God had instructed, wasting 15 years in Haran along the way, and gaining a heap of trouble because of Lot hanging around.  He looked to the Egyptians for help during the famine, instead of to God. He lied. He committed adultery and produced a nation that became the enemy of the very descendants he was promised.  No, Abraham was far from perfect.  He could never have been acceptable to God on the basis of his works.  Never.

He was acceptable to God because of his faith, because he believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness.  In spite of his imperfection, he recovered from those instances of lack of faith, and continued on in a pattern of believing God. No man can believe God perfectly, but Abraham is a model of believing God even amidst his own imperfection.

And what it's saying is that because he believed God imputed to him, put to his account, a righteousness which Abraham on his own did not possess. That's the whole point. And, beloved, that's what salvation is all about. When you believe God, when you believe the Word of God and the promise of God then God takes a righteousness you don't have and puts it to your account. 

How could God do that?  How could God credit Abraham with a righteousness he did not have?  How can He do that for us?

Isaiah 53:4  Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

do you know why God can credit righteousness to your account? Because He credited your sin to Christ's account. And on the cross Christ paid the price for your sin which then satisfies God's requirement and allows God to credit His righteousness to your account and mine. That's the heart of the Christian faith. God never ever could have credited righteousness to Abraham's account had not Abraham's sin been paid for and it was on the cross of Jesus Christ, though Christ had not yet come into the world, that's no more difficult to understand than that our sin should be credited to Christ who came 2,000 years ago. He is the apex of redemptive history.

So, the believing sinner is justified by righteousness infused into him. Arthur Pink summarizes by saying, "It is called the righteousness of God because He is the appointer, approver and imputer. It is called the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ because He wrought it out and presented it unto God. It is called the righteousness of faith because faith is the apprehender and receiver of it. It is called the righteousness of man because it was paid for him and imputed to him. And all these varied expressions refer to so many aspects of that one perfect obedience unto death which the Savior Performed for His people."

And may I add to Pink's list? Daniel calls it "everlasting righteousness." Daniel 9:24.

Now, that's a thrilling truth. What a joy to a person who's deeply convinced that he's lost, who knows he's a rebel against God, who knows he's a lawbreaker, who knows he's condemned to hell and he knows he can't earn his own way in to discover that he doesn't have to‑‑that God will impute righteousness, God will credit righteousness to his account because his sin has been credited to Christ's account on the cross ... if he but believes. And so, when a sinner is alerted to the holy majesty and unbending justice and sovereign power of God, there is a terrorizing sense of lostness, a great feeling of depravity, the foul character of sin and the inevitable deserved judgment becomes frontal in the mind and the awaken soul cries out for a salvation that he knows he can't earn. He may cry with that text of Micah 6:6 and 7, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Isn't that a great word? What am I going to do? What am I going to offer to God? How many "Hail Mary's" does it take? How many religious rites does it take?

The poor soul may cry with Job 25:4, "How then can a man be justified with God? Or, how can he be clean that is born of woman?"

And then comes this blessed truth. By faith ... by faith righteousness is put to your account. What a great reality. 

God chose Abraham and Abraham responded.  He was made righteous because God chose him and he responded.  We are made righteous when God chooses us and we respond in belief, in faith.  Faith accepts the gift God offers.

I love how MacArthur puts it...  God does not justify the believing person because of the worthiness of his faith but because of the worthiness of the one who is believed in. 

MacArthur even came up with an acrostic to define saving faith.

F is for fact. Saving faith is based on fact.  The fact that Jesus is the Christ according to the OT prophets, that He lived a sinless life and died as payment for our sins, that He was buried and then rose from the dead on the third day and His resurrection body was seen by over 500 people.

A is for agreement. Not only do we have to know the facts, but we have to believe them.

I is for internalization.  Not only do we have to know and believe the facts, we have to internalize them, we have to have a desire to make that belief personal.

T is for trust.  Not only do we have to know the facts, believe the facts, and want to receive it in our own lives - we need to trust.  We need to make a total commitment, repenting of sin, affirming the Lordship of Christ, trusting Him with our lives.  We need to turn away from sin and toward God. We need to drop all we possess in order to receive all He has to give.

H is for hope.  We believe in our eternal destination, but we haven't seen it yet.  We believe with all our heart that we will be able to spend eternity with Jesus in the place He has prepared for us as perfect people without human frailties, but we haven't seen it yet.  We don't trust Him just in the moment (and then bail when things get better or worse), we trust Him for our forever.

that's the kind of faith Abraham had. He believed what God said. He heard what God said, he heard the facts. You go, this is what I'll do. He agreed with those facts. He wanted to appropriate those facts so he entrusted everything to God and he did it in hope because he never saw the fulfillment. But he believed God to his dying day. So, he's a perfect illustration, isn't he, for saving faith.



Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 4:4-8

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: John 6