Passage: Genesis 15:6
The Big Idea
Abraham believed the Lord, and God counted it to him as righteousness. If you’ve believed, you’ve been justified: declared righteous by the Judge Himself. It’s like owning a castle you didn’t even know about. In Romans 4, Paul shows us how Abraham was justified (not by works, not by ceremony, but by faith) and in the process unpacks the incredible benefits of the justification we’ve been given.
Unclaimed Funds
Every year, billions of dollars in the United States sit unclaimed: forgotten bank accounts, insurance policies and property.
I know every one of us just thought, “I wonder if any of that is mine?” (And if you’re super godly, you thought, “I wonder if any of it belongs to my wife?”)
We’re very interested in knowing what belongs to us, and for good reason. If I don’t know about my stuff, I can’t use it or enjoy it. If I don’t know about it, it’s as if it doesn’t exist for me.
Imagine there’s a castle that belongs to you, but you don’t know about it. (I’ll call my imaginary castle Shawn-din-berg Manor.)
- The law doesn’t care how you got it, whether you earned it, inherited it or received it as a gift.
- The law doesn’t care whether you know about it. It still recognizes you as the owner.
- And the law recognizes your right to take possession of it, use it and enjoy it.
That brings us to our text: Abraham believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).
If you’ve been called by God and truly believed, you’ve been justified. That’s the castle God has given you. It’s yours.
Abram had been called out of the world to God, and the next step was justification. It’s the same for you: those God called, He also justified (Romans 8:30). If God has called you, He will surely justify you. He never calls anyone and expects them to live up to that calling on their own.
So today we’ll explore how wonderful the castle is that you own, and how happy and excited we should be about what we’ve been given.
Why? Because, as Charles Spurgeon observed, many are justified who don’t yet know their happy condition; the blessing of justification hasn’t yet been opened up to them in all its excellence and abundance of privilege. Do you know what these mean: “accepted in the Beloved,” “perfect in Christ Jesus,” “complete in Him”?
Today is like the meeting where you discover you’re the long-lost heir of a billionaire, and someone starts explaining all the riches you now own. Or like opening a new phone and finding that little card listing all the cool features!
What Is Righteousness?
To be counted righteous is to be justified: the Judge declares you not guilty of all charges.
The tricky part is that it’s hard to get a guilty person declared innocent. A righteous judge, even one who loves the guilty defendant, only has a few options:
- Sentence them to death.
- Prove they’re innocent.
- Find a substitute to serve the death sentence, so the guilty can go free.
He can’t just ignore the guilt or let someone off on a technicality. That’s the “problem” of being all-wise and all-good at the same time!
So how did Abram get his righteousness? Turn to Romans 4.
Not by Works (Romans 4:1-4)
Paul asks what Abraham found. If Abraham was justified by works, he’d have something to boast about, but not before God. Scripture says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. To the one who works, wages aren’t counted as grace but as what’s owed.
- Nothing Abraham did or could do made him right before God.
- If he had done something perfect, he’d have something to boast about. In fact, God would boast about him too! God loves to announce when someone lives a perfect life; He’s opened heaven and declared it out loud. But that’s only happened once, with Jesus (Matthew 3:17).
- Abram had no perfect works to boast about.
Didn’t he do some good things? Yes, in a sense. But Isaiah says all of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Anything we try to do can’t earn righteousness, because all our actions are stained by the original rebellion and sin we inherited from Adam.
No matter how hard you try, you can’t turn a Chihuahua into a majestic wolf!
Paul freely confesses that nothing good lives in him, that is, in his flesh; he has the desire to do good, but not the power to carry it out (Romans 7:18). Abram and Paul had this in common: nothing they did in their flesh pleased God. They could join Job, who put his hand over his mouth before God (Job 40:4), and who said that now that his eyes had seen God, he despised himself and repented in dust and ashes (Job 42:5-6).
Our works don’t work. Our efforts don’t remove the stain of guilt that covers every soul.
Benefit #1: You’re free from having to earn forgiveness. It’s grace, not wages. If forgiveness were paid to those who earned it, it couldn’t be called grace or freely given to anyone. You can’t earn a Christmas gift; then it would be Christmas wages! Grace is a gift.
Yet most people, asked how to get to heaven, say, “Be a good person.” Measure up to the standard. What standard? The Law, which speaks so that every mouth is silenced and the whole world held accountable to God (Romans 3:19)?
Not by Ceremony (Romans 4:9-10)
Paul asks whether this blessing is only for the circumcised. Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness, but when? Before or after he was circumcised? Before!
- Abram was clearly justified before he was circumcised.
- The traditions and sacraments of Israel or the church can’t save.
- Baptism is a beautiful step of obedience for a saved person, proclaiming their invisible, spiritual salvation. But by itself it’s worthless. If a random person gets baptized without faith, they just get wet!
- Communion is one of the most spiritually meaningful moments in a believer’s life. But to an unbeliever, it’s just a cracker and some juice (and Paul even warns about taking it carelessly, 1 Corinthians 11:27-30).
God protects His gift of righteousness from being “earned” by faithfully performing a physical ceremony.
Benefit #2: You’re free from having to know exactly the right way to do things. Thomas asked how they could know the way, and Jesus answered that He is the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:5-6). Jesus simplifies everything: “If it’s with Me, it works.” Ceremonies have their place, but they don’t save anyone or magically show that someone is justified.
By Faith (Romans 4:5)
To the one who doesn’t work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
Not by works. Not by performance. By believing. By faith.
That doesn’t mean ignoring our condition! A Christian is fully aware of their desperate need and deep sinfulness. They just trust there’s a God who justifies the ungodly. If you’re ungodly, you meet the requirements to be saved!
Benefit #3: You don’t have to be anything but ungodly to be justified. Jesus said He didn’t come for the healthy, but for the sick (Mark 2:17). In fact, if you don’t admit your ungodliness, you can’t receive His gift of grace. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-10).
“His faith is counted as righteousness.”
- Faith is our access to grace. It’s how we reach out and receive the gift.
- Faith is what we call a heart that believes God’s promises.
- Faith isn’t a work. No one was ever saved by their great faith!
- Faith is humbly accepting good news and standing on it.
Faith is you, sitting in that chair right now. You didn’t know I went around and took the bolts out of one of them! You had perfect faith in that chair, and you didn’t even think about it.
Benefit #4: You’re free from having to figure out exactly what to believe to be saved. Just believe the Person who’s promising! Everything coming out of His mouth is yours. You’ve been given the castle. Take the key by faith and walk in!
Why Does God Do It This Way? (Romans 4:16)
It depends on faith, so that it rests on grace, and the promise is guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring.
This is the only way we could be sure of anything: if we had no part in accomplishing it. Only God is perfectly faithful. So we needed a system where God does everything, and we simply enter in by believing. Just say, “Okay!”
There’s no magic prayer that saves. Here’s a sinner’s prayer: “Help me! Save me! You did what for me? Okay, I’m in!” Even a wordless groan from someone who can barely speak, if it comes from a believing heart, can be that cry.
Benefit #5: You’re free from doubt. When justification and salvation are by faith, you can know for sure whether you have it. Just ask yourself, “Do I believe Jesus died for me, and lives in me?” That’s living faith.
James helps us see the answer more fully by looking at how our faith has changed our actions. He calls it living faith versus dead faith. Works don’t save anyone, but their complete absence can reveal a dead faith (James 2:17-18).
Bonus: You’re free from having to feel saved. You can know you’re saved. If your heart believes, you can say yes when asked whether Jesus is your Savior. Did you get baptized? Great! That can confirm to your own heart that you believe God’s Word. And whenever our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts (1 John 3:20).
Thomas wanted to see and touch. But he had to believe before the Word, the nail-scarred hands or his own eyes could work properly. Ears, eyes and hands are just nerves, and that’s what feelings are. The heart has to believe first, before any of those witnesses mean anything. You might not feel saved, but you’re free from that human requirement!
Contrary to Hope (Romans 4:16-18)
Paul calls Abraham the father of us all, as Scripture says, “I have made you a father of many nations.” Abraham believed God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don’t exist. Against all hope, in hope he believed, so that he became the father of many nations, just as he’d been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
The fact that Abraham’s descendants are a multitude today shows that God keeps His word, and that justification comes by faith. God’s promises are thick and dripping with proof!
Benefit #6: You’re free from blind faith. God’s track record is real.
Benefit #7: You’re free from the impossibility of it all. He says, “You can be saved from sin and justified before God, if you believe Me.”
Peace with God (Romans 5:1)
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Benefit #8: You’re at peace with God!
Picture a courtroom. The judge sits on his throne to pass judgment on a guilty criminal. He reads the list of charges, long and grievous. Then he looks into the criminal’s eyes and is moved with compassion. He pronounces the verdict: guilty. The gavel slams down. The sentence is death.
But then the judge says something more: “Will you trust me to save you from this?” The criminal can hardly understand. But in the softest, most fearful voice, he answers, “Yes.”
The judge smiles, stands, takes off his robe, steps down from his bench, and orders the executioner to carry out the sentence on himself.
The doors open, and the criminal walks out of the courtroom a free man. Justified. Yet now he’s bound by something that will never be broken: love for the very judge who condemned him. Wherever he goes, he tells everyone about the glory, love and grace of the judge who died in his place.
Peace be with you.
Grace Takeaway
If you’ve believed, the castle is already yours: declared righteous, accepted in the Beloved, at peace with God. You didn’t earn it with works or ceremonies, and you can’t lose it by failing to feel it. The Judge stepped down and took your sentence. Take the key of faith, walk in, and enjoy what’s yours.
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