Dr. Cecil A. Fayard - 2001 Sermons
Sunday, April 1, 2001   

1. One is righteousness which man earns. This system goes all the way back to Cain.
   
2. The other is the righteousness that God gives. This plan goes all the way back to Abel.

The difference between Cain and Abel is that one, Cain, sought to earn righteousness; the other, Abel, received it as a gift.

Paul sets forth Abraham as an example of salvation by faith without the works of the law. He did so because:

1. Abraham lived about 2000 years before Paul penned the letter to the Romans. This demonstrates that salvation by faith was not new to the Jews.
   
2. Abraham was the number one Patriarch, first in all ways. He lived more than 600 years before the establishment of the Old Covenant through Moses. He lived before the law was given and could not have been saved by obedience to it.

1. VERSES 1-2, THE PATRIARCH ABRAHAM WAS NOT JUSTIFIED BY HIS WORKS
   1. Verse 1, What did Abraham find according to the flesh? What did he receive by works of religion? What did He get unassisted by God's grace?
      
      1. The answer to all the above is clear. Nothing at all, especially not justification.
         
      2. The majority of the Jews believed Abraham was the most righteous man on earth, and that is why God chose him, and that is why he was justified.
         
         1. Not so! Abraham was a heathen called out of the Ur of the Chaldees.
            
         2. Abraham was reared in a pagan home (Joshua 24:2).
            
         3. According to the flesh, he should have gone to hell. According to the flesh, he found that he could not be saved by works.

   2. Verse 2, If a man can be justified before God by his works, by his human efforts, then he has reason to boast in himself. But that is not salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9).
      
      1. If your good works could save you, then you would have something to boast about.
         
      2. Abraham did not have anything in himself to boast about in the face of God.

2. VERSES 3-5, THE PATRIARCH ABRAHAM WAS JUSTIFIED BY FAITH
   1. Verse 3, Paul is here quoting from Genesis 15:6.
      
      1. Because Abraham believed God and for no other reason, it was reckoned as righteous.
         
         1. In Galatians 3:6-7, Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 and says that: "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham."
            
         2. In Romans 4:1 1, we read that he is the father of all who believe.
            
         3. Because Abraham believed in the coming Messiah, he by faith rejoiced to see Christ (John 8:56).
            
      2. "Was counted" to credit something to another's account. "Abraham believed God," and God credited his account with righteousness.
         
         1. It was not the greatness of Abraham's faith that saved him; it was the greatness of God's grace.
            
         2. If you will, with imperfect faith, reach out to a gracious God, He will save you.

   2. Verse 4, If we could be saved by our works, then salvation would be apart from grace, apart from what Christ did on the cross. Christ death would be in vain.
      
      1. Saving faith is apart from any and all human works.
         
      2. There are several reasons why sinful man cannot save himself:
         
         1. He is unable to reach God's standard of righteousness. God's standard is 100% perfection.
            
         2. His works can never atone for sin.
            
         3. He is dead in sins and must be born again from above.
            
      3. "There is no grace in saving a man if he works for it. It is a debt, a wage, an earning, his right" (Taylor 30).
         
         1. Man has a right to his wages, to what he earns. Man has no right to salvation by works. God is not and will not be in debt to man.
            
         2. Grace is by definition unearned, unmerited favor to the undeserving, a gift.

   3. Verse 5, We must trust in God's Son to be saved. We must have faith in what Christ has done for the sinner.
      
      1. Some say that they have faith in God's goodness, His existence, His power, His sovereignty. The Jews had this kind of faith and were unsaved.
         
      2. The faith that saves is faith in God's Son, faith in the Gospel.
         
      3. God saves the man who does not work for it. He saves the believer.
         
      4. God justifies the ungodly.
         
         1. Abraham was ungodly; he was an idolater (Joshua 24:2).
            
         2. God justifies bad people. You can't get good enough to be saved (I Timothy 1: 1 5).
            
      5. God accounts the ungodly righteous by faith in Christ. The spiritually bankrupt have Christ's righteousness put in their account by believing (II Corinthians 5:21).

3. VERSES 6-8, DAVID- JUSTIFICATION BRINGS BLESSINGS
   1. Verse 6, David, Israel's greatest king, taught that justification is by faith without works.
      
      1. God imputes righteousness apart from works.
         
      2. Here is another good example for the Jews and anyone else that works will not save.

   2. Verses 7-8, Paul quotes from Psalm 32:1-2.
      
      1. The blessed man is the man:
         
         1. To whom God imputes righteousness without works.
            
         2. Whose sins are forgiven and covered by the blood.
            
         3. To whom no more sin will be imputed.
            
      2. "Blessed" means happy. Happy are those who are justified freely by grace.

4. VERSES 9-12, PATRIARCH ABRAHAM WAS NOT JUSTIFIED BY CIRCUMCISION
   1. As we read verses 9-12, we see plainly that Abraham was saved, justified by faith, before his circumcision. "This was a knock-out blow to the Jewish claim of no salvation apart from circumcision. He was justified fourteen years before he was circumcised (Taylor 32).

   2. Verse 9, It was not circumcision but faith that was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

   3. Verse 10, Abraham's faith was accounted for righteousness before he was circumcised.
      
      1. A seal is worthless (circumcision was a seal) unless there is something inside to seal.
         
      2. Many Jews trusted in the seal but had nothing inside.
         
      3. Many today want some outward act to count for righteousness.
         
         1. Baby baptism,
            
         2. Baptismal regeneration,
            
         3. Lord's Supper as a sacrament.

      4. Verses 11-12, Abraham's justification before circumcision puts him in the position of being the father of all believers.
         
         1. There is no salvation for the descendants of Abraham except for those who believe.
            
         2. God does not promise salvation by circumcision. He promises salvation by faith.