Faith Leads

There is a technique in writing, known as a simile or comparison or analogy, that allows the writer to describe an unseen or unknown thing using something the reader would certainly have seen or known. I came across these analogies that were sent to the Washington Post for a contest to find the funniest analogy.

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster.
2. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
3. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
4. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
5. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.
6. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
7. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.
8. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
9. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
10. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
11. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
12. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
13. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

The use of similes is a powerful teaching tool and have been used by the wisest teachers throughout history. They are used in order to make the unknown known. The apostle Paul had read many similes throughout scripture and often used them himself in his teaching. Now, Paul was faced with explaining something that has been called the most insurmountable problem in human history: grace.

Romans is a letter about the Gospel of Grace, and today we see that Paul continues to explain grace by helping us understand how we can be made righteous through faith. Today we are going to focus on chapter 4 of Romans. This chapter is an illustration of the truth that Paul shared in Romans 3:28 (HCSB)

"For we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law."

First thing I want you to understand is what this word justified means. We are justified when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. When Jesus forgave me of my sins it was just as if I’d never sinned. I was justified because of His forgiveness. Made clean, new, and fresh. I was therefore made righteous, which means to be right with God. All of this was a result of God’s saving grace.

Paul taught the concepts of righteousness and justification in Chapters 1-3 of Romans. In Chapter 4 he wants to make certain that we understood how followers of Jesus have been justified by faith and not by our own deeds or works. To do this, Paul uses the stories of Abraham and David for comparisons. A sort of simile to our own need for faith. First look at Romans 4:2-5 (HCSB).

"If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to brag about—but not before God. For what does the Scripture say?
Abraham believed God,
and it was credited to him for righteousness.
Now to the one who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness."

Faith Leads to Righteousness

Abraham was known by the Jewish people as the father of their nation, but Abraham was not a Jew. The Jewish nation did not exist yet. Abraham was a Gentile from the land of Chaldea, in modern day Iran. Abraham, known in Chaldea as Abram heard God’s voice one day tell him to get up, take his things, and go to a land that God would show to him. That was all of the instructions God gave.

It took faith for Abram to obey God’s call. Imagine if God asked you today to take everything you owned and start walking to a place that he would reveal to you at some point in the future. If you are anything like me, you would probably ask God, “Should I get some cash for tolls? Will I need a bathing suit or winter clothing? Should I bring the cats with me or would it be better to wait until we get settled and then come back for them?”

Abram had faith that God would reveal all of these details in His time. He simply obeyed. He believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness. He was made right with God because of his faith. It was not because of anything that Abram did, but because of his belief.

Paul also reminded them what the psalmist David had to say about faith. In Romans 4:6-8 (HCSB) Paul quotes from Psalm 32.

"Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the man God credits righteousness to apart from works:
How joyful are those whose lawless acts are forgiven
and whose sins are covered!
How joyful is the man
the Lord will never charge with sin!"

Why does Paul use David as an example here to describe faith apart from works? David was a man of action. David fought lions and bears with a sling while working as a shepherd, he defeated Goliath with his sling while still a boy, and he led armies as a king to defeat the enemies of God. But Paul uses David’s own words to show that it is through faith that we are forgiven of our sins.

Then Paul goes into an explanation of how the actions taken by Abram were done after God had already credited him with righteousness. Specifically, Paul is talking about the act of circumcision which Abram did as part of obedience to God signifying that he and his descendants were being set apart as a peculiar people called by God.

Circumcision was not instituted until 14 years after God called Abram righteous for his faith. The rite of circumcision did not create the faith. The faith was already present. God had already found Abram to be righteous. God set Abram apart from the rest of humanity because of his faith.

Circumcision was the rite that signified Abraham as the first Jew, but Paul shows that it was not the circumcision that set him apart for God, but it was his faith. Paul claims in verses 9-12 of Romans 4 that Abraham was father to all who walk in faith, both the circumcised and the uncircumcised, the Jew and the Gentile. This was an important point for Paul to make because it established the fact that Jews and Gentiles all come to God by their faith. We are all justified by faith.

Faith leads to righteousness, but the actions of both Abraham and David show us something else important about faith.

Faith Leads to Obedience

Abraham did get up and move to a new land. He did accept the rite of circumcision. Look at Hebrews 11:8,9 & 17 (HCSB).

"By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and he was offering his unique son."

Abrahams faith led him to actions of obedience. This obedience is also called works in the Bible. Let’s look at James 2:22,23

"You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected. So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, and he was called God’s friend."

What James means by “by works, faith was perfected” is that through faith Abraham was obedient to God and did works that exemplified his faith. The best example I know of this is through what is often called a faith challenge or trust fall.

Faith leads to righteousness and faith leads to obedience. Faith is the key to grace. In fact, faith is required for us to receive grace.

Faith is Required for Salvation

Look at Romans 4:23-25 (HCSB).

"Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."

We learned a couple weeks ago that grace is a gift from God. In order to receive that gift, we must have faith. We must believe in God who raised Jesus from the dead. We must believe that Jesus took our place on the cross. Faith is required to be justified, to be forgiven. Just as if I’d never sinned.

It is through our faith that we are found right with God, but that faith requires us to act. We must actually take the gift that is offered. We must choose to turn from our sins and turn to God. We must willingly step out of the driver’s seat of our life and let God be the boss. We must “trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” It is through this act of faith in God that we are saved.

Have you done this? If not, take a step of faith today and come talk to me about how you can place your faith and trust in Jesus.