Abraham & The Doctrine of Faith Part 1

About this sermon

Introduction: At the end of Romans chapter 3, Paul asks 6 questions. Those 6 questions test our gospel comprehension. Do we really understand how God saves sinners? 1. If you do then there is no room for human boasting. 2. If you do then you understand that there is only one way of salvation for all men because there is only one kind of human being and because there is only one God. 3. If you do then you understand the gospel does not overthrow the law of God, it establishes, it upholds the law of God. When we come to chapter 4, it is time for a test case. Up to this point, there have been doctrinal statements and doctrinal explanations, but it is time to see these truths demonstrated in the life and the experience of someone whom everyone knew to be a man of God. Its one thing to talk about how God saves sinners, its another thing to demonstrate that this is indeed how God saved those whom we know to have been saved. I. THE CHOICE OF ABRAHAM (AND DAVID) Paul’s test case is primarily Abraham. He uses David to illustrate something that was also true of Abraham. So that Abraham is his primary focus and David is a secondary focus. These are not just heroes of the faith. They are two of the greatest figures from Israel’s past, and men crucial to the Jewish nation and its future, especially in terms of promises God made to them. Why? Why does he do this? What will this accomplish? There are at least three things that he accomplished by this choice. 2 A. HE DEMONSTRATES THE OLD TESTAMENT WITNESS TO THE GOSPEL Is Paul’s gospel something strange? Is it foreign to the OT Scriptures? He says no. He says that the Law and the Prophets bear witness to the righteousness of God received through faith in Jesus Christ. ESV Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: And please note, the Law and the Prophets do not simply bear witness to this way of salvation by saying that it would come. As if salvation by grace through faith is something new. The Law and the Prophets bear witness to it by showing that this is how God has ALWAYS saved sinners. That is, Old Testament saints were saved in exactly the same way that God is saving people today. It has always been by grace through faith completely dependent on the finished work of Christ. As Lloyd-Jones says, the administration of it was different in Old Testament times, because the Lamb of God had not yet come. God was witnessing through symbols and ceremonies, and such, but the way of salvation has always been by faith in God’s provision for our sins, His Son. It is true that the Old Testament saints did not have the same amount of revelation from God that we have been blessed to receive, their knowledge of the Messiah was not as clearly formed, but they still understood that salvation would be provided by God, and God’s provision is His Son. Jesus, himself, describes Abraham as having looked forward to His day. ESV John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad." Paul is going to show that if the SCRIPTURES are the test of doctrine, and THEY ARE, then his opponents have to acknowledge the truthfulness of the gospel he is preaching because the Old Testament witnesses to it. B. HE DEMONSTRATES THE NEED FOR GRACE IN THE CASE OF EVERY HUMAN BEING Abraham is a strategic choice because of what the Jews of Paul’s time had done with Abraham. Instead of thinking of Abraham as a trophy of the grace of God, they thought of Abraham as a great testimony of the kind of self-righteousness necessary to save.

Topics

• Faith
• Bible Study