What made me think along these lines, is that I turned to my computer to tell me how many times I have preached from this scripture. If I hadn’t already been sitting down, the answer might have floored me. I have never used Romans 4:24 of 25 as my text for a message. That then raised the question: how many times in my 35 years of preaching have I quoted these verses? That is a question for which I don’t have any data in my computer, but do the angels? Does the Lord? Without a doubt the Lord, who knows all things, knows the answer to that question. Whether He ever lets me know, I guess that I’ll find out some day, but it won’t very likely be today.
This is a very important scripture, and I am very surprised that I haven’t preached from it before. I would venture to guess that I have quoted these words 500 times or more. Not only is it theologically significant, but it is rather concise, making it really appropriate for preaching. After holding Abraham up as an example of extraordinary faith, Paul tells us that it is imperative that we have the same kind of faith. That righteousness was imputed unto him was important to Abraham, but it was important to us as well. Because if that man could be justified by faith, then so can we. But it isn’t Abraham’s faith that saves us; it is the righteousness that was graciously given to Abraham. And when we believe God in the same fashion as that man did, we too shall be declared righteous. “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”
Since this is a summary of everything said earlier in this chapter, some of this we’ll keep short and crisp.
There is nothing that any sinner can do to earn his deliverance from the penalty of the law for his sin. If it were possible to obey the law to perfection, this could not remove our sin nature. There is no religious rite, like circumcision, or baptism, or communion which can wash away sin. Even if we could, God would still not permit anything that we might do to make us righteous before Him.
But if we will allow God to do it all, trusting Him for it, salvation is by grace received through faith. Righteousness shall be imputed to us “if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” Paul said that he was anxiously looking forward to preaching the gospel in Rome, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” “The righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” The Lord has taken all the steps necessary “that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” “If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
At this point Paul brings up what is a problem with some people. Faith is a wonderful thing, if it is well-directed; but misplaced faith is the most dangerous thing in eternity. There are billions of people whose faith is in themselves to fix their lives and prepare them for eternity. There are millions of others who are trusting their priests and their religion to take them to Heaven. Paul leaves no room for these errors. Righteousness shall be imputed to us “if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
Out of all the so-called gods in this world there is only one true and living God – Jehovah. That means that there is only one Judge of the quick and the dead. And there is only one who can spare sinners like us from the judgment that we deserve – one Saviour. If our faith is in anything but the Lord, we shall be eternally damned.
Specifically, who is the God in whom we must believe in order to have righteousness imputed unto us? It is the God who “raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” In chapter 10 Paul says essentially the same thing: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And then in Ephesians he prays that his friends would know the Lord more intimately, “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.” Among others, Peter says, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.” The God in whom we must put our trust for this imputed righteousness is Jehovah.
But here, for some people, things get a little confusing. There are multitudes of scriptures which tell us to place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who died on the cross. It is Jesus who gave his life a ransom for many. Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Paul tells us to have faith in GOD as Abraham did, and yet Christ, others, and even Paul in other verses tell us put our faith in the Lord Jesus. Of course, this is not a problem to someone who has even a remote understanding of the Trinity. God the Father and God the Son are one in a very special way. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit always act in complete unison. The Father is just as much our Saviour from sin as the Son is. God, the Father made as great a sacrifice as God the Son has made. The Holy Spirit applies God’s salvation as much as the Son makes that application. So to believe in Christ is essentially the same as to believe on Him who sent Christ into the world.
To whom shall God’s righteousness be imputed? It is imputed to those who believe on him who raised Jesus from the dead.
But God Himself ordained the perfect propitiation (satisfaction) – the Second Person of the God-head Himself would take the place of the sinner. Peter tells us that Jesus Christ was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” to become our substitution in death. There is no doubt in my mind that Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of the death of Christ. And it’s theme is that His death was for others and not himself. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin… He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors…”
Abraham’s faith is important to us as an example, but it was Jesus’ substitutionary death that made it effective. We must believe that “God so loved the world, that he gave (up) his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” He “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” This was the kind of faith that Abraham had, and it is the kind of faith that we must have.
And we must believe that he “was raised again for our justification.” Our Saviour’s death must not be separated from His resurrection. Even though they took place 72 hours apart, they were not really two separate events. The one is meaningless without the other. What would our hope be like if the body of Jesus was still in some dusty tomb, like one of the Egyptian mummies?
In making a survey of the preaching of the Apostles, it becomes obvious that the resurrection of Christ is central to the gospel. I Corinthians 15 – “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” Paul says, “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” And what is it that they should preach? “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
In Ephesians 1 Paul gives us the gospel in a nutshell. “In (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. In (Christ) also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.”
Abraham probably was not given a specific revelation of the death, burial and resurrection of his Saviour. But perhaps I am wrong in thinking this. And yet, he was given a faith in God which included resurrection. Now that Christ has come, and we have been given knowledge of that fact, our faith in Jesus’ resurrection is imperative. We too shall be justified, and to us as well, the Lord’s righteousness shall be imputed, “if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Is that your kind of faith and trust?