Romans Chapter 4:9-16

There is something in us. We are created to worship God. We're created to have a relationship with God. This part of us that desires to worship God is kind of interesting because, see, if these voids don't get filled, we'll try to fill them with a lot of stuff. So we're created to have this relationship with God. But if you don't have this relationship with God, there's this void. There's something missing.

You are incomplete. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. When it comes to experiencing life, we are going to be incomplete without God's grace. Today, Pastor David points us to that grace as he continues in the book of Romans 4 with his teaching, Faith.

Let's go now to David McGee. Last week we talked about David, and we kind of finished up with Romans 4, verse 8, where it says, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. Not blessed is the man who tries really hard. Blessed is the man who gets everything right. But blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

Good stuff. So now Paul kind of turns back. Paul wrote this book of Romans to the church at Rome before he had been there. So it's an incredible book. Great, great book if you're new in the Lord.

Great, great book if you've been following the Lord closely for 30 years. Verse 9. Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.

How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. So again, the Jewish people are saying, well, no, circumcision has like a monopoly on God.

But Paul here is saying, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. God told Abraham he was righteous in Genesis 15. Well, we might go back to Genesis sometime today, but it was much later that Abraham was circumcised. It's actually 14 years later Abraham was circumcised. 14 years before Abraham was circumcised, God said, you're righteous. You're righteous. Paul's presenting an incredible discussion slash argument or whatever, because it just totally wipes out what we're saved by works. No, you're not saved by words. You're saved by faith. Because if we based our relationship with God on our righteousness, do you understand what that would look like on a day-to-day basis?

There would be some serious ups and downs going on, wouldn't there? But see, grace is steady and steadfast. And God tells us in his word that his mercies are new every morning. Colossians chapter two, verse nine and 10 says, for in Christ, the fullness of God lives in the human body and you are complete through your union with Christ.

He is the Lord over every rule and authority in the universe. You see, there is something in us. We are created to worship God. We're created to have a relationship with God. This part of us that desires to worship God is kind of interesting because see, if these voids don't get filled, we'll try to fill them with a lot of stuff. So we're created to have this relationship with God. But if you don't have this relationship with God, there's this void, there's something missing.

You are incomplete. Verse 11, and he received the sign of a circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also. So circumcision was a sign of what had already occurred before that. If you've got a Christian bumper sticker, that's awesome, that's great. But if you put a Christian bumper sticker on your car before you were born again or before you came to Jesus, it really didn't accomplish anything. What happens usually is you come to the Lord and you ask him to forgive you and then you think, I want a bumper sticker on my car that proclaims my faith. And so anytime I go over 70, I get really convicted. Now you probably didn't say that second part, did you?

A friend up north, he calls this the land of the fishes because almost everybody has a fish on there. And that's cool. That's great. It's proclamation of faith.

But that is a sign that should be after the event. Another thing is that some of us were baptized before we knew Jesus as our savior. Maybe we were sprinkled at birth. That's awesome that your parents felt the dedication to the Lord to do that.

It's an incredible thing. But according to the Bible, it happens after you come to the Lord, after you personally make a decision. I sprinkled at birth, I appreciate that. But at six weeks old, I really hadn't come to Jesus and ask him to forgive me of my sins. While I appreciate the heritage, spiritually speaking, I don't think biblically it fulfilled that. Father Abraham. If you grew up in a denominational church, you probably had that, remember that little song? We got the lyrics. We're not going to sing it, but I'll remind you of the lyrics. That Father Abraham, and many sons, and many sons. Well, I am going to sing it, I guess.

And I'm one of them, and so are you. And let's all praise the Lord. You know, I sang that. I didn't really understand what I was singing.

I just sang because everybody's singing it. And then as I grew in my understanding of the Bible, grew in my understanding of the roots of Christianity, or in fact Jewish, that Paul talks about in this book we're studying, that we've been grafted in, and that we actually are sons of Father Abraham, if you will. In the sense that the Lord said, hey, you know, there's going to be a lot of people that get blessed through you, Abraham.

Now you may think, well, that's all the Jewish people. No, no, no, that's exactly what Paul's dealing with here. You say, no, anybody who has come to faith in God can inherit these blessings, if you will. And not that you don't work to earn something that's already been given you.

Life lesson here? Salvation is not keeping the law, but keeping the faith. Salvation is not keeping the law, but keeping the faith.

When you come to the Lord and you ask him to forgive you of your sins, he does it. He doesn't say, well, you've got this issue and you've got that issue. You need to deal with these things. And after you deal with these things, you can come to me.

After you sort out all your problems, then you can come to me. And why, pastor, why do you say that? Because that's the sense that a lot of people get. They think the church is the place you go when you've got it all figured out. The church is the place you go when you've got life, you've worked through the difficult issues.

No, no, no. Church is a place you go when you're beat up, lost and wandering. That's kind of weird because, you know, churches can turn into something when if somebody walks in that's lost and wandering, it's like, well, who are you? What are you doing here? Didn't see your hands up in worship, boy. You ain't one of us, are you?

This is the place to be if you have questions or you have downs. I intentionally, I'll never beat up on an unbeliever in this place. Because, friend, I want you, I want you to think back to a time if you know the Lord is your Savior. Think back to a time when you didn't and how scary it was going to a church because you never knew what was going to happen. You walked in and you thought, well, this might be interesting and that happens here. Week in and week out, people walk in. They're scared. Last place I went, somebody told me I had to leave. Last place I went, somebody told me I couldn't come in dressed like this.

And on and on and on it goes. Well, the grace of God is a very real thing. Why do we think people need to get squared away with God before they come to church? You need to extend grace to people. Let's look at verse 12.

And the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision but who also walk in the steps of the faith, which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. Steps of faith. Believing God. Trusting God. Not through works, through grace. So Pastor David, you're kind of beating this grace thing to death, aren't you? This is where we are. And we're in the Bible.

We're going to go through this and we're going to take this time because this is a foundational truth that you know what? It doesn't matter if you got saved yesterday or you got saved 30 years ago. You need to be reminded about the grace. And to be honest, just in my personal life, as I've been studying and been teaching on grace, I've just felt a lightness in my spirit.

Just a joy of Lord just being reminded about the grace of God. Pastor David, are you saying that I can just ask the Lord to forgive me, believing that he died for my sins and be forgiven? Absolutely. Not only am I saying that, that's what the Bible teaches. What about being sorry enough?

What a man-made question. What is sorry enough? Sorry enough that you never do anything wrong ever again? Friend, if somebody is coming to the Lord asking him to forgive them of their sins, they're sorry for what's happened. See, that's why occasionally we'll have somebody say, well, should you really lead people in a prayer? Does it really mean anything?

Well, if it doesn't mean anything to them, then no, it doesn't mean anything. But if there's part of them that says, you know what? I want to be forgiven. I want to believe. And they say that prayer with me.

They're forgiven. What about turning away from bad things? It's going to happen. I'm not, I don't have to force it. I don't have to create it.

I can't do it. God can do it. And at that moment, God begins to work. He's no longer beside somebody. At that point, the believing faith, he's now in them.

We'll talk more about the fullness of the Spirit in other places, but they have God in them at that point. Thank you for listening to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. We'll return to David's teaching in just a moment. The tragedy in Benghazi, the bombings in Boston, and the current unrest in Egypt are all vivid accounts of terrorism. Each time an event like this occurs, it often causes us to respond with fear. But it doesn't have to, because God knows your future, and you can too. With David McGee's teaching entitled, Know Your Future, Be Immune to Terrorism, you'll come to understand the realities of radical Islam, while rejoicing in God's promises for your future.

Don't allow fear to consume your life. Instead, find hope with this month's special offer, Know Your Future, Be Immune to Terrorism. Know Your Future is available as a CD or DVD, and is our gift to you when you call today with a donation to Cross the Bridge Ministries. It's because of your continued faithful support that we're able to broadcast across the nation with the life-changing Word of God. To help support Cross the Bridge and receive your CD or DVD copy of Know Your Future, call 877-458-5508, or go online to crossthebridge.com. And now let's return to Pastor David's verse by verse teaching in the book of Romans.

So, verse 13, for the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Maybe this will help add clarity. Imagine the scene. A few years ago, Christmas gifts.

Walk in the living room, yeah, kids are opening stuff, you know. Maybe Ashley gets, I don't know, a keyboard or something. Maybe JD gets something for his guitar, and Ben gets something for his drums or something. And I walk in there and Ashley goes, well, this is a really nice keyboard, Dad.

This is awesome. I'll give you 100 bucks for it. What? I'll give you 100 bucks for it. No, no, honey, I'm giving that to you. Okay, 120. No, honey, I'm giving that to you. That's a gift.

125, and that's my final offer. No, no, honey, that is a gift to you. There you go. Maybe you're sitting there going, well, I've never tried to buy salvation.

He put it a little different spin. Oh, Dad, this is a great keyboard. You know what I'm going to do? I'll go out and mow the yard eight times so I own it. No, honey, you already own it. Okay, I'll mow the yard nine times so I own it. No, honey, it's a gift that I'm giving to you.

You don't have to do anything. It's already yours. At that moment, I would probably be a little frustrated with my daughter, because I'd be like, honey, I'm trying to give you a gift as an expression of my love for you, and you're trying to buy it, and you're trying to earn it, and you can't buy it. You can't earn it. It has to be given to you.

Think of the frustration we cause in the heart of God when we do exactly that with the greatest gift that mankind has ever known. Oh, God, I want to buy it. We can't buy it. I want to earn it. Can't earn it. It's a gift. I want to give it to you.

All you have to do is open it, and it's yours. The grace of God. Verse 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you. Oh, wait a minute. That's a different chapter.

We'll be there in a few months. I was like, golly, where'd that go? Chapter 4, verse 14, for if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of no effect. So if the Jewish people were made heirs through their works, then it's not faith.

It is works. That's why we spent time with David, talking about David. David was declared righteous as soon as he confessed before God with Nathan, not after he'd make sacrifices, not after he made offerings, right then, right there, of sin before the Lord. Nathan said, your sins are put away.

They're put away. Grace indeed does lead to works, and we'll balance this out as we go through the Bible, but it all starts with grace. The law points out the problem. The law points out that we need salvation. A few weeks ago, and even if you're not taking notes, I would encourage you, if you're a follower of Jesus, believer in Jesus, if you don't already have these verses, I would encourage you.

It's called the Roman road. I'm going to give them to you again, to jot them down somewhere in your Bible or carry them with you somewhere. Romans 3, 10, 3, 23, 5, 8, 5, 12, 6, 23, Romans 10, 9, and 10. If you know nothing about the Bible, if you jot these verses down and somebody comes up and says, what's the problem? What's the solution? You can simply read them these verses and lead them to the Lord and pray that prayer with them. So I encourage everybody to have these in your Bible, have these handy. Wouldn't it be a tragedy if tomorrow somebody goes, Hey, what's the spiritual problem?

What's the spiritual solution? And you had sat in here this morning. I'm not writing that down.

It's that day. Ayres through grace were adopted. Verse 15 says, because the law brings about wrath for where there is no law. There is no transgression where there is no law. There is no transgression. A while back, I went over a missions trip, spoke at a Bible college in Germany.

The graduation was really cool. And, uh, minister in some other places down there. And, uh, you know, they have the Autobahn over there, which they're, they're section of it that have, they have speed limits and then there's sections of it that don't.

And, and there's like big, wide roads, 10 lane roads that are just flat for like five miles. The guys are going, yeah, yeah, pastor Dave. And okay. Well, okay. So to be honest, I, you know, I was in this audio, this rental rental car and, and, and, you know, I got, I went kind of fast and, and, but you know, Nora was a little freaked out, but then later on me and a guy from the Bible college, uh, professor teacher, he was in the car beside me, Nora was in the back.

So I could really couldn't see her white knuckles or her face. And so, and, and this guy's going through, this is an audience, the Autobahn God is trying to bless you. So I, I opened it up, I opened it up, you know, it was awesome. I mean, it was again, it wasn't, this is not 40. The roads weren't wet. I mean, it was, I understood why they have high performance vehicles at that point. It was in kilometers. So Nora wasn't really sure how fast we were going. I did the math.

I was fairly impressed. I had never been 147 miles an hour before. There was no law. Now, before you think you should go out and do this on 40, there's a law on 40. Don't you dare go out there. And then when you get pulled, pastor David, he said, it'd be okay.

I'll give you his number. No, there's a law out there. So what does the law tell you? Well, the law tells you it's wrong to go over this certain speed limit.

You know, it's interesting though. Have you ever noticed that whatever the speed limit is, everybody goes like five or 10 miles an hour faster. If the speed limit is 65, most people are going between 70 and 75.

If it's 55, most people are going between 60 and 65. Well, we just like to push the envelope. What's how fast you're supposed to go?

Well, I want to go a little bit faster. Well, what's the law? Well, you know, they won't pull you for less than 10 miles an hour over. I heard. But then you know what happens.

You got your little group. You're going 63 and a 55. Law comes, a state trooper. What happens? Everybody slows down.

All of a sudden 55 seems like a good idea. It's just how to get there without hitting them brakes. There is something in us gang where our hearts want to wander. We want to push the edge. Where's the edge?

I want, I want to push it a little bit further than that. You know, as I go through my life, I don't go around touching every door or every park bench, but you know what? There's a, there's something that can create in me the need to feel like I got to touch every door or every park bench. Wet paint sticking on something. You're like, yeah, doesn't look wet or even more of it says wet paint. Do not touch.

I think it's dry. Oh man. See, when you see that wet paint sign and you want to touch it, something's wrong with you. That's the reality. You want to break the law. You want to bend the law.

You want to push it just right to the edge. And the law points us out. Life lesson here. The law was not given to save us, but that we might know we need saving. The law wasn't given to save us, but that we might know we need saving. We're given the law. Can't say, well, there was no law. No, we were given the law. We know the law.

We know it. And it points out our need for grace, our need for salvation. Verse 16. Therefore it is a faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. So again, it's faith. It's grace.

It's not works. And it's based upon God's faithfulness, upon his faithfulness. Salvation. Here's a little timeline. The father thought it. The son bought it. The spirit taught it. The Bible brought it. Satan fought it. The question is, have you sought it? The father thought it.

The son bought it. The spirit taught it. The Bible brought it. Satan fought it.

The question is, have you sought it? Have you come and said, you know, Jesus, please forgive me of my sins. Now, friend, the roots of this are not simply New Testament. That's what Paul's pointing out.

He's going, you know what? This goes all the way back to Genesis. A lot of times we think, well, you know, everybody got saved by works. No, they didn't in the Hebrew scriptures. Well, everybody got saved through the sacrifice.

No, they didn't. How did they get saved? Through faith, through grace, forgiveness, if you will, on credit. Verse 17, as it is written, I've made you a father of many nations and the presence of God whom he believed, God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. It was an incredible verse.

God called those things which do not exist as though they did. There's an incredible power in our words. An incredible power in our words. Words can devastate people. You know, we had that little thing when you were, you know, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. And I found that wasn't true. Because along the lines, just like yourself, things got said that were very painful.

That hurt. There was a power, there was a, sometimes a viciousness, a negative aspect to these words that people would say. Chances are every one of us has had those said to us and we've said them to others. That's the bad part of the words. But there's another side to saying things that are encouraging. Think about it. Romans 10, 9 and 10 says that we are saved through confession, speaking.

It's important. If somebody ever can say the words to the prayer, they should say it. They should speak them out loud. I'm going to pray them in my heart. The Bible says you're supposed to confess them. You're supposed to say them out loud. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If this was your first time praying that prayer with Pastor David, we would love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Also, if you've been blessed by Cross the Bridge Ministries, would you consider supporting us with a financial gift? When you call with your gift, make sure to ask them about this month's special offer entitled Know Your Future, Be Immune to Terrorism.

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