Thank you for taking time to listen to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, pastor of the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia, and author of more than 50 books, each with the purpose of drawing readers closer to Jesus.
Well, Romans is packed with deep theological concepts and foundational principles of Christian theology and thought. Up next, Dr. Youssef helps you grasp what Paul taught about salvation through faith. Please do remember that Leading the Way is a listener-supported media ministry impacting the world with the gospel because of the prayers and generosity of people like you.
You can learn more at 866-626-4356 and by going to ltw.org. Listen with us now, as Dr. Michael Youssef begins his faith-inspiring teaching in Romans chapter 3. Here the Apostle Paul gives us four ways to rightly brag, four ways to rightly be proud of, four ways about our salvation for which we can express absolute pride. In verses 21 to 31 of chapter 3, he said you can brag about God who gave you salvation as a free gift. In verses 1 to 8 of chapter 4, he said you can brag about God's faith, not yours. And thirdly, in verses 9 to 17 of chapter 4, he said you can brag about God's grace, not your works. And finally, verses 18 to 25 of chapter 4, he said you can brag about God's power. You can brag about what God has done for you. Look at, with me please, verses 21 all the way to 31 of chapter 3. Question why is it, why is it okay to brag about what God did?
Why is it, when we talk about pride, why can't you take pride in that? This is how, the best way I can explain this, from the scripture, not from my own understanding. If you're standing on a high-rise building, you say you're up on the 30th, 40th floor of a high-rise building and you're looking down the street, here's a question now. Can you tell the difference between a four-foot seven person and a seven-foot person?
Can you? No, you can't tell the difference because you all look alike. I mean you're just walking, you can't see, you can't distinguish. When God looks at his humanity, when he looks down at his human creation, he sees all people all look alike to him. Nice people, mean people, they look alike.
Rich people, poor people, they look alike. When God looks down, he doesn't see someone in the valley and someone on the mountaintop because it doesn't make any difference whether the person is in the valley or the mountaintop if the goal is to reach the stars, right? I mean, the guy on the top of the mountain, he's gonna jump just as high as the guy in the valley if he wants to reach the stars.
Neither of them can. Neither whether the person in the valley or in the mountain can touch the stars, but the goal is touching the stars. That's salvation. If you want to be saved, it's like a person wants to touch the stars. And the only way for anyone to be saved is to be able to touch the stars.
Hang in there with me, I'm going somewhere with this, okay? We judge people on the basis of their social status. We judge them on the basis of what they've done or how much they've accomplished, how famous they are or what their achievements may be. But as far as God is concerned, the difference between these people is negligible.
It is negligible. A sinner in thought and a sinner indeed are on the same level to God. Therefore, God is the only one who can reach down and take the person's hand whether he's in the valley or he's on the mountaintop and stretch that hand to reach the star. Can I get an amen?
God is the only one who can do that. Look at verse 23. For all, can you say all? Have sinned and fallen short of God's glorious ideal. For all have sinned.
And because it is God who gives us the gift of salvation, because it is God who reaches down and lifts us up. You cannot brag about how high you can jump. In Romans 3 24, he tells us that God's gift of salvation is totally undeserved. It is totally undeserved. You did not do anything to deserve it.
I have cannot do anything in 10 lifetimes to earn it. And that is why I cannot brag about it. How can you brag about something that is given to you?
You have nothing to do with it. How can you brag about it? How can you brag about something that was handed to you? All you did is stretched your hand and took and said, oh, I have deep pride in the fact that I put my hands out. Isn't that wonderful the way I put my hand out there? And isn't it wonderful that I took that gift? No. When it comes to our salvation from sin and judgment, boasting is unthinkable.
Why? Because God did it all. Say it with me. Because God did it all. On the cross, the king pardoned my crime. On the cross, the king adopted me who was spiritually homeless. On the cross, the king gave us his name. On the cross, the king gave us his power. On the cross, the king gave us his wealth. On the cross, the king not only paid my debt, but he gave me untold and unlimited line of credit.
Why? Because the king not only washed my filth, but he dressed me up in the royal garment. Because the king not only broke away my chains, but he seated me down next to him. Therefore, I have nothing to brag about. Nothing to brag about except the cross of Jesus Christ. The right pride is bragging about Jesus.
I was thinking about this all week. I said, Lord, whatever years you've got left for me on this earth, I want to spend them bragging about Jesus. I want to spend them bragging about Jesus more than ever before in my life. Secondly, the right way to brag is about his faith, not yours. There are some people within the evangelical tradition, some evangelical churches, when you hear them talk about faith, you're left with the impression that they're making faith look like works. It's something you did.
When you listen carefully to them, it sounds like works. Faith, beloved, is not something you whip up. I've got to have faith. I've got to have faith. I've got to have faith. Well, you see that. No, because faith is a gift from God.
When you ask for it, he'll give it to you. In fact, the entire fourth chapter of Romans, Paul uses Abraham as an illustration of salvation by faith alone, not works. To be sure, in verses six, seven, and eight of Romans four, he throws in David here for good measure as a person who really said bless the man whose sins are forgiven and not counted against him. But it is Abraham that Paul is focusing on like a laser beam.
Why? Because in the Jewish literature, in the time of Paul, it was filled with how righteous and how wonderful and how good and how faith-filled Abraham was. Most of this literature defined Abraham's faithfulness as a form of good works that God looked down and he saw Abraham, how wonderful he is, and then he chose him.
And Paul wants to disabuse him of this. Most of this literature gives all of the credit to Abraham, not to God. And that is why Paul is focusing really hard on Abraham.
What does it mean? The Jews in the first century believed that Abraham was justified because he was good. You got to understand why he's focusing on this thing and hammering away at it again and again and again. He immediately faces this heretical, this erroneous thinking, erroneous teaching right head on, especially since it wasn't Abraham's perfection that was credited to him. In fact, his faith was about as far from perfect as you get. In Genesis 15, six, it tells us Abraham believed God and was credited to him. It was reckoned to him.
It's not something that he earned, but it's something given to him as a gift, a credit, as righteousness. He was justified by faith before he did any work, good or bad. And so it is with you.
And so it is with me. All that Abraham did, he trusted God. All Abraham did, he took God at his word. And don't ever forget, don't ever forget that Abraham bungled and fumbled and stumbled. Don't ever forget that he lied and he schemed and he tried to help God out and made a mess of things.
Don't forget that. Because God gets all the credit, not Abraham. But God kept on allowing his grace to cover the shortfalls. God kept on allowing his grace to cover the shortfalls. Listen, you must understand, faith is a channel through which God works his redemption. Faith creates a convicted heart and stretches out the hand to receive salvation from his hand. And because faith is a gift from God, there is nothing to brag about except the cross of Christ. You can brag about what God has done. You can brag about God's faith.
Verses 9 to 17 of chapter 4, you can brag about God's grace. You see, during Old Testament times, many rabbis would take something that is meant to be symbolic, that God intended for it to be a symbol, a reminder, a sign. In fact, that's what the word sacrament is. The word sacrament means a sign. There's nothing sacred about a sign.
It's a sign that says, go this way. And so many things in the Bible, in the Old Testament, God intended for it to be only symbolic. But they twisted it and they made it to be necessary for salvation, just like the medieval church. The medieval church was trying to concentrate the power in the hand of the church and in the hand of the priests.
So what did they come up with? They said the priest has the power to actually take this symbolic wine and the symbolic bread and he actually can turn it into the real flesh and blood of Jesus. They took something that is symbolic and they turn it into something necessary for salvation.
And they say it can be saved without going to mass. What did they mean by this? Why did they load people with a list of dos and don'ts and this and that and the other thing?
There were 600 plus items that they had to deal with. And that's why Jesus became angry with them for twisting the word of God. Things were meant and intended by God to be symbolic, to be a reminder, to be a sign.
They turned it into something that is absolutely a burden and necessary for salvation. Look at Romans 4 verses 9 to 17. Paul said Abraham was truly justified in the sight of God years before the symbol of circumcision.
Years. He was justified before circumcision and that's why he drew this pearl and said, you know all the real descendants of Abraham who are saved by faith like Abraham. Not just the physical descendants of Abraham. Circumcision was only meant as an outward symbol. It's a reminder of God's calling for his people. It's a reminder for their privilege of being given the opportunity to know the one true God, the God of heaven and earth. Not only that Abraham was justified before circumcision, but he was justified 600 years before the law was given by Moses.
600 years. He was not justified by the law, he was justified by grace. My beloved friends, the power of salvation is in God's grace alone. Not in man's reaching out and receiving that grace. But many people would love to give the credit to themselves.
They really do and the whole denomination teach. You're the one who did it. No. All I did is I stretched my hand and received the gift. But there's more. Abraham's faith in itself did not make him right with God. It was reckoned to him. It was credited to him. It was deposited in his account.
What does that mean? That Abraham did not earn his salvation, it is God who credited to him. If you work on a job, and that's the argument Paul makes, and you get a check every month or every week or whatever the system you have, you earned that.
You worked for that. That's your wages. But when it is given to you completely free, then it is just credited to you without you having to do anything about it.
When someone gives you credit without collateral, what do you call that? I've heard it from evangelical preachers. God did his part and I did my part.
Really? You mean you equating what you did with what God did? Beloved, that is an error and that is what keeping the church from being absolutely revived.
I'm going to say more about this in a minute. Because Abraham valued that unspeakable gift. Because he valued this incredible grace of God, this unearned merits and favor of God.
Because he valued it so much that when God said to him, offer Isaac the son of promise. He went ahead and ready to do it. He was willing to do it. See God did not let him go through with it. But he was willing to do it.
That's all God was looking for is willingness. He was willing to offer Isaac. I'm sure Abraham said, wow, this is incredible. I'm going to watch the first resurrection in history. That God is going to raise Isaac from the dead.
He's going to have a resurrection. I don't know what or who your Isaac may be. You do.
I do. The question is this. Can you truly trust God who gave you the greatest gift of all? That's a gift that cannot even be compared with anything in this whole world. Can you trust the God who gave you the gift of salvation so that you are willing to offer whatever your Isaac may be on the altar?
You notice I said willing? God doesn't want it. God gave it to you.
God gave you everything. Are you willing to place whatever it is that you're holding onto and you're cherishing so much on the altar? I'm absolutely convinced that if believers in the 21st century would value that gift of salvation enough, if we are truly overwhelmed with gratitude to God for that gift of salvation, if we are truly thankful and grateful of this unspeakable gift of salvation, they would trust God absolutely and fully with all of the Isaacs. Only when we get back to valuing, to cherishing, to treasuring that incredible unspeakable gift.
And when we do that, we will see a revival like we have not seen in modern times. Brag about what God has done. Brag about God's faith. Brag about God's grace. Fourthly, you can brag about God's power, not yours.
Look at verses 18 to 25. I often try to imagine when God changed Abraham, because his name was Abraham, when God changed it to Abraham, which is the father of many. I try to imagine in my mind's eye, and I go back to that time in history, Abraham goes into a business meeting.
I don't know whether they were trading camels or trading goats or whatever they're selling and buying, and he goes to this business meeting, shaking hands, introducing himself. Hello, I'm the father of many. I'm the father of many. Because they all knew what the meaning of the word was. I'm the father of many.
And people would say, oh, this is amazing. How many children do you have? Well, none. Can you imagine the snickering and the laughing behind his back? Can you imagine the gossip and the murmur that went on behind Abraham's back? He's named the father of many.
He has no children. But Abraham kept on trusting God. He kept on trusting in his promises. He kept on trusting in his word. And the times when his trust faltered, and it faltered many times, the time when his faith weakens, the time when he tried to help God out, he gave us a 4,000 year old problem that nobody can solve in the Middle East. I already told you that it wasn't his weak faith that saved Abraham.
No, no, no. It's God's faith that he gave to Abraham, which sustained him. See, Abraham knew that it's not by power nor by might, but by spirit says the Lord. He was hitting 100 and Sarah was hitting 90.
They were ready for a nursing home, not a nursery. But he kept on trusting. He kept on trusting. And remember this, he did not have a Bible. He did not have a Bible study group to go to. He did not have a home group to go to. He did not have a Bible preacher and a Bible teacher.
He had none of that. But Abraham knew enough about God that he gave him that gift of salvation. He gave him that gift of faith that he would keep his word.
He would keep his word. As if to say, I can trust him. I can trust in his power.
I have seen his power. He brought me out of Haran. He took me into Bethel. He saved me in Egypt.
He strengthened me to take on four kings with their armies. He will not let me down. He will work his purposes out. He will not slumber nor sleep.
He will never forsake me nor forget me. He is the God of all the earth. He is the God of justice and he will vindicate me and vindicate his truth in me. No wonder Jesus said in John chapter 8 verse 56, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and he was glad. What God did, he privileged Abraham just as he did with John the Revelator later on. He privileged Abraham to peer into the annals of history down the future. Two thousand years from that time he allowed him to see the future and to see the Messiah coming fulfilling the promises of God. And he rejoiced in seeing that day and by faith he looked forward to it. Listen to me, I'm getting ready to close. The God who has freely given you the gift of salvation, the God who has freely given you the gift of faith, he wants you to trust him fully with all of the Isaacs that he has placed in your hands. Can you truly say I fully trust him?
You can say it with me. I… Local pastor and international Bible teacher Dr. Michael Yousaf with the challenge to trust God who has given you the gift of faith. This is Leading the Way. A small navigator has a great impact in many people's life. It introduces people to Jesus and bless them. Three children in Kalawesi Children's Center got saved and accepted Jesus and even got baptized because they heard about Jesus and listened to the songs in the navigator. From Leading the Way navigator they are able to listen to the audio Bible, sermons and Christian songs, although they have to listen to it in secret so that they are not caught by their family and relatives who still do not know Jesus.
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