Romans 4:6-15,
Faith Alone
Romans 4:6-15, “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the
man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works [Psalm 32:1-2], saying,
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this
blessedness then upon the circumcision [Jews] only, or upon the uncircumcision
[Gentiles] also? For we say that faith
was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When he
was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a
seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that
he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised;
that righteousness might also be imputed unto them also: and the father of
circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in
the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet
uncircumcised. For the promise, that he
should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the
law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the
promise made of none effect: because the law worketh wrath: for where no law
is, there is no transgression." (King James Version) I'm going to give this
set of verses in the NIV as well. Romans
4:6-15, (NIV) "David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness
of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
‘Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord
will
never count against him.’
Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the
uncircumcised? We have been saying that
Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it
credited? Was it after he was
circumcised, or before? It was not
after, but before! And he received the
sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he
was still uncircumcised. So then, he is
the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that
righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are
circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father
Abraham had before he was circumcised. It
was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he
would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by
faith. For if those who live by the law
are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings
wrath. And where there is no law there
is no transgression.”
Introduction
"This morning, let's open our Bibles to
the 4th chapter of the book of Romans and we will begin our study in
verse 6 of Romans chapter 4, verse 6. We're sort of in the middle of a thought, and the thought is, the
argument actually is, ‘Look, Abraham, the one that you claim
you want to follow, and the one that you say is your example, he was saved by
this gospel of grace that I've been preaching to you.’ See the common idea was Abraham had been
saved by his goodness, by his works. No
way! He (Paul) established that Abraham
was saved by faith. Now he's saying,
because he knows he's writing to quite a few Jewish people in Rome [i.e. Paul's
writing to Jewish believers within the congregation of the Church of God in
Rome -- i.e. Torah-observant Messianic Jewish believers in Yeshua -- there
were two major divisions or groups of believers in the Roman congregation,
Jewish and Gentile -- and you may notice, if you look for it, Paul is always
addressing these two groups throughout his letter to the "saints in
Rome"], he knows that the Jewish law says out of the mouth of two or three
witnesses shall every testimony be established. And so he brings up another witness from the Old Testament, another
great man from the Old Testament, one of the hero's of Israel, king David. And he says, ‘David was saved by grace too.’ We all know that David was a great king, we
all know that David loved God, we all know that David was a child of God, and
we all know that David sinned. He sinned
big time, didn't he? -- with Bathsheba. But in spite of his sin, God saved him. And David becomes a testimony to the one who
is saved by faith and faith alone. David,
though he was held in great honor by the Jews, was also a man who fell into
great sin, and he was saved by the same great grace that saves you and me. David writes about that in Psalm 32. And the apostle Paul plucks out a couple
verses out of Psalms 32 and quotes them right here. Read with me, just read along with me, verses 6, 7
and 8, he says “Just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the
man whom God reckons righteousness, who credits righteousness, apart from
works. Blessed are those whose lawless
deeds have
been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not
take into account.” You know, the root of Christian
happiness or blessedness, is not, you know, our incomes, not our check books,
not how well our children behave, not how happily we are married, not how wonderfully we are serving the Lord. The root of our happiness in Christ is the
forgiveness of sins. “Blessed is
the person,” he says, “those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have
been covered.” The Scripture says that love will cover a
multitude of sins, and God's grace covers our sins. David knew that first hand, he wrote this
after he had received pardon from God for his sin with Bathsheba. And then in verse 8, “Blessed is the
man whose sin the Lord will never take into account.” God isn't keeping a little book with all your
sins and he's going to review them someday. If you're a Christian, your sins are forgiven by the blood
of Jesus Christ.
Do I Need To Confess My Sins Since They Are Forgiven By Jesus’ Grace?
Do I need to confess my sins, since
they are forgiven by Jesus' grace? Yes,
yes, 1st John 1:8 and 9 says “that if we
confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But
Mark, that was written for unbelievers. No, if you read 1st John, read the letter of 1st John, the whole letter of 1st John is written ‘that
we might believe,’ that ‘we
might know.’ It's written to Christians [and
at the time of writing, probably to the Messianic believers of the latter half
of the 1st century residing in Asia Minor where John lived and
fellowshipped]. Every bit of it is
written to Christians [believers in Jesus, Yeshua]. We'll you say, ‘Why do you have to confess your
sins, if they've already been forgiven?’ The same reason why you want your children to
come and say they're sorry when they misbehave. Is it because you won't forgive them until they say they're sorry? Huh? I
mean, you've already forgiven the little pumpkins, they're already
forgiven. But the point is, now that
they're forgiven in your heart, they need to receive that freshly. They need to be brought into oneness with
you. You know when we spank our
children, little Em, she does something wrong and afterwards, I always hug
her. But I still always ask her to say
she's sorry. I say ‘Are you
sorry?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Ok, you give Daddy a hug.’ Now when she says ‘No!’, well she has not
received my forgiveness yet has she? It's there. It's not going to
make her not my child. And so we don't confess our sins in order to be saved, we're not saved
by the confession of sin, but we confess our sins as Christians in order to
stay in a happy family relationship with the Lord. We will never get kicked out of his family
for not confessing our sins. But we
certainly be miserable if we don't. “He that
covereth his sins shall not prosper.” So, be
careful. I know there's guys, there's a
guy on the radio that's big into telling Christians that they don't need to
confess their sins. I'm sorry, he's got
too much Scripture [going against him] to argue with, he's misinterpreting the
Scripture. In fact, I know we're not in 1st John 1:8-9, but it says in the Greek, “If we continue to confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous
to forgive us.” There's a present continuous
tense. So, don't be deceived. It's important for you to keep the family
relationship with the Lord happy. You
can still be in the family [if you don't], but be under that dark cloud. You know what I mean? And it's your own creation. The Lord's forgiveness is there, it's been
provided, it covers you. You need to receive it. It's already over you, legally. Experientially, you need to receive it. OK? I
know some of you are listening [to this] on the radio, some of you are reading
the books [we put out], and I just think we need to say something about this at
this point.
Did Abraham Have To Go Through The Ceremony Of Circumcision To Get Saved?
Now, moving on, he says ‘OK,
David is another witness.’ David
was saved by grace, because there's no forgiveness for adultery, there's no
sacrifice where he could come and give God for adultery or pre-meditated murder
or coveting. There weren't sacrifices
for that kind of thing. So he had to
throw himself on the mercy of God, and God covered his sin and accepted him
just as he was, and he [David] says, ‘Man am I a happy
guy, praise God, I have received the forgiveness of sins!’ Hey, if you don't have anything else to be
happy about today, and you're a Christian, you can be happy that your sins are
not recorded somewhere on a book or a disk or a floppy someplace, they are
gone, gone, gone! Amen? Verse 9, But, someone might say, ‘Abraham did.’
‘I know you're saying he's saved by grace, and I'm sort of inclined that way,
but Abraham went through the ritual, Abraham went through the ceremony of
circumcision.’ ‘I know you're saying it's grace
through faith alone, but Abraham, he participated in circumcision.’ ‘Maybe you aren't saved until you go through some
ritual.’ [or for
our Messianic Jewish believers, ‘like wearing Tallit’s or Yarmulkes make you holy or
something?’ Paul would ask.] I guess there's
always been people, gang, who've believed in a sort of salvation by ceremony,
you know -- some kind of a ceremony. You
say ‘Don't religious ceremonies, rites, don't they
help you just a little bit maybe, you know? Isn't God a little happier after you're baptized than he was with you
before?’ [maybe,
if that is the means by which you ask Jesus into your life, which was the
customary way of doing it in the early church, cf. Book of Acts] Doesn't God smile a little broader at you
when partake of holy communion than when you
don't? Well, that's not a dumb question,
it's a good question, it's probably on a lot of
minds. It's been on minds for thousands
of years. But the answer can be found
right here, in Romans 4, when we ask the question, "OK, WHEN was
Abraham saved?" Look at verses
9, 10 and onward. "Is
this blessing then upon the circumcised or the uncircumcised also? For we say faith was reckoned to Abraham as
righteousness. How then was it
reckoned? While he was circumcised or
uncircumcised?" Was he
saved before he went through the ceremony, or after? Did he have to go
through the ceremony to get saved, or was he saved and then he went through the
ceremony? Which is it? He [Paul] says, "not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised." OK, we've got
Abraham. Abraham was saved in Genesis
15, he was saved by faith, right? He
believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. So you just hold that, saved by faith. OK, were going to mark that point in
time. Then (from Genesis 15) we're not
quite sure how much time went by. We got
to peg some things down here. I don't
know how much time went by, maybe a year. And then we're told that Abraham, when he was 86 years old, he did a
no-no, his faith really got weak and he listened to his wife, not that that's a
big weakness of faith (I didn't mean that [chuckle]), but her suggestion wasn't
the best. And he fathered a child
through her handmaid, which he shouldn't have done, OK, caused him a lot of
pain, and Sarah as well. [And the whole
Middle east now is really feeling that pain, but
especially in the land of Israel.] But
we know at that point he was 86 years old. Then a period, some say, actually the Jewish commentators say 29 years
went by until he was circumcised. Our
Bible tells us he was circumcised when he was 99 years old. So lets let this
equal thirteen or fourteen years of time in here. Then, according to Galatians 3:15, 17,
somewhere in there, four hundred and thirty years later, the Law was
given. OK? So here's the time line of Abraham's
life. So here was have Abraham, saved by
grace through faith. Right? He's around 86 years old. Thirteen years go by, and then he goes
through the ceremony of circumcision. But he was saved--when? Way back
here, thirteen or fourteen years before. And the Law didn't come for a long time. So what I want you to see is, the question was, Well,
if Abraham was saved by a ceremony, then we should be saved by a ceremony of
some kind. But if he was saved apart
from ceremonies, then that's the way we would be saved too.
Do You Realize Abraham Was Saved As A Gentile?
And so, how was he saved gang? By faith alone. Right, by faith alone. Then later he received circumcision. Why? Why was he circumcised later on? Look at verse 11-12 [of Romans 4] “And he received the
sign of circumcision, a"--what?--"seal of the righteousness of the
faith which he had while uncircumcised, that he might be the father of
all who believe, without being circumcised, that righteousness might be
reckoned to them, and the father of circumcision to those who are not only of
the circumcision, but also who follow in the steps of faith of our father
Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.” [I don't know which translation Pastor Martin
is using, but I think the NIV does a better job with these two verses, so here
is the NIV version.] “And he received
the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith
while he was still uncircumcised. So
then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in
order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised
but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had
before he was circumcised” (NIV) An incredible thing going on here, he's saying, actually he's saying, ‘Do
you guys realize Abraham was saved as a Gentile.’ He really didn't consider Jewry, it really
didn't come into being until after he was saved, God began to give the rituals
and ordinances that separated them as a people from the rest of the earth. [Actually the first time the word “Jew” was
used to denote someone from the tribe of Judah was in one of the books of Kings
or Chronicles. Before then, everyone
from Abraham's descendants from Jacob onward were termed as Israelites, up
until the division of the kingdom at the time of Rehoboam, Solomon's son. In 721BC the northern kingdom, called the
House of Israel, consisting of ten tribes of Israel, was conquered and deported
by the Assyrian Empire. The only group
left was the southern kingdom, made up of the tribe of Judah, Levi and part of
Benjamin. The northern ten tribes called
House of Israel lost their identity, historically. The southern House of Judah came then to be
referred to as Jews.] God saved that man
as a Gentile, he was a pagan from Ur of the Chaldees. Then later he was circumcised. And Paul's saying ‘This is great!’ Because some of you are saying ‘Oh, I can't
be saved because I'm not a Jew.’ And
he's saying, ‘Don't worry, he [Abraham] wasn't a Jew to begin with,
either! But God still saved him.’ But others of you are saying ‘Can I still
be saved, even though I've been circumcised?’ ‘Sure, Abraham was circumcised too.’ He's saying it doesn't matter who you are,
Jew, Greek, Italian, whatever you are, Mexican, whatever, it doesn't
matter. We're all saved the same way,
the Abraham way, by faith alone. So the
circumcision that came later [in Abraham's life] was a sign or a seal of what
had already transpired. OK, a sign, is
something that is not there for its own purpose. A sign's whole purpose is to point to
something else. Right? There is this sign in Cottonwood that drives
me literally banana's. I'll tell you why. It's because,
on this main road in Cottonwood, when you want to turn to go back to Phoenix,
to get to the freeway, you know, there's this great big Smith's Shopping Center
there now. And there is this sign, and
here you are driving along, and we want to turn that way to Phoenix, and the
sign says "Phoenix" and an arrow. And then there's this huge turn, and so I
took this great big turn, and it takes you right into this Smith's parking
lot! It was the dumbest placement of a
sign I've ever seen, because it's not until the next big turn that you get onto
the freeway to Phoenix. And I sat across
from that intersection, and I watched people, all the Tourista's you know, I
watched them turning into Smith's parking lot, and getting, and they go like
this “This is Smith's parking lot!!!” Brilliant piece of advertising for Smith's, I think, don't you? But a very bad sign. But the whole purpose of a sign, if you follow
the sign you'll get to your destination. A sign's purpose is to point to something else. Now a seal is even different from that. A seal is something that guarantees or
protects something. Like, if you ever
get a passport, to get a passport you have to prove who you are. And then the government backs up that claim
with its own seal, and a seal of the United States Government
is put on your passport, sort of put on your picture even, and that way, it is
guaranteeing with the seal of the U.S. that you are who you claim to be, no
matter where you are in the world. We
have seals on food. Right? You can't open anything anymore unless you
have a hatchet. Try to open the bag of
potato chips anymore, you know you used to be able to rip it with your
teeth. Now when you do that your teeth
go flying out, and the bag is still unopened. You have to have some kind of a chainsaw to get the bag open. But the seal is their to protect the
food. We have quality protection, with
the Good Housekeeping seal, oh
wow, if it's got that Good Housekeeping seal on it, it must be best, quality is guaranteed. And then, seals protect, don't they. What do you call that which is around a
window or a door that keeps the cold and hot out?--a seal, a window seal (not
sill, but the seal around the window or door). So it's there, the seal identifies, promises freshness, promises
quality, promises protection, and a seal oft times shows ownership. It acknowledges who built this, who makes
this, they put their seal on it, they're not ashamed
to claim this. Well, how does this
apply? I'll tell you. It applies in that the seals that we have in
the Christian (or Messianic Jewish believer) faith, the signs and seals of the
new covenant, the rites and the ordinances, if you will, the ceremonies we
have, as Christians, are just like circumcision. Circumcision was a sign, a seal of what had
already transpired. The circumcision
didn't save him. The two signs or seals
of the new covenant don't save us. The
two signs of the new covenant
for the church or body of Christ, Messiah, are baptism by water, and the Lord's
Super, or the Holy Communion [or the early Quartodeciman Passover service in
the early Messianic congregations in Asia Minor during the first 3 centuries
AD, as observed in some Sabbatarian churches of God today] or whatever you
prefer to call it. These are two signs, two seals of the
new covenant. They don't save you. Let
me illustrate it this way. This is what
kind of a ring guys? I just took it off
of this hand [left hand], this finger -- what kind of a ring is this? A wedding ring. Now we know, this is a sign, this is a
covenant sign, the covenant of marriage. And we realize, this is a wedding ring. You high school guys, you're about ready to graduate, what would a girl
do if you walked up to her and gave her this kind of ring and said ‘Would you go
out with me?’ She'd run, you know. ‘What are you doing!? That's a wedding ring, you turkey!’ You don't want to give this kind of a ring to
just anybody. If I walked up to one of
you sisters and said ‘Hey, I want you to have this.’ You'd slap me (in love) and say ‘What's the matter with you?!’ ‘That's your wedding ring.’ ‘That's a sign of the covenant you made with
your wife, turkey.’ We know this [ring] is a sign, a
covenant sign. Now does this sign marry
me? No, you could put it on, it doesn't
make you married to my wife. We could
change rings, it doesn't make you married to anybody. It's just a sign, a seal of that covenant
though. In fact, we were married a
couple of years before we were able to wear wedding rings, because the religion
we were in forbade the use of wedding bands. [Pastor Mark used to be a Seventh Day Adventist] That has since changed, now it's legal. This is a sign, and a seal of the covenant
that I have with Leslie. My wedding ring
doesn't make me married, it doesn't keep me married. But it is a sign of a relationship that I
already have with my wife. Like I said,
I didn't have it until we were married two and a half years or so, and we
finally placed them on each other's fingers. And it was right! We should have
done it before. And so, baptism, the
Lord's Supper [the Quartodeciman Passover service for our church of God
Sabbatarian brethren, and yes, they’re precious in God’s eyes too], these
things don't save you, they don't make you Christ's any more than any other
seal or sign makes you saved, or makes you married or any other thing. [I might add here, what really makes you
saved, is when, at the moment you ask Jesus into your life, what makes you
saved is his direct response, action, by divine fiat, his placing of the Holy
Spirit within you. It's an action God takes, after you ask him to. Cf. Romans 8:9,15-16.] The two covenant signs of the new covenant,
water baptism and the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion, have no merits in
themselves. They're just a sign, like
this wedding ring is just a ring. It's
just a ring. But it symbolizes something
else. So remember that when you think of
marriage and rings, remember what Billy Graham said. Billy Graham said “There are three rings in
marriage. First” he said, “there
is the engagement ring. Then” he said, “there is the wedding ring.” And finally, Billy Graham said, “there
is suffe-ring.” That's what he said [laughter],
he said those are the three rings of marriage. Anyway, he is one of my hero's, so, he said it, it's true. I had you going, didn't I? OK, the personal application of what we're
gleaning now from Romans 4 is, you're not saved, any one of you, by any rite,
ritual or ceremony that you've gone through. The three C's don't save you, Communion, Confession and Confirmation,
they don't save you. Your well intentioned parents
who had you baptized as an infant, they didn't save you. Or later on as an adult when you were
baptized by immersion, you were not saved, I'm sorry that didn't save you. [Some churches use the custom of baptizing
and the laying on of hands as their way for individuals to call on the Lord to
enter their lives and receive the Holy Spirit, following the example of the
early church, and I know of a whole denomination of real believers who have
accepted the Lord into their lives in this manner-instead and in place of using
the altar call, so when baptism and the laying on of hands
is used in this manner as a method of calling on the name of the Lord, the Lord can and does honor this request
and come into these people's lives. I've
seen the fruit, so I know it's true. Just thought I'd point this out. But in general, Pastor J. Mark Martin is correct. In my personal opinion, though, this group of
people who have come to the Lord this way, in many cases had already had the
Holy Spirit come into them before their baptism, simply because their lives and
attitudes demonstrated this -- much in the same way that God may already be
working in the lives of those who end up in an altar call. (seehttps://unityinchrist.com/baptism/What%20is%20Baptism.htm )] Those things are signs, they are symbols, they are seals of being in Christ. But they don't make you Christ's. You see, all they can do is attest to the
fact that there is a previously existing relationship there. Just like this wedding band just says, ‘yes, there
is a relationship between Mark and Leslie, there is a marriage, a oneness there.’ It
didn't make it, but it attests to that fact. So, baptism, it doesn't save you. Baptism is a righteous thing to do though. Being baptized as a believer is a righteous
thing to do, it's an obedient thing to do. Jesus said “Be baptized.” Taking the Lord's Supper is a righteous thing
to do, you should partake of the Lord's Supper as frequently as you can. But there is no merit in doing
it. There's no brownie points in doing
it. ‘Oh, I've kept track, I've got a
score in the back of my Bible, every time I took Communion.’ Why? There's no righteousness in it. It's a righteous thing to do, but it can't save you. [Same with Holy Day and Sabbath observance
for all those that are Torah observant Messianic Jewish or Sabbatarian, it's a
righteous and good thing to do, scheduling all that time on the Lord's
appointed Holy days, to spend with the Lord, worshipping him. But all that is not going to save you. It is Jesus, Yeshua, and his sacrifice that
saves you.] 'Are you sure?' Yes, I'm sure. Look at Titus, keep your finger or a bookmark
in Romans 4, go to Titus, go to the right to Titus
chapter 3. Look what he says, it's so
clear here. I've had people call me
down, because they say, 'Mark, you should be teaching people that baptism saves
them, they need to be saved, they've got to believe and be baptized.' No that's like saying Abraham needed to
believe and be circumcised to be saved. When was Abraham saved, gang? Right there! It wasn't until
years later that he went through [circumcision], put the wedding ring on, he
went through the rite, the ceremony, the ritual. It was a righteous thing to do, but it didn't
save him. He was saved a decade and a
half before.
Being Saved Is Something God Does When He Places His Holy Spirit Within You
Look at what he says in verse 4, Titus 3:4, “But
when the kindness of God our Saviour, and his love for mankind appeared, he
saved us not on the basis of deeds which we've done in
righteousness.” “He saved us” -- what's the next word?
-- “not on the basis of deeds which we've done in
righteousness.” Is baptism a righteous
deed? You'd better believe it is. ‘No it's not, Mark. That's not what it's talking about?’ OK, what is baptism then, is it an
unrighteous deed? You see what I
mean? It's a righteous deed. But it doesn't save you. It's a sign. But you are already Christ's, it's a symbol
that you already belong to him. But it
doesn't make you Christ's. Of course,
the same is true of the Lord's Supper. “not on the basis
of deeds which we've done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the
washing of regeneration.” [you might be
saying] ‘Aah, ah, washing, that's baptism.’ I've had people say that to me. No, read on, that a problem [with people]
today, nobody reads context. “by the washing of regeneration” -- and what? -- “renewing by
the Holy Spirit.” Listen, if it was dirt on the
outside that made you a sinner, then that water in that baptistery can save you. [Technically, in a very real spiritual sense, being saved is something God does when he places his Holy
Spirit within you, Romans 8:9-16. Whatever means you use to ask the Lord into your life, where the Lord
honors that request by doing so, saves you. Some older Sabbatarian branches of the body of Christ actually use
baptism and the laying on of hands as the early Christian church did in the
book of Acts, as their way of requesting the Lord to place his Holy Spirit within
them. But baptism is an outward
sign. People can also use the altar call
as an outward sign, and when their altar call request of the Lord is not
sincere, it no more saves you than baptism or taking the Lord's Supper. You must come to understand the point Pastor
J. Mark Martin is making. It is actually
the Lord who saves you by placing the Holy Spirit within you. That is a God-action, taken in response to a
sincere request being made of him by a person.] If it was a dirty face that needed to be washed, then baptismal waters
could save you. That could be a washing
that could save you. But where's the
dirtiness, gang? It's on the inside. Right? We got an inside problem, and no outward cure is going to take it
away. You can dunk 'em until you drown
'em, and you're not going to clean their sin out of their lives, you're not
going to give them a new nature. That's
a work by the renewing, by the washing of regeneration, the
new birth, what the Holy Spirit does--he changes you from the inside. And you can still have a dirty face on the
outside, while the Holy Spirit could have made you a brand new person on the
inside. You know what I'm saying? So don't let anybody deceive you. Don't let anybody lead you down that prickly
path of telling you that you have to go through any rite, through any ceremony,
any ordinance, any anything to be saved. It's by grace. Abraham was saved
before anything had been done to him, because he believed God's word and God's
promise. Hey, then the stuff began to
happen in his life. OK, well what about
the Law. Four hundred and thirty years
later the Law came. We'll it's obvious the Law couldn't save you, it came four hundred
and thirty years after Abraham was saved. He couldn't be saved by Law because the Law hadn't even been given
yet. So that's absurd, thinking that Law
could save you, because the Law was a late Johnny-come-lately addition [the
Jews tend to disagree, seeing Abel was having sacrifices, and Abraham was
thought to be observing the Days of Unleavened Bread in Genesis 18, so there is
some justifiable disagreement over that thought, but yes, the actual old
covenant ratification of the Law, making it binding upon the physical nation of
Israel was not until 430 years later]. No, it's faith alone, faith alone that saves
[which is true, regardless of the pre-existence of the Law or not].
Let’s Trust God!
You say ‘Well that's great Mark, that's
wonderful Mark. But I've been saved
awhile, and this is all elementary to me. I've grown beyond this.’ Then
why don't you grow into it. I'm
amazed at the mature Christians that, Oh, they know this, but they're not
trusting God. Hey, as I read this as a
Christian, and let's take for granted, which I probably shouldn't, most of you
are Christians today. About the time I
do that [say that], 500 people give their lives to Christ, or something you
know. Well, let's say we're all
Christians, and we all know that we are saved by grace apart from anything we
do. Then why isn't it changing our
lives? I look at it this way, if God
could take care of that kind of a problem in my life, my huge billion dollar
problem, then can't I trust him to take care of a nickel and dime problem? But what do we do, we worry about these things. We act like God hasn't done anything for us
in the past, we act like ‘Well, it's all up to us.’ The whole message is it's all been up to
him. All we did was respond. My point is, LET'S TRUST GOD. If you trust him for your salvation, why
aren't you trusting him for your living, for you life, for your health, for your future,
for your children? Why? See, apply this. If you're resting in God for salvation, why
do you divorce the rest of your life from that? Why don't you rest in the same God for everything else? ‘Easier said than done, Mark.’ Well, I know it. What do you think I am, a spiritual
giant? I know exactly, I probably worry
more than any of you. I got more to
worry about than any of you [because he probably worries about all of
you]. But you know what? I've learned, and what I am in the process of
learning now, this is so neat. I'll just
share my heart here at the end. I'm
learning, you know, all my worrying didn't help God out any. Did you realize that? That dawned on me one day. I didn't help God out, it didn't help it get
done. It's like the person who's never
flown in an airplane before and they're so scared, you know, so they never
really sat in the chair, they're always just sort of, don't want to put their
whole weight on that seat, you know, because it might be too much for the
airplane. How stupid. You know, the plane is in the air, your feet
are on the plane's floor, oh well, forget it. But that's, the Lord looks at us and says ‘What's the matter with you
turkeys? You're afraid to trust me?’ I mean it would be as if some guy, let's say
you got in debt unthinkably, a million dollars into debt. I can't even comprehend a million
dollars. Let's just say $50,000 in debt. Maybe I could relate to that. OK, $50,000 in debt, and some nice guy, some
very, very wealthy guy, I mean he's got bucks to burn. He comes and says, ‘I'm
just a nice guy and I want to help you out. Here's a check for $50,000.’ And
then he says, ‘If you have any other problems, call me.’ ‘Oh thank you, oh, thank you.’ And then you write hymns about the man who
came and paid your debt [chuckle], and you believe in him, you've accepted his
gift. Yes, your debt is paid, oh
glory. But ‘Oh, no, no this summer your
utility bill is here, O my God, help, help, help.’ He told you, ‘Hey, if you have a need, call
me.’ He said, ‘Call
me.’ You see, the whole point was, if you could
trust him to pay the $50,000, you could trust him to pay the $200 or whatever
your summer utility might be. Trust him! And I'm learning. This is what I've learned. I thought, I mean I went through, I was a
basket case, couldn't sleep, crying, worrying, biting my fingernails. You know the whole
deal. ‘I don't know how I'm gonna
help God get through this one?’ you know. But he got
through it. After I had passed out we woke
up on the other side [of his situation] and we were safe. God did it. So the next time, this is what, this is where I'm at right now. (Now watch it be tested next week, I don't
know.) I've just decided, look, I really
don't help you out when I think I'm helping you out. And I'm facing some major deals right now,
ok? Just heart to heart, big deals. And I don't know how it's going to work out,
I have no idea what's going to happen. And believe me, I'm the kind of person where this could really be
bugging me and bumming me out and depressing me, etc. But you know what? I've decided, I'm not worrying about it. Tough. Now I do wonder, once in a while, whether I've lost my mind, because
it's not like me, you know. Stick out my
tongue in the mirror, ‘What's the matter?’ But I've just figured, ‘This
is your problem, not mine. I'm your kid,
you got to take care of me. You birthed
me, you conceived me, by the Holy Spirit -- right? -- I'm yours. Feed me! Take care of me, Daddy! I'm your
kid.’ I mean, when my kids wake up in the morning,
they didn't lose sleep the night before, wondering ‘What were they going to eat
for breakfast?’ Or, ‘Oh, I'm growing out of my
shoes, what I'm I going to wear for shoes, I can't
sleep tonight.’ They don't go to sleep when
you're potty training them, worried. They
just got to bed and if it happens, it happens, they wake up and they come and
get you, don't they, you clean up the mess [laughter]. These earthly illustrations, but I think we
can relate to them. Right? Jesus said, ‘Be like a child, enter the
kingdom of heaven like a kid. Trust me.’ I want you to look at one last verse, I think
it's basically the last verse, really. This is for sure the last verse. Matthew
chapter 6, verse 25. If you can
trust him to save you eternally, to pay your debt, to justify you, to credit
righteousness to you, then why don't you trust him for today, for tomorrow, for
the next day? “For
this reason I say to you” -- read the next four words with me -- “do
not be anxious.” Verse 31, read it with
me. “Do not be anxious...” Verse 34, read it with me, “Therefore, do not be anxious.” Who's talking? Jesus, Yeshua. Interesting, his
emphasis, ‘Don't worry. Relax. I'm on the throne.’ ‘You never helped me out before, you're not
gonna help me out now.’ ‘Relax. I'm in control.’ I mean, when everything was going terribly,
and Peter thought, ‘Oh it's curtains, they're arresting the
Lord! I'd better help him out!’ It's interesting, how the Lord had already
shown he was in control. They'd come to
the garden, and he said “Who are you seeking?” and they said “Jesus
of Nazareth.” And he said “I
AM.” Boomed, they fell down, they were stricken
down, flat on their backs. Who's in
control? He is. They got back up on their feet, brushed
themselves off. Jesus said again “Who
are you looking for?” “(Brace
yourselves men,) Jesus of Nazareth.” “I
told you, I am he, take me and let these others go.” Ok they took him, roughed him up, tied him up,
but who was in absolute control? He
was. The disciples were freaked out, ran
for their lives. But who was in control
the whole time? Jesus! And not one of his true disciples lost a
thing, except trust in themselves, except their doubts, except their fears,
that's all they lost through that experience of three days. Resurrection morning [technically, it was
late Saturday afternoon when Yeshua was resurrected] they saw him. You know he was in control at the beginning
of this thing, and he's in control at the end-I guess he was in control the
whole time. “For this reason I say to you”
verse 25, “don't be anxious about your life, or what you shall eat, or what you
shall drink, or for your body or what you shall put on. Is not life more than food or the body more
than clothing. Look at the birds of the
air.” I looked at the birds of the air
this week, like I said, I'm sort of in the middle of a vacation. But this is fun for me, I love this, this is
vacation for me. But I was watching
these birds, up in Prescott, and they've got all these woodpeckers, and crows
and hawks and all these birds up there. I was watching them, and you know I never saw one of them waking up in
the morning, wringing its wings, ‘Oh me, oh my, what are we gonna eat
today?! Oh, these are last year's
feathers I'm wearing’ They just
get up and in the morning, and it's ‘Praise you Lord, tweet, tweet’ and ‘Let's
get the food that the Lord's given us!’ and they go out and there's the food. They're not bugged by it. They're just trusting the Lord. Verse 27, “and which of you by being anxious
can add single foot to his lifespan?” Now
I've heard vitamin C will extend a man's lifespan, if you start taking it now,
guys, 5 years. Come on, brothers. I have my own
special formula in the lobby, which you can buy after services-No [just
kidding]. But really, they have studies
now that show that vitamin C taken in a certain quantity will extend your
lifespan. Well, why don't you rest in
the Lord. Now
I've never met a person, really, that worry added to their life. What do you think is the secret of your
longevity? ‘Oh, I've worried every day of
my life.’ [chuckle] No, usually, I just take one day at a time,
never sure of the next one. And I just
trust the Lord. It's so obnoxious to God
when we don't trust him. My little three
and a half year old. She'll run up to me
out of the clear blue, I've been there all day long, ‘Don't
leave me Daddy!’ ‘Honey, I'm not going
anywhere, I've been sitting here, I'm not going anywhere, we're not doing anything -- what's your problem? I'm not going to leave you. You're stuck with me!’ That's what
tell her, ‘Hey baby, you're going to want me to leave you some day -- when you're
19 and dating that dude -- you're stuck with this Dad.’ And it sort of bugs me, you know. What's the matter with me? What am I doing? Why don't you trust me? Did I drop her when she was a baby? Before she was born, did Leslie fall? Yeah, you did fall in the grocery store that
time, remember Leslie? She fell one
time, I wonder if that was it? Was
insecure ever since, you know. It was
before she was born. I'd don't know,
it's just sort of silly, isn't it, not to trust your heavenly Father -- when
he's proven himself like he has in your salvation. So, grow up. I don't want to hear anymore, ‘Well, that's salvation stuff',’ when people aren't
living salvation stuff. You know what I
mean? Start living it. Grow in it. Believe it. Trust him.” [transcript of a
sermon by J. Mark Martin of Calvary Community Church, P.O. Box 39607, Phoenix,
Arizona, 85069.]
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