Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

There's some of you listening right now who desire to be clean on the inside. You're tired of carrying around the guilt of your sin. You're tired of trying to cover it over yourself. You're tired of trying to play like it never happened. You feel that weight, that stain of sin.

God says, quit trying to clean it up yourself. Let me clean up your mess. I can do it much more effectively than you can.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress.

In the days of Moses, God gave the Israelites a system of laws in order to maintain his favor. So why aren't modern Christians bound by a similar set of rules?

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explains why salvation has always been based on God's grace rather than our own efforts.

Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Speaker 2

Dr. Jeffress David preachers are notorious for calling the gospel good news, and for good reason. Today on Pathway to Victory, I'll suggest that, yes, the Gospel is good news, but it's not really new at all. We'll trace the gospel back thousands of years to its very origin. In fact, that's what we're going to see in Romans, chapter four as we continue the teaching series I'm calling Grace Powered Living.

And just before we begin, I'm eager to remind you about the resources we've prepared for your benefit. Time is running short to take advantage of this unprecedented offer. First, I'd like to provide you with a book that has never been offered on Pathway to Victory until now. It's an illustrated guide to the Apostle Paul by the outstanding writer and teacher, Dr. Alan Bandy. This is a book that I keep in my personal library because it helps me when I'm studying any of Paul's New Testament writings. This illustrated guide to the Apostle Paul helps us understand how and why the Apostle was used by God in such a remarkable way.

I'm happy to send a copy to your home when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. I cannot recommend this volume highly enough.

Now, let's dig into our lesson for today. Open your Bibles to Romans, chapter four as we continue the series called Grace Powered Living. I titled today's message Good News: That is Good, but Not New.

Speaker 3

One thing we preachers learn sooner, hopefully rather than later, is the importance of illustrations in our messages. You know, long after people forget the content of a message, they still remember the illustrations. I see that all of the time; somebody will call the church requesting a message of mine, and they'll say, "No, we don't remember the title, we don't remember the scripture reference, and we're not even sure what the pastor was talking about, but we want that sermon." And then they'll give an illustration. I used that sermon. Somebody asked recently, "What was that sermon where the pastor talked about the man who had the birthday party, all the prostitutes in town?" That's the message we want. Somebody asked me about that last week. I couldn't remember what the message was, but they remembered the illustration. A preacher of yesteryear said illustrations are like windows that throw light on an otherwise dark subject. That's why it's important to use illustrations.

The Apostle Paul was a master communicator. He understood the importance of illustrations. And that's why right in the middle of this section of Romans, which is a theological treatise, he uses illustrations to drive home his point. We see two of those illustrations in today's passage. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Romans, Chapter 4 as we begin looking at good news. That's good, but it's not beginning. In chapter three, verse 21, Paul is going to explain how we can have a right standing righteousness from God. Remember, the hinged verse is chapter three, verse 21: "But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets." Paul is going to talk about how we can have a right standing with God. God's righteousness, a right standing with God, is received through faith. Now, we are not saved by faith; we are saved through faith. And there's a big difference. I mean, if you've grown up in an evangelical home or an evangelical church, you've heard that all of your life, haven't you? That salvation is based on grace and not works. But you need to understand, you and I are in a minority in believing that. The majority of the world today, the majority of the religious world, does not accept that. They believe that we are declared righteous before God not by grace, but through our works. And that's not only true today; it's always been that way. Most people have believed that. Most people in Paul's day believed that. The Jews, to whom Paul was writing, believed that. It was a novel concept to them that salvation was through grace and not works.

As we'll see in a moment, it's always been that way. That's always been God's plan, even in the Old Testament. But the Jews had perverted that to believe that somehow they played a role in their justification. So when Paul comes along saying, "Well, no, God's righteousness is not a reward, but it is a gift based on the work of Christ," they thought that was heresy. Paul says salvation, justification, is not a reward; it is a gift for those who trust in Christ. To illustrate that truth, Paul goes back to the Old Testament and uses two illustrations with which his readers would be very familiar.

First of all, he says, "Consider the life of Abraham." Look at verses one and two of chapter four. Remember, there's no chapter division in the original text. This is all part of the same sermon. Paul has presented the truth, and now he's going to illustrate that salvation is through grace and not works. He says in verse one, "What shall we say? That Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh, is found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God." Let me say a word about Abraham's importance to the Jews. Abraham was to the Jews what George Washington is to those of us who are Americans. He was the father of their nation. There was no one more righteous or important than Abraham. Remember that. When Jesus started questioning the righteousness of the Pharisees, what did they say? They said, "Well, don't question us. Are we not descendants of Abraham? Is there anyone greater than Abraham?" They revered Abraham. One reason they revered Abraham was because of his righteousness, his obedience to God. His life was a testimony of obedience to God. If anybody could earn salvation, surely it was Abraham.

The greatest example of Abraham's obedience was in chapter 22 of Genesis when God said, "I want you to take your son, the son whom you love, Isaac, and I want you to offer him as a burnt sacrifice." If any man could be saved by his righteous acts, surely it was Abraham. Many Jews believed that's exactly how Abraham was made right with God. So Paul says, "If you doubt me that salvation is by grace and not works, let's consider the story of Abraham." He says in verse 2 of Romans 4, "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about." Paul is saying, "If indeed Abraham was made right with God by his works, then my argument goes to pot." That's what it says in the original Greek. It goes to pot. That's the idea.

So what does the Scripture say about the way Abraham was justified? Look at verse three: "For what does the Scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Abraham was saved through faith, but it was based on the death of Jesus Christ. Now that ought to be a convincing argument to the Jews. Look at Abraham. But Paul knew if one illustration was good, two are even better. So he uses a second illustration to illustrate the fact that salvation has always been by grace and not works. It's the example of David. Look at verse 6 of Romans 4: "For just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God accounts righteousness apart from works."

Now, if Abraham was like Washington, then David was like Abraham Lincoln. He was considered by many to be the greatest king in all of Israel. But his reign was marked by scandal. Just as you'll never be able to separate Richard Nixon from Watergate or Bill Clinton from Monica Lewinsky, it was the same thing about King David. In spite of all the good that he did, he's remembered for that one night of unbridled passion with Bathsheba. Not only was he guilty of adultery, but also in the cover-up, he killed Bathsheba's husband, Uriah. And yet, in spite of this stain upon his record, what does the Bible say about David? It says David was the friend of God. How could that be? How could God be friends with a sinner like David? It all has to do with grace. David's life is an illustration that God justifies not just godly people, but ungodly people.

He said, "What shall we say about David?" And then look at verses 7 and 8. Paul quotes David's own psalm of confession. This is a quotation from Psalm 32. David says in verse 7, "Blessed, happy are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed, happy is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account." There are three words I want you to write down there that again show what God is willing to do for us on the basis of grace through faith. First of all, the word forgiven. David says, "How happy is the man whose sins have been forgiven." That word forgiven is a word that literally means to separate. When God forgives us, he separates us from our sin. It doesn't matter what you've done; when God forgives you, he forever separates you from your sin.

Did you know in ancient times, if somebody was convicted of murder, the punishment was that the victim, the corpse, would be placed tied to the back of the murderer, and he would have to carry it around with him? As that corpse decayed, he was forever tied to his sin. But when God forgives us, he separates us from our sin. That's why David said, "How blessed, how happy is the man whose sin the Lord does not take into account." Secondly, notice the word covered here. "How happy are those whose sins have been covered." What do we do when we sin? What's our first reaction? It's to try to cover over the sin ourselves, isn't it? We deny that it happened, and then if we're caught, we try to rationalize why it happened.

I remember reading this week about Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers. Remember Chico Marx? One time he was caught by his wife kissing a chorus girl. When he was caught red-handed, he said to his wife, "Oh, I wasn't kissing her; I was whispering into her mouth." You know, that's called rationalization. And we try the same thing. If we're caught red-handed, we come up with some excuse. David tried that for six months. He rationalized; he covered over his sin. He says in Psalm 32, about that time in his life, "For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me, O God." It was only when he was willing to confess his sin that God said, "I will cover your sin with the blood of my Son."

That's why in Psalm 51, verse 7, David says, "God, purify me with hyssop." Remember that? Hyssop was the brushy plant that was used to paint the altar with the blood of the animal. "Purify me, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." There are some of you listening right now who desire to be clean on the inside. You're tired of carrying around the guilt of your sin. You're tired of trying to cover it over yourself. You're tired of trying to play like it never happened. You feel that weight, that stain of sin. God says, "Quit trying to clean it up yourself. Let me clean up your mess. I can do it much more effectively than you can." How blessed is the man whose sins have been forgiven, whose sins have been covered.

And notice thirdly, "whose sin the Lord will not take into account." Now there's that word again, "take into account," that accounting term. In Greek, it's the word "logizomai," to place to the account of. Listen. When Abraham believed God, what happened? Faith was accounted to him as righteousness. Righteousness got counted on Abraham's behalf. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, when you and I trust in Christ for our salvation, God performs two accounting transactions in your spiritual bank account. You know what he does? He deposits first of all, he subtracts. He withdraws all of your guilt and he puts it into the account of Jesus Christ. Did you know that the moment you trust in Jesus as your Savior, God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us? So when you trust in Christ as your Savior, God takes all of your guilt, all of your unrighteousness, and he charges Jesus for it. Jesus has to pay for it. When he died on the cross, he wasn't paying for his sin; he had no sin. He was paying for your sin and my sin.

But that's not all. When we trust in Christ as our Savior, not only does God place all of our unrighteousness and charge it to the righteousness, he takes all of Jesus' perfect righteousness and he credits you for it. He deposits it into your spiritual bank account so that when God looks at you, he no longer sees your sin; he sees the perfection of His Savior. "He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Those are the two transactions that take place. But you know what? There's a third transaction Paul says will never occur. And that is God will never dredge up your past sin and make you account for it. God will not be like some irate bill collector who says, "Oh, by the way, I forgot a bill that you owe me. It's time to pay up." God won't do that. He will not take account of our sin. When God forgives, he forgets. Not only does he separate us from our sin, but Micah the prophet says he casts our sin into the depths of the sea.

Now Paul has made his argument. He said salvation is a result of not works, but grace. He's given us two compelling illustrations of that from the Old Testament, both Abraham and David. What's the application for us? Don't miss this, because in verses 4 and 5, Paul is going to share three principles about God's righteousness that we must understand. Verses 4 and 5 are really the hinge between verses 1 and 3 about Abraham and verses 6 to 8 about David. Paul uses verses 4 and 5 to link those two stories to us today. To whom does God offer righteousness? To whom does God offer salvation?

First of all, to those who understand their sin. Look at verse five: "But to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness." Will you underline that word, ungodly? Whom does God forgive? It's the ungodly. God is in the business of saving sinners. Maybe you're one of those people who have tuned into the broadcast today. You think, "Well, God could never forgive me, Pastor; you don't know what I've done." That's right; I don't know. But God knows. And the reason God sent Christ to atone for your sins is not because of your goodness, but because of your badness. Jesus said, "It's not the healthy who need a physician; it is the unhealthy who need a physician." It's not the godly people who need God's forgiveness; it's the ungodly people who need forgiveness.

Now, don't miss the point. The fact is, we're all ungodly. We all need God's forgiveness. But it's only those people who recognize their ungodliness that are in a position to open their hands and receive the free gift of God's forgiveness. Who can receive God's forgiveness? First of all, those who understand their sin. Secondly, God offers his righteousness to those who refuse to work. Now this turns our expectations upside down. Look at verse five. He says, "To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly." All the other religions say it's to the one who works, not God. God says it's not to the one who's willing to work; it's the one who gives up the idea of work that God is willing to justify. Only those who refuse to work for salvation can receive it.

Why is that? Paul explains the reason God does not allow you and me to work for our salvation in verse 4 of Romans 4. Look at this: "Now, to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due." Let me illustrate that for you. How many of you, when you get your paycheck at work every two weeks or every month, the first thing you do is you go into your boss's office, you fall down before him and you say, "Thank you. Thank you so much. I can't believe you would give me this money. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for this totally undeserved gift." Have you ever done that before? Walter, you've worked for me 15 years; you've never done that. And I really resent it. Never has Walter once thanked me for his check. Why doesn't he do it? Because when he receives his check, it's not a favor; he's getting what he's owed.

We've entered into a contract with Walter. We say, "Okay, if you do this work, then you get paid this much money." So every two weeks when his check comes, he's simply getting what we as a church owe him. There's no favor involved; it's what we owe him. It's the same way with God. If God allows us in any way to work for our salvation, then salvation isn't a gift from God; it's an obligation. God owes it to us. And ladies and gentlemen, God refuses to owe any man or woman salvation. That's why he gives it as a gift. And that's why Paul says, "It's to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly that his faith is counted as righteousness."

Thirdly, God offers his righteousness to those who trust in Christ to save them. Look at verse five: "But to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness." When you trust in Christ as Savior, listen to this: it doesn't matter how much or how little faith you have. The moment you trust in Christ as your Savior, God takes your little bit of faith and in the accounting room of heaven, he exchanges it for his perfect righteousness. And from that point on, God forever declares you and me not guilty.

As a young girl, Charlotte Elliott heard messages like this her whole life. When she was nine years old, her village pastor came to visit with her and said, "Charlotte, are you now ready to trust in Christ as your Savior?" She said, "Pastor, I want to come to Jesus; I just don't know how." The pastor said to her, "Charlotte, just come the way you are." And so that night, nine-year-old Charlotte Elliott knelt by her bed, and this is what she prayed: "Dear God, I want to come to you. My pastor says there's nothing I need to do to come to you. So tonight I'm coming just the way I am, if you will accept me." Many years later, Charlotte Elliott used that experience to write that beloved hymn, "Just as I am, without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bids me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come."

Charlotte Elliott, as a nine-year-old, understood a truth so profound that the most wise men have missed it. That is, to the boy, the girl, the man, or woman who refuses to work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, God takes his faith and counts it as righteousness.

Speaker 2

Even a nine-year-old can understand and receive the Gospel. God will acknowledge the faith of anyone who puts his trust in Jesus Christ to forgive him of his sins.

Now in these final moments of the program, I'm urging you to get in touch with Pathway to Victory in order to take advantage of the resources we've prepared for you. Friday is the final day to make your request, and I want to send you a few items that will enhance your walk with God in the understanding of His Word.

The first is an illustrated guide to the Apostle Paul. This is a reference book that you'll be using for many years to come. It'll allow you to get up close and personal with the Apostle Paul, and it'll help you feel the dynamic pressures of the first century, which were quite similar to the pressures we experience today.

The second resource is the Journeys of Paul Map. Complete with vibrant full-color graphics and historical facts, this wonderful tool will help you trace Paul's travels in a whole new way.

Both items, An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul and the Journeys of Paul Map, are yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. We're in an exciting season of growth at Pathway to Victory, but it's not without its challenges. The opportunities to expand are many, and the only thing that stands in our way is the financial capacity to move forward.

So would you be willing to join this movement of God to pierce the darkness with the light of His Word? No gift is too small to make a difference for Christ.

Speaker 3

David thanks Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 1

When you give a generous gift to A Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of the Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul. As an added bonus, we'll also include the Journeys of Paul Map to help you trace the pathway of Paul's missionary journeys. To request these helpful resources, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. When you invest $75 or more in this ministry, we'll also send you the audio and video discs for our current study on Romans Chapters one through eight, called Grace Powered Living. Listen to these full-length messages during your daily commute or watch them with your small group Bible study. To request the CD and DVD sets, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. You're also welcome to send your request by mail; write to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, they brought sin into the world and put us at odds with our Creator. But when Jesus died on the cross, he provided a way for mankind to be restored. Learn how you can have confidence in your standing before God Tuesday on Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.