Who Gets The Blessing?
A Sermon on Romans 4:9-12
We are in a study of Paul’s letter to the Romans. We have said that the theme of this letter, the book of Romans, is God’s provision of justification by faith through the gospel for all sinners. I’m going to repeat that enough times over the next year that you have that one memorized. If you have a hard copy of the Bible, turn right over to the book of Romans, right there at the top, above the big name, take your ink pen and write the theme: God’s provision of justification by faith through the gospel for all sinners. That is what this letter is about.
Introduction
The Question Before Us
How can anyone be righteous?
Our world is filled with people who are burdened by silent guilt. You might be one of them. Some seek to drown out the voice of conscience with excesses. They turn up the music, seek entertainment, or drown out their guilt through drugs or alcohol. Still other people try to calm their guilt by doubling up with their personal efforts to do good, in hopes that somehow the good will silence the guilt of what they’ve done wrong.
The director of a large mental institution in England once told Dr. John Stott, “I could send half my patients home tomorrow if they could only find forgiveness.”
Here in this letter, Paul has been laying out an argument that no one has the righteousness that God requires. Both the pagan Gentile and the self-righteous Jew are equally guilty before God because, as we saw in chapter 3 verse 23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
R.C. Sproul wrote: “People do not seek God. They seek after the benefits that only God can give them. The sin of fallen man is this: man seeks the benefits of God while at the same time fleeing from God himself. We are by nature fugitives.”
That’s exactly what the Jews, who Paul is writing to in Rome, are doing. They’re seeking to establish and convince themselves that they will be okay before God, that they are righteous before Him, but they are not seeking to submit to His righteousness or His means of righteousness. Some of you are just like them. They were claiming benefits from God while denying the historic Old Testament truth that man is justified by faith and not the works of the law.
The Text: Romans 4:6-12
Look at Romans chapter four and follow along as I read. We are going to primarily be looking at verses nine through twelve, but I want to begin reading in verse six:
“Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.’
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.”
From this text, Paul points to Abraham to show us that true righteousness comes through faith alone. I want us to see three truths in this portion of Scripture, speaking to you this morning on this subject: Who gets the blessing?
[Prayer] Father, we ask that this blessing that we are going to look at would be poured out in abundant measure upon every single man and woman in this auditorium this morning. That we would receive this glorious, life-changing, freeing, liberating gift that provides us blessing, not only in this temporal life, but in the life to come throughout all eternity. Open our hearts and our eyes and our minds to understand the truths of the scripture that lies before us, we ask for Jesus’ sake, amen.
I. The Probing Questions That Demand an Answer (v. 9)
Here’s the first big thing I want us to see this morning: Notice the probing questions that demand an answer. Paul asks a series of questions. Look again at verse nine. He begins with this question, and notice how he begins: “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised?”
If you’re just joining our series, we must pause right here and understand: What is this blessing? We saw that in verses six to eight. This blessing is righteousness before God.
Verse six: “Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.”
Verse seven: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”
Verse eight: “Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
This blessing has three parts:
- Our sins are forgiven – our debt was cancelled
- Our sins are covered – they are hidden forever from God’s sight
- The penalty of sin is never charged to our account again – payment for our sin was made in full
The Blessing of Forgiveness
Look at verse seven more closely. Notice the blessing of lawless deeds forgiven. Imagine the glorious blessing of having God himself declare in a legal declaration before the high court of God that you are not guilty.
I saw a news clip this week of a murder trial. The defendant was sitting before the judge and the courtroom was full. The jury had returned a verdict in the case, and the judge began to speak after receiving the verdict, saying that the defendant was deemed guilty of murder. Immediately the foreman of the jury raised his hand and said, “Excuse me, sir, we were unanimous that the defendant is not guilty.” The judge didn’t look closely enough.
Can you imagine how that man felt? The evidence had been presented and the jury had deliberated and agreed unanimously—twelve persons—that the evidence points to the fact that this man is not guilty of murder, and the penalty of this first-degree murder is execution.
Can you imagine for those few seconds what that man must have felt when the judge said he was guilty? This young man was probably in his early twenties. Can you imagine the overwhelming, sickening feeling he must have had in his stomach? Can you imagine how his heart began to race as he began to think that his life is over? He’ll never get married. He’ll never see and hug his mother again. He’ll never have children. He’ll never be able to get a job or go to university. Everything flashes before his eyes because the judge has said, “You are guilty.”
Then the foreman quickly raises his hand and says, “Judge, I’m sorry, but you’ve made a mistake. Please look at it again.” And the judge looks closer and says, “Oh, my apologies. You have been found not guilty.”
Not guilty. That’s what Paul is saying. This is the blessing of being declared not guilty.
Our True Condition
But here’s the difference: that man in the courtroom was actually innocent. The evidence pointed to the fact that he was not guilty, and a jury of his peers found him unanimously to be not guilty of murder. But not you and me. We’re not sitting there as innocents before the justice bar. We sit there knowing we’re guilty.
Every one of us here this morning has broken God’s law, have we not? Perhaps there’s someone who claims they are not guilty, but that’s not most of us. Let’s take a test:
Have you ever told a lie? If you tell a lie, what are you? A liar.
Have you ever taken something that does not belong to you? If you take something that doesn’t belong to you, what does that make you? A thief.
Have you ever had lust in your heart towards someone who is not your husband or wife? Jesus said if a man looks on a woman with lustful heart, he has committed adultery with her. What does that make you? An adulterer.
Have you ever had anger or bitter thoughts towards someone? Matthew 5:21 says that if you have anger and bitter thoughts in your mind towards someone, you’ve murdered them in your heart. What does that make us? A murderer.
By your own admission this morning, every single person here has acknowledged that you are a lying, adulterous, murdering thief. So how can any of us ever stand before God on judgment day and say, “God, I’m not guilty. I haven’t broken your law”?
We will stand before the judgment bar of God and we know we’re guilty. But did you hear the blessing? Here’s the blessing: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven.” You sit there knowing you’re guilty as charged, with that sick feeling in your stomach because you know you’re guilty, and you know that you are to be sentenced to death for your crimes. And the judge looks down, looks up, and says, “Not guilty, not guilty. You’re free to go.”
Acts 3:19 says, “Repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted out.” Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us.”
The Blessing of Sins Covered
Notice in verse seven the blessing of sins covered. I saw a news clip this week of a person in some large European city who goes out at night with paint and a roller brush and paints over the graffiti on the walls.
“Blessed are those whose sins are covered.” Just as that person covers the ugliness of graffiti so that you can’t see it anymore, God covers our sins with Christ’s blood so completely that when God looks at us, He only sees us as bright and clean and pure in His sight. This is the blessing of my sins covered in the blood of Jesus.
Never Charged with Guilt
Notice the blessing in verse eight of never being charged with the guilt of our sins. The payment was made in full for all of our sins—past, present, and future. We are being told here that this blessing means that God will never put that debt on our account. Instead, He credits us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself.
Jeremiah 31:34: “I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember against them no more.”
2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sakes He made Him, Jesus, to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Paul quotes David to show what this blessing looks like: complete forgiveness and righteousness. But then Paul asks the critical question that challenges religious assumptions in every generation and every place.
The Critical Question
Notice the second part of verse nine: “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised Jew or for the uncircumcised Gentile? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised?”
Here’s the question: How do you get this righteousness? Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. But how did he get that righteousness? The answer to that question will determine who gets it. It will determine who here this morning will receive the blessing of being righteous.
Did Abraham receive this righteousness by being circumcised or by keeping some other demand of the law? Paul asks: Was Abraham made righteous before or after he was circumcised?
II. The Timing of the Blessing Abraham Received (vv. 10-11)
Paul’s argument hinges on one critical historical fact. Look at verse ten: “How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.”
Abraham received righteousness before he was circumcised. In Genesis chapter 15, we are told that Abraham believed God’s promise about having descendants as many as the sand on the seashore. God credited that faith to Abraham as righteousness, and that was fourteen years before Genesis 17 when he was circumcised.
Why is this historical fact so important? Because the sign of the covenant between God and Israel was circumcision. This circumcision was the symbol of his righteousness. But to the Jews, the symbol of righteousness had become the means by which they became righteous in their eyes. But what Paul is pointing out here destroys that narrative completely.
If you believe that there’s some religious thing you can do—for the Jews it was circumcision, but for you it’s something else—some religious activity, some deed that will result in the righteousness of God, the favor of God, this timeline destroys that idea. It’s a false belief.
Circumcision Confirms Rather Than Creates Righteousness
Notice verse eleven. So first, Abraham received righteousness before circumcision. Secondly, circumcision confirms rather than creates righteousness.
“He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.”
Circumcision was a sign of the covenant. We know what a sign is—we see them every day. When you see our church sign, it points you to something or announces something. Paul says that circumcision was a sign to the Jews. What was it telling them?
- It pointed them to the promise that God had made to make Abraham a great nation in Genesis 15
- It pointed them back to the spiritual cleansing that had happened in their heart by faith
- It reminded them that they were separate from the pagan world, set apart for God
Mistaking the Symbol for the Reality
For us, it’s definitely not circumcision, but we often do a similar thing: We often mistake the symbol for the reality.
Someone speaks in tongues and assumes they are spiritual and spirit-filled. In 1 Samuel 4, when Israel was going out to battle against the Philistines, they had been living in wickedness and sin. The Philistines drew up for battle, and on that first day, Israel was defeated—4,000 Israeli soldiers were killed.
When the people came to camp, the elders said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?” So here’s what they said: “Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and that it may save us from the power of our enemies.”
Did you hear what they were trusting in? They were trusting in the symbol of God’s presence and power. The symbol. We do similar things today—blessed wristwatch, special bracelet, necklace, holy handkerchief, holy water, blessed wallets. “When it comes among us, it will give me success.” But what do we see? We mistake the symbol for the reality.
This is what they had done with circumcision. They trusted the symbol of God’s covenant instead of the God of the covenant himself.
“He received the sign of the covenant as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.” This was a seal of the righteousness that he had received by faith. Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised. Abraham believed God and it was counted to Abraham for righteousness.
Westminster Shorter Catechism number 33 asks and answers: What is justification? Answer: “Justification is an act of God’s free grace wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.”
A seal is a confirming mark that validates something that’s already present. Therefore, circumcision did not create or bestow righteousness on Abraham. Rather, it was a confirmation of the righteousness that he had already obtained through faith.
The Example of Baptism and Marriage Rings
There may be people here today who believe they are righteous because of their baptism. The waters of baptism do not wash away sins or make a person righteous before God. Baptism is the seal, the symbol of the righteousness that a person already possesses because they’ve placed their faith in Jesus.
Yesterday we had a wedding for Alan and Gracious. As part of that ceremony, they slipped wedding bands on one another’s fingers. If you have a ring on your left hand, the third finger of your left hand this morning, that doesn’t make you married. The ring doesn’t make you married.
But I have worn this ring every single day—I have never gone a day without this ring on my finger since September 16, 1989. I’ve never taken it off and forgotten it at home ever. Why? Because it’s a symbol of a reality that happened for me thirty-six years ago. As a symbol of that reality, I wear that.
I meet lots of people who don’t know me, but one thing they know when they see my hand is that he must have a wife somewhere. It doesn’t make me have a wife, but I do have a wife and I wear it.
Some of us used to run around showing our wedding ring to Jesus: “Oh, I’m a Christian. I was baptized.” “Oh yeah, I’m a Christian. I grew up in the church and I was confirmed.” “Oh yeah, I’m a Christian. You should see the good things I do in our community.”
That’s what Paul is referring to here.
III. The Two Purposes of This Blessing (vv. 11-12)
Notice what he says are the two purposes of this blessing of sins forgiven.
Purpose #1: The Blessing Is For Everyone
Look at verse eleven, the second part: “The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness could be counted to them as well.”
The blessing of sins forgiven is for everyone. The gospel that was preached to Abraham is the same gospel that will be preached to all nations. It’s the gospel that Ryan is preaching in Nairobi, and it’s the gospel that Juma and Yokojo are preaching this morning in South Sudan. It’s the gospel that will be preached in Kasama. It’s the gospel that we’re going to send João to Angola to preach. It’s the gospel that Brother Gideon is going to preach in Dar Salaam. It’s the gospel that we preach at Kitwe Church. The same gospel.
Galatians 3:8: “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.'”
The faith exercised by Abraham in the gospel is the same faith that is to be exercised by all future peoples who receive God’s righteousness. The mission of God is to call out a people for his name from every people and language and tribe who will be made righteous in the same way as Abraham was—by faith in Christ—and who will worship and praise the Lamb together throughout all eternity.
We are called to be part of God’s mission, to gather a people by the clear, consistent, faithful proclamation of the gospel, calling all men everywhere to repent and believe in Jesus.
Purpose #2: The Blessing Is For You
Notice verse twelve: “And to make him the father of the circumcised, who not merely are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.”
The blessing of sins forgiveness is for you, beloved. Yes, you.
We are saved by faith, and we walk by faith. All who walk in Abraham’s footsteps of faith are justified—they’re declared righteous before God.
This doctrine, justification by faith, was not something that was added after man messed up in Genesis chapter three. It was the eternal purpose of God from eternity past, that righteousness would be imputed by God and righteousness would be received through faith. Justification by faith is not a new Pauline doctrine. It has been God’s method and plan from the beginning.
If justification had included the works of the law, then Gentiles like you and me are excluded because God would be only the God of the Jews. But the promise was given to Abraham for all nations.
Each one of us who believes in Jesus went from being estranged from God to being God’s dear child. If you have believed in Jesus, you are his dear son or daughter. And if I’m his son, then I have absolutely nothing to worry about now and for all eternity. My Father knows what is best. My Father loves me unconditionally in Christ. My Father will care for me in this life, and then my Father will bring me to His house to live with Him eternally.
What an unspeakable blessing is yours today if you will receive it by faith.
If Abraham had to be circumcised to be righteous, then only Jews could be saved. But since he was righteous before circumcision, anyone can be saved through faith alone.
The Question for Your Soul
Can I ask you this question? Do you have the faith that justifies? Do you have that faith?
Let me conclude with this quote from A.W. Tozer:
“The faith of Paul and Luther was a revolutionary thing. It upset the whole life of the individual and made him into another person altogether. It had finality about it. It snapped shut on a man’s heart like a trap. It captured the man and made him from that moment forward a happy love servant of His Lord. It turned earth into a desert and drew heaven within sight of the believing soul. It realigned all of life’s actions and brought them into accord with the will of God. It made Him little and God big and Christ unspeakably dear. All this and more happened to a man when he received the faith that justifies.”
The Point
What’s the point this morning? Faith alone, in Jesus alone, is how you receive the righteousness of God, beloved. That righteousness can be yours today. Anything other than this is not the gospel, and anything less than this or more than this is not the gospel.
A few minutes ago when I began, I mentioned that there are people here burdened with silent guilt, trying to drown it out or earn their way out of it. But there’s a better way—Abraham’s way. You can leave here this morning with no guilt, no condemnation, completely righteous before God. Not because you’ve earned it, not because you deserve it, but because Jesus earned it for you.
So, who gets the blessing? You will. You will, if you receive the forgiveness God offers to you by faith. Don’t wait. Don’t try harder. Don’t trust in anything else. Trust in Jesus today and you will be righteous.
A Word to Christians
Christian, those of you who are already righteous before God by faith in Jesus: the way that the world will get this blessing is for you and me who have received this blessing of God’s righteousness to take this good news to the nations. This is why we are saved. This is why a church, a biblical church exists—to take this glorious gospel of justification by faith alone to anyone who will believe, to take it to the nations, to proclaim it boldly to those who don’t know it yet, to invite them, like I’m inviting you this morning, to believe in Jesus.
Christian friend, we should:
- Pray to this end
- Send our very best to this end
- Give sacrificially to this end
- Go and tell others this glorious news that Jesus saves
Closing Prayer
Father, how do we put into words, in a human language, the indescribable majesty and glory of what you have done for us through Jesus? And yet, unless the Spirit of God quickens blind minds to hear and see and understand, it will be like a raindrop bouncing off a rock.
Oh God, would you reach into those this morning where the soil of their heart is hard and resistant? Would you give them a heart of flesh? Would you grant them a mind to understand this glorious offer, this glorious truth? And would you grant them faith to believe?
And Father, if we have received this glorious forgiveness, this blessing that’s indescribable, would you just remind us? Would you overwhelm us once again with this glorious truth so that those of us who have received it just can’t help but tell everybody, so they too can have the blessing?
Help us to pray more and to give more and to send more and to go ourselves.
With head bowed and eyes closed, perhaps you’re here this morning and you sense in your heart the convicting and convincing work of the Holy Spirit saying to you, this is true and this is for you. Won’t you cast yourself upon the God who saves? Won’t you believe in the one who shed his blood and put it upon the mercy seat in heaven for you? Won’t you accept Jesus this morning?
Christian, as you speak to God in your heart, what more is he asking from you?
Father, thank you for justifying Abraham before he was circumcised, thereby showing us so clearly that we are made righteous through believing in you. Grant us that faith, a faith that is the pathway of righteousness and a faith that is manifested by faithful service. We ask for Jesus’ sake, amen.