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Romans 4:1-5

Be Confident of Your Salvation!

Confidence.  You either have it or you don’t.  If you have it, life is good.  If you don’t, life is dominated by doubt and worry and second-guessing.  A confident student will be sure of his answers on the test and will hand in his paper and enjoy the rest of the day.  A student with no confidence will second-guess his answers; scribble them out and give different answers.  He will reluctantly hand in his test and will have a miserable day worrying about the possible ‘F’ he has just turned in.  Confidence, or lack there of, permeates every aspect of our lives.  Whether or not we have confidence in our surgeons, parents, spouses, employers or friends, will have a huge impact on our daily lives. 

Confidence is an even more crucial aspect to our spiritual lives.  Are you confident that God loves you?  Are you confident that your sins are forgiven?  Are you confident that you are going to heaven when you die?  Whether or not you answer yes or no to those questions probably says a lot about you.  Today we are going to talk a lot about confidence.  Our sermon text is the second lesson, from Paul’s letter to the Romans.  With these words today, God encourages you to Be Confident of Your Salvation! 

In order to have that confidence, the first thing we need to do today, is to quickly review the meaning of the word, “justification.”  That is a very important word.  To be justified means to be declared innocent, or not guilty.  Some have said to be justified, means it is just as if I’d never sinned.  It’s really a beautiful word.  A word we hold dear.  And there is no better place to learn about justification, then Paul’s letter to the Romans.  Paul wrote the book on justification.  The first three chapters of this book have described it beautifully and just before our text Paul writes, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”  Paul states and we believe, that all men are freely justified by faith, apart from earning it by obeying the law.

And all of you good Lutherans out there are saying to yourself, “No kidding, Pastor.  Tell us something we don’t know.”  Well, the reason Paul has to stress this, is because many in his day believed that to be justified, a person had to work hard at it to earn justification.  The Jews believed that they could work out their own salvation, and their great hero was Abraham.  He was the shining example in all the Old Testament of one who worked out his own salvation – or so they thought.

Notice that Paul brings up Abraham:  What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather, discovered in this matter?  If in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God.  Paul brings up the Jewish hero.  What did Abraham discover about justification?  Was he confident in himself for his salvation, or was he confident in God to get him to heaven?   

To help us find the answer, Paul puts forth a hypothetical statement:  If in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about.  If there was ever a guy who was justified by works, it was good old Abraham.  We heard in our first lesson how Abraham got up and left his home and his country and went to a far off land simply because God said so.  We look back at his life and several times he put Lot ’s interests before his own.  He even was willing to do what God said and sacrifice his own son, for crying out loud.  He is the father of all believers; the Bible calls him the friend of God.  He worshipped God consistently; he did everything asked of him.  Surely when asked about why he was going to heaven, Abraham would smile, nod his head and say:  “I’ve been a strong believer.  I did everything God asked.  I certainly have earned heaven.”  Right?

Paul says, “Not even close.”  The next words of our text are: but not before God.  Hypothetically, Abraham could boast; but Paul says, not before God.  The Greek phrase Paul uses is the strongest kind of adversative in the Greek language.  Paul says:  ‘Not so fast.  There is absolutely no way Abraham had any grounds for boasting about how he had earned heaven.  No way, no how!’

You see, the Jews had a wrong picture of Abraham.  They looked up to him almost to the point of idolizing him, but they didn’t see the whole picture.  The Bible gives us the whole picture.  In Genesis 16, you can read all about how faithful Abraham couldn’t wait for God’s promise so he took matters into his own hands and slept with his wife’s maidservant in order to produce an heir.  And then there is a sordid little account in Genesis 12 about how Abraham almost single-handedly throws away God’s entire plan of salvation.  Remember how he lied about Sarah and she ended up in Pharaoh’s harem?  He certainly didn’t score any points there.  And apparently he didn’t learn, because he repeats the same sin almost two dozen years later.  If you take a look at the entire picture, Abraham is an awful lot like you and me:  a poor, miserable sinner, through and through.  Paul later on Romans says that, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  That includes Abraham.  We are just like him in that regard.

We are like him in another way.  Like the Jews had a wrong picture of Abraham, we sometimes have the wrong picture of ourselves.  It’s kind of easy to forget the whole picture.  When we listen to our sinful nature, it becomes very easy to change the picture.  And if we let that happen, salvation by grace slips away and we fall into the false idea that we can justify ourselves.  I mean come on, you’ve been a solid member for decades, surely that earns you something!  God will treat you extra nice!  At the very least, you certainly should be entitled to some special treatment at church.  And then there are those of us who give more in the offering plate.  Anyone in the top tier gets to scoot to the front of the line when God is handing out tickets to heaven.  And then there are pastors.  Certainly because I serve the Lord full time, I’m a lock for heaven, right?  Let’s not forget those who have suffered in life.  God hasn’t forgotten them either.  They’ll get a good spot in heaven because they suffered so much and have really earned it.

Friends, do you see what our sinful nature likes to do?  Notice where it has placed our confidence?  It has pointed us back to ourselves.  It doesn’t matter what it is about us, our money, or status, or good morals – everything in our life is a target for the sinful nature - something to place our confidence in over against God.  It makes us confident that somehow, someway, we are better than the rest and as a result, we deserve heaven.  Friends, if and when we buy into that – and we all do because it is so easy – we have thrown away grace and have bought into work-righteousness.  And then we better be perfect, because one misstep sends us flailing into hell for all eternity.  Paul says later in Romans that is what we deserve for our sins.   Which is another thing we have in common with Abraham.  He deserved the same punishment that we do.

But, that brings us to verse three.  Paul asks a great question:  What does the Scripture say?  Incidentally, that is always the best question to ask about anything.  So, what does the Bible say about Abraham’s confidence?  Paul quotes Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  Paul quotes the only Old Testament reference to Abraham’s righteousness.  Notice that the Bible speaks not of Abraham’s doing, but of his believing.  Yes, Abraham had done some amazing things, but that did not make him righteous.  God made him righteous, through faith.  Notice also that God does the crediting.  Abraham was passive.  God took righteousness from the bank of Jesus, so to speak, and transferred it to Abraham’s account without Abraham requesting it. 

Abraham believed God.  But what exactly did he believe?  What was the object of his faith?  He believed God’s promise of a Savior.  Way back in the Garden of Eden, God had promised to send a Savior.  God had repeated that promise to Abraham often, and Abraham clung to those words.  He knew he desperately needed a Savior and he trusted that God would make good on his promise.  Did you ever wonder why Abraham was able to do those amazing things?  Because he was holding on to the promises of God.  So even the great works of Abraham really are credited to God. 

So, where’s your confidence at today?  Hopefully not in yourself.  That spells trouble spiritually.  Maybe you need a confidence boost.  How about this:  “Even though your sins were like scarlet, I shall make them as white as snow.”  God says that even though we have misplaced our confidence again and again, he forgives our sins and makes us pure, as white as all of that snow out there.  Or how about this:  “Take and drink, this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all of your sins.”  You want to talk about confidence, in the Lord’s Supper, God gives you concrete confidence that you are his forgiven child.  How about one more:  “It is finished.”  My dear brothers and sisters, there is absolutely nothing left for you to do to earn your salvation.  Jesus took care of everything.  100%.  You can’t possibly add to it if you tried.  So take a deep breath.  Lay your sins at the cross.  Let the guilt melt away.  Trust confidently in your Savior.  Believe in him.  Through that faith, you stand here today just as if you’d never sinned. 

That is God’s gift to you.  Paul says:  Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.  However, to the man who does not work but trusts in God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.  A place in heaven is God’s gift to you, and it is unearned.  How would you feel if on payday, your boss wrapped up your paycheck in a shiny gift box and made a big deal about giving you your paycheck as a present?  That’s ridiculous.  That’s not a gift at all.  You earned that paycheck.

God’s gift of heaven is not like that at all.  It is a free gift, totally and completely unearned.  Paul points out that to the one who does not rely on his works, but rather trusts in God, God will give everlasting life. 

So, what’s your confidence level when it comes to salvation?  I guarantee that if you go about your week finding your confidence in yourself, you will constantly doubt your salvation.  Rather, trust God.  Like your forefather Abraham, believe in God’s promise of a Savior.  Trust in the one who died for you that you may live forever.  In this confidence, we will all go to heaven.  Amen.