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So Romans chapter 4, we're continuing our Bible study on the book of Romans, we're up to the fourth chapter in this book, starting in verse 1 which reads, What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Let's have another quick word of prayer, Father, thank you for this book, thank you for this chapter, please just help me to just do it justice now, to expand it clearly, please help everyone here to just be alert, to just stay awake in this warm room and this evening after a busy day, please just help everyone to stay alert and just be edified by your word, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. Okay, so in Romans 3.28 last week we read this, Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Amen. Great verse, isn't it? Yeah, Amen. Paul then gives the example of Abraham, who's got some pretty mighty works, hasn't he? Yeah, Abraham's got some pretty mighty works, a standout one being his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. Okay, that was an amazing work, wasn't it? An amazing thing that he did, that he was willing to do. And verse 2 here, For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath wear off to glory, but not before God. I mean, it's saying that, look, he has of which to glory, but not before in front of God, does he? Look, he's got some stuff he could glory about, but not when it comes to being in front of God with that. Now, Abraham could be gluing about the fact that when God told him to sacrifice Isaac, he didn't even think twice, did he? If you remember the story, he rose early in the morning. I remember preaching about that a little while ago, about getting up early. He actually rose early to go and do it. He didn't go, oh, well, at some point, I'll have a little lie in and kind of lie there feeling sorry for myself. He's like, no, up and out. Yeah, I've been told to do something, I'm going to get on and do it. That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? And not only did he not think twice, he just went ahead and he just went to do it, didn't he? Yeah, from when you read the story, and I'm sure he was going through all sorts of anguish, but from the story, Abraham just went ahead and did what he was told to do. Look, could any of these work salvationists out there claim anything like that? Any of your work salvationists all over this country claim that anything like that, yeah, could any of them say, yeah, I would be willing to kill my own son for God? Abraham could glory before men, couldn't he? Yeah, Abraham could glory before men. In fact, James 2 21 says exactly that, you don't have to turn there, but it says, Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Okay, yeah, yeah, he could be justified before men, but not before God. Not before God. It's not enough, is it? It's not enough to sacrifice your son because the waves of sin is death. And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Yeah, every single person has sinned, every single person continues to sin, and Abraham was no different there. But he did do some amazing works, didn't he? He did do some amazing work. Verse 3 says, For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. So when did Abraham believe God? Well, turn back to Genesis 15 to start with, which is the scripture being quoted here. So if you go back to Genesis chapter 15, says, For what saith the scripture, so this is what it's quoting, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Genesis chapter 15 and verse 1 says, After these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, this is Genesis chapter 15 verse 1, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and I exceed in great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what will thou give me? Seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine heir. So this is a frustrated, childless Abram at this point, is what he's known as. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bow shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. So was it believing this promise of God that imputed righteousness to Abraham? Well, keep a finger there and turn to Galatians 3, which helps us to understand what it was that Abraham believed. So keep a finger there, turn to Galatians chapter 3, because there are these idiots out there that want to claim that people were saved by works in the Old Testament. There are these fools out there that want to claim, and some of them are just damnable heretics. I don't want to go as far as everyone. Some people can be a bit confused about this point, maybe, and be saved by grace through faith, but some of them are just literally preaching another gospel. And they are believing that people were, well, they were saying, How on earth is anyone going to be saved by works? Yeah, I don't care how Old Testament it was. How is anyone going to be justified by works? Well, of course, they weren't. Some will go, OK, well, yeah, no, they were saved by faith, but they could lose their salvation. Anyone heard people come out with this stuff before in the Old Testament? So I had a pastor try and tell me this. No, well, in the Old Testament, no, no, no. Well, they're saying the same way, but they could lose their salvation in the Old Testament because they didn't have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Again, if they could lose their salvation, it's works. Yeah, OK, there's however which way you try and wrap it up, it's works. OK, it's still working to keep your salvation. It's working to be saved. Well, look at Galatians chapter three and verse five says, He therefore that minister to you the spirit and worketh miracles among you doeth he it by the works of the law, by the hearing of faith, even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham and the scripture for seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. So when was this preached to Abraham? Well, go back to Genesis 12, go back to Genesis chapter 12. So we just read verse eight, which said in the scripture for seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying in thee shall all nations be blessed. And I look at Genesis chapter 12 and verse one. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee and I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Now we just read verse eight of Galatians chapter three there, which said preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying in thee shall all nations be blessed. This is what it's talking about, in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed, nations originally being families. So did Abram get saved at this point? Well, look at verse four. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him and a lot went with him and Abram was 75 years old when he departed out of Haran. Okay, bear in mind, if you look at that going, 75, the pre-flood people were living for the best part of a thousand years sometimes. I think Methuselah living up to 969, I think is a record there. That's a long life, isn't it? That is a long life. Now the ages start to decrease post-flood, but Abram was only born 352 years after the flood. So Abram's father Tyra lived until 205 years old, okay, just to give you an idea here of how long people were still living at this point. I don't think anyone can get any. I mean, what's the record right now? What do they say? Modern day record, 130 maybe at the push, 120 something. Anyone got any ideas there? 127, yeah. Yeah, is that 100%, is it? I'll take that. 127, sold to the man, the yellow coat. Okay, 127 is the world record, yeah. Okay, so 205, that's a lot past that, isn't it? Okay, so when you look at that 75, but it's still an old age, isn't it? Okay, 75, it's still some age there. And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, this is verse five now, and all their substance that they had gathered and the souls that they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sychem, unto the plain of Mori, and the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said, unto thy seed will I give this land, and there builded here an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him, and he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethlehem, pictures ten having Bethlehem on the west and Haar on the east, and there he builded an altar unto the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And for me that's when Abram got saved. Okay, that's Abraham as we know him getting saved. Now after this point there's then the split with Lot, another promise from God, he rescues Lot, he gives tithes to Melchizedek, then jump forward to Genesis chapter 15 and verse 6 where we were earlier, and it says and he believed in the Lord, he believed in the Lord, not he believed the Lord there what he said, he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. So I don't think it's that he believed what the Lord, that just that bit that the Lord had said, it's that he believed in the Lord. Like John 3 16 says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but ever last alive. For me that's because he's saved, he believes in the Lord, that's why it's counted unto him for righteousness. Okay, but did he understand the Gospel? Well he understood enough to get saved, he understood what he needed to at that point to get saved didn't he? Jump forward to Genesis 22. Now this is when Abraham is now taking his son to sacrifice him. Genesis chapter 22 and verse 6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake under Abraham his father and said, my father, and he said here am I my son, he said behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. Now that for me 100% is Abraham prophesying of the coming of Christ. Okay, notice it's a burnt offering by the way as well. Yeah, he provided a lamb, why is it a burnt offering? Because Jesus Christ went to hell for three days or three nights. Okay, that's why. It's all constantly being prophesied, constantly being pictured in the Old Testament, yet again you got saved for what it seems churches around the place that they call that heresy. It's absolutely bizarre, isn't it? Start going on about being a Catholic heresy. What are you talking about? Look, the Catholics do get the odd thing right, you know. They got the name Jesus right, you know. They do get something, it doesn't mean that it's a heresy just because the Catholic church, Catholic church apparently believe the Trinity. Yeah, it doesn't mean it's not true, does it? And in the same way, clearly Jesus Christ went to hell, yeah. Okay, clearly. Okay, it's a burnt offering. God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Look at verse 9. And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. He's not looking around for a lamb at this point, is he? Yeah, he's not going, well, just wait there and soak one come soon. No, he's getting prepared. In fact, he goes further. Verse 10, and Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. So it's not that he's going, well, yeah, I know that this, you know, God's going to provide a lamb. No, he was prophesying when he said God's going to provide himself a lamb. Okay, here he's about to slay his son. He wasn't pretending, was he? The Holy Ghost, yeah, the author of the Bible says that he took the knife to slay his son. Not he took the knife and looked like he was maybe going to. No, he took the knife to slay his son. Verse 8 was clearly a prophecy of Jesus Christ, wasn't it? Verse 8, he said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Verse 11, and the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here am I. And he said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou has not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, behind him, a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. Not a lamb, but a ram. That's an adult male sheep there. Now, point being of going there is this to show that Abraham clearly understood the Gospel, didn't he? Abraham clearly there is prophesying the Gospel. He's prophesying about Jesus Christ, really. He's prophesying about God providing himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Let's go back to Romans 4. So Abraham, for me, he saved all the way back in, I think, chapter 12, that we see that, you know, the evidence of that in chapter 13, we see clearly that he actually understands a lot about the Gospel where we've just been. Now back to Romans 4, verse 2, it says, For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath wear off to glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is a reward, not record of grace, but of debt. So anyone that is trying to work their way to heaven is a debtor to do the whole law, yeah? Anyone that wants to say, yeah, yeah, no, no, I think you've got to be good or whatever, however they want to wrap it up and picture it, they're a debtor to the law. They're a debtor to do the whole law. There's no, well, as long as you repent of each sin in the future, no, you're a debtor to do the whole law. Yeah, the whole law doesn't say, well, if you repent of every sin you do, and that's so ridiculous, isn't it? The people that come out, even know half the sins they do, yeah? You get it so often, don't you? Anyone had that today? As long as I asked for forgiveness for each sin or something like that along those lines, I had something similar myself today. Just ridiculous, isn't it? There's a lot of sins. There's a lot of sins. You'll be asking for forgiveness literally every day, multiple times. The people you're talking to, you're talking multiple, multiple times each day as well. But no, no, to him that worketh is a reward, not record of grace, but of debt. You're a debtor to do the whole law. Verse five, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. I really love this verse. I use that quite a lot when I'm out-souling. Um, hear that, though? His faith, not his baptism, not his church attendance, not his love for his neighbour. People like that one, don't they? That's quite an easy one. Well, I think as long as you love your neighbour. Don't you love your neighbour as yourself, you know? No, that's a real nice one to pick, isn't it? It's so subjective, isn't it? Oh yeah, well, I definitely love people. I'm going to heaven. It's absolutely ridiculous, isn't it? And love your neighbour as yourself. Yeah, they usually leave that bit off a bit often. It's like, yeah, as long as you love people. What does that even mean? Well, I love my wife, so yeah, I'm saved, yeah. But it's ridiculous, isn't it? But to him that worketh not. So whatever you think you're working towards, well, you're still trying to work. But believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. And look, obviously it's talking about, you know, the works of the law there anyway, but literally you could use that verse, and I've done this before, to say, look, you could literally work not at all, couldn't you? Yeah, you could literally do no good thing for God at all. But believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, your faith is counted for righteousness. And what do you mean? You could just do it. Look, you're probably going to have a very nice life, yeah, if you do absolutely nothing right your whole life, yeah? Probably not going to last very long either. And it's going to be a pretty grim existence. But if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, your faith is counted for righteousness. That's what it comes down to, isn't it? Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is a man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Turn to Psalm 32, which is what's being quoted here. Psalm 32, he said here, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Notice a tense here. Blessed is a man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And in Psalm 32, he said, saying, sorry, Psalm 32 verse 1, he said, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is a man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and whose spirit there is no guile. That's a present tense. The ETH is specifically third person singular present. So impute here is to charge attribute set to the account of. So he's saying that basically present tense, blessed is a man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. That's like an ongoing present tense. That's like that's a great eternal security verse in the Old Testament. And obviously, as we've just seen in Romans there as well, there are no sins being charged to our account present continuous. OK, there are no sins being charged to your account. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that absolutely amazing? Yeah, yeah. How many how many people how many people do you speak to? And they can be a bit trickier, can't they? Because they sound like this. Oh, yeah, grace through faith. Yeah, yeah. I'm born again. I'm born again. Yeah, I put my faith in Jesus Christ. I'm saved. They come out with all the terminology. Then when you ask him the, you know, the million dollar question, well, what if you killed someone? Oh, well, then I'd lose my salvation. Well, you can't take you can't take a man's life. You know, they start coming out with these weird things, don't they? Like or the unforgivable sins or whatever other stuff, wherever they even got this stuff from. Or they'll say, as long as I ask for forgiveness or if, well, I'd have to repent. Or they start saying, oh, I wouldn't do that. I would never do that. A Christian would not take someone's life. Really? Funny that, because David seemed to do something pretty similar, didn't he? And look, for some people, maybe murder is not something they have to struggle with on a day to day basis. But I was thinking about this. For example, say you were saved and say you are a pretty worldly saved guy. And say you were in the army and say you are out in one of these wars and say you are with some other guys who are getting a bit carried away. And the next thing you know, you're, you know, that's those civilians there. That could easily turn a murder, can't it? Yeah. Oh, well, that Christian definitely wouldn't. But we all still have the flesh, don't we? And some people do some crazy stuff. And there is no line, is there? But go back to Romans there, because in verse seven to eight of Romans four, it said, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered, not were, not were forgiven, not whose sins were covered, are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. That's amazing, isn't it? Will not, never. There are no sins that will be imputed to us. That's great, isn't it? Absolutely great. What a gift. That's amazing. That's something to appreciate. It's so much that it makes you not want to sin, doesn't it? It makes you appreciate so much that you want to try your best not to sin, don't you? Because, again, people look at it, oh, you're just giving a free pass. You're just saying you can do what you want. No, because it's funny, isn't it? Because people that really believe that, people that really believe that in the heart often, not all the time, but often, they actually want to try not to sin, don't they? Because they appreciate that as well for many reasons, obviously, and the Holy Spirit helps with that and many other things. But it's not automatic, is it? And sadly, many people don't live in the spirit at all. They live in the flesh, but they're still saved. Verse 9, cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision 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. So, again, how does that work, then, Old Testament being saved by works? Yeah, where Abraham was clearly saved long before circumcision. And turn over to Genesis 17, just to put a final end to this Old Testament work salvation nonsense. Remember that Abraham has already been stated to have believed in God and it was counted unto him for righteousness from chapter 15. Chapter 16, he marries Hagar and has Ishmael at 86 years old. Now look at Genesis chapter 17 and verse 1, when Abraham was 90 years old and nine. So we're a lot further down the line now, 13 years on. The Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him, I am the almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect. God then makes his covenant with him. And in verse 10 to 11, he commands circumcision. This is my covenant, verse 10, which he shall keep between me and you, and thy seed after thee. Every man child among you shall be circumcised, and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. It's a token or sign of the covenant, covenant, but it was his faith decades before that saved him. Okay, he was saved by his faith, not got anything to do with the covenant, has it? Verse 11, and he was, sorry, back to back to Romans, back to Romans 4, verse 11. 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 be imputed unto them also. Who's he the father of? All them that believe, all them that believe. Now turn to John 8, where Jesus shows the difference between the physical and spiritual inheritance. And look, you know, this is one of those cans that you never get bored of kicking down the street, okay? It doesn't matter if it gets, this can gets a bit crushed up. It doesn't matter if it doesn't even roll much anymore. You just keep, keep just stamping down on it and kicking it down the street, because it needs kicking. This can needs kicking down the street. Why does it need kicking down the street? Because no other church is preaching this, either because they're scared of being called some sort of whatever anti-Semite or anything else, or then the accusations that come out, or if it's because they're just so brainwashed by nonsense, like Schofield reference Bibles, Larkin and the rest of the apostates, whatever it is, you're not hearing it preached, are you? Anyone heard this preaching in a church in this nation? Very few churches in the world preach this clear, clear as day truth in the Bible. John chapter eight, and Jesus is, he's showing a difference, like I said, between the physical and spiritual inheritance here. He speaks to the Pharisees that have literally just called him a liar, okay? They've just called him a liar. Verse 33, they answered him, we be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committed sin is a servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever. If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but ye seek to kill me because my word had no place in you. So he's acknowledging that they are the physical seed here. Verse 38, I speak that which I have seen with my father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father, Jesus saith unto them, if ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. Because they're not the spiritual seed, are they? Verse 40, but now ye seek to kill me, a man hath told you the truth which I have heard of God, this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father, then said they to him, we be not born of fornication, we have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, ye would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. God's only your father once you're saved, yeah? So who were these Pharisees? Who were these Jews here? Verse 43, why do ye not understand my speech, even because ye cannot hear my word? Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode, not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speak the lie, speak of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. Isn't it absolutely bizarre that the country, and like I said, I won't stop kicking this can, yeah, that the churches around this country are literally getting people to pray for and worship, really, and put up on a pedestal, people that Jesus said are sons of the devil, yeah, whose father is the devil. Absolutely amazing, isn't it? Absolutely amazing. They go on to tell him that he has a devil, one of the sure-fire signs of reprobation. Absolutely amazing. The promises to Abraham and his seed, and throughout this book of Romans, we'll keep hitting this because it's a great truth, and it comes up time and time again. The promises to Abraham and his seed are to those who are saved, okay? He's talking about his spiritual seed. Okay, so all these idiots around there, you know, you've got to keep praying and pray for them, you know, bless them that bless him, and all this nonsense, but he's talking about to the spiritual seed. So who are you praying for? You're praying for those that hate Jesus Christ. Amazing. Verse 12, back to Romans 4. And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith, well, father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircusied. What were the steps? The faith of Abraham, long before circumcision, believing in God. For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. That's why all of this Zionism is so ridiculous, isn't it? Absolutely ridiculous. And look, you expect it from the unsaved, don't you? Okay, the unsaved, they don't understand this book, do they? They don't have a clue. I had someone today telling me how many times she read the Bible, so that kind of, even though she was unsaved, that qualified her to know. I was saying to her, look, there were scholars out there who read this Bible many times, yeah, that have read through it, they don't understand it, because they're not saved. They'll be saved to understand the Bible, but when it's saved people, then it's infuriating, isn't it? How can you understand, have the Holy Spirit in you, open this book, read through things like the book of Romans, amongst many others, read through the Gospel of John, read through pretty much every book of the New Testament, and come to the conclusion that there's these special chosen people based on their genetics, who, even though they hate Christ, even though they've rejected God, even though that they say he's got a devil, even though all that stuff that we need to keep praying for them, and keep, you know, just trying our best, and forget everyone else, let's get missionaries out to Israel, yeah? Unbelievable, isn't it? And that's what it is, it's racism, isn't it? Okay, for the promise that he should be the 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. So if those by the law, and I include them in that, obviously, and that obviously goes for anyone there who seems to think that they're saved by the law, but here it's specifically talking to these people, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect, that's why it should anger you, shouldn't it? It should anger you, because really, again, it's an attack on the Gospel, because there is, and I know they have varying levels of belief, but they do believe, a lot of these people, that there's this sort of irresistible grace, sort of salvation in the end times, where just because you are a millionth Jew or whatever, I don't, what is it? Anyone know what they're qualifying? You have to be 100% or is 50% enough? Because apparently you inherit it through your mother. Is conversion, you know, in the 8th century, as an Ashkenazi, is that enough? Does that make it okay? Or does it have to be revised after that? If you convert later on, does that make you part of the genetic line? Yeah, can anyone explain that to me? No, because it's absolute nonsense. But apparently, that means that you're automatically, if you happen to make it through to the, do you know, to the last days, you're going to automatically get saved. And just automatically, you're just going to realize that Christ is saving you and get saved at the end, yeah? And be one of the apparently 100 and whatever thousand, just what nonsense. Just what absolute nonsense, isn't it? Yeah, it is. And it's fables and endless genealogies, isn't it? Which we're told to avoid! Anyway, I didn't think I'd be hitting this in Romans 4, but it seems we're hitting it in every chapter, so I'm pleased I chose the Book of Romans. Right, so, yeah, so, where are we? Verse 14, For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. So it doesn't matter how much the law you claim to follow, no son, no father, yeah? Verse 15, Because the law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression. If you try to achieve salvation through the law, good luck to you. Yeah, good luck. James 2, 10, that says, For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offending one point is guilty of all. And we looked at that last week, how ridiculous it is to even suggest that anyone could keep the law. Verse 16, Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed, even God who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. So verse 17, that was when his name was changed to Abraham, yeah, father of many in Genesis 17, 5. By grace through faith, yeah, neither Jew nor Greek, because it's God that saves us, isn't it? It's God that saves us. Verse 18, Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. Remember that he was told this first off at over 75 years old, and again at 99 years old, Sarah being 90 or about to turn 90, yeah. 19, verse 19, And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. So Abraham's faith didn't dwindle the older he and Sarah got, yeah. He was still strong in faith, wasn't he? Can we all say the same? Everyone say the same? Faith still as strong as at the beginning, your faith the same, you know, just up there on a daily basis, and I'm not talking about, you know, salvation faith, you know, today I'm saved, tomorrow I'm not, well I don't know if I'm still saved today, I'm not talking about that sort of thing, but what about the faith that God will perform his promises to us? There are many promises in the Bible as well, about his promise of eternal life for starters though, because sometimes people get those, little doubts and they're not as strong in faith as others. You don't have to turn them, but Titus 1 2 says, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. That's a promise, isn't it there? That's a promise. And if your faith is so strong in that promise, why aren't you telling everyone else about it? Why aren't you telling everyone else about that free gift? Why are you embarrassed about that free gift? Your faith is so strong. If you know 100% sure, and I hope everyone here does know 100% sure, that they're going to heaven when they die, why aren't you telling others about it? And I know many people are telling others, but why aren't you telling absolutely everyone that you're having the opportunity to tell about it? How about his promise of rewards? Turn to Matthew chapter 6, because it's not just the reward of heaven, there are rewards that we can get in heaven, aren't there? There are rewards we can get in heaven, and we are promised rewards. If you turn to Matthew chapter 6 and look at verse 1, Matthew 6.1 says, Take heed that ye do not your arms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine arms, do not sound a trumpet before the ears of hypocrites during the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest arms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine arms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as a hypocrite, so therefore they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Now, I'll be honest, I'm sure that there are people here that have sounded the trumpet, that have sounded the trumpet when they pray, when they do their arms, prayers to be seen of men, yeah? If you believe God's promises, why are you doing that? Yeah, if you believe God's promises, why are the prayers to be seen of other people? Why the long pharisaical prayer? I'm not saying, I'm not picky on anyone here. I'm gonna have to shorten that prayer when brother John asks me to pray. Please bless the service. Praying in church is different, but look, I'll tell you what, I've been at the last church pretty much I was at, it was wicked, the praying there. Oh, do you remember the Wednesday night prayer night? Wow, it used to go around a pretty empty church, yeah? And one by one, people would have to pray, yeah? For the same thing the last person prayed for, because it's quite a short list. So it's just a new way of praying and sounding even more spiritual, yeah? Pray for a few, you know, just add a little bit extra scripture in there than the last one, you know? And it used to go around, it was absolutely terrible, wasn't it? What a way to encourage pharisaical praying, praying to be seen of men. But we shouldn't be doing that, should we? Okay, but what about when we're doing our arms and we're doing good things, you know? Is it to tell other people? Because if it is, are you trusting God's promises here? Because he promised that you'll get a reward if you don't do that, yeah? He promised us that when we're not standing at the trumpet, when we're not, you know, standing there to be seen of other people and praying to be seen of other people and doing our arms to be seen of other people and we're not blowing the trumpet before us, he will reward us. But what about his promise to provide for us as well? Do we all trust that? Look at the end of Matthew 6, where you're in Matthew 6 and verse 31 says, Therefore take no thought saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things are the Gentile seed. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the more, for the more shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient unto the day. Is it evil thereof? Everyone believe that? Yeah? Yeah, everyone believes that and trust in those rewards, you know, from the earlier verses, trust in those promises are being looked after for God to provide for us. When we seek first the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness or the kingdom of God saw in his righteousness, then all these things shall be added unto us. So why do people still skip church? To be able to earn more money. Skip soul winning to do those extra hours at work. Yeah? He said seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. So why do people do that? Because they're not trusting him, are they? Because their faith is weak in those areas. Panicking about tomorrow, prepping. Ten times to come in quick, get some more tinned beans in. Yeah, but he said seek ye first the kingdom of God. Forget my Bible reading today, I better get some more kidney beans or whatever else, whatever, some tinned fish or something else. Well, don't worry about that stuff, yeah? Take no thought for the more. For the more shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Look, sure, if you've done everything else, you feel like you're in God's will and everything else, you feel like, yeah, I want to get some tinned fish. Great. Tinned fish is good, yeah? But look, if you're just, you know, forget the things of God today, forget the soul winning, I've got to go and get tins. I'm going to go dig that hole in the garden for the bunker. Nearly there, nearly there, only another few years to go. But look, we should be setting our sights on the Kingdom of God. We should be working for him, we should be doing things for him. But and again, look, I hope everyone has strong faith, but faith will dwindle, won't it? Go back to where we were in Romans 4, because with Abraham, his faith was strong, because I'm sure at that point when he was hitting 100 mark and Sarah was 90, he's probably thinking, yeah, I don't know if that's really going to happen, that baby. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness, his faith that is it's talking about there, his faith was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification. The resurrection is so vital, isn't it? Isn't the resurrection vital? His resurrection shows that the payment was made, doesn't it? It was accepted, it was paid in full, it was done, that he was who he said he was, that it was everything. It was like it was the final piece of the jigsaw, but it was an essential piece of jigsaw, because it's an incomplete jigsaw without it. And look, just again, just a reminder, when you're preaching the gospel, it's not just believing in Jesus, okay, it's believing in the death, burial and resurrection. Yeah, don't forget that, guys. Okay, please don't forget that they need to, they need to believe. Yeah, obviously, Romans 10, 9 makes that clear, you know, that believe in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead. Okay, we need to make that clear to people, not just when we quickly skip over Romans 10, 9, you know, before we get them to pray. Yeah, make sure they believe, they have to believe that. I've had people that say they don't believe that bit. You know, I preach the gospel to people, they could believe this and believe that, and then it's like, I don't know, I don't believe it came back to life. Well, if they can't, if they cannot believe that, they can't get saved. They cannot be saved. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, which makes this really clear, 1 Corinthians in chapter 15. And verse 1 reads, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. Okay, this is showing whether or not someone really believed or not, okay, whether they really believed. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, and that it was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, after that it was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained unto this present, but some have fallen asleep. Five hundred witnesses for a reason, yeah, because this was an important, like I said, this was a vital part of the jigsaw, five hundred witnesses, was it just one person that said it, and it's all whether or not you believe that? No, he made a point of making sure there were over five hundred witnesses of that, which is one of the reasons, by the way, that people, and I don't think there's any doubt about this, we don't have to go to secular history obviously to show this, but because the Bible makes it clear that people were risking life and limb after the resurrection of Christ to preach the gospel, okay, people were getting strung up for this, people were getting killed for this, people were getting stoned for this, we see many examples obviously in scripture, because there was no doubting it, okay, there was, oh I've heard this, and I think, look, there was no doubting it, okay, it was a hundred percent true, he was raised from the dead, okay, that's why all the witnesses as well, so there is no question, there is no argument about it. After that he was seen of James and of all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me also as one born out of due time, this is Paul talking obviously, for I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all yet, not I but the grace of God which was with me, therefore whether it were I or they so we preach and so you believed. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead, but if there be no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen, and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain yeah, this is a key part of the gospel isn't it, yea and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not, for if the dead rise not then is not Christ raised, and if Christ be not raised your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins okay, what does the bible say if Christ isn't raised you're yet in your sins, then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished, they're perished they're going to hell for eternity, they're going to die for eternity in hell, because the resurrection is so important isn't it, to show that those sins were paid for, those sins were paid for that resurrection was real, and we were he is a first fruits as well of the resurrection, and we will follow yeah we will follow, so look like I said that is vital isn't it, it is vital okay it's raised again for our justification, and look like I said make sure when you're preaching the gospel, make sure that that you make that really clear to people yeah, you make that really clear and they have to believe that, and and if you don't believe that if you're I don't know that bit you know, well you ain't saved okay, you're not saved let's make that clear, if you don't believe that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, you ain't saved and I would suggest that you need to get saved yeah, because you don't want to go to hell, and anything can happen on the on the more iconic, and look this is a great chapter okay, this is a great chapter like many others, I actually had someone that I was preaching the gospel to recently, who said to me well you're just picking verses at random, and funnily enough I was at Romans 4-5 yeah, but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifiably ungodly, his faith is going from righteous, so I was like great let's look at the passage you know, and you can't read through Romans 4, could you read through Romans 4 and come away going yeah it's work salvation, yeah yeah still got to do something, still I've got to keep the commandments at least, got to repent of my sins at least, repent of your sins yeah good luck with that, but you can't you can't you can't read Romans 3 and come away with that either can you, in fact you can't read Romans 5 and come away with that either as we'll see next week, look how do they do that then, how do so many people who claim to be bible believing Christians come away with work salvation, because a natural man received not things of the spirit of God for their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them for their spiritually discerned, I hope I didn't butcher that too much, that's the truth because they don't understand it, so they could literally read it and it just they just can't understand it, but once you're saved you just keep going how, how do you come away from, I mean it's one of the first books obviously of the New Testament, after the gospel you go actually got wrong, how did you come away and go yeah work salvation, yeah you can lose your salvation, yeah yeah it's it's maddening isn't it, but we have to remember we have to remember they cannot understand without a preacher, set someone explain it to them, so as much as we can get a bit puffed up and just go oh you can't even understand that, it's only because we've got the spirit of God, it's only because someone explained it to us, that we otherwise we'd be exactly the same as the rest of them, okay we'd be exactly the same and look at it just going you know got to be good, definitely have to be good to go to heaven, you'd be like reading Romans 4 and come away going yeah yeah yeah sure you got to do something, yeah because because that's that's the carnal flesh isn't it, you want to believe you want to believe that you can earn your way, that's you know the God of this world is blinded, blind to the odds that believe not doesn't he, and and look we don't want to get puffed up about it, what we do want to do is remember that we have to go out and preach this to people, because they cannot they cannot open a bible and get saved, they cannot open Romans chapter 4, you look I had a guy come here and start telling me he wanted to give out bibles, say you just get a waste waste money, I know I said this the other week yeah what a waste of money, yeah because look you give anyone a challenge, find someone unsaved give them Romans chapter 4, and go right read that and tell me how to get saved, honestly they'll look at it they'll read through it, probably get a bit stumbled at quite a bit of it, then come away and you go what do you think someone's got to do to go to heaven, yeah probably do something good, I don't know uh keep the law, uh get circuit no circumstances you get circumcised, gotta get circumcised don't you, honestly that's what will happen, because you can't get saved just reading it, yeah they can't that's why that's why the you you know, that's why the Ethiopian eunuch said that, I cannot that's why that story's there to show us, yeah that's why they cannot hear without a preacher, yeah that's why there's so much scripture explaining that, yet how many still of what seemed to be saved people around this world, still just give out tracts, still just try and give out bibles, still just oh would you see I've flubbed the place with bibles, that'll get them saved anything but preach the gospel, but the bible says we've got to preach it doesn't it, God said go out and preach the gospel to every creature, on that let's pray, Father thank you uh for your word, thank you for just such a great chapter in the bible, a great chapter that just makes salvation so clear for those of us that are saved, and that can be used to make salvation so clear by someone with the holy spirit preaching to someone that isn't saved and that wants to hear, and Father please just help us to go and do that, help us not to get puffed up by by you know that little knowledge which puffeth up, but help us to actually you know go out and make use of that knowledge that we have, make use of that understanding that we have in the scriptures to go and show other people, and Lord we thank you, we thank you for the gift of salvation, we thank you for the gift of the the holy spirit, we thank you for the gift of the word, and we thank you for your other promises, and we pray that you just help strengthen our faith, help us to just go out and preach this to others, and help us to to all get home safely now tonight, to have a to have a good week just just you know living for you, and and hopefully going out and preach your gospel as well, and to be to return here back week, back next week for another day in your house, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.