1.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our rock and our redeemer. In the message from God’s Word today we’re
going to look at the Epistle lesson from Romans 4:1-8 & 13-17. We who live here in America, live in a nation
that’s obsessed with credit. Everyone
wants to have a perfect credit score so that they can buy what they want, when
they want it. But, in God’s Word the
Apostle Paul reminds us that we can’t earn God’s favor or get ourselves out of
our spiritual debt of sin. Instead we
need someone to get us out of our spiritual debt and punishment. The message from God’s Word is entitled, “Perfect Credit.” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
It’s been said that more Americans are in debt
these days than ever before. Many blame credit cards as the problem. It’s
easier for people to spend and it’s easier to put off paying the bill. “Buy now! Pay later!” That’s the mantra
that people hear every day in our nation.
It’s no wonder why people are so far in debt. In fact, it can take people years to pay off
their credit card debt, let alone their student loans, car loans, and mortgages
on their homes. Because of this, it’s not surprising that many lending agencies
have sprung up, which are devoted to decreasing one’s debt. Some offer to
consolidate our bills. Others suggest a “low
interest loan” to help pay off our bills. And then others encourage us to
tap into our home’s equity to pay off those pesky bills. No wonder people have bumper stickers on
their cars that say, “I owe, I owe, it’s
off to work I go…”
3.
But,
God handles a lending agency of his own; only He takes care of the ultimate
debt. GOD OFFERS US THE ULTIMATE CREDIT ADVANCE through our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ! First, our Lord absorbs
the debt of the law. Second, He offers us the gift of
salvation in its place. The Apostle Paul
says in Romans 4:1-8, “What then shall we
say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if
Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before
God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was
counted to him as righteousness." 4 Now to the one who works, his wages
are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work
but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as
righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom
God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose
lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man
against whom the Lord will not count his sin."
4.
This
section of Scripture hits us right between the eyes! It’s as if the apostle is
giving all of us a wakeup call. He’s reminded us we’re in dire straits
spiritually. We’ve racked up an enormous debt before God. The apostle Paul says
in Romans 3:23: “There is no difference,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This debt is
common to all people. Every person is born owing God because of original sin. This
debt increases throughout our lives, as sin increases more and more. The
problem is that all those sins – our failure to love God and our failure to
love one another – are credited to our accounts. God has done a credit check on
each of us and found that we’ve fallen short. We’re buried under a load of
sin. We’re spiritually bankrupt and we
know it.
5.
For
this reason, we’re so desperate to try to get out of this debt of sin that we’ll
try anything. We even try a payment plan
of our own. We try to access God’s ATM, convincing him that he should give us a
loan on his grace. But, we fool
ourselves into thinking that we can earn God’s grace and somehow pay off our
debt of sin. People in Paul’s day had
such foolish notions. The Jews turned to Abraham as an example of someone who
was right with God. “If anybody had a
clean credit history with God, it was Abraham!” so they argued. After all,
his life was full of righteous works. He obeyed God, so he must have earned the
right to be forgiven. That notion began
to grow in their minds, and they applied that flawed thinking to themselves. “If Abraham could earn heaven by his good
deeds, then I must be able to as well; after all, I’m a descendant of Abraham”,
so the Jews thought. Now, Abraham was the father of the Israelites. He was
the head of the Jewish nation and life. The Jewish people thought that since
they were descendants of Abraham they had an automatic connection to God’s
grace and a clean credit history in His eyes.
6.
The
apostle Paul cuts through all of this silliness. He tells us where to look so
that we can be certain of a clean credit history before God. Romans 4:3 says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited
to him as righteousness.’” “Look to
God’s Word,” Paul says, “trust what
God tells you.” What did Abraham do to earn heaven? He did nothing. He
simply believed and God credited Abraham’s faith to his account. Here we see that we can’t clean away our debt,
only God can. God absorbs all of our debt through faith in His Son Jesus Christ
that He has given to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. He takes our
guilt and shame from us. He absorbs our selfish pride and envy. He drained all
of that debt from our accounts and onto his Son, Christ Jesus. Then He sent his
own Son to the bank to pay our debts. He condemned him to the cross. God made
his Son spiritually bankrupt and forsaken. He did all of this so we could have perfect credit when we come before His
heavenly court.
7.
God
offers to all of us the gift of salvation through His Son as the Apostle Paul
tells us. God has absorbed all of our sins. He cancels the debt by paying it
for us, and in its place he offers us the gift of salvation; something that’s
priceless. I’m reminded of a certain
credit card commercial, it’s the one that depicts a father and son at the ball
game: “A baseball hat: $8.00. One ball
glove: $15.00. Season tickets: $200. Spending time with your son: Priceless.”
The point of the commercial is quite simple. MasterCard makes it possible for you to enjoy the better, priceless
things in life. Well, we’re able to enjoy blessings beyond anything this world
has to offer! No plastic card can purchase the greater blessings of salvation. We
have the Master’s Card. We have the
blood and righteousness of Jesus credited to our account – that’s priceless!
8.
We’re
card-carrying Christians because we have unlimited access to God’s grace. We
get to spend on our Savior’s account. What joy to know that we can spend the
blessings of Christ, which He freely gives to us! We’re able to spend on His
forgiveness! Whenever we confess our sins to God, we charge on His account! We
can charge on Jesus’ credit line of peace. Whenever worry or loneliness assails
us, we know that our Savior is always with us. Nothing can separate us from his
love. And knowing that provides the ultimate sense of peace!
9.
This
account of grace can never be overdrawn or emptied. Access to God’s grace is
ours through faith. It’s a free gift from God. This grace is ours when we
believe and trust in His forgiveness and love. Even our faith – the ability to
believe – is a gift from God given to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Faith believes that the promises God has
shown to us in Christ Jesus will never fail.
The proof is taken from the life of Abraham. Paul tells us in Romans
4:17, “As it is written: ‘ I have made
you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he
believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as
though they were.” God’s promises stand fulfilled. Abraham’s children are “of many nations.” We’re proof of this
fact. God appointed Abraham as our father in the faith. How did Abraham know
this? God gave life to that promise. Abraham and Sarah were unable to have children. Sarah was barren.
Abraham was too old. But, God gave them a child, Isaac. In doing so, God gave
life to the nation of Israel. Isaac is one of the forefathers of the Israelites.
10.
The same God who gave form and life to the
universe is the same God who still gives life to us. The same Lord, who gave
Abraham a son, gives us his Son. We can now place all the debt of our sins at
Jesus’ feet and trust in His abundant grace to cancel all our debt. Trust in
God’s promises. The Apostle Paul reminds
us, “Abraham is the father of all the
faithful, because he believed in God’s unlimited credit advance of grace.” He
was given perfect credit and righteousness before the Lord and so have we.
God’s grace was credited to Abraham just as it’s credited to us. Now, that’s
priceless! Amen.
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