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Sermon #49[i] — Romans Series
Title: “We Believe…”
Text: Romans 4:24-25 Subject: True Faith Introduction:
What do you believe? What is your confession of faith? The title of my message is — “We Believe.” If you will open your Bible to the last two verses of Romans 4, I will show you every believer’s confession of faith. Here, in Romans 4:24-25, we have before us that which God the Holy Spirit declares is believed by all who are born of God. “We Believe” — That’s my subject. — Romans 4:24-25. We will begin right in the middle of verse 24.
(Romans 4:24) We believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; (25) Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Faith — true, saving faith — is in all ages the same. The faith of Abraham is the same faith Paul had and the same faith we have, if we are born of God. Those who are taught of God are all taught the same thing. We have “like precious faith” with the godly of all the ages. It is always the same faith in the same God and the same Savior. That is what the Apostle Paul has been asserting throughout this chapter. Abraham’s faith and David’s faith, the faith of God’s elect among the Jews of the Mosaic age and the faith of God’s elect among the Gentiles, the faith of God’s people in Paul’s day and the faith of God’s people today is the same faith.
(Romans 4:24) We believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; (25) Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Proposition: Faith believes God and receives his Word as his Word because he is God.
We do not believe God because his Word can be proved, but because he is God. Abraham is held before us as the example by which this is demonstrated (Romans 4:16-25).
(Romans 4:16) 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, (17) (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. (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. (19) And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: (20) He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; (21) And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. (22) And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. (23) Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; (24) But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; (25) Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Divisions: Here are three things we believe. If we are saved, we believe these three things. If we are taught of God, we believe these three things. If we are born again, we believe these three things. 1. We believe God as God, one who is able to raise the dead. 2. We believe that God’s dear Son, Jesus our Lord, really died upon the cursed tree because of our sins. 3. We believe that Christ, our crucified Substitute, was raised from the dead because of our justification.
God
First, we believe God as God, one who is able to raise the dead. Paul shows us, in this chapter, that Abraham believed in God as God who is able to bring life out of death, God who is able to raise the dead. — That is precisely what we believe!
Though he was more than a hundred years old, and though his wife Sarah was ninety, Abraham was fully persuaded that God was able to perform what he had promised. He believed that he and Sarah would have a son, a son by whom the woman’s Seed, Christ Jesus would come into the world and redeem and save his people. — Though his loins were dried up and dead, though Sarah’s womb was dried up and dead, Abraham believed God could bring life out of death! — That’s exactly what we believe.
We believe that God can raise the dead! He who is God has promised to give life eternal to sinners dead in trespasses and in sins. And he who is God is able to perform that which he has promised. —— We read in the Book of God about two of God’s Prophets (Elijah -1 Kings 17 and Elisha 2 Kings 4) who took dead boys and stretched themselves upon them, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand, typifying our Savior’s gift of life to our poor souls. · Stretching himself out in death to give us life. · Breathing into us the Breath of life, his Holy Spirit, infusing his life into us!
· Ezekiel 16 · Ezekiel 37 · Jarius’ Daughter · The Widow’s Son · Lazarus
In Genesis 22 the Lord God proved Abraham’s faith again. God told his friend, Abraham, to take his son, his only son, whom he dearly loved, and offer him up as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Abraham promptly obeyed. Believing God, he went his three days’ journey, his beloved son carrying the wood for the sacrifice. They went to the top of the mountain and Abraham drew his knife to slay his son. His hand was divinely stopped in due time and a ram was offered in Isaac’s place.
How could Abraham do such a thing? He believed God was able to raise the dead. He was sure that God would keep his promise and that, even if his son must die, God would raise him from the dead! Abraham trusted God as God, as God before whom nothing is impossible. He believed that God could bring life out of death, that God could raise the dead. — That’s what we believe. — We do not believe God because we can prove that what he says is true. We prove that his Word is true by believing him (Hebrews 11:1-3).
(Hebrews 11:1-3) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (2) For by it the elders obtained a good report. (3) Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
We believe that God can raise the dead.
(Romans 4:24) We believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; (25) Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
We believe that God brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep. We believe that Jesus our Lord assuredly died and that he was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, and that on the third day he rose again and left the tomb, to die no more. This we most firmly believe to be a matter of fact — not apiece of fiction, or a piece of poetry — but a matter of fact. Like any other reliable fact of history, we accept it without question.
We believe that sinners, dead in trespasses and in sins, God can raise from the dead and cause to walk with him in newness of life. · Raised from the Dead with Christ Representatively when He was Raised! · Raised from the Dead with Christ Spiritually in Regeneration by God the Holy Ghost!
We believe that though we die we shall live again and that, although worms may devour this body, yet in our flesh we shall see God! At the sound of the archangel’s trumpet, the dead in Christ shall rise and all the dead from land or sea shall be gathered before the Great White Throne. However scattered the particles of their bodies may have been, in ten thousand devious ways, it matters not — the body that was sown in weakness shall be raised in power — that which was sown a corruptible body shall be raised in incorruption!
We believe that, even now, as to spiritual things, though we are so terribly dull and dead to the things of God, he can raise the dead! · When we feel ourselves heavy and dull, and the music of our worship drags wearily, God can quicken us. · When our souls are languishing, he can raise us up! · Though we know many who are yet without spiritual life and separated from God by wicked works, we speak to them the everlasting Gospel with the full persuasion that God can raise the dead, even those who are dead in trespasses and sins! Though they were dead, yet shall they live! We believe this and rejoice in it!
The Triune God
We believe God as God, the Triune Jehovah, trusting him as God in the whole affair of our salvation. Saving faith looks to God the Father as God, in this matter of salvation. — “We believe on him that raised up Jesus, our Lord, from the dead!” I like the expression that is used in the Book of Genesis concerning Abraham and his son when they were going to the Mount of Sacrifice. It is written, “They went both of them, together.” And in the great Sacrifice that was made for our sins, we may say of the God Father and God the Son, “They went both of them, together.” · In the Covenant! · In the Incarnation! · In Gethsemane! · At Calvary!
“They went both of them, together.” — Jesus our Lord gave himself for us; and God the Father gave his Son, his other Self for us. In a sense, we might say, God the Father suffered for us, for he gave his Son, whom he loved, to suffer on our behalf. He gave up the Darling of his heart and, in the Person of his dear Son, he became our Savior.
God the Son, Jesus our Lord, is the Divine Mediator, the incarnate God, who is our Redeemer and Savior. I will say more about this in a just a minute. But, oh, how we rejoice to know and believe that Jesus our Lord is Jesus our Savior! — There is but one way of coming to the Father and that is through his Son, Jesus Christ! You cannot approach God without the one Mediator between God and men. And God will not come to you, but trough Christ the Mediator!
And God the Spirit it is who brings Christ to sinners and brings sinners to Christ by the power of his omnipotent grace and immaculate mercy! · He brings Christ to the sinner in the Word. · He brings the sinner to Christ by the Word.
Yes, we believe God as God! — “We believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead!” All who are born of God believe God. We believe him as God who is able to raise the dead! · Sovereign! · Holy! · Just! · And Good!
(Psalm 68:20) He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.
Delivered to Death
That’s the first thing we believe. We believe God as God. Second, we believe that God’s dear Son, Jesus our Lord, really died upon the cursed tree because of our sins.
(Romans 4:24) We believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; (25) Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was delivered into the hands of justice and death, according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, for our offenses, for our sins, when he was made sin for us.
(Isaiah 53:1) Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? (2) For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (3) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (4) Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (7) He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (8) He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. (9) And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (10) Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (11) He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (12) Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
“And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” — Can you grasp this glorious truth? The Triune Jehovah, the Lord God against whom we have sinned, from whom we have strayed, whose law we have broken, whose justice must be satisfied, has laid on the Lord Jesus Christ, his own dear Son, all the sins of all his elect. The Son of God was made sin for us, so that he might be justly punished for sin in our stead, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
(2 Corinthians 5:21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Our sins were laid on Christ, our great Substitute, by whose death justice was satisfied and our sins forever put away!
Our iniquity itself was laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. — Not only was the Lord of Glory punished for sin, he was made sin. Not only did Christ bear the wrath and indignation of God against sin, he was made sin. The Son of God was made sin for us because there was no possible way for God’s elect to be discharged of their sins, but for Christ to be made sin.
God’s eternal determination to redeem was a matter of pure, free, sovereign grace. · God did not have to redeem anyone. · There was nothing in us to compel God’s favor.
But once God determined to redeem and save an elect people, he could do it only by the satisfaction of justice, only by making Christ to be sin for us. — If righteousness could come by law, by anything we could do, then Christ died in vain (Galatians 2:21).
Illustration: Darius’ Dilemma (Daniel 6:4-17).
(Proverbs 17:15) He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
Be sure you understand this: — God almighty could not justify his people unless he found a way to make them righteous; and he could not punish his Son unless he made him to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The Lord God looked upon Christ as the Surety of his elect in the covenant of grace, and said, — “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom” (Job 33:24). — And he “laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
All the sins of all the elect were gathered together as one huge hideous, obnoxious load, and made to meet upon Christ. He was made sin for us and punished as the sinner in our place (Psalms 40:12; 69:5; Zechariah 13:7). — This was a real transfer of sin, not just a post-it note on the Savior’s forehead saying “sin.” — “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all!” — “He hath made him to be sin for us!”
Illustration: When our Lord made the water wine (John 2), he did not make the water look like wine, or taste like wine, he made the water wine.
(Psalms 40:12) For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
(Psalms 69:5) O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.
(Zechariah 13:7) Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
By this means “the law and justice of God had full satisfaction and our recovery from ruin and destruction is procured” (John Gill).
Our iniquity really did become our Substitute’s iniquity, when the Lord God laid it on him. — Speaking as our Substitute, the Son of God cried, “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me...My sins are not hid from thee” (Psalms 40:12; 69:5). The Lord Jesus Christ never knew sin. Yet, he died as the greatest sinner who ever lived, for he was made sin for us, and was made to bear in his body all the sins of all his elect.
Christ really did bear all our sin, just as a Surety is really the debtor when he willingly puts himself in the room of another.
Illustration: Grider’s Experience
Christ gave his bond as our Surety in the covenant of grace. God the Father, having accepted Christ as our Surety, cannot look for payment from us. If he will have payment for sin, he must have it from him upon whom the debt has been laid (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).
(2 Corinthians 5:18-21) And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (19) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (20) Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. (21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Payment God cannot twice demand, First at my bleeding Surety’s hand, And then again at mine!
It is the Lord God himself who made his darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to be sin for us. — “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” It was the Lord God himself who delivered his dear Son up to die, when he made him sin for us! — Sin, the greatest burden in the world, the most loathsome thing in the universe, the load that must have crushed our souls into hell’s eternal misery, has been laid upon the God-man by God’s own hand!
(Isaiah 53:10) Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
This great, mighty transfer of sin, from the sinner to the sinner’s Surety was... · Sought by Infinite Love. · Conceived by Infinite Wisdom · Ordained by Infinite Grace. · Executed by an Infinite Mystery — The Mystery of Redemption — A Mystery of Mercy — A Mystery of Justice.
God the Father laid the sins of his elect on Christ that his own justice might be satisfied in the slaughter of his own dear Son (2 Corinthians 5:21).
(2 Corinthians 5:21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
God the Son laid sin upon himself for the redemption of his people (1 Peter 2:24).
(1 Peter 2:24) Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
God the Holy Spirit lays sin upon Christ in the revelation of the Gospel (John 16:8-11).
(John 16:8-11) And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (9) Of sin, because they believe not on me; (10) Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; (11) Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
We do not lay our sins upon Christ by faith. We see our sins laid on him, punished in him, and removed by him by faith; but faith does not lay anything on Christ.
This is the most soul comforting truth in all the world. — “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” — “Who was delivered for our offenses!” —The transfer of sin from you to Christ is not something that must be done. It is something already done. The Book of God does not say, “The Lord shall lay the iniquities of us all upon Christ if we will meet certain conditions and terms.” It says, — “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all!” — The Lord has done it! There is nothing for you to do! Faith simply receives, believes, and rejoices in what the Lord has done. It adds nothing to it.
(Romans 5:10-11) “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (11) And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”
The Lord God applies the pardon of sin at conversion; but our sins were laid upon Christ and put away by him long before we believe.
God the Father laid our sins upon his dear Son, our Surety, in his eternal operations of redemption and grace (Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:18-21). — “The works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 4:3).
(Revelation 13:8) And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
(1 Peter 1:18-21) Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, (21) Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
God executed his decree, laying sin upon his Son when he hung upon the cursed tree; and he will never make another transfer of sin!
(Psalms 32:1-2) Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. (2) Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
(Romans 4:8) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
There is not a moment in time, or a condition possible, in which God will transfer sin back from Christ to his people. Sin, once laid on the Scapegoat, is carried away into the land of forgetfulness, never to be seen, or brought back, again! Our message is “DONE” not “DO.”
“Nothing, either great or small, Nothing, sinner, no; Jesus did it, did it all, Long, long ago.
Weary, working, plodding one, Why toil you so? Cease your doing; all was done Long, long ago.
Till to Jesus’ work you cling By a simple faith, “Doing” is a deadly thing, “Doing” ends in death.
Cast your deadly “doing” down, Down at Jesus’ feet, Stand in Him, in Him alone, Gloriously complete!”
Raised Again
1st We believe God as God. 2nd We believe that Jesus our Lord really died upon the cursed tree because of our offenses.
And, third, we believe that Christ, our crucified Substitute, was raised from the dead because of our justification. Our blessed Savior came forth from the tomb on the third day after he was crucified and buried, because he had, by the sacrifice of himself, brought in everlasting righteousness, put away our sins, and forever justified his people from all things!
(Romans 4:24) We believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; (25) Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
He died in the room and stead of his people, and by dying made satisfaction for their sins. He rose again as our Head and Representative, being legally discharged, acquitted, and justified from all sin. And when he was discharged, acquitted, and justified from all sin as our Surety, so were we!
(Romans 4:24) We believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; (25) Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Oh, may God give you grace to believe him, to rest your soul in the finished work of Christ, “who was delivered for our offenses and was raised, again, for our justification!” Behold him, yonder in heaven, Christ the Lord, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him!
Amen!
Don Fortner
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