The first song we sang this morning was “Blessed Assurance.” It’s an old-school Baptist hymnbook staple, and it’s good enough for what it is. I’ve seen evangelism/discipleship materials in which step one was get the other person to pray the sinner’s prayer, and step two was get them to embrace their assurance of salvation. That’s not what I would do, though I do talk to a considerable number of professing believers who struggle with wondering if they are truly saved; genuine assurance is a blessing for sure. 1 John is the best epistle for testing one’s confession of faith “that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13), but it is a process to “make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10, KJV), so maybe not step two. And before looking for blessed assurance, it’d be worthwhile to get a tighter hold on blessed credit.

Paul started laying ground-level gospel a couple paragraphs ago. The good news is that salvation is not by works (Romans 3:21), and mostly because we’ve already failed by works. Our works have been the wrong ones-sin, and incomplete ones-falling short of glory (Romans 3:23). But salvation is God’s work, a work that includes Christ taking the Father’s wrath our disobedience deserved and also giving us the righteous standing of Christ’s obedience.

The Jews reading this letter in Rome may have had questions, if not objections. For that matter, James’ letter (written maybe 15 years earlier), appears to say that more than faith is required for justification. Both Paul and James look to Abraham, which is what all Israel also did. Much of this next section of the epistle (our chapter 4) is about Abraham’s justification, and it leaves no room for boasting. Abraham was the first one not to get what he deserved.

Abraham’s Way (verses 1-3)

God chose Abraham and promised him blessing (Genesis 12:2). God promised to make Abraham the father of His chosen nation (Israel) and the father of a multitude of nations (Genesis 17:6). If the Law and the Prophets bear witness to righteousness apart from the law (Romans 3:21), and if Abraham is at their headwaters, then in what way was Abraham saved?

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:1–3 ESV)

The patriarch of patriarchs was Abraham, the first forefather . God called Abram out of Ur and said that in him all the nations would be blessed. The chosen line went through Abraham’s second son, Isaac, to Jacob, whose name became Israel. When the LORD revealed Himself to Moses, He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). So Abraham is the forefather according to the flesh , the ethnic people group. If you had to pick just one example, this is the guy.

Verse 1 asks the question, and verse 2 rules out works. Paul argues according to impossibility. It’s almost a full syllogism (as pointed out in the commentary by John Murray), and can be translated into standard categorical form. (Providentially, my Logic class just got to this chapter: take a singular—Abraham—as a universal, and a hypothetical—if—as a universal).

• All men justified by works are men who have reason to boast.
• (All) Abraham was a man justified by works.
• Therefore, (All) Abraham was a man with a reason to boast.

The problem is that the minor/second premise is false, which makes the argument fall apart. We know the minor premise is false because of Scripture.

The authority for our logic is God’s Word. Paul quotes from Genesis 15:6, and it’s the first declaration of righteousness in Scripture. God had already called Abram (chapter 12), Abram and Sarai had already sojourned in Egypt (chapter 12), Abram had separated from Lot (chapter 13) and had to rescue Lot (chapter 14), and after all that, Abram said to the LORD, “You have given me no offspring” (Genesis 15:3). The LORD took Abram outside and said that his offspring would be numbered like the number of stars (Genesis 15:5). Abraham believed God, and God counted or “credited” that belief as righteousness .

Counted is the key word, used 11 times in the chapter, and five times in these first eight verses. It refers to calculation, to a reckoning, to take into account, to credit (NASB). Abraham’s righteous status before God did not come because of anything he did, but God counted the believing.

A Worker’s Wages (verses 4-5)

Paul follows up Abraham’s justification with a general principle about the differences between wages earned and gifts received.

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, (Romans 4:4–5 ESV)

Workers get a wage; they get paid. When you put in forty hours, your boss isn’t doing anything gracious to multiply your hourly rate by the hours clocked. That’s not a gift, that’s what you earned. What is due is what you’ve obligated the employer to compensate.

In salvation, if works were the way to justification, then you could say justification was a debt to be paid by God. Human works put God, if He was to be just, into the position of debtor.

Instead, we believe for justification, and we believe that God is the one who justifies. He declares the ungodly , the guilty, clean.

Our justification is by faith not works, our justification is by grace not merit, our justification is a gift. This letter to the Romans, and the good news of redemption, is about gift. More gift than the sun is the Son, and more than breath is His blood, and more than fruit is the indwelling Spirit, and all the good is gift. The central event in human history is gift. The nature of God is that of generous giver. Paul argues in Romans 8 that if the Father has given His Son, how will He not with the Son graciously give us all things (Romans 8:32)?

Sinner, could you get better news?

David’s Blessing (verses 6-8)

These verses give Scriptural support to the principle in verses 4-5.

just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not
count his sin.”
(Romans 4:6–8 ESV)

Abraham was, without doubt, the most important forefather, and the recipient of a broad covenant. David was, without doubt, the most important national king, and the recipient of a more specific covenant. David is also a clear example of a man whose works condemned him.

Paul quotes Psalm 32. Psalm 32 isn’t explicitly tied to David’s sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, but the lyrics immediately following the ones Paul quotes surely apply.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
(Psalm 32:3–4 ESV)

David knew what he deserved. He was weighed down by his guilt, wrung out and withered by his conscience. Forgiveness was a relief. So, blessed is the man who is forgiven .

Note that Paul quotes David’s part about the man against who the Lord will not count his sin . But Paul’s point has been about the man for whom the Lord will count righteousness. It is the same word we’ve been tracking, count (or “credit” from λογίζομαι). This is the other side of the same count. One side is when God counts faith as righteousness, the other side is when God counts sins as forgiven.

Justification includes both righteousness in place of unrighteousness and remission of unrighteousness. So, yes, blessed is such a man!

Double-down on the privilege, the blessing, the granted favor. It is privilege, it is not because you worked for it. This blessing is gift, from start to finish. This blessing is forgiveness, which corroborates that it’s not something you earned.

If someone fussed at you, “So you’re saying you think you have more privilege than me?” I’d tell you to respond, “No, I’m saying you don’t even know how much more privilege I have than you.”

Conclusion

The first blessing from God to man was purpose (Genesis 1:28). Perhaps the next most important is forgiveness (back unto fruitfulness, so in Psalm 1).

Men of faith, and women of faith, need reminders of forgiveness. Men of the world, and women of the world, are desperate for it.

Church, this is where our #blessed riches start. Peace with our Maker and love from the Spirit and lightness of soul aren’t all that God gives, but none of His other gifts mean the same without justification. Our justification by faith alone is the prima facie, that is, the first impression of our jealousy provocation.

God forgives you without needing to ask anyone else. God forgives your neighbor who sinned against you without asking your permission. Blessed are those who are forgiven, and blessed are those who forgive as they have been forgiven (Colossians 3:13). Don’t hold grudges against other believers, because then you are actually holding your grudge against God.

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Charge

Many years ago I filled up a U-Haul truck with diesel when all big trucks ran on diesel, or so I thought. The problem was, it was not a diesel truck, and it didn’t take long before the truck just quit running, on an eight lane freeway outside Los Angeles in the middle of the night.

Your tank is meant to run on grace, grace which will make you strong. Your tank will conk out, later or sooner, if you run on your strength, trying to earn grace. May you be filled with faith for your work, because you will conk out if you try to put in works first.

Benediction:

[M]ay God make you worthy of his calling and fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12, ESV)