Ten years before D-Day (90 years ago), another counter-attack was made by many German pastors. We can call it G-Day, because it was an attempt by courageous pastors to take back the Gospel from Nazi influence. Lutheran, Reformed, and Moravian pastors gathered in the city of Barmen to write the Barmen Declaration. They wrote to clarify the Gospel and strengthen the church in Germany which was deeply compromised by Nazi oversight and anti-Semitic ideas. The statement was centered on six evangelical truths: Jesus Christ, as testified in Scripture, is the Word of God. He is God’s revelation and the Church’s authority Jesus Christ forgives our sins and claims our entire lives. Jesus Christ acts in the Church through the Holy Spirit by means of the Word and the Sacraments. Offices in the Church are not a matter of power and rule over others; rather, they carry out the ministry of the whole congregation. God has established the state to provide justice and peace, and the Church to bring people into His eternal kingdom. The Church’s mission is to deliver the message of the free grace of God to all people The book of Romans is a declaration too – for Christians to be courageous in the face of power and corruption. REVIEW: Romans begins with the BAD NEWS: All have sinned and are under God’s wrath. THE SOLUTION IS NOT: • Good works. • Religious rites and privileges. • Law-keeping. (Gal 3:10) THE SOLUTION IS: • Salvation is by faith alone through Christ alone. • Romans 3:23 NASB, ... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus…” • Justified means to declare righteous, credit as righteous, cleared, acquitted. In Romans 4, Paul calls Abraham to the witness stand to testify. Abraham will prove that faith alone is the true way of justification. Abraham was not justified by works. Romans 4:1 (NASB), “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 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 credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, the wages are not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness…” • Abraham is the father of the Jewish faith. • Was Abraham justified before God by his good works or faith? • But Abraham, did not work for God. He didn’t even know God when God called Him. V5 says he was ungodly when his faith was credited as righteousness as a gift! We meet Abram, as he was called, in Genesis 12. He was 75 yrs. old. • God spoke to Abram, “Go to the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. All the families in the earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants including a promised seed (that’s ultimately going to be Jesus). • All Abram had was God’s promises. He believed even though he and his wife were barren. • Abraham teaches us what kind of faith God favors – bare belief in what God says is true, even when it seems impossible. • All we need is God’s promise. That’s enough to step out in faith. Abraham was not justified by circumcision. Romans 4:10 (NASB), How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; 11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe…” • Circumcision was/is a very important religious Jewish rite. It was God’s mark/seal on his people. • But, God had already credited Abram with righteousness, years before Abraham was circumcised (Genesis 17). • Religious rites, whatever they are, do not make anyone right with God. • Once you believe Jesus, then you seal it by being baptized. Abraham was not justified by the law. Romans 4:13 (NASB), For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. • The law here means the 10 commandments and the law of Moses. • But, Abraham could not keep the law of Moses! Why? • Moses came 430 years after the time of Abraham (Galatians). • Abraham didn’t have the law, he had the promise! Abraham is the father of all who believe. Romans 4:19 (NASB), Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Romans 4:23 (NASB), Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over because of our wrongdoings, and was raised because of our justification. • V24 – tells us that everyone who believes in Jesus is credited with righteousness, just as Abraham. • V25 – tells us it all because of Jesus death and resurrection, we are forgiven and declared righteous by the free grace of God. • This is the true faith we must contend for in our day. Calvin's Commentary, “Let us remember that we are all in the same condition as Abraham. Our circumstances are all in opposition to the promises of God. He promises us immortality: yet we are surrounded by mortality and corruption. He declares that He accounts us just: yet we are covered with sins. He testifies that He is propitious and benevolent towards us: yet outward signs threaten His wrath. What then are we to do? We must close our eyes, disregard ourselves and all things connected with us, so that nothing may hinder or prevent us from believing that God is true.” CONCLUSION: How was our father in the faith,Abraham, made right with God? (That’s the question in Romans 4). • Not by good works (4:1-8) • Not by religious rite (4:9-12) • Not by law keeping (4:13-17) • Abraham was made right with God by faith. By believing and trusting in God’s Promise/Word. • The same is true for us. We are put right with God the same as Abraham. By believing God’s Word and Promise. That promise is ultimately Jesus. “Faith is a decision-making process, based on the promises of God, and for the glory of God, without wavering in unbelief due to fear, circumstances, or setbacks.”