Sermon: “Surrounded by Songs of Deliverance”
TEXT: Romans 4:5-8
REVIEW
1. Imputed Righteousness: For centuries people have wondered whether the Bible really teaches that all the righteousness we could ever need comes to us only by imputation – that is as a credit that comes from outside ourselves. The verses we considered last week prove this point. Paul cites the case of Abraham as the rule concerning the only way that we can receive righteousness. “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
2. To him who works, wages are not counted as grace but as debt: If we were able to justify ourselves before God based on the merit of our own works, then righteousness would come to us as something that God owed to us, like wages. Our salvation would not be by God’s grace, but by our works, and God would be in our debt, until He paid us what He owed us. This kind of thinking turns the whole world upside-down. It is not correct.
TODAY’S PASSAGE:
5 But to him who does not work
but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is accounted for righteousness,
6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."
1. To him who does not work…
Paul seems to be particularly provocative in his statements in this passage, as if to drive home his point regarding the distinction between the way of mercy through faith in Christ, and the way of merit-based works righteousness through our own efforts. He starts by saying “to him who does not work.” He might have said, “to him who is not counting on his own merit,” or “to him who knows that he does not provide all of the necessary perfection of complete obedience to God’s holy laws.” Instead he says “to him who does not work.”
You can almost hear the friendly objectors who would be reading over the scribe’s shoulder as these words were written. “Are you sure you want to put it that way? That could be easily misunderstood.” What would their concern be? That people will get the idea that Paul is saying that obedience is unimportant, and not even encouraged.” Yet Paul keeps on dictating.
Why didn’t he qualify his words? We know that he cares about encouraging the church to live lives of fruitful obedience. We can read about that especially beginning at chapter twelve. Why say here that righteousness comes “to him who does not work…”? Why not just say that righteousness comes to him who is not trusting in his own works, or to him whose works do not count for works righteousness?
2. … but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly
Before we answer that question, we might as well move on to the very next phrase, because it is also provocative. Paul describes God in verse 5 as the one who “justifies the ungodly.” That may not seem like a strange statement to you if you are used to thinking about the meaning of the cross of Christ. As Romans 5:6 says, “when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” But do you realize what a radical idea it is that God would justify the ungodly? There are about 25 uses of the word “ungodly” in the Bible. Psalm 3 says that God has broken the teeth of the ungodly. Peter says that the “ungodly” were those who were destroyed in the flood at the time of Noah. He says that the inhabitants of the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah were ungodly, and that hell awaits the ungodly. Psalm 1 in the Old Testament and Jude in the New Testament use this word repeatedly to speak of God’s coming judgment. Paul could have just said that God justifies the repentant, or that God justifies the believer. But he does not. He says that God is the one who justifies the ungodly.
Here’s another thing to think about. Another word for the “ungodly” is the “unrighteous,” and justification has to do with declaring someone righteous. Look at what Paul is saying here! God declares as righteous those who are unrighteous. That’s what it really means when we say that God justifies the ungodly. It might help us to get the point here if we substitute some heinous sin for the word “ungodly.” God declares the murderer as righteous. God justifies the child molester and the thief. It is radical.
So returning to our question, why is Paul being provocative here? Why does he say that God justifies the ungodly man – the man who does not do works of righteousness? The answer is this. We all have such a sinful bent in the direction of propping up ourselves before God based on our own merits, that we will simply not understand the truth of justification by grace through faith, unless we receive this strong and shocking medicine that comes to us in these words. God justifies the ungodly. Christ died for the ungodly. Blessings of righteousness come to the man who does not work. If we do not come to grips with these truths as they are stated in today’s passage, then we may hear the words “justification by faith,” but quickly make the translation in our hearts, supposing that the Apostle surely is talking about good people like us. Paul must really mean that if people will be wise and make the right choice, and start behaving, then they will be credited with the righteousness of Christ just like all the good folks in our church have been. But this is not what Paul is saying. So he speaks very strongly to us. Without even the slightest bit of merit from your choices or from your works, and with much evidence of your hard-hearted rebellion and treason, God declared you righteous based only on the works of His Son, in whom you have trusted.
3. David describes the blessedness of the man…
Last week, we began to see that this was Abraham’s story, and we will have more to say about this in the rest of Romans 4. But now Paul brings us to the next piece of biblical evidence for this doctrine by quoting Psalm 32, a psalm of David. He says here that this imputed righteousness was God’s gift not only to Abraham. It was also this same grace that David wanted to sing about. “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”
Let’s look at the context of Psalm 32, and see what insights we can glean from David’s song. (Read Psalm 32). David starts with the verses quoted by Paul. These first two verses are the point of the psalm, that there is great blessedness connected with the forgiveness of God. To illustrate this point, David, in verses 3-7, tells a story from his own life. The story can be summarized like this: 1. I was resisting God, and things were not going well. 2. I finally resolved to admit my sin to God, and to take this situation to Him. 3. God forgave me and surrounded me with songs of deliverance.
In the last four verses of the song David does a very interesting thing. He speaks to all of us based on his experience with God and urges us to get the point of it all. He says that the answer for guilty people is simply to trust in God, because steadfast covenant love encircles every man whose trust is in the Lord. It’s that simple.
Now why did the Apostle Paul quote this psalm in talking about justification by faith? First, it is obvious that David is a transgressor, and just as we saw with Abraham, the way to righteousness for David was through faith, not through his own works. The point of the Psalm is to trust in the Lord, not in yourself, because the Lord has the power of forgiveness, of pardon, of covering, of not counting iniquity, of safety, and of songs of deliverance. What is deliverance? It’s when your stuck and you can’t get out of something, and at just the right time, the hero comes and saves you. That’s deliverance. “How Great Thou Art” makes a much better hymn title than “How Great I Art.” That’s not just because of a mismatch between a subject and a predicate. It’s because true deliverance for you comes from outside you when you have no works left to give, and you can only trust that the covenant faithfulness of God that surrounds those who trust in Him. The first reason that Paul quotes this song of David is that the best songs of deliverance only make sense with a theology of justification by faith.
The second reason why Paul quotes Psalm 32 is that this particular song is just the perfect one for us to learn from if we need to understand that justification by faith is not just for Abraham and not just for David. Justification by faith is for everyone who will trust God. In this psalm David speaks of his own experience, but then instructs all of us that this is the only way to go. Every other path leads to “How Great I Art.”
APPLICATION:
In the words of Psalm 32, “Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” Why do we stubbornly resist the truth of God’s loving commitment to the ungodly? Why do we insist on being justified by something other than the completely gracious work of God? It is no wonder that we do not feel ourselves to be surrounded by songs of deliverance, when we are so often attempting to defend ourselves and to accuse others. We need to live as people who have been forgiven much.
If you love the forgiveness that you have received, are you showing that love by being an uncommonly forgiving person? It is the consistent Pharisee who is unwilling to forgive, not the consistent Christian. The Pharisee finds the error of someone else too precious a morsel to throw away. It is preserved for later consumption. What sin of someone else have you been hanging on to for the longest time? Who are you hurting by your bitterness? You may be hurting someone else, but you also are among the wounded.
Let me leave you with a very specific instruction for you who would want to enjoy more fully the assurance of complete forgiveness of sin that is yours Christ. Husbands and wives, forgive one another. Parents and children, forgive one another. It’s a very Christian thing to do. You have been forgiven more than you realize. Forgive. As Paul said in another place, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:29-32)