31st August 2026

31st August 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 4:1-12 focus v1-3)


Message (Alan Burke) 


I may have mentioned this before, but I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not Martin Lloyd-Jones. If you’re wondering who he was, well, for almost 30 years, he was the minister of Westminster Chapel in London, and I have his series on Romans in my study, 14 volumes, which was based on his 366 sermons that were preached over almost 13 years of ministry. Which, if you were to do consecutively without taking a break, would be like preaching through Romans every Sunday morning for 7 years and 1 week. Anyway, the reason why I mention this is because we’re going to go through Romans 4 in two chunks, this week and next, and there are a whole load of bits that I’d love time to focus on more, but you can always check out Martin Lloyd-Jones and the seven sermons he did on this chapter if you want more detail. I’ll even lend it to you, but I’ll want a photo with you and the book as evidence that you have it. 


Today we’re on the first three verses. The context of the first three chapters brought us face to face with how we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, how there is not one of us who has kept the law of God, and as a result, we are all deserving of God’s wrath, each one of us, deserving of God’s wrath (1:18-3:20). He hadn’t finished though, for he took us to the wonder of how through Christ Jesus, there is a righteousness from God to all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile (3:21-31). He turns to Abraham to illustrate how even though we are deserving of God’s wrath, there is a righteousness from God that has been revealed. Paul rebuffs the belief that Abraham was justified by anything but faith alone. He does that by quoting from Genesis 15:6, where we are told, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 


It was faith that was credited to him as righteousness; it was faith that he was considered to be righteous, not because of anything that he had done, rather it was on the basis that he believed in the promises of God; he had faith in God. It wasn’t based on anything that Abraham had done, it wasn’t based on his works, it was because he believed, he had faith. Now this truth of scripture in a sense you could say caused ‘The Reformation’ in the 16th century with Martin Luther's Ninety-five Thesis. Roman Catholicism though teaches that you need faith and good works and at the Council of Trent they pronounced anathemas (that is to be cursed) to anyone who says that they are justified by faith in Christ alone and its decrees remain foundational to Roman Catholic doctrine. For example, Council of Trent, 1547, Decree on Justification Canon 9: "If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, meaning that nothing else is required to obtain the grace of justification, let him be anathema.” Also don't let anyone tell you Trent no longer applies. It's cited on almost every page of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which I worked through on my Sabbatical last year and in the view of the Roman Catholic Church if you believe this teaching of the Bible you are an anathema, cursed! 


Yet clearly what we are told here is that “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” We’ll work out more of what this means as the weeks go on, but for now what I want to leave you with is what it means to be righteous before God, for if you believe then it has been credited to you as righteousness. To be righteous means to be morally right, justifiable, to have right standing. To be righteous before God, to have righteousness before Him, means to be morally right, to have right standing, justified. And how Abraham was righteous, how he was justified before God was that he believed, he had faith, not works, but faith. It is so important that we get this, for even our best efforts in this life are fifthly rags; our best efforts are worthless, for we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God; none of us can hope to stand before a holy God in our own righteousness. For us and all people everywhere, the only way that one can come before a holy God is through the righteousness He provides. Our Lord and God justifies the ungodly, not the well-intentioned.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q53 Which is the third commandment?
​A. The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
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