The Blessed Man
“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” (Romans 4:1-8)
Everyone wants to be happy. People look for happiness in liquor and drugs. They look for happiness in illicit sex, or in money. Sin will only bring you a temporary happiness. God tells us how we can have real happiness that will last. David wrote, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” (Romans 4:7) The word “blessed,” here means “happy.” The Bible teaches that we can be happy Christians.
You Can Be Happy If You Know That Your Faith Is Counted For Righteousness.
“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:1-3)
Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation. The Bible tells us that he is also the father of all who trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Now, the Bible says “…If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.” (Romans 4:2) The word “justified” is a legal term. It means that God, the great Judge of the universe, bangs the gavel down and says, “You are not guilty of sin; you are righteous and sinless.” When God justifies a man, He declares that man to be righteous.
The Word of God says that “If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory…” In other words, let’s say that Abraham was walking around, living his life and doing good works. God looks down from heaven and sees Abraham living a good life. God bangs the gavel down and says, “Abraham, you are righteous!”
The Bible teaches that if that had happened, Abraham would have had something to glory about. He would have had something to brag on. He could have gone to work and said, “Hey boys, guess what! God said that I was righteous because of all of the good things I’ve been doing!”
But the Bible says “…but not before God.” In other words, that’s not the way that it was.
“For what saith the scripture?” (Romans 4:3a) That’s always a good question to ask isn’t it? What does the Bible teach? We are not concerned with man’s opinion. What does the Bible say about the thing?
“Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:3b)
In the book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, the Word of God tells us the story of Abraham. In Genesis chapter fifteen, the Bible says that God took Abraham and showed him the stars in the sky. God told Abraham that his descendents would be like the stars. God’s Word tells us that “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” The moment that Abraham believed what God said, God counted Abraham’s faith for righteousness.
Abraham was a sinner like all of us. The Bible says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Abraham had told some lies. He had done things that he shouldn’t have done. His father was an idol worshipper and he had grown up being taught to worship idols. Yet, God justified Abraham. God said, “Abraham is righteous. He is not guilty of sin.” When Abraham believed God, the Lord counted Abraham’s faith for righteousness.
Now this truth applies to all of us. All of us are sinners. But, when we believe in Jesus Christ, God counts our faith for righteousness and He declares us to be righteous. When I was a young teenager, I knew that I was a sinner, lost and on my way to hell. One day, I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. When I believed, or trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, God declared me to be righteous.
“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4:4,5)
If I tell you I will give you a free gift if you will go and wash my car, then I am not really offering you a free gift. You are earning it. If a man worked for his salvation, then God would owe it to him. “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” But none of us can work for our salvation. We cannot earn salvation. God does not owe us anything.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5)
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4:5)
When we believe in Jesus Christ, God counts our faith for righteousness. Here’s an illustration to help explain this. God looks at my record in heaven. He sees sin on my record. He sees lying, cheating and so on. Now, I believe in Jesus Christ. I trust in Him to be my Savior. The moment that I believe in Jesus Christ, God takes all of the sins off of my record, and God puts the righteousness of Jesus Christ on my record. He puts the good things that Jesus did on my account in heaven. This is a doctrine that we call imputation. God puts the righteousness of Jesus Christ on my record and takes my sins away.
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” If I don’t work, and never have done anything good, but I believe in Jesus Christ, God counts my faith for righteousness. God puts the righteousness of Jesus Christ on my record, takes my sins away, and justifies me; declares me to be righteous. That ought to make you happy just thinking about it! God will take the sins off of your record, put the righteousness of Jesus Christ on your record, and declare you to be righteous and sinless in His site. All of this because you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. “Blessed is the man!”
You Can Be Happy If You Know That Your Sins Are Forgiven.
“Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” (Romans 4:6-8)
Some people teach that men have been saved in different ways at different times. In other words, when the Law was given, people were saved one way. After the Law, people were saved another.
But we have just read about Abraham, who lived before the Law, being saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Now here is a quote from David, who lived during the time of the Law, and he testifies that men under the Law were saved the same way as Abraham—by faith! Of course, the people to whom the book of Romans was written were living after the Law, yet they are told that they are saved the same way as Abraham and David: by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
David says that I can be happy if my “iniquities are forgiven.” (Romans 4:7a) If my sins are forgiven, I can be happy. Before I was saved, I was worried about dying and going to hell. Now that my sins are forgiven, I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I know that I am going to heaven when I die. That makes me happy.
Also, David says that we are blessed if our “sins are covered.” (Romans 4:7b) Now, we all try to cover up our sin. If a little child does something wrong, he tries to hide it from his parents. Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, as soon as they had sinned, tried to hide from God. But, you cannot hide your sins from God. That’s foolish. We cannot cover our sins; but God wants to cover them. When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, God covers our sins. The wonderful thing is, when God covers our sins, He takes them away. He hides them.
In the Old Testament, they would take two goats. They would kill one, confess the sins of the nation of Israel over the other one, and send it off into the wilderness. This was all symbolic of the Lord Jesus Christ dying for our sins, and by His sacrifice, taking our sins away.
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)
I’m happy because my sins are forgiven and taken away by the Lord Jesus Christ!
You Can Be Happy If You Know That God Will Not Put Sin On Your Account.
“Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” (Romans 4:8)
The word, “impute,” means to charge to someone’s account. The Bible says that I am happy if I know that God will not charge sin to my account.
I have heard an old preacher give this illustration. It will be a blessing to you. The Devil comes to God and says, “Did you see Stephen Baker commit that sin?” God says, “No, I didn’t see it.”
“Sure you did!” The Devil says. “He just committed a sin.” God says, “I did not see any sin.” The Devil says, “Write that sin down. Put it on his account.” God says, “I will NOT write it down. I will NOT put it on his account.”
God will not charge sin to the believer’s account. That ought to make a Presbyterian shout!
Now, this does not give me a license to sin. We need to understand the difference between RELATIONSHIP and FELLOWSHIP.
As far as my relationship with Jesus Christ is concerned, God will not put sin on my account. When God looks at me, I am sinless and perfect. God only sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So, I am not worried about losing my salvation. Well you say, “Brother Stephen, what if you sin?” I wish I didn’t sin, but I do sin every day, and so do you.
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1John 1:8)
God will not write my sins down. He will not charge those sins to my account. As far as going to heaven is concerned, I am righteous in the site of God and I will go to heaven when I die because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
My relationship with God is always the same. I am always His child, and saved, and holy, and righteous in His site. All of this happened the moment I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fellowship is a different thing. I am my father’s son. If I come home and take a knife and cut up the couch and break the lamps and windows and set fire to his car, I will still be his son, but he is going to kick me out of the house. I will not lose my relationship. I will lose my fellowship.
When we sin, as Christians, we lose our fellowship with God. We lose our closeness to Him. We can have it restored by confessing, or acknowledging our sins to God.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
You can be a happy Christian today! You can know that because you have believed in Jesus Christ, all of your sins are forgiven and you are righteous in the site of God. God has declared you to be guiltless and righteous in His site and He will never charge sin to your account again.
If you sin, admit it. Acknowledge your sins to God so that you can have your fellowship restored, and you can walk close to God again.