Introduction

Last week we drove to Iowa. I preached at Shawn Powers’ church in Des Moines.

• We listened to David McCullough’s The Pioneers.
• The New England pastor Manasseh Cutler was part of that original founding.
• He helped write the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (rev. 1789), which laid out how the Northwest Territory would be organized.
• 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments, in the said territory.
• 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.
• 6. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory.
• Massive undertaking
• Cutting down virgin forest, trees 20-40’ in diameter. Took days and many men sometimes.
• Establishing farms and businesses in undeveloped land.
• All the complicated dealings with Indians.
• Eventually Ohio a state in 1803. Ohio University in 1804—Phil and Cassie Sasser’s first college.

Fascinating story. I feel some connection.

• Born Newark, Ohio, almost 200 years after state founded.
• College in Ohio.
• First years as a church intern after college. Where Anne and I started our life together.
• Came here in 1998 but I still identify with Ohio.
• To understand me, that’s important to know.

But is it necessary to be connected to Ohio to live a blessed life? No!

This morning we’re talking about Abraham. A man who lived not in 1800 AD but 2000 BC or so. Spent his most important days in what we call Israel. Does it matter if I’m connected to this man at all?Yes!

The Jews of Paul’s day thought they were connected—trace their lineage to him. They were circumcised!

But Paul’s going to say, No, that’s not enough.

The context of Rom. 4 is Paul’s explanation of the gospel in Rom. 3:21–31. He has said that his gospel has a witness in “the Law and the Prophets” of the Old Testament (Rom 3:21). And at the end of that passage, he asked in Rom. 3:31,

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. (Rom 3:31)

Chapter 4 is a key part of his explanation that his gospel of faith in Christ is “upheld” by the Law. It is “upheld” by the Law because one of the central figures of the Law of Moses is Abraham, and Abraham upholds it.

We’re going to be talking about Paul’s epistle to the Romans.

• On this epistle John Calvin wrote,

When any one gains a knowledge of this Epistle, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture.
John Calvin, Romans

• Romans is Paul’s 6^th epistle
• Written in the winter of AD 57 not long after his 3-year stay in Ephesus.
• The time described in Acts 20:3.

The series: Better than You Think. Today? The gospel is more ancient than you think.

Sermon. The blessing of forgiveness of sins comes by faith! (1) The Foundation of Faith (4:9–10); (2) The Sign and Seal of Faith (4:11a); (3) The People of Faith (4:11b–12)

Prayer.

I. The Foundation of Faith (4:9–10)

Read Rom 4:9–10. Paul’s question: Who are those who can receive “this blessing” of forgiveness of sins? That blessing in Rom. 4:7–8 (citing Ps 32:1–2).

The Jews in Paul’s day would say it’s for them and them alone. It’s for the “circumcised.” To respond his own question, Paul will spend a lot of time looking at Abraham.

Why so much time on Abraham?

Three reasons. First is his place in Judaism. He’s so important! Calling Abraham your father was central to Jewish identity.

Why John the Baptist preached,

And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.” (Matt 3:9)

And Jesus in John 8:

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰ but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. (John 8:39–40)

But the second reason to emphasize Abraham is the place of faith in Abraham’s life and especially God calling him righteous because of his faith. Remember last week on Rom. 4:3! (quoting Gen. 15:6).

Third reason to emphasize Abraham is his prominence in the Old Testament. If Paul’s gospel can be true for such an Old Testament figure as Abraham, then it is clearly the gospel of God and no new invention.

So, Paul spends almost this whole chapter looking at Abraham.

In Rom. 4:9–10, Paul drills down into Abraham’s history. Not looking at subtle details but the overall plotline of his life.

If we look at Genesis, at a few points we get Abraham’s age:

• At 75 he first goes to Canaan (Gen 12:4).
• At 86 he has Ishmael (Gen 16:16).
• At 99 God commands him to practice circumcision as a sign of the covenant (Gen 17:1–17).

When was it that God declared Abraham righteous by faith? In Gen. 15:6, when he was about 85 years old. A guess, but close to that.

So, at 85 he’s righteous by faith. And not till 14 years later was he circumcised.

In other words, “THE BLESSING” of forgivenss of sins can’t be by circumcision, because in the life of Abraham, he was BLESSED at least 14 years before he was circumcised.

So, if with Abraham circumcision isn’t required to receive the blessing, it isn’t required for anyone!

Does someone have to become a JEW in order to receive the blessings of Abraham? The answer is, no.

To us this is familiar ground. But remember the battles that were fought in the early church.

Acts 15:

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” ² And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. (Acts 15:1–2)

This happened right after Paul wrote Galatians. A few years after the Jerusalem Council Paul’s writing Romans and dealing with the same issue. His arguments are getting more developed. In Romans 4 he’s using the very life of Abraham to prove how wrong the position is that says you have to be circumcised.

Application: Where will you go to find forgiveness? Religious ceremonies? That will never do it. You must believe the promises of God. Religious ceremonies are powerful reminders of God’s promises, but a ceremony without faith does nothing for you.

Well, if circumcision isn’t required to receive the blessing, then what was Abraham’s circumcision?

That takes us to Rom. 4:11a and our next point.

II. The Sign and Seal of Faith (4:11a)

Read Rom. 4:11a.

Here Paul is looking back on the place of circumcision in Abraham’s life. It was a “sign” and “seal.”

Paul is thinking of Genesis 17 here. Gen. 17 is where Abraham’s name is changed from Abram to Abraham. At 99 years old he’s given the command about circumcision.

Genesis 17:

This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, ¹³ both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. (Gen 17:10–13)

A “sign” points to something beyond itself, the signifier. Anne and I just went on a long road trip. We drove to Iowa and back. Coming back we stopped in Chicago to have some Chicago pizza and walk along Lake Michigan. Coming into Chicago you start to see signs about 150 miles away from Chicago. Those road signs are pointing to something 150 miles away.

The sign isn’t Chicago. But it’s a sign of the real Chicago further ahead.

A wedding ring is another type of “sign.” Anne and I wear wedding rings as a sign of our wedding vows. 29 years ago last Dec 30^th, we vowed to one another to be husband and wife till death do us part.

The rings are NOT our vows. But they are a sign to the world that we have made vows. We belong to someone.

Circumcision is the sign God gave to the Jews. It was to be a physical and permanent mark on a man’s body that he was part of Abraham’s offspring. Of course, at 8 days old, you don’t Father Abraham from Abraham Lincoln. But as you grow, you would begin to understand what it meant to be part of this covenant people. And you would be called to live accordingly.

But for Abraham, circumcision was different. He was circumcised over a decade after coming to faith in Yahweh. Circumcision for Abraham was a sign that he belonged to God and God belonged to him.

But God can only say this because Abraham believes in God. He has saving faith. God had chosen Abraham, and Abraham in response had chosen God.

Paul speaks of circumcision as a sign. But then he also speaks of it as “a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised” (Rom. 4:11).

As a “seal” it is like a “seal of approval.” A stamp that this product is legitimate. It’s the genuine article. It’s not a forgery. It has met the standards of an authoritative body.

In the world of art auctions, the problem of fakes is legion. There are intentional and unintentional fakes. Intentional fakes are ones where the owner knows it’s a fake and wants to make some cash anyway. Unintentional fakes are often because a painting is thought to be by a famous artist but isn’t. The owner isn’t intending to deceive anyone.

Experts are brought in to place a “seal” of authenticity on the painting. In one such situation, Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., the acknowledged expert on the American painter Martin Johnson Heade[1], remembers giving an affirmative authentication to an upcoming auction painting after viewing it in photographs. Later, on auction day, plagued with nagging doubts, Stebbins raced to the auction house to inspect the painting in person. With only 20 minutes before the lot was due to come to the block, he changed his opinion and the painting was removed from the sale. At that moment a valuable asset lost almost all its value, the auction house lost its expected commission, and an expert potentially invited a lawsuit for product disparagement or some other cause of action. In this case, as it happens, the owner took his knock-off and went home.[2]

In the case of Abraham, the expert is God himself. God himself told us in Gen. 15:6 that Abraham’s faith was the genuine article. It was an authentic faith.

And so in Gen. 17 circumcision was not just a “sign,” but it was also a “seal” of that faith. God’s stamp of approval that said, “I am his, and he is mine.”

Circumcision is a SIGN and SEAL you do once. For many it was SIGN and SEAL that they were now part of the people of God.

A “stranger” (non-Jew) could be circumcised and celebrate the Passover with Israel (Exod 12:48). Such converted Gentiles were sometimes called God-fearers (Acts 10:2).

But the weekly sign of the covenant was the Sabbath:

“Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. ¹⁷ It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” (Exod 31:16–17)

This language of SIGN and SEAL gets used when we talk about Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are Christian SACRAMENTS established by God. Where circumcision is a Jewish sacrament and no longer required for God’s people (1 Cor 7:19; Gal 5:6), baptism and the Lord’s Supper are SIGNS and SEALS for Christians.

From the Trinity Catechism:

Q89. What is a sacrament, and what are the sacraments of the church?
A. A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ, which is a visible sign of an invisible grace and a seal of the covenant of grace. The two sacraments are baptism and the Lord’s Supper. (Rom 4:11; Matt 28:19–20; 1 Cor 11:17–26)

And just like circumcision for Abraham was a SIGN and SEAL of his faith, so for Christians baptism is to be a SIGN and SEAL of faith. It represents more! But it is also a SIGN of faith and being united with Christ. And it is a SEAL from God that we are his and he is ours.

It is the SIGN for the beginning of the Christian life. Like Abraham, we respond to God in faith and THEN we take on the SIGN. Like at a wedding, you make vows and THEN you take on the rings as a SIGN. So for baptism, we respond in faith and THEN get in the waters of baptism.

And then there is the SIGN we practice for the rest of our Christian life, the Lord’s Supper. We might get baptized only once, but we’ll celebrate the Lord’s Supper maybe hundreds of times throughout our life. It’s the regular reminder that we belong to Christ and he belongs to us.

III. The People of Faith (4:11b–12)

Now we see why “Father Abraham had many sons”!

Read Rom. 4:11b–12.

Because Abraham was not circumcised until AFTER he believed, he can be both the Father of the circumcised and the Father of the uncircumcised.

He’s “the father of all who believe.”

God’s plan was expansive and international. Abraham’s name said it all:

No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. (Gen 17:5)

Right there in 2000 BC, before the Law of Moses was given, before the dynasty of King David was established, it was clear that Abraham would be “the father of a multitude of nations.”

From the very beginning, it was clear that the Abrahamic blessings were to extend far beyond only the nation of Israel. Far beyond a few isolated individuals who joined the nation of Israel.

He would be “the Father of a multitude of nations.” How would this happen? Through faith in the gospel. Faith in Christ connects us to Christ, but it also makes us spiritual children of Abraham.

And without that faith, no one is a true child of Abraham.

Paul makes the same point in Galatians 3.

In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Gal 3:26–29)

You see that, in Galatians 3, FAITH, our BAPTISM, and being “ABRAHAM’S OFFSPRING” all go together. Faith unites us to Christ. Baptism is a SIGN that we have “PUT ON CHRIST.” And because we’re in Christ, we’re “ABRAHAM’S OFFSPRING.”

Conclusion

The blessing of forgiveness of sins comes by faith. We saw this in Abraham’s life: Faith and THEN circumcision. We looked at circumcision being a SIGN and SEAL of a FAITH Abraham had already. We saw that Abraham is a father to ALL who believe!

Growing up in the Episcopal Church, I was sprinkled as an infant.

• In some ways, similar to the Jewish practice of circumcision at 8 days old.
• But after I became a Christian, I felt I should be baptized as a believer to mark my new life in Christ.
• The teaching of Jesus and the examples in the New Testament persuaded me.
• I ended up getting sprinkled in an Episcopal Church at a revival meeting.
• But then I became convinced baptism should be by immersion.
• So, at 21 years old, 3 years after conversion, I was baptized by immersion.
• In a lake in Lyndale, Texas, at the end of my time in YWAM.
• That immersion was a SIGN and SEAL that I was Christ’s and he was mine. He had washed away my sins. I was his!

On March 30^th a number of our young men and women will be baptized. Their baptism will be a means of grace. A sign and seal of their faith. But their baptism by itself can’t bring the blessings.

Just like a wedding ring without making any vows is just a piece of gold. But when it’s connected to vows a man and woman make, then it’s a sign and seal of their union.

I’ll close with Colossians 2:11–12:

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Col 2:11–12)

Prayer and Song

[1] Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904) painted nature scenes.

[2] From a book review of The Expert Versus the Object (ed. Ronald Spencer) at the Heritage Auctions website. Found 3/8/2025.