June 21, 2026
"Seals of Righteousness by Faith"
Series: Heidelberg Catechism Scripture: Romans 4:1–12
Hear now the word of the Lord from Romans 4:1-12. What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
Now, to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the Father of all who believe without being circumcised, so the righteousness would be counted to them as well. And to make him the Father of the circumcised who were not merely circumcised, but but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our Father Abraham had before he was circumcised. This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated.
And as you're taking your seats, let's join our hearts tonight in prayer. Gracious Father, we thank you for these great promises that faith would be counted to us as righteousness. It is not because our faith is some herculean task that we perform in your sight. It is that you give us faith to receive all that Christ Jesus has done for us. And so tonight, Father, as we study this great text of how the sacraments relate to justification by faith alone, we pray that you would give us your spirit to give us hearts to understand and eyes to see and ears to hear all that is contained in the good news of the gospel of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. This morning, as we studied Acts 15, we considered that early controversy in the history of the Church where the question was raised on what basis should Gentiles be admitted into the people of God? Again, in the Old Testament, it was very common for Gentiles. Maybe not very common, but it happened.
We have several examples of where Gentiles came into the nation of Israel. But to do so, circumcision was required. You could not become a Jew without first being circumcised. But now, as God's Holy Spirit was indwelling Gentiles by faith, faith cleansing their hearts by faith, that question was raised. Well, what is the ongoing purpose of circumcision at all?
One of the questions that I did not discuss this morning, but that maybe you were asking, or if not, now is a good time to start asking it. If it's true that circumcision was not needed for our righteousness as Gentiles who have come into the Church by faith, then what was the purpose of circumcision at all? Why did God ever provide circumcision? You may even remember that James said, you know, why are we putting this yoke upon them that not neither our fathers nor we could bear? Well, if they couldn't bear it, if the Jews in the Old Testament couldn't bear the yoke of circumcision, if it didn't ensure their faith, if it didn't ensure their righteousness, then why did God give circumcision at all?
This is not simply a historical question. This is not a question of curiosities about what ancient peoples believed at one point in time. This is a very practical question as we consider what our sacraments do. Why do we have sacraments? Why do we baptize?
Why do we celebrate the Lord's Supper? Well, what. This text is very helpful in looking at an Old Testament sacrament of circumcision and considering then the significance of this for New Testament sacraments. This passage is teaching that the sacraments are not works that in some sense complete our justification. Rather, the sacraments are signs and seals that righteousness comes by faith alone.
That's our theme tonight. The sacraments are signs and seals that righteousness comes by faith alone. We'll look at this in three parts. First, righteousness by faith alone. Righteousness by faith alone.
Second, apart from works. Apart from works. And third, for Jews and Gentiles. For Jews and Gentiles.
1. Righteousness by Faith Alone (Romans 4:1-3)
Well, we'll start with this great doctrine of righteousness by faith alone. And I want to dip back up into the previous text, the text that Ben read for us tonight. Look at Romans 3:30. It says, Since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Now, again, this is the question that is sort of the backdrop that's shadowing over the question that sort of stands out from the text that Paul begins to discuss here.
If this is true, that the circumcised are justified by faith as well as the uncircumcised, verse 1, what then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? If circumcision had played such a significant role in the Old Testament, and it did, and it should have, what then was the point? And what Paul is teasing out is he's drawing this question. Did this relate to the justification of Old Testament believers? Were they justified in part because of the circumcision that they added to whatever else God was doing for them that they received to the sacrifices that they performed that pointed forward to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?
But what about Abraham? Was Abraham justified by works? In verse two, Paul says if he was justified by works, then he has something to boast about. If not before God, he would have something to boast about before the rest of us. Now, indeed, this is what the Judaizers were teaching, that justification in some sense requires works.
Again, Acts 15. One, the Judaizers were coming down from Judea and they were teaching that unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And then when Paul and Barnabas and the other delegation gets down to that very first general assembly, the Council of Jerusalem, that Pharisee party, they rose up and they said, it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. This was the thought, you cannot be justified. You cannot receive God's saving grace, except if you submit to the yoke of circumcision.
Now, Abraham is being brought up here because he was the first recipient of circumcision. God made the covenant of circumcision with Abraham. So if he was the first to receive circumcision, he is thereby the greatest race recipient of circumcision, according to this logic. So the question is, if anyone has something to boast about from having received circumcision, surely it would be the man to whom God personally instituted this covenant with, right? Surely he has something to boast about.
Surely this was a feather in his camp, a work that he performed. But Paul is saying, no, that's not the case at all. And just like James the Elder this morning at the Council of Jerusalem, Paul proves his case by going Back to the Scriptures. And in verse 3 he says, for what does the Scripture say? And here he quotes Genesis 15, verse 6.
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. The implication then is that Abraham was not counted righteous by works. He was counted righteous by faith. Now sometimes the argument is that this doctrine of justification by faith alone is the peculiar hang up of Protestants. That it was the invention of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation that began in 1517 and the church never taught this before then.
But notice what Paul says. He says this isn't something that was going to come 15 years, 1500 years after I'm writing this. He's not even saying this is my peculiar doctrine. Because Paul is the one who teaches us much about justification by faith alone. It goes all the way back to the beginning of the Bible.
He says, you don't have to read 16 chapters into the Bible to come across this great text. That justification comes by faith. Abraham was justified by his faith. He believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And the practical implications of this are huge.
Because you may be here tonight burdened by the fact that you know that you cannot measure up to God's perfect standard of righteousness. You try, you strive for it. You want to be that good person that you hope will get you into heaven, but you still see all of the filth of your life, all of the sins that you cannot stop from stumbling over. What hope can there be for you? There's a world of difference, the Scriptures teach, between striving to meet a standard and constantly falling short and knowing and believing that that standard has been met.
This was an issue in the debate about circumcision at the Jerusalem Council where the argument went that we studied this morning, that if we say that faith in Christ is not enough, then something depends upon us on our strength and merit. But Paul is appealing to Scripture here. Abraham has nothing to boast about from his works because even he was justified by faith. His faith was counted to him as righteousness. Now Abraham is, you know, Father Abraham.
He's the father of all God's people. He's the Father of Isaac and then the father of Jacob, who was renamed Israel. So Abraham is the father or the grandfather of Israel and everyone descended from Israel. If he were not enough, this great figure, Abraham, were not enough. Paul goes on then to prove his case, to buttress his case from the next greatest Israelite.
2. Apart From Works (Romans 4:4-8)
And this brings us to the second section. Apart from works. Apart from works in verses 4 through 8, Paul goes on to say now, to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And he's saying, think about what we just read from Genesis 15, verse 6. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
He didn't receive righteousness as his due. Wages, though, would work that way. If he worked and earned something from God, then this would not be something counted to him. He would simply be owed this by God. He would be owed a declaration of righteousness from God.
So that's not what was happening with Abraham then. Verse 5. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. There's this explicit statement that justification is a gift that comes apart from works, not because we do something, but because we believe in the one who justifies the ungodly. When we trust in God to justify us, our faith in his Son, Jesus Christ, is counted as righteousness.
And what this means, to be counted righteous means that the standard has been met, that we pass the test not because of anything we have been done, but because of what Christ has done for us. Well, it's in verses 6 through 8 that he transitions into showing how this wasn't just a peculiar thing that Abraham received. But then he points to David, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart From Works. Verse 7. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven.
Well, if there are lawless deeds that need to be forgiven, we are not talking about someone who is blessed because of the works that he has done. His works are sinful. His works need forgiveness. But blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin, not the one whom the Lord rewards because of his great works.
Blessed is the one against whom God will not hold his demerits against him. Justification is a gift. It comes as he says in verse six, apart from works. And we heard that also earlier in our officer reading tonight. Again back in chapter three, verse 28.
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Now, again, I don't want to harp on this, but it is so important to understand. Many of you know Roman Catholics, and this is the grievous error of Roman Catholicism. And I want to say, if you're talking about Roman Catholics, as you're talking to Roman Catholics, you want to be careful about how you talk about this, because a good priest can sort of Cut right through bad Protestant arguments, bad Biblical arguments against what Roman Catholics believe. Understand?
If you pick up the Roman Catholic Catechism, and I wouldn't recommend getting it, but it's my job to have one and to know what's in there. According to the Roman Catholic Catechism, justification begins by grace and justification is by faith. If you say we are saved by grace and we are saved by faith, Roman Catholics would nod their head in agreements with you, because those are the first articles of what the Roman Catholic Catechism teaches about justification. But then, as you keep reading, it says that justification does not end there. We do not receive righteousness by faith.
In the way that Paul is talking about here, justification continues in, and I quote, a cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom. There's something human that we have to do to cooperate with God's grace in order to be justified. That, and again I quote, that conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just. What the Scriptures talk about when they talk about justification is that we are counted righteous. It's not that we become personally righteous.
It's not that we habituate ourselves in more and more righteous deeds and works so that when someone looks at us, when God looks at us, he says, this truly is a righteous person. That's justification in Roman Catholicism. That's why if you tell a Roman Catholic, I know that I will be in heaven when you die, and they look upon you as though you were arrogant, because in their ears you are saying, I know that I have become a perfectly righteous, perfect person, because that's what justification is. But the Scriptures are so helpful here. We must go back to the Scriptures to see that justification was not for Abraham, something that he did by works that made him personally righteous.
Justification for David was not about his works. David is the man who committed adultery and murder. And so he speaks not of the blessedness of the good things that he has done. He speaks of the blessedness of having his lawless deeds forgiven and his sins covered. That's where his righteousness is and the forgiveness that is from God.
It wasn't true for Abraham. It wasn't true for David. It wasn't true in the early church, and it's not true for us. We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. But now we must circle back to this question that's in the eyes of our catechism today.
Why then circumcision? What benefit was circumcision for Abraham? Why be circumcised at all. If this wasn't a work or requirement that Abraham had to perform, what did he gain by circumcision? Verse one.
Well, in fact, justification by faith does not overthrow the law, it upholds the law. As Paul wrote in Romans 3, verse 31. Specifically, the sacraments are not works that we do to justify us or to complete our justification. The last bolt that we put into the bridge that Jesus Christ has largely constructed on our behalf. No sacraments are helps to our faith in God.
Sacraments strengthen us. They support us not to do something on our behalf, but to look entirely to the sacrifice and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Heidelberg Catechism 65. The Holy Spirit works it in our hearts by the preaching of the Holy Gospel and confirms it by the use of the holy sacraments? Heidelberg Catechism 66.
Sacraments are visible holy signs and seals. And that language of signs and seals that's drawn from verse 11 in our passage, they are holy signs and seals. They were instituted by God so that by our use of them he might make us understand more clearly the promise of the Gospel and seal that promise. And this is God's Gospel promise. He grants us forgiveness of sins and eternal life by grace because of Christ's one sacrifice accomplished on the cross.
This helps us to understand the place of the sacraments and also why circumcision was ultimately set aside. That question of why circumcision was set aside is in our third section, the third section for Jews and Gentiles in verses nine through 12.
3. For Jews and Gentiles (Romans 4:9-12)
For Jews and Gentiles, in verse nine, Paul writes, is this blessing, this blessing of justification, the forgiveness of sins, is this then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? So we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him?
So let's stop and figure out what he's saying. Is it. Is it true that this blessing of righteousness, that justification is so tied to circumcision? Again, the exact same question that was taken up at the Jerusalem Council. Is it true that you cannot be saved without circumcision?
And what Paul is doing is appealing to Scripture. He's appealing to Abraham's example. And he asks again, how was it counted to him? And the key question is in verse 10, was it counted before or after he had been circumcised? And this is where it's very important to understand the sequence of the Bible story.
Was Abraham justified by works before he was circumcised or after he Was circumcised? Well, he was justified by faith alone. Did I say justified by works a moment ago? Sorry, it's late. I don't know if I said.
If I said that, that's wrong. Abraham was justified by faith in Genesis 15, verse 6, but he did not receive circumcision until Genesis 17. So that means there's two chapters and actually a good bit of sin. Sixteen is the Hagar chapter chapter, where Abraham is justified by faith alone, apart from any works. And it's only after that that he receives the sign and the seal of circumcision.
So this is really, really important, that circumcision played no part in justifying Abraham before God. So why then was he circumcised? Well, verse 11, he received the sign or the symbol of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Let's talk about seals. I'm not talking about the seal on a jar.
You know, when it's really hard at first to get a jar open because it's sealed so tight and comes off after a lot of effort? It's not that kind of a seal. We're talking much more along the lines of a seal that you might encounter with a notary. Okay. A year ago, we were selling our house in Omaha.
We were buying a house in these regions. And in both places, we were actually in the other state when we were transacting the property. And so we had a notary come to our house, both houses, and we were going through all the paperwork with this notary, again, states away from where the the transaction was happening. And we were signing the paperwork in the site of this notary. And every time we signed something, the notary would take out his seal, his stamp, and he would stamp his seal, his verification, his confirmation that he had actually seen us sign these incredibly large transactions of money and property.
Now, it's interesting to think, what is the role of the notary in that? Sadly, the notary paid no part of what we had to pay to purchase the house. He invested nothing in terms of this transaction, but he also, thankfully, gained nothing from the proceeds of the sale of our house in Omaha. The notary did not have that kind of a role. The notary was not someone who was so deeply invested it that he was actually bringing this to completion.
What was the notary doing? The notary was only confirming that the signatures on the paper were real and true and binding. And he confirmed that by that special seal that he stamped on those papers in the same way, circumcision added nothing to Abraham's righteousness. Circumcision played no part in paying and topping off the rest of Abraham's righteousness. To get to the point where he finally was righteous in the sight of God.
No, he had already been counted righteous. But circumcision functions as a confirmation, a seal to confirm something. What? What is he confirming? Well, look at verse 11 as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
Circumcision's confirmation, its ratification, is confirming the promises of God that righteousness comes by faith alone. What God had declared in Genesis 15 was still true in Genesis 17. Even though Genesis 16 stood between those. Even though Abraham's faith lapsed in some ways, he fell back into sin in Genesis 16. Even still, the circumcision confirmed that what God had declared to be true.
When God counted him as righteous because of his faith, that was still true. God's perfect righteousness was given to him by faith. And after this, every infant boy who received circumcision was having the covenant promises of God ratified on his body. The idea was, if you believe like your forefather Abraham in this covenant God, then he will count that to you as righteousness. It's not the circumcision.
It's what the circumcision confirms, verifies, ratifies the truthfulness of God's promises that righteousness comes by faith. Now, Paul extends the logic. James did something of this this morning in Acts chapter 15. But look what Paul writes as he continues in verse 11. The purpose was to make him, Abraham, the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness would be counted to them as well.
Now think about the point that he's drawing here. The argument made by the Judaizers is that Gentiles could not receive the promise of salvation except by being circumcised. And these Pharisees, the party of these Pharisees, if you think about all of the ways they persecuted Jesus before some of these Pharisees later believing in him. Apparently, what these Pharisees, they said, we have Abraham as our Father. They took a lot of pride in that these were circumcised Jews who were.
Who were following in the footsteps of their father Abraham. But what Paul is reminding all of us here is that Abraham believed apart from circumcision first. And if he were believed apart from circumcision, so also may Gentiles Today we believe apart from circumcision, Abraham is not just the father of the Jews. He is not just the father of the circumcised. He is also the father of Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ and are justified by faith alone, just as Abraham was apart from any works apart from circumcision.
But this also reinterprets the relationship of Abraham to the Jews. Verse 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. He says, you think Abraham is your father, but you are not walking in the same footsteps in which he walked. You are merely circumcised in the flesh. Abraham, your forefather, was circumcised in his heart.
He believed in the promises. Circumcision was never the main thing. It was only a help to point us to the fact that righteousness comes by faith. Now, as we shift from the Old Testament sacraments to something that is very practical, especially this is where the catechism is moving to think about our sacraments. It is so important first of all for us to say that you were not justified when you were baptized.
That's not how that works. It's not by the work performed upon you by your baptism that suddenly you were then justified. Neither are you justified, neither do you receive God's righteousness when you eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord's Supper. But both baptism and the Lord's Supper and the preaching of God's Word point us to where we may be justified, to where our righteousness is in Christ who was crucified for us. We are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, not because of any works that we have done, but only because you believe in him who justifies the ungodly.
Your baptism didn't save you, but it confirms these gospel promises. And every time we baptize an infant or an adult, what we are doing is declaring by the waters of baptism that the promises of God are true, that righteousness really does come by faith alone. Heidelberg's Catechism 67 the Holy Spirit Teacher teaches us in the Gospel and confirms by the holy Sacraments that our entire salvation rests on Christ's one sacrifice for us on the cross. My favorite illustration of the role of the sacraments in the entire Bible comes of all places in the Book of Esther, when Haman's plot to annihilate The Jews had been exposed. The king, King Ahasuerus, gave permission to Esther and Mordecai to write a new decree.
And when they wrote this decree, they were to seal it with the king's signet, the sign ring, sign and a seal. And it was to be done for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked. And then in Esther 8, you read that the decree was then written, and it was delivered to 127 Provinces from India to Ethiopia, roughly, not quite all of the area, but a large region of the people that we've been talking about. In Acts 15, we read about an Ethiopian. We've seen a great range of missionaries trying to reach to the end of the world.
And at the kingdom of that time, from India to Ethiopia, these couriers went out to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, sent out by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud. And this decree gave Jews permission to destroy the enemies who would try to attack them. Now here they were. They were afraid. The first decree said that they were going to be killed on a certain day.
And they're waiting, just waiting to die, waiting for this day to come, to be annihilated. And suddenly you have to think about this evangelist riding on the back of a horse into their town, holding up the decree of the king and declaring, salvation has come in the name of the king, I declare to you. But who is this guy? You don't know him from Adam. How do you know this is a true decree of the King?
How do you know that you can be saved? It's because the king's seal was a fake to the decree. Brothers and sisters, how do you know that you can be saved? As the gospel is sent out to all peoples in all languages, announced in the name of King Jesus, resting entirely upon his royal authority. For the decree of God Almighty cannot be revoked, especially when it's confirmed by his seals of the sacraments of baptism in the Lord's Supper, which He gives to you to strengthen your faith by confirming that the promises are true.
Does he have your trust? Are you resting only in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for your righteousness, or are you resting on his sacraments for your salvation in themselves? If someone were to ask you, why do you think God would let you into heaven? Would you say, well, I was baptized here so many years ago, so I think that ought to cover it. Would that be your answer?
Don't stop there. That's a good start, but don't stop there. These sacraments were never meant to accomplish or complete your justification. Receive and rest instead in Christ alone for your salvation, finding comfort and strength in the sacraments as signs and seals to confirm that the promises of justification by faith alone are true. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness to us in Christ. We thank you that the promises are true. We thank you that they have been sent to the far ends of the earth so that we might hear them and be saved. That righteousness comes by faith alone according to your grace alone in Christ alone. And so we pray, Father, if there's anyone here who has not yet received those promises for himself or herself, that they would look to Jesus today and trust in him for the forgiveness of their sins, it's in Christ's name we pray.
Amen.
other sermons in this series
Aug 9
2026
"Walking in the Spirit"
Preacher: Luis Muñoz Scripture: Galatians 5:16–26 Series: Heidelberg Catechism
Aug 2
2026
"Keys of the Kingdom" (Matt. 16:13-20; 18:15-20)
Preacher: Rev. Jacob Gerber Scripture: Matthew 16:13–20, Matthew 18:15–20 Series: Heidelberg Catechism
Jul 26
2026
"Lord's Supper: The Tests"
Preacher: Wybren Oord Scripture: Hebrews 9:24–28 Series: Heidelberg Catechism