”What shall we then say that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath something to glory about ; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Romans 4:1-3
How was Abraham justified and counted righteous and acceptable to God? By works or through faith? The Bible says, quoting Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Abraham was not justified by works but through faith in God’s promise of a Messiah and Savior, and so too are believers today.
O gracious and merciful Father, I thank You for counting me righteous and acceptable in Your sight through faith in Your promise of forgiveness and life in Christ Jesus and His cross. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Webster Version of the Bible.]
“Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.” Psalm 25:6-7
How do you want the LORD God to remember you? According to your thoughts, words and actions? Or according to His tender mercies and lovingkindness? With the psalmist, we pray that God would forgive and forget our sins, past and present, and view us in accordance with His tender mercy for the sake of Jesus Christ and His innocent sufferings and death in our stead.
Look at me in mercy, O LORD, and forgive my sins for Jesus’s sake! “According to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.” Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised 1833 Webster Version of the Bible.]
“Do we then make the law void through faith? By no means. But we establish the law.” Romans 3:31
Christians do not trust in their works under the law because they fail to keep the law as God requires. For salvation, they rely on Christ’s perfect obedience to the law in His thoughts, desires, words, and actions and upon His atoning sacrifice for all sins, made when He suffered and died on the cross in our stead. Yet, Christians still view God’s law as good and right. And, as God’s redeemed children, they look to His commandments to guide them in living God-pleasing lives.
O Holy Spirit, grant me true faith in Christ Jesus, my Savior, and move me, as a fruit of that faith, to live my life for Him according to Your holy commandments. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]
Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Romans 3:29-30
Whether Jew or Gentile, there is only one way to be just and righteous in God’s eyes and that is through faith in Christ Jesus, for He fulfilled the righteous demands of the law for us and then suffered the just punishment for the sins of all when He was crucified and died on the cross.
Thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for fulfilling the law in my stead and bearing the full punishment for all my sins. Amen.
[Scripture quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]
“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Romans 3:27-28
No one can boast of his own sin-tainted works under God’s law as though they contributed to his salvation because we are justified and counted righteous by God through faith alone in Jesus Christ and His perfect obedience to God’s law and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of all.
O merciful God, grant that I not trust in my sin-tainted works but in the perfect works of Christ — in His holy life and in His innocent sufferings and death in my stead. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]
