This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to our daily drive time devotions. We are in Romans chapter 4 this week,
the chapter on faith alone. Yesterday we looked together at one of the warnings
that's in this chapter about how you and I add things to faith that cause it to
really not be faith any longer.

Faith needs to stay pure. Today we talk about the fact that sometimes we try to
earn God's approval. When we add that to faith, somehow it becomes ours rather
than God's.

And today as we continue our look through Romans 4, looking at verses 9 to 12,
we're going to look at a second way that we add to faith that really makes it
ours and no longer faith. Don't confuse ceremony and commitment. Verses 9 and 10
of Romans 4 says, "Is this blessedness only for the circumcised or also for the
uncircumcised?

We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness.
Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised or
before?

It was not after, but before. " When he talks about circumcision, he's talking
about a ceremony, a ritual that went along with Abraham's faith, that marked his
faith, that said something about his faith. But it's important to remember, and
we're going to see as we walk through these verses, that ceremony without
commitment is meaningless.

If you show up for a wedding ceremony and you have beautiful flowers and a
beautiful church and all the people there and everybody walks down the aisle and
you come to the moment of commitment where you say to the groom and you say to
the bride, "Will you? " and they look back at you and say, "Well, I don't know.
We haven't really thought about it much.

" It'd be a pretty meaningless wedding. Ceremony without commitment is
meaningless. Now, ceremony with commitment can be meaningful, but it isn't
always meaningful.

Sometimes we allow ceremony to replace commitment. We act as if the ceremony is
enough. It's not.

It's not. Ceremony with commitment can be meaningful, but what is it that makes
it meaningful? This is one of the most important questions in our Christian
life, because if we get this wrong, it can keep us from growing the way that we
want to grow in our Christian life.

What makes ceremony the things that we do to exercise our faith, the things that
we do that say to others that we have faith, what makes it meaningful? Well,
there are two key factors. First, the right order, and second, the right reason.

You have to do it in the right order, and you have to do it for the right
reason, every ceremony. The right order. Here's the point in verses 9 and 10.

It was before Abraham was circumcised that his faith was credited by God as
righteousness. People were, in Paul's day, saying that a Gentile, someone who
was not a Jew, had to be circumcised first before he could become a Christian.
Paul sets that whole argument on his ear when he says, "Look, Abraham became
righteous in God's sight before he was a Jew, so why are you saying that
Gentiles have to become Jews before they can become Christians?

" Abraham had faith, was credited as righteous before he even became a Jew. In
fact, it was long before. If you read the book of Genesis, he was credited as
righteous in Genesis chapter 15, and he wasn't circumcised until Genesis chapter
17.

At least 14 years separated those two events. The point is, the ceremony didn't
lead to faith. The ceremony was an expression of faith.

You can't get the spiritual cart before the horse when it comes to faith. It has
to be the right order. But it also, in these verses, has to be the right reason.

In verse 11 of Romans chapter 4, the Bible says, "And he [Abraham] received the
sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he
was still uncircumcised. So then he is the father of all who believe but have
not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. "
Did you hear in those verses, when it talked about this ceremony, this ritual of
circumcision, the Bible says it is a sign and it is a seal.

It is a sign. That means it makes your faith clear to others. It is a testimony
to others of your faith.

But it is also a seal. That means it makes your faith more clear to you. It is
an assurance in your own life.

The Bible tells us in the New Testament that there are two outward ceremonies
that Jesus specifically asked us, as believers in Jesus Christ, as a sign and a
seal of our faith to practice. They are the outward ceremonies of baptism and
the Lord's Supper. If you apply what we've just been learning to baptism and the
Lord's Supper, you see the reality of what it really takes to have faith.

Baptism can't happen before you make a commitment to Jesus Christ. It has to
happen after you make a commitment to Jesus Christ. It has to be the right
order.

But it also has to be the right reason. You don't get baptized in order to be
saved or to make yourself saved or to be more saved or to be even more
spiritual. It's a sign and a seal.

It's a sign to others that Jesus Christ and your relationship with him is the
most important thing in your life, that you've committed your life to him. But
it's also a seal in your own heart. It's you saying, "I want more than anything
else to love Jesus Christ, and so I'm willing to stand before others and give a
public testimony.

" It's a testimony. The Lord's Supper is the same way. You don't take the Lord's
Supper before you're a Christian.

Why would you? It's a meaningless ceremony. It wouldn't do anything spiritually
for you to take the Lord's Supper before you're a Christian.

Just simply drinking a little juice and eating some bread doesn't change your
spiritual life. It's after you become a believer. If you've accepted the meaning
of the blood of Christ, which is signified by the juice, the body of Christ,
which is signified by the bread, it's afterwards that it becomes meaningful.

The Lord's Supper and baptism are two ceremonies to what some would call rituals
that you and I practice today because Jesus asked us to, but it has to be in the
right order, and it has to be for the right reason. The last half of verse 11
through verse 12 of Romans chapter 4 says this, "So then he, Abraham, is the
father of all who believe, but have not been circumcised, in order that
righteousness might be credited to them, and he is also the father of the
circumcised, who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of
the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. " The idea that
a ceremony somehow makes you better spiritually than anyone else is nowhere in
the Bible.

That's why Paul says here, doesn't matter whether you're Jew or Gentile, it's
faith that makes the difference. It's not the ceremony that makes the
difference. With a lot of our ceremonies, even spiritual ceremonies, we tend to
exalt one person above the other.

There's the feel that one person is more important than the other, or one group
is more important or closer to God than the other. That's not the purpose of a
spiritual ceremony. This purpose of baptism, the Lord's Supper, worship
together, the purpose of these experiences that we have with God together is not
to exalt any one of us.

The purpose is to exalt God above all of us. What's interesting in these verses
is the Bible says Abraham is the father of all who believe but have not been
circumcised. He's also the father of all who've been circumcised and have faith
in Jesus Christ.

Abraham is your spiritual father. We're going to talk about this a little more
later this week, but I just want to plant in your mind the idea that we all have
an incredible spiritual heritage. I know a lot of people I talk to wish that
they had a better spiritual heritage.

They grew up in a home where there wasn't a lot of talk about God. They grew up
in a home where the Bible wasn't really a part of the discussion. They didn't
pray as a family and they look with sadness on the way they were brought up and
just wish that they had the spiritual heritage that some other people had.

These verses remind us that we all have a deep and rich spiritual heritage.
Abraham, the father of our faith, we all look back to him together as one who
can teach us how to have faith as a model and a mentor and a spiritual father
when it comes to faith. If I'm going to have faith, it has to be faith alone.

It can't be faith plus. I can't confuse ceremony and commitment. I have to use
everything in my heart, everything in my life, to express my faith to Jesus
Christ with all that I am.

Let's do that right now. Let's take a minute to talk to God together, pray
together. In this time of prayer, would you thank Jesus for your baptism and
what it meant?

It may have been a short time ago. It may have been a long time ago that you
were baptized. Just say to him, "Jesus Christ, thank you for the opportunity to
say before others that I believe in you.

" I don't want to forget the significance of that moment. If you've not yet been
baptized and you believe in Jesus Christ, make a commitment to him now to be
baptized, to say before others your love to Jesus Christ in a clear way. Thank
Jesus once again for the fact that he gave his life for you.

His body was given on the cross. His blood was spilled on the cross. Say to him,
"Jesus Christ, thank you that you love me that much.

" I pray that every time I worship, every time I take the Lord's Supper, every
time I see someone baptized, that I wouldn't see it as some dry, meaningless
ceremony, but I'd see it as a personal expression of my love for you, of our
love for you, because of what you've done for us. In Jesus' name, amen.
Tomorrow, Romans chapter 4, verses 13 to 17 are going to be the verses that we
look at as we continue this look at how to have faith alone.