1 In light of all of this, what should we say about our ancestor Abraham? Romans 4:1

21But now for the good news: God’s restorative justice has entered the world, independent of the law. Both the law and the prophets told us this day would come. Romans 3:21

22This redeeming justice comes through the faithfulness of Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King, who makes salvation a reality for all who believe—without the slightest partiality.

Romans 3:22

23You see, all have sinned, and all their futile attempts to reach God in His glory fail. 24Yet they are now saved and set right by His free gift of grace through the redemption available only in Jesus the Anointed. Romans 3:23-24

26This expression of God’s restorative justice displays in the present that He is just and righteous and that He makes right those who trust and commit themselves to Jesus.

Romans 3:26

30So since God is one, there is one way for Jews and outsiders, circumcised and uncircumcised, to be right with Him. That is the way of faith. 31So are we trying to use faith to abolish the law? Absolutely not! In fact, we now are free to uphold the law as God intended. Romans 3:30-31

1In light of all of this, what should we say about our ancestor Abraham? Romans 4:1

Eternal One: Look up at the stars, and try to countthem all if you can. There are too many to count! Your descendants will be as many as the stars.

6Abram believed God and trusted in His promises, so God counted it to his favor as righteousness.

Genesis 15:5-6

11Now it is absolutely clear that no one is made right with God through the law because the prophet Habakkuk told us, “By faith the just will obtain life.”

Galatians 3:11

14This is what God had in mind all along: the blessing He gave to Abraham might extend to all nations through the Anointed One, Jesus; and we are the beneficiaries of this promise of the Spirit that comes only through faith.

Galatians 3:14

Jesus: 10Imagine two men walking up a road, going to the temple to pray. One of them is a Pharisee and the other is a despised tax collector. 11Once inside the temple, the Pharisee stands up and prays this prayer in honor of himself: “God, how I thank You that I am not on the same level as other people—crooks, cheaters, the sexually immoral—like this tax collector over here.

Luke 18:10-11

12Just look at me! I fast not once but twice a week, and I faithfully pay my tithes on every penny of income.”

13Over in the corner, the tax collector begins to pray, but he won’t even lift his eyes to heaven. He pounds on his chest in sorrow and says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

Luke 18:12-13

14Now imagine these two men walking back down the road to their homes. Listen, it’s the tax collector who walks home clean before God, and not the Pharisee, because whoever lifts himself up will be put down and whoever takes a humble place will be lifted up. Luke 18:14

16This is the reason that faith is the single source of the promise—so that grace would be offered to all Abraham’s children, those whose lives are defined by the law and those who follow the path of faith charted by Abraham, our common father.

Romans 4:16

23The story of how faith was credited to Abraham was not recorded for him and him alone, 24but was written for all of us who would one day be credited for having faith in God, the One who raised Jesus our Lord from the realm of the dead.

Romans 4:23-24

18So here is the result: as one man’s sin brought about condemnation and punishment for all people, so one man’s act of faithfulness makes all of us right with God and brings us to new life. 19Just as through one man’s defiant disobedience every one of us were made sinners, so through the willing obedience of the one man many of us will be made right. Romans 5:18-19

11As a result of the trials and troubles that wrack his soul, God’s servant will see light and

be content Because He knows, really understands, what it’s about; as God says,

“My just servant will justify countless othersby taking on their punishment and bearing it away.”

Isaiah 53:11

20When the law came into the picture, sin grew and grew; but wherever sin grew and spread, God’s grace was there in fuller, greater measure. No matter how much sin crept in, there was always more grace.

Romans 5:20

19Now you’re asking yourselves, “So why did God give us the law?” God commanded His heavenly messengers to deliver it into the hand of a mediator for this reason: to help us rein in our sins until the Offspring, about whom the promise was made in the first place, would come.

Galatians 3:19

3O my God, shine Your light and truth to help me see clearly,

To lead me to Your holy mountain, to Your home.Psalm 43:3

4Then I will go to God’s altar with nothing to hide.I will go to God, my rapture;

I will sing praises to You and play my strings,unloading my cares, unleashing my joys, to

You, God, my God.Psalm 43:4

5O my soul, why are you so overwrought? Why are you so disturbed?Why can’t I just hope in God? Despite all my

emotions, I will hope in God again.I will believe and praise the One who saves

me and is my life,My Savior and my God.

Psalm 43:5