You were made for the Himalayas, not the mirror, I promise you. You were made to make much of God. You were made to enjoy making much of God and our whole century has been bent on convincing you of the exact opposite.

Namely, you were made to be made much of.

Why should Christians care about being justified by faith?

In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper opens Romans 4, 9 to 12 to reveal the depth and the beauty of this foundational Christian doctrine.

This sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on August 22, 1999.

Why is Paul so riveted on this truth that a divine righteousness is credited to people by faith apart from works. Why is he so riveted on this that

he dwells on it as long as he does. We're tempted to say we got it. We got it in

3.22. We got it in 3.28. We got it in 328.

We got it in the picture of Abraham in 4.1 to 5.

We got it in the blessing of David in 4, 6 to 8.

We got it.

And he keeps going.

He keeps going right on through Chapter 4, right on through Chapter 5.

Why? Why is this man so riveted in the most important letter he ever wrote on this truth that

there is a divine righteousness credited to people through faith apart from works.

Now so far up through this text, the answer to that question is fourfold. There are four reasons

why he is so fixed on this.

So let me build our message today around those four reasons for why

Paul is so riveted on the doctrine of justification by faith apart from works.

But before we do that, I want to pray that God would give us the help we need to preach and to listen.

So let's pause and ask him to.

You told us in the book of James that you have not because you ask not.

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