I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. I would like to look at verse
16. Galatians chapter 2. Galatians 16 says, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. I looked up that verse of scripture
as it is written in Young's literal translation, and I looked it
up in the Septuagint, and that's the way it's written. It's written
just exactly like we just read it. And I know that there are translations
that changes a word or two in that verse of scripture. But the way we just read it is
the way, as I can tell, I can look it up and tell, that's the
way it's written. Knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. We have believed in Jesus Christ
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. not by the works of the law. By the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Now the glorious doctrine or
truth, I'm going to try to be as brief as possible, but as
simple as possible concerning this because we're talking about
a passage of scripture doctrine
of truth that sets forth the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
in our salvation. Scripture says the just shall
live by faith. What faith are we talking about? The
just shall live by faith. Whose faith? Well, according
to the scripture that I just read, it is the faith of Jesus
Christ. The faith of Christ. We believe
in Christ that we're justified by his faith. As a man, the man Christ Jesus,
he came into this world and he walked before God in absolute
perfect obedience. He, as our mediator, as our advocate,
he believed God. As a man, he believed God and
walked by faith. Now, this might sound to the
natural man to be just a simple statement, but I'm going to tell
you something. That verse of scripture that we just read,
Galatians 2.16, that is the very heart, that
is the heartbeat of all scriptures giving all honor and glory and
praise unto the Lord. are saved by the grace of God
through the merit of the faith of Jesus Christ imputed to them. I know we just, we talk about faith like it's
something that we are able to just do, produce. Not so. Not so. Faith is the
gift of God. To rest, to walk, to believe
God by faith is impossible for us by nature. Just exercise your
faith. I mean, people talk about faith
like it's just something that man can do. Faith is a gift of
God. I was looking at this scripture
this morning, without faith, in the book of Hebrews 11. Talking
about all those of faith by faith, you know, Abraham by faith, by
faith, by faith, by faith. Without faith, the scripture
says, it is impossible to please God without faith. Without his faith, the faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to us without his faith. Our faith, oh, how frail we are. We do believe God. That's what
scripture says. We believe God by faith. He gives us faith to believe.
But I'll tell you the faith by which we're justified before
God. It's his faith charged to our account. Let's don't, let's don't, let's
don't get too high and mighty. You remember this, we are saved
by the grace of God. Through faith. His faith imputed
to us. This glorious doctrine of justification. What is Justification. What is that? What does it mean?
It's to be deemed or shown to be right. Justified. Shown to be right before God. And this glorious doctrine, truth,
of justification before God, being justified before God. We
need to be reminded of it constantly. Why? Why so much? Because we
forget. We forget so easily. We talk
about faith as if that's just something that we can just, you
know. The believer desires to know,
to hear, his state of being justified. You tell me again, you tell me
one more time. I know you said that last week
or week before. I know y'all, I've heard this,
but you tell me one more time because I'm going to be leaving
this world soon and I want to know, you tell me what God says
about being justified before him. Scripture says, One said to the
Lord, Lord, we believe. Help thou our unbelief. I need
something that is substantial. I want you to tell me how I can
be found, shown to be right before God. You tell me how I am right
before God. And here's the foundation of
being right before God. His righteousness. His obedience, His faithfulness
imputed to me and God counts what He did to be given to my
account. I've got some hope now. Don't
leave me to tell me what I've got to do and God going to look
at it. You tell me what Christ has done and what God has imputed
to my account concerning him. You tell me what he's done. Now,
I can settle down there. I doubt myself all the time. If God were to deal with me on
the best I can do, I just don't want to go there. I don't want
to be there. I don't talk about how How faithful
I've been or how faithful, don't tell me that you tell me how
God has justified me based totally on Christ's righteousness imputed,
charged to my account. Now I can settle down there. Tell me again. I want to look at this passage
of scripture, and I want us to just very, very simply, I won't
try to be so simple, because I'm telling you, I have a very
simple mind. I don't, you know, contrary to
popular belief, I am as dumb as a rock. And you know, I don't
know. And you that are honest, tell
me the same thing. You don't know. You tell me again. Justification. When God looks
at the work of Christ. Here's what justification actually
means. Considering His work. It is the
complete fulfillment of the law. The complete fulfillment of the
law. Word, thought, deed. Justified. Right. Now, being justified before God,
now listen to me, and again, I want to be simple. Justification
is not, justification is not something that I can personally
accomplish. I cannot do it. I cannot do it. Knowing that a man This is here
in this passage, Galatians 2.16, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law. Now, what does that mean? Well,
let me try to explain it. A man is not justified by something
that he can do. Okay. You're not justified before
God by something that you can do. Well, I walked down the aisle.
Works. Well, I was baptized and so therefore
works. Well, I gave my heart to Jesus.
Works. Well, I've been faithful and
I've heard it works. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law. You are not justified by something
you can do. You're not justified by that. I'm not justified by something
that I can accomplish. Galatians 3.10 said, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law. Let me ask you this. Have you
ever, have you ever done, thought, intended, have you ever done
anything that is contrary or in opposition to the perfect
will of God. Have you ever done it in your
mind, in your actions, in your intent? Ever how you want to
say it. Have you ever done anything like that? Guilty. Guilty. You're guilty before
God. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law. If you've
ever done anything personally, well, we were born in Adam. We
were already, when we were born in Adam, Adam's transgression
was charged to our account and Adam all died. So whenever you
come into this world, let me just be honest with you. You're
already condemned. Based on Adam's transgression,
you're already guilty. You're guilty. Let me say it
like that. You're guilty. guilty by one man's disobedience,
one man's one transgression. All men are guilty. In Adam, all die. So don't, don't, don't tell me
that you come into this world and God's going to give everybody
a chance and he's going to weigh your good points and bad points,
kind of fade, you know, By one man's disobedience, by one man's
one disobedience, many were made guilty, unrighteous. The apostle Paul said this of
himself. knowing this from experience
of all believers. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. In me there dwelleth no
good thing, no ability, no desire for God, no hungering after Christ. In me I am guilty. To will, by the good pleasure
and grace of God, the will is present with me. but how to perform
that which is good I find not. I looked up that word find, I
find not. And here's what the word means,
searching, searching. Look as far or as deep as you
want to. You try to find something in
you that is good or obedient. are right before God. Paul said,
I know that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good
thing. Oh, to perform that which is
good. I searched it out. By God's grace, I don't find
it. There's nothing in me to brag
on. There's nothing in me. Justification
is something that must be done for me. For me, it's not based
on anything that I can do. Knowing back in Galatians 2,
16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
law, but by the faith, that next word
right here, I'm telling you, I looked it up in the literal
translation. This is the word of, not in,
Not this next word. It doesn't say in. It said of. And that's a big difference between
saying I believe in Christ, I believe on Christ, or of Christ. A man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith. And this word of means
it's something that belongs to him. Not me. It belongs to him. But by the
faith, of Jesus Christ, even as we have believed. We do believe
in him. We believe in him. We believe that Christ has done
for us something that we couldn't do. We believe in him. But that
faith of Christ is something that he did. When he came into
this world and walked in this world, it's something that Christ
did. We are not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have
believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the
faith of Christ, of Christ. Now you think what's being said
here. You're telling me that God Almighty,
excuse me, mercy and grace, compassion, charges or imputes or gives to
his elect in regenerating grace. He imputes to them and they understand
it that the righteousness of Christ has been charged to their
account. That's exactly what I'm saying.
We walk by faith. Faith It's not of ourselves. It's a gift of God. By grace
are you saved through faith. And that faith is the gift of God, not of works. I wonder how many times we've
said that. That's why when I told you this
morning about reading that article by Brother Scott, he said, now
what's it going to be? Is it either works or grace? What's it going to be? It can't
be both. Don't try to use words and make it sound like it's just
kind of a conglomeration of stuff. For by grace you say through
faith and that not of yourself. It's the gift of God. Who satisfied
God on the behalf of his elect? Christ did. And we believe it. We rest in him. We rest in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Justification is the declaration
of God according to the absolute standard of the accomplishment
of the law of God. Holy and just. And it's through
the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to God's people. It's
on the merit of Christ what he did. One man in himself has pleased
God. One man The man Christ Jesus,
one man. It's not me and it's not you.
One man. This is my beloved son, whom
I'm well pleased. Not Marvin, not Mike, Chuck. This man, and whom I'm well pleased. You hear him. That's him. Now
here's good explanation of justification. I read this Romans 4, 8. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not charge him. It's not that I have not sinned
before God. I have sinned before God. God by blessing of Christ bearing
my guilt and carrying the guilt in his own body. God has made
him, this is 2 Corinthians 5 21, for he God has made him sin for
us, his people. That's what the Lord said. I
lay down my life for the sheep. That's who I'm dying for. I'm
not dying for everybody. I'm laying down my life for the
sheep. John 10. Christ laid down his
life bearing all the guilt of his elect and went to the cross
and God forsook him. Why? Because sin was found there. so that sinneth he stood as our
sin bearer. He knew no sin, but he was made
sin. Almighty God judged him for it. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why? Because you're holy. You're holy. Almighty God, please
to not impute our sins, the sins of his elect, to us. What does that mean? He didn't
charge us with it. Why? Because he charged it to Christ.
He charged it to his son. Where did that sin go? Remember
the scripture in Leviticus 16, the scapegoat, and the sins of
all the people in a representative way was laid when the high priest
laid his hands on that scapegoat for the sins of Israel, for the
sins of God's spiritual Israel is what the picture was. He led
him out to a place into a far off place. Where'd he go? God
does. They're gone. They're gone. Gone. Why is it not imputed to us,
his people, because Christ bore it. He hath made him to be sin for
us. He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now here we see we're absolute
justice of God. The absolute justice of God.
Now this, this ain't fair. It's fair. I can remember sitting
under false religion and hearing this, all you have to
do is just repent. Just repent. If you repent, just
all you have to do, just repent and God will forgive you. He's
just, he's a loving God. He's not willing that any should
perish. That's not what the scripture says. You're stating a half-truth. God is long-suffering to us.
Who was the writer speaking of? God's people. He's long-suffering
to us, not willing that any of the us-ward, those for whom Christ
died and chose in Christ, he's not willing that any of us should
perish. What happened? Christ bore our guilt, the guilt
of his elect. Someone said, boy, you're making
a lot of, you know, something out of this elect. I'm telling
you, told you last week, I'm making a lot of something out
of this because God did. God Almighty has got a people
and He's going to save them. He's going to save them. He's
going to save them fairly. He's going to be right. He's
going to be just. I'm a just God. I'm a just God. I was watching
a television show the other night and a guy was sitting over there
and he was talking about, he said, now this is what God is.
He said, God is not, God is a loving God. That's right. He is. He's just. I will in no wise clear the guilty. I'm not going to do it. How in the world are we going
to get rid of sin? Christ is going to have to take it. He's
going to have to bear it. He's going to have to bear it
before God. And God Almighty is going to deal with him on
it. And everyone that Christ laid down his life for Everyone
that Christ died for, I lay down my life for the sheep. Now, I
told you that. Everyone that Christ died for,
their sin debt's been paid by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's not gonna clear the guilty. Our sin, the sin of God's elect,
was charged to his account, and God Almighty dealt with him. What about those for whom Christ
didn't die? They're going to stand before
God and they're going to answer. So that just doesn't sound fair
to me. But the only thing I'm going to say is this, well, I'm
going to tell you what God says. I'm going to bow to that. I'm
going to bow that God almighty does as he will in the army of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and nobody. Oh, I love the way Paul the apostle
said it. Romans chapter 9, who art thou, O man, that replies
against God? Who do you think you are? Who
do you think you are? Oh, my hope is found that God
Almighty would have mercy on me. Lord, have mercy on me. I'm
a guilty sinner. There is therefore Right now,
no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus. Right now,
you that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, believing on him,
you believe, you believed because God Almighty gave you a heart
to believe. Faith is a gift of God. You think
everybody's just got faith. Well, everybody's got faith.
No, they don't. Faith is a gift of God and all men have not faith. Somebody said, boy, you're starting
to narrow this thing down, Marvin, to where it almost sounds like
you're just making this, that salvation is totally by God's
choice and God's good pleasure. You're making it sound like only
God's elect are going to be saved. That's what you're making it
sound like. I said, well, no, I'm just telling you what God
said. And this is the way it is. I said, well, I don't believe
that. Let God be true, and every man's
a liar. God Almighty is right. He's right. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also makes intercession, makes intercession.
for us. Well, I've got one last question
before I close. Is there any way that I can know
that what you're saying is so? Marvin, this kind of goes against
my natural way of thinking. It seems like to me that every
man ought to have a chance Every man had his chance lost
in the garden. Man rebelled against God. All
men. And whenever Adam sinned in Adam,
everybody died. But God is rich in mercy. Even when we were dead in trespasses
and sins. At least. Redeem his people,
choose the people, quicken them, quicken, make them all, teach
them the gospel. The gospel of God's free grace
is all of God's good pleasure to show mercy. Beloved, if we
leave this world, we leave this world without Christ, we're getting
exactly what we wanted. We're getting exactly what we
wanted. The gospel of God's grace has
been raised up here in Katy. God sent old brother Scott years
ago and raised up a man to preach the gospel to this community. And let me ask you this. Why
did everybody and their brother, back when the Lord raised up
a faithful preacher, why? Did they not come and hear what
God has to say? Let me tell you why they didn't
want to. They didn't want to. I don't want to hear that. But
if God was pleased to show mercy, he made his people willing in
the day of his power. And you that know him, you that
believe, let me tell you what you want. You want to hear one
more time. You tell me one more time. I
know, as I said a while ago, I know you told me before. But
you tell me one more time. Don't tell me how good I am.
I know better than that. That's what Paul the Apostle
said in Romans chapter 7. I know in me, that is in my flesh,
I know there dwells no good thing. I know that. But you tell me
how God Almighty has been pleased to show mercy to a hell-deserving
sinner. You tell me that one more time. Would you make it real to me
again? Would you make it real to me? Yesterday, faith of yesterday,
Lord, it's gone. I need to believe God right now.
Tell me one more time. You tell me one more time. If
I lose consciousness before I know what happened to me, If I have
another seizure, another stroke, and I don't even know it, I didn't
even know what happened, you tell me how that God Almighty's
been pleased to have mercy on me when I didn't have sense enough
to even know what was going on. Lord, you save me. Save me, that's
what Peter said. Lord, save me or I'm gonna perish.
I'm going to perish. Without faith, without faith,
his faith. imputed to my account. Without
faith, it's impossible to please God. Wouldn't you, you that believe,
wouldn't you hate to know that you had to be responsible for
having faith that was accepted of God when you know in yourself
you don't. Not in yourself, you know that.
The just shall live by faith. Whose faith? His faith. charged
to me. Now that's good news. That's good news. Don't, don't
lay the responsibility. Don't lay the responsibility
for keeping myself on me because I'm a goner. I need for God to
save me in spite of me and keep me in spite of me and look upon
me with pleasure for Christ's sake. and then I'm okay. I pray God bless this to our
hearts for Christ's sake.