Let's take our Bibles and turn with me to the book
of Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I'd like to read two verses of
scripture, verse 33 and 34. Romans chapter 8. Verse 33, Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yet rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who can call in a debt and bring into account
a charge before one of God's elect? God has rendered His people in
Christ just. no charge, no condemnation. Who is he that judges and condemns
them? Christ has borne their debt in his own body and at the cross has before God
Almighty made Himself answerable and bore the judgment and the
wrath that was due to everyone that Almighty God everlastingly
loved and everlastingly chose and put in the Lord Jesus Christ
and has looked to Him alone as the surety Never look to the
sheep. He looked to Christ alone. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God justified them in Christ. Now, justification. Now what
is that? It is the declaration of the
judge. It's the declaration of God Almighty. according to His free grace,
whereby based upon the evidence, based upon the evidence that
He alone knows, declares one chosen in Christ to be righteous,
based on the evidence, free from guilt, free from punishment
due to the sinner, because of sin. And totally, this merit
is totally on the merit of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His shed blood, His imputed righteousness. In other words, it's the acceptance
of God Himself, based upon Christ's finished work and salvation,
declared to be so because they are so in Christ, in the Beloved. It's not as though they appear
to be so, or it's just as if they are righteous. 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 in Christ, God's
people everlastingly, eternally, and I'm going to show you this,
have been justified. Now what does the scripture say
about justification? Now this is what it is. Okay,
you put yourself in a courtroom. Here's the judge. Somebody is
accused of something. Somebody is accused of a crime.
And they come before the judge. Here's all the evidence. All
the evidence is brought in. And let's just assume for, you
know, fairness sake, that all the evidence is right. And there's
no crooked lawyers. Dealing with God Almighty, God
Almighty has declared them just. He is the righteous judge. But
let's say that you're in a courtroom, all the evidence is brought in.
They're accused of a crime. They're accused of some heinous
crime, murder, something. Big deal. Big deal. Punishable
by death. All the witnesses, all the witnesses
come. And with all the evidence in,
overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly, this person's innocent. And he
was charged with it. charged with it. But the judge
looks at all the evidence and the judge says, no charge. Justified. The evidence has justified
him. I declare him to be right. Now, let me ask you this. He
was charged with a crime. He was brought into court. He's
found to be justified. Was he ever guilty before? Was
he ever guilty, really? He was charged with it. Who will
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who can lay a charge to God's
elect? God has justified. Now this is
what the scripture says concerning justification. It is totally
by the free grace of God. Romans 3.24, being justified
freely. You know what that word freely
means? It means without a cause in them. Being justified freely. By God's grace, by His grace. What's the merit of it? Through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. without any reason, anything,
any something that we've done, that we do for our justification. The scriptures declare that we,
God's elect, are found to be without condemnation, holy, righteous
in Christ who has answered who has dealt with our sin, who has
established righteousness for us. God chose us, redeemed us
in Christ, called us by grace because it pleased Him to justify
us freely. I will have mercy and compassion
on whomsoever I will. Was there anything in any object
of God's mercy that moved God to justify them. No, sir. No. We're all as an unclean thing.
Nobody from the crown of our head, sole of our foot, unrighteousness
in us, but found in Christ. He justified us totally in Him. The total merit of our justification
before God Here's the merit of our justification. The blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5, 8 and 9. But God commendeth
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Now I want you to notice. You
separate justification apart from Christ, and no, it's not
there. We're justified freely by God's
grace in Christ Jesus, that redemption that's in Christ Jesus, by His
blood. Now concerning this blessed state
of justification, we know by the revelation of God's Spirit,
we believe by faith, that we've been justified. Now the scripture
says Romans 3.28 concerning faith and justification. Therefore
we conclude a man is justified by faith. Somebody says, ah,
there you see. There it is right there. Justified
because of faith. That's not what it said. That's
not what it said. We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. Faith is not the cause of our
justification before God. God's grace is. Faith is not
the foundation, the cause, the merit, of our justification before
God. If faith was the cause of our
justification, then we'd be justified by works. And Apostle Paul declared
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
So what does that mean? We're justified by faith. Faith
is the God-given grace and means by which we believe and comprehend
our justification by God's grace based totally on the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know it by faith. We know it by faith. By faith
we believe that God Almighty has done something for us that
we couldn't do for ourselves. And we do nothing to add anything
to our justification. God justified us in Christ and
sent the gospel to us, and gave us faith to believe what God
has done, and therefore we comprehend it by faith. We know it, we understand
something. God Almighty gives us a grace
called faith. And when does God declare that
He justified us freely by His grace. When the blood that was
shed at Calvary, that's the merit of our justification, when did
Almighty God say that that took place? Well, listen to this.
Revelation 13, 8. And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship Him, that is the beast, whose names are not written
in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Based upon the scripture, Almighty
God has eternally beheld the substitutionary death of the
Lord Jesus Christ for his elect. And again, the substitution,
it's not as Neil, you rightly said. You know, we go to a football
game and one man comes out and a substitute goes in. That's
not what he's talking about. Christ was made sin. He was made what we are. He became
us. He became us. He wasn't just
over there, just, you know, uh-uh. He was made sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. God Almighty beheld
the absolute substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ
from the foundation of the world, before the foundation, eternally.
God has seen it. Almighty God chose us in Christ
and beheld what would take place in time. But God saw it, knew
it, and trusted in him. He was the first one to trust
in Christ. That's what Ephesians 1.12 says. You look it up. Who first trusted in Christ.
And based on his trust in the substitute, his trust in the
surety, his trust in the surety himself, the one who shall, he
shall not fail. God Almighty declared his people
justified. before the Lamb ever actually
came into this world and laid down His life for the sheep.
God eternally declared Him to be so freely by grace, based
on His Scripture. That Lamb died eternally in the
eyes of Almighty God. So, from the Scripture, we know
that God declared His people to be without charge, without
condemnation, before they ever fell in Adam. before they were
ever created, before God ever made man. The Lamb was already
slain. God saw it. Before God created
man out of the dust, before there was a sinner, there was that
justifying blood of the Lamb. And the Father beheld that justifying
merit of His Son, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, And when
He saw the blood, He said, I pass over you. Who? All that He was
pleased to choose. I'm going to have mercy, I'm
going to have compassion on whomsoever I will. And they were put in
Christ before the foundation of the world. And God Almighty,
who knew what would happen, justified them. No charge. No charge. No
charge to these. Not those found in my Son. We
speak of justification as if it's something that begins in
time. The Scripture never declares it to begin in time. When do
the Scriptures declare us to have received God's blessing
in Christ? Now listen, 2 Timothy 1, 8-10,
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor me his prisoner. Be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
who saved us in Christ and called us with a calling of power, an
effectual calling, not according to our works. Someone told me, he said, you're
not justified until you believe. My friend, you believe because
God justified you before. God gave you faith because He
declared you to be just in Christ. He did not look and see that
you were going to believe. Therefore, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. When did all of this take place? Before the foundation of the
world we were given this grace. God Almighty declared us in Christ
before the foundation of the world to be accepted in the Beloved. Let me just read. I read these
scriptures so many times. I'm just going to read Ephesians
chapter 1 verses 3 to 7. I just listen to what God has
to say concerning our state before God. Ephesians 1 verse 3 to 7,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. Who's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings, not temporal blessings. We've been blessed with so many
temporal blessings. We've got a place to meet tonight.
We've got some food. We had some supper. We've got
something to wear. We drove over. But I'm talking
about spiritual blessings in heavenly places. What are those
spiritual blessings, Paul? According as He's chosen us in
Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy, without blame, before Him, in
love. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of His grace." My friend, justification. is the declaration of the freedom
from guilt. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from
guilt. But I'm a sinner. I am, in Adam. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner and sin is in me. It's in my flesh and I feel the
presence of it. I feel the workings of it. I
know it's here. but the condemnation of it, the
guilt of it, to have to answer for it. God said, no charge,
no charge, no charge. There's a new man and old man
in me. God has created a new man. And that new man is created
in righteousness, true holiness. And there's no guilt there, no
sin. That which is born of God doesn't
sin. Justified. has declared us to be the declaration
of freedom from that guilt because of sin God Almighty has based
on the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ said concerning His people. They have no guilt. Then the Lord has declared this
state to be recognized. You recognize it. God justifies
us freely by grace, being chosen in Christ. The merit of our justification
before God is the blood. The way we know it is by faith. He grants us faith, not in order
to be justified. I'm going to say, well, man's
not justified until he believes. Then you believe in salvation
by works. You believe in works of the law. But the Scripture
declares us it was according to His own purpose, not according
to our works. Almighty God has declared that
there's some way that there's going to be some evidence of
justification. What is it? Well, James declares
it to be by its effects. Listen to James 2, 21-24. Was
not Abraham our father justified by works? Well, I thought Paul
said we were justified by grace. We are, before God. But how are any of God's people
going to know? any effect of it. He was justified by what he did,
not because of what he did, but he was justified or shown to
be justified, let me say it like that, by what he did. The effects
He did something because God had justified him. Now this was
not Abraham our father justified before men, let me say it like
that, by works. When he had offered Isaac his
son upon the altar, seest thou how faith wrought with his works? And by works was faith made perfect? I looked that up to find out
what is he saying exactly when he says, by works was faith made
perfect? That means it reached its expression. By Abraham's works, he did something
to express that God had justified him freely by grace. And the
scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God,
it was imputed to him for righteousness, that is God Almighty declared
him to be what he was, righteous. It was imputed to him for righteousness.
He was called the friend of God. See you then how that by works. A man is justified and not by
faith only. What does that mean? The truth
of a man's justification before God is demonstrated. It's confirmed. before men by his willingness
to obey God, to believe God. Abraham evidenced his justification
before God by his willingness to offer his son Isaac on the
altar. True faith and obedience is never
separated. We are not justified by works. We are not justified because
of our works. But James says faith without
the evidence of faith, without works, is dead faith works. Now what kind of works? Our work of faith, our labor
of love, our patience of hope in Christ. This is not the cause
of our justification, but it's the effects that declare us to
be justified before God. God's people, let me ask you
this. Do you believe that Almighty
God has justified us freely by His grace? Say, yes, I believe
that. How do I know, how do I know
that that is so? Well, I'll tell you what you
do. You'll be attentive. You'll be attentive to where
the gospel is preached. It'll come out on you. It'll
evidence itself. You'll find there's a spirit. You believe God, but it evidences
itself toward God's people. It comes out. They behold it. There's an evidence. They actually
do that which God Almighty declares them to do. They meet together. We come together. Why aren't
you somewhere else tonight? I want to be where God's honored.
I want to be where Christ is preached. I want to be with the
gospel of God's free grace. Tell me what God has done for
me and told me about it. And I want to hear it. I want
to hear it again. I want to hear it fresh. If anything that we
have done is found, or you think it's found to be the cause or
the reason, then the death of Christ is made void. We have
something to glory in, in good works. Doesn't establish a man's
justification, it reveals it. And then the scripture declares
that by our words, our words, we're shown to be justified.
The Lord said this, Matthew 7, uh-uh, 1237. For by thy words
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Here the Lord declares the truth that out of the abundance of
a man's heart, his mouth is going to speak. Now, not that any man
is able to speak without error or he never speaks with the inconsistency
he does, but the Lord means that a man that speaks of Christ as
being his total hope of justification before God. That's what it is.
Here's a believer is going to He's going to say out of the
abundance of His heart, salvation is totally by the grace of God.
I've done nothing to merit it. I've done nothing to procure
it. I've done nothing. By faith, I believe it. And I
confess it. He confesses the Lord to be our
total acceptance before God. That His righteousness imputed
to me, His people, the totality of my holiness before God. I
have no righteousness that will answer before God if it's not
His righteousness. All of mine is filthy rags. And
a man's words give evidence of his justified state, justified
freely by grace, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
given faith to believe it. And it's evidenced by the work
of faith and labor of love and patience of hope. And a man,
he says something. He says what God's put in his
heart. So the man who dies though, confessing
justification be because of something that he's done, only reveals
himself to have died in an unjustified state. Justification is an eternal
declaration of God concerning or toward a people that he has
everlastingly loved, chosen in Christ according to the eternal
covenant of God's grace. Justification does not start
or come into being in time. It's revealed in time. It's witnessed
in time, it's declared in time through the gospel, but God,
who never changes, has again blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, the one in whom we've
been eternally accepted in. Now, let me ask you this question
in closing. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justified. 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
maketh intercession for us right now, interceding according to
His own merit, what He's done for us, declaring what He's done
for us. Now, you talk about some blessed
people, Romans 4.8, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will
not impute sin. He won't charge him with it.
Why? He's charged it to Christ. That man has been eternally justified. Christ came to this world to
seek and to save that which was lost. Laid down His life for
the sheep, suffered the penalty due every one of His sheep. Now,
Romans 4.25, He was delivered for And I looked this up. He was delivered because of our
offenses and was raised again for or because of our justification. God raised Him from the dead,
accepted what He did, and raised Him from the dead because God
had justified us in Him. It's a great comfort to know
that nothing ever happens It starts with God in time, especially
our justification. Scripture says in Acts 15, 18,
known unto God are all His works from the beginning. Last Scripture,
Romans 8, 29 to 31. Romans 8, 29, for whom He did
foreknow. What does that mean? to those that He knew in grace.
Not that He doesn't know everybody, He knows everybody. But those
that He foreknew in grace, in Christ, those that He purposed
to save, those that He purposed to show mercy and have compassion
for whom He did foreknow. He also did, and I want you to
notice these words, they're all in the past tense. They're all
past tense. They're all past tense. For whom
He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate
determined the destination beforehand. Them He also called, He named
them. And whom He called, them He also,
what? Justified. And whom He justified,
them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? May Almighty
God bless these words to our heart, to His glory and our eternal
good. Amen.