Let's take our Bibles and turn
back to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. In verse 17 of this first chapter,
Paul had just declared he was not ashamed of the gospel. is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just, those that are justified by God, shall live by faith. That was first recorded in the
book of Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 4. Behold, his soul which
is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live
by his faith. The soul that is swollen, lifted
up, puffed up, presumes in his eternal safety, based upon self-ability,
is a proud man. And God Almighty hates a proud
look. So living by faith, the just
shall live by faith. Faith excludes all pride in self. Brother Scott said, I mentioned
this last week, somebody said when a man's converted all his
pride is done away with. Brother Scott said, no, no not
all of it. We fight, we war, but when it
comes to salvation, there's no pride in a believer based on
what he's done. He knows better, knows better
than that. Then the next time that that Scripture said forth,
the just shall live by faith is right here, and we'll consider
that in just a minute. But in Galatians 3.11, but that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. It's evident.
For the just shall live by faith. And no man is justified by the
law. So living by faith excludes all my works, excludes pride,
excludes work. Work on my part. Then in Hebrews
10.38, Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draws
back, goes back, draws back into works, ceremonialism, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. If Almighty God calls a man or
woman out of darkness into the light of the glorious gospel
of God's grace, God's going to keep them. They're kept by the
power of God. If they draw back and go back
into works religion, the Lord never called them. God is going
to call them and keep them. So the foundational truth is
this. God Almighty gives his people
a heart and they walk by faith. So here's what scripture says,
the just. the just. That means justified,
righteous. So obviously there's a people
that Almighty God has justified. Justified. I've told you. What
does justified mean? It means that the law of God
looks at a man and says, no charge. No charge. Boy, how did Job come
to this conclusion and ask a question that is the question of all questions.
How should man be just with God? How? How can the law look and
look at a man and say, no infraction, no charge, no guilt? I'll tell you this, first of
all, only this way, that Almighty God would choose to show mercy
and justify a man or a woman according to His grace because
there is no other way that we would ever stand justified before
God. Listen to this, according as
he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before God, 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. So here's what I know for a fact. All that are justified, the just,
not just because of their works, but the just, Here's the foundational
truth concerning being justified before God. God chose a people
that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Almighty God declared concerning
His people who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works." You know it would seem as though
after a while, Neil would get it. Not according to our works. Not
by the works of righteousness that a man have done. Almighty
God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ, Christ Jesus, before the world
began. When did Almighty God purpose
that His people would be perfect, holy, and without blame
before Him in love? When did He purpose that? before
the world began. This was established. So I know
this, a man, a woman is found just before God because God chose
that they would be just and holy before Him. Secondly, I know
this concerning justification. The scriptures declare God's
people to have been justified at Calvary. Now, when the Lord
Jesus Christ shed his blood, all God's elect were justified
before God. Now you listen to this scripture,
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. all that
was required for justification of God's sheep. For the law to
say, no offense, Christ's blood had to be shed. Did God Almighty
see it for the first time when He shed it? No sir. When was
it seen by Almighty God? before the world began. The Lamb
was slain from the foundation of the world. But the Lord Jesus
Christ came in time and actually accomplished, for the justification
of God's people, death upon the cross. He physically died in
time Justifying all that the Father had given Him in electing
grace. But remember, that death was
always beheld by the Lord. What did Almighty God say concerning
Lot? Concerning his standing before
God. Just Lot. What was justified by God before
the Lord Jesus Christ ever came into this world to die? Christ
accomplished at Calvary that which God Almighty eternally
purposed. It happened in time, but the
Scripture declared that it was an eternal act of Almighty God. Thirdly, the Holy Spirit declares
also that God's people are justified By faith, without the deeds of
the law. Now let me tell you what it did
not say. We were not justified because
of our faith. If we were justified because
of our faith, then faith then becomes a work by which we're
justified. Faith is the evidence. of justification. God justifies
His people freely by His grace through the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And how do you know who they
are? God Almighty gives them faith to believe Him. and they
walk before God by faith. The just shall live by faith. Therefore, Romans 3.20, by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. Sinners are not
justified because of. Now, does a believer believe?
Well, that's almost obvious. Yes, they do believe. Did their
faith justify them? No. No. They were justified by
the grace of God through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But as vessels of God's mercy, they evidence that they
have been justified. Faith is the evidence of their
justification. Galatians 2.16, 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. What did that say? That said
that the faithfulness, the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of
Christ has been charged to. imputed to, God's elect. And God gives us faith to believe
that it was not by our faithfulness, but by His faithfulness charged
to us. So the evidence of justification
is faith in Christ. We know this, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Therefore, We don't look
to the deeds of the law to be justified before God. But here's the revelation of
the glorious gospel of God. A man is justified. And he is justified by grace,
and he believes on Christ to be his surety and representative
before God Almighty, he who truly obeyed God. Justification before
the law says this. The law says, you've obeyed me. Justification says, you've kept
me. You've not in any wise broken
any of my precepts, concept, nothing. You are justified before
I told you the gun battle in Franklin that happened just you
know the bad guys and a bad guy was hiding. Remember the police
officer I told you came up? This bad guy jumps out from behind
and he's going to assassinate this police officer and before
he gets to the police officer a hail of bullets. They shot
him, killed him. A judge looked at the evidence,
saw where the police officers did shoot him. He did shoot him
and did kill him. And there was a death that incurred. And the judge looked at it and
said, according to the law, these police officers were justified.
They broke no law in shooting, you know, had If something else
happened and somebody was shot, there would have been an infraction
of the law. You wouldn't have been justified by the law. But
they were justified. There's been no law broken. So justification by the faith
of Christ means that by virtue of our union in Him, what He did, we did. As He obeyed,
we obeyed. The just. How did they get that
way? God chose that they would be
just, that they should be holy without blame before Him in love.
What was it going to take? Well, for them to be just and
they're born sinners, their sins are going to have to be taken
care of. They are sinners. But Christ has put away their
sin. They owe nothing to the law. They owe nothing to the
law because of their offense. Christ bore it. But for them
to be just before the law, they have to have obedience that they
didn't have or to get it. God gave it to them. I'm choosing for you to be just.
And I'm going to put away your debt. And I'm going to give you
righteousness. And my law will look at you,
and my law will say, no charge, no charge. And now those just,
the just shall live by faith. A man, a woman concerning being
pure and right before God, how, Job said, how is that going to
be? Well, God's going to have to
eternally purpose it. Choose him in Christ. Christ
is going to pay his debt. Christ is going to earn righteousness,
obedience before the law as a man. And he's going to give it to
them. And then God's going to give
them faith to believe it. Are they really just before God? Yes. They are truly just before
God. Do they see that in themselves?
Only by faith. Let me ask you this, how many
are standing here today and just say, well, I pretty well can
look at myself and I can pretty well see why God would call me
just, not a believer. They're going to say, just like
Paul the Apostle says, oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And by faith, they hear the word
of God and they realize by God's grace, God Almighty has done
something for me that I couldn't do for myself. There's no merit
in the vessel of God's mercy. Romans 3.24 says this, being
justified, that is being pronounced righteous, being justified freely,
that is, without a cause in you or me, being justified freely
by His grace, by His favor, by His benefit, through the redemption,
the liberation procured by the payment of a ransom that is in
Christ. I am what I am by the grace of
God. To be pronounced just I realize
now what I thought was justification before God in my own works, but
Paul says, that was, that dung, loss, loss. That reason Paul
said, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you. I'm not ashamed
of this. This greatest message I've ever
heard. This message of redemption, ready to preach the gospel to
you that are Rome, it's the power of God unto salvation, to everyone
that believeth, Jew first, also to the Greek, for therein is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. What does that mean? Brother Henry summed it up, I
think, as well as I could ever think it through. I'm going to
just tell you what he says. Through the hearing of the gospel,
the righteousness of God, the righteousness of God, imputed to the believer, is made
to be known and grows in our understanding from one point
to another. We grow in grace and in our understanding. We hear the gospel and hear the
gospel and hear the gospel and by the grace of God we continue
to hear it and the sweetness of the glorious message of justification
by the grace of God becomes more and more precious. For a man to be just before God,
God must justify because we don't have the ability to do it. What is the requirement in closing? Listen to Micah 6.8. He has showed
me, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require
of thee? Now this is all you've got to
do. If you want to be just before God, to do justly. What does that mean? That means
no infraction. Word, thought, or deed. This
is all you've got to do by the works of the law. To do justly.
To love mercy. If the mercy you love is the
mercy promised, Christ Himself, the mercy of God, love mercy
and to walk humbly with thy God. There ain't been a humble man
born in Adam ever. We're all so proud and so arrogant,
so lifted up, high. The just shall live. Now we're
really in a world and we really do live in this world sustained,
maintained, comforted, and safe. The just shall live by faith. Faith that began as far as we're
concerned in regeneration. We started it by the grace of
God. We continue it by the grace of
God. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable. and unreprovable in his sight,
if ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have
heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister of God's people."
Here's the just shall live. They started a life in regeneration. They continue in that life by
the grace of God because they're kept by the power of God. And
listen to this, they're going to die in the faith. They will
die in the faith. By the grace of God, everyone
justified by God, justified by the grace of God, they're not
going to perish. He said, I give unto them eternal
life. They're never going to perish. Well, what do they have
to do to not perish? They have to continue in the
faith. By their power? No. Kept. They shall die in the
faith. And the dying in the faith is
a precious thing to the Lord. The just. Oh, how did they get
there? God Almighty chose that they
would be there. Chose them in Christ. Put them
in the surety. Kept them in the surety. He paid
their debt. He earned their obedience and
gave it to them. Almighty God beholds them in
Christ. In regenerating grace, gives
them faith to believe it. And He keeps them right here.
And they're just as happy to come and hear the same message
over and over and over again. And they're going to die in the
faith. They're not going to leave because God Almighty is not going
to let them leave. He's going to save them. And
they're going to be with Him. May the Lord bless the Word to
our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.