Let us turn to the Word of God
in Psalm 64. That second psalm that we read,
Psalm 64 and verse 10. The righteous shall be glad in
the Lord and shall trust in Him, and all the upright in heart
shall glory. The righteous shall be glad in
the Lord and shall trust in Him, and all the upright in heart
shall glory." Considering then the righteous glory in the Lord,
or we might call it the glory of the righteous. And what is
the glory that is being spoken of here? Are we not to understand
it in terms of their own standing before God. They are the righteous. We have to take account then
of that righteousness of justification. But how is it that that righteousness
comes into the experience, into the souls of these people? Well, they are such as trust
in Him. In a sense, I think this verse
is paralleled by the concluding verse in the other psalm that
we read in Psalm 32 and verse 11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice
ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart. You will see that the vocabulary
is so similar in each of the verses. We read in both cases
of the righteous and of the uprights. And we know quite clearly there
in Psalm 32 that David is speaking of that righteousness that we
associate with the justification of the sinner. In the opening
words of Psalm 32, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered, blessed is the man unto whom the Lord
imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. And so, first of all tonight
I want to say something with regards then to the righteousness
of justification, the righteousness of justification and to consider
three things with regards to that righteousness the author
the author of justification the accomplishments of justification
and the imputation of that righteousness that is the possession of those
who are the justified. First of all, we must observe
who the author is. And it says here in the text,
the righteous shall be glad in the Lord. It is the Lord himself. who is the author of their righteousness. And that is why they are glad
in Him. That is why they rejoice in Him,
as we are told there at the end of Psalm 32. And who is the Lord? Well, this is that One who is
the covenant God, It's LORD, as we're so familiar with, in
capital letters, indicating it's the covenant name, it's Jehovah,
it is the great I AM THAT I AM. This is that God then who justifies. And remember, the meaning of
the word to justify, it literally means to declare righteous. to declare righteous. It is a judicial word. It's a forensic act that is being
spoken of. It has to do with the law court,
it's legal language. And in justifying, God is that
one who always acts as the great judge. And what is the work of the judge? Well, we're reminded in the Old
Testament, in Deuteronomy 25, how the judges were to conduct
themselves. The judges were to condemn the
wicked, and they were to justify the innocents. They must judge
righteous judgments. And God is that one who is the
great judge. And God will always act in that
fashion that is just and equitable. Who is this God? Well, God is
not a man that he should lie. He is not the son of man that
he should repent. Has he spoken it? Will he not
do it? Has he said it? Shall he not make it good? He
is the Rock, we're told. His work is perfect. All God's
ways, all God's works are perfect. And He has said quite clearly,
I will not justify the wicked. I will not justify the wicked. If the judges in Israel were
to justify the righteous, the innocent, and to condemn the
wicked, Well, clearly that must be the way in which God himself
conducts himself. He will by no means clear the
guilt, because he is a just God. This is the one who is the author
of justification. We said something last Lord's
Day evening with regards to that justification remember how we
considered those words in Romans chapter 6 and verse 17 where
Paul says God be thanked that you were the servants of sin
but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that
was delivered onto you or that form of doctrine onto which you
were delivered. We consider the latter part of
that verse not only as it stands in the text there in Romans 6.17
but also the alternative reading in the margin. It was delivered
them, they were delivered to it. And what was the doctrine?
Well, we made reference to certain doctrines, but surely the great
truth, the great doctrine that stands out so plainly there in
that epistle to the Romans is this doctrine of justification. This justification in which God
is the one who is the judge. And God is not only the judge,
but God is the one who has also accomplished the justification
of his people. If God the Father stands as that
one who is the judge of all the earth, who does that that is
right, so we see how it is God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who comes to accomplish the justification of those who in their very natures
are dead in trespasses and in sins. that name that is given
to him in the Old Testament, he is Jehovah Sidkenu. That's how it reads in the Hebrew
of course, Jehovah Sidkenu, it's translated into our English language
as the Lord's, our righteousness. And is it not remarkable, we
have that name mentioned twice there in the book of the Prophet
Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 23 verse 6, he tells us this is the name
whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And then
later in chapter 33 and verse 16, It is that same name that
is given to those who are his people. This is the name that's
given to his church, to his bride. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called the Lord, our righteousness, is how it reads
there in chapter 33 and verse 16. The church bears the same
name. Just as in a marriage, of course,
the bride takes the name of her bridegroom. Or it is the Lord
Jesus Christ who comes to accomplish that justification of the sinner. Remember, again, I direct you
to What Paul says in the Roman Epistle, it's full, full of this
doctrine of justification. And there in Romans chapter 8 and verses 33 and 34, Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is
Christ that dies. Yea, rather that he is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us." And we see the connection. God justifies. And how is it that God justifies
sinners? It's because of the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who died, who is risen, who is at the right
hand of God, who makes intercession. Oh, it is the Lord Jesus Christ,
then, who accomplishes the justification of His people, because He has
come to stand in the law court as their surety. If God is the
judge, why Christ is the surety of His people? That's how we
read of Him there in Hebrews 7, 26. He is the surety of a
better covenant. And now we're reminded of the
covenant here, the righteous shall be glad in the Lord. All the righteous are glad in
the covenant God. And that covenant of which Christ
himself is the mediator, of which Christ himself is the surety,
he comes to stand before the judge on behalf of those who
are to be condemned because they are guilty sinners the surety
ship of the Lord Jesus Christ what a precious doctrine it is
and how we see it so wonderfully illustrated in the Old Testament
in the case of Judah and Christ comes of the line of Judah he
comes of the tribe of Judah Judah remember stood surety for his
brother Benjamin. In those years of great famine
that had come upon all of Canaan, and yet there was great provision
laid up in store there in Egypt, how those brethren had sold their
brother Joseph into slavery, and yet in the mysterious dealings
in the sovereign providence of God there was Joseph in Egypt
and now he had been brought to that position where he was next
to the Pharaoh and in the famine the brethren go to obtain corn
and they don't recognize Joseph though he was their brother and
he makes provision for them and they return to Jacob but he has
made it clear that should they come again they must bring their
younger brother with them. He's inquired of them who they
are, inquired of their family and they tell him of Benjamin
and he makes it quite plain that they will not see his face except
they bring Benjamin with them. When the corn has been expended
and they must return There in Genesis 43 and again in 44, on
two separate occasions, Judah steps forth and he says he will
be shut. He wants Jacob to send the lad
with them that they might obtain the corn. And if he doesn't bring
the lad back again, he will bear the responsibility forever for
young Benjamin. There in Genesis 43, 9, and he
repeats the words. when he stands before Joseph,
that he has voluntarily taken on that responsibility for Benjamin,
who is of course the brother, the full brother of Joseph. It's a wonderful example really
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who stands surety for his people. that one of whom Job inquired
and pleaded with God for, put me in a surety with thee, says
Job. Oh, he wants one to stand and
plead for him as it were before the great judge. He wants a surety. And how that prayer of Job was
answered. It was answered in God's time,
in the fullness of the time. God sends forth his son and he's
made of a woman and he's made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law that they might receive the adoption
of sons all Christ is the surety he comes and he stands in that
law place made of a woman made under the law it says and what
does he do under the law why he pleases the father by His
complete obedience to all that the law requires. The Lord is
well pleased for His righteousness sake, we're told. He will magnify
the law. He will make it honorable. And
how does He make it honorable? How does He magnify it? He does it in terms of all those
holy precepts. What is righteousness? What is
this righteousness of justification? It must be a perfect obedience
of every one of God's commandments. That's what it says in Scripture,
Deuteronomy 6.25, it shall be our righteousness if we observe
to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as He
has commanded us. It is a positive righteousness.
Every one of the commandments must be obeyed. And of course, we know from James,
if a man keeps the whole law, and yet offends in one point,
he is guilty of all. That's what the law requires. So demanding, it must be a complete
and a perfect obedience to every one of the commandments. All
these commandments must be obeyed before the face of the Lord God,
even as He had commanded. And what does the Lord Jesus
Christ do? He does that very thing. The
righteous are those who are glad in the Lord, because He has done
it. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Oh, that's the wonder of the
doctrine, is it not? Such a glorious righteousness,
complete, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what the Apostle
Paul is brought to. delivered from all the legality
of his life as a Pharisee when he imagined, vainly imagined
that touching the righteousness which is of the Lord, he was
a blameless man. And he wasn't a blameless man, he was a transgressor.
And he didn't understand. All but then, when his eyes were
opened, his one desire was to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, not having mine own righteousness which is of the
Law, but that which is through the face of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith." Where are the righteous to be glad?
Only in the Lord. Nothing of themselves. It's all
together and only the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness in all the precepts
of that law, but not only that. All the law must be honoured
and magnified also in terms of all its penalties. Where there is transgression,
the law must be paid its debts. The wages of sin, death, What
of the soul that sins? That soul that sins, it must
die. That's what the law requires.
Not just a positive righteousness, but there's these other aspects.
Where there has been transgression, there must be satisfaction. As
many as are of the works of the law, we're told they're under
the curse, for cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. If a man doesn't
do all those things throughout his life, he's under the curse. How can the curse be removed?
Not enough that there's one who stands forth as a surety and
obeys every commandment, fulfills all righteousness. What of those
sins that were committed? The debt must be paid. And what
does Paul say there in Galatians 3, verse 13? Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for
it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Oh, that's
what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. Christ died for the ungodly. How simple it is. That's the
gospel. Christ died for the ungodly. Substitutionary atonement. The Lord Jesus Christ in the
sinner's place. Not only a surety to fulfill
all righteousness in terms of precept, but a substitute that
one who bears all the punishment that was due to the sins of his
people. Oh, there is one then who is
the author of salvation, the author of justification. It is
God. It is God's great purpose in
the covenant. There is one who has come and
accomplished that justification. He has come to be the saviour
of sinners. But how do these blessed gospel truths come to mean anything
to the sinner? How are they made to be glad? The righteous shall be glad in
the Lord, it says, and shall trust in Him and all the upright
in heart shall glory." How are these things that the Lord Jesus
Christ has done and accomplished, how are they made over? How do they become that poor
sinners? Well, that's the question. And
here we have another aspect, you see, of the doctrine, and
it is that truth of imputation. It's imputation. And you know
I said that there in Romans we have so much said about the doctrine
of justification. We touched on it last week remember. And it's interesting now in chapter
4 you'll see the word imputes being used time after time after
time after time. Romans chapter 4, we have it
in verse 6, verse 8, verse 11, verse 22, verse 23, verse 24,
impute, impute, impute. And what does the word impute
mean? Well, it literally means to reckon to, or to account. For example, see how Paul uses
it, when he writes there in chapter 4 of Romans in the passage from from verse 6 Romans chapter 4
from verse 6 through to verse 8 he's referring or he's going
to refer to Psalm 32 that Psalm that we read together with Psalm
64 and he says this Romans 4 verse 6, Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. The man whom God imputeth righteousness,
reckons and accounts righteousness to them without works. They do
no works, and yet they are reckoned, they are accounted righteous.
How is this? Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord will not impute sin. Their sins, although they have
committed them, are not reckoned to their account. because their
sins have been reckoned to the account of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Their sin has been imputed to Him. His righteousness has been
imputed to them. That's the exchange. That's the
wondrous exchange that we see in the Gospel. And so, instead
of condemnation for these people, there's acquittal. And not only
acquittal there, also accounted righteous. And it all comes from
God. God Himself in the person of
the Father is the righteous judge. God there in the person of His
eternal, His only begotten Son is the one who has come to be
the steward and the substitute. And what does Paul say there
in Romans Romans chapter 3 verse 21 now the righteousness the righteousness of God he says
without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and
the prophets even the righteousness of God's, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe." Oh, that's
their justification. That's their justification. Stated
so clearly there in Romans 3, 21 and 22. Now the righteousness
of God's without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe, the righteous. O thou glad in the Lord, thou
glad in the Lord, and shalt trust in him, And all the upright in
heart shall glory. Well, having sought to say something
of the righteousness of their justification, I want to turn
in the second place to say something with regards to their justifying
faith. Because faith is spoken of here.
They trust in Him, it says. They trust in Him. Now, We know
that God has a people and He has a people from all eternity. He made choice of them before
the foundation of the world. He chose them in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are familiar with the language
there in Ephesians chapter 1. God has a people from eternity.
and God sees them in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one in
whom they are chosen and in the Lord Jesus Christ surely he sees
them as those who are saved, those who are justified. Known
unto God are all his works from the foundation of the earth we
are told. And so Dr. Gill speaks of this justification
as an imminent act of God. In other words It always was. It's an eternal act. And notice
in the text the order. They're righteous, aren't they,
before we have any mention of faith or trust. The righteous,
it says, shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in Him. And all the upright in heart
shall glory. They are righteous before they
come to that faith, to that trust. But they must experience their
justification in time. It might be an imminent act of
God, as Dr. Gill says, but it must be brought
into their soul's experience. We can say in a sense that justification
is threefold. It is eternal, it is historical,
and it's also experimental. It's eternal in that it is that
that was purposed by God in eternity, and then it is accomplished in
time. And who is the one who comes
to accomplish it? Well, we've said it's the Lord Jesus Christ,
when He is made of a woman, made under the law. He is that one
who is the end of the law for righteousness. So it's accomplished
by Christ, historically. But then it must also be experienced
by faith in the souls of sinners. we must know our justification
ultimately and when it comes to that experience we have to
recognize the importance of faith all the importance of faith and
this is how we find the apostles preaching it Paul for example
We have the record of that sermon that Paul preached at Antioch
in Pisidia in the 13th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
And remember what Paul says there as he preaches the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says, By Him all that believe
are justified. By Him, by the Lord Jesus Christ,
all that believe are justified from all things that they could
not be justified by the deeds of the law. They couldn't justify
themselves. Once that man vainly thought,
when he was a Pharisee, a self-righteous man, a legal man, he thought
he could justify himself. He thought he was blameless,
touching the righteousness which is of the law. He says that to
the Philippians. That's how he thought. That was
his perverse reasoning as a man who was dead in trespasses and
in sins. But when the Lord dealt with
him, when the Lord came and there was regeneration in his soul
and he was made a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ, why
he saw things so differently then? And so he preaches that message.
It was burned into his very soul by him, by the Lord Jesus Christ. All that believe are justified
from all things that they could not be justified from by the
deeds of the law. They cannot justify themselves.
It is God who justifies. A man is justified, he says,
this is Paul, Romans 3.28, a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law. Again, the language of Paul,
Galatians 2 and verse 16, he 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 in his sight. These are the plain teachings
of scripture. How can the sinner come to experience
this blessed doctrine, this great gospel truth of justification? It is by faith. It is by faith. And that faith,
what is it? It's the gift of God. All by
grace are you saved through faith. and that not of yourselves it
is the gift of God remember how Peter in the opening words of
his second epistle is addressing those he says who have obtained
like precious faith with us they've obtained like precious faith
well why is it so precious because of the one who gives it. It's
the gift of God. And as we said last week, what
makes gifts precious in our eyes is the giver. Or when the husband
gives his wife a gift, how precious. When she gives him a gift, how
precious. It's an expression of their love. It's the giver that makes the
gift. And so the faith is precious faith, because it is the gift
of God. They had obtained it. And I think
I said before that the verb that we find there in that opening
verse of 2nd Peter, to obtain, literally means to obtain a thing
by the casting of a lot. It's that sort of obtaining.
When we think of drawing lots, it seems to be such a chance
thing. But it's not really chance, is
it? The fictitious powers of chance and fortune I defy, says
the hymn writer. My life's minute circumstance
is subject to his eye. Nothing is chance. Why, the wise
man tells us concerning the lot. It's cast into the lap, yes,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. All God's sovereignty,
you see, even there in casting of lots. Chance things, as men
would say. And they've obtained it. How
have they obtained this light, precious faith? It's a sovereign
act of God. Oh, this is that justifying faith. And think of the character of
that faith. Think of faith as it were subjectively. What do we read here? The righteous
shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the
upright in heart shall glory. The upright in heart. This word
upright has the idea of a thing that is straightforward a thing
that is sincere. In a sense, the upright tells
us something about their trust. These are all parallel statements,
aren't they, in a sense? We see this parallelism time
and again in the Psalms. They shall trust in Him, all
the upright in heart shall glorify What is their trust? It's sincere. God says, you shall
seek me and find me when you shall search after me with all
your heart. That's how they are trusting.
They are wholehearted. They are so sincere. We have
it there in Psalm 32. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputed not iniquity and in whose spirit there is
no guile. These upright ones are guileless. Well, this is their faith, you
see. It's a genuine faith. It's not just a notional thing.
It's not just something intellectual. It's not just assenting to truth. There's trust here. All their hope, all their trust
or their confidence centers only in the Lord God himself. We have
to think sometimes of faith in that subjective fashion. What is faith? Well, faith is
trust. It's leaning upon the Lord. It's
a remarkable grace really, faith, because it's such a denial of
self. That's surely why it's associated with salvation, it's
saving faith. That's why it's associated with
justification, it's justifying faith. It's the man brought to
the end of himself and all his trust now is only in the Lord
his God. It's that looking onto Jesus,
that looking away. onto Jesus. That looking away
from every other object, that looking only onto Jesus and trusting
simply and solely in the Lord Jesus. But then also with regards
to this justifying faith we need to be aware of what faith is
objectively. What is the object? What is the
object of faith? What is the object of faith? Well, in Romans 4, of course,
we are told quite a lot about the faith of Abraham. And Abraham
is the great exemplar of faith. He is the father, remember, of
all them that believe. We read in Scripture of the patience,
the endurance of Job. We read of the meekness, of Moses
the meekest man upon the face of the earth. It's interesting,
isn't it, how these various characters that we have spoken of in Scripture
teach us certain lessons. And Abraham. Abraham is the great
pattern of faith. What does it say? Abraham believed
God. Romans 4 verse 3 What saith the Scripture? And Paul is thinking of Genesis
15, 6. Abram believed God, and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. And we've said it before. What
is it counted or counted to him for righteousness? It's the object
of his faith. It's the objectivity of that
faith. It's not his faith that is his righteousness, it's what
his faith is looking to. And we have it later, don't we?
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. What was imputed
to him for righteousness? The promise! He was persuaded
of what God promised him he was able to perform and that promise
was imputed. What was the promise? Well, the
promise centers in Isaac, the son that is to be born to Sarah,
that son who is the seed of Abraham, but who is the true seed of Abraham?
His seed is Christ. And Isaac is but a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is the object of his faith.
Oh, there is the object of his faith. It centers in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it wasn't just the object
of Abraham's faith, was it? It's the object of the faith
of all those who are the children of Abraham. It was true also
in the case of David. We see it there in Psalm 71. What does David say? Verse 15, My mouth shall show
forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day. For I know not the numbers thereof.
I will go in the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention
of thy righteousness. even of thine own. And then at
the end of the psalm, my tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness
all the day long. Oh, that is that justifying righteousness,
the righteous, that glad in the Lord. That glad in the Lord, He is
the Lord, their righteousness. So all day long, They can only make mention of
His name, for He is all their trust, He is all their righteousness,
He is all their salvation. And we have it, I say, both here
at the end of the 64th Psalm, the righteous shall be glad in
the Lord and shall trust in Him, and all the upright in heart
shall glory. all their glory is in the Lord
God it's in the Lord God then that they come to rejoice and
we see it again remember at the end of that 32nd Psalm be glad
in the Lord and rejoice ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that
are upright in heart or that the Lord God would so teach us
this precious doctrine. I know we often associate the
doctrine of justification with the Protestant Reformation. We
might say, well, it's a great Protestant truth. It is that.
It is that. But what was it that Luther really
discovered in his monkish cell? It was a great biblical truth.
It's a great doctrine of the everlasting gospel. wasn't just
discovered at the time of the Reformation, it stood there in
the Scriptures, buried throughout those dark ages. Oh,
but when God was pleased to open the eyes of that man to see the
precious doctrine again, or that God would open our eyes, that
we might see it, that we might rejoice in it, even as David
does here in the Psalms. Will the Lord be pleased to bless
his word to us?