Let's all stand and sing out
of your blueback hymnals, 485, revive us again, 485. We praise Thee, O God, for the
Son of Thy love, for Jesus, who died and is now gone above. Alleluia, Thine the glory. Alleluia, Amen. Alleluia, Thine the glory. Revive us again. We praise Thee, O God, for Thy
Spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. Alleluia, Thine the glory! Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Thine the glory! Revive us again! All glory and praise to the Lamb
that was slain, who has borne all our sins and has cleansed
every stain. Alleluia, thine the glory, Alleluia,
Amen. Alleluia, thine the glory, revive
us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with
fire from above. Hallelujah, Thine the glory. Hallelujah, Amen. Hallelujah, Thine the glory. Revive us again. Thank you. You may be seated. Come with me to Ephesians 2 Ephesians
2 I left my large print Bible not
here, so the glasses have got to come off. It's got to come
a little closer to my face. Ephesians 2. And you, Hathi-Quicken,
who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein times past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prints
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also We all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich
in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
ye are saved. and hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For
by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Wherefore remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the
flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man,
so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God
in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and
came and preached peace to you which were far off and to them
that were nigh, for through him we both have access by one spirit
unto the father. Now, therefore, you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone and whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. and whom ye also are
builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Let's
pray. Father, we come to you this morning
so thankful for this chapter of Scripture, Father, and that
you sent your Son to do everything necessary for our salvation.
And Father, We know that the faith we have is given by God
alone. We cannot muster our own faith.
And Father, we're so thankful that you do give us faith to
believe in Christ. And Father, we ask that you continue
to watch over this congregation and may you have it grow as you
see fit. And Father, we ask that you continue to watch over our
pastor as he studies and as he brings the messages. And Father,
we ask that you open our ears, our eyes, and our hearts as we
listen to the message that you've sent us. And Father, again, we
just ask that you watch over and care for us during the week
when we can't be together. And just, Father, your will be
done concerning us, and we ask this in Christ's name. As you remain sitting, let's
sing 351 near the cross. 351. Just keep me near the cross There
a precious fountain Free to all a healing stream Flows from Calvary's
mountain In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, till
my raptured soul shall find Crest beyond the river, near the cross
a trembling soul, love and mercy found me. There the bright and morning
star Sheds its beams around me In the cross, in the cross Be
my glory ever ? Till my raptured soul shall find
? ? Rest beyond the river ? ? Near the cross, O Lamb of God ? brings
its seats before me. Help me walk from day to day
with its shadows o'er me. In the cross In the cross, may
my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the
river. Near the cross I'll watch and
wait, Hoping, trusting ever, Till I reach the golden strand. just beyond the river. In the cross, in the cross, be
my glory ever. Till my wretched soul shall find
rest beyond the river. Thank you. Morning. Let's be turning to
Genesis chapter 15. Genesis 15. The preeminent verse, the most
important verse in this chapter is verse 6, where we read, and
Abram believed in the Lord. and God counted it to him for
righteousness." Now, this is the first recorded instance in
the scriptures that speaks of a man believing God. This is the first time that word
is used to describe man's faith in God. And what that says to
us is that the Spirit has a purpose here in highlighting this to
us, in making known to us that there are those that believe
the Lord, that believe the Word of God, that believe, that look
for redemption among His people. And there's others that believed
God before this, Adam. believed God. Seth believed God. Enoch believed God. Noah believed
God. Shem believed God. Abram believed
God before this, but this is the first time that this word
believe or believed or believing is used in the scriptures right
here. Chapter 15, verse 6. And it's for this cause that
Paul tells us that Abraham is the father of all them that believe. It's recorded here and that's
why Abraham is called the father of all them that believe. Now,
turn over to Romans chapter four and put a marker there when you
get there because this chapter four of Romans is Paul expounds
this verse immensely. He goes into what this verse
means. The whole foundation of our faith
is found right here concerning our justification, concerning
how that God justifies sinners. And in Romans 4, verse 23 and
24, Paul tells us that this was not written for Abram's sake
alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Christ,
raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. And so this last scripture
here, in Romans 4.24, it adds this critical piece to the faith
of God's people, the faith that we have that believes our God. It's faith that believes the
promised sea. Our faith looks to him who redeemed
us. We're believing the word that
God spoke concerning Christ, who is our salvation. It's not
just a general faith of, I just believe something, I think things
are just gonna work out somehow. No, we believe God concerning
his son, Jesus Christ. And we have every confidence,
we trust that Christ and the work that Christ accomplished
to redeem us, that he is our righteousness. Not my works,
not what I do, not what I don't do, but what Christ has done,
who he is and what he came and accomplished by himself on the
cross, on the cursed tree for his people. And so this is the
faith of Abraham, and this is the faith that's manifest in
the saints of God. This is the faith that God gives
his children, which looks away from self and looks to the Lord
Jesus Christ. believes Him, trusts Him, rests
in Him for all our righteousness, all our acceptance with God,
which is called justification. We are justified. We are righteous
before God. We are accepted of God for Christ's
sake. So we're going to be looking
at justification by faith. Justification, and we want to
understand that because Cardinal Mann looks to his faith, thinks
that it's his faith that justifies him, and thereby makes faith
a work, something that man does to save himself. But Abraham
was justified by God, and Abraham's faith believed God. Abraham's faith looked to a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and what he wrought, the righteousness
he wrought. And men glory in their faith,
and we're not to glory in our faith, we're to glory in Christ.
We glory in Christ Jesus, who laid down his life, who saved
me. And we glory in him who gave
us this faith, as our brother read in Ephesians chapter two.
That faith is that by grace you are saved through faith, and
that faith is not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. God gave
you that faith in the new man. It's a fruit of the Spirit. By
the Spirit we have faith and believe all that our God has
spoken concerning who we are, who He is, our need of His grace,
whom He sent, and what He accomplished when He came. fully completing
the salvation of his people, fully accomplishing the salvation
of his people. So, faith is wrought in them
that are regenerated by the Spirit. So, Abraham was chosen, he was
called, and he was blessed of God, and our God is the first
cause of all things. Everything begins with God. We
don't cause All we do is cause trouble for ourselves, but God
is the first cause of all things, and that's especially true with
regard to his people. And so we read in verse one,
Genesis 15, verse one, we'll go through these verses up to
verse six, and then drill into verse six. But verse one says,
after these things, now after what things? After all that's
happened to Abram. Since the time he was called
out of Ur of the Chaldees, up until this most recent time where
he conquered the four kings of the north, he triumphed over
them and he triumphed over Bera, king of Sodom, through the interposition
of Melchizedek. And verse one says, after these
things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision. saying, fear not Abram, I am
thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Now, did you notice
that it says the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision? In a vision, the word came to
Abram in a vision. He could see this word speaking
to him in his vision. That's because this is the eternal
word of God. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
pre-incarnate, before he came in the flesh. And it's by this
word that God always speaks to men. And without this word, he
does not speak to you and I. We don't know God except through
the eternal Word of God, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is that Word which the Apostle
John wrote of in John chapter 1, when he said, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. That's this Word that came to Abram and is speaking
to him now in a vision. And in fact, I'm gonna read another
thing that the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 1, verses one through
three. Just like he opened up in John
1, he opens his epistle, 1 John 1, almost the same way, and listen
to how he describes Christ our Lord. He says, that which was
from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have
handled, of the word of life. Christ is the Word of God by
whom all things are created. That's how God reveals himself
to us through Jesus Christ, the Word of God. For the life was
manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto
you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us. This is the same word that Abram
saw when our Lord said, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced in it. He saw, he saw Christ. He saw
the word of life before he came in the flesh. That which we have
seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship
with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his
son, Jesus Christ. So everything, you that believe
Christ, who trust Him for all your righteousness, everything
that you know and understand about God has been given to you,
revealed to you through Christ. That's how we know the Father.
And apart from Christ, we don't know the Father. We'd be worshiping
stumps and rocks and stones and foolish things, trusting things
that cannot save. But Christ has shown us the true
and living God, so that we know that he doesn't accept my works.
He receives me in Christ for Christ's work, so that my glory
is not in me and what I've done, but in what Christ has done for
me. And so think of this verse in
that sense that Christ is the eternal word of God. Listen to
this, Romans 10, 17. So then faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. That's true of the scriptures,
that's true of the gospel preached faithfully in Christ, and that's
true of Christ. That's how we know the word,
that's how faith is given and brought in us by the word of
God. All right, so this same word
revealed to us comes to Abram in a vision saying, fear not
Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. What
would Abram be fearful of? Well, some note that perhaps
just having defeated and put to shame four kings of the north,
perhaps they might mount a counter offensive and come after him
and take from him his treasure, what he had taken back from Sodom.
They might come after him or maybe even Bera, king of Sodom,
was upset that he rejected his offer and wouldn't become confederate
with him. and turn him away. Maybe he would
come against him. That's possible. Others have noted this man feared
God. He feared God. And like Abram,
All of us have various fears. That's true, isn't it? We all
do have things that concern us, things that wake us up at night,
things that trouble us, things that just crowd our thoughts
and our minds. And we know we're not to worry
about things because we can't add a single cubit of stature.
We can't do anything about it. But we do, we do fret, and we
do become anxious, and we do worry about things. But one thing
that is true that all of God's children fear, is we are taught
the fear of the Lord, a godly fear, a righteous fear, a holy
fear of our God, so that we stand before Him in awe, reverently,
knowing that this is the true and living God, who takes thought
of me, Me, a sinner, a weak person, somebody who has nothing to give
to God, yet God should take thought of me. And we stand in awe of
Him, knowing that we're in His hand. We're tiny. We're tiny in the face of God.
We're smaller than a little lamb. I found some bugs, got into some
pancake mix, and those things, those little critters, I just
squished them with my finger, and I had to clean out everything.
but I despise those little critters. And the fact that God should
be merciful and gracious to us, who are by nature in Adam, filthy
little critters in ourselves, that God should be merciful to
me, a sinner, for Christ's sake, we stand in awe, and we love
him for that. And because he shows us His love,
He shows us His kindness, His patience, His grace toward us
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He shows us how that you
that follow Christ, we never suffer any loss for following
Christ. Now, let me be clear, we do suffer,
and we do suffer loss. All men and women suffer loss
in this life, but for following Christ, we don't suffer loss.
Nothing that He does not give us grace to trust Him in it. What did Job say? Though he slay
me, yet will I trust him. And so he gives grace when he
removes something from us. But our Lord said to the disciples,
he said, when I sent you out without purse, without script
or bag, without anything, lack ye anything? And what did they
say to him? Nothing. Nothing, Lord. Your Lord protects you and provides
for you and gives you exactly what you need so that everything
His hand graciously gives you is for your good, for your comfort,
for your peace in Him. And so the Lord teaches His people
to fear Him, a godly fear, knowing that we are but dust. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge
of the holy is understanding. And so we do, we fear the Lord,
we look to Him, we want to hear His voice because He is God.
And we hear enough voices of nonsense in this world of the
flesh, whether it's from outside or from within, we hear enough
false voices and we need to hear his voice. And he's our wisdom. He's made unto us wisdom. And
so additional to that, we're comforted by the love and grace
of our God in Christ. It's a comfort to know that he's
my shield. He protects me from all harm.
He's provided for me sufficiently and abundantly so that not only
are my enemies put down and he protects me and shields me from
them, but he's even delivered me from the just holy wrath of
God by the death of himself and covered me with his blood. He's
also our exceeding great reward so that Christ is the inheritance
of the saints. And the scriptures tell us that
we're his inheritance. I think that we have the better
end of the deal there. that He's our inheritance, that
He's our all, that we shall dwell with Him for all eternity in
His presence, and we'll be joyful and glad for it. We'll be joyful
and glad for it. And so Christ formed in you makes
us to long for His presence, look for that day, look for His
appearing, for His return. And so that promise, That he's
our inheritance makes us strangers and pilgrims in this world. So that we understand we're in,
we dwell in tents. This body is but a tent that
we shall shed and lay aside. and go to be forever with the
Lord. And we look for a city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God." We look for that glorious city,
that beautiful city wherein Christ fills all in all. And we know
our God and worship Him without the weight of the sin of the
flesh. Now, in verse 2 and 3, Genesis
15, 2 and 3, Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me,
seeing I go childless, and the stored of my house is this Eliezer
of Damascus? And Abram said, behold, to me
thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine
heir. Abram understood that a child
is the heir. One born of his own loins is
his heir. And so our Lord teaches us that
in Christ, where he's adopted us into the family of God, Ephesians
1, verse 4. We're adopted into the family
of God. We're his children. We're heirs of the hope of eternal
life. And the Lord explains them in
verse four and five, saying, And behold, the word of the Lord
came unto Abram, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but
he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be
thine heir. You're going to have a son, Abram,
and he'll be your heir. And he brought him forth abroad,
and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be
able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall
thy seed be. Now, Paul helps us here. The Apostle Paul explains what
this means. That this seed here speaks of
the object of our faith. the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we
do understand that this seed also speaks of the innumerable
company of the saints of God, all those for whom Christ came
to redeem and are His chosen people. But the primary significance
of this verse here, what the Lord is saying, this promise
to Abram, is that from Abram's loins would issue forth the promised
seed of woman. that one who should come and
crush the serpent's head and redeem his people with his blood. This is the redemption that all
God's saints, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, we all
look to that same redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
the promise God is giving to Abram. Now, let me prove that,
let me back that up in scripture, in Galatians 3, this is the other
chapter that Paul speaks of, this verse six, but in Galatians
3, verse 16, it says, now to Abraham and his seed, were the
promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ." And so
the Apostle Paul helps us to understand this is the promised
seed that he's speaking to Abraham. That's what he's telling Abraham
here. And this is the faith that Abram had. This is the faith
that Abram had, that in him shall all nations of the earth be blessed. In this seed, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, Christ preached the gospel
to Abram, or the Lord preached the gospel to Abram concerning
the seed of Christ. He preached this gospel. Abram
heard this good news, the same thing that delights our hearts.
that says, Christ saved me, delivered me, he died for me, he loved
me and gave himself for me. That same faith was the faith
that Abram had. And I know this because in Galatians
3 verse 8 it says, the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify
the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
saying in thee shall all nations be blessed. Now, this morning,
I wanna spend the rest of our time just looking at six things
about justification by faith that the Lord gives us using
Abraham as an example from verse six. All right, we'll look at
six things. First, justification is understood
by faith. We understand justification by
faith. In Genesis 15, six, and Abram
believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness."
Now, as I understand it, this is the most expounded Old Testament
text in the New Testament. This verse is dealt with more
than any other verse in the New Testament. Paul wrote of this
verse in depth. When you go home this week, you
can read Romans 4, And you can read Galatians 3 and it speaks
of this verse. This is what Paul is writing
about, our justification by faith and what that means. And Paul
is resting the whole of our understanding of justification, how that a
sinner is justified by God, not according to works, but in Christ. how that he gives that faith
in his people that rests in and looks to the Lord Jesus Christ,
not in the things that we do or don't do, but rests in Christ. He believed in the Lord and he
counted it to him for righteousness. If you would understand justification,
if you would know how can a sinner be justified with God, then look
at justification by faith. It's by faith, understand it's
by faith. Second, the faith which is counted
for righteousness is the faith which believes God concerning
the promised seed. That faith which is counted for
righteousness is faith that looks to the promised seed, the Lord
Jesus Christ. So the scriptures teach us that
there's no justification, no acceptance with God apart from
Christ. He is all. If there's anything
you come away from hearing this gospel, it's that Christ is all. He's all my salvation. You that
believe Him, that trust Him for your righteousness, you have
life. That's given to you by the Spirit
of God. That's not brought by this flesh.
That's laid hold of by the gift of faith brought in you by the
Spirit. it looks to Christ. Paul when
he was preaching to the Jews and the Gentiles were standing
around hearing what Paul was saying in Acts 13 verse 38 and
39 he said be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that
through this man This man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are
justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified
by the law of Moses. We cannot save ourselves. This
man obtained righteousness for us. This man justified us by
his death, by his blood. And God raised him from the dead,
thus declaring that we are justified of God. It's all wrapped up in
him. It's all of him. Now, Abram was
already a believer. When he left Ur of the Chaldees,
he was a believer, and he was a just man. He was a just man,
but his justification is never mentioned until Genesis 15, verse
six. It's never mentioned until the
scriptures connect his faith to the promised seed. and the
Spirit did that on purpose to show us that our faith is to
look to Christ, believe Him, trust Him. Third, justification
is by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone. And so the scriptures teach us,
your justification is not by works. I know you're familiar
with this, but the scriptures teach us, because we look so
often to ourselves, we look at our flesh, we look at what we're
doing, what we have done, what we are doing, what we're not
doing, and that's our meter for how we feel. Feelings don't save
us. Feelings are deceitful. Feelings
can steer us very wrong. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're justified by Him, not how
we're feeling that day. And trust me, I have feelings
too. I know what it is to go up and down in a roller coaster.
We need Christ. And that's why the scriptures
are very clear. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Go back to Romans
4. And here we see it in this part,
and we're gonna be back again in Romans 4, but Romans 4, verses
8 through 11, showing us, declaring to us that
it's not by works. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin, because we're all sinners. That man's
blessed, whom the Lord does not impute sin. Come at this blessedness
then upon the circumcision only? Does it come by ceremony and
religious forms that we follow? or upon the uncircumcision also. For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. We know that Abraham was righteous
because faith was wrought in him. How was it then reckoned,
verse 10, when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? not in
circumcision, but in uncircumcision. So Paul's emphasizing here that
Abraham wasn't even circumcised when he believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness to show us it's by faith. Now
that may not seem like a big thing to you and I today that
are Gentiles, but one time I mentioned that this very scripture here
to a Jewish co-worker. And when I said it, that Abraham
believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness outside
of circumcision, his eyes lit up. He couldn't believe it. He
was astounded by that very truth that God imputed righteousness
to Abraham and he wasn't even circumcised because they looked
to Abraham as their father too. They think he's their father,
and they rejoice in his circumcision, but they don't see, they miss
the weight of this verse, that we are justified by faith in
Christ. And he received, verse 11, the
sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had yet being uncircumcised. that he might be the father of
all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that
righteousness might be imputed unto them also. And so you that
believe Christ, rejoice, rest in him, thank your God for him
in that faith which is wrought in you, because that is the gift
of God to his child. Yes, we know that we're sinners.
Yes, we know we need His grace. That's a gift of God. And that
faith that believes Christ, apart from my works, that trusts Him,
is the gift of God. It's the work of the Spirit in
you. Fourth, justification is obtained for us by Christ, so
that faith trusts a person. Faith doesn't trust faith. Faith
trusts Christ. Faith believes the Lord Jesus
Christ and what he's done to put away my sin. You know, Abram
didn't just believe that there's a God. The devils believe that
there's a God. And they tremble. We know there's
a God. He didn't just believe historical
facts that God is the creator and that God made all things.
He believed God. His faith was in God. He believed
in the Lord and what the Lord spoke to him concerning Christ.
Look now at Romans 4, 21 through 25. Notice what his faith is in here. Being
fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was able also
to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Where is your faith? Is it in
your faith? Is it in what you do? Or is your
faith looking to your God, looking to your Savior, looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ, believing He is my righteousness? When
He died, I died. When His blood was shed, He covered
my sin and put it away and obtained forgiveness for me, a sinner. and gave me life. By his life
I have life, and I live and follow him in faith, being led by the
Spirit. And it's all of his work. Look
to him. Therefore it was imputed to him
for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him. That raised up Jesus
our Lord from the dead. who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. We haven't even
entered. We haven't even entered into
the equation and the Lord is already telling us we're justified
in Christ. We're justified by Him. He's
done the work. Fifth, justification is not the
result of our act of believing. I say that because carnal men
make faith a work of this flesh. You have to believe, else you
cannot be saved. Well, you will believe if you
are the Lord's. If Christ laid down his life
for you and redeemed you with his blood, Faith shall be wrought
in you. You are a lost sheep. You shall
be found by the Spirit and given faith, given life. You shall
hear the gospel and believe that word. You'll receive that word
and believe the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a work of the flesh.
It's a gift of the Spirit. Faith rests in Christ and His
finished work of salvation. Justice has been satisfied by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sins have been blotted out.
You that believe they have been put away already by the Lord
Jesus Christ. We were justified before the
foundation of the world. That's why he's called the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. When the father covenanted
with the son to save a people, to redeem a people chosen by
the father and given to Christ as his bride. And then we were
saved when Christ came and laid down his life on the cross. And
the knowledge of this salvation is brought to us, shown to us
in faith, given to us by the Spirit. So then we see and understand,
my God has done all these things for me, and I've done nothing
for him. I was wandering around in darkness,
bouncing off of religious walls, thinking I was doing something,
and all I was doing was working up wrath for myself, wrath in
myself, and not understanding the things of God. Even so, He
graciously brought the gospel to me, brought me under the gospel,
and opened my ear, and made me to hear this glorious good news,
and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust Him, and look
to Him, and rest in Him. And so faith doesn't activate
the blessings. Faith is the result of the blessings
of God for us in Christ. Faith comes as a result because
all these blessings that Christ wrought for us shall be given,
shall be given in the appointed day of our salvation, when God
is pleased to make us to hear this truth. Now we are legally
justified by God through Christ when he died on Calvary on the
tree. Turn over to Romans 3, verse
24-26. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now
that's a clear declaration of we're justified by Christ, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith. That is, it's
communicated to us what God has done in putting away His anger
and wrath from us and putting it on Christ, pouring out His
wrath on Him and not on me. And we know that through faith.
It's communicated to us through faith. through faith in his blood
to declare his righteousness for the remission or forgiveness
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now that last phrase,
the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus, that's how we identify
those who are the saints of God. How do you know who are the children
of God? Those that believe Him. Those that believe that Christ
is all my righteousness. There's a child of God. Oh, they
believe there's a child of God. God manifests them that are His. by the faith which he gives them,
that looks to Christ and doesn't trust themselves, has no confidence
in the flesh, but believes Christ. Now sixth, we receive and experience
this justification by faith. Faith is how we now enjoy it. Faith is what our God gives us
to know what He's done, to believe Christ, and to know that what
He's done is all my salvation, all my righteousness. I can't
work for this, I can't make it better. Christ is all, He's done
everything, and faith rests in Him. Faith rejoices in Him with
the joy of the saints, being thankful to God for what He's
done for me, in spite of me, in spite of the fact I bring
nothing to to him, he's done it all. He's done it all. And
all the fruits I do have are all the gift, all the working
of his spirit in me. So let me just show you two verses
there in Romans 4, 25, the last verse of that chapter, and then
we'll read the first verse of the fifth chapter. So Romans
4.25, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again
for our justification. Bam, it's all resting in Christ. It's all on Christ. Chapter five,
verse one, therefore being justified. By faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. When the Apostle Paul wrote the
Scriptures, that comma was not put there after faith. That's
the translators who put that comma there. We are justified,
and by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how we know Him. That's how this is communicated
to us, and we know and rest in Christ, by faith. Peter confirmed
the same thing when he said in 2 Peter 1.1, he wrote, to them
that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. All the children of God have
obtained this faith. It's been given, it's a gift
of God for the saints. So that's how we know that we're
the children of God, how we know that we're saints, by the faith
which he's given to us. We have nothing to boast in of
ourselves, we glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we look
away from self, we look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me just
read 1 John 5, 1, just that one. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. How do you know those that are
born of God? They believe the Lord Jesus is the Christ. We
know that he's the Christ. Faith follows the birth. And
everyone that loveth him, that begat, loveth him also that is
begotten of him. Actually, no, I'm just gonna
read a few more. First, John 5, verse 10, goes on and says,
he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. Our Lord's telling us the witness
that we are God's is the faith which he's given to us. How do
I know if I'm a child of God? Do you believe that Christ is
all your righteousness? Are you looking to Him alone,
or are you looking to something you do? It's the witness in you
that you are Christ's, that you are His child. You believe Him.
That's the witness. He also calls it the record.
Well, he says, yeah, the record, verse 11, and this is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life. That's the record. You
that believe him, you have the record. You have the witness
in you that God has given to you eternal life. There's nothing
left undone. There's nothing more that you
need to do. Christ has done it all. And this
life is in his son. He that hath the son hath life,
hence that faith. And he that hath not the son
of God hath not life. He doesn't have faith. And so
that's how God bears witness in those that are His. He reveals
faith to them. And faith, you that believe Christ,
are justified. Not by your faith, but by Christ.
You know that you're justified. You believe that you're justified
by Christ because God has given you that faith that looks away
from self to Him who saved us, who loved us and gave Himself
for us. I pray the Lord, bless that word
to your hearts, brethren, and that he teach us more and more
what he's done, that we rest in his salvation. We believe
him and look for him more and more by his grace. Brother, I'm
gonna let you do him, and then I just wanna give a couple announcements
afterwards. I'll come back and pray then.
I'll pray then. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn. 460. Leaning on the everlasting arms.
460. you What a fellowship, what a joy
divine Leaning on the everlasting arms What a blessedness, what
a peace divine Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning
Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim
way, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how bright the path
grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure
from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms,
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near. Leaning on the
everlasting arms, Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning on the everlasting
arms