Let me tell you my subject while
we're warming up to read the text here. I want to speak today
on the subject, Unconditional Justification. Unconditional
Justification. Subtitle, if you might, Conditionalism. I want us to study conditionalism
in our study of the morning. But now here's our text in verse
21. you might notice real quickly that it has reference referring
back to the two verses just before it, that is verse 19 and verse
20 where Paul speaks of the law. But now he says in verse 21,
but now the righteousness of God 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, for there is no difference. for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. whom God has set forth a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for
the remission 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 believes in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law
of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. I'd like
to read verse 24 again. Principally, it's the core of
our message. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, in speaking on the subject
of conditionalism, I want to, in the beginning, confess my
inadequacy to deal with such a subject. It is too wonderful
for me. It is too high. I cannot take
it all in, as the psalmist said, because his truth is as deep
as the ocean and is as high as the mountain. Who therefore can
search out in fullness the truth of God and know it? We may believe
something to be true, even if we cannot fully understand it,
and cannot fully explain it, and therefore such is our subject
of the day. Now that being the case, allow
me to say that I have sought the counsel of brethren of time
gone by, that they being dead yet speak, and that by their
writing. Many of these men lived in the
16th and in the 17th century. And then, for our subject today,
I beseech you, brethren, that if you are tempted to say, like
those in Athens, thou bringest certain strange things before
our ear, then I beg you to hear it out unto the end. So let's add a new word. If indeed
it is a new word, some of you might already be familiar with
it. That is the word conditionalism that we want to look at and examine
today. It will be noted that the subject
today is unconditional justification. And that gives us a hint right
there. Unconditional justification. Or we might turn it around and
say, justification without condition, and I believe that's what Paul
has said here in this verse of scripture. So our present study
will revolve around that issue, around this issue, and that is
whether justification and other saving works of God are conditional
or unconditional. Are these things conditional
or are they unconditional as they apply unto God and unto
man? That is, whether there are conditions
that are to be fulfilled by a sinner whether they are conditioned
that a sinner must meet or that he must fulfill in order that
he might acquire and experience God's saving blessings and have
communion with the Lord, or On the other hand, are they unconditional? Are they conditional? Are they
unconditional? Now, to study this will allow
us to draw many wonderful biblical subjects together, drawing them
together as a great cluster. So let's consider justification
first and foremost, and that from the text that we read here
Romans chapter 3 and especially the 24th verse. Now Paul gives
us here in Romans 3 21 through verse 31 what John Brown an old-time
writer called quote a general account of the divine method
of In these few verses we have an account of the divine method
of justification. And by the way, Paul makes the
most intimate connection between righteousness, and justification. So much so, in fact, that God's
method of righteousness is the means also of the justification
of a sinner. For if God makes one righteous,
he is justified. And if God justifies one, then
he is made righteous in the sight of God. For there is no justification
apart from that imputed righteousness that we study about in the Scripture. These two things stand or fall
together, righteousness and justification. And such righteousness must be
not our own, but it must be of God's providing. Now we have
here in our text one of the most comprehensive discussions anywhere
in the scripture of justification to be found. And its core, as
I've said, is in verse 24. And then there are related truths. And we count the word righteousness
to be four times in these 11 verses. Righteousness is an outstanding
word of the epistle to the Roman. It is over and over and over
again. Not only that, four times for
righteousness, but in these 11 verses, we find the word justification
or justify to be three times in this one passage of the scripture. And there are several related
facts that are included, that are attached under this matter,
and they are of great importance. Not spend a lot of time on them,
but But I'd like to run through them if I might. About six things
that we notice here in connection with this passage of the scripture. Number one, that this righteousness
and this justification is a part from the deeds of the law. It is without, it is apart from
the deeds of the law. You have that stated in verse
20, in verse 21, and again in verse 28. That the law cannot
justify, and some were justified, if you remember, before the law
was ever given, some were justified, like Abraham, in the sight of
God. Now the second thing that we
notice here in connection is that the law and the prophets
bear witness of this truth, that justification and righteousness
are apart from the law. That you have in verse 21, and
we read it. Now the third thing that we notice,
righteousness and justification take effect in the experience
of the elect by faith. By faith, verse 22. By them that believe. in the
22nd verse. And then the fourth thing that
we notice is that this manner or method of righteousness and
justification is suited to all people, whether Jew or Gentile. You have that in verse 22 and
23. You have it again down in verse
29 and verse 30. And then fifthly, from our main
verse in verse 24, it is free and it is unmerited. This justification and righteousness
is free and unmerited. And the sixth and final thing
that we find, it is through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. This righteousness and justification
flows to us by and through Jesus Christ. Now, in the 24th verse
again, three things are said here in relation to this divine
method of justification. A, freely. It is freely on the
part of God unto man. And then B, it is by God's grace. being justified freely by the
grace of God, and then see it consists in and through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. It is freely bestowed by the
grace of God through the redemption that is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the word freely here is
one of those words that gives us an opportunity for a very
short word study and description. The word freely, or the word
gratis, or the word gratuitously we might use. The word is used
at least eight times in our New Testament. If we search it out,
we find it eight times. And the meaning of it is freely,
without a cause, for no reason, for nothing. It is for nothing
in the creature. As an example, just one example,
it is the same word that was used by the Lord Jesus Christ
himself in John 15 and verse 25 when he said, they hated me
without a cause. And that's the word that we have
here in Romans chapter 3 and verse 24. Without a cause, without
cause and without reason. For there was no reason in him
and therefore it was without reason. Robert Haldane wrote,
that the term freely in the most absolute manner excludes all
consideration of anything in man that is the cause or the
condition of his justification, unquote. Freely, freely, without
cause, without reason, without condition, without any act on
the part of man. Therefore, our subject for today
is that justification is absolutely unconditional. Unconditional
justification that the sinner, the recipient, the elect of God
does nothing as a condition of his justification, that not a
single condition is to be fulfilled so that justification is without
the slightest respect by God to anything done by the sinner,
nothing that he does, nothing that he is, nothing that he gives
up, no amount of keeping the law, no amount of good deeds,
nothing actual and nothing foreseen by God is the ground or the reason
of justification. And I'll add here, not even their
faith and their repentance. We'll deal with that later in
our study. Because you see, justification
is forensic. It is a forensic term. Justification
is a sentence passed by God. It is not an internal work done
in the center, but it is a forensic work, a legal term, if you will,
the opposite of condemnation. Now, before we get into the further
consideration of unconditional justification, let us, if we
might, realize and acknowledge that the issue of conditionalism
that we're looking at this morning is broader and wider than just
the doctrine of justification. That it neither begins nor it
ends here at that one great doctrine of justification. Just so we're
clear on what we are considering, let's define our terms a little
bit further and deeper. First of all, the term conditionalism
is the position, usually held by Arminian, that God has made
possible, or he has provided, he has made available by his
death the blessings of salvation to those who meet or fulfill
certain condition that meet prescribed requirements so that they might
inherit them, and that these blessings are only bestowed on
those who meet or those who fulfill the conditions that God has set
down. For example, Most Armenians hold
to the view that Christ died for all without exception. That would be Pharaoh as well
as Paul, for Judas as much as for the Apostle John, and so
forth, provided they meet the condition and the requirement
that God has set down. Now, the condition that they
most often require that need to be fulfilled are those two,
repentance and faith. And it is their doctrine, their
teaching, and they preach it always, that they must accept
the atonement. They must accept that atonement
in order for it to become effectual. To our shame, I'll say two things. A, most of us at one time might
well have believed that, might well have held to that view of
doctrine. And then B, This is, we confess,
by far the most popular view of the day, that it is available,
that it is there, that he has made it possible, and that if
we fulfill the condition and accept it, it shall therefore
become effectual in our life. Though it's the most popular
view, that does not cut much weight with us, for though truth
is not determined by how many believe or don't believe a certain
thing. If we thought that, we mostly
would believe a lie if we thought that the majority had the truth
on their side. And then the second position
is that of unconditionalism. And it is the position that the
reception and the enjoyment of spiritual blessings and of their
application is not the result of any fulfilled condition. but it is the result of the special
work of the grace of God to fulfill in them that which God has required
as a work toward their final and full salvation. Now, concerning
the two positions, conditionalism and unconditionalism, consider
the question or the issue or the doctrine. The love of God. Think about the love of God,
and let's bring that into the realm of our discussion. The
love of God. Is it conditional or unconditional? When God loves whom he loves,
is it conditional or unconditional? Now, one of the most popular
doctrines in all of Christendom, as always been and is today,
is that God loves everyone and all without exception, that none
are excluded from being an object of the love of God, that God
loves every son and every daughter of Adam. And if God loves everyone
with the intent to save them, then it is clear that his love
is ineffectual in many who perish. And the question, does he love? Does he love yet those who have
fallen down into hell? You see, God's love is from everlasting,
Jeremiah 31 and 3, and is everlasting. So the question comes back, why
does God love? Why did God set his love upon
people? Is it because he sees that they
are good? Does God look upon them and says,
they're good, therefore I love them. I love them because they
are good. Or is it because we love him
back? Does he love us because we love
him? Many, we're told in the scripture,
are haters of God, Romans chapter 1 and verse 30. And beside there
is none good, Romans chapter 3 and verse 12. We love him because
he first loved us. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 14. In Deuteronomy 7, verse 7 and
verse 8, Moses tells the people that God's love of Israel was
unconditional. He chose them and he loved them
because he would. He loved them because he would.
Just because he would. They were not more people. They
were not mightier, the prophet tells them. He loved them because
he would. So the love of God is unconditional. There is nothing in us or about
us that could earn or merit for us the love of God. Now moving
along, next we consider the doctrine of election. a biblical doctrine
indeed. They're clear there is election
from both the Old Testament and the New Testament scripture.
So the question for now is not, is there election per se, or
the scripture teaches it very strongly. But the question for
us to ask is, is election conditional or unconditional? That is, is
there some condition that God sees we fulfill, or is it absolutely
unconditional? Now the Armenians are hard put
to outright deny election, or it is taught very strongly in
the scripture, but their content and content to admit conditional
election. And so when they're hemmed up,
they make election conditional, whether it be for foreseen faith
or some other condition, but they make it to be conditional
upon something. But election is unconditional. It is a sovereign act of God
before the world ever began. Ephesians 1, 3, and 4. And it is without regard to any
good or evil and before we are born and not based upon works. Romans chapter 9 and verse 11. But by making election conditional,
conditioned upon something that God foresees, whether actual
or potential, the Arminian thinks to spare their daggone idol of
free will. But as no act or condition put
us in Adam, if we might think about that, nor the fulfilling
of any condition put us in Adam, nor did our first sin put us
in Adam, it was not that. And being in him, we received
his nature and followed after his course of life of thinking
and such like. Let's move along to a third thing.
Let's raise the question of regeneration. Is regeneration conditional or
unconditional? In that nothing that we do or
don't do causes us to be regenerated, born again, born of the Spirit,
born of God. Born from above. And yet, without
it, without regeneration, none can see or enter into the kingdom
of God. John chapter 3, verses 1 through
5. Except one be born again, they
cannot see or enter into the kingdom. Now the Lord, in speaking
there to Nicodemus, declared unto him the new birth as an
absolute necessity if one should see or enter into the kingdom
of God. But notice this, that he did
not set before that ignorant man any condition to cause the
new birth. He didn't give any condition
at all to Nicodemus that might result in the new birth. And
that even though Nicodemus asked a couple of questions that would
have given the Lord an opening. Let's look at them. Nicodemus
asks in verse four, how can a man be born when he is old? When he is already grown and
old, how can he be born? And hearing more of what our
Lord had to say, he finally asks in verse nine, How can these
things be? Let a man be born again. Let
a man be born when he is old. Might the Lord not have taken
this as a perfect opportunity to set before him some conditions? if it required such. The Lord
might have said unto him, believe, believe in me, believe the word
of God. He might have said unto him,
repent, turn from your sin. He might have said unto him,
have faith, give your heart to God, pray the sinner's prayer,
come forward during the invitation. Read the Bible, read John chapter
3 and read Psalm chapter 23 or whatever. He might have said
unto him, confess every sin that comes into your mind and repent. But the Lord left him without
prescribing any conditions that would lead to the new birth.
And I submit you won't find them anywhere else in the scripture
as well. So let's drop back to the matter
of the atonement and whether there are conditions that are
required of the sinner in order to be saved by it. Now there
are two sorts of conditions which we will note in the course of
our study. Number one, that of Arminianism
and Universalism holding to unlimited atonement. that the atonement
is for every member of the race, they say, provided they accept
it and invite Jesus into their heart. And on the condition they
appropriate the atonement of the Lord unto themselves. they
meet or fulfill a set of conditions, then it will become effectual. Example, and this goes way back,
but years ago I received a brochure from Jerry Falwell, when he was
kind of the father of this megachurch movement. establishing a big
church, and then Liberty College, and mailed out some brochures
about Liberty College, and it said this, and I never will forget
it. Quote, we believe salvation is by grace. Well and done. We believe that salvation is
by grace. And it went on, the conditions
are faith and repentance, unquote. We believe that salvation is
by grace, the conditions are faith and repentance. And such
don't see any conflict in that. They don't see a conflict at
all with this. This self-same position self-contradictory,
though it seem, and count it as sound doctrine. Salvation
is by grace. The conditions are faith and
repentance. Then there's a second view, that
conditionalism that's found among some Calvinists, even in our
day and down through the ages. Calvin is such as Andrew Fuller,
if you are familiar with that name and that book, who taught
that the atonement of Christ was, quote, sufficient for all,
but efficient only unto the elect, unquote. He, and they like him,
and they that are of like mind, profess both election and particular
redemption. But alas, it turns out to be
a conditional efficiency when we strip it down and look at
it. Same as the Armenians conditional sufficiency, that is sufficient
for the whole world, same as the Armenians say, or any individual
on the condition that an individual or even the whole world should
believe. And this view of the Atonement
has given wiggle room for free will, for free offer of the gospel,
that in the gospel, they say, is made a genuine, bona fide,
sincere offer of salvation to everyone that hears the gospel. For all elect The answer is no. Has Christ died for all without
exception? And the answer is no. Whence
then this free offer and conditional sufficiency? Now, Fuller's position
was that the atonement is sufficient for those who were not the elect
and for those that Christ had not died for. And this becomes
actually an indefinite redemption, the same as with the Arminian. The proper place to start to
consider the atonement, I believe, is as John Owen did. Consider the atonement from the
decree of God. consider the atonement by what
God intended to accomplish by the atonement. What did God intend
when he ordained the Lord Jesus Christ to die bearing our sin? For whom did Christ die? Did
he die only, conditionally, or particularly? And the result
must match the intent, must it not? for what God purposes he
brings to pass. I've spoken it, I will perform
it. William Rushton, an old-time
writer, I think probably in the 18th century, wrote that the
sufficiency of the atonement to save is towards those that
Jesus died in order to save. And to quote Rushton, yes, from
18 and 31, He wrote these words, quote, the atonement is in no
sense sufficient for a man unless Jesus died for that man, unquote. Now, the atonement, therefore,
must include the guarantee and the fulfillment and the application
to those for whom it was offered. The atonement merited its application,
and the experience of it for those that our Lord died for. The ones whose the Lord sins
he bore, as Isaiah 53 verse 11, he shall see the travail of his
soul. and shall be satisfied, by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquity. He shall bear their iniquity,
and in doing so shall he justify many. By his knowledge, not the
knowledge he possesses, I believe, but by imparting or revealing
or making known unto them the knowledge of him, our Lord and
Savior. Not only is there a connection
between the atonement and justification, He justifies by bearing their
sin. And by bearing their sin, He
justifies. There is a further connection
as well between the atonement and the justification of the
ones that our Lord died for. Now, what has Christ gained by
His dying? how shall see he shall see the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied he shall have his
dessert he shall have that that he gave himself for the fruit
of his suffering his seed his brethren the children which god
hath given unto him that they may be with him where he is. All of those are scripture mentioned. Now coming again to the question
of conditionalism as regards the redemption and the justification
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Let's be logical. Let's be logical. Let's use sound
biblical logic. If Christ died for all, Then he did so upon one of two
accounts, upon one or the other. Number one, either he died for
them, absolutely. He died absolutely for those
that he died for, that all that he died for partake of the blessing
and the benefits that he intended and purchased for them in his
dying. For them, they shall have all
that he purchased for them. Those whose sins our Lord bore
shall have the end and the fruit of the means of his death. Which is not so, most perish
without benefit from his death. So that's one position. Did he
die particularly and did he die that they might have without
doubt the benefits of his death. Secondly, he died for all conditionally. That's the other option for us,
meaning the blessings of Christ's death then are dependent upon
some condition, something to be done by the man or the woman
that would be saved, something that must be done by the sinner
Only then will flow to him the benefits of Christ's atonement. And you know, this suits the
Armenians well. They take this position and stand
upon it. But then next, if Christ died
only for some, Then again, he either died for them, A, absolutely,
supplying all their graces, as in Romans 8 and verse 32. Having given his son, how shall
he not also freely give us all things? All things. If he has given the greater gift,
he will give the lesser gifts as well. Or B, conditionally. Did he die conditionally? That
some condition they must fulfill in order to activate what Christ
has done and has willed and has purchased for them. Again, if
Christ died for sinners conditionally, then what is it? A, is the sinner solely responsible
for fulfilling the condition? Must they, and they alone, out
of their good free will and inclination, meet the condition? And then
B, will the grace of God supply all that God requires in regard
to the saving of bringing one into communion with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 13 and verse 21, Working in you that which is
well-pleasing in his sight through Christ Jesus to whom be glory
forever and forever. Did you hear that? Working in
you that which is well-pleasing unto him. Consider again Paul's
letter to the Philippians chapter 2 verse 13. It is God that works
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. It is God
that works both the will and the action of his good pleasure. It is God that worketh in you
both to will and to do. The will to do is from God. Now coming to the question, If
conditional, what then are the conditions of justification and
other blessing? If some condition must needs
be fulfilled by the one who would enter into the conditional salvation
provided by the conditional atonement of Christ, surely the Bible will
clearly set it forth in order that we might know. Or how can
one fulfill the necessary condition if they are not made known and
declared in their hearing? Now, probably the most frequently
thing mentioned as conditions of salvation, or the first thing,
is faith. It is faith. This is our condition,
as some say. Remember J. Siddall Baxter's
book, His Part and Ours. his part and ours, as he made
the distinction that we're making this morning. Faith by many is
the condition that by believing, by exercising faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, it opens up the way into salvation. We hear them
saying such things as, I believe, I had to believe, and I did.
Sinners will be saved, they say, on the condition that they believe
and quick but quote scripture that might indicate that. He
that believe shall be saved, being justified by faith. Faith
cometh by hearing and so forth from the scripture. Therefore,
faith viewed as a condition becomes actually a perversion of the
way of God's work of grace. A man, I wish I had his works,
Mr. Bell, that's all I know, his
name was Bell, wrote this, and that this is nothing else but
works under another name. that if a sinner must have faith
in himself, and if his faith is the condition of God saving
him, then it is nothing but works under another name. For true
saving faith is a work of the grace of God. We read in Acts
18 and 27, of those who believed by grace. They had believed by
grace. We read in Ephesians 2 and 8
that it is the gift of God. We read in Colossians 2 and verse
12 that it is the operation of God. But we also read that faith
harmonizes with grace in Romans 4 and verse 16. It is of faith
that it might be of grace, that the promise might be sure then
unto all of the seed. You know that famous passage
in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. Now, let's acknowledge. There
can be no faith prior to regeneration. There can be no faith until there
is a work of God done, until there is the new birth, until
regeneration, and proving that faith is not the cause but the
result of regeneration. To believe that Christ is the
Son of God, is the result of a divine revelation. Matthew
16, verse 16 and 17. When Peter made his great confession,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord Jesus
Christ answered him this way, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood has not revealed
this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God. Peter, this is not something
you learn from men. This is not something men taught
you. This is a revelation from the Father. And I think that
we should bear in mind that faith In the New Testament, and get
this point, keep it before you, think about it, cogitate, roll
it over in your mind, that faith in the New Testament is so often
the contrast to works of law. Not by works of law, but by faith. And this contrast appears in
the New Testament rather strongly. Now, if faith is a result of
a sovereign work of God and is given being by the, and is given
being, that is, faith is given its being by the grace of God,
merited by Christ's death on the cross, brought into being
by regeneration, then it is a gift of God, then it cannot be a mandated
condition of one entering into the fellowship of God. Justification
is by faith, but it is not for faith. Justification, yes, is
by faith in its experience, but it is not for or because of faith. It is not an accident that we
read in Titus, the first verse, of the faith of God's intellect. It is a faith that is peculiar
unto them, who are justified by faith, not as a condition,
but as a spiritual grace whereby it is given unto us in the behalf
of Christ to believe on his name. So the only warranty for faith
is the word of God, as when God spoke to Abraham, and Abraham
believed it. God said it, Abraham, having
faith, believed it. The only proper object of saving
faith is the Lord Jesus Christ and his death for our sin and
for sinners. None were ever saved, ever saved,
nor shall they ever be saved by living what some people call
the good life. Boy, he lived a good life. He
lived a good life. What men call good is an abomination
in the sight of God, that man might drag his goodness before
the judgment seat and expect a reward of eternal life for
that. That faith which is of God, faith
of God's elect, takes its rise in regeneration and is drawn
out by the hearing of faith in the gospel and in the word of
Almighty God. So that conditions actually cloud
and obscure the grace of God and give too much to man. It
gives too much to man that he might fulfill a condition by
which God would then be moved or obligated to save that individual,
a condition performed by man. Now we say it's all of grace. of grace and grace alone. Every aspect of our relation
to God and of our being brought to final happiness and glorification
is of God. Every bit of it is of God. Salvation is of grace, is of
God, Jonah cried out, and certainly it is.