We'll stay right there in Romans
chapter 5 that Brother Jim just read. And as he said, the title
of the message, it may seem maybe rather odd to some people
that I would entitle a message this way. Christ, not faith,
is our Savior. You hear that now? Don't let
it slip by you. Christ is our Savior. Christ,
not faith, is our Savior. Why is that important that we
make that distinction? Well, several months ago, I was
preaching in Oregon at a little Sovereign Grace Church, pastored
by Brother Norm Wells, and we had some visitors on one of the
evening services. And one was a young man who pastored
a church about 40 miles away from where we were in the mountains
there. A Baptist church. I think he
said it was a Southern Baptist church, in Oregon of all places.
But anyway, that's where he was. He pastored the church. He and
his two little boys came. And during the message, I made
this statement. Christ, not faith, is our Savior. And that man got highly, highly
offended. I mean, he got angry. And he
made a point to let me know after the service. I mean, he wouldn't
want to fight or anything like that, but he just said he could
not believe he heard a preacher from a pulpit make that statement.
And he said he was sorry that his two little boys had heard
it. And I told him, I said, well, I'll make it again. Christ, not
faith. is our Savior. And I told him
this in the conversation. He cooled down a little bit.
I said, do you know why that statement offended you? He said,
well, you tell me why. I said, because faith, not Christ,
is your Savior. And that's right. Now, what is that all about?
You know, when you make a statement like that, Christ, not faith,
is our Savior, you know it's recorded several times in the
Gospel of Matthew and Mark and Luke, where our Lord said this
to individuals that he'd healed of some physical problem. He
said, thy faith hath made thee whole, or he even said, thy faith
has saved thee. What did he mean? One time in
Luke 7, this is Luke 7.50, he told a woman that he'd saved
by grace. Talking about not just physical
healing. He said, thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. Now,
before that, he'd already told her this. He said, your sins
are forgiven. He didn't tell her, he didn't say now, your
sins will be forgiven if you will believe. No, he said, your
sins are forgiven. And she did believe him, as all
true children of God do. But he said, thy faith has saved
thee. Given these statements by the Lord, how can I make that
statement, Christ, not faith, is our Savior? I'll tell you
why. It's because the majority of
what has come to be labeled Christianity today has perverted the truth
of God-given faith that drives sinners to Christ for salvation. I mean, it's been totally perverted.
When Christ made these statements, he was not telling these people
that they were healed physically or even saved eternally because
or based upon the fact that they believed or made the right choice.
That's not what he was saying at all. Their faith was in him. Not in their faith. Their faith
was in Him as the healer. Their faith was in Him as the
only Savior. This faith was never separated
from the object of that faith, which is Christ the Lord who's
able to heal and to save us. The Christ that most people believe
in today is one who really did not actually save anybody. who
but just simply made salvation a mere possibility. If, here's
the key, if you'll make the right choice. You'll make the right choice
in believing in him. The object of their faith then is not Christ,
it's their faith. They'll tell you in a moment's
time, Christ died for everybody, even those who perish in hell,
you make the difference. That's not what the Bible teaches.
They have faith not in Christ, whose death did no more for those
in hell and who perish than he did for those who are saved.
Their faith is in their faith. That kind of faith does not save. To claim that Christ died for
all without exception, even those who perish, leaves us with no
hope of salvation, but where? In ourselves. But I want you to consider several
things. First of all, what does God require
for a sinner to be saved? What does God actually require?
Now, most preachers would tell you, well, he requires you to
believe. That's not the way the Bible puts it. Is faith required? Yes. But hold on now. What does
God require for a sinner like me and sinners like you to be
saved? And I'll tell you, I can tell
you in one word. He requires righteousness. Righteousness
is what he requires. You say, well, I'll do the best
I can. Oh, no, no, no. He doesn't require you to do
the best you can. In fact, the Bible says the man at his best
state is altogether worthless, vanity. Somebody said, well,
I'm gonna try hard. He doesn't require you to try
hard to attain salvation. He requires righteousness. That's what he requires. And the Bible says among us,
people, the best of us, the worst of us, and everybody in between,
there's none righteous, no, not one. Romans 3 and verse 10. He requires me to be good, somebody
says. Well, there was a rich young
man who came to Christ one time, and he said, how good must I
be to enter heaven? Christ said, well, you must keep
the law. He said, well, I've done that. Christ said, no, you
haven't. Let's put it to the test. Have
you ever heard the verse Romans 3.23? For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. What does that mean? That means
every one of us who fell in Adam, born dead in trespasses and sins,
no matter how good we try to be, we'll always miss the mark
of righteousness. So where am I gonna find righteousness?
Look at Romans chapter nine. Now that's what God requires. You say, well God, he just requires
faith for you to believe. Not in order to attain salvation.
Faith is in the mix, but it comes later. Now hold on. What does
God require? Get this in your mind. Righteousness. Now what is the standard of righteousness? What is righteousness? It's perfect
satisfaction to God's law and justice. That's what it is. It's
perfection. You ever heard that before? It's
perfection. And if you miss that mark, I
quote this verse all the time. Now you stay there in Romans
nine, Acts 1731, talking about the judgment. Paul preaching
to the Athenian religionist and philosophers. And he said this,
he says, they're coming a day when God will judge the world
in righteousness. Well, Paul, how righteous do
I have to be? Well, God's gonna judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, he appointed, in that he hath
given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from
the dead. So who is the standard of righteousness?
Christ is. Somebody says, well, I'm just
gonna try to love everybody that I can. Well, does your love equal
Christ's love? Would you give your life for
your enemies? The Bible says, you know, it's
all right, it's good that a man or a woman would give their life
for their friends, but for your enemies? That's what Christ did
when he died. Even His people, even His chosen
people, His church, those who would come to faith in Him eventually,
were by nature His enemies, and He died for them. He died for
His sheep. They were lost sheep. We talked about in their minds
by enemies, by wicked works, until He changes us. What does God require? Righteousness. Look at Romans 9 and verse 31.
talking about Israel of old. Now they had the law. They had
the Ten Commandments. I had a man tell me one time
that his hope of salvation was keeping the Ten Commandments.
I said, well, I feel sorry for you because you won't admit it,
but you've broken every one of the commandments. I have too.
You have too. At some point, either in thought
Word or deed. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying we're all sinners and we need salvation by grace. And grace reigns through righteousness,
Romans 521 tells us. But look at Romans 931. These
Jews had the law. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness. The law showed them the standard
of perfection that God requires. They followed after the law of
righteousness. Look at it, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. They missed the mark, they didn't
make it. Wherefore, or why, that word
why means, wherefore means why. Why didn't they make it? Because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the law. Now what is it to seek righteousness
by faith? It's not to seek righteousness
In your believing or in your faith, it's to seek righteousness
by faith in Christ. There's a difference now. Think
with me. It's to look to Christ. You can
believe a lot of things. I can believe a lot of things.
Some of the things we may believe may not be true. But our believing
doesn't make them true. You see, saving faith has an
object, and it can never be separated from that object, and that's
Christ. Look at it, verse 32. Why? Because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were, by the works
of the law. They were trying to be righteous by their works.
They stumbled at that stumbling stone. Now this refers back to
a prophecy in the book of Isaiah that prophesies of Christ. Look
at verse 33. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion, that's the church, spiritual Israel, a stumbling stone and
rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. It's not just believing, it's
believing on him. Well, what does that mean? Well, look down at verse one
of chapter 10. You know, the Bible wasn't originally written
in chapters and verses, you know. It goes on, the thoughts carried
on. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. I bear them record, they have
a zeal of God. They're religious, they're eager, they're sincere,
but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end, or the fulfillment, the completion,
the perfection of the law for righteousness. to everyone that
believeth. Now which comes first, faith
or righteousness? Righteousness comes first, that's
the ground. Faith is the result, but I'll
get to that in just a moment. Now look back at our text, Romans
5. Now if you were reading a Greek
New Testament, and I don't think you are this morning, You would
find in the original Greek text of the New Testament that something
is missing. You know what it is? Punctuation. There were no commas, no periods,
no semicolons, no dashes. None of that had to be added
by the translators. You students who take English,
if you turned in an essay without any punctuation, what would you
get? You'd get an F. I know that because I taught
English composition for 13 years in high school. Could you imagine
a person reading English compositions in high school for that many
years? Torture. But you know what you'd receive. So when you read this, look at
verse one, therefore being justified by faith, comma, that comma wasn't
there originally. I believe in the context now,
and this is not based upon just what I wanted to say, but in
the context, I believe it should read this way, therefore being
justified, comma, or literally having been justified, common. Now what is it to be justified?
Two things. Number one, to be justified before
God is to be forgiven of all my sins. What do I, I'm a sinner. I need
forgiveness. Somebody says, well God's not
gonna forgive you until you ask for it. That's not true. If Christ died for your sins
on the cross, you're already forgiven. If you're an unbeliever,
you just don't know it yet, but he'll let you in on it between
now and your death. Remember that woman in Luke 7?
He said, thy faith hath saved thee. He had already told her,
your sins are forgiven. Having therefore been justified.
To be justified means to be forgiven for all my sins. But now listen
now. It's to be forgiven, not just forgiven arbitrarily, like
mom and dad sometimes forgive you. It's not to be forgiven just
arbitrarily without a cause. It's forgiven based on a just
and right ground. That's what forgiveness is. That's
what to be justified. You see, in order for me to be
forgiven, Somebody had to pay the debt of all my sins. Now we sang that, what can wash
away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
It doesn't say what can wash away my sins, nothing but my
believing in him. You see what I'm saying? To be justified means to be forgiven
of all my sins based on a just ground, a right ground. God has
to be just when he forgives. He has to do it on a right ground.
He cannot just point his finger and say, oh, I just choose to
forgive you for no reason. He can't do that, he's God. He
must punish sin where sin is imputed or charged or accounted.
But secondly, to be justified is to be declared righteous in
God's sight on a just ground. Now look at what it says. Verse
one, therefore being justified or having been justified, comma,
by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible teaches that God is reconciled at peace with his
people based on the blood of Christ, the death of Christ,
the cross of Christ. The Bible also teaches that as
we're born naturally into this world, that in our minds we're
enemies of God, the true and living God, not just religion
now. And when God brings us to faith
in Christ, we ourselves are reconciled to him on that same just ground.
So look down at verse 10. Well, first of all, let's go
back up to verse eight. Yeah, verse eight. It says, but
God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Now, who's he talking about?
He's not talking about everybody without exception there. Go on. He says, much more than being
justified, Forgiven and declared righteous by what? By his blood. That's his death. Why did Christ
die on the cross? To satisfy the justice of God
for the sins of his people that were given to him before the
foundation of the world and for whom he was made surety. He took
upon Him their sin-debt, and He had to pay the price. It's
called redemption. He redeemed us by the blood.
You see, our faith, our believing in Him doesn't redeem us. It's
His blood that redeemed us. Our faith, our believing in Him
is not our righteousness. He is our righteousness, His
obedience unto death. We're justified by His blood. It says, and then he says in
verse nine, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Verse
10, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his son. In other words, God reconciled
to us. much more being reconciled to
him, we shall be saved by his life, and not only so, but we
also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have
now received the atonement. Now that word atonement is literally
reconciliation. The word atonement was an Old
Testament word that spoke of the covering of sin that pictured
the death of Christ for our sins. So faith is not our righteousness.
Christ is. All right, look over at Romans
1. Here's the second thing. Faith is always defined by its
object. People have a wrong view of faith
today. You know what faith to most people
is now? Believing, just simply believing
whatever it is you believe. In fact, most churches, it doesn't
matter what you believe. You can believe something that's
totally unscriptural and they'll say, well that's okay, you're
part of God's family, come on in with us. There are some who believe that
Christ died for everybody and you make the difference. So their
faith is their Savior, not Christ. Christ really didn't die to ensure
anybody's salvation. You got to make the right choice.
That's salvation by the works and the wills of people. That's
not what the Bible teaches. Faith, saving faith, is always
defined by its object. Look at Romans 1 16. For I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. If Christ died
for your sins, at some point in time, God's gonna bring you
under the preaching of the true gospel, and you're gonna believe.
You know why? Because faith is the gift of
God. He says to the Jew first and
also to the Greek, that's Jew and Gentile, that means there's
no classification of people that would be hindered or brought
in. He says in verse 17, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now that righteousness of God
is the merit of Christ, obedience unto death. That's what he did.
From faith. You know what the root word for
faith is? Knowledge. Did you know that? Faith is something you believe
because you know that it is true. And in the Bible, faith is something
you believe because you know that it is true based on what
God says, not on what others say. You can bank on it. So it's from faith, that is the
knowledge that God gives, to faith, the gift of faith that
God gives us to receive it. As it is written, the just, the
justified, shall live by faith. Now what does that mean? They
live their lives looking to, resting in, and believing in
the Lord Jesus Christ as their righteousness. The true gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace reveals the glorious person and finished
work of Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? Here's what
I believe. He's God manifest in the flesh. The perfect God-man. Why do I
believe that? Well, because mom and dad said
it, or my church denomination says it? No, because that's what
God's word says. The gospel concerns his son,
which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
that's his sinless humanity, declared to be the son of God
with power, being raised from the dead, that's his deity. His
name shall be called Jesus, which means what? Jehovah saves, God
manifest in the flesh. Emmanuel, God with us. What did
Jesus Christ accomplish on the cross? Bible says he made an
end of the sins for his people. He finished their transgression
and he brought in everlasting righteousness that ensures their
salvation. Not that makes salvation possible
if they do this or if they choose that. It's his righteousness charged
to their account that makes the difference. That's called imputed
righteousness. Romans 4, 6, the blessedness
of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness. I have a righteousness
that equals Christ. You know how I know that? It's
his righteousness charged to me. I didn't have anything to
do with it. My faith is not part of it. My faith is the result
of it. Can you understand that? That brings me to the third point.
Look at Ephesians 2. Faith is the gift of God. Most people think that faith
is something that we naturally have and that if we can just
get some golden tongue preacher to preach the right words and
get us emotionally stirred up, we will give in and make the
right choice. That is not what the Bible teaches. Faith is the gift of God to his
people that comes forth from his grace. Look at verse eight
of Ephesians two, for by grace are you saved through faith.
And that not of yourselves, even that faith is not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Some people say, well, now that's
referring to salvation, but not faith. Would he be excluding
faith here? No, faith is part of salvation. Faith is required, believing
in Christ is required, not as a condition that you must meet
naturally in order to be saved. Faith is the gift of God to every
one of his people by which they receive Christ in their hearts. And so he says it, it's the gift
of God. Verse nine, not of works lest
any man should boast. Verse 10 says, for we are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto, not because of, but
unto good works which God hath before ordained. And we should
walk in them. Romans chapter 10 says, man with
the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. That means we
run to Christ. So faith is the gift of God.
And then turn to John 1 and verse 12. Here's the fourth point. Faith is the work of the spirit
within. It's not the work of ourselves within. It's not the
work or the result of our free will choice because we don't
have a free will. We make choices every day. But
when it comes to the things of God, we'll choose not to. The
natural man receiving not the things of the Spirit of God.
But look at verse 11 of John 1. He says, he came unto his
own, Christ came unto his own, and his own received him not.
They didn't receive him. Verse 12, but as many as received
him, there were some who received him. That means they believed
in him, they had faith in him. To them gave he power, that word
power doesn't mean ability, it means the right. The privilege. In other words, if I say I'm
saved, or if I say I'm a child of God, what right do I have
to make that claim? Well it says, to those who receive
Christ, to them gave he power, the right, to become the sons
of God, to be called the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name. Now look at verse 13. Which were
born. Now you remember Christ told
Nicodemus over in John three, you gotta be born again. That's
what he's talking, which were born, Not of blood. Now that means it didn't come
through physical birth. Why is that important? Because
the Jews claimed to be saved because they were the physical
descendants of Abraham. There's some people in this country
who probably might claim to be saved because mom and dad was
saved. But it didn't come by blood.
Nor of the will of the flesh. That's the works of the flesh.
In other words, this salvation, this receiving Christ, believing
in him, this faith, didn't come by the works of the flesh. Now,
look at verse 13. Nor of the will of man, nor of
man's will. It didn't come just because you
made the right choice, and others didn't, which were born but of
God. They were born of God. You see,
the new birth, which is a literal spiritual resurrection from the
dead, giving of spiritual life, eyes to see, ears to hear. That's
a miracle of God's grace that comes to us through the righteousness
that Christ brought out. Romans 8.10 says this body, this
physical body, is dead because of sin, which is true of all
of us. That's where we're headed. Even
you who are in the prime of youth now, you're not gonna stay that
way. This body is dead because of
sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. That's why the spirit gives life.
And so it's the work of the spirit within. And then lastly, faith
is evidence, not the cause of salvation. Turn to John 10. I'll
close with this. Saving faith, believing in the
Lord Jesus Christ is not the cause of a sinner's salvation. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ
is an evidence of salvation. It's an evidence that God chose
you before the foundation of the world and your name was written
on the land's book of life. It's an evidence that you've
been justified freely by His grace. through the righteousness
that Christ brought out. It's an evidence that Christ
redeemed you on the cross, that your name was written on His
heart when He died on that cross. It's an evidence that you've
been born again by the Spirit, that you have life within. Look
at John chapter 10, Christ preaching the gospel. The Pharisees were
there. He says in verse 24, Look at
that, John 10, 24. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep. Why didn't they believe? Because
they weren't his sheep. He said over in John 10, 11,
the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. You're not of
my sheep. You know, among those who will
enter heaven's glory, right now here on earth, there's only two
kinds. There's lost sheep and there's saved sheep. The lost
sheep, look here, verse 27. He says, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life,
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my Father's hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." You see that? That's why I say,
without shirking or embarrassment, Christ Not faith is our Savior. Now believe in Him. Rest in Him. Submit to His blood, His righteousness
as your only way of salvation. And if you do, you don't have
any reason to glory. God gets all the glory. He gave
you that faith. He brought you to repentance.
He'll cause you to persevere in the faith.