All right, let's turn in our
Bibles to Acts chapter 13. And as I said, I'm gonna do the
scripture reading here as an introduction to the message. And then I'll have our prayer
when I get down to my text in verses 38 and 39. The title of
the message is Justified From All Things. And in these verses, we see the
Apostle Paul preaching the gospel in the synagogue in a place called
Antioch of Pisidia. You know, there were several
cities across the Mideast that were known as Antioch. Well,
this is Antioch of Pisidia. Let's look at verse 14. Verse
14. It's Paul and Barnabas, it says,
but when they departed from Perga, They came to Antioch in Pisidia
and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.
Now this is the setting for the message. He's in the synagogue
in this town on the Sabbath day. And that was Paul's custom when
he went into Gentile cities. He found the synagogue there
that had been established by the Jews who were trying to proselyte
Gentiles. And so these synagogues were
made up of Jews and Gentiles. Look at verse 15. It says, and
after the reading of the law, the law of Moses and the prophets,
the Old Testament scriptures, the rulers, the leaders of the
synagogue sent unto them saying, ye men and brethren, if you have
any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Now, I don't
know if they just heard of Paul by reputation or what, but by
the providence of God, these leaders in the synagogue, after
reading the law of Moses and the prophets, they say, now Paul,
do you have anything you want to say to us? And what an opportunity.
What an open door. And so it says in verse 16, then
Paul stood up and beckoned him with his hand. He said, men of
Israel and ye that fear God. Now men of Israel refers to Paul's
brethren, according to the flesh, the Jews. And they that fear
God are those who had been proselytized, Gentiles who had been proselytized
to the Jewish religion. And he says, now give audience.
So here he is standing and speaking to the Jews and the proselytized
Gentiles. Now that's the setting. Now here
comes the message that Paul preached. Verse 17, he says, the God, and
he starts out with just historical facts. And he says, the God of
this people of Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people
when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with
a high arm, a powerful arm, brought he them out of it. He's summarizing
here, and about the time of 40 years suffered He their manners
in the wilderness, that was their wanderings through the wilderness
before they came into the promised land. Verse 19, and you know
they were wandering because of their disobedience. He said,
and when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan,
he divided their land to them by lot. That's when Joshua took
them over and they divided up the land. Verse 20, after that
he gave unto them judges about the space of 450 years until
Samuel the prophet. So there's the time of the judges
up to Samuel. Verse 21, and afterward they
desired a king. God gave unto them Saul, the
son of Ceas, a man of the tribe of Benjamin by the space of 40
years. You see the history here. Verse 22, when he had removed
him, when God removed Saul, he raised up unto them David to
be their king, and to whom he gave testimony and said, I have
found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which
shall fulfill all my will. Now, that's an interesting statement
in and of itself. David fulfilled all of God's
will. That's God's purpose. his sovereign
will to accomplish what he meant to accomplish. It says in verse
23, of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised
unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. So he brings the history of Israel
down to the real important fact of it. Jesus, Savior. Verse 24, when John had first
preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all
the people of Israel, And as John fulfilled his course, he
said, whom think ye that I am? I am not who you think I am. He said, I'm not he, I'm not
the Messiah. But behold, there cometh one after me whose shoes
of his feet I'm not worthy to lose. And Paul says, men and
brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among
you that feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation
sent. So notice how he equates Jesus,
salvation. And he says in verse 27, for
they that dwelt at Jerusalem and their rulers because they
knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read
every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning
him. They fulfilled the will of God in condemning Christ.
Of course, Peter preached that in Acts chapter two, didn't he?
Verse 28, and though they found no cause of death in him, no
sin in him, the perfect sinless Lamb of God, yet desired they
Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they fulfilled the will of God. They
took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher, but
God raised him from the dead. Thank God. And he was seen many
days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem,
who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you
glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God hath fulfilled the same unto
us, their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again. And
as it is also written in the second Psalm, thou art my son,
this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised
him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. Wherefore, he saith also in another
Psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
Verse 36, pay attention. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was
laid unto his fathers, and he saw corruption. In other words,
the one that the Lord was speaking of in prophecy wasn't David,
but the son of David. Verse 37, but he whom God raised
again saw no corruption. Christ in the grave three days,
and then he arose again. Now here's my text. Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, through
Jesus Christ, the God-man, is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all
things, from which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. Now let me read a couple more.
Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of
in the prophets, Behold, you despisers and wonder and perish,
for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no
wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. And when the Jews
were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these
words might be preached to them the next Sabbath day. And so
now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and
religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking
to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. All right,
let's bow our heads in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
thankful for the revelation of your word, which leads us to
your glory in the glorious person and finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to put away the sins of
your people, satisfying your justice, bringing forth an everlasting
righteousness, which you have imputed, charged, accounted to
us that we might be justified from all things. And that he
died, he was laid in the tomb, but he saw no corruption. He
was raised again the third day because he had accomplished the
work which you gave him to do. Thank God that he cried, it is
finished on the cross. finished sin, finished righteousness,
all that we need, all that you require. And we thank you, dear
Lord, for sending your Holy Spirit to bring us under the preaching
of the gospel, the word of truth, the word of life in Christ, and
giving us life from the dead, raising us up literally from
the dead, giving us eyes to see, ears to hear, We thank you, dear
Lord, for your preserving grace that keeps us in the grace of
God. For we know that if we were left
on our own for a minute, we would fall. And so we praise your name,
dear Lord. We worship you in spirit and
in truth. Focus our minds and our attentions
upon your word as it is in Christ. Feed us today, dear Lord. And once again, we pray for those
who are sick and afflicted, our brothers and sisters, our family
members, our acquaintances who are suffering. Work your sovereign
will in each and every one of their lives, dear Lord, to do
unto them what you would do according to your good pleasure and will.
Now guide us and direct us in the ways of your mercy and grace.
In Christ Jesus we pray, amen. All right, the title of the message,
Justified From All Things. We've seen the setting. Paul
preaching in the synagogue in this town called Antioch. And
he preached and he spoke to the Jews, he spoke to the Gentiles.
The same message, not a different message. It wasn't one message
for the Jews and another for the Gentiles. It was the same
message because we are all sinners who need the same grace of God.
who need the same salvation that God has always worked in His
chosen people by His sovereign grace through Christ. We've seen
the message. Paul laid out the historical
facts, going through a brief history of the children of Israel,
leading up to one major, miraculous, earth-changing event, Jesus of
Nazareth, the birth, the life, the death of Jesus Christ, the
Savior, Now you need to understand something at the outset. When
it talks about the leaders of the congregation reading the
law of Moses and the prophets, we need to understand what the
majority of the Jews at that time taught in the law. When
they read Moses, when they read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, when they read the prophets, And then they gave
the sense of it. What did they say? And I want
to show you where it's summarized. Now turn to Romans chapter 9,
because this puts things in perspective. In Romans chapter 9, beginning
at verse 30 of this chapter. Romans 9.30. Writing down by inspiration of
the spirit of the sovereignty of God in salvation, Paul writes
in verse 30, what shall we say then? That the Gentiles which
followed not after righteousness have attained righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith. Now he's not talking
about all Gentiles. He's talking about here God's
chosen people among the Gentiles, God's elect. And when he says
they followed not after righteousness, he's not saying that they were
not religious or not moral. Now there was a lot of irreligious
activity and immoral activity, both among the Jews and the Gentiles
then, but he's not saying that Gentiles, no Gentile was religious. They worshiped, they just worshiped
idols. But God's elect out of the Gentile nations have been
called out, he's saying, And they weren't seeking righteousness
by the law of Moses, because they didn't have the law of Moses,
but they found righteousness in Christ. And the righteousness
of faith, the righteousness which is of faith, is the righteousness
of Christ, the merits of his obedience unto death as the surety,
the substitute, the redeemer of his people, which God imputes
to his people. God has imputed it, charged it
to our account, And if he's done so, at some point in time, he's
going to bring us to faith in Christ. We believe in him. We
rest in him. With the heart, we believe unto
righteousness. That means we look to Christ.
Verse 31, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
they followed after the law of Moses for righteousness, but
hath not attained to the law of righteousness. They didn't
attain righteousness. They didn't attain the perfection
of the law. Why? Verse 32, wherefore, why? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law, their own works.
For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Now here comes a prophecy
of Christ from the book of Isaiah. Here's the Jews reading the law
of Moses and they're striving for righteousness by their works,
by keeping the law. They didn't seek it in the promised
Messiah. the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what it is to seek it by faith. And when Christ came, they stumbled
at the stumbling stone. Verse 33, as it is written, behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, whosoever
believeth on him, Christ shall not be ashamed. And so he goes
on. So that's how they viewed the
law of Moses. To them, it was a way of working
their way under righteousness. by keeping the law. And it's
the old problem of sin. Man by nature, he wants salvation,
but he wants it his own way by the works of his hands, by the
works of the law. And salvation is not by works.
Well, back over here in Acts 13, as Paul summarized the history
of Israel leading up to the coming of Jesus Christ, He spoke of
the life, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ
as the fulfillment of what Moses wrote and what the prophets wrote.
And then he says in verse 38, be it known unto you therefore
men and brethren that through this man, now that's important,
through Jesus Christ, the God man, this person, The one who
died was buried and arose again the third day through this man. You see, this is a matter, whatever
he's talking about in salvation, it's a matter of the glorious
person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what he's saying. And he says this, by this man,
through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
The forgiveness of sins, we talked about that a couple of weeks
ago. What a blessing that is. What are we? We're sinners. And if left in our sins, we'll
die in our sins and perish, scripture says, justly under the wrath
of God. So to be able to talk about forgiveness
of sins and it be a reality, what a blessing that is. Did you hear what Jesus said
unto me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and you're set free. They're all taken away. So I praise the Lord for sins
forgiven. The forgiveness of sins. How
does the forgiveness of sins come? Well, it's not by the blood
of animals. All the blood shed on those Jewish
altars, the blood of lambs and bulls and goats, could not put
away sin, the scripture tells us. It's not by the works of
men. No work you can do, no matter
how sincere, how moral, how religious or how noble, can put away sin. It's not by the will or the works
of men. It's not by the tears of men. Your tears, you may cry all night
and all day over your sins, but no amount of tears that I cry
or you cry can wash away our sins. Then where are we to go? Well, what does he say here? Through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sin. How does the forgiveness of sins
come? It comes by the blood of the Lamb of God. I mentioned
to you a couple weeks ago about the forgiveness of sin. God doesn't
offer you forgiveness of sin. He doesn't offer me the forgiveness
of sin. You know what he does for his
people? He forgives their sins. And how do you know you're one
who has been forgiven? For those who are forgiven are
justified from all things, and they're given the gift of faith.
Do you believe in Christ? When you sang that hymn, what
can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Is that really your hope? Many people say, well, Christ
did that for everybody, even those who perish. Oh, does he?
That's not what the Bible teaches. Bible teaches that what he did
for his people equals the forgiveness of their sins. It's by the blood of Jesus Christ
as my surety. My sins were charged to him. You know what sin does? It runs
up a debt. A debt to God's law. Who's gonna
pay that debt? Well, my sins before the foundation
of the world were laid upon Jesus Christ, my surety. He became
the surety of the... He became responsible for my
debt. And if you're one of His, He
became responsible for your debt. And what did He have to do to
pay that debt? He had to become our substitute. He had to take
our place. He had to come to this earth.
and take into union with Himself a sinless human body, human nature. And as God manifest in the flesh,
as God man, He had to go to the cross and die to pay the debt. That's Christ our Redeemer. And it says, look at verse 39,
and by him, see again, this is emphasized, through this man.
Now by him, all that believe are what? Justified from all
things. Now first of all, you need to
understand exactly what it means to be justified. And I preach
this a lot. You all may say I'm like a broken
record, I don't know. But you know what? You go out
there and you talk to people, and even some who claim to believe
the doctrines of grace, and you'll be amazed at how many people
are either confused or just plain ignorant on what it means to
be justified. You'll be amazed at how many
people are corrupting it, justified from all things. What is it to
be justified in God's sight? Because the Bible tells us that
it's not man who justifies from all things, it's God who justifies. So what does that mean? Well,
think about it now. If you've never heard this before,
well, if you've been here, you haven't been listening. But if
you don't know this, pray that the Lord will imprint this on
your mind. First of all, to be justified in God's sight is to
legally, legally be declared righteous in His sight. Now think about God, who knows
everything. He not only knows what I do and
what I fail to do, but He knows what I think. He knows what you
think. He knows the thoughts of our
heart. And what does that mean? That
means He sees our sinfulness. He sees our shortcomings. He
sees our awful motives and thoughts and desires. So then, how can
He say that I'm righteous in His sight? How can he say that
and be true? Is he just faking it? Is he just
pretending? You know, that's what a lot of
people think. That's why they deny the legal
aspect of justification. You know, justification, technically
speaking, is a purely legal term. It's like being in a courtroom
and being declared not guilty. The law has no hold on you if
you're not guilty. Isn't that right? To be justified. To be declared righteous. Well,
how is that possible in the sight of God, given such a sinful man
as I? Well, it's not based on my works.
I cannot work my way into the perfection of righteousness that
God requires. And that's what God requires,
isn't it? attempts at morality and religion
and doing the best we can do, doesn't the Bible say man at
his best state is altogether what? Vanity. The Bible says that if we did
everything we were supposed to do, we'd still be what? Unprofitable
servants. So how can we be made righteous?
How can these Jews be made righteous? Not by works of the law of Moses,
You can memorize these scriptures. You can talk about these scriptures.
You can summarize them and write commentaries on them. You can
even claim to believe them. But that will not make you or
me righteous. It's not based on our works.
And listen, now he says here, all that believe are justified.
Justification is not based on our faith, our believing. What's it based upon? Through
this man and by him. Our justification before God
is based upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, his
obedience unto death, his merits, his works, freely imputed, charged,
accounted to us. and as a result, received by
God-given faith. You see, believing does not make
us justified, righteous in God's sight. Believing just give evidence
that we have been justified by God. Believing is the fruit and
evidence of a sinner's justification before God, which comes solely
based upon the merits of Christ's obedience unto death as my surety,
my substitute, my redeemer. Christ as God in sinless human
flesh, God man, is the only justifier of his people, and by him and
through him they are all declared not guilty. Why? Because he took our guilt. Not
liable to punishment, why? Because he took our punishment
in our place. Our debt, our sin debt was laid
to his charge. Now what the scripture says?
That's what every lamb that was slain on a Jewish altar typified
and prophesied. He was bruised for our iniquities. Isn't that right? He suffered
the just In himself, he was purely righteous and holy. He suffered
the just for the unjust, for sinners. His righteousness charged
to our account is the ground and matter of our justification,
that by which we are justified. Now, it's important that we understand
that our justification before God is strictly, exclusively
a legal matter. A transaction between God the
Father and God the Son. God the Father made Him, Christ
the Son, to be sin. For us, Christ who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And why is it
so important that we see this as a legal matter? It's because
the gospel teaches us that Christ alone, not with any help, By
His obedience unto death as our surety, our substitute and redeemer,
He alone satisfied the law's justice. By His blood alone and
not by anything else, not even by the Holy Spirit's work within
us spiritually. Now the Holy Spirit's work in
us in the new birth is just as necessary as the work of Christ
for us on the cross, but not for the same reason. The work
of Christ on the cross is the ground of our salvation. And the work of the Holy Spirit
in us in the new birth is the fruit of what Christ did. Think about it, Hebrews 10, 14.
Listen to it. For by one offering, he, Christ
alone, hath perfected, completed forever Them that are sanctified,
those whom God set apart and gave to him. The gospel is the revelation,
not of the righteousness of man, but of the righteousness of God,
Romans 1, 16 and 17. And what is the righteousness
of God? Romans chapter 10 and verse 4, for Christ is the end
The finishing, the completion, the perfection of the law for
righteousness. Who do you do that for? For them
that believe. Paul spoke of the forgiveness
of sins in connection with our justification. Forgiveness is
based on a just ground. What is that just ground? What
can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
There's the just ground. All who believe are forgiven.
Not because they believe, but because of what Christ did on
the cross for them. And the forgiveness of our sins
and the imputation of righteousness is our justification before God. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee. The gift of spiritual life and
eternal life in our new birth, our regeneration and conversion,
is the fruit of our justification before God. And salvation, including
the forgiveness of sin, it is a matter of God's love and God's
grace and God's mercy, but it's also a matter of God's justice.
Herein is love. Not that we love God. It wasn't
conditioned on us. Not by anything we do or not
by anything God enables us to do. You know, in salvation, God
enables us to do many wonderful, marvelous things. But nothing
that he enables us to do equals the perfection of the law that
can only be found in Christ. And so he says we're justified
in verse 39 from all things. Well, he means justified from
all things that would condemn us. From which you could not
be justified by the law of Moses, he said. Again, not by works
of the law. The law made nothing perfect.
The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. The righteousness that God requires
of us does not come by the law, by our keeping the law. Paul
wrote that, Galatians 2.21, I do not frustrate the grace of God.
For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead
in vain. Do you know a sinner trying to
work their way under righteousness before God is a living testimony
that they believe that Christ died in vain. Why? Because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. to everyone that believes. It's
not the works of the law and not even obedience to the gospel.
Paul wrote in Galatians 6.14, God forbid that I should glory,
that I should boast or have confidence save in the cross, the cross
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not any internal holiness
or it's not any infused or imparted or imbued righteousness. It's
not the new birth. Again, the new birth is the fruit
and result of being justified, which includes the forgiveness
of sins. And when the Bible says we're justified by faith, it
does not mean the grace of faith, but it means the object of faith,
which is Christ. In Romans 5 and verse 9, let
me read this to you. Paul wrote, much more than being
now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
him. And he says, for if when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God. To be justified in God's
sight is to be reconciled to him. Well, when were we reconciled? When was God reconciled to us?
When we were enemies. But we were reconciled to God
by the death of his son. Much more being reconciled, we'll
be saved by his life. Justification by Christ's righteousness
imputed is complete and perfect. Nothing can be added to it. And
all who believe are justified from all things. Justified from
all sin. Original sin, actual sin, secret
sin, open sin, greater sin, lesser sin, sins of presumption, sins
of ignorance, sins of omission, sins of everything, the whole
body of sin. If you're in Christ, washed in
His blood, you're justified from all of that. God cannot and will
not lay it to your charge. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies, Romans
8.33. You cannot be condemned. Who can condemn us, Romans 8.34?
Who can condemn us? Christ died for us. and he's
raised again from the dead, and he's right now ever living to
make intercession for us. We're justified from all things
the law can charge us with. Again, there's no charge. We're justified from all things
which the justice of God could demand satisfaction for. Satisfaction
has been fully and completely made by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified. We're justified
from all things that Satan, or our own conscience, can rightly
accuse us of. Am I a sinner? Yes, I am. Does
my conscience keep reminding me of that? Yes, it does, and
the Word of God. Satan's the accuser of the brethren.
How do we turn back the accusations of Satan and the accusations
of our own conscience? We plead the blood of the Lamb.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood. Christ's
righteousness imputed is both the ground of our legal justification
and it's also the source and power of our spiritual life and
new birth that brings us to faith in Christ. So all who believe
in Christ are given the gift of faith and a heart to believe
unto righteousness. Look at your text again, verse
40. You know what Paul's saying here?
This is a matter of life and death right here. How's a sinner justified before
God? How's God just to justify us? By the righteousness of Christ
freely imputed and received by God-given faith. This is a matter
of life and death. Look at, beware therefore lest
that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets. Behold you
despisers and wonder and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you." That's a sad commentary on the world, isn't it? You see,
our only hope is built on nothing less than
Jesus' blood and righteousness. And we dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ, the solid rock
we stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
He or she will come up with anything and everything that will either
parallel, they think, parallel or eclipse Christ and His righteousness. But my friend, pray that God
will move all that trash and all that clutter out of the way.
and bring you to the one and only justifier of sinners, the
Lord Jesus Christ. All right. Amen.