I told you Wednesday night, Lord
willing, on the 6th of May, that Sunday night, we're going to
have a baptismal service down at Charlie's. We're going to
have the evening service. We're going to baptize Joanna
Holbrook. I told her, I said, that's the best news I could
hear. She called and talked to me about it. I said, that's the
best news you can hear. That God has revealed the gospel. to another center. He's brought
home another particle. Isn't that the best news you
can hear? That particle comes home. Well, that's on May the 6th,
that Sunday evening. 6.30. I'm going to put that in the
bulletin next week. It's 6.30. I'm sure Charlie and
several of them will be there too. And of course, May the 2nd,
Cody Gruber will be here on Wednesday night. Okay. Acts 13. We're coming to the
conclusion of this message that Paul has been preaching in Antioch
of Pisidia. The title of it is, Justified
from All Things. Could there be better news than
that? Not to a guilty man there can't. You have to be guilty
to enjoy the gospel. You have to know something of
what it is to be a sinful sinner. Guilty. You know, legal documents
bore me to death. You try to read through a legal
document, you say, I need a lawyer to read through this. But I tell
you what, if in that document is your life, I bet you'll read
it carefully, won't you? I bet it'll become very, very
interesting. But here we have this Word justified
to be cleared of all charges. Now Paul says here in verse 38,
let's look in verse 38 first. He says, Be it known unto you,
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness, real, genuine forgiveness
of sins comes through this man. And no other way, no other way. It comes through this man. And
Paul says, Be it known unto you, you cannot believe what you don't
know. Paul said, how can you believe
on him of whom you've not heard? If God does not make or reveal
Christ to you, to your heart, you'll never know the forgiveness
of sins because forgiveness of sin comes through this man. If God is pleased to save a person,
he will make the gospel known to them through the preaching
of the gospel. That's what I'm doing this morning
through preaching. He'll make it known and He'll
reveal the truth of the gospel. And what is it that God is pleased
to make known to those whom He is pleased to save? His Son. It's not do's and don'ts. It's
not a list of commandments. It's a real living person. This man that through this man,
this is what God will make known to everyone whom he saves, that
through this man, and what a man, one day he stood in the ship
and he commanded the winds and the sea to be still, and they
laid down. What a man. They said never a
man spake like this man. What manner of man is this that
even the winds and the sea obey him? Well, it's this man. This God-man, that's who this
man is. This man is truly, in every way,
God Almighty. That's who he is. This man who
is the mediator of that new covenant. This man who is the surety. This
man who God raised from the dead. And that's what Paul pointed
out here in verse 30. But God raised him from the dead. God raised this man from the
dead. And it's through him that there is real real forgiveness
of sins. The Lord teaches us over in Ephesians,
look over Ephesians chapter 1. This is the message, through
this man is salvation, through this man is forgiveness, and
through this man we're justified. It says in verse 7 of Ephesians
1, in whom, that is in Christ, we have redemption through his
blood, The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His
grace. We have forgiveness of sins. And my first thought when
I read that and I started writing these notes, I thought, does
anyone, does anyone have a real need of forgiveness of sins? Anyone here need that? I do. I need it. Well, we have it. We have it through this man.
We have it through this man. God has declared forgiveness
of sins through this man whom he sent to be a propitiation
for our sins. Look no place else. Look to no
one else but to this man. And then, listen, it goes a little
deeper. Verse 39, And by him all that
believe are justified from all things from which you could not
be justified by the law of Moses." They sought justification. They
sought to be cleared before God by their deeds and by keeping
the law. And Paul clears this whole thing up. He says it's
by this man, by him. Now I read Gil's Body of Divinity
on this. I read Hodges. I read J.P. I read some more of John Gill's
commentaries. And after I finished reading
this, I looked at it again, I thought, how simple Paul kept it. Notice
how simple Paul keeps this. After doing all that reading,
I came back and I looked at this. I thought, how simple he kept
it by him. He does not go into this long
elaboration of what it is and what it isn't. And I enjoyed
reading those men. But Paul says, by him. He didn't
get into when, he got into by him. Now that would make for a short
message, wouldn't it? Sometimes I think we ought to just tell
the truth as it is and just sit down and it wouldn't last very
long. And you take a lot of our stuff out of it. But it's by
him. All that believe are justified
from all things. Paul summed up justification.
I'm going to give you a few other things here, but Paul summed
up justification in two words, by him. Now, if you want to sum
up justification, just say by him. We're justified by him. Now, a sinner can understand
that. I can understand that. I'm justified, I stand before
God, cleared of all charges by Him. Now, that's my interpretation
of justification. Now, Paul, that's the scripture
here. This matter of justification is the great mystery of the gospel.
How can God be just and justify me? How can God clear me of all
charges? Now, you can offend me. You can
do something that's wrong against me, and I can forgive you, but
I cannot justify you. I cannot clear you from that
and make it never happen. I can't wipe it completely away,
and it never happened. That's what he does. How can
God clear me of all charges? Well, the simple answer is this,
by Him. Now, I read that story of the
publican and the Pharisee this morning. Because I think it goes
along with this. That publican that says, went
down to his house, justified. What did he ask for? Mercy. He said, Lord be merciful to
me, a sinner. Lord forgive me of my sins. But
he got more than he asked for. He went down to his house, cleared. Cleared. Stood standing before
God with absolutely no charge of guilt or sin or spot or stain
on Him. That's the way every one of God's
elect. That's the way everyone whom
God saves stands before Him. Cleared. Absolutely cleared. In the court
of God's justice. Now, there's no jury there that's
going to plead bargain. There's no lawyer that's going
to plead bargain. You're either going to stand there absolutely holy
Or you're not and you're going to perish. But he stood there and he said
he went down to his house justified. Now there's five words that describe,
five words that describe justification. And we're going to give them
to you out of the scriptures here. I'm going to give them to you. Look over
in Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three. I'm interested
in this. I'm more interested in it now
than I was 20 some years ago. I want to know how I can stand
before God Almighty, God who is holy, and stand there absolutely
spotless, cleared of all charges. Look in verse 24, being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. as John
Gill called it, grace was the moving cause. Grace is the uninfluenced, unmerited
favor of God. There was nothing in me or about
me that influenced God to call me, save me, choose me, and justify
me. Nothing in me at all. The whole
cause of it was found in God Almighty. And listen, when God
chose us in Christ before the world began, He justified us
in Christ. He justified us in Christ then.
When did Christ stand as the Lamb slain? Before the foundation
of the world. That's when He stood there. Our
being justified has everything to do with our union our union
now, our eternal union to the Lord Jesus Christ before the
world was. It says in Ephesians 1 that He
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. When was that? Before the world was. Is this
not a part of the spiritual blessings? Is this not a part of it? Before
the world was. It says in Romans 8.30, whom
He predestinated, And when did that happen? Before the world
was. Whom He predestinated, them He
also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. All of us past tense, isn't it?
All of us past tense. And notice here. Freely. Freely. You look this word up.
You know what this means? As it's used here in this scripture?
With it means this without a cause in them. That's what that word
means freely. Without a cause in them, he justified
them without a cause being found in them, the cause is found in
him. In him. There's nothing about
us at all that would cause God to justify me. It's not because
I'm of a better character or or of anything else. It's all
of grace as we read this morning. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Well, so did you. So did you. You who believe God.
Here's secondly. Justified by His blood. Look
over in Romans chapter 5. In Romans chapter 5. Justified by His blood. Justified
by grace. justified by his blood. Look
in Romans 5 verse 9. Let me read verse 8 with you.
Romans chapter 5 verse 8. But God commendeth his love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Justified,
it says, by his blood. His blood speaks of his suffering. and his dead, which were for
someone else. As for a multitude of sinners,
the Father gave to him. That's what it's for. He laid
down his life, it says, for the sheep. Christ suffered at the
hands of justice. He suffered the just for the
unjust that he might bring us to God. Spotless, cleared of
all charges. His blood is the blood of atonement
required by God. What we have here in being justified
by his blood is his obedience all the way from the cradle to
the grave. It says he was obedient unto
death. That's what it speaks of, his obedience. And by his
blood and his righteousness, we are justified, it says, from
all things of which we could not be justified by the law given
to Moses. That law could never justify
anyone. A law doesn't justify. It either declares you're either
guilty or you're not guilty. It doesn't do any justifying.
God's the only one that can do that. It's God the Scripture
says. It's God that justifies. He's the one who justifies. And then thirdly, we are justified
by faith. Look over in Romans chapter 5
here. You're still in Romans. Look in verse 1. In verse 1, Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Justified by faith. Being justified
by faith. Faith, as we know, is the gift
of God. It is the gift of God. And by
faith, we receive Him who justifies. Now faith as an act of itself
does not justify it. It's the object of faith. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by Him. And faith lays hold
of Him. Faith looks to Him who justifies
us. We drink His blood by faith.
We eat His flesh by faith. And we speak only of His righteousness
by which we are justified. We speak only of Him. Without
faith, in a sense, In the Scriptures, no man can please God. And without
faith, no man will be justified. No man. As it says back over
here in Acts 13, and by Him all that believe, all that believe. Justification is not for those
who never believe. Those who never believe God will
never stand justified, cleared of all charges before God." Those
who never believe. Those who believe. By Him all
that believe. One writer said this, Faith is
not a work performed by us in order to be justified, but a
work performed in us by which we apprehend in glory in our
justification. We apprehend, it lays hold of
Christ. It believes God, as we heard
this morning. It lays hold of Him who justifies. It is God that justifies. And
now fourthly, we are justified by works. Look over in James
chapter 2. Over here in James chapter 2. In James chapter 2, it says in
verse 24, let me read verse 23 with it. And
the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed
God, and he was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he
was called the friend of God. You see then how that by works
a man is justified, and not by faith only. of true saving faith that lays
hold of Christ, who justifies, is works. Scripture says without
works, faith is dead. It's just like if you look at
an apple tree and there's never any fruit on it, that apple tree
is dead. It's dead. Without works, he
says, it's dead. The evidence of it is works. Works of faith and labors of
love. Works is the outward evidence of inward heart faith. It's evidence
of an inward work of grace. That's what it is. It's the fruit
of it. Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him as central
righteousness. But when God called Abraham to offer up his son,
what did he do? He offered him up, didn't he?
He took him up on that hill. He bound him to that altar. He
drew that knife back and he was going to kill him. He was going
to kill him. It was proven that he believed
God. It was proven. A man's faith
is known by his works. James, listen, James contends
for a living faith attended, listen, by living works. It's easy to say one thing, but
it's a whole other thing to do, isn't it? It's a whole other
ball game to do. And then fifthly, you're justified
by your words. Look over Matthew 12, 37. Matthew
12, 37. Let me read verse 36. But I say
unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account thereof in the day of judgment. Every idle word.
You know, there's a lot of idle words said every day, isn't there?
You realize how much idle talk goes on in the day? I'd say about
99% of it is idle talk. And this is how strict judgment
is. This is how all knowing God is. He said every idle word spoken
will be brought into judgment. Then he says in verse 37, For
by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned. A man who is born of God agrees
with God. Now he agrees with God. He agrees
with God's judgments, and he receives the righteousness of
Christ as his only righteousness. But by His words, He says, you
shall be justified. Look what David says over here
in Psalm 51. I think this is a good example
of what he's talking about here. In Psalm 51, verse 4, David says,
Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest.
And be clear when thou judgest. Whatever he does to me is right. God is right. He's right. You know, there'll be many that
stand in the judgment and say, we preached in thy name. We cast
out devils in thy name. Why didn't they say, Lord, didn't
you die for me? Was your blood shed for me? You're
the only hope I've got. No, they said, oh, we did many
mighty works showing that they were, showing that they were,
they believed they could stand before God by what they did on
this earth. But the believer, the believer
now agrees with God. He agrees with God's judgment.
He agrees with God's salvation. He agrees with everything that
has to do with salvation in Christ. He agrees with God. By His words
thou shalt be justified. Here's what I'm saying in this,
just to put it simply. Your word will confess all the
above. You'll confess all the above
by your word. Now, in all of justification,
listen, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all three
of them, are involved in justifying a sinner. All three of them. It says in the scripture, it
is God that justifies. It is God the Father who justifies
us. Paul says here in verse 2, by
Him, by His righteousness, by His person, by Him as judge. He's the judge of the quick and
the dead. This is the one who will say, This is one who clears. It says
in Isaiah 53, By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
me. We are justified by the Father, we are justified by the Son,
and we are justified by the Holy Spirit. Turn to 1 Corinthians
6.11. 1 Corinthians 6.11. Now Paul tells them, he says,
talks about, let me read in verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you're washed,
but you're sanctified, but you are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus, listen, and by the Spirit of our God, by the
Holy Spirit. He's the one who convinces the
world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He's the one
who takes the things of Christ and reveals them to us. That's
what the Lord said. He said that he'll take the things
of mine and show them to you. He's the one who gives the new
birth. It is by him, by his powerful operation, that we are born again. It is by him that we believe
God. It is by him that we have that
faith by which we're justified. It is by him that we understand
the gospel. And it is by him that that new
creation is created in righteousness and true holiness. It's by Him. So we're justified by the Father,
by the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. You leave out one of those and
you've missed the gospel. You leave it out and you've missed
it. If any of these things are missing or rejected, You're not
justified. You take that away. You take
away the blood. You take away faith. You take away the new
birth. You take away the operation of
the Spirit. You take away your word. You take any of those away.
And you're not justified. And that's what Paul says here
back in this chapter 13. He says in verse 40, Now beware! Beware therefore! You know he's
speaking to to some Jews there who kept the law. They thought
they kept the law. That's what they looked to be
justified by. He says, Beware therefore, lest
that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets. This has
been prophesied of. Behold, you despisers, you despise
the gospel and wonder and you perish, for I work a work in
your days. Well, he did too, didn't he?
The Lord Jesus Christ worked a work in their days. A work
which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man preach it to you."
They said, beware of that. Beware of that. You don't want
to come under that prophecy. Beware of that. And when those
Jews were going out of the synagogue, the Gentiles, I like it when
Jason read that, the Gentiles, they said, would you come and
tell us this again? Would you tell us this gospel
again? Would you tell us this good news again? Would you tell
us one more time how God could be just and justify me? Would you tell us that again?
And they came and said, in the next Sabbath day, in verse 44,
came almost the whole city together. I mentioned that to Vicki, you
were driving down here this morning. I said, wouldn't it be something
if almost the whole town of Asheville came together this morning? to
hear the gospel. I said, can you imagine that? And Paul preached the gospel
to them again. And it made the Jews mad. It made those religious
people mad. How God can be just and justify
the ungodly. How God can be just and clear,
you Gentiles and you Jews, by the same way, by the same person.
How God can do that made them mad. It made them mad that sinners
were let in the house. It's like some people don't like
dogs in their house. And they say, don't let that
dog in the house. They belong outside. Any of you like that? Well, thank God he let this dog
in the house. He let this dog in the house.
And it made the Jews mad. The religious people. It didn't
make them all mad. Some of them understood the gospel.
But it made them mad. And they stirred up those devout
people. Well, it says those devout women.
They stirred them up. They didn't get a bunch of common
people together. They went and got somebody who had some influence. That's
what they did. Went and got the Lions Club after them. And they ran them out of town.
But before that happened, look in verse 48. And when the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad. Sinners are glad when they hear
the gospel. Sinners are glad when they hear how God can be
just and justify the ungodly. They're glad. It's not a boring
service. It's not something that upsets
them. They're glad. And they glorified the word of
the Lord, the gospel. They glorified the word they
heard. How do they glorify it? How do you glorify the gospel?
Believe in it. Just believe it. They glorified
the word of the Lord. They believed it. And as many
as were ordained to eternal life, now when did that happen? Before
the world was. God took care of this whole matter
of salvation. from the ones whom He chose,
He called, He justified, He glorified. Before God created the first
thing, this thing was settled. God could not and would not forgive
me or you if He could not justify us. If I do not stand before
Him clear of all charges, He couldn't forgive me. Like I said,
I can forgive you, but I can't justify you. God can forgive
you because He justified you. He cleared you of all charges.
As many as were ordained to eternal life believed God. That's what they did. They believed,
just like you read this morning in Hebrews. They believed God. And we believe the same God. Same Lord. By Him. Just to simplify it. In fact, if I can even use that
kind of terminology. When you want to think about
being justified, or what this matter is, just think of by Him.
By Him. Like that one sinner said, I
don't know. I do know this. One time I was blind, but now
I see. I may not be able to explain
all there is to explain about justification, but I know this.
I'm justified by Him from all things.