Whenever a friend displays open compromise of the
things of God, indicating horrible things concerning him, I grieve
for him. And then I'm enraged by the compromise,
enraged by it, enraged by it. How dares a man who professes
to know God and be saved by his grace compromise anything with
regard to God's word, God's will, and God's glory? It enrages me. It enrages me. And it inspires
in me, thank God it inspires in me, Determination never to
bend or budge an inch for anybody with regard to the things of
God. I just read yesterday, the day
before yesterday, a statement made by a friend, a man who has
received and probably heard everything I've preached in the last 20
years, probably read most of everything I've written. in which
he publicly made a statement promoting, he wouldn't say that,
promoting sodomy, defending the rights of perverse sodomites
to wed one another. I'm sure he will hear this message,
probably before the day's over. I hope God will make him hear
it. I hope God will make him hear it. I wrote to him last
night and said, I pray that the God of all grace will have mercy
on your soul. And I can almost guarantee you
the reason. I don't know it, but I'll almost guarantee you
the reason. He's found out that somebody close to him is a sodomite. So somehow we've got to make
a way for this to be all right. Somehow we've got to make a way
for this to be okay. It doesn't matter what society
says. It doesn't matter what laws are
passed. It doesn't matter what churches
come to accept. Hear me. God's word speaks plainly. I know we live in this godless,
perverse religious age in which everybody thinks they know God
and thinks they're righteous, and yet fornication, you know,
that's kind of like eating chocolate when you're not supposed to have
any. Adultery, that's, well, you know, folks shouldn't do
it, but it's really all right. Sodomy, well, you know, opinions
have changed. Not God's. Not God's. Hear me. You young people especially hear
me. God's opinion doesn't change.
fornication, adultery, the moral decadence and perversity of this
age is repugnant, a stench to the nostrils of God, and it ought
to be ours. I said, but preacher, didn't
you just pray to acknowledge the corruption of your own heart?
That's the reason it's such a stench. Sodomy is the one thing set forth
in this book. Read it in Romans chapter one.
that's a mark, an indication, a declaration of divine reprobation. The one thing in this book. And
there will be no bend. There will be no compromise.
I sometimes wonder what I would do if I were in the place of
John the Baptist, standing before Herod with his brother's wife.
God give me grace to stick my face right before him, eyeball
to eyeball, and say it's not lawful for you to have your brother's
wife. These things are the act of a people, a whole generation,
shoving their fist in God's face and saying, get the hell out
of my way. I'll do what I want to. Nothing less than that. Nothing
less than that. And we must not be tolerant of
it. We must not be tolerant of it.
I am equally, equally enraged by every compromise with regard
to the gospel of God's free grace. The character of God is at stake. The glory of God is at stake. Moses said, Lord, I beseech you,
show me thy glory. And the Lord God descended to
the mount and showed him three distinct aspects of his being,
representing and displaying his glory. He showed him his sovereignty. God said, I will. Period. I will. He who is God, contrary
to popular opinion, He who is God sits on the throne of absolute
sovereignty and He always has His will and does His will with
everybody and everything so that every thought of the imaginations
of man's heart are ruled by God. Every deed performed by men,
angels or devils are ruled by God. Now there's just two things
you must recognize. Either God rules or God is ruled. There's no in-between ground.
There's no in-between ground. If God doesn't have his way with
you, that means you have your way with God. If God doesn't
control you, that means you control God. And I'm here to tell you
that you don't budge God. God rules you. God rules you,
and me, and everybody else. And then the Lord said, I will
be gracious. I will. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and
sin. The Lord God is gracious. He's compassionate. He forgives
sin. Aren't you glad? God forgives
sin. God forgives sin. God forgives
sin. God forgives sin. He delights
in mercy. That's His character. As much
His character as is His holiness. As much His character as is His
sovereignty. God delights in mercy. And then
He declares, I will by no means clear the guilty. I will by no means clear the
guilty. God shows another aspect of his
being. Another aspect of his character. An aspect of his character as
unknown to this religious world. as opposed to this religious
world. When I'm talking about the religious world, I'm not
talking about the Mohammedans across the water or across the
street. I'm not talking about the liberals and the other stuff. I'm talking about the whole religious
world. The whole religious world. Baptist
and Methodist and Pentecostal and Catholic and Mormon and whatever
name you have for them. The whole religious world. totally
ignorant of the fact that God is just. God is just. Justice and truth are the habitation
of His throne. That means it is not possible
for God to deal with us in any way except in justice. He won't do it. He won't do it.
You will never understand this book. You will never understand
the judgments of God in time. You will never understand God's
providence. You will never understand the
gospel of God's grace until you understand that God is just. He only deals with his people
and with all other people. He only deals with men on the
grounds of strict justice, on the grounds of strict justice.
I want that young man right there to hear what I'm telling you.
If God saves you and takes you to heaven, he'll do it because
you fully deserve it. And if he sends you to hell,
he'll do it because you fully deserve it. You got that? If God saves you
and takes you to heaven, embracing you as his own, he cannot do
so except justice demanded. He cannot do so except justice
demanded. And if God sends you to hell,
he cannot do so except justice demanded. And justice demands
one or the other for you and for me. Justice demands one or
the other for you and for me. The act of God's matchless grace
by which he makes and declares sinners guiltless and sinless,
fully deserving of everlasting salvation, fully deserving of
everlasting happiness, Fully deserving the embrace of His
heart. Fully deserving acceptance with
Him is justification. Justification. Look at Romans
chapter 5 verses 1 and 2 with me again this morning. Justification, I understand,
is a legal term. It means that God declares chosen
redeemed sinners to be guiltless sinners, perfectly righteous
sinners, redeemed sinners, holy before His holy law. When God
declares that a person is guiltless and sinless, perfectly righteous
before Him. When God declares that a person
is guiltless, sinless, perfectly righteous before him. Even as
he sings as David just did. If you could see in my heart. Oh, if you could see what's in
the fellow who's talking to you. You wouldn't let me in the door.
You wouldn't want to be around me. No, no, no. But God declares
this man, the one talking to you, perfect. righteous, holy,
sinless. Now listen to me. When God does
that, that's not a supposition. That's not a supposition. That's
not a pretense. It's a reality. You see, God is true. Bill Raleigh, he cannot declare
that you're righteous unless you're righteous. He cannot declare
that you're sinless unless you're sinless. He cannot declare that
you're holy unless you're holy. He cannot declare that you're
perfect unless you're perfect. And if you believe on his sword,
God declares you're righteous, sinless. holy and perfect. That's called free justification. Every sinner who trusts the Lord
Jesus Christ is truly justified and perfect in the sight of God. How can that be? How can that
be? I'm deliberately repetitious
and I will Repeat the same thing if you come to hear me tonight,
if you come to hear me Tuesday night, and come to hear me next
Sunday morning, next Sunday night, next Tuesday night. You'll hear
the same thing. God Almighty demands complete satisfaction
for sin. He's going to punish your sin
to the full satisfaction of His justice. Either punish your sins
in a substitute. who is able to satisfy his justice,
or punish your sins forever in hell, because you can't satisfy
his justice. God has no pleasure in the death
of the wicked, no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.
That doesn't mean whoever imagines, only some babbling will-worship
imagines such a thing. Well, God doesn't laugh at folks
going to hell. Whoever thought such a thing.
The word means God finds no satisfaction in punishing you. Justice can't be satisfied by
God punishing you. Law can't be satisfied by God
punishing you. But it pleased the Lord to bruise
His sword. Justice has been satisfied by
God punishing His sword. Jesus Christ the sinner's substitute
when he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him justice slaughtered God's Son
because God's Son being made sin deserved to be slaughtered
by justice and justice buried its sword in Christ the sinner's
substitute God demands satisfaction. And God demands righteousness. Perfect obedience. Perfect obedience. Walk before me and be thou perfect,
God said. Even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect, our Savior says, so be ye perfect. That's called righteousness.
Now, we use the word righteousness, and we use the word righteous,
and I acknowledge that it is sometimes used in the scriptures
in a relative way. But when we speak about righteousness,
law righteousness, the righteousness God requires, the righteousness
God accepts, we're talking about perfection. holiness, holiness,
holiness, wholeness before God. God requires complete, absolute
obedience to His will, His word, His law, Himself. Absolute, perfect obedience. Jesus Christ, God's darling Son,
took on Himself our nature. He became one of us. He became
a man so that He might save His people from their sins. You see,
there was no other way for God to save His people from their
sins except God Himself become one of us. And in the room instead
of His people, walk on this earth in perfect obedience to God. I can't hardly imagine this,
let alone explain it. I can't really enter into it,
and yet I rest my whole soul on this. That man, Jesus Christ,
as he came into his mother's womb, said, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O my God. And as he came forth from his
mother's womb and he said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. He never thought of evil things, only perfection. He never deviated
from the will of God. His heart never burned with lust,
only with love for God. only with righteousness. He went
to the temple to be circumcised to keep the ceremonial law. And
he walked all the days of his life in complete obedience, in
utter compliance with everything revealed in the book of God that
God requires, everything. He loved God with all his heart,
soul, mind, and being, and loved his neighbor as himself. But he didn't do that for himself.
He did that for his people, as our representative. And then
he died under the wrath of God. Not for himself, but for his
people, as our representative. So that we who believe him are
righteous before God and sinless. Because when he obeyed God, we
obeyed God. When He died, we died. When He
arose, we arose. And now God gives us life by
virtue of that union that's ours with His Son because of all that
His Son has done for us. And look at Romans chapter 5,
verse 1. This is what the Holy Ghost describes
as being justified. Therefore, being justified. being justified by the doing
and dying of the Son of God. By faith, we have peace with
God. Believing Christ, we now have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we
have access by faith, that is, by believing Christ into this
grace, this grace of complete, perfect justification, complete,
perfect righteousness wherein we stand. and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. I'm going to give you an old
outline. The message is altogether new. My subject is fourfold justification. I will state my message in four
plainly revealed statements given in Scripture. You follow me through
the book. Turn first to Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8. Understand this first. All who trust Christ, all who
believe on the Son of God, all God's elect, all who are chosen
and redeemed and called by grace, all of them have been justified
with Christ from eternity. From eternity. Now, again, this
is not a supposition. This is not a matter of speculation. It's not a matter of hair-splitting
theological precision, but rather a matter of unmistakable revelation. Look at Romans 8, verse 28. Romans
8, 28. Back years ago, I went home on
Sunday night after services. We still live in Junction City.
This has been a while back, at least 26, 27 years ago. Was my want after supper that
night I flipping through the channels on television relaxing
and that fella from Lynchburg. Mr. Falwell came on Mr. Falwell went to the same Bible
college. I did first year. I was in school at Springfield,
Missouri and he announced his text gonna be Romans 8 28 through
39 and Started to talk a little bit and I sold shove I said stop
what you're doing She's washing dishes and you ladies can make
a lot of noise washing dishes and I stopped what you do it
and listen to this He's he's got to say something He's got
to say something. And he read verse 28 and commented
a little bit on it, and then he skipped all the way down to
verse 29, commented a little on that, and the rest of it didn't
even read. Let's read some of it. Let's read some of it. See
what God says. We know, if you know God, you know this. If you
know God, you know this. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. to them who are the
called according to his purpose. It doesn't say all things turn
out for good. Well, it's all going to turn
out all right in the end. That's stupidity if you don't believe
God. That's stupidity at best if you
don't believe God. Oh no, that's not what it says.
Well, everything's going to turn out all right. That's not what it says.
It says all things work together for good. Not for everybody. It's going to carry some of you
to hell. to them that love God. Who is that? To them who are
thee called according to His purpose. Read on. For whom He
did foreknow, whom He loved with an everlasting love and foreordained,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He, the Lord Jesus, His Son, might be the Chief One,
the Firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate
Then he also called. And whom he called, now watch
this, then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. Well that's prophetic. Let's
see. Whom he did predestinate, then
he also shall call. And whom he shall call, then
he also shall justify. And whom he shall justify, then
he also shall glorify. No, it doesn't read that way,
does it? That's not prophetic, that's a statement of fact done
from eternity. How can that be? How can that
be? Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God
slain from the foundation of the world, Revelation 13a. He
was in the mind and purpose and will of God. Now, again I'm way,
way, way beyond my I'm just telling you what I know is written in
this book. In the mind, purpose, and will of God, before the world
was, when God accepted His Son as our substitute, which He did
from everlasting, which He did from everlasting. Last Sunday,
Brother Mark made a statement. He said, nothing in time changes
what God is. from everlasting. Nothing in
time changes what God is from everlasting. Nothing in time
changes what God did from everlasting. What God does from everlasting. In Christ, the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, we were accepted and blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
the Beloved, and among those many blessings with which we
were blessed from eternity is justification. God looked at Don Fortner before
ever I sinned in my father Adam and said Don Fortner's sins are
gone because Christ the Lamb is slain. And Don Fortner is
righteous because Christ has obeyed. And Don Fortner is justified
because he's one with Jesus Christ. And Don Fortner is glorified
with Jesus Christ the Lord. The angel's been teaching us
from John 17 for many, many months now. Our Savior begins his high
priestly prayer by this statement. Father, give me the glory that
I had with thee before the world was. What? He's saying this, Father publicly
give me in the demonstration of every creature the glory you
gave me when you accepted me as the surety of my people. God
the father said to his son, ask of me and I'll give you the heathen
for your inheritance. And the son said, give him to
me, I will bathe you. And the father glorified the
son. And before the world was, he
glorified us who are his with his son. Gave us glory, made
us accepted in the beloved. John Gill was right on the money
when he said God's will to elect is the election of his people.
God's will to justify is the justification of them. The Puritan
Thomas Goodwin put it this way, we may say of all spiritual blessings
in Christ, what is said of Christ himself, that his goings forth
are from everlasting. In Christ, we are blessed with
all spiritual blessings, as with all others, so with this also. that we're justified in Christ. Now let me give you two reasons
why this must be understood, received, and embraced. Two things
that compel us to look upon justification as an eternal act of God. Number
one, had it not been for the fact that God's elect were justified
in Christ before ever God made the world, As soon as Adam sinned
against God in the garden, God would have slaughtered the whole
race. He said, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely
die. Now, I know we died spiritually. I know we came under the sentence
of eternal death. I know we began to die physically. But Adam's
still walking around in the garden. Adam's still walking around in
the garden. How come? Because in Adam, in his loins, seed from
which God will fill the earth with his elect. And God Almighty preserves the
race of fallen humanity only because they continue to fill
the earth with his elect. You remember what our Lord tells
us in Genesis 19? The angel came to bring Lot out
of Sodom and And the angel said to Sodom, said, haste thee and
get thee out, for I cannot destroy this city until I've taken you
out. God will never destroy the righteous
with the wicked. When's Christ coming again? As
soon as the last one of God's elect has been called. That's
when it's coming. That's when it's coming. slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance and the knowledge of the truth. Why does God, why
does God, holy and just and righteous and true, why does God tolerate
this world? Mark Henson, you and I would
have sent the whole race to hell a long time ago. That's just fact. That's just
fact. We would have sent the whole race to hell a long time
ago. Why does God tolerate this world? Folks say, well, the Lord's
going to have to come sooner. He'll owe Sodom and Gomorrah
an apology. What stupidity. What stupidity. The reason God
put up with Sodom is because Lot was there. And the reason
God puts up with this fallen race is because Something precious
is in the race called God's elect, Christ's redeemed ones, God's
chosen ones. We must recognize justification
to be a matter of eternal work, a work of God done in eternity,
because all of God's saints in the Old Testament were justified
just like we're justified. Some of you have been affected
by dispensational theology. You got one of the Bibles that's
been messed with, and they talk about the Bible time being divided
up into seven dispensations, some of them more than that.
And I've told you about my theology professor. I didn't have much
respect for him, so when he prayed, I often kept my eyes open drinking
coffee. And he'd open the classes this
way. He'd say, Lord, help us now to
cut up the Word of God. Just like that. Cut it up. That's
what folks do. This part of the Bible, that's
for the Jews. And this part's for the folks who lived during
the Apostles' time. And this part here is for the folks who
lived just before Paul went to the Gentiles. And now this part
from Romans over to the end of the book of Hebrews, maybe. Maybe
not Hebrews. But maybe that part. That's for
the church. All the rest of it, you can throw it away. Now am
I exaggerating? Is that what you thought? Oh,
no. God saved folks in the Old Testament
by grace and works. You know, they kept the law and
they were saved by grace, but they had to do something. Oh,
no. Abraham was justified by grace,
just like we are, before he ever received the sign of circumcision.
David was justified by grace, just like we are, just like we
are. And God didn't save him on credit. He saved him by blood
and righteousness, just as He has us. justified from eternity. Second, we're justified by the
death of God's darling son at Calvary. Look back in Romans
chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. Though Christ is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, he was also slain in time for
the redemption of our souls. And though God's elect were justified
by his decree from eternity, we're justified by the precious
blood of Christ, God's dear son at Calvary. Now listen carefully. The Bible does not teach that
justification was provided or made possible by the death of
Christ. Now, certainly that is true, but that's not all the
Bible teaches. The Bible declares that justification was accomplished. What a difference. What a difference. Justification was accomplished
by the death of Christ. Romans 3 24. Being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus,
whom God has set forth to be 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 that believeth. His name is the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah's in Kenya. And He gives
us the same name. Jeremiah 33, 16. He says, this
is the name of my church. Jehovah's in Kenya. The Lord
our righteousness. How can that be? How can that
be? We're one with Him. One with
Him. Justified in Him. Made righteous
in Him. In His death at Calvary, I died. Fully satisfying the demands
of God's law and justice against sin. Look at just the page two
of Romans chapter six. Verse six. Forty, how long has it been now,
47 years ago, nearly 48 years ago, I took my place in the watery
grave and confessed Christ in believer's baptism. What the
Apostle Paul is talking about here in the first six verses
of this chapter. How come, verse six, knowing this, that our old
man is I don't know why the translators
translated it that way. There's no reason for it. You
ought to write this down somewhere. Our old man was crucified with
him. That the body of sin might be
destroyed, that the body of sin might be nullified, that the
body of sin might have no power, that henceforth we should not
serve sin. Watch verse 7. For he that is
dead freed from sin. The one who died
has been justified from sin. I was crucified with Christ nevertheless
I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved
me and gave himself for me. Since Christ our Redeemer is
both God and man and one glorious person All that He has done is
of infinite value for every sinner who trusts Him. He obtained eternal
redemption for us. He put away our sins by the sacrifice
of Himself. He perfected forever those who
were set apart as the objects of God's grace from eternity
so that now in Christ we can rightly sing. Near, so very near to God, nearer
I cannot be, for in the person of His Son I am as near as He. Dear, so very dear to God, dearer
I cannot be, for in the person of God's dear Son I am as dear
as He. This is complete justification. Brother Merle Hart asked me a
few weeks ago about a statement by John Bunyan. Let me give it
to you. Because God is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins, since Christ died for us, all the boons
and blessings and benefits of God's free grace flow freely
to sinners through the blood of his dear son. Blissfully lost
in the contemplation of God's matchless grace in Christ, John
Bunyan penned these rapturous words, O thou son of the blessed,
grace stripped thee of thy glory. Grace brought thee down from
heaven. Grace made thee bear such burdens of sin, such burdens
of curse as are unspeakable. Grace was in thy heart. Grace
came bubbling up from thy bleeding side. Grace was in thy tears. Grace was in thy prayers. Grace
streamed from thy thorn-crowned brow. Grace came forth with the
nails that pierced thee, with the thorns that pricked thee.
Oh, here are unsearchable riches of grace. Grace to make sinners
happy. Grace to make angels wonders.
Grace to make devils astonished. Here's the third thing. Every
true believer, every true believer is justified by the declaration
of God the Holy Spirit in conversion. Justified in his conscience. Look at Romans chapter 5. Back up to verse 25. Christ was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification. He was delivered
for our offenses made His, raised again for our justification accomplished
by Him, therefore being justified. By faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. Again, and I can't stress this
adequately, I use the King James Translation because I'm thoroughly
convinced it is the best translation there is out there. But understand
it is a translation. And translations are very difficult
because there's no way to precisely translate from one language to
another language without missing something. You either miss something
or you add something. There's just no way you can do
it otherwise. So let me read to you Young's literal translation
of Romans 5, 1 and 2. Listen carefully. Having been
declared righteous then, by faith we have peace toward God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have the access
by faith into this grace in which we have stood, and we boast on
the hope of the glory of God. Christ justified us his sin atoning
sacrifice. And believing on Him, our Lord
and Savior, God the Holy Spirit, sprinkles the conscience with
the blood of Christ and declares us just. When you hear the Gospel
of your salvation, is that what it says in Ephesians 114? When
you hear the Gospel of your salvation, When you hear a man preach that
Jesus died and saved sinners, that's not what it says. When
you hear the gospel, the good news of your salvation accomplished,
done, finished by God's Son, you receive the seal of the Spirit,
the testimony of the Holy Spirit that you're righteous, that you're
righteous. Enoch walked with God and he
was not. And before he was translated,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. Merle, either you've
got it or you don't. I can't give it to you, only
God can. Walking down a church aisle,
won't give it to you, only God can. Getting into waters of baptism,
won't give it to you, only God can. I'll tell you what, I'll
tell you what, you go home this morning, and you go to bed tonight,
And you lay down and try your best to think about dying before
you wake up tomorrow morning. Try your best to think, I'm dead
sure I'm gonna die now. I'm gonna meet God with my next
breath. Try your best to think about
that and tell me where your peace is. Tell me where it is. Tell
me where it is. Better yet, may God tell you
where it is. If it's not in Christ, you ain't
got any. Your whole religion is just a fabric, a facade, a
show, something you tried to use to appease your conscience,
your good works, and your righteousness, and your morality, and your church
attendance, and your Bible reading, and your tithing, and giving,
and Sabbath keeping, and all your other manure. Surely you didn't mean to say
that. Read Philippians chapter 2 and see if I didn't mean to
say that. Just dung. Just dung. Just dung. That's all. That's all it is.
Filthy rags. That's all it is. Well, where
do you get peace, preacher? I tried praying, and I tried
to reform my life, and I did pretty good. I didn't get near
as many fights. I didn't cuss much, and I didn't
get drunk much. I read my Bible some, and I'd
go to church. I did pretty good. I really did.
I did pretty good. I didn't have much trouble with
things. I was doing good. But I couldn't
find any peace. My screaming conscience kept
saying, that won't do. That ain't enough. God will send
you to hell for that. And I'd beg God to let me wake
in the morning and promise I'd serve him and I'd try. And I torment it. Torment it
in my soul. I've got to meet God. I've got
to meet God in judgment. And hell's going to be my portion.
Because I don't have what God requires. Until one day, God
revealed His Son in me. And proclaimed to me, redemption
accomplished. Righteousness fulfilled. Salvation
done. And I looked on him on whom God
looks. Now listen to me. Listen to me. I know what it is to stare death
right square in the face. I know what it is. I know what
it is to look square into God's eyes in the prospect of eternity
and not have a shake in my hand or a tremble in my body. How
can that be? Because I've got what God says
is enough. His Son is enough. His Son is
enough. One more thing. We were justified
in the court of heaven before the world was and justified at
Calvary. justified in the court of conscience
when the Spirit of God gives us faith in His Son. So that
believing on Him, we receive peace from God and full justification. And fourthly, those who know
Christ, those who experience His grace, those who believe
on the Son of God are justified in their professed faith by their
works. on this earth. Preachers, that's a contradiction.
No, no. Justification is not earned by
our works. But justification does produce
good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. Works not that men see and approve
of. That's not it. That's not it.
That's not it. You can read it in the second
chapter of James. I'll quit in just a second. I'll come to James
in a couple of weeks on Tuesday night. Where our grandchildren attend
school, they have rules. And it's perfectly alright to
make rules, as long as you don't call them godliness. But the
rules that religion makes are an outward show of godliness
so that if you dress a certain way or you don't or if you eat
certain things or if you don't or if you don't smoke and don't
chew and don't drink and you read your bible a lot and you
pray a little bit and go to church regular and you don't cuss much
and you don't go to bad shows and you don't play cards and
you don't do stuff other folks do and if you behave just pretty
good Then folks will look at you and say, boy, he sure is
good. Boy, he sure loves the Lord. Man, she's such a godly
girl. Fine Christian girl she is. No, no, men can see it and say,
I'm proud of you. That ain't godliness. That ain't
godliness. What is it? Godliness is consecration
to God. Such consecration that when God
says, Abraham, give me your sword, you give him your sword. Consecration to God, giving everything
over to him, the Lord. Godliness is faith in Christ. Faith in Christ, living by faith
in Christ so that When the spies come to Rahab, the harlot's house,
she hides them up on the roof in some corn stalks. And she
tells the folks, she tells the folks who come looking for them,
no, I ain't seen them. Actually, they were here, but
they went out another way. Now the world, Doug, says that's
lied. That's what the world says about it. God says it's faith.
God said it's faith. She acted in faith. Well, how
are you going to explain that? I'm not. I'm just going to tell
you what God said. Rahab believed God, and she laid
her life on the line for the glory of God and the will of
God, believing God. Godliness by which believers
demonstrate their faith is not godliness the world sees and
approves of. If the world can see it, it ain't
godliness. If the world can approve of it,
it ain't godliness. Godliness is the life of a man,
a woman, walking with God. And God says, I accept your works.
Go and enjoy life. Amen.