There is an idea that is old. It's as old as God's sovereign
grace in Christ. It's as old as the gospel that
He sent into this world to preach. And that idea is that the gospel
in its purest form leaves men free to sin free to live a life
of sin, and not only leaves him the freedom to sin, but encourages
him to do so, that the grace he's so fond of may abound. And this evil and deceitful idea
also confesses that the sacrifice of death Resurrection and victorious
rule of Christ our Lord is not sufficient of itself to save
sinners to the uttermost, but insists that some form of
law or legalistic threatening must be added to this work to
save men from the power of sin. My intent, if the Lord is pleased
to do so, is to show you that these things are not taught or
approved of God anywhere in the Scriptures. I titled the message
this morning, Justified by Faith and Works. That seems like a
contradiction, doesn't it? Saved, justified by faith, and
works. And I know this title might seem
to be a contradiction of pure grace, but I assure you that
it's not. And I hope when I'm done this
morning you'll agree with the title. The term justification
is used in the New Testament some 37 times in its various
forms. Justified, justifieth, justified,
and justification. And it's not always referring
to the same thing. Sometimes it's used to defend
an office. Paul said to the Corinthians
concerning his office as a minister of the gospel, herein am I justified. That is, by the Lord Himself
and His sovereign Spirit of grace. That's what justifies my office.
I was looking at a a thing in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 this
past week that one of my preacher friends pointed out to me, where
Paul told the Corinthians about his calling. If you go through
1 Corinthians 1, 2, and 3, you'll see what I'm talking about. He
talks to them about His testimony being confirmed in their heart.
And then He goes on to tell you about the means of preaching.
And then He goes on in chapter 2 to talk to us about how the
Spirit works in conjunction with that. And then in chapter 3,
He tells them about ministers. And He said that we're to be
considered by you as ministers of God and stewards of the mysteries
of God, of the mysteries of His grace. But he tells them in there,
he said, Apollos planted and I watered, or vice versa. And
then he tells them, he said, Paul is nothing and Apollos is
nothing. But it's God who gave the increase.
God who gave the increase. We're nothing of ourselves. We're
nothing of ourselves. And so often Paul was put in
a position where he had to justify his office and his calling. These
things must be taught because this is the doctrine of scripture.
I'm not going to skip over things just because folks don't like
them. I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm going to show you
in here what I believe this book teaches. And often he had to
justify himself. in the sense of his office and
so on. Sometimes it's used to justify
an office. And then sometimes it's used
in a negative sense in defense of a false profession. Our Lord
said, you are they who justify themselves. You justify everything
you do. And truly, that's us. I don't care what it is. I caught
one of my kids one time standing on top of my washer. opened the
utility room door, and they were standing on top of the washer.
And I said, what in the world are you doing? And before it
was over, they justified why they were on top of that washer,
even though it was completely ridiculous, whatever it was. But that's us. We're going to
justify ourselves. And then sometimes it's used
to confirm the Word of God. Romans chapter 3, verse 4, he
said, that thou mayest be justified." This is a quotation out of the
Psalms where David said that he confessed these things before
God there in Psalm 51. He said that thou mayest be justified
in thy faith. That God might be just in His
testimony concerning me and my sin. But there's three senses in which
this word is used that I hope to show you this morning as it
relates to our calling and our lives and our standing before
God. Now let's look at these three
things and let me see if I can justify the title to this message. First of all, let's look at justification
as it has to do with our standing before God. Turn with me over
to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 and verse 24. Now, a careful study of this
chapter will reveal God's testimony concerning the nature and condition
of fallen men. And remember now, Paul began
this chapter by saying, let God be true and every man a liar.
That's how he began this testimony. And this is God's testimony of
man, not what we think or feel. It's God's testimony. That's
what faith receives, God's testimony as fact. And it receives it over
and above what it feels. I don't always feel that evil,
and I don't know that it's even in our potential to know our
sin to its furthest depth. I'm constantly, constantly shocked
by my own thoughts and my own feelings, aren't you? Looks like
a man who knows as much as the Lord's taught me wouldn't think
like this, but I still do. It's God's testimony, and that's
what faith receives. God's testimony of what we are,
not what we think we are, and not what we feel that we are.
It's God's Word on the matter, and Paul said, let God be true
and every man lie. What does God have to say? Well,
he begins in verse 9 by telling us that both Jew and Gentile
are all under sin. It's not just Gentiles who are
the heathens. We're all heathens. All of us. It's not just the Gentiles who
are in sin. We're all under sin. Both Jew
and Gentile. Religious and heathen. We're
under the curse of it, under the judgment of it, and under
the influence of it. But what does it mean to be under
sin? What does that mean? I'm under sin. Verse 10, it means
that there's none righteous. That's the first thing. There
ain't no need of me talking about my righteousness. I don't have
one. I can't produce one. There's none righteous. This was a quotation from the
Psalms where God said He opened the windows of heaven to see
if there was any good. To see if there was any who sought
after God. He said there was none. There
was none. Verse 11, it means that there
is none that understandeth, and none that seeketh after God.
That's what it means to be under sin. Verse 12, it means that
we're all gone out of the way. The way of perfection, the way
of holiness, the way of God, and the way of love. We're all
gone out of the way. We've all went our own way. It means that we become unprofitable,
cease to bear the image of our Creator. Verses 13 through 18
describes our natures. We're serpents, venomous reptiles. We're swift to shed blood. Destruction
and misery are in our way, ignorant of peace and no fear of God before
our eyes. That's what it means to be under
sin. That's what God's testimony is. Nothing in us to recommend us
to God. No potential. No affection. No value at all. And our mouths,
because of God's testimony here, our mouths have been shut. We
don't have an excuse. We don't have anything to plead.
We don't have anything to say. Our mouths, by God's own testimony,
have been closed. What thing soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be shut. And we sit before him guilty.
Guilty. That's what it means to be under
the law. What then can a man be given
to have hope before God? And especially before this God
he spurned. Romans 3 verse 24, being justified,
now listen, freely by His grace. Freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now let me just stop here
for a minute and let me say a couple of things. Jesus Christ came
into this world as a covenant head and representative man for
a people given to Him by the Father in divine election before
the world began. That's Ephesians 1, 3, and 4.
And Romans 9, 10 through 16. Romans 11, 5 through 7. You can
see all of those things in those scriptures. As a representative
man, he was made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law that we might receive the adoption of children. We've
got to be justified to receive this adoption. And by his perfect,
continuous, loving obedience, he wrought out for the church
a perfect righteousness. He did. I didn't. He did. and freely justified me through
that righteousness." He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes it. I could not then, nor can I now,
produce a single act with which God could approve. Not one. Can't do anything. I say with
Isaiah, all our righteousnesses. He's not talking here about our
sins. He's talking here about our righteousnesses. are filthy
rags. They're filthy rags. The believer's
righteous standing before God never varies because it's based
on the obedience of our righteous representative who changes not. But righteousness by obedience
to the law is not enough to justify us before God. Our sins must
be paid for. God said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. He's not going to do it. Not
going to clear the guilty. Cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. What's my hope then? Substitution. Substitution. Romans 4.25 said
that He was delivered for our offenses Now listen, and raised
again for our justification. That's my justification. He's
my righteousness. He's my sin bearer. I don't have
any other hope. That's my hope. That's my hope. Paul had been a Christian a long
time, a long time. ministered in a lot of places,
missionary, one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived.
But he cries in Romans chapter 7, O wretched man that I am,
not that I used to be, O wretched man that I am. That old man was
as real and as evil and as wicked in him on that day as he was
the first day he was brought to know it. You want a further proof of it
over in Philippians chapter 2, I think it is, or chapter 3.
Paul said that, he said, Oh, that I might win Christ and be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness. He still didn't
want it. He still didn't want it. He craved the righteousness
of Christ, that perfect righteousness. And in that righteousness, and
by His shed blood, we don't stand before God as though we had never
sinned. We stand before God justified. Justified. What does that mean?
No sin in Him. No sin in Him. He brought before
the bar of God, and God Himself, who can see all things, looks
at Him, and through this redemption of Christ Jesus, He finds no
sin in Him. That is what it is to be justified.
My standing before God is not based on anything I do, anything
I say, anything I feel. It is based entirely on the work
of Christ in our redemption. That is what he is saying there
in Romans 3, verse 24. Justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Divine justice put Christ on
the cross and there it was satisfied. And our sins have a just restitution. My justification before God is
entirely based on Christ and entirely by the grace of God.
I had nothing to do with it. Nothing to do with it. Now here's
the second sense in which this word is used. Justified by faith. Justified by faith. Romans 5,
verse 1. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no peace between the sinner and God until he is brought
to see himself justified in Christ, reconciled in Christ. Now, when he believes, that is
not when he was justified. God justified him when He put
him in Christ before the foundation of the world. And He justified
him through the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus Christ when
he became a man lived for him and died for him and was raised
from the dead. That's when justification was
accomplished for him. This justification by faith is
when you come to know your justification. That's when you're justified
in your own conscience before God. You come to see yourself. and your hope in being justified
before God in Christ. That's justification by faith.
If you back up to the last statement in that chapter, isn't that where
he said he was delivered for our offenses in Romans chapter
4? He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification. Do you believe that? Abraham
did. And it was counted to him for
righteousness. He was justified. And he tells us then in the first
verse of the very next chapter, he said, therefore being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. Peace with God. Everybody don't have peace that
I preach this to. I preach justification to a lot
of folks who don't believe. They're not justified. They're
not justified. He justified his elect. Well,
how do they ever come to know it? By faith. By faith. They come to realize that justification
in their own mind and conscience and heart. And there is no peace
between the sinner and God until he's brought to see himself reconciled
through this ministry of Christ. And I tell you this, it's one
thing to see Christ, loving and living and dying for his let,
and it's another thing to see yourself as one for whom he died. Justification by faith is the
applying of that full, free, and sufficient justification
of Christ to the heart. We know by the scriptures that
God the Father blessed a people with all spiritual blessings,
according as he's chosen them in Christ Jesus before the world
began. We know that in the fullness
of time God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law, and that He and
He alone purchased their redemption, brought out their righteousness,
and made full atonement for their sins. How then does one determine
if he is one for whom Christ died? How do I know my election
of God? Well, the best and most direct
passage I know in all the Bible is stated in 1 Thessalonians
1. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 4. Knowing,
brethren beloved, your election of God, for our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but it came in power. It came in power. And it came in the Holy Ghost.
What's that mean? That means the Holy Ghost revealed
to you what this justification, what this redemption, what this
propitiation is all about. And it came in much assurance,
much assurance. It wasn't just a story about
a man dying on a cross. It wasn't just another theory
about salvation and the Son of God. When the Holy Spirit of
God works in you, He causes you to receive the testimony of God. You receive the testimony of
God. And I don't care what He professes. He doesn't know anything
about His sin until God the Holy Spirit teaches Him what it is. And how does he teach him? He
takes the testimony of God and causes this man to believe it. Believes it. He acts on it. He
acts on it. Acts on it. Let me see if I can
illustrate what I'm saying. Some religious nut gets on TV
and said at 10 o'clock Monday evening, February 2013, God going to burn
the world up. Anybody in here going to pack
their suitcase? I'm not. Why? I don't believe it. I don't
believe it. Wouldn't have any impact on you
at all. But suppose a man appears and God confirms this man with
the whole of the Old Testament scriptures. I mean, he fits the bill from
front to back. Brother Mahan said the Old Testament
weaves a garment that will just fit one man. Suppose that man
appeared and you saw him, and it was preached to you, and the
Holy Spirit taught you, and you saw him exactly as he was prophesied
from Genesis all the way through Malachi. And then suppose further
that this man gets up here, and he goes down to the cemetery,
and he calls the dead out of the tent. And somebody brings
a leper to him. And you can see the inside of
his mouth through his jaw, his flesh is rotting off his face,
and the old filthy rags hanging there, pus-filled rags. And the
Lord comes up to him and blesses that man and forgives that man,
and he walks away as clean as a newborn baby. Suppose there's a blind man that
you've known since you was a kid, sat out there on the same old
blanket in the same old spot. And you knew this man was blind.
You knew he was born blind. And yet this man, sin of God,
comes out there and speaks a word to that man, and that man can
see as good as anybody else. He can see. And he stands up
and throws his blanket down and follows the Lord. Suppose he said the world was
going to come to an end. I'd pack my bags. I could believe him. I could
believe him. Confirmed of God by miracles
and wonders and signs, raising the dead and cleansing the lepers,
giving sight to the blind, healing of the dead, strength to the
paralyzed. My friend, the difference in
the gospel preached and the gospel preached in power is what it
does within a man. He shows him these things in
the Scripture. I don't have to call somebody
back from the dead. The full canon of Scripture has
already been confirmed. All I have to teach is what's
already been declared. I'm not writing another Bible. I'm not declaring another Christ.
I am just preaching about the one who has already been declared
and already been confirmed. He causes that man, when he comes
in power, he causes that man to know the message he is hearing
is coming from the Lord. Paul said, when you received
the Word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as
the Word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God. There's a bunch of folks at Mars
Hill that heard Paul talk about the resurrection and walked away, albeit some claimed to him. How come that to be? Because
they didn't receive it as the Word of men. They received it
as it is in truth, the Word of God. It's one thing to theorize and
discuss and talk about sin. It's another to receive it as
a testimony of God. You want to see that in the Scriptures? 1 John 1, verse 8. He said, if
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Now listen, and the
truth isn't in us. Not in us. When is the truth
in you? When you confess it. When you
confess it. When you act on it. Truth is not in us. It is not
in us by the power of God. Not in us working conviction. Not in us causing us to repent. 1 John 1 verse 10, if we say
we have not sinned, we make Him a liar. And His Word is not in
us. His testimony, His veracity,
His immutable counsel is not in us. The man or woman, boy
or girl who hears the testimony of God concerning their sins
and is not crushed by it, convicted by it, moved to seek help for
it, mourned over it, is a man, woman, boy or girl who rejects
the testimony of God. They reject the testimony of
God. We make things so complicated
sometimes. You know what a believer is?
I've been asked that question a thousand times. A believer
is a man who believes God. That's what a believer is. He
believes God. Abraham believed God. That's what the Scripture
says. That's the father of the faithful. He believed God. That's what he believed. Believed
God about what? About anything God said. Didn't
matter what it was. They believed God. The order of the work, I want
you to listen to me. There is an order. God has established
an order in things. And the order of the work of
the Holy Ghost is given to us over in John chapter 16. It begins
first with conviction of sin. You are not going to learn anything
until you learn you are a sinner. You're not going to be convicted
of righteousness or convinced of anything until He convinces
you of sin. You're not going to seek Him
in earnest. You're not going to be desperate. You're not going to experience
any of those things until He convinces you of what you are. When you see what you are before
Him and see your inability and see all those things that He
tells you that you are and you believe them in your heart, you're
going to find yourself in His mercy. And the question is not what
we're going to do for Him, it's what our Lord is going to do
with us. That's the question. After he convinces of sin, then
he'll convince of righteousness. Not our righteousness, but the
righteousness of God in Christ. And then when he convinces us
of this justifying righteousness of Christ, he'll convince us
of judgment satisfied. Judgment satisfied. And this true saving faith is
how all God's elect are identified. John 3, verse 36, he that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. He'll never perceive it. You
can explain it to him. You can write books on the matter. You can publish bulletins. You
can have Sunday school class. He'll never receive it. He'll
never receive it. He'll never see it, never perceive
it, never understand it. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. In Acts 13, verse 48, it said,
as many as were ordained to eternal life done what? They believed. They believed. In Acts 13.39 it said, And by
him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses. The justification
accomplished in Christ justifies men in their conscience toward
God by faith, and be justified by faith. As an individual, we
have peace with God. That's the result. How do I know
I believe? I have peace with God. I have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how I know. Now here's the third sense in
which a man is justified. Turn with me to James chapter
2. In order to be saved, one must
have true saving faith. That is the gift of God. By grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Now what James is teaching is
how this true saving faith is justified by men. How it's justified by, this has
nothing to do with my justification before God. This has to do with
justifying this faith that I say I have. I believe. I believe. Can you
justify that? How is that faith justified before
men? In other words, one man says,
I believe, but James said, here he has no good works. He's not
kind. He's not helpful. He's not generous.
He's not merciful or gracious. His support of the ministry is
minimal. He doubts everybody's profession,
but he is. He has little or no good works,
but he claims to be saved by grace. I believe. I believe. And then here's another man whose
tenor of life is exemplary. He pays his bills. He's helpful
to others. He's kind and generous. He's
merciful and quick to forgive. He rejoices in the testimony
of others. He's faithful to support the
ministry. Which one of these two men would
you judge to have eternal life? Which one of these two men's
testimonies would you be quickest to hear? What James is teaching us is
that while works are not an infallible proof of faith, the absence of
them is infallible proof of a wrong faith. If the faith you have
does not generate the fruit of the Spirit of God, it's not the
faith of God's elect. James 2, verse 14. He said, what
does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith,
and hath not worth? Can faith save him? Faith does
save you. What James is saying here is,
can this kind of faith save him? Is a fruitless, workless faith
true faith, or just an idle profession? Listen to this, verse 15. If
a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food,
and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, Lord bless you.
I hope you find what you're looking for. You go back into your warm house
and crank out that footstool on that big easy chair and turn
on the TV. Holler at your wife and bring
you a hot dog. This guy's going down the road, barely clad, starving
to death. One of you say unto him, depart
in peace. Be you warmed and filled. Notwithstanding,
you give them not those things which are needful to the body,
what does it profit? Now, there's a couple ways to
look at these verses. One is in its, just take it as
fact. Just take it exactly how he gave
it here. Somebody comes to you, like I
said, and you just ignore them and go on back in the house and
go back to you. That's one way to look at this verse. The other
way to look at it here is in the light of your own experience
of grace. You came to the Lord naked, hungry, starving. You came to Him and you begged
of Him for mercy. You begged of Him those things
which you need. What did He tell you? Be you
warmed and filled? Is that what He said? And then
went on back? No, He gave you those things that you had need
of. The faith that knows that and
has experienced that will never turn a man away in need. It never
does. It never does. He cannot help
but be merciful because the Lord was merciful to him. He can't
help but feed the hungry. He was hungry and the Lord fed
him. Even so, he says, verse 17, If it hath not works, is dead
being alone. And he gives us some examples.
He said Abraham's faith was justified. How was it justified? The Lord
told him, take his son up on Mount Moriah and offer him up
as a sacrifice to God. How did I know Abraham believed?
He packed that boy up. He went up the hill. He tied
that boy up and he took that knife and he was about to plunge
it into his heart when God stayed his hand. How was he justified? How was
his faith justified? By his obedience to God. Rahab
the harlot, her faith was justified when she received the messengers
of God and helped them to escape from their enemies. Her faith
was justified. She said she believed when she
received them into her house. But she proved that faith when
she made a way of escape for him. Faith that will not obey
and carry out the commandments of the Lord is dead faith. That's
what James said. It's just dead. It's just profession. It's just talk. It's just talk. It's dead faith in a dead letter
theology. Verse 26, for as the body without
the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Justifying faith is an inward
work of the Holy Ghost, and it always bears the fruit of the
Spirit. Always. Always. And if it don't, it's just dead. It's just dead. I don't care
how much you talk, how much you rattle on, it's just dead. It's
just dead. Justified before God through
that redemptive work of Christ, whom God set forth as a propitiation
for our sins to declare His righteousness, that He might be just and justifier
of all them that believe. Justified by faith when I believe
God and see that justification and know that justification in
my heart and trust that justification. I trust it and I have peace.
That's how you know when you trust, if you have peace. Until
you see that thing is sufficient to save your soul, you ain't
never going to have any peace. When you do, He'll justify you
by faith and you'll have peace with God. And then we justify
that faith by our works. And those works are not works
that we by which we justify ourselves before God, but these works are
works by which we justify our faith before men, before men. And we do these things not in
pride or not to accomplish something or not for self at all, but we
do these things as fruit. We bear these things as fruit
of that relationship and that experience.