No question is of comparable
importance with this. How can a man be just with God? Martin Luther declared the whole
of Christianity stands or falls on this one point, justification
by Christ alone. Thomas Metton, the Puritan, some
years later said, justification is the very hinge and pillar
of Christianity. And these statements are exactly
right. Nothing is more important than
justification. It's basic. It's fundamental. It's essential as a doctrine
of the gospel and of all true Christianity. Be sure you understand. what justification is. Make certain
you do. If you have questions, when I
get done preaching, and I'm sure you'll still have some questions,
don't hesitate to ask me. I'll try my best to answer them
clearly. I want you to know what it is to be justified, both doctrinally
and experimentally. We must understand justification
or we have no knowledge of the gospel. To be justified is to
be pardoned of all sin and made perfectly righteous before God
by his free grace through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now be sure you get that. To
be justified is to be pardoned of all sin and made perfectly
righteous before God by his free grace through the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Justification, number one thing
for you to get, is an act of God. Justification is an act
of God. First and foremost, justification
is an act of God. It is an act of God, a work of
His grace for His elect, not a work of His grace in His elect,
a work of His grace for His elect, and it is altogether free. John
Gill put it this way, justification is wholly outside us. It entirely resides in the divine
mind. and lies in his estimating, accounting,
and constituting us righteous through the righteousness of
his son. Now this is Paul's principal
subject in the first seven chapters of the book of Romans. Let me
bring you up to chapter five. In chapters 1, 2, and 3, Paul
spends almost the entire three chapters, do you get to down
through verse 20 of chapter 3, displaying plainly the utter
impossibility of justification by something we do. He's declaring
in chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, it is absolutely impossible
for a man to justify himself. We cannot be justified by our
works of the law. Jews could not be circumcised
by circumcision. Now they could not be justified
by circumcision, they could not be justified by Sabbath keeping,
they could not be justified by all the sacrifices they made.
It is utterly impossible. Those things could never put
away our sins. And we cannot be justified by
good works that we invent. We can't be justified by religious
duties. It is utterly impossible for
a man to be justified on the basis of what he does for two
reasons. Because all men by nature start
out in a mess. We start out bad. We're born
corrupt. Every man since the fall of Adam
is born with a corrupt, depraved heart, incapable of thinking
good, much less doing good. All men since the fall of our
father Adam are born with evil, vile, corrupt hearts, and from
this polluted fountain no good can come. I know that is not
the philosophy of the age. The philosophy of the age is
influenced greatly by the religion of the age, and the religion
of the age, everybody stands around and tells you how good
you are. You've got it in you. You can make it. All you've got
to do is make up your mind. Everything will be all right.
Let me tell you something. There's nothing good in you. Nothing. Nothing. Oh, but preacher,
you don't know me. Oh, yes, I do. You don't know
you. There's nothing good in you. And nothing good can come
out of that which is altogether evil. And the other reason why
we can't be justified by what we do is because we can't meet
the demands of God's holiness. We can't meet the demands of
God's holy law. We can't satisfy his justice
for our sins that are past. And we can't do that which is
right in the future. We cannot, by the works of our
hands, by the works of our will, by the works of our emotions,
we cannot, by anything we do, bring ourselves to be holy before
God. And we can't contribute anything
to it. Any contribution we make is itself
polluted and worthy of hell. But we've got something to do
with it. We must choose. Your choice is
full of sin. But we must believe your belief,
your faith. If your belief in God is looked
upon by you as the basis upon which God accepts you and justifies
you, then I want you to ask me a question. Are you prepared
to meet God with nothing but your faith in Him? Your faith
is full of unbelief. We don't even begin to think
about believing God right. Oh, believe Him, yes, but our
faith is full of sin. Were it not for the blood and
righteousness of Christ, our faith would take us to hell as
quickly as anything else did. Justification then can't be by
what we do. Then beginning in verse 21 of
chapter 3, and going through the end of that chapter, the
apostle declares that justification, while it cannot be done by us,
is a work of God. It is a work of God alone. God
alone can remove the guilt of sin. God alone can satisfy the
law. God alone can fulfill justice. God alone can make sinners righteous
in his sight. And in this last part of chapter
3, Paul tells us that we are justified freely. That word freely
means without a cause. Our Lord Jesus said they hated
him without a cause. That is, they hated him freely. And that's exactly how God justifies
sinners. With no cause in you. No cause. You don't do anything to bring
about God's grace toward you. He justifies freely. freely by
His grace. Justification is an act of God's
free gratuity, an act of God's bounteous grace. We're justified
freely by His grace, but justified, now understand this, on the basis
of righteousness. We're not justified on the basis
of love. Love can't put away sin. We're
not justified on the basis of grace. Grace can't put away sin.
We're not justified on the basis of faith. Faith can't put away
sin. We're justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Justified
by the blood of God's dying Son. Jesus Christ died at Calvary
because there is no other way whereby God in His holiness can
be just and forgive you of your sin. It can't be done. The only way God who declares
the soul that sinneth it shall die can forgive your sin is to
fix it so you don't have any. The only way God can forgive
your sin is to put away sin. And the only way sin can be put
away is by the satisfaction of justice. And that's what Romans
chapter 3 is all about. Now, but pastor, what does scripture
mean when it says we're justified by faith? were justified by faith,
not in the sense that faith causes justification. And this is very,
very, very important. There are multitudes, almost
all of what's called Protestant Christianity, and the rest of
them, believe that faith is a condition of justification. That is, that
justification is conditioned upon your believing. The Lord
Jesus has made it possible. He's laid all the foundation
work and all the materials together, but your faith brings it to pass.
Faith does not cause God to justify you. Faith does not in any way
contribute to your being justified. Faith embraces, faith takes,
faith receives, faith enjoys justification, but faith doesn't
justify us. Romans 4.25, Christ was delivered
for our offenses. Delivered because of our sins,
our transgressions, our offenses imputed to him. And he was raised
again because of our justification. Raised again because by his blood,
he with his one sacrifice for sin has forever put away sin
and justified us. And now, by faith, we have peace
with God. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. We're justified then without
works, without any contribution from us. And then in chapter
4, Paul gives us two tremendous examples of justification. Those
examples are David and Abraham. Both of them were justified freely
by the grace of God through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus
without works. Now remember, justification is
God's work. It takes place in the mind of
God, not in the heart, and not in the experience of man. Let
me see if I can illustrate it. I see a kind of glazed look on
some of your faces. What are you talking about? If
a man has been convicted of a crime wrongfully, he's been wrongfully
convicted of a crime, and he's been sentenced, and he's sitting
over here in the prison. And someone takes up his cause
and finds evidence to demonstrate clearly that he is completely
innocent of the crime with which he is charged. That he is justified
in the court of law. Justified before he hears anything
about it. Justified before he experiences
any of the blessing of it. Justified before he knows anything
at all concerning the freedom of it. And then, having been
justified, they go over there and the warden opens up the prison
door and sends him on his way. Now, he's experienced it. Now
he knows about it. Now he walks in the freedom of
it. But the justification did not take place in his experience.
The justification took place in the court of law. Hear me. Our justification is not something
we bring to pass by faith. It is that which we embrace,
that which we receive, that which we take. from the hand of God,
that which we enjoy by the gift of God because of its accomplishment
in the mind and purpose of God by the sacrifice of His Son in
the court of heavenly justice. That's it. Now, let's look at
Romans chapter 5. Therefore, upon the basis of
Christ's substitutionary death, Therefore being justified, again
I remind you, the comma goes right here. Not after faith,
but right here. Therefore being justified, comma,
by faith we have peace with God. All who believe, all who believe
God, all who trust Christ, being justified by His grace, enter
into a life of incomparable delight and blessedness. That person
is blessed indeed, who by faith in Jesus Christ can lift his
eyes toward heaven before a holy God. and say, bless God, I'm
justified. I'm justified. Look here, look
here. Mark Henson, I am just before
God. Just before God. But preacher,
I know you. I know. I'm just before God. We've heard about you. I'm just
before God. Jesus, how glorious is thy grace,
when in thy name we trust. Our faith receives a righteousness
that never can be lost, a righteousness that makes the sinner just. Now
let me show you four things in these 11 verses, and as I say,
I'll come back to this subject again tonight, Lord willing. Understand this, the greatest
of all blessings is justification. Someone said in justification
the sinner is not only pardoned, he's promoted. Not only did God
forgive us of our sins, he declares us righteous. In these first
five verses of Romans 5, Paul begins to enumerate the benefits
and privileges that flow to God's elect in justification. He says,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a blessed word that
is, peace. There is more to the state of
peace than merely the cessation of conflict and anger. Peace
with God implies friendship. The scripture tells us in James
2, 23, that Abraham believed God, and Ron, he was called the
friend of God. And our Lord said, you're my
friends. Now what blessedness can compare
with this? I have friends all over the world.
I tell folks frequently. You need something, you let me
know. I know somebody who can take care of it. I can call somebody. I've got friends in high places. Will you listen to me? We have
a friend in the highest place. God Almighty is friend to our
souls and looks on us as friends. What could you want more than
that to make you happy? What could you want more than
that to make you content? God himself is your friend. He who rules the universe is
your friend. He who has ordained and governs
and brings to pass all things is friend to sinners who trust
his son. Without Christ, all you who are
without Christ, without God, God is a consuming fire. But
in Christ, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. God is a terror to the natural
mind. And God is frightening to the
concept of men. The reason men and women do everything
they can to try to convince themselves either that God doesn't exist
or that God as He's revealed in this book doesn't exist is
because men and women are scared to death of the fact that God
is. It terrifies them. It terrifies
them. Oh, not me. Let's watch you get
in the foxhole and see. Let's find out. We are terrified
of God, but the believer has peace with God. My heart could not be more at
peace than in the knowledge I have of all that God Almighty is. All that He is. His grace, His
truth, His righteousness, His justice, His judgment and His
mercy, all are acts of His goodness toward His own. By Christ, we're
told here we have access by faith into this grace. We have peace with God and access
to Him. Access to Him. No access except
by Christ. No access except by His blood.
No access except by His righteousness. But we have access to God. Let
us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And then
third, Paul tells us, wherein we stand. Not wherein we are,
but wherein we stand. Let us stand. Standing is a posture
that implies a discharge from guilt. Standing is a posture
of perfect acceptance. A convicted felon stands before
a judge in a court. No, he doesn't. He cringes before
a judge in a court. He may be compelled by the judge's
orders to stand there, but he's cringing there. He's convicted. And he knows that his sentence
awaits him coming from the judge with the full backing and authority
of law. And so he cringes before the
judge. But one who has been declared innocent, not guilty. One who has been totally vindicated. Stand before that judge. He's delighted to hear what that
judge has got to say. He's standing there waiting to
hear the judge direct the prosecutor over the cause. He's delighted
because he is not guilty. We stand in judgment, Psalm 1
says. Stand in judgment. Standing is
a posture of dignity. It's a posture of honor. Altogether
becoming one who is worthy and righteous of acceptance. Oh preacher,
surely you don't mean for us to understand that we are worthy
of God's acceptance. Oh my friends, I would to God
you could understand that all the time. And walk in the realization
of it all the time. as worthy I am of the smile of
God as His own Son. That's what justification is.
Our worthiness is not in us, it's in His Son. Paul speaks
of eating and drinking unworthily. That is eating and drinking without
faith in Christ. But we eat and drink worthily.
I have no worthiness to call God's name in prayer. I have
no worthiness to speak His name. I have no worthiness to even
lift my eyes toward heaven in myself. I have no worthiness
to expect anything from God except eternal damnation. Except for
this! Christ the Lord, as Jehovah said,
give you the Lord my righteousness. Behold, I stand before God's
throne with Christ's righteous garments on, assured that through
His blood I am absolved from sin and guilt and blame. Justified God has pardoned my
sin. And He doesn't hold me in any
way accountable for it. And He doesn't blame me for it.
And He's given me perfect righteousness. This phrase implies an earnest
steadfastness. Being justified is not a state
of cold indifference, but earnest, steadfast blessedness. We stand
like the seraphim above the mercy seat in the Old Testament, ever
looking upon the sacrifice by which we're justified, longing
to be made to apprehend that for which we've been apprehended
of Christ Jesus. We stand before our God like
servants faithful, waiting our master's orders. The phrase also
implies perseverance. We stand. We stand. Stand firmly. Stand unmoved. Stand unshaken. Like soldiers who keep their
ground, refusing to give way to the enemy, God's saints stand
in grace. I, as you know, I get a lot of
correspondence. I get either letters or calls
almost every day, folks wanting me to look over this or look
over that or consider this possibility or this doctrine or this theory.
And if I have time and they aren't acting like horses rear, I will
take the time usually to read what they say. Looked at it. But you know what? Once I've read it, I either throw
it in the trash or hit the delete button and it's gone. And it's
gone from here. How come? Because all the doctrines
that men invent and all the tattles men throw, And all the foolishness
that comes from hell through pulpits in Baptist churches.
And all the writings that men give. I'm not even interested in anything
except free grace. Nothing else. But won't you consider
it not on your life? Look at me, I'm standing here. Don't you think about those things? I have a friend who calls every
little bit, tries to keep me informed of stuff going on in
the religious world. You know what they did? I don't give a flip
what they did. I'm not even interested. You
know what kind of Bible I came out with now? I've got this,
but I want something else. What do you think about what's
going on down there in Alabama with Ten Commandments? I don't care
what's going on down there. I'm not even concerned about
it. I stand. I stand! before God Almighty justified. If you can give me something
better than that, I'll give some consideration. This phrase, standing,
also implies perseverance. Those who stand in the high places
of this world stand on slippery ground. But those who stand in
grace, before the throne of grace, stand in humble confidence, knowing
that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. And standing in grace by faith
in Christ, let us rejoice then in hope of the glory of God. The Lord will give grace and
glory. Here I stand. in the midst of
a dark world. Here I stand with a lot of things that concern me. Here I stand facing opposition
just like you. Here I stand facing difficulties just like
you. Just like you. I ain't gonna be here long. I'm standing on the doorsteps
of glory. Stand. And live in hope of the
glory of God. And not only so, but while we're
here, let us glory in tribulation also. What on earth is he talking
about? Glory in tribulation? We glory
in spite of our tribulations. And we glory in our tribulations,
knowing that they work for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. Now, knowing that this would
be the hardest part of this passage for us to understand, Paul shows
us why and how we glory in tribulations. We don't glory because of tribulations. I know some folks who have a
real martyr's complex and they're convinced, oh, what a wonderful
thing. I'm having trouble now. Thank
you, I'd just as soon live without a little of it. I'd just as soon
not bring any extra on. He's not talking about glorying
in or because of the tribulations. But rather, we glory in the midst
of tribulations. Because our tribulations Thy
divinely appointed chain of causes in the hand of our Heavenly Father
greatly encourage hope. Tribulation worketh patience."
Now, it doesn't. It doesn't do that. It doesn't
do that. No. That's just not right. Tribulation
will never work patience in Bob Pruitt. It won't happen. It won't
happen unless God works in the tribulation. Tribulation sanctified
by grace works patience. Tribulation sanctified by faith
works patience. Tribulation as a rod in our Heavenly
Father's hand works patience. Tribulation with other folks
just aggravates the mess. And patience experience. Oh, patience. As we patiently endure
tribulations. Patiently endure them. Not grumbling
and griping. Not angry with God. Not upset
because of what's going on. But patiently endure tribulations. We experience God's faithfulness. I was talking to Lindsay Campbell
shortly after Michelle got married, maybe just before. Like most of you who are our
age and older, Shelby and I got married, and we were so poor
we thought everybody was poor. We didn't have a frazzling thing.
Didn't have anything. Don't have anything, never got
anything we need day by day. I tell folks we used to eat dried beans
for breakfast, drink water for lunch, and swell up for supper.
And we thought everybody did. Just nothing. Nothing. And we
went through some struggles. Struggles. Trying to figure out
where the next meal's coming from. Literally. And some struggles
that you just learn one another through the struggles. Learn
things you couldn't learn any other way. You know, Lindsey
and our fathers and our daughters are well wed and so thankful,
so thankful. They'll never have to go through
those struggles. But I said to Doug the other
day, sitting out on my back porch, you'll never know what you're
going to miss. Never know. My brothers and my
sisters, only When we are utterly abandoned
by everybody else in our souls, do we know the faithfulness of
our God? Can't know it except by tribulation. Only when we hurt do we know
our Savior's sympathy who is touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. Only when we are discomforted
do we know the blessed consolation of the spirit of comfort. The
sense of God's love to us draws out our love for Him as tribulation
works patience. And the blessed experience of
God's love constrains us in the midst of tribulation to rejoice
in the Lord and patiently wait for Him. We love Him because He first
loved us. And I can take this. I can take this. I can take this. Whatever this might be, if it
comes from His hand, and soon will bring me to Him. Alright,
here's the second thing. Look at verses 6, 7, and 8. The
only ground upon which we could ever be justified before God
is the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, His darling Son. For
when we were yet without strength, when we didn't have any strength
to obey God, when we didn't have any strength to deliver ourselves,
we had no strength to move toward God in due time, at the time
God appointed from old eternity, I love this, Christ died for
the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. That is, it ain't likely you're
going to die for a self-righteous Pharisee. Yet peradventure for
a good man, a kind, gracious, good man. Some would even dare
to die. But here's the amazing wonder
of God's love. God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I wonder if there's anybody here
with no strength. You have no strength before God.
God demands righteousness. I have no strength to do that.
God demands satisfaction. I have no strength to do that.
God demands repentance. I don't have any strength for
that. No strength. Without strength. Ungodly. Utterly godless in the corruption
of your heart. Sinners. Anybody here? I'm going to tell
you something. Christ died just for you. For ungodly, helpless sinners. Amazing love, how can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me? He died for us that we might
be justified by His blood. Now look at verse 8. Be sure
you understand. That the solitary calls of our
redemption, the solitary calls of God sending His Son to justify
us by His blood, the solitary calls of Christ dying in our
stead, is the immense, indescribable, incomprehensible love of God
for us. The Son of God loved me and gave
Himself for me. God commendeth his love toward
us. I got those two grandbabies and
I'm trying my best to convince them that nobody in the world
loves them like Papa. I'm in competition with Nana
all the time. All the time. How do you do that? You just
keep commending it. Every chance you get, you call
them. Talk to them. Every chance you get, you hug
them. Every chance you get, you give them something special.
Every chance you get, you put a smile on their face. Here's
how God Almighty commends His love toward us. He gave His Son. I'm convinced that no love like
this I'm convinced there's no rival. I'm convinced there's
none to compete with His love. And this was manifested, the
love of God toward us, because God sent His only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through Him. Here is love. Not that we loved God, but He
loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Now, look at the fourth thing. Our being justified by the blood
of Christ assures us of every other blessing of grace and glory. Look at verse 9. Much more thee. Don't you like that? I love those words, much more.
Much more means there's much more. Much more. We're justified. Much more thee. being now justified
by his blood. The word being now justified,
more strongly would be translated improperly so, now, having been
justified. When that which hinders salvation
is taken away, when sin and the curse of the law is taken away,
salvation must follow. We shall be saved from wrath
and hell in the day of judgment. Because we've been justified
by his blood. Being justified, having been justified, when Christ
died at Calvary, there's no question we shall be saved from wrath
to come. Much more than being now justified, having been justified,
we are reconciled to God by the death of his son. We were reconciled
to him at Calvary judicially. When Christ died and put away
sin, God Almighty had no reason to wear the black robes of a
severe judge, but rather He wears the smile of constant compassion
and grace and mercy because He looks on us in His Son, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, and reconciled to
us through the death of His Son. But all we could ever see were
the black robes and the frowning face and the glittering sword.
Every thought you ever had of God was terror. Every thought
you ever had of God came from your sense of guilt. Until the
blood of Christ is sprinkled on your heart by the Holy Spirit
to your cause to believe on the Son of God. And now, I'm reconciled
to God. Reconciled to Him by the death
of His Son. What will persuade a sinner,
a rebel sinner, to put down his little pop gun with which he's
trying to kill God and be reconciled to Him? Nothing on this earth except
the revelation of the glory of God in the face of a crucified
substitute. That you can't resist. Oh, Spirit of God, reveal Christ
crucified in my heart perpetually and cease all rebellion in me. Much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life. We were reconciled by Christ
crucified. We shall be saved by Christ exalted. Christ dying was the testator
who bequeathed to us the legacy of salvation. Christ living is
the executor who makes certain that every chosen sinner named
in the Testament receives his eternal inheritance. And not
only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We joy in Him. We joy in Him. We joy in Him. And there's no joy to compare
to Him. How come? By whom we have now
received the atonement. By whom we have now received
propitiation. By whom we have now received
reconciliation. Yonder in His glory Is God the holy one? And all this, all this, that
horrible war in Iraq, the struggles and trials you
face, the heartache, difficulties, The bitter pains. All this. The sweet joys. Blessed fellowship. Delightful family. All this. All this. All that goes on in
Washington, all goes on back here in the house. All that goes
on that you know about, and all that goes on you don't know about.
Precious things of heaven, and the precious things of the earth,
and the precious things that couch beneath, and the precious
things of the sun, and the precious things of the moon. All this is his work for me, by whom I
have been justified. and for you who have been justified by His
grace. Amen. Let's see if we can sing number
205. Hymn number 205. I'll ask you to stand together
as we sing this great, great hymn.