There are two things that I would
like for each of us to do, me and you. I would like for you
to pray for me that the Lord would enable me to preach the
gospel this morning. And I'd like for you to pray
for yourself that the Lord would give you hearing ears to hear
his gospel. I want to read verse 28 again
of Romans chapter 3. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith. without the deeds of the law. Here's my question. What does
that mean? I hope by the end of this service,
we'll all have a heart understanding of exactly what that means. A man being justified by faith
without the deeds of the law. Now let's go to chapter four,
verse one. And this is going to tell us
what justification by faith means. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? How was he justified? Look in verse two. If Abraham
were justified by works, he'd have something to glory in, but
not before God. Now, what did Abraham find regarding
this thing of justification? Now, before I go on, let me give
the meaning of the Bible word of justification. Justification means I never sinned.
That's all it means. It doesn't mean God treats me
as if I hadn't sinned. If I'm justified, that means
I never sinned. I've never had a wrong thought.
I've never had a wrong motive. I've never had a wrong action.
When God looks at me, he sees someone and how he sees somebody
is the way they really are. When he looks at me, he sees
somebody without sin. That's what justification means.
Turn with me for a moment to Ezekiel chapter 18. Hold your
finger there in Romans 4 and turn to Ezekiel 18. Beginning in verse 5. Now here is a description of
a justified man. Beginning in verse 5. But if
a man be just, Ezekiel 18 verse 5. But if a man be just, or justified,
and do that which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon
the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the
house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife,
neither hath come near to a minstress woman, and hath not oppressed
any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled
none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and
hath covered the naked with a garment. He that hath not given forth
upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn
his hand from iniquity, and executed true judgment between man and
man, hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments to
deal truly He is just. There's a justified man. A man
that has never sinned. That has only done that which
is pleasing before God. Now back to Abraham. What about Abraham? Now Abraham's
a very special man. He's called in scripture, the
friend of God. God said regarding this man,
he's my friend. He's called the father of the
faithful and believers are said to be children of Abraham. I
love this scripture where Christ said, Abraham rejoiced to see
my day. And you know, his day is the
day of the cross. It's the day where he accomplished
salvation for his people. And he accomplished this justification.
The most God-like glorious thing ever done is the cross and Abraham
rejoiced The scripture says, Abraham was happy to see my day
and he saw it and he was glad. I remember the Pharisee says,
you're not even 50 years old and you say you've seen Abraham.
I love the way the Lord said before Abraham was, I am. And then they took up stones
to stone him. But what about Abraham? Our father is pertaining
to the flesh. What did he find? Verse two,
Romans four, four. If Abraham, were justified, not
guilty, by works. By his deeds, he'd have something
to glory in, something to take credit in, but not before God. Now, what is meant by works? If Abraham were justified by
works, he'd have something that he could glory in. Now listen
real carefully. Works. are anything you do. It really is that simple. Anything
you do. Any condition that you have to
meet in order for you to be saved. You can't be saved unless you
do this. That's salvation by works. That's
all it is. It can take so many different forms. Somebody says,
well, you need to keep the law to be saved. Well, that's salvation
by works, isn't it? Somebody else says, well, you
need to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Christ
died for everybody. God made salvation available
for everybody. He died for you, but you won't
be saved unless you accept Him as your personal Savior. It's
up to you to accept Him or reject Him. That's salvation by works.
That puts salvation in your hands. It's up to you. That is salvation
by works. Somebody says, well, you can't
be saved unless you first turn from your sin and get rid of
your sin. Then you'll be saved. That is salvation by works. That's all it is. Salvation by
works is anything you do, any condition that you need to meet
in order to be saved. If you put works in the beginning
of salvation, well, I'm saved because I did something that made Christ
what he did work for me. I believed. I repented. I came
up with this. If you put your works at the
beginning of salvation, if you put your works in the middle
of salvation, well, through efforts and discipleship and growth and
scripture reading and prayer, I've mortified my flesh. I've
got rid of this sin. I've become better. I've become
holier. That's works. If you put works in the end of
salvation, Well, I'm gonna get a higher reward in heaven because
I've done this. I'm gonna get a higher reward
than that fella that didn't do what I did. That's salvation by works. That's
all it is, works. Now, if Abraham were justified
by works, any work he performed, he'd have something he could
take credit for. He could say, I'm saved because
I, fill in the blank, whatever it is. I'm saved because I, that
is salvation by works. And if salvation were by works,
Abraham would have something he could glory in, take credit
for. I'm saved because I did this.
But Paul says, but not before God. That's not going to happen.
Not before God. Verse three, for what sayeth
the scripture? Now the Bible is the only authoritative
answer to anything. What sayeth the scripture? What's the scripture say about
Abraham? It says in verse three, Abraham
believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now this is a quotation from
Genesis chapter 15, verse six, and the entire new Testament
is dedicated to telling us what this means. Turn with me to Genesis
chapter 15. Look at this for a few moments. Verse one. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision. Now, who's the word
of the Lord? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is a pre
incarnate appearance of Christ to Abraham. This was before he
was actually made flesh. He came in a vision, but this
was the Lord Jesus Christ who appeared to him. The word of
the Lord in the beginning was the word and the word was with
God. And the word was God. Well, this
one who is the word of the Lord appeared to Abraham after these
things, the word of the Lord came into Abram in a vision saying,
fear not Abram. I am thy shield. and by exceeding
great reward. Do you believe in rewards in
heaven? No. Do you believe in the reward?
Yes, I most certainly do. Christ Jesus is the reward. In Abram, verse two, said, Lord
God, he knew who he was, didn't he? What wilt thou give me? seeing I go childless and the
steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said,
behold, to me, thou has given no seed. No one born in my house
is mine heir, a servant. Abraham had never had children.
He was an old man. Sarah was an old woman, already
gone through menopause. It was impossible for her to
have a child. Verse four, and behold, the word of the Lord
came unto him saying, this shall not be thine heir. But he that
shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad,
and he said, look now toward heaven and tell the stars if
thou be able to number them. I'm sure it was one of those
clear nights where you could see millions of stars. Abraham looked up. God said,
see those stars? Can you number them? Abraham
said, no, they're millions. so shall thy seed be. He didn't have any children,
yet God promised, so shall thy seed be. And verse six says,
and he believed in the Lord. He believed what God said. He
had no evidence at all, except the word of God. He couldn't
see any evidence. He couldn't see where he had
any children, but God said he would. And he believed God and
it, and he, the Lord counted it to him for righteousness. And that's what faith is. He
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded
that what God had promised, he was able also to perform. Therefore,
it was counted to him for righteousness." Now, listen to this statement. Let
me read it to you. I believe that right now, while I'm talking
to you, I am without sin before God. that I am as righteous as
God himself. I don't have any evidence that
that is true by what I see. Simply because God said to him
that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. I can't look at myself and say,
I'm the very righteousness of God, but I believe I am. This is the heritage of every
believer, not just me. Every believer made the very
righteousness of God justified before God. He believed God. Now go back to Romans chapter
four. This is what Paul was talking
about in this passage of scripture. Romans chapter four. Verse three, what sayeth the
scripture? Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for
righteousness. Now, to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. To him that worketh,
to him that meets a condition. To him that does something in
order to be saved, that God has to respond to him. To him that
worketh, the reward, the Lord Jesus Christ, heavenly glory,
salvation, is not reckoned of grace, but of debt. In other
words, God owes you this. If there's anything you can do
to be saved, that means God is obligated. He's in debt to you. That ain't gonna be it. Now to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Now, grace says
I'm a debtor to God. Works say he's a debtor to me. It's not hard to see how those
two concepts are completely polarized. Works gives man the glory. Grace
gives God all the glory. You know, that verse four is
a hypothetical situation. It's never happened. Now to him
that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
Verse five. Now here's, here's what grace
is, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted. for righteousness. To him that worketh not, he doesn't
do anything to meet any condition. He has nothing, nothing, nothing
to recommend himself. And he's unable to meet any condition. He knows that if any part of
salvation is dependent upon me, there's no hope for me. Absolutely
no hope. If it's up to me to do anything,
I will not be saved. I'll spend forever in hell if
any aspect of salvation is dependent upon me meeting any condition
or doing anything. To him that worketh not. But he believes on him. that justifies the ungodly. Now, this is the most incredible,
magnificent thing that ever could be. That an ungodly man can be
justified. Now, what is meant by ungodly? Who is this ungodly man? You know, the word means impious. no regard for the person of God. That's what an ungodly man is.
He's someone who has no regard for the person of God. Now, Andy
and I were driving up to Cleveland last week, and I don't know how
this subject came up, but we were talking about the punishment
due to sex crimes, how people should be punished. if they're
guilty of these horrible sex crimes, and here's why. You think
about how evil that person is who has committed that crime
and having absolutely no regard for that person they've committed
that crime against. I mean, they'll abuse that person wickedly in
a very evil way, not caring about what that's going to do to that
person for the rest of their life. What a horrible, horrible
thing that someone could have no more regard for somebody else's
life, that they would horribly abuse them in a wicked way and
not care how it affected them. What a horrible thing. And when
we think about those people, it's a humbling thing to know
me and you will be that way apart from grace of God. No question
about it. Me and you would be just that,
apart from the grace of God. We do that. But that doesn't
in any way lessen the guilt of such a horrible thing. And I
remember Andy pointed out to me, when we were talking about
that, Andy said, you know, that's the way the Lord sees we've done
his son. No regard to his holiness, to
his glory, to his person, no regard. That's ungodly. no regard for the person. We, I think of that scripture
in Isaiah 53, we esteemed him not. What greater crime could
there be? Ungodly. Now you think of this
thing of what ungodliness is. No, no regard for the person
of God. It says he justifies. the ungodly. Let's say someone committed some
crime against your child. They took your child and with
no regard for your child's life, with no care for your child,
how it would affect them the rest of their life. They physically
abused your child. Would you justify them? No, you couldn't possibly justify. I hope you'd forgive him. Now,
I hope you'd forgive him. I hope I'd forgive him. If that
happened, I want to be able to forgive anybody of anything by
the grace of God. And I hope I'm not put in a position
where I'd have to forgive somebody for something like that. May
the Lord deliver all of us from that. But I want to be quick
to forgive. But could I justify him? No. Would I justify him? No, I couldn't
possibly do something like that. But here's the most amazing concept. God justifies the ungodly. Isn't that amazing? Only God could do that. Only God would do that. And God did do that. He justified the ungodly. Now that's the only hope an ungodly
sinner has. I think of that passage of scripture,
Romans 5, 6, when we were yet without strength in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. God justifies the ungodly. That's the only hope a sinner
has. Look in Romans chapter 3, verse 24, or verse 23. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely, with no cost
on our part, nothing we did, being justified freely by his
grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God set forth for ordain to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins in
the past through the forbearance of God, To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth on Jesus. Now that person who
works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his
faith is counted for righteousness. He's justified. He's never sinned.
And he's only done that which is holy and well-pleasing in
God's sight. Turn to Luke chapter 18. You know the only person that
will rejoice in what I'm saying is somebody who believes themselves to be
ungodly. If you believe that about yourself, you're going
to rejoice in this. Now, if you don't believe this about yourself,
you're going to say, this just doesn't seem right. There's something
wrong with this. I don't like what this fellow
is saying. But boy, if you're ungodly, you say, this is the
only hope I have. Look here in Luke chapter 18, verse 9. And he spake this parable
unto certain which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous,
and this always happens along with it, they despised others.
Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and
the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men
are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast
twice in the week and I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican. standing afar off, would not
lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast,
saying, God, be merciful, be propitious, do something about
my sin. God, be merciful to me, thee
sinner. Now look what the Lord says,
I tell you. This man went down to his house, not forgiven, not pardoned. Yes, he was forgiven. Yes, he was pardoned. But what
is the word the Lord uses? This man went down to his house,
justified, justified, without guilt. having never sinned. By his own admission, he said,
God, be propitious, do something about my sin. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, the one who can make the fair and accurate judgment
regarding someone, he said, I tell you, that man went down to his
house justified rather than the other. Now, what does justification
by faith mean? We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. Does that mean faith
is a substitute for righteousness and God looks at that man's faith
and he counts that as righteousness since he already messed up with
the law? It doesn't mean that. What does it mean? Well, what's
justification mean? Let me give you five things regarding
justification that the scripture teaches regarding this thing
of justification. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted
for righteousness. Number one, justification is
by grace. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Titus
3.7 says being justified by His grace. Justification is a gracious
act of God. If He says you're justified,
you're justified. That's nothing you can do to
achieve that. Nothing you can do to get that.
Turn to Romans 8. Verse 28, and we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he loved beforehand. Behold, I've loved you with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. For whom he did foreknow, Notice
it doesn't say what he foreknew. Well, God knows everything. I
know he does, but that's not what that passage script says. It says
whom he did foreknow. Not what, but whom. Predestination
has to do with persons and their eternal destiny. For whom he
did foreknow. Then he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called. And whom he called, then he also
justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. Now these are not talking about
things that are gonna happen. This is talking about things
that have already happened. This is the gospel. A complete justification. Now, this thing of justification
by grace is like this. Now, Aaron, you're in a court
all the time, I reckon. You go into a court. Have you
ever seen a judge say, do you want to be justified or condemned?
Hasn't happened, has it? You don't throw out, you want
to accept justification? No. If you're justified, the
only reason you're justified is because you're justified.
God declares you to be that way. That's the only way you can be
just. The only way you can be just is if you're just. And that's
a great... Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that can condemn? It's Christ that died, yea rather
than to risen again, who's even at the right hand of God. Justification
is by grace. Now, Romans 5, 9 speaks of justification
by blood. Turn with me there to Romans
chapter 5, verse 9. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly. Verse 9, much more
than being now justified by his blood. Now that's talking about
his death. The shedding of his blood. Now, the death of Christ on the cross
is the most godlike thing God has ever done. He displayed who
he is in the death of Christ. He displayed all of His glorious
attributes. Oh, we see His holiness. We see
His love. We see His justice. We see His
grace. We see His sovereignty. Every
attribute of God is displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the most glorious Oh, I wish I could speak of the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ the way it ought to be spoken of.
I know I fail. You know, every time I speak
the gospel, I feel like a failure, really. You know, because how
can you extol what the Lord did enough? But let me say this. He's dead. Why did he die? Let's
remember, there's one reason for death. Sin. Sin. My sin The filth of my sin, the
defilement of my sin, the evil of my sin became His. He became guilty of it. He bore our sins in His own body. The filth and the defilement
and the wickedness of my sin became His. He bore it in His
own body. God and His justice killed him. God will not let sin go unpunished. And the Lord Jesus Christ would
give Himself to die before He would let one sin go unpunished. My sin truly, actually, really
became His sin. But just as truly as my sin became
his sin, his righteousness becomes my righteousness. And I'm justified
by his blood, by his death, by what he accomplished on Calvary
Street. I had no hand in this. He did
it. God in grace declared me to be
justified. Christ Jesus by His blood made
me so. To where I'm without sin, without
spot, without wrinkle or any such thing. Holy, unblameable
and unreprovable in the very sight of God. That's how I am
right now. Right now. Without guilt. Sinless. Justified by His blood. I love that faith in his blood,
you know, Romans 324 or 325, through faith in his blood, you
know, I really do believe his blood washed all of my sin away. So we're justified by grace,
we're justified by blood, and we're justified by faith. Romans
3, 28. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Look at
Romans chapter 5, verse 1. Therefore, we're being justified
by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, does that mean that faith
acts as a substitute for righteousness? I hope after what you've heard
so far, you know that's not so. Faith is no substitute for righteousness. Righteousness is righteousness. What is the evidence that I,
an ungodly sinner, have been justified by God? What's the
evidence? Faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. What is the evidence that I really
stand justified before God? Is it because I, you know, look
at myself and say, boy, I'm really holy. Yeah, I don't have any.
Is that it? No. No. I believe on Him that
justifies the ungodly. That's the evidence that I am
justified before God. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I really do believe on Him that
justifies the ungodly. Do you? Take this verse. There's
no more glorious verse than this. To him that worketh not. He doesn't
do anything. He doesn't meet any conditions.
He knows he can't. But he believes on him that justifies
the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Justification by faith. Turn to James chapter 2. Verse
24. You see then how that by works
a man is justified and not by faith only. Now, how many people
have shipwrecked at this verse? Well, there, is that contrary
to what Paul was saying? A man is justified by works?
Well, what was he talking about? Well, look up to verse 21. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works? when he offered Isaac his son
upon the altar. See is then how faith wrought
with his works, and by works was faith made perfect. And the
scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God,
and it was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called
the friend of God. You see then how that by works a man is justified,
not by faith only. Now, here's the story. Remember,
I've already read from Genesis chapter 15, where God said, look
at the stars, so shall your seed be. Okay, he has finally some
25 years after this promise, he has Isaac, the one the promise
is made through. And then God says, take now your
son, your only son, and kill him, put him on an altar and
slay him in the man I tell you to. Can you imagine how Abraham must
have felt? Now, what if Abraham would have
said, now, if I do that, God's promise will fall to the ground
and nothing will happen. You know what he proved by that?
He didn't really believe God. We know from the account of the
writer of the Hebrews that he believed that even after he killed
him, God would raise him from the dead because God had made
the promise that the Messiah would come through him and he
believed God. So he, he went ahead and killed
him, believing God in his mind and his heart, believing God
would raise him from the dead. What is the one thing that proved
he really believed God? His works. That's the only thing
that proved he believed God. He was going to slay his son
in obedience to God's command, believing God would raise him
from the dead. And if he would have refused to do it, if he
would have said, well, this will mess up God's promise. All he proved
by that is he never believed God, but he believed God. A man is justified by works and
not by faith only. And Abraham's works proved that
he really believed God. One final scripture, turn to
Matthew chapter 12. Verse 34, old generation of vipers. Well, the Lord spoke a strong language,
didn't He? He's talking to these people,
he says, Oh, generation of vipers. How can you being evil speak
good things? For out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure
of the heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of
the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you
that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give
an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words,
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Justification by words. Now what does that mean? Does
that mean if I tell some kind of idle joke or speak of some
kind of foolish thing that I'm going to be condemned? It doesn't
mean that. We ought not waste our time with
idle talk. I realize that, but that's not
what the Lord's talking about. Any words contrary to what I've
just preached, I'll be condemned. My words will
show whether I really believe justification. If I really believe
justification to be by grace, by blood, by faith, By works,
my speech will agree there unto. It'll come out in my speech.
It'll come out in what I say. It'll come out in what I preach.
It'll come out in what I believe. And if I believe something opposite
to this, it'll come out in my words and I'll be condemned and
perish forever in hell under the justice of God. That's what
that means. By your words, you'll be justified. When you hear the gospel, you'll
say amen to that. I believe that. That's the very
truth of God. That's the gospel of God. By your words, you'll
be justified. Or by your words, I don't believe
that. Okay. You'll be condemned. Your speech
will agree with the gospel. Now that's what justification
by faith means. Therefore, we conclude. that
a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. To him
that worketh not. Does this describe you? To him
that worketh not. You see, in your case, no way
you'll be saved by anything you do. You can't meet any condition. To him that worketh not, but
believeth. on him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Amen. Let's pray.