My son, Paul, has been pastor
now for about six years over in Rocky Mount, Virginia, Central
Baptist Church. And the Lord has blessed him
with some very faithful and loving and supportive believers. And among those believers, that
church family, are a number of elderly widows. And like our widows here in this congregation,
those women are faithful to the gospel. They are there every
service, to hear the word, rejoice in the word, and support their
pastor. And he loves them and they love
him. Well, one of them died last Monday. Her name is Virgie. Virgie
Jones. I've known Virgie for a long,
long time. And she's so faithful. She loves
the gospel. How she loves the preaching of
the word. How she feeds upon it and feasts
upon it. Has for years. in her early eighties,
I think, isn't she, honey? Eighties, something like that. Well, she died in her sleep. Her daughter had told her that
they were going to have to put her in a rest home because she
couldn't take care of herself. And Mindy visited with her Monday
before she died on Monday night, and Monday she told my daughter-in-law,
Mindy, she said, the only thing that makes me dread going to
that home is I'll have to listen to that bad preaching they have. Well, she didn't have to go listen
to it. She died in her sleep Monday night. And Brother Paul
God's given him a lot of wisdom in his ministry at a young age. I wish I'd had that kind of wisdom
that he has when I was that age. He conducted her funeral on Thursday
morning. She was well known in the town.
Very, very well known. And the church was filled with
people. Her family and all the friends that she'd known for
many years. And Paul told that story. That
was the way he began his message. What she said about going to
that home and having to listen to that bad preaching. And he
said, I'm going to tell you what she meant. The difference between
bad preaching and good preaching. She loved good preaching. Not
the gifts and oratory of the preacher, but the content of
the message. And that's what he did in that message. He told
them what Virgie meant. She knew the difference. She
knew the grace of God. Her family was all there. And
when he got through with that part of the message, he said,
now, every time I preached since I've
been here for six years, she'd come up to me. She was always
there, unless she was very ill. And he said after every message
she would come to me and she'd say, Brother Paul, oh, how my
soul was blessed. When you opened to us the scriptures
and preached the word of God, how my soul was blessed, how
I loved that message. And then Paul said, and she would
add one thing more. She always said these two things
every time I preached. She'd say, Oh, how my soul was
blessed as you preached the word of God. Then secondly, he'd say,
she'd say to me, I surely do wish my family would have heard
it. And he closed his message with
this comment, Virgie, they heard it. They heard it. One of these days we're going
to hear for the last time this message of grace. One of these
days I'll preach it for the last time. Old Richard Baxter said,
we preach as those who may never preach again. Think about that. I do quite
often. I'm getting older and I'm getting
weary and we're going to preach one of these days for the last
time. We preach as a dying man to dying
men. And I felt when I announced this
morning my two messages this morning, the sinner's substitute
and the knight justified by faith. And I want these messages back
to back on a tape. I wouldn't mind these being,
as Brother Scott said, my last hoorah. The swan song, because
this is what I believe. The sinners substitute and justified
by faith. Here in Romans 5 verse 1, it says, therefore being justified
by faith. Justified by faith. And every
time I read that, almost every time, maybe not every time, but
almost every time, I think about a man. who was born 512 years
ago, named Martin Luther. Of course,
Catholicism reigned supreme then in almost every nation. Catholicism
with its evil and corruption and ceremonialism and salvation
by works, justification by faith, except being in the Word of God
was unknown to anybody. Unknown. They didn't even discuss
it. They didn't write it. They didn't
read it. They knew nothing about justification by faith. It was
justification by works, works, works, works. The church works. Martin Luther was born in 1483
and of course his family being Catholic, strong Catholic, put
him in Catholic school. And he studied to be a priest,
he became a monk. And of course they shut him off
in one of those places where they train nuns and priests and
monks. And they would find him sometimes
lying on the stone floor unconscious, having beaten himself with thorn
bushes to drive out the evil thoughts and evil imagination,
trying to make himself acceptable to God. He would fast till his
body was so weak he could hardly walk, just punishing himself,
punishing himself, doing penance and works, and he was reading
the words One day he came across this statement in the Word of
God. It's in there four times. The just shall live by faith. And he went to one of his instructors
with it. The just shall live by faith.
Not by works. By faith. And of course he was
discouraged from pursuing this thought and this study. But he
went on with this works thing and ceremonialism and Catholicism
masses and this sort of thing, and kept reading that, that just
shall live by faith. Until one day he made a pilgrimage
to Rome, and there in Rome, they had, as tradition tells it, they
had the stairs, they claim, Catholicism claims a lot of things, but they
had a staircase, a stairway. They said this staircase came
from Pilate's Hall, and it was a staircase up which Jesus Christ
walked when he was going to trial, up this staircase. And on the steps, They had on the
glass some drops, some marks, dark stains, and this was supposed
to be the blood of Christ. As He walked up this staircase,
the soldiers having lacerated His back and put upon Him the
crown of thorns, as He walked bound up this staircase, His
blood dripped on the steps. And Martin Luther was on his
hands and knees, crawling up that staircase, doing penance,
Counting his beads, saying his rosary, and kissing those spots. Kissing those spots. And he said, it just seemed like
a voice from heaven spoke to him. Like he's reading tonight, the
angel said to Zechariah, that the voice seemed to speak to
him. Say, Martin, the just shall live by faith. were justified by faith. And
he said, I've been reading it, and praying about it, and studying
it, and when God struck my heart with that verse of Scripture
that just shall live by faith, he said, I jumped up from that
place, and ran down those steps and out that door, believing
that my soul was redeemed by the blood of Christ, And I am
justified by believing Him, trusting Him. And he became God's instrument. He became the Reformer. He turned
Europe literally upside down. What we have today and the freedoms
we enjoy and the freedom to worship and preach, much of it reaches
right back to that dear man. God used him. Mightily. He had a lot of eccentricities
in these things, but he was God's instrument. God's man. And he
literally turned Europe upside down, and he mortally wounded
the Catholic hierarchy. He mortally wounded them. And
the Catholic Church. And this is what they accused
him. This is what they accused him of. Their contention was
this. They called him Martin. All the
errors of Martin, all the errors of Martin can be traced to twofold
root, which they did not believe, would not accept, and would not
have. Number one, a sinner is justified before God by faith
alone without works. That's what he preached, justification
by faith, faith alone with justified, sanctified, redeemed, have righteousness
accepted by faith alone, by believing on Christ Jesus alone. And the
second root was this. A sinner is justified immediately,
completely, and can rest in that peace and assurance that he is
justified when he believes on Christ right then. They couldn't
take either one of those. What he was saying was this,
we don't work to receive salvation and we don't work to keep salvation. It's free. It's the gift of God.
The just shall live by faith. And that's what this verse is
saying here. And we, it's not Luther we believe. I thank God
for him. I rejoice that God was pleased
to raise him up, but it's not Luther I believe. I don't believe
justification by faith because Luther preached it. Or taught
it. It's not Luther that we preach.
It's not Luther we follow. It's Luther's master that we
preach. And that we believe. And that
we follow. And this is what Luther's master said. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." That's what Luther's master said. And
he said this to Martha when he came to the sisters after their
brother had died. And Martha said, Lord, if you'd
have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. He said, your brother
will rise again. She said, I know, I know. He'll
rise in the resurrection day. He said, Martha, I'm the resurrection. I'm the
resurrection and I'm the life. And he that believeth on me will
never die. Will never die. I'm the resurrection.
He that believeth. Not he that worketh. Not he that
serveth. He that believeth. That's what
Luther's master said. And he looked at her and said,
do you believe this? Do you? I do. I do. I'm justified by faith. And he
commanded his disciples, he said, you go into all the world and
preach this gospel. And he that what? Believeth.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. And here in our text, the Apostle
Paul, back here in Romans 1, and don't turn to it, I'm not
going to read from it, you're familiar with it. In chapter
1, he takes a good hard look at the pagan world, the pagan
world. When men by wisdom knew not God. And he said, God gave them up,
God gave them over to reprobate perverted minds. God gave them
up, God gave them over. didn't know God, didn't seek
God, didn't love God, this pagan world. And then in chapter 2,
he took a good hard look at the religious world, the Jews. And he declared, you're not a
Jew because you're one outwardly. It's not the hearers of the word.
It's not the memorizers of the word. It's not the writers and
scribes. It's the doers that are justified. And there wasn't any doers, and
there are not any doers now. So in chapter 3, you can look
at this right across the page from where you are. Chapter 3,
verse 28, he said, therefore we conclude. This is what Paul
concluded when he took a good hard look at the whole world
and mankind in general, and then took a look at all of religion,
and religion in general. He said in verse 28, chapter
3, therefore I conclude. This is my conclusion. that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. By faith. And then he comes along
in chapter 4 and verse 3 and gives us an example of that faith.
He says in verse 3 of chapter 4, what saith the scriptures?
What saith the scriptures? Abraham believed God. Abraham believed God. That's
what he did. He believed God. And it was counted
to him for righteousness. And then here in chapter 5, he
rejoices in that grace and that peace and that glory and says
in verse 1, chapter 5, therefore, therefore being justified, sanctified,
redeemed by faith, we have peace. We have peace, peace with God,
peace of passion and understanding, peace through our Lord Jesus
Christ by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, all
of this grace, and it's all of grace wherein we stand and we
rejoice in hope of the glory of God, justified by faith. Justified by faith. Five things
I want to give you, very briefly. And you can remember this message
by these five things. Number one, the justifier. The
justifier. Number two, the justified. Number
three, the justifying cause. Number four, the justifying instrument. Then number five, the glory of
it all. All right, the justifier. I want
you to turn to Romans 8 for our scripture on this point. The
justifier. The justifier. And Charles Spurgeon
said this, the moment a sinner believes on Christ, the moment
a sinner truly, honestly, sincerely believes Christ in his heart,
That very moment, that sinner stands before God as if he had
never sinned. Doesn't have a mark against him,
doesn't have a stain upon him. He is holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in the sight of God, as holy as the Son of God. That sinner,
the moment he believes on Christ, is perfectly holy as if he had
never sinned. And he said, actually, I'll go
a step further. He's better off than if he had
never sinned. For if he had never sinned, he
would be trusting his righteousness, which one day would perish. But being in Christ, washed,
sanctified, redeemed, dead all paid, He is better in better
condition than if you'd never sin because he has the righteousness
of Christ which can never fail Till heaven and earth pass away
God will never never forsake you all right the justifier Look
at romans 8 verse 28 And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow. 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,
them He also called, and whom He called, them also He what? He justified. Who justified Him?
He did. He justified Him. And whom He
justified, He glorified. The question is this. The question
to be settled is this. In the very beginning, what am
I to God? What am I to God? And what is
God to me? On this hangs all my hope of
peace and life. If God knows me, and I know God,
all is well. If God doesn't know me, and I
don't know God, all is bad. You see what it says? Verse 29 says, "...whom He did
foreknow." People say, well, I know God. Well, the important
thing is, does He know you? "...whom He foreknew." Whom He foreknew, He predestinated. Whom He predestinated, He called
whom He called. He justified. He justifies those
whom He knows. If God knows me, and I know God,
all is well. And verse 31, look at it. What
shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God's for me, who can be against
me? If God knows me, and God's for
me, and look at verse 32, And He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? If God delivered up His Son for
me, and laid my sins on Him, then all is well. And look at
verse 35, who shall separate us from the
love of Christ. Look at verse 34. Who is he that
condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes
intercession for us, who can separate us from His love. If
He loves me, and intercedes for me, then all is well. You see that? It's God that justifies. That's the issue. Who does the
saving? That's the reason when people
start arguing with me about eternal security, I say there's nothing
to argue about. Your security rests upon who
justified you. Who saved you. If God saved you,
you're saved forever. If God chose you, if God loved
you, if God called you, if God justified you, you're justified
forever. He's the justifier. And that's what it says. In verse
33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's
God that justifies. Who's the justifier? He is. Now
secondly, the justifier. Let's read Romans 5 for this.
The justifier. And here it says in Romans 5
verse 6, When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, without strength,
without God. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. In other words, here's a self-righteous
man he's talking about. Not many folks are going to die
for a pious, self-righteous fellow that's resting in his own works
and righteousness. Not many folks are interested
in that type of person. Yet, per adventure, for a good
man, a kind man, a benevolent man, a good neighbor, some might
even dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for those
of the folks God justifies. sinners. Christ said, I didn't
come to call the righteous, I came to call sinners to repentance. Christ died. Verse 10 says, if
when we were enemies without strength, without God, sinners,
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Much more being reconciled, we'd be saved by His life. Our Lord
said in Ezekiel 16, your birth and your nativity was of the
land of Canaan. Your mother was a Hittite, and
your father was an Amorite, and you were born in sin, and you
were cast out into the field to the loathing of your person,
and none eye pitied thee. You were a loathsome sight, but
I passed by you. I'm the I passed by you when
you were polluted in your blood, when none eye pitied thee, when
you were useless and worthless, and I passed by you, and it was
a time of love. You didn't love me, I loved you.
You didn't look upon me, I looked upon you. You didn't call out
to me, I called to you. And I said, I said, when you
were in your blood, I said, live. Live. Live. Oh, I tell you, it's our darkness
that leads us to His light. It's the absence of good that
leads us to His holiness. It's our guilt and filth that
brings us to the fountain that flows with blood. It's our dead
state that looks to Him for life. Bonar said this, He who comes
to God as a righteous man will be sent away empty. He that comes
to God as a partially righteous man will be sent away empty. He who comes to God as an unrighteous
man but is determined to do better will be sent away empty. But
he who comes to God as without strength, Without hope, unrighteous,
ungodly, unworthy, naked, in my hands no price I bring to
the gracious God I come to Christ I cling, he'll be received and
washed and cleansed and accepted. The justifier, he in all his
sovereignty, power, purpose, Covenant and grace in Christ
Who are the justified? sinners Sinners all right, what's
the justifying cause well for that I want us to look back to
Romans 3 Now our Lord is the justifier and he justifies the
chief of sinners But he must do it in a way that's consistent
with his character Now, I don't know, this world seems to, well,
they don't know God. They don't know the God of the
Bible. They don't have even a suspicion
of who He is. His holiness, His justice, His
righteousness, His truth, they just do not know Him. That's
the reason there's no fear of God before their eyes, because
they do not know God. And consequently, they can talk
about A salvation that's acquired by works, or morality, or law,
or accepting Jesus as your personal Savior coming to the front. But
a man who knows God, who knows that I am the Lord, holy and
reverent is His name. Righteousness, verity, and truth,
and judgment are His kingdom. A man who knows God knows that
though he justifies the chief of sinners, he must do it in
a way that is consistent with his holiness, with his righteousness. The judge of the earth must do
right. He cannot by hook or crook, he
cannot by finagling, he cannot by finding a loophole, he cannot
save sinners except one way. in a way that will declare him
to be just, righteous, and holy. That's right. So that's what
we have here in Romans 3, verse 24. Being justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation a covering, a mercy seat, through
faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that have passed through the forbearance of God. This
goes for the Old Testament people too. To declare, I say at this
time, His righteousness that He might be just. That He might
be just. He will be just. He is just. That He might be just and the
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. The blood of Christ
enables God to be just and justify. Because it washes our sins and
our filth and our guilt away. Presents us holy. The righteousness
of Christ, His perfect obedience, presents us before God, holy,
and enables God to be just and justify. over there at Ezekiel
when he passed by that infant, polluted in its blood, none I
pitied thee. I saw thee, I passed by thee. I said unto thee, live. It was
a time of love. And I said unto thee, live. When
you were in your blood, I said, live. Live. And I spread my skirt
over you. And I entered a covenant with
you. And you became mine. and I washed you, and I anointed
you with oil, and I clothed you, and I shod you, and I girded
you, and I covered you with silk, and I decked you with ornaments,
and I put a crown on your head, and you were exceedingly beautiful,
embraced loved and accepted, and you became my bride, my beloved. And you were beautiful through
my comeliness that I put on you." He did it in such a way that
he's just and justified. Yes, a man's justified by faith. But really, he's justified by
Christ through faith. Now, fourthly, the justifying
instrument. Turn with me to Romans 1. Let's
look at Romans 1 for this. Romans 1, verse 16. Now, the
just shall live by faith. It says this, let's read it.
For I am not ashamed, Romans 1, 16. I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. the good news of Christ, His
blood, His death, His satisfaction, His atonement, His righteousness,
His intercession. This gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believe it. To the Jew first
and also to the Greek, there's no difference. And for therein,
in that gospel, is the righteousness of God, the holiness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. Now, my friends, it doesn't say
that just shall live by strong faith. It doesn't say that just shall
live by great faith. It doesn't say that just shall
live by perfect faith. It says that just shall live
by faith. But that faith is in a strong and a great and a perfect
Savior. There's the difference. Abraham
believed God, that God was able to do what He said. Paul stood on the deck of that
ship about to sink and he says, I believe God. Don't jump over
the side, stay where you are. I believe God. It's going to
be exactly like He said. That's what I'm talking about.
Not great faith, not strong faith, not perfect faith, just faith.
I believe God. Not like I ought to. Not like
I want to, not like I'm going to, but God knows I believe Him,
based on what He said. I believe He's able to do what
He said. Don't you? He's able to do what
He said. The object of my faith is Christ,
and the foundation of my faith is twofold. I know people usually
say, well, the object of faith is Christ, looking to Christ.
That's right. And the foundation of faith is His Word. It is. But the reason that our foundation
can be His Word is He's got the power to do what He says. I might
say something, but I can't get it done. See what I'm talking
about? Abraham believed God was able
to do what He said. God not only was going to do
what He said, but He was able to do it. He's able to do the
most impossible. That's what you read tonight.
Nothing is impossible with God. But the key is, if He says it,
You see, now let me give you six things that I picked up this
week. Number one, faith without works
is sufficient for salvation. Secondly, we believe that all
our sins, all of them, past, present, and future, are forgiven for Christ's sake.
You say, well, doesn't everybody believe that? Oh, no. No. Past, present, and future. Sins
I haven't even committed are under the blood. We believe that
we stand before God perfect as if we had never sinned. Fourthly,
we believe that no good works, most people believe that, no
good works alter our standing before God. But wait a minute,
no bad works alter it either. And that said, come on now, this
is faith. Faith believes that no good works
and no failures alter my standing before God. I'm in Christ. Now
God may be displeased with me, and God may chasten me, and God
may deal with me, yea, even harshly, but He still loves me. And just
your children, I'm a daddy, and I love my children, my grandchildren.
Nothing changes their standing. I like it when they're obedient,
but I love them when they're not. That's right. Their works didn't make them
my children, their works don't keep them my children. Their
bad conduct is not going to change my love. That's faith now, and
that's what these Catholics hated it. They hated it. Fifthly, in fact, we believe
that actually we don't have any works. That's how it comes down
to it. We don't have any works. Even our righteousness is a filthy
rags. That's how much we believe in
His works. We don't even have any. It's shot full of sin, the best
we can do. Not the labor of my hands can
fulfill His law's demands. My righteousness is a filthy
rag. The very best I can do, the best
I can think, the best I can say, the best I can give is unacceptable
to God, except in Christ. I believe that. And fifth, sixthly,
we believe that all, now what's this, all who are justified,
are loved and received into equal glory and grace. And all believers
are equally loved, equally rewarded, equally sons and daughters with
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David, and all the rest of
them. Don't you think there's going
to be seven judgments and some crowns handed out Back patting
and, no sir, I do not. I believe we're going to be rewarded,
but Christ is my reward. Christ is my reward. The word
rewards, plural, is not in the Bible reference to a believer.
But the word reward is, I am the exceeding great reward. That's
right, in every believer. When you preach like that, You just can't get people to
do things. Well, good. Good. What we do and give and
are ought to be motivated because we love Him. Now, of course,
some preacher carries a whip and a promise of reward and a
threat and that sort of thing. That's right. That's faith. Justifying
faith. All right, last. Here's the glory
of it all. Let's turn to Philippians 3.
Philippians chapter 3. Here's the glory of it all. The Apostle Paul came to consider
all of his so-called righteousness and works and religion, and he
said in verse 7, these things that were gained to me, I counted
loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. for whom I've suffered the loss
of all things, and I do count them but garbage, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him." That's what Martin Luther learned.
He was found in the church. He was found in the ministry.
He was found in his works. He was found in all these things
till one day he was found in Christ. Where's your hiding place
and my hiding place? found in him, found in him, not
having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith." Ah, when that prodigal son came home,
he came to himself, and he said, servants in my father's house
are better off than I am. I'm going to go home. I'm going
to say to my father, Father, I've sinned against heaven and
in your sight, and I'm not worthy to be called your son. Make me
as a hired servant." And the father hugged him and kissed
him when he came, and the father said, hey, bring out the best
rose. The best rose. You know what
I believe? I believe they must have taken
all his old rotten, dirty garments off him and burned them. And
then the father said, put on him the best rose. best robe. And it's the best robe in which
we're clothed and made beautiful. And it's the best robe in which
we're fit to enter His presence. And it's the best robe that enables
us to sit at the potter's table. And it's not a disguise. It's
an everlasting righteousness by faith in Christ. Some old hymn writer wrote this,
Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are my glorious dress. Mid flaming worlds in these arrayed,
with joy shall I lift up my head. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who ought to my charge shall lay. Fully justified in
Christ I am, from sin from fear, from guilt, from shame. Justified by faith. Thank God. All right, let's sing a closing
hymn. Mike, you come and announce the
number, if you will.