Righteousness By Faith

Q: What does the Bible say about righteousness by faith?

The Bible teaches that righteousness is obtained through faith in Christ alone, as expressed in Romans 10:4. Righteousness by faith is a core tenet of Christian doctrine, underscoring that the only way to attain righteousness before God is through faith in Jesus Christ. As Paul states in Romans 10:4, 'Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes.' This indicates that all that God requires for acceptance—His holiness and justice—is fulfilled in the person of Christ. Righteousness is not something we achieve through our own merit or adherence to the law, but a gift received through faith and belief in Christ's finished work on the cross.

Q: How do we know that justification by faith is true?

Justification by faith is affirmed in Scriptures such as Romans 3:28, highlighting that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Justification by faith is a biblical doctrine that assures believers that they are declared righteous before God solely based on their faith in Jesus Christ, rather than their works. Romans 3:28 states, 'Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.' This affirmation emphasizes that Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection are sufficient for our salvation. The believer's faith in Christ's completed work grants them an unshakeable foundation for justification, freeing them from the burden of trying to earn righteousness through their actions.

Q: Why is faith in Christ important for Christians?

Faith in Christ is vital for Christians because it is the means by which they are saved and receive righteousness before God. Faith in Christ is paramount for Christians because it is through this faith that they are reconciled to God. The Gospel presents that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and it is only by placing trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior that one can be saved from the penalty of sin. Romans 10:9 encapsulates this, stating, 'If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.' This assurance of salvation through faith is what empowers Christians to live and grow in their relationship with God, securing their position as accepted in His sight.

Q: What is the role of grace in salvation?

Grace is the unmerited favor of God that allows sinners to be saved through faith in Christ, not by works. The role of grace in salvation is foundational in Reformed theology, signifying that salvation is a gift from God that cannot be earned. Ephesians 2:8-9 illustrates this clearly: 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.' This signifies that no amount of human effort or righteousness can attain salvation; it is solely by God's grace that we are saved through our faith in Christ. This understanding keeps believers humble and reliant solely on Christ's work for their righteousness and acceptance before God.

I want you to open your Bibles
with me to the book of Romans, chapter 10. Now, too often when a preacher
announces such a familiar text as the one that I have chosen
tonight, especially in the light of the fact that I've preached
from it so many, many times The tendency, perhaps, is to
say, well, I know what that says. I've read it. I've heard it read. I've heard it preached from so
many times before. But have we really heard it? Have we really received it? Have
we really believed it? Such an important scripture as
this which is before us tonight deserves to be considered over
and over and over again. Am I established in the faith
of Christ Jesus? Do I really believe on the Son
of God? Will I continue in the faith? There's a scripture over here,
let me just read it to you, don't you turn to it. The time has
come that judgment must begin at the house of God. At the house
of God, where people congregate in the name of God, where the
word is read in the name of God, where people use the name of
God. And that's self-judgment and
self-examination. And if it first began at us,
where shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely
be saved, if the righteous with difficulty be saved, where shall
the ungodly and sinner appear? I frankly, and I say this over
and over again, I've been preaching a long, long time. And you may weary of hearing
me say that, but nevertheless, the longer you live and the longer
you preach, the more you experience and the more you see and the
more the lives you touch. And I frankly
just do not believe that most church members and religious
people are really committed to Christ. I just don't believe
it. I just don't believe that there
are a lot of people, I believe there are a lot of religious
folks, and I believe there are a lot of people who claim to
be Christians. But as far as a commitment to Christ and to
the gospel, and to saving faith. I just don't
believe it. There's too much pettiness and
smallness and frivolity and lack of commitment. There's just too
much of it. They get religious on Sunday,
but all those times in between is what is so revealing. I've seen many quit. I've seen
many lose interest. I've seen many express a great deal of interest
for a given length of time, and then that commitment seems to
wane, and they become taken up with other things. And I'm not
talking about just people in the pew, I'm talking about people
in the cubit in the pulpit. Men with great zeal and fire
and great plans and objectives and then they're gone. And this is worrisome and bothersome
because it seems to me that the pattern ought to be the opposite. The pattern ought to be we begin
in an investigative manner with some interest in the gospel. Like Paul said of Timothy, from
a child thou hast known the holy scriptures that are able to make
thee wise unto salvation. And we begin with an interest
and with an investigation and with an open ear. We don't just
grab hold of everything that comes by, but we count the cost. See what this commitment involves,
and where it's going to lead us, where it's going to take
us. And then as God opens our hearts and our ears and our eyes
to behold His glory in Christ, that we lay hold upon Christ
and He becomes more precious, and He becomes more wonderful,
and His gospel becomes more interesting. and we grow in grace and in the
knowledge of Christ and the end of the journey is with more commitment
and interest and desire and joy than when we started. You see men get hold of a fad
and they just bounce off the ceiling. It's a fad, it's something
that comes and goes. That's like our young people,
they're always changing the way they do their hair They'll grow
a mustache and shave it off. They'll grow a beard and shave
it off. They'll wear this kind of clothes and take them off
and wear some other kind. It's always fads, you know, and
that's the way, that's dangerous if it has to do with God, because
He's the same yesterday, today, and then. And the order in Scripture
is babes in Christ, young men, and what? Elders. Today's religion is you start
off an elder, and then you start losing interest. You start off
knowing everything. You start off like, let's say
one of those red wasps is biggest when it's born, and they've got
all the answers. You know, walk down the aisle,
make a profession, memorize a birth description, got all the answers,
start teaching Sunday school, and then ten years they're gone.
That's not the way. But you start off with your mouth
shut. And your ears open, like a little child does in school.
He doesn't graduate around here until 16 years later. But we
graduate and then we lose interest. You follow what I'm saying? This,
it bothers me. That's troublesome. That anyone,
what does Hebrews 13 say? You want to turn over there a
minute? Hebrews 13. Let me show you something here.
Is that where that is? Where it says it's better that
they, that's in 2 Peter, it's better that they didn't, here
it is in 2 Peter 2. This is where I'm looking at.
2 Peter 2. Listen to this. Verse 20. 2 Peter
2.20. After they have escaped, 2 Peter
2.29, the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They make a profession and they
escape certain pollutions of the world, make a decision, join
the church and reform and clean up and so forth. They're again
entangled therein, the pollutions of the world, not just getting
drunk and lying in the gutter and that sort of thing. It just
means the lust of the flesh and the pride of life and the pride
of the eyes. They become interested in religion. Become interested
in the house of God. But then, listen, they again
become entangled therein in ambition and pride and the world and the
lust of the flesh and the pride of life and the lust of the eyes.
and become overcome. This is what happens. They leave
the pulpit. They leave the pew. They leave
the house of God. They're busy. They become entangled
again in the things they said they'd given up and they lost
interest. They become interested in Christ and they lost interest
in all the things of the world. But now they've gotten weary
of Christ and the gospel. Now they're back shooting at
that again. The ambition's back, the desire's
back, the world's back, the people of the world, the entanglement,
the entanglement is back. Watch it now. The latter end
is worse for them than the beginning, before they ever heard that gospel. Where they are now is worse than
if they'd never heard it. Where they are now is worse than
if they died pagans. Where they are now is worse than
if they died ignorant that there is a Jesus Christ. Better, listen, it had been better
for them not to have known the way of righteousness. That's
what I was talking about this morning. They can know it and
not believe it. They can know it and profess
it and not believe it. Then after they've known it,
to turn from that holy commandment. What is that holy commandment?
Follow me. If any man hate not his father,
mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, and his own life also,
he can't be my disciple. Follow me. Take up your cross
and follow me. Better they'd never heard it
than to have heard it and turned away. And that's what I'm talking
about. I'm talking about continuing
in the faith. Continuing whose house we are
if we hold fast the profession of our faith. And that's, I'm
going into this chapter now with that in mind. Death's too sure
and eternity's too long and hell's too awful for me to miss Christ. For me to miss Christ. And what
this is contending here is that most people who miss Christ without knowing that they've
missed Christ is because they do have a refuge other than Christ. That's right. These people to
whom he's writing here are not the pagans, but the religious
folks. Now listen to this in verse 1,
Paul says, My heart's desire and my prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. He's talking about the synagogue
people. He's talking about the moral people. He's talking about
the religious people. He's talking about folks that
claim they know God, who say God is our Father. We have Moses
and the prophets. That's who he's talking about.
And he's saying here, my great desire and prayer to God, because
God's the only one who can save them. Open their ears and their
eyes. Not just to make a decision and join the church and reform
their lives, but that they be well saved. Come to know God. You see, in this day, and it's been going
on for a hundred years, we've reduced regeneration to a decision. Salvation involves regeneration. That is, a new birth. It involves
a work of God in the soul and the heart. New life. And we've
reduced that to your decision. You make the decision. We've
reduced repentance and faith to church membership. I heard
a pastor recently in this town talking about how many people
had joined the church since he'd been pastor there. Joined the
church. That's what it involves. That's what it involves, joining
the church. No, it's a personal experience
of grace in the heart between the sinner and God. It's not
joining the church. We've got people in this congregation
who are not even members of this church. but who are here faithfully
and loyally and who support this church and have for years. But
they're part of this church without joining. I don't see where joining
would change our relationship one bit. Do you? We've reduced this thing and
Paul says, I want them saved. I want them saved. This thing
of salvation is we have been saved, we're being saved, and
our salvation nearer than when we believe. It's a lifetime work. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, this is
the way it's translated truly. For by grace have you been saved. And 1 Corinthians 1 says, and
to them who are being saved, he's the power of God. And our
salvation is nearer than when we believe. If you quit, you're
not saved. Am I wrong in saying that, Elder
Tom? If you quit, you've missed Christ. John said that. He said, they
went out from us. And I'll tell you why. They never
were of us. For he said, one sure sign, if
they'd been of us, they'd have stayed with us. They cannot do
otherwise. A man can't do without eating.
And a believer can't do without the gospel. A man can't do without
warmth and water, and a believer can't do without Christ and the
Word. Can't do it. Oh, I can worship God out in
the woods. You could, but you don't. That's just fact. Usually when
I see a fellow go to the woods to worship, he's got a boat on
the back of his truck. Turn to John 4. Let me show you
something here that I don't know whether I've ever pointed this
out or not, but I will now. John 4, verse 39. Listen. You know, I talked about that
woman of Samaria. The Lord went down and preached
to her, and she went down and told the people of the town.
And this is the result. Listen. John 4, 39. And many
of the Samaritans of that city believed on him. Believed on
him. And I tell you, it was something
to believe on him then. He said, you've seen and believed.
Blessed are those that haven't seen and believed. Listen to
this. For the saying of the woman had
testified, he told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans
would come to him, they besought him, he would tarry with them.
And he stayed there two days, the Lord Jesus did. And many
more believed because of his own word. And they said to the
woman, now we believe. not because of your saying, we
have heard him ourselves. That's what I'm talking about.
Listen, and we know this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the
world. I want you to look up here at me and say, preacher, we believe not because of your
saying, I've heard him myself. Isn't that right? Or look at
anybody else and say, not because of what you said. I've heard
him myself. I've heard him. He spoke to my
heart. And you may quit. I never will. I shall not be moved. I'm like
a tree planted by the living water. I shall not be moved.
I know Christ. I know Christ. That's saved. That's Paul's prayer for these
people. We've got somehow in this generation,
we've got several grades of what you call Christians. Everybody's
a Christian. Everybody's going to heaven.
It's just different grades. Preachers are supposed to be
this, that, and the other. Deacons are supposed to be this,
that, and the other. The elders are supposed to be this, that,
and the other. The musicians supposed to be there. We kind
of got them graded like that, you know, but you don't expect
much out of me. Oh, yes, we do. God does. I don't think the body of Christ
has any grading processes at all, do you? When he said the
least member is just as important as the visible one. That's right. Oh yeah, I want to say it. Listen
to verse 2. He said, they have a zeal. I bear them record. I
know these religious people because I was one of them. That's what
one of the men said to me at the door this morning, talking
about the message I preached this morning. He said, we were
all headed that way. We were all looking for truths.
Truths. Searching for truth. And he revealed
to us the truth. And that opened the other truths,
didn't it? I found him. The key to all the
riches and all the knowledge of God is Christ Jesus. He's
the truth. I bear them record. They have
a zeal of God. But it's not according to knowledge.
And here's the proof of it. Here's the proof that men do
not know God. Verse 3. For they being ignorant
of God's righteousness. Ignorant of God's righteousness.
Now that's twofold. Ignorant of two things concerning
God's righteousness. Number one, his essential righteousness,
would you say? His holiness. The God that's
being preached today is not holy. He's impotent. But the living
God, the God of heaven and earth, is immaculately, infinitely,
indescribably holy. He's so holy that even Moses
could not look upon God and live. He's so holy that even Isaiah
the prophet, in God's presence, said, I'm undone, I'm cut off.
He's so holy that he crucified his son because he bore a sin. God is holy, just, and righteous. And I'll tell you, when preachers
start preaching the holiness of God, the righteousness of
God, the justice and truth of God, Sinners are going to start
trembling. There's no fear of God before
the eyes of the average religious person because the true character
and nature and attributes of God has never been preached to
this generation. He's a big old silly granddaddy
who sits up there with his tongue in his cheek and just about will
accept anything anybody will throw his way, like a dog looking
for a bone. But that's not the God of the
Bible. He's in complete charge. David said, Lord, when I consider
the things you've made, what is man that thou are even mindful
of them? Job described man in our Sunday
school lesson this morning. He said he's born a woman. He's
a few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower
that's cut down. He said, Lord, why should you
even condescend to look our way? Why would you condescend to even
look my way? God's holiness. People use the
name of God so flippantly, so carelessly, so indifferently. When the old Jew wouldn't even
use the name of God, the only name he'd use is Jehovah my Savior,
God my Savior, isn't that true? And another thing of which we're
ignorant is not only God's essential holiness, he dwells in a light
to which no man can approach. God will not speak to nor be
spoken to by anybody here in this congregation in the pulpit
to the back door without a mediator, without Christ Jesus. He will
not hear you. The president of the Southern
Baptist Convention a few years ago got in real trouble because
he said, because the Jews do not believe in Christ the Mediator,
God does not hear them when they pray. Well, I'll add to that,
and there are a lot of people who do believe he's a Mediator,
and God don't hear them either. God doesn't hear any man. God
hears Christ. That's all. That's a fact. He
doesn't hear anybody. If we get any entrance into God's
presence, it'll be through the Lord Jesus Christ interceding
for us. That's just so, because God's
too holy to listen to you or me the one. We pray in Christ's name. If
you ask anything in my name, my Father will do it, he said.
But it has to be in his name because of who he is. Not because
of who we are or what we've done. God's holy. But secondly, the
thing they're ignorant of is not only his essential personal
holiness, they're ignorant of the holiness he commands, and
requires, and must demand. And a holiness which he provides. And a holiness which he purposes
and purchased. And a holiness which he has reserved
for us in Christ. And instead of, listen and go
on, and instead of bowing to that holiness and looking into
it and trying to acquire it, they're going about to establish
their own righteousness. And they will not submit themselves
to the righteousness of God. They're going to provide their
own. This is clear proof that men do not know God. You want me to tell you a person
who does not know God? I tell you, I don't care how
much he talks about God, preaches about God, claims to know about
God. He does not know God if he seeks
to be accepted by God any other way than through Christ and Christ
alone. I don't care who it is. I don't
care if it's the Pope or the Jewish Rabbi or the leading pastor,
who it is. If he thinks that God will look
his way, or accept him, or do business with him, or receive
him on the basis of the fact he'd been a preacher, or he was
sprinkled as a baby, or walked down an aisle, made a profession,
and kneeled at an altar, and was baptized, and tithed his
income. and sang in the choir, and preached
the gospel, and witnessed, and won souls, and been faithful,
and stayed out of the beer joints, and walked straight and narrow.
If he thinks God Almighty is impressed by anything he's ever
done, said, thought, or given, he doesn't even know God. Is
that right? He's ignorant of God. You young people better listen
to me. Everybody's impressed by the
whoop-de-doo going on in religion today, but I'll tell you one
that's not impressed, God's not impressed. It's an abomination
to Him, and He'll spew it out of His mouth, and everybody connected
with it someday. The Father loves the Son, the
Father loves the Son, the Father loves the Son, and has given
all things into His hands, His hands. And he that hath the Son
hath life, he that hath not the Son of God will never see life,
no matter what the preacher says at his funeral. Your funeral's already been preached.
Don't waste your time. You're preaching it. It's already
been preached. Don't use anybody getting up
saying a bunch of words to make everybody feel better. That's
right. It's already been preached. If
he's interceding for you, then you'll receive. If he's not interceding
for you, I don't care what to say, you missed it. That's so
ignorant. Look at verse 4. Now here's what,
for Christ, Christ, one word, there's the summary of the whole
thing, one word, for Christ, is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. All that God is, all that God
requires, all that a sinner needs for acceptance with God is found
in one person, Christ. That's right. It's to know him,
it's to believe him, it's to love him, It's to cling to Him.
It's to continue in Him. It's to be in Christ. That's
right. Seek Christ. Lay hold of Christ. Lay hold of Christ. It's all
in one. To miss Him, to miss that union
with Christ, is to totally miss God and eternal life. It says
here in verse 4, Christ is the end. What's that word end mean?
Well, it means three things. Number one, it means He's the
goal of the law. In other words, you use that
word end as the word go. This is my end. This is what
I'm setting out to do. I do these certain things. What
is your end? That's my goal. And I'll tell
you Christ Jesus is why the law was given. To point men to Christ,
to turn men to Christ, to shut men up to Christ, to drive men
to Christ. The law wasn't given to save
anybody. There's dancing around a carriage naked when God gave
them the law. It wasn't given to save anybody.
The Levitical law, the moral law, no other law was given to
save. It was given to point men to
Christ. It was given to shut our mouths.
It was given to strip us. It was given to humble us. It
was given to show us what we are and to point us to Calvary. That's why the law was given,
isn't that right? Christ is the goal of the law. Secondly, He's
the satisfaction of the law. It's been satisfied. He said,
I didn't come to destroy the law. God's law is not destroyed. God's law lives as long as God
lives. It's the truth of God. And Christ
said, I didn't come to destroy it. I didn't come to whittle
it down and fix it so you could be saved some other way. The
law is never given to save. Nobody's ever been saved by keeping
the law. And they're not saved that way
now. He's the satisfaction of the law. He's the fulfillment
of the law. Christ Jesus met it and obeyed
it that we might have a perfect righteousness. In Him we kept
the law. Isn't that right? And then thirdly,
He's the end of the law in that He is the consummation of it
for righteousness. It's not do this and live. It's
He did that and we live. The law is not my rule of life,
Christ is. I'm not trying to find favor
with God by keeping the law, I find favor with God in Christ.
God looks with favor on him, and because I'm in him, God looks
with favor on me. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in him. So the law makes
no contribution whatsoever. See, righteousness is his name. Righteousness is his work. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Righteousness is his gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. And righteousness
is the name of his people. She shall be called the Lord,
our righteousness. All that God requires, all that
God demands, all that a sinner needs is found in Christ, our
Lord. And I'll tell you, not only does
he give us a righteousness legally, and a righteousness in our standing
before God, but he imparts to us a righteous nature. A righteous nature. Now look
at verse 4. So, now, here Paul adds this. If a man still, after all that,
insists on approaching God, any other way than Christ, then I'll
give you the way." That's what he says. If anybody here still
insists, I'll preach, I don't care what you say, I believe
our words count for something. All right. If that's the ground
on which a fellow wants to stand, Paul says, verse 5, Moses describes
the righteousness which is of the Lord. You want to go that
route? Then here it is, that the man
which doeth These things shall live by what he does. Now notice,
he didn't say, talk about the law. He didn't say, admire the
law. He didn't say, approve of the
law. He didn't say, aspire to it. He said two words, do it. Do it. From sunup to sundown
and even in your sleep, do it. From the day you were conceived
to the day you believe your last prayer. Do it. Do it. And the law, like a fellow said
to me one time, I think we ought to do the best we can. That's
not enough. The law requires that we do the
best he can. The best he can. So there it
is. There's the righteousness which
is of the law. That's the reason our Lord said
with me and it's impossible. Or verse 6, but, now here's what
we're interested in. Here's what I'm interested in.
Here's a sinner. Born a sinner. Sinner from the day Adam fell. Here's what I'm interested in,
verse 6, but the righteousness, the holiness, perfection, which
is of faith, which is the gift of faith. The grace of faith
speaketh on this wise. Now, don't say in your heart,
who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down.
And don't say, verse 7, who shall descend into the deep? That is
to bring Christ up again from the dead. And old John Brown
said this. Now listen, here's what he's
saying in those two verses. Do not think that divine justification
depends on anything else to be done. anything to be done by
you or anyone else. There's no reason to say, who
shall ascend into heaven and bring Christ down? He has already
come. That issue is settled. The Son
of Man has come. Lo, I come, O Lord, to do thy
will. He's already come. And don't
say, who shall descend into the deep to bring Christ up from
the grave? He is risen. He is exalted. He is seated at the right hand
of God. It's done. It's finished. It's
complete. The work of God in redeeming
sinners is absolutely complete in Christ. Nothing to be done
by anybody. Now, you don't even make this
statement, God will if you will. No, sir. God has already willed
and done the work. Nothing to be added. All right,
but now what verse 8, what does it say? The word, what is we
talking about, what word? We're talking about the word
of faith. You see, the word of faith. But the word is now thee
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is the word of faith
which we preach. This word of faith which we preach,
but which effectually accomplishes salvation is not in our mouth,
it's in yours. It's not in my heart, it's in
yours. You see what he's saying? It's not in the Bible. You say,
well, that gospel that saves is in the Bible. The gospel that
saves comes out of the Bible into your heart when it saves. It's not in the Bible, it's not
in the mouth of the preacher. It's in your heart and in your
mouth. This is one of our big problems.
We got somebody to believe for us up there. My pastor is Brother
Mayhem. My elders are Brother Coffin,
Brother Trabant, Brother Harding, and all these different men.
I got confidence in those men. We can't help you. My brother
said to me one time, bless his heart, he said, I hope you got
enough faith for both of us. It's not in my mouth, it's in
yours. Not in my heart, it's in yours.
Do you see what this is saying, John? The word of faith, the
word is now there, it's in your mouth, it's in your heart, that's
the word of faith which we preach. You're not righteous when I say
those words, you're righteous when you appropriate them and
believe them. You get what I'm saying? That's
when you're righteous. When you say back to me, John,
I don't believe because what you say, I believe because I've
heard him. I don't believe because that's our doctrine, and it's
logical and right. I believe because that's what
God taught me. God taught me. See? Verse 9? That is, if you will
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead, you'll be saved. That's
the word of faith. Now, I can speak for this sinner up
here. Like the Apostle Paul, I count but done every profession
and rededication and hour I ever walked. I count as done every
tithe I ever paid. I count as done every work I
ever performed in order to find favor with God. I count as done
and lost all these things because I've heard Christ in this heart,
and I know He's the Son of God. I know He's the only Redeemer.
I know He's the Lamb that taketh away our sin. I know that. I
believe that. I confess it again tonight. That
won't help you. It won't help my dearest buddy.
You've got to, yourself, stand up as if before God. I don't
mean before men. Don't move a hand nor a hair,
but before God. Lord, I believe. I believe. This is my life. This is my thought. This is my heart. This is my
commitment. This is everything. My soul,
my family, everything I've got is Christ. It's His. Lord, I
believe. Help thou mine unbelief. I give
myself to Thee. My son, God said, give me your
heart. Give me your heart. That's salvation. And I don't
care whether you're Baptist or Catholic or what you are, or
Armenian or Calvinist, you can be all those things and be lost.
But if you belong to Him, lock, stock and bail, with a personal
belief and commitment in your heart and with your mouth, I
believe you're saved. I believe you're saved. Brother
Barnard said to that lady one time, said, Are you saved? She said, Yeah, I've always been
a Christian. He said that's too long. That's
too long. There's a time when you come
to that place. There's a time when you come to that place.
Here I am. Here I am. Verse 10 says, With
the heart man believes unto righteousness, with the mouth confession made
unto salvation. For the scripture says, Whosoever
believeth on him will never be ashamed. What is it to believe
on Him? What is it to believe the record
God has given concerning His Son? What is it to believe? It's to rest in His person. It's
to rest. What is it to believe? It's to
find all you need in Him. It's to find in Him your bread
and your wine and your milk and your honey and all that you need.
All you enjoy other people, but you don't need them, you need
Him. I love this dear family and that
dear family, but honestly, you don't need me and I don't
need you, but I do need him. Without him I can do nothing.
Isn't that right? We're going to have to part some
day anyway, maybe we'll face it, but without him I can do
nothing. I do need him. I need him. It's to feast upon him. It's to continue in him. It's
to grow in him. It's to confess him. It's to
not be ashamed. Alright, look here at verse 12.
There's no difference. Paul uses that three times. There's
no difference. No difference in the way God
saves sinners. There's no difference. All of sin comes short of the
glory of God. And he says there's no difference between the Jew
and the Greek. The same Lord over all is rich unto all that
call on him. You say, can I come into this
thing? No reason why not. There's no
difference in the Jew or Gentile, male or female, bond or free.
I tell you, if God can save a wretch like me, he can save a wretch
like you. There's no difference. There's no difference. He's rich
to all that call on him, power, whosoever. There's been a lot
of misuse of this term, whosoever. Whoever sees, there's no difference.
Whoever sees the holiness of God, whoever sees that his own
sin, whoever justifies God in his judgment, whoever feels a
need of Christ, whosoever needs a righteousness, if you'll call,
it didn't say if you'll accept Jesus. It didn't say if you'll
let God work his wonderful plan. It doesn't say if he'll decide,
it says if he'll call. Like the publican, God be merciful
to me a sinner. Like the thief on the cross,
Lord remember me. Like the leper, Lord if you will
you can make me clean. Like blind Bartimaeus, Lord have
mercy on me. Like the Canaanite woman, Lord
have mercy on me. Call! Where? On the name of the
Lord. And I'll tell you his name's
who he is, his name's what he did, his name is why he did it,
his name is where he is. He has been given a name above
every name. That is the name of Jesus every
knee will bow. I'm not talking about a little
silly mechanical recipe, well I bring Jesus in Lord, I call
on his name. No, it's to call on his name. that mighty name, that powerful
name, that majestic name, that eternal name, that exalted name,
that saving name, that no other name, given among men, whereby we must
be saved. Call on the name. Whoso shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's a promise,
isn't it? That's a promise. How are they
going to call if they never have believed? Believed what? Who He is? What
they are? What's involved in this commitment? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they've not heard? And I'll tell you, if they keep
listening to what I hear called preaching today, they're not
going to hear. How shall they hear without a
preacher? who himself has heard, who's committed to the glory
of him who sent him. How shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they've not all obeyed the
gospel. Isaiah and every true prophet
of God has mourned the fact, Lord, who hath believed our testimony? Who hath believed our preaching?
Have you? So then, faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Alright, may God give us ears
to hear. Might come lead us in a closing
hymn, if you will.

Righteousness By Faith

What does the Bible say about righteousness by faith?

How do we know that justification by faith is true?

Why is faith in Christ important for Christians?

What is the role of grace in salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Righteousness By Faith

What does the Bible say about righteousness by faith?

How do we know that justification by faith is true?

Why is faith in Christ important for Christians?

What is the role of grace in salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book