Justified By Faith

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

The Bible teaches that we are justified by faith through Jesus Christ, who fulfills the law and bears our sins. Justification by faith is a central doctrine in Christianity, found prominently in Romans 5:1, which states that we are justified by faith, established in our faith in Jesus Christ. This doctrine emphasizes that righteousness comes through belief in Christ's work rather than by our own deeds. Romans 5:19 articulates the contrast between Adam's disobedience leading to condemnation and Christ's obedience leading to righteousness. This underscores the need for faith in Jesus, who as the second Adam, rectifies the fall brought by the first Adam, granting believers a standing before God based on His perfect obedience.

Q: How do we know that original sin is true?

Original sin is affirmed in Scripture, illustrating that through Adam's disobedience, sin and death entered the world. The doctrine of original sin is clearly articulated in Romans 5:12, stating that by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; thus, death passed upon all men. This foundational belief posits that through Adam's sin, all humanity is born with a sinful nature, estranged from God. David's acknowledgment in Psalm 51:5 that he was conceived in sin further supports the understanding that sin is inherent in human nature since birth. The concept of original sin is crucial to understanding the need for redemption through Christ, the second Adam, highlighting the universal condition of humanity's separation from God due to Adam's transgression.

Q: Why is faith in Christ essential for salvation?

Faith in Christ is essential for salvation because He is the only one who can satisfy God's justice and provide righteousness. Faith in Christ is foundational for salvation as it is through His obedience and sacrificial death that we receive righteousness. Romans 5:17 states, 'For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one man, Jesus Christ.' This highlights the principle of representation: just as Adam's sin affects all humanity, Christ's righteousness offers salvation to those who believe. Without faith in Christ, who bore the judgment for our sins, there is no redemption or reconciliation with God. He declared Himself as the way to the Father, solidifying that belief in Him is the exclusive path to eternal life.

I'm going to be speaking to you
today from the fifth chapter of Romans. Now I'll be reading
several verses of scripture and I'd like so very much if you'd
get a Bible and follow along with me as I speak to you on
the subject justified by faith. Now if we pay attention and if
the Spirit of God's pleased to speak through me today We'll
learn some things about this subject justified by faith. Will you open your Bibles to
the book of Romans chapter 5? Now here's our text, verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man shall
many be made righteous. Now if someone were to ask you
personally, if they were to ask you, how did man get in this
state of spiritual darkness? We're in spiritual darkness.
We're in condemnation, under sentence of death because of
sin, separated from God. If someone were to ask you personally,
how did we get in the mess we're in? How was man separated from
God? Why? Why are our hearts and our
wills and our souls so full of sin and so full of rebellion
and so full of corruption and enmity against God? The natural
mind is enmity against God and holiness and righteousness and
truth. Now what happened? What brought
all this about? What put us in this state of
darkness, death, sin, guilt, Corruption well according to
the scriptures now you turn to that passage Romans chapter 5
according to the scriptures The reason we're in the mess we're
in is because our father Adam Now God made one man. He made
Adam. He said let us make man and he
made Adam called Adam red earth Adam was taken from the dust
of the earth and He was created in the image of God without sin. The scripture says holy and upright. And Adam was the head of the
whole human race. That was the beginning of the
human race. When God made Adam, that was the first man, the only
man God ever made. All others came directly from
him. We can trace our roots right
back to Adam. Adam is called the federal head.
He's called the beginning of the human race. He is, according
to the Scriptures, the representative of the whole human race. And
as our head, we stood in Him. And when He fell, we fell in
Him. When He sinned, we sinned in
Him. Adam sinned, and we sinned in
Him. He was the head of the human
race. We were all in His loins. And through Him, sin and death
and judgment passed upon all men. Now, you may say, well,
preacher, can you make good on that? I certainly can. If you'll
read, look at that scripture I told you to open to, Romans
chapter 5. Adam, God made Adam. And when
He made Adam, He made the whole human race. And we all stood
in Him. We're represented by Him. He's
the head of the whole human race. And when He sinned, we sinned. When He fell, we fell. spiritually
we die. Now let me show you that. Turn
to Romans chapter 5 and let's look first of all at verse 12.
Now listen to it. If words can mean anything at
all, then these words are clear and plain. It says in Romans
5.12, For by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men. For in him, in him, all sin. You see that? That's pretty clear,
isn't it? All right, look at verse 15, same chapter, Romans
5, verse 15. I'm just going to read part of
this verse and part of a few others because then we'll come
back later and read the other part. But the first part here
refers to our relationship with Adam, how that we stood in him,
how that we fell in him, how that because of his Representation
because of his sin then sin and darkness and death was passed
upon us listen to Romans 5 15 Through the offense of one all
are dead dead God said Adam in the day you eat of the forbidden
tree you die and Adam ate and he died. He died spiritually.
He didn't die physically He lived many years after that physically,
but he died spiritually And you can see the results of that fall,
the results of that sin. Before Adam fell, he walked with
God. But after he ate the forbidden
fruit, he ran from God. Before Adam fell, before he sinned,
Adam was naked and didn't know that he was. He had no thought
of sin or imagination of sin. Both the man and his wife had
no clothes on, but they weren't embarrassed. They didn't feel
any guilt at all. But after he fell, He began to
sow fig leaves together and try to cover himself. Before he failed,
God gave him this precious wife, helpmate. He called her Eve,
mother of all you know, and talked about his care for her after
he failed. He wanted God to blame her for
his condition. He says, not my fault, it's the
woman you gave me. And on and on, he hid from God,
he ran from God, he tried to cover his nakedness, he had anger
against his wife. He had self-righteousness. He
tried to excuse himself because of his fall. This is all the
result of death, spiritual death, lack of holiness, lack of righteousness,
and the condition of Adam. And these things have passed
on to us. The reason you understand what
I'm talking about is that's the way we are. Look at verse 17,
Romans 5, 17. By one man's offense, By one man's offense, death reigned. By one man's offense. Who was
the one man? It was Adam. When did it happen? In the beginning. Where did it
happen? In the Garden of Eden. Why did
it happen? As a result of Satan's temptation.
Adam listened, Eve listened to Satan, and they rebelled against
God, and so death passed upon all men. Isn't that clear? If
someone asks you, how did we get in the mess we're in? How
did spiritual death and condemnation and corruption pass upon all
men? Why is our nature like it is? Why is it so much easier
to do wrong than to do right? Why does sin come so easily for
us? Our nature's sin. It's a principle
that lives within us, and we got it from our Father Adam.
Look at verse 18. Listen to this. For by the offense
of one man, Judgment came upon all men to condemnation by one
man's offense. And then that text that I read
for you a moment ago, verse 19, For by one man's disobedience
many were made, became sinners. And that sin is passed on by
natural generation through conception and birth. David wrote about
it in Psalms. In Psalms 51, he said, In sin
my mother conceived me. I was shapen in iniquity. I was
brought forth speaking lies. I came forth from the womb, estranged
from God with all of these potentials and possibilities and principle
of sin within me. Nothing, my friends, nothing
could be clearer than this fact. I don't know how to make it plainer.
I don't know how to make it clearer by one man. Isn't that what it
said? Sin entered into the world. And death by sin, death and darkness,
disease and condemnation passed upon all men. For in that one
man everybody sinned." That's what it says in the Scripture.
I just read it to you. You know, I wish you'd search the Scriptures
to see if these things be so. It's not a matter of what I think
or what some other preacher thinks or what you think. It's not a
matter of our tradition or what's been handed down by our fathers.
Somebody said, well, that's not what I've been taught. Well,
that's not the issue. The issue is the answer to that
question. How did we get in the mess we're in? How did we get
separated from God? How did death and condemnation
become our way of life when God didn't make man that way? Man
wasn't made to die. He said God made him in holiness. God made him in uprightness.
God made him in his own image. But he sought out many inventions.
And that one man, you see, I read it to you over and over and over
again, Romans 5, 12, 15, 17, 18, and 19. By one man, Senator,
through the offense of one man, all are dead. By the offense
of one man, judgment came upon all men. By one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. That's where it started. That's
where it came from. And that's how it came upon us.
Now then, here's a second question. If someone were to ask you, well,
how can we be delivered out of this mess we're in? Is there
a way of life? Is there a way of forgiveness? Is there a way of justification?
Is there a way of deliverance from this state of death? and
darkness and condemnation. Is there life for death? Light
for darkness? Deliverance from condemnation?
Well, according to the same scriptures, reading the same, right there
where you're looking, Romans 5, according to the same scriptures,
the way out of the mess we're in, the way out of death and
condemnation and darkness is really by the same way We got
in this mess by representation, by substitution, by the work
of another. In other words, by man, Paul
wrote this in I Corinthians 15, by man came death. By man came
the resurrection of the dead. By one man, sin entered this
world. By one man, the God-man, righteousness
and holiness and life came into this world. Christ said, I am
come that they might have life. Now let's look at some of the
scriptures. That's what it says in 1 Corinthians 15, as in Adam
we die, so in Christ we're made alive. By man came death, by
man came the resurrection. Now listen to the same scriptures.
I'm going to turn back to Romans chapter 5. And I'm now reading
the second part of each of these verses. You note it there in
your Bible. Take your pen, underscore it,
take notes. Study these things. That's what the, that's what
the noble Bereans did. They searched the scriptures
to see if these things be so. Romans 5, 15. Got it? Romans 5, 15. For if through
the offense, the offense, the guilt of one, many be dead, much
more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one
man, Jesus Christ. hath abounded to many." By one
man's sin and disobedience and rebellion, we became sinners.
He represented us. There was imputed to us and imparted
to us a nature of evil. Even so, by another man, by the
second Adam, first Adam is of the earth, earthly, the second
Adam is the Lord from heaven. So by the obedience of another
man, the God-man, And by the sacrifice and righteousness of
another man, we can have holiness. We got sin through Adam. We get
righteousness through Christ. Look at verse 17. Look at it,
Romans 5, 17. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance and the
gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one man, Jesus Christ. You see it there? Romans 5, 17.
Look at verse 19. By one man's disobedience, the
many were made sinners. In other words, everybody who
was in Adam's loins when he sinned died in him. Now, who is that?
Well, that's you and me. That's every human being. That's
everybody in America and Australia England, Mexico, Canada, Germany,
Spain, France, Africa, you name it, everybody. Our roots can
be traced back to Adam. So by Adam's sin, by one man's
sin entered the world and death by sin, so death passed upon
all people, all men. All the sin comes short of the
glory of God. By that one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners, everybody who was in Him, everybody represented
by Him, everybody who was in that covenant of works of which
He was the representative. So, see that word, so? Even so,
by the same token, by the obedience of one, shall the many be made
righteous. In other words, Christ Jesus
was a representative man. He came into this world as our
federal head as our representative. God sent him as a covenant head,
covenant head of a people. Now, I don't know how it can
be made any plainer. I just do not know. The second
Adam, that's what he's called. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. The first man, Adam, in him we died. Second man, Christ,
the Lord from heaven, in him we live. Galatians 4 verse 4
and 5 says this, In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son
made of a woman. Now, God made the first man out
of the dust of the earth. And He said, Dost thou art to
dust, shalt thou return? That first man was made of the
dust of the earth and everybody came from his loins. Even the
woman was made from that first man. God caused the deep sleep
to fall upon Adam and took a rib from his side and made a woman.
She was under his headship represented by him. And in that first man,
Adam, that's where we came from. But the second Adam is the Lord
from heaven. He was made of a woman. The Holy Spirit came upon that
virgin and conceived in her the Son of God. God prepared a body
for him. Now if you look at what happened
in the garden, now this, I'm going to get real personal here
now. You listen to me carefully. If you look at what happened
in the garden when that first man who represented all of us
sinned, you'll see that this state of guilt and condemnation
and death was universal. Universal. I had a fellow come
to our church one time years ago, and he went away and said
this. He said, that's the first preacher
I ever heard say publicly from the pulpit that he's a sinner.
Well, my friend, that ought not to be, because the Scripture
says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The
Scripture says that death passed upon all men. The Scripture says
all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. The Scripture says there's none
that doeth good, no, not one. There is no difference between
the Jew and the Gentile. All have sinned. This fall of
Adam was universal. All who are in Him and all who
are by Him and all who are from Him and all who are of Him are
sinners, universally so. Actually, God says, from the
sole of our feet to the top of our heads, we're sinners. Nothing
good in us. None good. No, not one. None
that understandeth. They all do fade as the leaf.
Even our righteousnesses in God's sight are filthy rags. That's
true. Let me shock you. This state
of death, darkness, and sin is not only universal, not only
universal, but it's unchangeable, unchangeable by any human means
or any human effort or any deeds or any works or any religion
or any profession. That old heart of yours, you
can't change it. Now, God can. but you can't.
Your record, you can't do anything about it. Now God can, but you
can't. Your state of darkness and death
and wickedness and condemnation, you can't change. By the deeds
of the law, no flesh shall be justified. That's what God says,
not by works of righteousness which we've done. In the flesh
dwelleth no good thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. I say that what happened in the
garden as a result of Adam's sin and rebellion, that condemnation
and guilt and sin and death passed upon all men universally. There's
none that doeth good. There's none that seeketh after
God. There's none that understandeth. There's none without sin. If you say you have no sin, you're
a liar and the truth's not in you. And if you say you have
not sinned, you make God a liar. You deceive, my friend, you're
a sinner. And the disciples asked the Lord this question, well,
who can be saved? Who then can be saved? You know
what the Lord answered? With men, it's impossible. With men, it's impossible. Sinner save thyself is an impossibility
Spiritual death listen to me is universal Spiritual death
is unchangeable as far as human effort and works a concern You
know how Paul described us in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12.
He said at that time You were without Christ Having no hope
and without God in this world Now, let's go back to that question
that the disciples asked the master, then who can be saved? And our Lord said, with men,
it's impossible, impossible, but, but, and I thank God that
he added this next statement, but, with God, all things are
possible. What I can't do, God can do.
That's what I'm saying. You can't change that heart of
yours, but God can give you a new heart. You can't change your
record, but God can send His Son down here and wipe it out
and cover it, blot it out and give you a new record, a new
name. You can't change yourself, but
God can change you. You see, that's what I'm saying.
Listen to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2 describes what we
were. You had the quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sin. In times past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom we all had our conversation in times
past in the lust of our flesh, in the lust of our minds, in
the pride of life. And we were children of wrath,
even as others, all men, but God. But God, oh, the impossibility
of restoration, the impossibility of change, the impossibility
of deliverance. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in trespasses and sins, hath quickened us to gather with
Christ by grace, you saved and hath raised us up together and
he hath made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus yes with men it's impossible but not impossible with God for
with God all things are possible but the key is here the laws
got to be honored so God sent a man to do it Justice has got
to be satisfied. So God sent a man that could
do it. You see what I'm saying? By one man, sin entered the world,
death by sin. So death passed upon all men.
By one man's disobedience, we were all made sinners. By one
man's sin, judgment, and condemnation passed upon all men. God's holy
law still stands, and God said it must be obeyed. By any man
who's justified, by any man who's accepted, by any man whom God
receives, that law has got to be honored. With men, it's impossible. But God sent the man, the man
Christ Jesus. The God-man came into this world.
Not impossible with him. He was made in the likeness of
flesh, tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. He honored the law. He said,
I always do those things that please my heart. always. Which of you can charge me with
sin, he said. Even Pilate said, I find no fault
with him. The heavenly Father said, this
is my son in whom I'm well pleased. That Adam, that second Adam,
that Lord from heaven, read I Corinthians 15 for me. Read that sometime.
That second man, the Lord from heaven, honored the law fully
by one man Adam's disobedience. We were made sinners by that
other man's obedience. we were made righteous. He honored
the law. Yeah, but what about justice?
God's unbending, uncompromising, unyielding justice. The soul
that sinneth shall surely, surely die. You think God will take
that back? He can't and be God. All right,
with me it's impossible. We've sinned, we've dishonored
God's law, we've bucked His justice, we've got to meet it head on.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute, hold it. That man, Jesus Christ,
came and he met that justice on the cross of Calvary and he
paid the debt in full. It's paid. Jesus paid it all. All the debt I owe, sin, leprosy,
crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. There
is a way out of the mess we're in. There is
a way for God to be just. and yet justify folks like you
and me. There's a way for man to be clean
that's born of a woman. Job asked how. There is a way
to God. There's a way to righteousness.
There's a way to righteousness for folks like you and me and
fellowship with God. And that way is Jesus Christ. That way is by the righteousness
of the Son of God, by the death of the Son of God who said, I
am the way. I am the truth. And I am the
life, and no man cometh to the Father but by me. With men, impossible,
but with God. Peter spoke in the book of Acts
chapter 13. He said, Be it known unto you men and brethren that
through this man, by man came death, by man came life, that
through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. And by this man, All who believe,
can you believe? Has God given you faith to believe?
All who believe are justified, justified freely, forgiven, absolutely
delivered from all things, all sin, all evil, all rebellion,
all death, from which you could not be justified by works or
by the law. Oh, I tell you that's good news.
And that's our gospel justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham believed God was counted
to him for righteousness. And it'll be given to us if we
can believe on him who justifies the ungodly. You want this message
on tape to study it, right? I'll send it to you. Send us
$2. That'll take care of the mailing costs. Justified by faith. And on the other side will be
another message. I'll bring next week. All right, until next Lord's
Day, Henry Mahan bidding you goodbye and God bless you.

Justified By Faith

What does the Bible say about justification by faith?

How do we know that original sin is true?

Why is faith in Christ essential for salvation?

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About Henry Mahan

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Justified By Faith

What does the Bible say about justification by faith?

How do we know that original sin is true?

Why is faith in Christ essential for salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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