Justified By Faith #2

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

The Bible teaches that justification is a free gift from God, received through faith in Christ. Justification by faith is central to the Gospel, as indicated in Romans 5, where Paul explains that through one man's righteousness, many are justified. This justification is a gift from God, recognized as not based on our works but entirely on Christ's obedience. Ephesians 1 affirms that we are blessed and chosen in Christ, highlighting the importance of His righteousness rather than our own. Believers can rest assured that their justification is secure, as it rests upon the finished work of Christ.

Q: How do we know that all people are sinners?

The Bible states that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God due to Adam's disobedience. According to Romans 5:12, sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, resulting in condemnation for all. This means that everyone who descends from Adam is born with a sinful nature. The concept is further reinforced by Paul's statement that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This universal sinfulness underscores the necessity of divine grace and the redemptive work of Christ, which enables salvation for those who are in Him.

Q: Why is Christ's obedience important for our salvation?

Christ's obedience secures our righteousness and is the basis of our justification before God. Christ's obedience is paramount because it was by His perfect adherence to the law that we are made righteous. Romans 5:19 clearly states that through one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. This is foundational to the Reformed understanding of salvation, which teaches that our righteousness before God is entirely based on Christ's merit and not on our works. Thus, when we place our faith in Christ, we are united with Him, and in Him, we are declared righteous before God.

Q: How does grace work in our lives according to the Bible?

Grace abounds in the life of a believer, overcoming sin and leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ. The Scriptures reveal that while sin abounds, grace does much more abound (Romans 5:20). This divine grace is the unmerited favor of God that not only saves but transforms. When we are in Christ, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life (Romans 5:21). It empowers believers to live in accordance with God’s will, not as a means to earn salvation, but as a response to the grace already bestowed upon them. Understanding this helps believers live in a state of gratitude and obedience, recognizing their dependence on God’s grace in all aspects of life.

Q: What does the Bible say about the perseverance of the saints?

The Bible assures that those who are truly saved will persevere in faith until the end. Perseverance of the saints is a comforting doctrine of the Reformed faith that assures believers of their ultimate salvation. Scripture teaches that once a person is truly called and justified, they will be preserved by God's power (Romans 8:30). As indicated in 1 Peter 1:5, believers are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, which is ready to be revealed in the last time. This means that true believers will endure trials and tribulations, but they will ultimately stand firm in their faith due to the divine assurance upheld by God's sovereignty.

Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift, free gift came upon all men unto justification
of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous." Moreover, the law entered that the offense
might abound, but where sin abounded, overflowed, grace did much more
abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through the righteousness, through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, there must be a work of
comparison going on here. Verse 18, therefore, as by the
offense. Verse 19, for as by one man's
disobedience. Verse 21, that as sin hath rank. So, back in verse 18, it tells
us, as Adam's sin, Adam's offense, led to judgment and condemnation
for whom? Well, the word is all, all men. Judgment, darkness, death, condemnation
to all men, all whom he represented, all who were in Adam when Adam
disobeyed God, when Adam fell, they fell. All of them. There
is no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. So Christ, that's what it says
in verse 18, even so, By the righteousness of one, by the
righteousness of the second Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, the pre-gift
came upon all men, all men under justification of life, all who
are in Christ, all who are in Christ. Now, we weren't present
physically when Adam sinned. I wasn't there physically. I
wasn't born until many years later, as you were, but I was
there in his loins, his seed. So when Adam sinned, I sinned,
as if I sinned myself. Do you understand that? As if
Adam's name was Henry. When Adam sinned, we were in
his loins, we were his seed, and when Adam rebelled against
We sinned against God. Turn to Romans 5, verse 12. Look back here a moment. Romans
5, 12. It says, "...wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
this world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men,
for in whom," that's what that says, "...for that all have sinned,
in whom all sin." We sinned, when Adam sinned, as if we had
done it ourselves. as if we had rebelled against
God ourself. We were in his Lord, we were
his seed. Now then, when the Lord Jesus Christ came into this
world, made of a woman, made under the law, and lived on this
earth thirty-three and a half years, was tempted and tried
in all points as we are, yet without sin, when he obeyed that
law, all who were in him by God's choice, by God's grace, by God's
divine purpose, obeyed that law in Christ. It is as if we obeyed
it ourselves. We were in Christ. We were his
seed. And when he went to the cross of Calvary and died, we
died with him. When he arose, we arose with
him. When he ascended, he took us with him. And we're seated
in Christ. Now you turn to Ephesians 1,
let me show you that, Ephesians chapter 1. We were not present
when Adam fell, but we fell in him, representative, our representative. We were not present physically
when Christ lived, obeyed, and died and rose again, but we were
in his loins, we were his seed, we were given to Christ. And
in Adam all died, all whom he represented. In Christ, all are
made alive. whom Christ represents. Ephesians
1, listen to verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us, blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. God has blessed
us in Christ. That's where we are, in Christ.
We were chosen in Christ. Look at the next verse. According
as he chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the that we
should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, according to
the good pleasure of his own will, to the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he made us accepted in Christ, in whom
in Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins. So one of the scriptures, turn
to Galatians 3, listen to this, Galatians chapter 3. Verse 16,
now, Galatians 3, 16, Now to Abraham and his seed were the
promises made, promises of life, promises of inheritance, promises
of glory. And he saith not as to seeds,
as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ.
Christ is Abraham's seed. And where do you come in? Well,
look at verse 29. And if you be Christ in him, then are you
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. You see what
I'm saying? My man came dead, my man came alive. In Adam we
died, in Christ we're made alive. When Adam sinned, we sinned,
as if we had stood there beside him. Rather, if we had been there
ourselves, we sinned. All, there is no difference,
all, A-L-L, all whom he represented. And he represents all men of
all nations, tribes, kindreds, tongues under heaven. We all
trace our roots to Adam. God never made but one man. And
he made us all in him. And when he sinned, we sinned
in him. And back before the foundation of the world, God gave to this
man Jesus Christ to people too. He made him surety of a new covenant. He made him surety, king of a
kingdom. He made him the federal head
of a church, of a kingdom, of a body, of a people. And when
he came down to this earth, stood on this earth and obeyed God's
law and died on that cross, every one of those people were in him
as we died in Adam, so we're made alive in Christ. Look at
the next verse. For as by one man's disobedience many were
made sinners," were made sinners. Now watch this, "...so by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Now, the words
were made and be made are important, important. Adam's sin didn't
put us on trial. Adam's sin didn't put us on trial.
Adam's sin didn't put us on probation. Adam's sin didn't even make us
susceptible to sin. Adam's sin made us sinners. See what that says? You know
what that says? It says by one man's disobedience, the many,
all in him, were made right then. I've been a sinner for 6,000
years. I don't know where we invented
the age of accountability. The age of accountability was
back there when Adam stood and fell. He was accountable. And
that's when we were made sinners. And when this, when the seed
of man is planted in the womb of our mothers, it's a sinful
seed. Got all the qualities and nature
of a corrupt rebel. against Almighty God. We're conceived
in sin, we're shapen or formed in iniquity, and we're brought
forth speaking lies. The wicked are strained from
the womb, they go astray as soon as they're born speaking lies.
A child doesn't become a sinner, he's born a sinner. Is that too
tough? Well, that's what it says. By
one man's disobedience we were made sinners. Now look at the
next line. By the obedience of Christ, shall
many be what? Well, they'll be savable, if
they fulfill certain requirements. No, that's not what it says.
Well, Christ's obedience will enable them to become righteous
by their works, or by their faith. No, it says here, by the obedience
of Christ, we were what? We were made righteous. Right
then, we were made righteous. By the disobedience of Adam,
we were made sinners. By the obedience of Christ, we
were made righteous. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. It says here, for he hath made
him to be sin for us. Christ was made to be sin, who
knew no sin. He literally actually took our
sins upon himself. He was made to be sin, imputed
to him, that we might be what? Made, the righteousness of God
in him. Christ, obedient, did not render
us savable. Christ's obedience saved us.
Christ's obedience did not make us able to become righteous at
some later time or date. In Christ we are perfectly righteous. He perfected forever them whom
he sanctified. All right, verse 20. Moreover,
the law entered, the law of God entered, that the offense might
abound. You see, the law The law of God was not given to save,
the law of God cannot save. The law of God came to make apparent
our need for salvation, to make apparent the evil that was in
us by birth and nature. The law comes and takes away
all excuses, all pretense, and reveals to us what we are guilty
before God. Turn over to Romans 3 and listen
to this. Romans 3, verse 19. Now we know that what the law,
what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
become guilty before God. The law entered that the offense
might abound, overflow, that it might become apparent the
evil that's in us by birth and by nature. And the law takes
away all the veneer, takes away all the pretense, takes away
all the hypocrisy, takes away all the alibis and excuses and
kills us. That's what Paul said, when the
law came, I died. It killed me. Show me what I
am. Show me what I am. But thank
God, listen to this, he didn't leave us there. Thank God he
didn't leave us there. It says that law entered that
the offense might become apparent, that it might overflow and abound,
but where sin abounded, grace, God's grace and mercy did much
more abound. Don't turn to this, but I was
listening to Bob read that scripture a while ago and it came with
such an impact. God has spoken once, twice, have
I heard this, that power belongs to God. Justice and power and
sovereignty also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy. Aren't we glad? Aren't we glad? The law entered
that the offense might overflow abound, but where that offense
and sin abounded, His grace did much more abound. Now listen
to verse 21. Verse 21 says, that as sin hath reigned under death,
and it has reigned, oh, it reigns over natural men, it reigns,
it dominates, it has dominion, it controls, it controls, and
it reigns under death, keeps men in bondage, in captivity,
unless Christ sets them free, keeps them in darkness. Keeps
them in blindness, keeps them where they can't hear, that if
sin hath reigned unto death, listen, even so might grace reign. God's grace. It's sovereign. It's irresistible. It's invincible. It reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin reigns universally. over all unbelievers, sin reigns
unchangeably unto eternal death over all of Adam's seed. Even
so, where the grace of God is given to sinners by the Holy
Spirit, that grace of God will reign, it will reign through
righteousness, through the righteousness of Christ unto eternal life,
unto eternal life. And that will be universally
over all whom he hath saved, over all whom he has purposed
to save, and unchangeably so. For whom he did foreknow, he
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. And
whom he did predestinate, he called. And whom he called, he
justified. Whom he justified, he will glorify. Now I want you to turn to that
psalm now that Bob read. I want to look at some verses
and point out four things to you. Here's what I'm saying. Here's what I'm saying. There
is a covenant, and there is a covenant nation. There is a covenant,
and there is a covenant Redeemer. There is a people whom our Lord
has purposed to save, and there is a people who will be All whom
he foreknew will be glorified. But there's some things that
go on in between here. There's some things that go on.
There's some things that God brings to pass. Now let me show
you some of these things, about four of them tonight. First of
all, verse 5, Psalm 62, verse 5 says this, My soul, wait. That's something that my generation
knows very little about, patience, waiting on God, waiting on the
Lord. This is the instant replay generation. This is the do it right now generation. But David talks a lot about waiting
on God, waiting on God. Wait thou my soul only upon God,
my expectation is from him. My expectation is for him. Now
here's what I'm saying. Number one, there is a time in
this pilgrimage through this world when every person that
we've been talking about in Christ, given to Christ, chosen in Christ,
redeemed by Christ, There'll come a time in this pilgrimage
through this world when every believer, every true child of
God, every sheep will hear the gospel of God's redeeming grace. He'll hear it. And he'll believe
it. And he'll embrace it in Christ. Every one of them. There'll come
a time when he'll hear that gospel. Now, he may have spent years
in sin. He may have spent years in evil
in the pursuits of the flesh, like the thief on the cross.
Would you ever have marked him out as a sheep of Christ? Would
you, in your wildest imagination, when they drug that man out of
prison and brought him out there and put him on that cross, would
you, even in your wildest dreams, would you have said, that is
one of God's elect? That's one of God's sheep. Would
you? But he was. The other one wasn't. And the
people around that cross weren't evidently. But that man was. And he'd spent all his life in
the most wicked, wicked pursuits. In fact, he was so wicked that
the wicked crucified him. Somebody said he was such an
outcast that the outcast cast him out. That's bad. But if he
weren't God's sheep, You'll hear the gospel. Secondly, oh, a man
or woman may have been outwardly moral. May have been a moral
person. May have been a person who lived
just the opposite from that fellow in honesty and integrity and
moral principles and clean life. Well, I think Nathanael was that
way. What did our Lord say when Nathanael
walked up? He said, Behold an Israelite
in whom there's no God. no hypocrisy. But he didn't know
God. But Christ brought him to himself.
And then, or he may have been raised in religion, like most
of us were. Brought up in a church, brought
up in a so-called Christian home, brought up in self-righteousness,
even making a profession of religion when we were eight, nine, or
ten years of age and got baptized and joined the church and came
to Sunday school and And all the vacation Bible schools made
the handwork and the crafts and sang the choruses, you know,
and stayed out of the beer joints and stayed away from the other
places and lived a good life. Solitarsis was that one. He claimed
to know God, but he didn't know God. He didn't know Christ. What I'm saying is this. Those
people I've been reading about, and Adam, everybody Adam represented,
died in him. They were made sinners. And I'm
saying that God, according to the good pleasure of his will,
in eternity past, before the foundation of this world, chose
a people from Adam's race and gave them to Christ. And loved
them in Christ, accepted them in Christ, redeemed them in Christ,
viewed them in Christ, everything in Christ. And there's going
to come a time in this life, whether they're 10 years old
or 100 years old, they're going to hear the gospel of Christ
and believe it and receive it. They're going to hear it. They're
going to meet him. Our God is going to cross their paths. Our
God is going to confront them. They may be in the pulpit. I
was. I was pastor of the church three years before I knew the
gospel. And I might say successfully. In fact, the less you know about
the gospel, the more successful you can be in religion. That's
subtle. The less conscience you've got,
and the less you know, and the less you preach, the bigger crowd
you can have in this world. But God taught me the gospel.
He's going to teach all these people the gospel. He's going
to cross their path. John 6, turn to John 6, 44. Listen
to this. John 6, 44. Listen to this, John 6.44. Our
Lord Jesus said this, John 6.44. He said no man, and John Flavel
preached a sermon on this, one of the greatest ever written.
He said no man, no whatever is natural qualifications, whatever
is educational accomplishments, whomever no man can, is able,
has the power or the desire to come to me, Christ said, to come
to me, except the Father, notwithstanding the Holy Spirit and the Son,
which hath sent me, draw him. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. It's written in the prophets,
they shall be all, all of them, taught of God. God's going to teach them. What's
God going to teach them? He's going to teach them the
truth about sin. What sin is, a nature, a principle. Sin is
a rule, a reign in here of evil, rebellion. They're going to learn
the truth about sin. And they're going to learn the
truth about their inability too. In the flesh, no man can please
God. Even our righteousness is a filthy
rag. They're going to learn the truth
about God's justice. God will punish sin. They're
going to learn the truth about the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He didn't render us savable.
He saved us. And they're going to learn the
truth about salvation is of the Lord. They're going to learn
the truth that redemption comes from Him. That's the reason they're
going to be able to say what David, my expectation is from
Him. They're going to learn the truth. Read on, John 6, 45. And
they shall be taught of God. And every man, therefore, that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father, he'll come to me. He'll come to me. Yes, he will. He'll come to me. He'll embrace
the Lord Jesus. He'll believe on him. He's going
to hear that gospel. I read a scripture this morning
I want to read again, Ephesians 1. I want you to listen to this.
Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13 and 14. Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. It says here, in whom. Salvation is not a decision,
it's a person. It's not a profession, it's a
person. The gospel is concerning Christ.
In whom you also trusted. after you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after you believe
you will see you with that Holy Spirit of promise." When were
you saved? When you heard the gospel. You heard the gospel. All right. Secondly, look back
at Psalm 62. Let me look at this next verse,
verse 6. Verse 6 says, he only is my rock,
and my salvation, he's my defense, I'll not be moved. There'll come
a time when every one of God's elect will hear the gospel, not
in word only, but in power and the Holy Ghost and much assurance.
And then there's going to come a time when he's going to be
established in that gospel. That's right, established. And
it's not always the same time. But there's going to come a time
when he's established, when he's fixed, when he says with David,
I shall not be moved. When he can say with Martin Luther,
even against the most powerful men of his nation, here I stand. I can do no other. There's going
to come a time in that believer's walk of faith when, by the grace
of God, he's going to be settled, established, and unmoving. Turn with me to a few scriptures.
Turn first of all to Romans 1. Romans chapter 1, verse 11. Romans 1, 11. Now listen to some
of these scriptures. Romans 1, 11. Now I know we're
subject to the flesh and its failings and its weaknesses and
there's a battle at all times, but what I'm speaking of here
is that a person comes to a maturity in the faith of Christ. A maturity
in the faith of Christ. I'm talking about a commitment. When that individual becomes
himself a rock, You see what I'm saying? He becomes himself
or herself a rock. Not moved about by every wind
of doctrine, not shaken, not having to look to somebody else,
but that person becomes established himself in the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's established if he's alone
or if he's with a crowd. It doesn't need the crowd to
give him that boldness and strength. He's set. Now listen to these
verses. Romans 1.11, Paul says, I long
to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift
to the end that you may be established. These are saved people. These
are believers. But Paul is talking about them
being established. Not wishy-washy. Not compromising. Turn to Hebrews 13, and let me
just show you how often this is talked about in the Scriptures.
Hebrews 13, 9. Listen to this. Hebrews 13, 9. He's talking to
believers here now. Be not carried away with divers
and strange doctrines. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with grace, not with meats. which have not profited
them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar where
they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. We have
it. It's Christ established with grace, the heart
established with grace. Let me show you some more. 1
Peter 5. Turn over that. 1 Peter 5. 1
Peter 5, verse 10. I said one time in a message
not long ago, people trouble me who are either changing their
methods or their message. I had an article in a bulletin
recently when Spurgeon was about 50 years of age. He made this
statement, I have not moved one tithe of an inch, that's one-tenth
of an inch, from the message and the gospel and the methods
when I started preaching 34 years ago. Now, I hope we learn to
preach better. I hope we learn to preach with
more compassion. I hope we learn to preach with
more affection. I hope we learn to pray more,
these things. But beware of those people whose
message is always changing and their methods are always changing.
You see, God's true people become what? like a rock, they're living stones
in a living temple. In 1 Peter 5, listen to it here,
1 Peter 5, 10, But the God of all grace, who hath called us
unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after you've suffered
a while, make you perfect, material, and establish you, and strengthen
you, and sell you. You see what I'm saying? Settle
you. Preachers are guilty. In fact,
the more established a preacher, the more established the people
are going to be whom he leads. And the more wishy-washy and
changeable and unpredictable he is, the more they're going
to be that way. That's right. That's right. Let me read you
another. 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse
10. Listen to this. Wherefore, the rather brethren,
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Do these things,
you'll never fail. For so an interest shall be ministered
unto you abundantly unto the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I'll not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know
them. and be established in the present
truth. Oh, come on, rocks. See what
I'm talking about? You're not that way when you
first hear the gospel. First hear the gospel, God teaches
you the gospel. Opens your eyes and your ears
and your heart, teaches you the gospel. Most people run around
talking about the doctrines of grace when they first hear the
gospel, get established, start talking about Christ. Isn't that right? Most people, they belong to some
Armenian religious organization, they hear the gospel and they
talk about the doctrines of grace and Calvinism and election and
sovereignty, in particular addiction and all these things. They get
a little more mature and a little established and they start talking
about the love of God and the Savior and the redemption of
Christ. We keep talking about the sovereignty
of God and talking about the God who's sovereign. It's a difference. We keep talking about people
for whom He didn't die and start talking about those for whom
He did die. We quit arguing and start rejoicing. That's right. Am I telling the truth? Got to
get established. We learn a little doctrine, we
go crazy, beat everybody over the head with it, and then we
get established, find out God has to reveal it to the heart.
He doesn't beat you over the head anyway. Nothing's ever accomplished
by beating somebody over the head. The wrath of man does not
work the righteousness of God. But we got to learn that, hadn't
we? Listen to 1 Thessalonians chapter
3, verse 1 and 2. Wherefore, 1 Thessalonians 3,
1 and 2, wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought
it good to be left at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our
brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer, to establish
you, to comfort you concerning your faith, that no man should
be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that we are
pointed down to, and that brings me to my third point. All these people in Christ, chosen
in Christ, he called them my sheep, my brethren, my church,
I'll build my church. Christ knew from the beginning
who would believe on him and who would deny him. But they're
going to hear the gospel. God's going to teach them the
gospel. They're going to receive it and believe it. And God is
going to establish them in that gospel so that they can be like
the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1 when he said, if any man preaches
any other gospel, let him be accursed. That is my gospel. I will die for it. I will die
for it. Nobody else, like Joshua, nobody
else is going to serve the Lord. My house is. That is where he
gets established. They are not going to move him. The floods came and the wind
blew. Rain fell and it stood. It was founded on a rock. But
thirdly, every believer is going to go through this. There is
going to come a time when God is going to meet him with a trial.
Head on. He is going to meet him. It's
got to be. It's got to be. Untried faith is not saving faith. It's got to be tried. It's got
to be tried. Look at verse 7 of that Psalm
62. Verse 5, he said, my expectations from him. Verse 6, he said, he's
my rock and I'm not going to be moved. Verse 7, he said, in
God is my salvation, my glory. He's the rock of my strength.
That's where I get my strength, from him. In time of trouble,
in time of trial, he's going to be my strength and my hiding
place. I don't know, but turn to 1 Peter. I think that's where we ought
to go here, 1 Peter chapter 1. I just know that God's going
to try your faith. He says too much about it. We
see Abraham, we see how God tried his faith. We see Job, how God
tried him. We see all the disciples, how
God tried them. And here in 1 Peter 1, it says
in verse 7, that the trial of your faith It's just stated,
it's just so, the trial of your faith. Can it not be strange
when fiery trials come upon them? That the trial of your faith
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found to the praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's got
to be tried. Talking about putting gold in
a furnace. I tell you, the owner of the gold is never far away
from the furnace when it's in the furnace. But it's got to
have the dross and the junk melted off of it. To come forth pure
gold, it's got to be tried in a hot fire. And God's going to
try our faith. He's going to try it. He's going
to try it in various ways. But everybody's going to be tried.
Faith is going to be proven by trial. And I don't know what
form the trial will take, maybe strong conflicts in your own
mind, in your own nature, in your own soul, wrestlings and
conflicts that God will send your way. You know, when Paul
had the thorn in the flesh, and I got an article in a bulletin
about that, somebody wrote and wanted to know what I thought
it was. I said, well, I don't know, but what it was is insignificant. Why it was sent and who sent
it, that's what's important. God sent it. And it was sent
for Paul's good. And your trial may be within
here, may be something you want desperately that you're not supposed
to have. May be heavy grief over your
family, your children, disappointment with your children. May be the
sudden death of a husband or a child or a loved one. May be
the loss of your own health. It may be a time of severe pain,
discomfort of this body. It may be depression of mind.
It may be loneliness. It may be prosperity. I don't know. But I do know,
He chasteneth every son whom He loves. And if one, if a person
is without trial and testing, he's not a child of God. Isn't
that what it says? It's not going too far, is it?
That's just so. But you see, trials do not produce
faith, trials reveal faith. Trials purify faith. Trials reveal
faith. Trials give us patience. Trials let us know if we really
believe. What did the Lord say when Abraham
took his son? I don't know about that trial. That was tough. That was a tough
one. But God told Abraham, take your
son, whom he loved, your only son, upon that mountain and sacrifice
him to me. And you know God didn't speak
to him for three days? According to what we see in the
Word. told him to take that son. John was a three-day journey
wasn't he? And that old man, I just, Bob
what about him? There he sits. Mike, there she
sits. Bring her up there and put her
on that altar and bind her and put that knife right through
her heart and then set her on fire like a burnt offering. Well
Abraham went to the top of that mountain and
laid that boy on the altar. And then God spoke. He said,
Abraham, I know you love me. God knew it before. God doesn't
learn anything new. But Abraham knew it now too.
Abraham knew it. You see, if my faith is not genuine,
wouldn't it be awful good for me if I found it out pretty soon?
If there are things I love more than Christ, wouldn't it be a
pretty good idea to find it out? Well, that's why it's sin. If
I'm not confirmed in the gospel, if I'm not committed to Christ
100%, wouldn't it be a good idea to find it out? Well, that's
what trials will do. They'll let you know. They'll
let you know. All right, one other verse. This
is the journey. If you hear sheep, You're justified
in Christ, redeemed. But he's going to call you, and
you're going to come. And he's going to establish you, like
a rock. And then he's going to try you.
Just so, just prepare yourself. Write John about telling the
truth, you've been around longer than I have. But he's going to
try you. And it's not all, trials are
not always unpleasant. He could send something that's
pretty nice. But anything that takes you away
from Christ, anything that dulls your rejoicing
in Christ, anything that lessens your joy in Christ, you better
run from it as far, as fast as you can, as far as you can. That's
right. I don't care how sweet it is.
Stolen fruits are sweet sometimes. And you better run, because that's
the trial of God. That's what that is. That's the
trial of God. He's just proven that you never
were what you claimed to be. All right, the last line, verse
8. Trust in Him at all times. Let's
talk about the end. Let's be realistic. I'm coming
to the end of the journey, and some of you are too. People say,
don't talk about death. Let's do. Preach, you ought not
to think about death. Better. It's appointed unto man
once to die. After that, to judgment. I want
to think about it. And I want to trust Him then.
I want to come to the end of this journey, resting in Christ.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. We, like I
said this morning, we have been saved, we are being saved and
our salvation nearer than when we believed. Hebrews 3 verse
6 says this, that Christ as a son over his own house, Hebrews 3
verse 6, whose house are we? If we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of our hope, of the hope firm unto the end. Those
Old Testament believers died in faith. They died trusting,
rejoicing, expectantly, calmly, in the faith of Christ Jesus. I had a dear friend who died
just three years ago last month. He was a believer, loved Christ. I went up to the hospital to
see him in the morning. And he died. He was being operated
on that morning. I went in to see him. Last time
I ever saw him alive on this earth. We'd been friends a long,
long time. He'd sat here and heard the gospel
a long, long time. Stood here and preached it. And
I walked in the room that morning at 7 o'clock and put a smile
on his face. He knew what was ahead. I'm just
sure he did. And we talked a few minutes,
and then the nurse came in. They were going to get him ready
for surgery, ready to leave here. And he looked at me as I walked
out the door, and he said, Brother Henry, the Lord is my shepherd.

Justified By Faith #2

What does the Bible say about justification by faith?

How do we know that all people are sinners?

Why is Christ's obedience important for our salvation?

How does grace work in our lives according to the Bible?

What does the Bible say about the perseverance of the saints?

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Justified By Faith #2

What does the Bible say about justification by faith?

How do we know that all people are sinners?

Why is Christ's obedience important for our salvation?

How does grace work in our lives according to the Bible?

What does the Bible say about the perseverance of the saints?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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