Justified by faith. That's my
subject today. Justified by faith. And I'm reading from the fifth
chapter of Romans, Paul's book to the Romans, in chapter 5,
verse 1. Now listen to the word. If you
would like, open your Bibles to Romans 5. I'll be referring
to chapters 3, 4, and 5 in chapter 8 also in this message. I don't know a more important
message for you to hear, for me to preach, than this one on
justified by faith. And I'm going to make the gospel
of Jesus Christ, the hope of eternal life, as plain today
from the Word of God as I possibly can make it. Now it says in Romans
5.1, therefore, being justified by faith, We have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this single verse speaks
of two things in which all of us ought to be interested. There
are two things here that in which you and I and every person who
listens to me ought to be interested in. Number one is being justified
before God. Now you know what that means.
That means to be holy. And the only person that God
can receive into his presence is a holy person. And to be justified
means to be holy without sin and without guilt. Absolutely
pure and perfect in the sight of God. Justified. And then the
other thing in which we ought to be interested is having peace
with God. Not the kind of peace that the
false prophets talk about, as Isaiah said, they cry, peace,
peace, when there is no peace. but I'm talking about a genuine
peace with God being delivered from the curse and condemnation
of sin and of the law justified justified before God peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ now about two or three years
ago I was preaching in the West Indies and I was invited to speak
to the to the local prisoner There were about 75 or 80 young
men in prison on the island of St. Kitts. And I went down to
the prison to preach. And I brought them a message
on this subject, justified before God. And I asked those men, I
said, how many of you men know what it means to be pardoned?
And they all smiled and raised their hands. I said, well, you
know, a man can be pardoned. and he's still guilty. He still
has a record, even though he's pardoned and he's released from
prison, but he's still guilty. And then I asked him, I said,
how many of you men know what it means to be paroled? And they
smiled, of course they did. I said, well, you know a man
can be paroled and still be guilty. I said, how many of you know
what it means to be forgiven? And they all nodded their heads
in agreement, they knew what that meant. I said, well you
can, the very fact that you're forgiven means that you're guilty.
Now I said, how many of you know what it means to be justified?
And not a one raised his hand, no smile this time, no nod of
agreement. You don't know what it means
to be justified? Well to be justified is not to
be pardoned or paroled or even forgiven. To be justified is
to be not guilty. If a man is justified, that means
that he's literally without sin. Now that's what it means. It
means no charge. No charge against you on the
books. No charge against you in the presence of God. Justified. Someone came up with this definition
of justification. It means just as if I had never
sinned. Now my friends, it's having a
perfect righteousness, a perfect holiness, not before men, but
before God, in the sight of God. That's what it means to be justified.
That's the reason when I began the message, I said I'm speaking
on a subject in which we ought to be interested. Being justified
without guilt, without blame, holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in the sight of God. That's what it is to be justified.
Is that clear? That's what justification is.
Now I know we're forgiven, we're pardoned, but in Christ the scripture
says we're justified. That's not guilty. Just not guilty. Now how is this possible? When
you talk about justifying a sinner, how is this possible since the
word of God says all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Men are guilty. They're already guilty. We're
not on probation. We're guilty. Scripture says
there's not a just man on the earth, not a just man on the
earth which doeth good and sinneth not. So how is it possible for
a man to be justified before God, seeing that all we like
sheep have gone astray? We've turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord God looked down from heaven to see if there's
any that did understand, and any that seek God, and he said
they all together become unprofitable. There's none good, no not one. Well this is what the book of
Romans is all about. If you want a key to the book
of Romans, this is it. The book of Romans declares an
answer to Job's question. How can man be just with God?
Job asked that, or his friends, and Job two or three times. How
can man be just with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Behold the moon, it shineth not.
The stars are not clean in God's sight. How much more abominable
and filthy is man who drinks iniquity like the water? So how
can he be clean that's born of a woman? I mean God clean. How
can a man be just with God? That's what the book of Romans
is all about. How can man who's a sinner be holy and righteous
in God's sight? The scripture says, who shall
stand in his presence? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who has never lifted up his soul to vanity. How can
God be just and justify the ungodly? That's what this book is all
about. God must be holy. He is. He must be just. Well,
how can he be just and justify folks like you and me? And that's
what the book of Romans is all about. And the first three chapters
of this book of Romans. Paul lays bare, oh how he lays
bare our sinful hearts. How he deals with the Gentiles
first, pagan, heathen, idolaters. He just lays bare our wicked
hearts in the Gentiles. He says in Romans 1, 29, being
filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
being filled with maliciousness, being full of envy, murder, debate,
deceit, backbiters, whispers, haters of God, proud, boasters,
not only delight in those things but delight in those that do
them. That's what we are by nature. And he just lays bare all of
the wicked sins of our evil hearts, and our evil imaginations, and
our wicked deeds, and talks about God giving men over to reprobate
minds, and giving them over to do that which is inconvenient. And then he deals with the Jew.
He deals with the Gentile, Greeks, and the Jews. And he comes to
verse 9 of Romans 3. And he said, therefore, both
Jews and Gentiles, both Jews and Gentiles, they're all under
sin. They're all under sin. Under
the curse, under the judgment, we're not on probation. The trial's
over. We're guilty. Guilty before God. And so therefore, when Paul deals
with these things in Romans 1, 2, and 3, And finally, in Romans
3, he says, there's none good, there's none righteous, there's
none that seek after God. He said, our throats are open
sepulchers, a poison of snakes is under our lips, and our feet
are swift to shed blood, and there's no fear of God before
our eyes. And he goes on that way, and
so he comes to this conclusion. He said, therefore, we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
There's no possibility of his keeping the law. You see, our
sins and our guilt rules out any possibility of our being
justified or made righteous before God by what we do. What we do
is wrong. What we do is evil. What we say
and what we think is evil. And the deeds of the law, religious
or otherwise, the deeds of the flesh, cannot justify us before
God. Listen to what he said in Romans
3.19, and we're talking about, we're talking about every son
of Adam. We're not just talking about
the worst ones, we're talking about the best ones. Man at his
best state is altogether vanity. Romans 3.19, Now we know that
what thing soever the law saith, it saith to all who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped. Every mouth stopped. No alibis, no excuses. And all
the world become guilty before God. Guilty. Therefore, because
of our guilt and sins, therefore by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified. Paul said just rule it out. Rule
out salvation by work. Rule out salvation by the deeds
of the law. Rule out acceptance with God
by anything a man Does or says or gives. It's an impossibility. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law. That's what Paul wrote in Galatians
2 and Galatians 3. He says no man is justified by
the law in the sight of God. It's evident. It's perfectly
evident. The just shall live by faith.
So what destroys salvation by works or human effort or deeds
of the law is our guilt. We're sinners, we're guilty before
God. God charges us with being guilty
of violating His law. And consequently, because we've
broken that law, we're under the judgment of God, under the
wrath of God, and under the curse of the law. Now then, here's
the question. Then if God is to receive folks like you and
me, if this holy, righteous, perfect God, infinite God, is
to receive us or accept us into his fellowship, into his kingdom,
into his communion, then he's got to find a way to make us
holy, a way to make us just, a way to clear us, a way consistent
with his justice and his holiness. Isaiah said this in Isaiah 45,
he must be a just God and a Savior. He can't just be a Savior So
he's got to be a just God as well as a Savior. Now, I come
to this. God in redemption, in justifying
sinners, He doesn't destroy His law. That's not the way He does
it. You see, we're guilty before the law. We have broken the law.
We're sinners before the law of God. And in order to redeem
us or save us, God doesn't destroy the law. Christ said, I didn't
come to destroy the law. I came to fulfill it. And God
doesn't lower the standard of the law. He doesn't bring his
law down from perfection and fix it so that we can keep it. And God Almighty does not make
a new law. His law is just what it's always
been. His law is unchanging. You see,
the perfect holy law of God, the infinite majestic and immaculate
law of God, it requires perfection. It requires holiness. It requires
a holiness that is pure as the holiness of God. That's what
His law requires of you and me and of every son of Adam. And
in order to be justified by the law, then we've got to produce
what the law requires. His law requires holiness, not
only in deed, but in word and thought and imagination, inwardly
and outwardly. His law requires that we love
God with all our hearts, minds, soul, and strength, and our neighbors,
ourselves. His law still curses everyone
that does not continue in all points of the law to do them.
And the James said, to offend in one point is to be guilty
of the whole law. So the question stands out bold
and clear than our sinners say. How does God justify men? How
does God maintain the integrity of His law, the holiness of His
law, the perfection of His law and justice, and yet save sinners
like you and me, redeem folks like us? Well, I have the answer. That's why Jesus Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ, became a man. You know that he did, he became
a man. Two thousand years ago, it says, the Word was made flesh.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God, and without Him was not anything made that
was made, and the Word was made flesh. And dwelt among us, in
other words, the Lord of glory Himself came down here to earth
and took on Himself flesh, Bone and blood, just like you and
me. He became a man. Bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. Now you see this perfect, holy,
matchless law of God was upon us. And what it required, it
required of us. And we couldn't meet it. We couldn't
face it. We couldn't cope with it. And
all the law does, all the law does in our case is condemn us. The law can't save us, it condemns
us. All that it requires, we cannot
keep, we cannot match, we cannot obey. But Jesus, and the law
still stands there, it has to require that. God can't change
His character nor His law. So Jesus Christ came as our representative
and stood in our place before this law. He became a man, just
like you and me, flesh, bone, and blood. He was made of a woman. The scripture says, in the fullness
of time, God sent his son. God, the second person of the
blessed trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. God sent his son
into this world made of a woman. Made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. Jesus Christ was made of a woman
and he became, or was, our representative. He stood as our federal head.
He stood in our place instead. You see, by one man's disobedience,
that's Adam, we were made sinners. So by the obedience of Christ,
we were made righteous. And he was made of a woman, just
like came forth from her womb, just like we did. He grew in
wisdom and stature in favor of God and man. He was a small boy. He grew up in a home under the
law of the home, under the civil law, under the moral law, under
the Jewish law. Under the Sabbath laws, under
all these laws, Christ grew up. And he was tempted as a man in
all points of the law, just like we are. He hungered, he thirsted,
he was weary. He knew the anger people threw
at him, and the harsh words and misunderstanding, and all of
the things your eyes see and your ears hear and your tongue
speaks and your heart feels and your imagination copes with.
All of these trials and temptations he endured. He was a man, he
walked in human flesh, just like you and me, but he endured all
these trials and temptations without sin. In the flesh, as
a man, tempted as we are, yet without sin. He knew no sin,
he had no sin, he did no sin. He's the only man. He's the God-man. He's God in human flesh, but
no less man. And he's the only man who ever,
in all of the history of mankind, ever obeyed God. Ever loved God
with all his heart. Ever loved his neighbors himself.
Ever kept the law without one offense. He absolutely honored,
satisfied, and perfected. Had a perfect holiness. He was
a perfect man. Perfect before God. Righteous
before God. And here's what I'm saying. As
our representative, his righteousness is imputed. Now do you know what
the word imputed means? It means to reckon to be mine. It means to charge to my account. It means to count it to be mine. So this righteousness before
God's holy law, which Christ Jesus fulfilled and which he
performed, becomes actually mine by faith in him. Because He's
my representative. He is my... See, in Adam we die,
in Christ we're made alive. In Adam we were made sinners,
in Christ we're made righteous. As we're born, the image of the
earthy will bear the image of the heavenly. The first man is
of the earth earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven.
And this righteousness is ours, you see. The word imputed, which
is counted or reckoned, or charged, is used eight times in the fourth
chapter of Romans. Eight times. It says in Romans
4, 3, Abraham believed God. He believed God. He didn't just
believe in God and on God, he believed God. And it was imputed
to him, counted to him for righteousness, holiness. That's what I've been
talking about. What is this righteousness? It's what the law demands. It's
holiness. What is this righteousness? It's
what God must have. It's what the character of God
must have to receive you and me. And Abraham didn't have it
himself. He was a sinner just like you
are. He had the same struggles and trials and doubts and fears
and temptations that you have. And he failed just like you do.
But Christ didn't fail. And Abraham looked to Christ,
believed Christ, and the holiness and righteousness which Christ
performed and perfected was given to Abraham, charged to his account,
just like he did it. In Romans 4 and 5 it says, He
that believeth on Christ, that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is imputed for righteousness, counted for righteousness. Not
doing, but believing. Look at Romans 4 and 6, Blessed
is the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
Even you can have a righteousness without works, without your works,
Christ did the work. You didn't do it. Christ did.
You couldn't do it. He did. It's said in Romans 4.22,
Abraham believed God. He believed that God was able
to do all that He promised, and therefore it was imputed. There's
that word again. Counted to him for righteousness. He believed God. Now, look at
verse 23 and 24. This wasn't written for Abraham's
sake alone, that righteousness was imputed to him by faith. But it was written for us also
to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him who died for
us and who was delivered for our justification. You see, the
holiness that we have before God, the righteousness that a
believer has before God, is not ours at all. For our righteousness
is a filthy rag. The best I can do is not good
enough. The best I can do is shameful and filthy in God's
sight. The best I can do. But this righteousness which
God has imputed to us and reckoned us and charged us is not ours
at all. It is the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ which we receive by faith. He did what we couldn't
do. He did keep the law. A man kept
the law. And a man was justified by works. That's Christ. And a man was
received before the Father by what he did. And he was raised
from the dead, and received up into glory, and seated at the
right hand of the majesty on high. Because he's the perfect
man. And he did that for his people.
You see Romans 8 verse 3 says this. What the law could not
do. What couldn't the law do? Well,
that is, the law couldn't make us righteous. The law couldn't
make us acceptable before God. Why not? Because it was weak
through the flesh. Whose flesh? Our flesh. All right,
what the law could not do, that is, save us, redeem us, make
us acceptable because it was weak through our flesh. God,
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin
in the flesh. He did it. God's law says do
this and live. Christ did. God's law says walk
before me perfectly. Christ did. God's law says love
me with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Don't even
think an evil thought. Christ fulfilled it. By His life,
by His holy, sinless, spotless life, He satisfied the holy law
of God for all who believe on Him. He was their substitute.
By His death on the cross, He honored and satisfied the justice
of God for all who believe. You see, the redemptive work
of Christ is twofold, in His life and in His death. In His
life, you see, He fulfilled God's holy law. By His death, He met
the requirements of justice. All that we owe, Christ paid
in full by His sacrifice. You know who Martin Luther is?
He lived over, I guess, 600 years ago, about 600 years ago. Great
preacher of God's gospel, justification by faith. He said this, although
I am a sinner, and a man's a fool to deny that. The Bible says
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And Martin Luther says, although
I am a sinner, I know it, yet I despair not. For Jesus Christ,
who is my Redeemer and my Righteousness living, in Him I have no sin. In Him I have no sting of conscience. In Him I have no fear of judgment.
For in Him there is therefore now no condemnation. Oh, I'm indeed a sinner as touching
this present life. I confess it, admit it, and regret
it. But in Christ, I'm no sinner. In Christ, I have a holiness
and a righteousness which is above this life. And that righteousness
is Christ Himself. And in that, and in Him, I can
rejoice. You see, this is what Paul is
saying in my text that I read to you at the beginning of this
broadcast. I said, therefore, therefore, you see, Therefore,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. Therefore
we conclude that a man is not justified by the works of the
law, but by faith. Therefore, being justified by
faith. And it's not the faith that justifies
us, it's Christ in whom we believe. In whom we believe. Therefore,
being justified by faith, then we have peace with God. The war
is over. That's what Paul's saying in
Romans 8, who can condemn me? Christ died. Yea, rather, is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. How
can you lay charge to a man who's justified? How can you bring
any condemning charges against a man who is justified, who is
holy, who is perfect? If he's perfect, who can charge
him? And in Christ we are perfect. We have peace with God. God is
satisfied. God is with us, and God is for
us. God is pleased with Christ, and
therefore He's pleased with us. I'm not saying Christ, or God's
pleased with me. I'm saying He's pleased with
Christ, and being pleased with Christ, He's pleased with me.
God has accepted Christ, and therefore He's accepted us in
the beloved. Now friends, that's good news.
And there's nothing complicated about that, except as the old
fallen human will complicates it. Now I have this message on
a cassette tape, Justified Before God. And I'll have another one
on the other side of the tape. You want it? Send two dollars
and we'll mail it to you. Here's the address. Until next
Sunday at this same time. God bless you.