I have been preaching the gospel
of God's sovereign, redeeming grace for 34 years. Next month, April, 34 years ago,
the Lord was pleased to teach me the gospel of His sovereign
grace and His mercy in Christ Jesus our Lord. And my great
desire through these years has really been twofold. My great
desire and chief concern is to glorify God. I want to glorify
God. And then secondly, I want to
be true to my heroes. I want to give them, not what
I think, but what the Word of God says. That you should receive
it, not as the Word of man, but as it is truly the Word of God.
And that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of a man,
but in the wisdom and power and grace of God. Now during these
34 years that I've been preaching the gospel of His glory, there
are 3 or 4 things that have influenced my ministry greatly. 3 or 4 things
that I have read or 3 or 4 things that someone has said in the
past which has greatly influenced my ministry and me personally. I want to give you some of these
things as I work into this message today. First of all, Richard
Baxter made this statement, and I don't know how many years ago,
two or three hundred years ago. Richard Baxter, the great preacher
of the past, said this, I preach as one who may never preach again. This may be my last message,
the last time I'll ever speak from the Word of God and for
the glory of God and to anyone concerning the things of Christ.
I preach as one who may never preach again. I preach as a dying
man to dying men. I preach as a sinner to sinners.
I preach as a man who needs mercy to those who need mercy. I preach
as one who's an object of God's grace to those whom I believe
ought to be objects of his grace, if they're not. And that's influenced
my thinking to a great extent. I preach as one who may never
preach again. So the importance of this hour
and the responsibility of this hour weighs heavily upon me.
I hope upon you. And then secondly, Roland Hill
made this statement. Every message ought to contain
the three R's. You know, we talk about the three
R's of education, reading, writing, and arithmetic, but they're three
R's of preaching, three R's of the gospel. And every message
ought to contain these three R's. Charles Spurgeon once said,
a message that does not contain the three R's really ought not
even be preached. What are the three R's? Ruined
by the fall, or what happened in the garden. What's the condition
of fallen man? That's the first R, ruined. And
then secondly, redemption by the blood. What really happened
on the cross of Calvary? Did Christ really redeem a people? Did he effectually bring forth
from his wounds a ransom so that God might say, let him go free. Deliver him from going down into
the pit. I found a ransom, redemption by the blood. And the third R
is regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Is the new birth just a profession
or a decision on the part of a sinner as he born himself?
Or is the new birth an act of the power of God, of the Spirit
of God, through the seed, the Word of God, regenerated, recreated
by the Spirit and power of God? That's what the Scripture says
it is. redemption and regeneration. And those three things have greatly
influenced my ministry. And then the third one is this.
I read some years ago an article by Bishop J.C. Rowe, a preacher
of the past, in which he talked about the Great Reformation four
or five hundred years ago. Under the ministry and leadership
of men like Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and other men of
that date, And he said the foundation of that great reformation to
which we owe so much was three things. And that is the scriptures
alone, apart from any of the writings of men, the scriptures
stand alone as the word of God, as the only rule of faith, as
the only rule of practice, as the only rule of doctrine, the
scriptures alone. We accept nothing that a man
writes, nothing that a man says on an equal plane with the word
of God. Scriptures alone. Everything is weighed by how
it appears in the light of Scripture. Secondly, grace alone. Salvation
is by grace alone, apart from works in any shape, form, or
fashion. It's by grace alone, for by grace
are you saved through faith and that knowledge of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
We're saved by the grace of God. And the third foundation of the
Reformation is Christ alone. We rejoice only in Christ Jesus.
We rest only in Christ Jesus. We look only to Christ Jesus.
We build only upon Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is the only mediator. The apostles, the great so-called
martyrs and saints of the past, Mary, no religious leader, whatever,
has any part in the salvation of a sinner's soul. It's Christ
only, Christ alone. It's scriptures alone, grace
alone, and Christ alone. And that's been the foundation
of my ministry through the years. And then the fourth thing that
has influenced me greatly is this. I don't even remember who
said this. I could probably find out if
I had to. But I believe it was a Texas preacher of years ago,
and he said this one night to his congregation. If my voice
is the only voice you hear, nothing of any eternal or spiritual value
will take place in your heart. You've got to hear Him speak,
who speaks from heaven. You've got to hear Him speak,
who speaks through His Word. You've got to hear Him speak,
who speaks through His servants. Salvation is of the Lord, not
of words, not of men, not of mechanics or methods. It's of
the Lord and of the Lord only. And I believe that. We can reason
and argue, and I hear these fellas having debates and arguing, and
they're wasting their time. Because a natural man receiveth
not the things of God, the foolishness to him, neither can he know them,
because their spirit is to discern. And eye hath not seen, ear hath
not heard, neither hath he entered the heart of man, the things
God has prepared for them that love him. But he hath to reveal
them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth for
the great things of God, the deep things of God. It is the
Holy Spirit that reveals them. The gospel is a mystery that
has to be revealed by the Holy Spirit. Religion is not the gospel,
religion is not salvation. And then the last thing that
I care to mention this morning is a scripture found in Romans
3.28 that means a great deal and I would say is one of the
foundation stones of what I've tried to preach and hold to through
the years and what I preach today. And the Apostle Paul writes this
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit It ought to be the
foundation of every man's ministry. Well, it's not, but it ought
to be. But Paul said this in Romans 3, 28. He says, Therefore
we conclude. This is my conclusion. After
examining the character of God and the condition of men, Jew
and Gentile, there is no difference. They're all under sin. After
writing the first two and a half chapters of the book of Romans
and coming to a conclusion, Paul said, I conclude. This is what
I've concluded. When I've studied the oracles
of God, and the laws of God, and the ways of men, and the
character of God, and the redemption of God, I conclude, therefore
we conclude, and this is the holy apostle, this is the chosen
apostle to the Gentiles, this is God's servant Paul speaking,
I conclude, looks like everybody listens to this, doesn't it?
Looks like everybody in the world around would listen to this.
Paul says, I conclude, after looking at all these things,
this is my understanding, this is my conclusion, that a man
is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. That's
my conclusion. After all of my studies and after
all of my religion, after all of my revelations, And after
all of the teachings, having been taught the gospel by God
himself, this is my conclusion. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Now let
me define some words. I'm speaking on justified by
faith. What does the word justified
mean? Justify. We see that all the way through
the scriptures. Justified. Justified. Justification. Justified. What does it mean? Well, will
you listen a moment? About three weeks ago or four weeks ago,
I was preaching down in the West Indies in a little island called
St. Kitts. And I had an invitation
to preach to her in Her Majesty's prison, Queen Elizabeth's Her
Majesty. And this island was owned by
England. And I had the privilege of speaking to 70 prisoners in
Her Majesty's prison on St. Kitts Island in the West Indies.
It was a tough prison, stone walls and bars, and these men
were in their prison uniforms, and they were all sitting there
in front of me. And I wanted to talk to them about a relationship
with God. I wanted to preach the gospel
to them. I wanted to talk to them about what I'm talking to
you about this morning, justification. And I said to those men, I said,
do you know what the word pardon means? And they nodded their
heads. I said, of course you do. I'm
speaking your language. In other words, if the island
of St. Kitts and Her Majesty's government
has a meeting of the board and decides to pardon you, that means
that you get out of prison. You're set free. But I said,
even if you're pardoned, you're still guilty. You're still guilty. If you committed the crime, you're
still guilty. And they can pardon you 10,000 times, but you're
still guilty. And then I said, how many of you know the meaning
of the word parole? Well, they nodded their heads.
They knew what it meant to be paroled. That means a parole
board meets and they go over your record and how you behaved
in prison. They decide to parole you and
let you go free, provided you report to a parole officer or
you're on good behavior. But I said, now wait a minute.
They may parole you, but you're still guilty. They may parole
you a dozen times, but you're still guilty. And I said, how
many of you know what it means to be forgiven? They nodded their
heads. I said, well, perhaps the victim,
the person you robbed or mistreated, the reason you're in here, he
writes you a letter and says, I forgive you. I forgive you.
I forgive you for robbing my store. I forgive you for all
you've done. But I said, he may forgive you,
but you're still guilty. Now I said, how many of you know
the meaning of the word justified? All of them didn't shake their
heads. I said, well, to be justified is not to be pardoned, though
it includes a pardon. To be justified is not to be
paroled, though it involves being set free. To be justified does
not mean only to be forgiven, though it involves being forgiven.
To be justified is to be without guilt, not guilty. That's exactly right. Someone
says it means just as if I had never seen Now, we can never
be justified before the laws of men, because we're guilty
of what we've done and what we said and what we are. But there's
a way that we can be justified before God in God's sight, and
we must be justified in God's sight and made holy, or God can't
have anything to do with us. He can't look upon us, He can't
accept us, He can't receive us. Who shall stand in His presence?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Not he that's washed
his hands, but he that hath clean hands. Not he that's changed
his mind, but he that hath a pure heart. Who hath not lifted up
his soul to vanity, not one time. We've got to be as holy as God.
We've got to be without sin. Not just pardon, not just parole,
not just be forgiven. We've got to be justified. That's
the reason Job asked so many times, well how can man be just
with God? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? He can't be clean. He can start
living a different life right now, but his past life's unclean
and his present life in God's sight is unclean. Listen to this
scripture, Romans 3, 19. Now we know that what things
soever God's law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
and that's all of us, that every mouth may be stopped. No alibi,
no excuse, and all the world become guilty before God. That's
where it is, before God. Guilty before God. Just as those
men sitting there in prison listening to me were guilty before the
state, and guilty before the federal government, and guilty
before the laws of men, you and I, we may not be in prison, But
we're in God's prison, we're in prison to the law, we're in
bondage to the law, we're guilty before God's law, we're guilty
before God's throne, we're guilty in God's sight. Therefore, by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified, justified
in his sight, or before God. In his sight we're guilty. The
law can never justify the guilty. The law can never pardon the
guilty. The law can never declare clean those who are guilty. The
law can only condemn. Well, Preacher Hine, in the name
of common sense, can a man be just as if he had never sinned
when he has sinned? That's a good question, isn't
it? One you better find the answer to, because in it is the gospel. And we're not going to stand
before God unless we're without sin. So I'll tell you how we're
justified. Paul came to this conclusion.
He said, I come to this conclusion knowing that Knowing the righteousness
of the law, knowing the character of God, knowing the inability
of men, I come to this conclusion, we're justified by faith without
the deeds of the law. It's got to be some way other
than obedience to the law because we never obeyed it. It's got
to be without the law and that's by faith. It says Abraham believed
God and it was counted to him, that is faith was counted to
him for holiness, for righteousness. You see, my friend, the foundation
of faith is the Word of God. That's the foundation of faith,
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Faith is
produced as we believe the Word of God. That's the foundation
of faith. We believe God, and God's revealed in His Word, so
to believe His Word is to believe God. And to believe God is to
believe His Word. But the Word is the foundation
of faith. God said, Abraham, leave your land, go to the land
I'll show you. And he believed God. He believed
His Word. He went. He said, you're going to have
a son. He was 90 years old. His wife was about that old too.
And Abraham didn't know how, but he did believe God. He believed
God's Word, and therefore he believed God. And God told him
one day, He said, take this son, your only son, whom you love,
and sacrifice him as a sin offering to Me. And Abraham went up on
the mountain to do it. believe in God, he believed God's
word, so that's faith believes the word. The word of God is
a foundation of faith, not feeling, not your own human wisdom, not
your denominational literature, not your pastors debating and
arguing, the bare naked word of God. That's the foundation
of faith, and the object of faith is Christ, a person, I believe
God, and God revealed in Christ. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal him. He that hath seen
me hath seen my Father." Christ is the express, exact image of
the Father. Now listen to Romans 4, Abraham
believed God. And therefore it was imputed,
charged to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone. that righteousness was imputed
to him by faith. God didn't write that over and
over again the word for his sake alone, Abraham knew it. But it
was for us also to whom this righteousness shall be imputed
if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead
who was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification.
So justification is to be totally without fault, guilt, or sin
to be perfectly holy in God's sight, justified in His sight. And this is by faith. And it's
not by works. It's not by the deeds of religion.
It's not by the works of the Lord. Now let me illustrate.
Our Lord gave this illustration to those who trusted in themselves
that they were righteous before God. That's the people to whom
He gave the illustration. He said two men went up to the
temple to pray. One was a very religious man,
a Pharisee. One was a publican, a great sinner. And the Pharisee lifted his eyes
and hands to heaven. He said, God, I thank you. I'm
not like other men. I do these things. I tithe, and
I give alms to the poor, and I fast twice a week. And I'm
not an adulterer, and I'm not an extortioner, and I'm not unjust.
I'm not even like that publican. Well, the publican, our Lord
said, stood afar off, and he would not so much as lift his
eyes to heaven, but he smote upon his breast, and he cried,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And that fully expressed is,
Lord, let thy blood be propitiation for me on the mercy seat. And
our Lord said, this man, rather than the other, went to his house
justified. Justified. He made no claim to
any works or deeds at all. This other fellow talked about
the deeds he'd done, the works he'd performed, and the religious
requirements he'd met, and the clean life, moral life he'd lived,
and our Lord said he was not saved, he was not accepted. But
here's a man who, knowing he's a sinner and conscious of his
sins, cried before God, give mercy, mercy, mercy to me through
the blood of Christ on the mercy seat. And our Lord said he went
home justified, and that's what I'm talking about, without the
deeds of the law. You may say today, well I've
been in the church all my life, and I've tried to live right,
and tried to treat my neighbor right, and I taught Sunday school,
been a deacon, and preached, and done all these things. Well,
I'm sorry. That's not the way men are justified.
Now the way we may be accepted before the eyes of men, but in
God's sight, you see, sin is a nature, it's a principle, attitude
and motive as much as deed. I wish I could impress upon you
the importance of this verse of Scripture. Therefore, Paul
says, we conclude that a man is justified before God. Justified, without guilt, before
God. without sin before God, and that's
where it has to be done, because God's going to judge us, not
people whom we try to impress, by faith, by faith without works,
without the deeds of the law. That's the theme of the whole
Bible four times in the Word of God. It says the just shall
live by faith. Why do we keep trying to change
it? Why do we keep, like thieves and robbers, trying to climb
up some other way? God said, the just shall live
by faith. Martin Luther found that out.
The just shall live by faith. And then, another thing, not
only is it the theme of the Bible, but justification by faith, holiness
by faith, acceptance before God by faith, is what makes the gospel
good news. Everybody knows the meaning of
the word gospel is glad tidings or good news. Well, if I come
forth preaching a message that tells you, you've got to meet
the holy requirements of God to be saved, that's not good
news, that's bad news. That's bad news. But if I come
telling you that salvation, redemption, justification is a gift of God
through Christ, fully accomplished by the obedience of His Son,
and is offered and given His offering is for sinners like
you and me. And He gave Himself for sinners
like... That's good news. That's good news. You say, now
that's good news. That's good news. And then justification
by faith. Listen to this. It's the cause
of every drop of blood that's ever been shed by a martyr. Now
I challenge you. No man's ever been killed for
preaching salvation by works. And no cause to destroy him.
That's Satan's message. That's hell's ministry. Men aren't
killed because they preach salvation by works. They've been persecuted
and hounded and sawn asunder and burned at the stake for preaching
justification by faith. Every drop of blood of noble
martyrs from Abel to this present day has been because they preach
Christ and Him crucified. And justification by faith is
our only hope for a sinner. It's only hope for a bona fide
genuine sinner that God will be reconciled to us through Christ.
And it's only assurance for a believer. You can't find any comfort or
assurance in your feeling or even in your faith because like
the centurion, Lord I believe, help my unbelief. There's no
perfect faith on this earth. Nothing about us is perfect.
Even our righteousness is a filthy rag and justification by faith
is only comfort for the dying dead. If you lay down tonight
to die, and the doctor shakes his head, and the family assembles
around the bed, and he says, you don't have long to live,
I tell you, you're not going to find any comfort in any outward,
visible religious signs. You'll find comfort in Christ,
only in Christ. Now, what am I saying? This is
what I'm saying. I want you to listen to me. Jesus Christ stood,
stands, and will stand. in my room and my stead before
God. I am a son of Adam, a sinner
by birth, a sinner by choice, a sinner by nature. I have sinned
against God in word, thought, and deed. I have broken His holy
law. I have defiled and defied His
justice, and I am doomed to die. I am under condemnation for sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ took
my place It is my surety in the covenant of grace as my representative
incarnate in human flesh and is my sacrifice and sin offering
on Calvary's cross and is my mediator at the right hand of
God. He died before God's holy justice in my place. Now, how
can I perish? I've already obeyed God's law.
I've already been punished by God's wrath. How can a just God
punish me when he punished Christ in my place? I want the answer
to that. How can a just God... If I obeyed
the law in Christ, then the law can require no more of me. I'm
holy. If I died when Jesus Christ died
on that cross in my substitute and said he was wounded for our
transgression, bruised for our iniquities, by his stripes we're
healed. Now are we or aren't we? I'm
contending for the fact that we are. Almighty God has nothing
he can require of me. The law has nothing it can demand
of me. I am justified in Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, whoever liveth to make intercession for us. God Almighty
says, He that believeth hath everlasting life. I believe,
I have everlasting life. That's it. God Almighty says,
He that believeth on the Son is not condemned. I believe on
the Son, therefore I'm not condemned. God Almighty says, All that the
Father giveth me will come to me, and him that cometh out of
nowhere is cast out. I come to Christ, He won't cast
me out. God Almighty says, Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. I believe, therefore
I am saved. Not by works, by faith. The soul
that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not
desert to its foes. That soul, though all hail, should
endeavor to shake. I'll never, no never, no never
forsake. Now this message justified by
faith, and the one I brought recently on more than an invitation,
is on one cassette tape. Two messages, one tape. Send
a donation of two dollars. We'll mail it to you by return
mail. Till next week, may God bless
you everyone.