By Faith or by Works?

I've often said that we sing
with our mouths what we don't believe in our hearts. If we really believed these old
inspired hymns, we'd know the gospel. We'd know the gospel. We'd be firmly grounded upon
it. There'd be no shaking us. We get our heads in tune with
our hearts, and our hearts in tune with our heads. This is
so now, just being perfectly honest. If everybody believed
what the ladies were singing, we could say amen now and go
home. Because I'd wind it up, everybody
would go home and rejoice it. That's why I have to preach,
because I got to keep on preaching till God the Holy Ghost makes
somebody believe it. Not up here, but down here. Up here it doesn't affect you.
It doesn't affect your life. When it gets down here is when
it affects your attitude, when it affects your affections, when
it enthrones Christ, when it makes Him king, bows to Him in
submission and lowliness. When it gets down here, it develops
a prayer life, develops a life of contentment, joy, peace, faith,
humility. Up here, it's just doctrine.
That's where it is in most cases. It's just up here. My text tonight
is Romans 3.28. Therefore we conclude, this is
a conclusion of the whole matter, we conclude a man is not justified,
a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Now happy,
happy is the man, happy is the woman who has discovered the
book of Romans. Happy is that person to whom
the Holy Spirit has revealed some of the treasures of this
book. Not all of them. None of us have mastered even
a verse or a chapter, let alone a book. But happy is the individual
to whom the Holy Spirit has made real and personal and vital some
of the treasures of this book of Romans. This is the gospel
that God taught Paul in Arabia. And when the Lord saved Paul,
he didn't start preaching the next Sunday. You'll turn to Galatians
chapter 1. I'll show you that. Now Paul
was an educated man. Paul was a theologian. Paul was
a religionist. Paul was a moralist. But when
God saved him, he didn't start preaching. He went off into Arabia
and stayed there with the Lord three and a half years before
he ever preached. He said in Galatians 1 verse
15, when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me that I might preach
Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and
blood. I didn't go to Jerusalem and ask Peter what I ought to
preach. I didn't go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before
me. I went to Arabia and I returned again to Damascus and after three
years I went to Jerusalem to see Peter and I stayed with him
for 15 days. This is the gospel, the book
of Romans, that God taught Paul off yonder in Arabia for three
and a half years. God taught him the gospel. There
are several marks of an apostle. One, he's a man who's seen the
Lord. Number two, he's a man who got
his message directly from the Master. He's an apostle. Apostle number three is a man
whose ministry is confirmed by miracles and signs and wonders.
But this book of Romans, this is the gospel that God taught
Paul in Arabia, and this is the message God gave him to preach.
And this is the word of life for this day and for every day.
This is the message of joy and comfort for the chief of sinners,
for every believer. Now there are three prominent
lessons taught in the first three chapters of Romans. We're going
to study this in our Bible class on March or May the 29th. But
there are three prominent lessons in the first three chapters of
Romans which are summed up in my text, which I read a moment
ago. Now here they are. I'm going
to give them to you. Three prominent lessons taught in these first
three chapters. Number one, the first lesson
is this, and it's established over and over and over and over
again. There is absolutely no hope,
no hope, not a glimmer, not a ray, not an atom, of hope, of justification
before God, redemption before God, acceptance by God, for any
person by the works of the law. It's just not possible. Now let's
look at Romans 3.19 for two reasons. The first reason is the guilt
of the sinner and the second reason is the holiness of the
law. There is no hope, there is no possibility of even a glimmer
of hope of any human being, any son of Adam, religious or otherwise,
being accepted by God by what he does or what he hasn't done. It says in those verses preceding
this, none righteous, none good, none that seeketh after God.
And then it comes to this conclusion, now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, the law of God, it saith to them who are under
the law, and that's every subject of God's kingdom, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty, guilty,
guilty, guilty before God. The depraved, sinful condition
that we're in by nature makes even our goodness to be sin,
even our righteousness to be iniquity. I want you sometime, if you will,
I do this myself and I wouldn't ask you to do what I don't do, examine your good deeds sometime,
what you consider to be good deeds. Examine your good deeds.
I know David said my sins are ever before me, and we've catalogued
sins, some real bad, some pretty bad, some not so bad, and some,
well, according to circumstances, but we examine our sins and we
condemn ourselves and we push ourselves down, but I'll tell
you something even better to do. And I've done this a lot
of times. Do it now. Examine your good
deeds. Take, for example, the next time
that you do a good deed. Next time you do a good deed,
next time that you do a deed that is commendable for anyone,
for a part, a member of your family, and most anybody else,
and just dissect it, like you kids do in high school when you
cut up those cats and things, you know, in biology class, just
dissect that good deed. Do I do it solely and totally
and completely for the glory of God? Do I do it so totally
and completely out of love for the person or the cause or whatever
it is that I don't want anybody to know I did it? I don't want
anybody to know I did it. I want to be totally between
me and God. I don't want anybody to say thank you. I don't want
anybody to know about it. I just want to do it totally
and solely and completely for the glory of God and the glory
of God only. You examine your next good deed. Why am I here in church? Is it for appearance sake? Am
I here because I'm driven by a hunger to hear the Word of
God and a thirst to know God, and a deep conviction for my
sin, and I want to be in God's presence? Or, you know, I'm a
preacher and I ought to be in church on Sunday. What would
the people think if I wasn't here? Do I read the Word of God when
I take it down at night and read it? Am I reading it because I'm
dry ground that needs a refreshing rain from this precious stream
of life here? I've heard people say to me,
well, I can sit down and read the Word and not get anything out. You're
not putting anything into it. Now, you can pick up the newspaper
and read some of this startling, shocking news. You get something
out of Dear Abby. You never went to sleep in your
life reading Dear Abby. That's a fact. That's a fact. Our good deeds are so saturated
with sin, and so saturated with self, and so saturated with flesh,
that they are filthy rags in God's sight. Now, that's what
I'm asking you to do. Don't examine your bad deeds.
You know they're bad. You examine your good deeds,
and I'll tell you, it'll shock you. You'll find out that your
righteousnesses are filthy rags. filthy rag. Our Lord Jesus Christ
in the flesh obeyed the Father because that was His meat and
drink. He said, My meat and drink is to do the will of my God.
We're not to that place. Our God, as Frank read while
ago in the study, is our belly. That's our God. Our flesh, satisfying
this old flesh, the cravings of it, the desires of it, the
delights of it. Christ said, you love those that
love you, that's who you love. And you give to those from whom
you hope to receive something in return, or even hoping to
receive something in return from God, but something in return.
We are practical people who expect a return on our investments,
whether it be financial or whether it be good deeds or righteousness
or whatever, we expect a return on our investments. God said,
you come close to righteousness when you begin loving your enemies
and praying for them which despitefully use you. So that's the first
thing he sets forth in Romans 1, 2, and 3. There's no hope.
There's no hope. Our righteousnesses are filthy
rags. Don't hold them up and brag on
them and get a satisfaction of righteousness and piety and self-exaltation
because you don't do this or don't do that or do the other
or do something else. Your righteousness in God's sight
is as corrupt as the drunkard's profanity. That's right. I know
folks don't like that, but that's so. And then the second thing
he sets forth here is thank God there is a righteousness. There
is a righteousness. There is a righteousness with
which the Father is pleased. There is one He will accept.
There is one with which He is satisfied. I can have a righteousness. I won't find it in here. I won't
find it down here. And I won't find it in here.
But there is one, he says in verse 21, But now, thank God,
the righteousness of God without the law. And don't be afraid
of that statement, without the law. Totally without the law. I have no consideration whatsoever
on my part to direct my attention in any way to this law to find
that righteousness. It's without the law and it's
witnessed by the Word of God and by the prophets. They told
about it. And it's the righteousness of
God. It's not the righteousness of men. It's not the righteousness
of man. It's the righteousness of God. By which men are justified in
the sight of God and declared holy and without blame. Now you
turn to Philippians 3 and let's go over this again. We looked
at this while ago in the study. Let's look at it again. Now here's
a man. Here's a man. that in his natural
unregenerated state would have been in the pulpit of the average
church today. He would have been accepted as
he was before he met Christ. He would have been lauded, he
would have been praised, he would have been exalted, he would have
been looked up to because he was the strict, staunch, theologian,
moralist, Accomplished, educated, intellectual, everything you
can say. And religious to the core. He
loved God. That's right, Paul. After God saved him, he was hated
by every religious man on earth. After God saved him, he was cast
out of every pulpit in his then known world. And today it would
be the same thing. They would take him like he was
and hate him like he is. Now you listen to him. In verse
4, he says, Though I might, Philippians 3, have confidence in the flesh,
if any man think he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more. Paul challenges all of them. He challenges every religious
man in the world. He said, I was circumcised the
eighth day of the stock of Israel. I was a Jew. I was not only a
Jew, but I was of the tribe of Benjamin, the choice son. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. That's touching the law. Paul
fasted so many times a week. Paul gave tithes of all he possessed. Paul stood on the street corner
and prayed. Paul wore his phylacteries broad, his borders broad, so
everybody would know that he believed the law, that he bowed
to the law, that he kept the law. Concerning zeal, I persecuted
the church. That was the other denomination.
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless, blameless. Now you talk about a man that
would have been extolled and exalted and lauded and praised,
in this day that was the man. He would have been followed,
he would have been a leader as he was then. But he said, these
things that were gained to me, are those things gained to you?
Do you find some satisfaction and some comfort in what you
are, or what you've done, or what you're doing? Those I counted
lost for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but lost,
I count them but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all
things, and He waxes more eloquent and strongly, I do count them
but dumb that I may win Christ. Christ. Most folks would listen to him
before he started talking about Christ, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. And here's
a different tune he's playing now, a different song he's singing,
and be found in Him. Oh, that I may be found in Him,
not having my own righteousness. Our Lord said to the disciples,
if your righteousness, your holiness, does not exceed, not equal the
Pharisees, but exceed the Pharisees, you're not going to enter the
kingdom of heaven. Our Lord picked the most religious man on this
earth. He picked the man that didn't
drink, didn't smoke, didn't swear, didn't curse, he tithed, he fasted,
he prayed, he gave alms, he attended church every service, he was
in the pulpit, he was the chairman of the board, he was the most
moral, righteous, cleanest man on earth, and he said, if you're
not better than him, you ain't even going to heaven. That's
what he said. Isn't that right? If your righteousness
does not exceed him, You won't even enter the kingdom
of heaven. Come back to Romans chapter 3. And this is what I'm
saying. There is a righteousness. It's
not mine. It's not ours. It's not produced
by the flesh. There is a righteousness. It's
without the law. It's without any obedience by
men. It is without any expected obedience. It is provided in
and by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is free without condition
to all who believe. All right, the third. Now this
is, this is, this Paul said, and we conclude, this is the
summary, the conclusion of the whole matter of what we've been
talking about. It's impossible for any human
being to be accepted by God on the basis of his goodness, of
his righteousness, of his work. because of the guilt of the human
heart and because of the holiness of God's law. Secondly, but there
is a righteousness by grace in Christ through faith. There is
a righteousness which is available to all who believe on the basis
of faith, not on the basis of works or dessert, but by faith.
There is a righteousness. It's there. It can be had. God
provided it. Christ worked it out. It's yours
and it's mine if we want it. And thirdly, this perfect righteousness
not only justifies the sinner, not only puts the sinner on a
right standing before God, not only brings the sinner into vital
living union with God, not only brings the sinner into personal
relationship with God, but this righteousness also enables God
to be just and justify that sinner. It's in keeping with His holiness.
Look at Romans 3, 25, and I just read it a while ago. He set forth
Christ to be the propitiation through faith in his blood, and
he did that to declare his righteousness. Verse 26, to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and justify
the ungodly. Now, you really haven't learned
the gospel. I don't care what people say. They can talk about
preaching the gospel, gospel church, and a gospel revival,
and a gospel meeting, and a gospel quartet. There's no gospel being
preached, and there's no gospel being learned, and there's no
gospel being understood if you don't understand these three
things right here. You don't know the gospel. You may know
that Jesus Christ died on the cross, but you don't know why.
You may know Jesus Christ lived 33 and a half years on this earth,
but you don't know why. You may know Jesus Christ has
gone back to heaven and He's seated at the right hand of the
Majesty on high, but you don't know why. You may know that Jesus
Christ is coming again, but you don't know why. And how can you
trust Him? How can you believe on Him? How
can you rest in an unrevealed Christ? I know who He is. The Bible tells
me who He is. The Bible tells me that He and
the Father are one. The Bible tells me that God was
in Christ. The Bible tells me that the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Bible tells me that by
the disobedience of Adam, I became a sinner. And by the obedience
of Christ, I was made righteous. I know why he came down here.
He came down here in the flesh, bone of my bone, flesh of my
flesh, as a living human being, subject to God's law, born under
the law, born of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law. He walked this earth in human
flesh to do for me what I couldn't possibly do for myself. I know
why he came, I know why he lived on this earth, I know why he
was a baby in a home, why he was a boy in a carpenter's shop,
why he was a man who walked the streets and fellowshiped with
all manner of people, I know why, I know why Satan tried him
and tested him and tempted him, and I know why, because he was
me and you, he was our representative, our surety, he was our federal
head, he was working out a righteousness. I know why he went to the cross
and died. He went there taking my sins. He went there to satisfy
the justice of the Father. He went there because I ought
to go there. He was numbered with the transgressors. He was
an accessory to the fact. And God nailed him to a cross
in our place. I know why he was buried as our
scapegoat. Just like there in the Old Testament
I read where the The priest of God would put his hands on the
scapegoat and confess the sins of Israel, and then some fellow
would take that scapegoat while all the people stood and watched,
and lead it out into the wilderness, and just keep going until they
were just two dots on the horizon, and they'd keep on going until
they couldn't be seen at all. And he'd take that scapegoat
out yonder where the sins of Israel confessed on it, and leave
it out there and turn around and come back, and all the people
stand there waiting. After a while a cheer would go
up, here it comes, but he doesn't have the goat with him, nor the
sins. Christ took my sins in His body,
and all believers went to the cross and died for Him, and He
went to the grave, and He came out victorious over death, over
sin, over Satan, over hell, over all things. And He came back
without my sins. And I know why He's on the right
hand of God. He's up there praying for me to make this sermon holy. and to make my prayers holy,
and to make my conduct holy, and to make my conversation holy,
and so that I might say, Our Father. If it wasn't for Christ,
when I pronounced His name, He'd burn me to a cinder, and you
too. Because when the word falls out of our mouths, the Father,
Elohim, God, Jehovah, When it comes out of our mouths with
the poison of snakes under our lips, it can't come out with
the honor and the glory and the majesty that it ought to have.
We can't pray. We make an attempt at it. We
try to sing, try to preach. It's all just flesh, and Christ
makes it holy. Our high priest is right there
at God's right hand. All of this, Paul says in verse
28, "...therefore I conclude that a man is justified by faith."
By faith. God doesn't require you to produce
a righteousness, and the minute you start trying to do it, you
are fallen from grace. The minute you try to produce
something with which God will be happy, with which God will
be satisfied, Something that will bring forth from the Father
a well done. Then you've fallen from grace,
you've departed from Christ, you're seeking to establish a
righteousness of your own. God doesn't require you to produce
a righteousness, God invites you to receive one already complete. Already complete, here it is. God Almighty doesn't require
you even to complete a righteousness. Now here's, some folks will go
with me on that first point, but when I get to this one, They
say, now brother man, you know, God, God Almighty wants us to
believe on Christ, but from then on. No, from then on it's Christ. That's right. From the God, the
blood on the cross takes care of past sin. All my sins were
future sins when he died on that cross. Christ didn't die yesterday,
he died 2,000 years ago. God doesn't require me to produce
a righteousness. God doesn't require me to complete
a righteousness. God doesn't require me to keep
up a righteousness. Not for redemption. Now you listen
to this old song. I asked Jeff if he ever heard
this one. He said he never heard it sung, but he'd seen it before.
Listen to it. Nothing, nothing, either great
or small, remains for me to do. Jesus died and paid it all, yes,
all the dead out. When he from his lofty throne
stooped down to do and die, everything was fully done, for he said,
It is finished. That was his cry. Weary, working,
plodding religious one, oh wherefore tall you so? Cease your doing. All was done. Yes, it was done
long ago, until to Jesus you cling. alone by simple faith. Doing is a deadly thing. All
doing ends in death. Cast your fleshly doing down,
down at Jesus' feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone, glorious
and complete. That's it. I say that is contrary to the
religious mind That's contrary to the natural man. That is not
the way of man. That is not the way of the church.
That is not the way of the pulpit. That's the way of God. You'll buy your Bible and read
the book of Romans, you'll find out that's the way of God. That's
what God taught Paul. It took him three and a half
years. Paul had so much to unlearn. He was a Pharisee, a Hebrew of
Hebrews. He was an Arminian. He was a
man preaching works for salvation. And God Almighty had to utterly,
totally, completely strip him of everything and bring him to
rest on Christ. Now in chapter 4, and I'm going
to give you this briefly and quit, but Paul then gives us
in chapter 4 to illustrate justification by faith, he chooses two examples. Abraham and David. Abraham and
David. He chose Abraham and David because
the Holy Spirit told him to, but the Holy Spirit chose Abraham
and David because the Jews held these men in the highest esteem. If you had asked any Jew on earth,
name the two greatest men of all time, Abraham and David,
there wouldn't have been any doubt about it. So in whatever
way that Abraham and David were justified, that's God's way. That's the way that we need to
look for and to look for no other. So first of all, he says in verse
1, chapter 4, What shall we say then that Abraham, our father
as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? What did Abraham found?
What has Abraham found? Now if he found the way of righteousness
in his own work, He says in verse 2, if he's justified by his pious
life, by his holy behavior, then he has something in which to
glory, of which to glory. But look at the last line, but
not before God, but not before God. Brethren, he might glory
before men. Well, I left my father's house.
Why, he said, I sacrificed, I lived in tents, I roamed the valley,
I gave up my home and my family and my people and all these things
for God. I did great and marvelous things.
He could glory before men, but not before God, because God knew
where he found Abraham. And God knew if he'd left up
to Abraham, he'd have still been there. God not only knew where he found
Abraham, but God knew the sins of Abraham's heart. God looketh
on the heart, man looketh on the outward countenance. God
knew Abraham's weaknesses. God knew Abraham's failures.
God knew Abraham's transgression. God knew Abraham's ambition.
God knew Abraham. So Abraham could not glory before
God. This is where we all need to
go to school. Now, this is one of the great old writers said
this. Now listen, this is important. We do not deny Abraham's faith. We do not deny Abraham's dedication. We do not deny Abraham's sacrifice. All of us should take Abraham
as an example. An example of complete dedication
consecration, and devotion to God. In our own personal lives,
like Abraham, we should set an example of honesty, integrity,
faithfulness, humility, and love, that others might see our good
works and glorify our Father which is in heaven. And we need
to take care to walk with God in holiness and honesty and truth. to justify our faith before men,
but not before God. You see that? But not before
God. For God Almighty knows where he found us, and he knows if
it were up to us, we would still be there. Almighty God knows
the sins of our hearts, he knows the sins of our thoughts, he
knows the sins of our minds, and not one of us have anything
in which to glory or in which to delight before God. Now this is where so many people
who are untaught turn to the book of James. I want to give
you this, the book of James. Chapter 2. This is where so many
people set up a conflict between Paul and James. Faith without
works is dead. They set up a conflict between
Paul and James and they turn to James 2.21. And this is what
James says. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works? You see that? Look at it carefully.
We should never be afraid to read all of the word of God.
Keep back nothing profitable. Paul and James, Paul says Abraham
was justified by faith. Romans chapter 4 verse 3 said,
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.
James says, ask the question, was not Abraham our father justified
by works? Now, if you'll read these two
chapters, Romans and James, carefully, you'll find four things. Listen
carefully. Paul and James are not speaking
of the same thing at all. Paul is speaking of justification
before God. Before God. That's what he says
there. Abraham, if he's justified by
works, hath whereof to glory, but not before God. Not before
God. James speaks of justification
before men. Look back at verse 18. Here it
is, right here. This is the basis. This is the
question he's answering. He says, A man may say, Thou
hast faith, I have works, show me thy faith. That's what he's
doing. Show me thy faith. There's only
one way that you can justify what you claim to have before
men, and that's by works. There's only one way that you
can justify what you claim before God, and that's by faith. Paul speaks of the justification
of the person. James speaks of the justification
of the person's claim. I claim to be a child of God.
I claim to be a believer. I claim to love the Word of God.
I claim to love Christ. If I love Christ, I'll preach
Christ. If I love Christ, I'll walk with
Christ. If I love Christ, people will
know I love Christ. I'll justify my claims before
men. My soul, my person is justified
before God by Christ. My claim to faith, my profession
of faith is justified before the world by my conduct, by my
works. If I really love people, I'll
serve people. I'll give to people. I'll conduct
myself in an attitude of grace and love and forgiveness. You
see that? And they say, well, he acts like
he believes it. Paul condemns works as a cause
of justification and James praises works as an evidence of justification. Paul is writing to people who
trusted in their works and James is writing to people who said
works are not necessary. Works are not necessary. Justification before God is in
Christ and Christ alone. without work, without the deeds
of the law, without any consideration on my part of any of the law. That's how I'm justified. It's
Christ, the author and finisher, the beginning and the end, the
Alpha and Omega. It's Christ and Christ alone.
God judges me, loves me, accepts me in Christ. Not on the basis
of anything I have done, am doing, or ever will do. Now men and
women want to see my faith. in operation. If I'm always angry,
if I'm proud, if I'm unlovely, if I'm unforgiving, if I'm ungracious,
if I'm unkind, they have every reason to believe that it's not
Christ that I love. You feel what I'm saying? So
my faith, my person is justified before God by Christ. My faith
is justified before people by my All right, David, and I close
with this. He brings us another example. He said Abraham was
justified by faith. God took him out there and said,
Genesis chapter 15, verse 6, said, See the stars? That's how
many seeds you're going to have. And it says, Abraham believed
God. Right then he believed God, and it was counted to him for
righteousness. All right, David, verse 6. Even as David also described
the blessedness of the man, the happiness of the man, unto whom
God himself, God himself imputed." That word means, you know what
it means? Charge to your account. Charge to your account. God imputes
righteousness without works. It's charge to my account. David, the man after God's own
heart, David, the man chosen to be king of Israel, David,
of whose seed the Messiah comes, he says, happy is that man, old
or happy, in a state of bliss is that person who knows that
God Almighty has imputed a perfect righteousness unto him without
any works. The key word in that verse is
the word imputed. If that righteousness was that
man's own, it could not be imputed. You see that? If that righteousness,
which is charged to his account, if it's his own, then it's not
imputed. It's recognized, or it's received,
but not imputed. Happy is that man who has a perfect
righteousness imputed to him without works. Now the second
thing, verse 7, David said, blessed, happy are they whose iniquities
are forgiven. whose sins are covered. Happy
is that man who knows that all his sins are removed, forgiven,
forgotten, because Christ paid for them, whose sins are covered
from the divine eye of God's justice as the atonement covered
that mercy seat. You know, inside the Holy of
Holies was the Ark, and in that Ark was the Law, the tables of
stone which Moses brought down from the mountain. On top of
that Ark was the mercy seat covered with gold and the cherubim, And
the high priest once a year would take the blood in the basin and
he would pour it on top of the mercy seat and it would cover,
it would just run over the mercy seat, the blood. It was covering
the broken law. And the blood of Christ covers
it. He's our mercy seat. He's our
propitiation, which means mercy seat. And his blood covers all
of the broken law. Every law I've broken is covered
from the eye of divine justice by the blood of Christ. It's
covered. It's blotted out. And then verse 8, happy is the
man to whom God will not impute sin or charge sin or bring them
to our account. Do you know anything about those
three things? Happy is the man. Happy. That's what David said
and Paul quoted in the New Testament. That person is happy. Not on
the basis of his successes in business or his successes with
his children or his social position or his fame. He's happy because
in heaven there is imputed to him, charged to his account,
Perfect holiness, a perfect righteousness. God charged it to his account.
God didn't receive it from him. God didn't recognize it in him.
God charged it to his account without works. It's on his books. He may go as many ups and downs
of the roller coaster. He may be depressed and despondent
and delighted and all doubts and fears and everything else,
but he's happy for one reason. There is charge to him in glory
because of what Christ paid, a perfect holiness. All his sins
are under the blood. The blood of Christ totally covers
all of his sins. And he's happy because he knows
that God will not charge sin, impute sin to him of any kind. That is so. Because chapter 5
verse 1 says, Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 8 verse 1 says,
There is therefore now, right now, no condemnation to them
who are in Christ. And Paul said in verse 33 of
Romans chapter 8, 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. That's
happiness. That's happiness. Happiness is
not getting some rules and regulations and looking them up and say,
well, I kept this one, I'm short on that one, I'm real short on
this one, high on that one, you know. I'm getting good and better
every day. I'm striving to meet all the
requirements and make all the payments and complete the right.
Happiness is resting in the Lord, trusting in the Lord, looking
to Christ and receiving from Him that refreshing spirit and
refreshing grace where you grow to be more like Him. walk with
Him. Our Father, we thank Thee, we
praise Thee for the gospel. Good news to the chief of sinners. Good news. And we can truthfully
say, not like we ought to feel it, and not like we expect to
feel it, as Your Spirit moves in our heart, but we can say,
come ye sinners, Poor and needy, Jesus' blood can make you clean,
for He saved the worst among us when He saved a wretch like
me. Oh, yes, I know, Jesus' blood
can make the vilest sinner clean. Yes, I know. Know it in my heart. Teach it to me more each day.
For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.

By Faith or by Works?

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