And now I shall just briefly review what we have covered in our previous two evening sessions together.
It has been my assignment to make an effort at teaching and preaching concerning the doctrine of justification by faith.
And so we have set the doctrine against the backdrop of its tremendous importance.
This doctrine is the article of the standing, or the falling, church.
It is vitally important with reference to the glory of God and with reference to the good of men.
And then I sought to underline for you the simple but very basic perspective that this doctrine must always be couched in its biblical context.
And if we would properly propagate it, and if we would ably defend it, and if we would responsibly preserve it, that context must be propagated and preserved as well.
The context, then, of this great doctrine is the character and position of God with reference to man his creature,
the position and character of man with reference to God his creator, and the ultimate intention of God in the salvation of men.
Then last evening we sought to define the word justify, and we saw that along four lines of biblical evidence this word can mean nothing other than a declaration with reference to the standard of the law.
To justify means to declare righteous, to pronounce just, to pronounce the man in the light of the standard of righteousness as not deserving of punishment and of deserving every blessing which a lawkeeper deserves.
And then we looked at a broad overview of the doctrine by reading the shorter catechism, the larger catechism, and then the confession of faith.
And then we went back to the larger catechism and began to teach the doctrine by means of the framework of the definition of the larger catechism.
And we got just the first three elements of the doctrine of justification in our study last night.
We saw first of all the author of justification. Justification is an act of God's free grace.
The author is God himself. It is God that justifies. It is God who constitutes us righteous in Jesus Christ.
Hence if God is author, then it is a declaration which none can cancel or alter.
It is in the second place a declaration which must be founded upon truth and upon reality.
God cannot declare a man just if there is no just basis for that declaration.
And thirdly, since it is God who justifies and justifies the ungodly whom he could condemn and damn,
therefore the very context of this doctrine is one of gracious dealings at the hand of this God.
Then we looked briefly at the source of justification. Justification is an act of God's free grace.
Free grace is its source, being justified freely by his grace. Romans 3 and verse 24.
And then we closed our study by looking at the recipients of justification.
Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners. It is sinners who are justified.
Romans 4 and verse 5. God justifieth the ungodly. And I concluded then with a strong exhortation
concerning the heart of true biblical preaching, being bound up in this biblical concept that men
come to Christ as sinners and Christ is brought to men in the gospel as the savior of sinners
with no other qualifications. He has come to save sinners. Now tonight we move into what is perhaps
the most difficult and yet if we think the matter through the most blessed aspects of this whole
doctrine, the essence of justification. This work that is of God with its source in free grace
conferred upon sinners, what is the very essence of the justifying work of God?
Well the confession helps us again by telling us these things. Justification is an act of God's
free grace unto sinners in which he pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons
righteous in his sight. So the very central nerve of the doctrine of justification, the essence of
that doctrine is understood in first of all the word act and secondly in pardon and acceptance.
So then the essence of justification is first of all that it is an act of God. It is not a process
which speaks of imperfection, continuance, and development. It is an act no degrees admissible.
A man is either wholly justified or wholly condemned in the sight of God. Now this is
emphasized by such classic text as Romans 5 and verse 1. You have for the sake of you Greek
student an arist passive participle literally translated having been justified by faith.
Having been justified by faith the work is done. It is an act of God. Romans 8 1. There is therefore
now in the present moment no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The state of
no condemnation is not suspended until the day of judgment. No it is a present possession and
of course that passage we looked at last night the publican went down to his house not in the way of
justification, not seeking to attain justification, not having begun to be justified, but the
scripture says in Luke 18 14 he went down to his house justified. So then there is a moment when a
man or a woman comes out from under the awful canopy of divine judgment and wrath into the
smile in favor of God. When the law comes to the man in the power of the spirit it discovers him
to be standing beneath the gray thunder heads of divine wrath and there is the flashing lightning
and thunder of the anger of God and the moment he's justified there is nothing but the clear
blue sky with the rays of the beams of the countenance of a reconciled God shining down
upon the face of the justified sinner. Having been justified now I am not saying every person knows
that moment in his own spiritual pilgrimage nor am I saying it is necessary for you to know
when the clouds parted and there were no longer the thunder clouds but the clear bright blue sky.
All I am saying is that in God's dealings with men justification is an instantaneous
act of God complete and perfect the moment God declares a man righteous for the sake of Christ.
Now the essence of justification then is to be understood as an act which comprises two distinct
yet never separated blessings and notice what they are whereby he pardoneth all their sins
accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight. The two great blessings then which
form the essence of justification this great act of God are remission or pardon of sins
and acceptance as righteous in his sight. Now in a very real sense I should just park right here
and spend the rest of the time but it would not be a balanced overview so I cannot do this.
Though these two aspects have been described in various ways and set forth with different
expressions all who take the bible seriously are forced to confess that justification does not
mean mere pardon. That would be a blessing beyond anything we could ever expect it would have to be
all of grace but justification is something more than mere pardon but it also involves
our being accepted as though we had fully kept the law and were entitled to everything
that a perfect law keeper is entitled to. When a man is pardoned he is no longer liable to penalty
but the judge who pardons a man is under no obligation to open his home and have him come in
and sit at his table and adopt him as his son and make him a co-heir with his wife in his will.
That's something beyond mere pardon and in justification God does more than pardon all
our sins. He then on the basis of his justifying act brings us into his very family in adoption
and makes us co-heirs with his son heirs of every blessing that is rightfully that belonging to his
own blessed son. Now what biblical warrant is there for saying then that the essence of
justification is the act by which there is pardon and acceptance. Let us look at several
of the key passages in the word of God. Second Corinthians chapter five if you will please.
Second Corinthians chapter five.
May I just pause for a moment to say let some be discouraged. When I began to discover this truth
it was years after I was justified. I just went around all those years and didn't know how well
off I was and some of you may be tempted as this if God is pleased to make this break in upon your
soul with biblical glory and freshness it'll almost be like a second conversion you'll wonder
well how in the world could I be saved and been so ignorant for so long of this aspect of the
blessing but please do not undo God's past work because of his present grace to show you all that
he did for you back then that's not pleasing to the Lord. Now second Corinthians 5 and verse 19.
Back up perhaps to verse 18. But all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation to it that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself not reckoning unto them their trespasses and having committed
unto us the word of reconciliation for we are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ as
though God were entreating you by us we beseech you in the behalf of Christ be ye reconciled to
God him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of
God in him now here's the two lines of thought justification involves the non-imputation of sin
to the world of God's elect not imputing their sins unto them there is the remission of sin
the passing over of sin but there's more than that for verse 21 says we actually become the
very righteousness of God in him that is positive non-imputation is negative for me to say i no
longer accuse you of a crime is one thing for me to say i now attribute to you this virtue
is quite another thing and so in the work of justification in the act of justification there
is the non-imputation of sin there is this acceptation in the righteousness of God and of
Christ turn to Romans 4 for a similar distinction in Romans 4 verses 6 to 8 the dominant thought
here concerning justification for that's the theme of Romans 4 is non-imputation of sin verse 6 even
as David also pronounces blessing upon the man unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from
work saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven whose sins are covered blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not reckon or impute sin you see here justification is conceived of in the
framework of the non-imputation of sin David says blessed is the man to whom God will not reckon or
impute sin the man whom God will not treat as guilty before his law but when you turn to chapter
five you find the other side of justification emphasized in a text such as verse 19 of Romans 5
for as through the one man's disobedience the many were made or constituted sinners
even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be constituted righteous see the positive
angle non-imputation blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin yea doubly blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputes righteousness not just as it were neutralizing the ledger
saying here's your debt here's your obligation to law I'll cancel it so that your ledger is clear
but puts into the ledger all the opinions of his son so that he looks at his law and says of
everyone in Christ that law perfectly kept every debt incurred by the breach of it has been fully
paid this is the essence of this grand and glorious truth of justification by faith now turn
to the book of acts for two more passages which show this basic distinction in the 13th chapter of
the book of the acts the apostle Paul is preaching and he says in verse 39 and by him that is Jesus
Christ as preached in the gospel by him everyone that believeth is justified from all things from
which he could not be justified by the law of Moses there's the negative aspect of justification
by Jesus Christ a man is declared righteous in the sense that he is not liable to punishment
from those things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses but is that all
justification is no for we read in Acts chapter 26 in this record of the commission
given to the apostle by the risen Lord and I read now from verse 18 to open their eyes that they may
turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive remission of
sins that's the negative and something more and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith
in me they not only receive remission but inheritance not only does God say no ground of
condemnation but every ground of acceptation not only does God say no ground for hell he says
every ground for heaven and these then as the framers of the confession were so careful to
delineate form the essence of this great blessing now most reformed theologians are careful to point
out that pardon and acceptance is righteous are two different things that to have this title to
eternal life there must be a perfect righteousness in the light of the law of God also they have
pointed out that if we're to stand before the law of God and the God of law truly acquitted
and accepted we must do so as having fulfilled the precepts of the law as well as having made
satisfaction to the penal demands of the law then a good summary of the biblical teaching is found
and I refer to the article I quoted from last night packer's article in baker's theological
dictionary quote justification has two sides on the one hand it means pardon and remission and
non-imputation of all sins reconciliation to God and the end of his enmity and wrath on the other
hand it means the bestowal of a righteous man's status and a title to all the blessings of the
just a thought which paul amplifies by linking justification with the adoption of believers
as God's own son and heirs look at romans 5 1 and 2 for the last passage showing how these things
are drawn together in romans 5 1 he says having been therefore justified by faith we have peace
with God through our lord Jesus Christ no more enmity no longer do I look to the law of God and
to the God of the law as the God of infinite holiness and inflexible justice and tremble at
the thought of his enmity against me his righteous enmity because of my sin and my enmity against him
no no we have peace with God but he says not only that through whom also we have had our access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God not only do
we have the sense we are no longer enemies but we have the blessed confidence that we are I say it
referently his bosom friends who shall be with him forever in the glory everlasting and in that world
to come now I I grant that even to think of this is mind blowing and mind stretching because we're
baffled by the thought that God would as it were put himself out to confer such blessings on the
likes of us but we do not honor God by the false humility that says such blessings are too great
for us you let God say what blessings he wants to confer upon those who are the objects of his love
and do not dishonor him by unbelief that fails to rise to the heights that biblical data
warrants us to rise but rather pray with Paul that you may be strengthened with might by the
spirit in the inner man that you may be able to comprehend to lay hold of the breadth and the
length and the height and the depth and may be able to glory in these great gospel privileges
that are ours in Christ Jesus so then the essence of justification is it is an act of God whereby he
pardons all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in his sight as Mr. Plummer says in his excellent
sermon on this subject several sermons in his book the grace of Christ William S. Plummer
for angels Mr. Plummer says innocence is a sweet word but for sinners forgiveness
and acceptance are sweet words he goes on to say when God pardons he pardons all sins original sin
actual sins sins of omission and commission secret and open sins sins of thought of word indeed
one unpardon sin would destroy a soul forever a single transgression can rouse an enlightened
conscious to the conscience to the wildest fury and your heart tells you that that's so
the thought that there is but one sin the status of which is still not settled before the judgment
bar of God can drive a man insane and nothing will meet our case but a justification in which
he pardoned all our sins and casts them all behind his back and buries them all in the
depths of the sea and removes them all as far as the east is from the west a forgiveness in which
the blood of Jesus Christ God's son cleanseth us from all sin and furthermore that gives us the
consciousness that we can stand before him in the awareness that when he looks at his
law and looks at us there is a just grounds for him to regard us as though we had kept
every precept from the moment of our conception to the moment we breathed our last and treatise
with all the favor that he shows even to those angels who've never sinned this i say is the
essence of the biblical doctrine of justification well this should arise should raise a question
in your mind and the framers of the confession anticipate it upon what grounds can God do a
thing like that upon what grounds can God forgive all your sins past present future secret sins
open sins commission all missions sins of attitude thought and even if you can begin to say well i
think maybe i can understand how he can forgive how in the world can he accept my person as
righteous upon what ground can this be done this is a very vital question with reference to this
doctrine listen to Daphne speaking to this very issue as is our conception of the immediate ground
of justification such will be our conception of its nature this proposition will be found
necessarily decisive of every man's scheme of justification be what it may if the ground of
our justification is absolute complete and infinite even the righteousness of Jesus Christ
it will also be an act complete final and absolute equal in all justified persons let me say
particularly to you preachers here new men aspiring to the ministry as one studies the history of this
doctrine is made aware of the fact that this is perhaps the most crucial thing upon what ground
does God justify if men are honest with the word to justify they must admit that it means to
pronounce righteous and they can't evade the linguistic force of that implication however
the human heart being so inveterately attached to evil then begins to pervert the grounds upon
which God makes that declaration and so it is necessary that we understand clearly and preach
clearly this concept of the word of God what then does the confession say in expressing the thought
of the bible i give it to you not for anything wrought in them or done by them two negatives
what is the ground of our justification negative nothing wrought in them to nothing done by them
but only here's the positive for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ
two negatives two positives the ground of our justification is not negative one anything wrought
in them this is a negation of the idea that justification is based upon that which God does
in us follow me now even if he does something in us in grace justification isn't based on that
calling sanctification and glorification are gracious works of God in us
but they are not the ground of God declaring us pardoned and accepted
let me state it this way to make it forceful in your thinking
when we stand in his presence we shall be like him we shall see him as he is
our justification is not based upon what we will be then perfectly righteous every last bit of sin
scoured from every fabric of our redeemed humanity no no the framers of the confession
are careful to assert the ground is not for anything wrought in us even wrought in us by
grace hence this is a terrible and incisive indictment against the damning heresy of Rome
Rome uses the term justify in the concept of God infusing grace in us
and so they were taking a broadside at Rome and it's abominable doctrine no he justifieth
the ungodly not for anything wrought in them nor second negative done by them this is a negation
of the idea that any works performed by us have anything to do with the ground of this declaration
not only are we to exclude anything done in us by God or anything done by us with respect
with reference to God so then every passage that excludes works fits into this negation
not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us
but now a justification apart from the works of the law has been manifested Romans 3 and verse 28
we reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law that is
works that he performs now follow closely since faith is also contrasted with the law
and with works faith must never be thought of as a thing done by us in order that we might be
justified
though faith is always the instrumental means of laying hold of the blessing of justification
we're not justified an account of this thing called faith that would be a justification
based upon something done by us namely our believing the ground of our justification is
not anything wrought enough nor done by us faith included well positively then what is
the ground of our justification well i give you the confession again but only for the perfect
obedience and full satisfaction of Christ if God pardons guilty sinners and accepts them as
righteous how can he be the god revealed in the bible who hates sin and will by no means clear
the guilty now you solve that problem for me page after page text after text declares him to be a
god of inflexible justice who will give a sentence of absolute righteousness he will not clear the
guilty he cannot be bribed he cannot be fooled he cannot be cajoled into deviating from the line
of perfect justice and yet and yet he has revealed to us in his word that he pardons and he accepts
his righteous on what grounds here's the answer the obedience and the satisfaction of Jesus
Christ notice then that the answer of the confession brings us directly to Jesus Christ
himself and the work he accomplished and is accomplishing as our mediator in other words
the ground of our justification is holy w-h-o-l-l-y holy outside of ourselves and totally in Jesus
Christ his person and his work
may you say well that's simple anybody well let me just say it again because if that thing gets
in and becomes part of your bloodstream you'll be preserved from errors on the left hand and
the right the ground is wholly outside of ourselves you say all right I'm convinced
the ground is not in me but maybe it's in Christ and the church maybe in Christ and the sacraments
may no no is not only holy outside of ourselves but it is totally in Jesus Christ his person and
his work hence we are justified by becoming partakers of a righteousness not our own when
I see thee as thou art when dressed in beauty not my own the righteousness to be found in Christ
alone the very righteousness of God revealed in the gospel now since it is the righteousness of
one who came to magnify the law and to make it honorable as Isaiah says since that righteousness
comes to a person the Lord Jesus who will not cancel or alter the law both in its penalty
and in its precepts and demands how was this righteousness wrought out by us
for us I'm sorry how was it wrought out for us but we're brought back again to what the
catechism says the perfect obedience referring to the life of Christ and the perfect and full
satisfaction of Christ referring to his death so we are warranted in accepting this statement of
Charles Hodge. The righteousness of Christ is meant all that he became
dead and suffered to satisfy the demands of divine justice and to merit for his people
the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life what is the righteousness of God
the righteousness of Christ the righteousness of faith the righteousness of justification
it is that righteousness based upon all that he became dead and suffered to satisfy the demands
of divine justice and to merit for his people the forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life
now you'll notice that the confession makes a distinction that I've underscored
his perfect obedience and his full satisfaction and historically the theologians have spoken of
these categories in terms of the active and the passive obedience of Christ now by using those
terms they were explaining attempting to explain a biblical concept that it is not only what Jesus
Christ did when he offered himself up a sacrifice unto God through the eternal spirit which forms
the ground of our justification but it is what he did in his life of perfect and absolute obedience
to the will of God hence the obedience of his life was called his active obedience and his yielding
himself up as a sacrifice his passive obedience and to the extent that those biblical concepts
are described by those words they are justifiable but they have created a false impression in our
minds and in the minds of many people for Jesus Christ was never more active in his obedience
than when as our priest he was both offering and offerer laying down his life for the sheep
through the eternal spirit the writer to the Hebrew says he offered himself up unto God
never was his obedience more active and more thoroughly and completely and selflessly expressed
than when he gave himself up in sacrifice unto the father and so I do not like the terminology
I like what it is describing I just don't feel that that is the best terminology and here again
I am indebted to Hugh Martin in his treatise on the atonement for he speaks often of this very
subject let me quote from him at this point speaking of this obedience of Christ even unto
death as the ground of righteousness he says it is Christ person as God and man ordained for men
and having perfectly fulfilled all righteousness which is the righteousness of the saints Christ
it is that is the end of the law for righteousness Romans 10 4 thou lovest righteousness and hatest
iniquity therefore thy God thy God in that covenant which thou has established and fulfilled
that God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows
Christ needed no work assigned him to give him love interest or love influence with the eternal
father for the father loveth the son and has given all things into his hand his love interest with
the father is the source and origin of the covenant given him to fulfill and the honorable
and glorious work given him to do he himself as God man his divine in human natures in perfect
harmony with each other his entire person therefore is inconceivably glorious in its
conformity with the nature of God for the nature of God is the very seat of his personality and
then he goes on to say that as the God man in his active obedience throughout this life even
obedience unto the death of the cross it is that righteousness which now becomes the possession
of all who are justified now is this a scriptural concept that the ground of our justification is
Christ's life of obedience in keeping the precepts of the law as well as Christ's death in obedience
to the demands of the penal sanctions of the law I believe it is a scriptural distinction and let's
look at several verses in the third chapter of the gospel according to Matthew the Lord Jesus
is to be baptized and there is an objection from John the Baptist and notice what our Lord says
in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 17 I'm sorry I was thinking of the text in which it says for
thus it be cometh him to fulfill all righteousness but here in Matthew 3 17 lo a voice out of the
heavens saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased verse 15 but Jesus answering
said unto him suffer it now for thus it be cometh us to fulfill all righteousness this is part of my
whole life of obedience to the will of my father and it's as though the father says to John now
John I will amen the statement of my son so having been baptized the heavens are open the spirit
descends and the voice speaks this is my son my beloved in whom I am well pleased you have the
statement in Matthew 5 and verse 17 think not that I came to destroy the law the prophets I came not
to destroy but to fulfill Romans 5 19 if by the act of one in disobedience we were constituted
sinners Paul argues and says how much more by the obedience of one shall we be constituted righteous
now you see this brings in and this may leave some of you lay folk who are here but
pardon me because I feel again constrained that I must speak to these preachers particularly the
young men if we say that the obedience of Jesus Christ in his life has nothing to do with forming
the ground of our justification we are saying that he was not living in his life as the surety of his
people if you suspend his surety ship until he hangs upon a cross and say he dies in my stead
at what point is he made a surety and a substitute and the covenant head of his people the bible says
he was the covenant head of his people from eternity we were chosen in him and when he came
in the fullness of time made under the law why did he come I came he says I am come to do thy will
oh my god and part of that will was that by his life of perfect obedience every precept of the
law being fulfilled he fulfilling that law on behalf of his people might be forming the basis
upon which god can say to everyone for whom Christ's perfect record becomes their possession
I regard you as having perfectly kept my law and the sinner says but where and when
and the father says in my son for the remainder of this message please turn over the tape
record becomes their possession I regard you as having perfectly kept my law and the sinner says
but where and when and the father says in my son in my son and so the basis then of our
justification is in the words of the catechism the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ but then
also his full satisfaction as well and need I quote the verses
us Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law how being made a curse for us for it is
written cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree you have the vivid imagery of Isaiah 53 he hath
put him to grief when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin the lord hath made to light upon
him the iniquity of us all but I think the most staggering passage dealing with this concept
is second Corinthians 5 the one I read earlier god hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us
his holy soul never once defiled with the pollution of our sin
but as our surety being so identified with it that he is treated as though our breaches of the law
were his and so Romans 8 32 says he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all
delivered him up to what spared him not what here's the criminal who stands before the bar
of justice and his guilt is established by competent witnesses the statute books are opened
and this particular crime of which he's been convicted demands a certain punishment and as
the judge is about to read the punishment he falls upon his face and he cries out oh judge
spare me spare me spare me what's he pleading for that there will be a relaxing of the just
demands of the law the scripture says
he spared him not and the opposite of sparing was delivering him up delivered him up to what
all that the law demanded and what did the law demand the wages of sin is death sin's penalty
is death and what is the essence of that death it is abandonment by god
and he spared him not there came rushing into the soul of our lord jesus all the pangs and anguish
of hell itself and he felt that pang he felt that anguish until he cried out in agony of soul in
words which i almost feel blasphemous when i quote even in preaching my god my god why has
bow abandoned me he felt in the depths of his soul abandonment of god
he spared that his own dear son never was he loving him more and at that moment when his son's
active obedience reached its pinnacle point never was he loved more than when he was abandoned
upon the cross
to what end to the end that we might be holding in death being swallowed up in the death of christ
the basis upon which god can say to guilty hell deserving rebels like you and me
thy sins be forgiven they go sin no more
my friend listen to me
you let the reality of death and judgment begin to loom big in your mind and you start taking
seriously your sins you start letting your mind as it were like a computer scanning all of the
information scan your life and all of the deflections from the law of god and thought
and word and deed and you know that you're going to slip out of this world into the world to come
and stand before god i say nothing less than a view of the cross that is set in the context of
the penal judgment of god upon christ will give you any anchor for the soul
to be breathing one's last and to know that one's only hope is that the anger of god exhausted
itself upon you oh my friend anything less than that you enter eternity with a big and
gruesome question mark but thank god it is this it has caused the saints of god through the years
who had some biblical acquaintance with the holiness and the majesty and the justice of god
to welcome death and speak of sweet death in the words of that anthem that i heard many years ago
that comes back again and again thou hast made death glorious and triumphant for through its
portals we enter into the presence of the living god and we can enter with confidence why because
the lord jesus has drained the last dark drop of all the anger and wrath of god against his people
oh christ what burdens bowed thy head our load was laid on thee thou stoodest in the sinner's
stead it's bare all ill for me death and the curse were in our cup oh christ was full for thee but
thou hast drained the last dark drop tis empty now for me that bitter cup love drank it up
now blessings draft for me jehovah paid his sword awake oh christ it woke against thee
thine open bosom what is was its ward now sleeps that sword for me a victim led
thy blood was shed now there is no sword for me thank god for such a basis of god's declaration
of justification thank god for the perfect obedience of christ to every precept and the full
satisfaction of christ to every demand of a broken law so that god is now perfectly just
and the justifier of him that believes in the lord jesus christ hence we may say then and i quote
from professor murray who capturing this train of thought says of this great blessing while
his wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
his good pleasure is revealed from heaven upon the righteousness of his well beloved and only
begotten those justified may exult in the words of the prophet surely shall one say in the lord
have i righteousness and strength in the lord shall all the seed of israel be justified and
shall glorify isaiah 45 i will greatly rejoice in the lord my soul shall be joyful in my god
for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness that's the ground of our justification and now i must very quickly touch
on these last two strands of thought and leave it to you to study them in more detail what is
the method of our justification if the blessing is one in which god declares by an act that we
are pardoned and accepted on the grounds of the obedience even unto death of the lord jesus his
perfect obedience his full satisfaction what is the method by which that righteousness becomes
ours we've seen what its ground is what it brings to us full pardon full acceptance we've seen from
whence it comes god himself its source is in free grace it comes to us as sinners but precisely how
does it come what is the method of justification we've seen the author the source the recipients
the essence the ground but now what's the method and again we're helped by the catechism
it is imputed to them and received by faith alone the method is imputation and buchanan rightly says
of this in the under if the understanding of this be muddied it is impossible that such should be
sound in the faith the method of god in bringing us into contact with this ground of acceptance
is imputation i can only give you the biblical data without looking at the verses romans 4
22 and 24 and second corinthians 5 19 and several times in the first paragraph of romans 4
the word impute is used the king james translators were very careless here
and they translate the same greek word by three different english words the word reckon but it's
the word reckon all the way through or the word impute all the way through now what does the word
impute means mean it means to credit something to someone to put something to someone's account
you may say of me ah but mr martin you're imputing motives to me that i do not have
you are crediting me with motives that are not my own they may be someone else's but don't impute
them to me by imputation you credit something to another and the method of god in justification
is imputation in other words god credits to our account this perfect righteousness which is not
ours in and of ourselves but god doesn't just play games with words and with record books
if he is to impute to us the righteousness of christ and say it is just as though we had kept
the law and died to discharge all the death of a broken law upon what basis can he make that
declaration and to use the words of professor murray he first of all force first of all
constitutes us righteous that he might declare us righteous and he constitutes us righteous
by imputation in the same way that adam's sin was imputed to us we were constituted sinners in adam
romans 5 19 we are constituted righteousness in jesus christ and that's why paul brings in the
whole thought in the center of his treatment of justification of the similarity between adam and
christ for his dealings with men are on the basis of the method of imputation and i'm skipping over
things very hurriedly but i must touch this strand of thought the framework of imputation
is the covenant of grace and union with christ god can impute or put to our account the righteousness
of christ because in grace he actually unites us to christ davnie says the basis on which this
imputation proceeds is union with jesus christ it's a union which from god's perspective is constituted
in his electing grace it is a union from our perspective which is affected by god's working
in us but of him are ye in christ who then is made unto us righteousness so we see that the
method of god is imputation and i can't draw it out i can only leave the thought with you because
i do want to close with a couple of notes on the instrumental means of justification and i go back
to the confession imputed to them and received by faith alone and that one adjective spells the
difference between truth and heresy received by faith alone the biblical grounds of this statement
why there's so many romans four one to five galatians three six to fourteen acts 1043
philippians three nine effusions two eight and nine romans five one galatians three 24 romans
11 20 romans 1 16 17 if you're going to strip the bible of this truth that the the means by which we
come into this blessing is faith alone you've got to tear out segment after segment of the word of
god we are again and again told in the word of god that we're justified through faith or in or by
faith but never on account of faith faith is not the ground of our justification but the instrumental
means whereby christ and his righteousness are appropriated hence faith and grace are always
linked and set opposite to works and law hence faith must never be conceived of as a work
which brings acceptance faith and grace set here law and works set here but never are they fused
they are in opposition one to another as to the means by which we are justified well then what
does it mean we are justified by faith well i commend to you a careful reading of the questions
of the larger catechism because you have the question what is justifying faith how
does faith justify a sinner in the sight of god they answer those questions very carefully
and very biblically but let me just suggest this much since all other christian graces
are always found in a justified man that is everyone who's effectually called and
justified is also sanctified hence he has the graces of love joy peace long suffering
gentleness goodness meekness self-control why does the bible pick out faith as the only grace
by which we are justified all faith is joined to true repentance and without repentance there's
no remission of sins repent unto the remission of sins luke 24 acts 2 acts 3 19 why then is faith
singled out well for the simple reason that faith is the only grace which is totally receptive
justifying faith is the outstretched hand receiving the righteousness of god by receiving
christ as he's offered in the gospel the beggar who reaches out his hand to receive the bread offered
is fed by his hand now granted we're not saying his mouth is not needed for health and life
his feet are not needed but we're saying the instrumental means of receiving the bread by
which he's fed is his hand and so the bible is not saying repentance is not necessary
love and peace and all the other graces are not necessary but what god is saying
is the one grace by which we appropriate justifying righteousness is that of faith the
second reason why it's faith alone is that it is by faith that we are united to christ
himself god embraces us in electing and renewing love we embrace his son in true faith first
16 he that is joined to the lord is one spirit with the lord
galatians 3 speaks of the blessings of abraham coming upon us that we might receive the spirit
by faith the larger catechism question 72 deals with the nature of justifying faith but i close
now by saying there are three or four things we must insist upon when we speak of this justifying
number one it is by faith alone that we appropriate christ and his righteousness
the great watchword of the reformation was not only sola scriptura but sola fide faith alone
and i say to you my brethren consumed with holy passion i trust with me to see this
damnable heresy of deep grace swain and sent back to the pit of hell from whence it came
and to which it will bring multitudes but the way to sway it is not to add anything to faith
as the instrumental means of justification let us insist that it is by faith alone that christ is
appropriated in justifying righteousness but let us insist in the second place with the clarity of
the confession that this faith is never alone but to use the words of the confession
will always be accompanied with all other graces faith thus receiving and resting on christ and his
righteousness is the alone instrument of justification yet that's point one faith alone
insists upon yet it is not alone in the person justified but is ever accompanied with all
other saving graces and is no dead faith but worketh by love let us then insist against
sandemanianism old or new or any other form of antinomian perversion that true faith is more
than mental ascent it is the recumbency of the soul upon christ in all his offices in all his
perfection hence in that faith alone by which we are justified there is in the words of the
confession a faith which is never alone but is accompanied with all other graces insist upon it
brethren insist upon it hammered out preach the book of romans without tongue in cheek
and then turn to the book of james and preach it without tongue in cheek
paul is reminding us most emphatically in the book of romans faith alone justifies the same
holy ghost who spoke through paul says through james the faith that is alone never justifies
third thing to insist upon it is by faith exercised in time that we are justified
and again the confession anticipates the heresy of eternal justification they anticipate it they
answer it and they say most beautifully now you see why i'm so enthused about this old thing save
save you so many troubles
in the
larger catechism is what i want in the larger catechism we have the question
what is justifying faith how does faith justify a sinner in the sight of god
i can't find it right now i had it listed but in skipping over notes i've lost my track of thought
i'm sorry yes here it is page 59 i do have it it is essential to emphasize this god did from all
eternity decree to justify the elect and christ did in the fullness of time die for their sins
rise for their justification nevertheless they are not justified until the holy spirit doth in due
time actually apply christ unto them galatians 2 16 pivotal texts there are many others but this
text breaks the back of any idea that we are justified actually from eternity galatians 2 16
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in jesus christ even
we believed on christ jesus that we might be justified by faith in christ we believe that we
might be justified you say why get into the over that listen whole heresies have been let out upon
the church leading to vicious antinomianism and to passivity because men let their logic
drive them beyond the word of god and then at my closing point is this it is by faith weak or
strong that we are justified davny has a beautiful illustration and i shared with you suppose a
certain community was all afflicted with a deadly malady different people in the community showed
or lesser degrees of the extent of this malady at work in their bodies someone comes to the town
and announces that he's placing in the center of town a certain machine which gives out some kind
of a very peculiar generating power which if these people will touch they will be instantly cured
now he said imagine a man who hearing that announcement in whom this malady has taken
hold but it has not yet crippled his arms and his legs he hears the announcement he runs from his
place of dwelling and he comes with such feverish a step or or uh intensity that the way he touches
that machine it's almost like a blow and he pushes the machine and instantly the virtue of that
machine goes through his body and he's healed there's another man who hears the same announcement
but the disease is so crippled him that he can barely walk and he comes with each painful step
to make his way to that machine and he's just barely able to reach out his hand and
touch it the moment he touches it he's just as healed as the man who touched it with the force
of a violent blow isn't that beautiful all justifying grace is where in christ jesus
and some whom god draws come and lay hold of christ almost with the force of a violent blow
there others who because of bad instruction who because of temperament and who because of
sovereign purposes that god has if they got saved the other way they'd think everybody had to and go
god says i'll humble you at the outset and save a lot of people a lot of trouble and so he just
says i'll bring you by a very crippling way but listen the virtues not in the strength with which
we touch the source the virtue is in the source he that believes on the sun has life
weak faith old bunion saw it he got into that celestial city just as much as valiant for truth
and faithful and great heart mr ready to vault
he got over the river and got in why because he had the same robe that valiant for truth
he had the same scroll he had the same seal and that's all that was necessary
to get in at the gate have a robe have the seal have your certificate
that's all and oh my dear preacher brothers don't get involved in all kinds of philosophical
distinctions about faith hold up the source of virtue and tell men to get to him as quick as
possible behold the lamb of god he didn't say look in to see if you've got hold of the lamb
with a strong grasp he said behold
oh let's preach it until it rings from this sin sick giddy hell-bent generation
behold the lamb of god and all who look
live
well this i leave with you as at least an honest though i'm sure in many ways imperfect attempt
to give you some of the broad outlines of this great and glorious biblical doctrine the doctrine
of the standing or falling church justification by faith alone through the imputation of the
righteousness of our lord and savior jesus christ i haven't touched on his intercession
that's another whole facet of the glory of this how we're kept in the justified state by his
present ministry but maybe another conference someone will ask me to speak on his intercession
how's that for asking yourself for a job
well let us pray and i would ask an interest in your prayers as i drive back home tonight and face
the difficult things of the next couple of days that god will give grace to bear a good witness
to the gospel of christ in the midst of these domestic concerns let us pray
oh god our heavenly father when we catch a glimpse of just the edges of your ways
we're caused to cry out from the depths of our hearts who are we that you should ever conceive
of such blessings for us but not only conceive of them lord but we are blessed to be with you
for us but not only conceive of them lord but actually bring us into possession of them
surely with the psalmist we cry out the lines have fallen unto us in pleasant places
we have a goodly heritage and oh god we confess tonight that we feel at least in some measure
that we deserve to be in hell tonight crying out with that rich man i am tormented in these flames
lord why should we be here thinking about you and your grace and your word and your son
oh we marvel at the grace that not only conceived but implemented such a plan of rescuing the likes
of us god forgive us for our coldness forgive us for the sin of our restrictive
preaching oh lord liberate us in the glory of this new covenant ministry that all the fetters
will be snapped and our spirits will soar and our tongues be loosed to preach this glorious evangel
of the gospel which is the power of yourself unto salvation to everyone that believe it
lord help especially these young men burn this truth into their hearts teach it to them lord
experientially teach it to them with biblical accuracy give them power and unction in preaching
it lord what we pray with reference to this we pray with reference to all of your truth
and then we would ask for those amongst us who cannot face death and the judgment with
confidence whose hope is in some shaky decision whose hope is in some flimsy righteousness of
their own weaving lord drive them tonight out of every refuge until they cry out nothing in my hands
i bring simply to thy cross i cling foul eye to the fountain fly wash me savior or i die
hear us oh god and answer us for the glory and honor of your dear and only begotten son
in whose name and by whose merit we come unto you amen this recording is brought to you by
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