Transcript

Throughout the ages of church history, faithful pastors and theologians have outlined what you might call the essentials of the faith, things that are essential, non-negotiable. If you deny these things, then we have broken fellowship. Doesn’t mean we don’t love a person, doesn’t mean we wouldn’t be kind to ’em of course, but we can’t fellowship together as a church if we disagree on these essentials.

The list may vary certainly in some terminology, but basically it’s like this, number one, The authority and errancy and sufficiency — of the scripture because if that’s not there, nothing else matters. All the other doctrinal foundational or essential elements depend upon believing the Bible is the word of God.

And then the Trinity: God is God the Father. At the same time, he’s God the Son. At the same time, he’s God the Holy Spirit. For example, the United Pentecostals would deny the deity of Christ, “I guess that he’s some sort of force, but he’s not God”. We would say that’s wrong. We hold to the Trinity. Then of course the person of Christ, his deity and at the same time his full humanity, and then the substitutionary atonement of Christ, he died vicariously that is in our place and for sinners. The bodily resurrection of Christ. And you might say all that are His — we believe that absolutely bodily, literally he a rose from the dead. If not, we have no salvation.

And then salvation by grace through faith alone would be another one, and, you could put the word justification by faith in there. Well, that’s more of a component of the whole, but I’ll talk more about that. Matter of fact, I’ll talk a lot more about justification in a moment.

Number seven, The indwelling work of the Holy Spirit, something many in the reformed movement needs to get a hold of. It’s not just raw academic accuracies that build the church is the Spirit of God using the truth, that builds the church.

Number eight, The second coming of Christ and the final judgment. He is absolutely literally bodily returning. And there we will be ushered into a glorious, eternal state and there will be the final judgment of unbelievers.

Number nine, The eternal state. You could say heaven and hell. There is a place where all people live forever, either in the glorious, eternal heavens or eternal state, we could say more broadly or in the eternal state of eternal punishment.

And then the Church, I would amplify that to be local churches. If you don’t get God’s purposes for time and in a sense for eternity of bringing his people together, that’s always been his plan. There’s no such a thing as just being in a discipleship group or a Bible study group or this little group or that little group. God ordained the people of God to get together in local churches.

So we’d call those the essentials of the faith. Then there’s some non-essentials. These aren’t all of them, but some non-essentials. We can fellowship with folks, but we can disagree on some of these. The mode of baptism perhaps. Well, I struggle there a little bit ’cause I’m a Baptist because I’m convinced the Bible teaches that. I would not say a person doesn’t know Christ and is not my brother if he doesn’t believe in baptism the way we do. Spiritual gifts. You can be at different places there and we still be in fellowship together.

Eschatological timelines, there’s a whole lot of varying opinions about the end time events among good and godly men. These should never be a grounds for breaking fellowship. Dr. John Authur hardcore pre tribulation. Pre millennialist, but he fellowship very often taught with, preached with preach in each other’s churches with the RC sprawl, the Presbyterian who was a diehard amillennialist and these brothers got along great church governance. You may differ some in the way you organize pastors or elders in the church. Worship style within reason can be a variance one church to another yet not a a line of fellowship. Bible translations. And I’m not talking about Bible paraphrases. I’m talking about good word for word translations from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. We can have different views there though I would encourage you to use the one that I use the New American standard so you can follow along better. If not, buy you a cheap one, okay? And bring it when you come to church. Now that’s not a pastoral edict, that’s just a pastoral suggestion.

But the one I wanna talk about today, it comes under the salvation by grace through faith and that is the doctrine of justification. The doctrine, or… doctrine means teaching the biblical teaching on the article of justification.

Martin Luther, the famed reformer during the Protestant reformation said “Justification is the article upon which the church stands or falls”. There’s a lot of truth in that. It’s very foundational. When the early reformers, including early Baptist, of course the Baptist didn’t break off of Roman Catholicism so much as they were already there, in the edges if you will, of the culture. But there were some Baptists there when the reformers broke out of Roman Catholic structures and teachings to become what was called the Protestant Revolution. And they were protesting against the false doctrine of the Catholic system. But everything for them and every thing for Baptist in general depends upon — that We hold to – justification by faith alone.

Now John Calvin used to say, matter of fact, I’ve in my studies found out it probably didn’t start with Calvin. He wasn’t the first to say it, but he’s noted as saying that in essentials uniformity there are some essential things we cannot debate. Well, we could debate them but we cannot divide or or or rather allow differing views. In non-essentials, Yeah, we’re open to that. And then in all things we’re to have love, lemme read it for you exactly as it is said “in essentials unity in non-essentials liberty, but in all things charity or love”.

Now the wrong road concerning this Bible teaching of justification was the Roman Catholic road. In the Council of Trent of 1545, the Catholic church gave their official position against those who broke out of Catholicism called the Protestant Revolution — a reformation, and how the Protestant reformation taught justification — but how the Catholic church in contradiction taught justification. The Catholics would say justification is not only the remission of sin — forgiveness if you will — but it’s also sanctification and the renovation of the inner man. So when the Catholic teaching on justification, you come to have your sins forgiven, but you must also gain your standing before God by sanctifying your life and by renovating yourself through the inner man. Of course then they developed a whole system of what’s been commonly called priest craft — sacraments you go through with the priest — to continue to renovate, to continue to sanctify so that you might be one of the justified ones.

Well this notion that justification includes remission, sanctification, and renovation of the inward man, the Bible knows nothing of that, not at all. Biblical justification does not include sanctification and it does not include inward renovation. Those may accompany justification but they are not the same or a part of justification. That’s very, very important.

Even in the secular context of the ancient world in which our Bible was written. Justification in the culture did not mean a man had renovated himself. It did not mean a man had changed himself or somehow sanctified himself. Dr. Pendleton and his excellent systematic theology, the one where I first saw this illustration, and he says that the judges in ancient courts would have little marbles or stones and when the case was presented for and against a defendant, the judges would hear all the evidence and then they would get up from their judgment seats and go to an urn, and in their urn they would drop a white stone or a black stone. White stone was declaring this man stands justified before the law. The black stone stands for this man stands as condemned or guilty under the law. Now those stones and those urns did not change the man. Didn’t renovate him, didn’t sanctify him, but they did declare forensically, if you will, in a legal sense, that he stood as now justified before this court of law or he stands condemned before this court of law. That’s why Paul put, took this secular word out of the secular culture of the court of that day and brought it into our theology. He says, that’s what Jesus does for all us.

Justification is the formal declaration of your new standing. Listen to me as just — before God and before his law. What a glorious truth this is. Justification is not a change of heart’s, not a change of behavior — though that should always follow of course — justification is a change of standing. I now have a right standing before the triune holy God and the divine bar of justice. Though I haven’t fixed anything. Romans 4:5 reminds us, but those who believe in him or believes in him who justifies the ungodly. What kind of phrase is that. Your God is a God who justifies the ungodly. Now doesn’t mean he approves your ungodly heart and behaviors, it means he takes you as you are and he changes your standing into a justified one from the former standing of being a condemned guilty one.

What a phrase Paul uses. He’s the God who justifies the ungodly. So when some of our Church of Christ friends, our Catholic friends would like to push on us that you’re standing before God depends upon your works, you might say respectfully and maybe even lovingly. You don’t understand I serve a God who justifies the ungodly because if he doesn’t I’m sunk. And by the way, friend, you are too.

And the Bible continues on in Romans 4:6 to the man whom God credits righteousness apart from works. The word credits. Credits, there is a word that has a lot of different dynamics of meaning if you will. It means the one to whom God pronounces righteous apart from any works. It’s the one that God reckons as righteous apart from any works. It’s the man God imputes, puts into his account, righteousness apart from any of his works. It’s a God who presses to one’s account that he’s now justified or righteous apart from any works.

That’s the kind of idea Paul is getting across. And just to quickly amplify on this further, Romans 8:33-34, well who will bring again a charge against God’s elect? Boy, gotta stop there for a moment. If God in his sovereignty beyond our comprehension elected some to be converted, then he’s gotta do something about their guilty standing before his holy law because he can’t change his holy law. His holy law is an expression of his very personal character — and he can’t change himself because he needs not change himself. Why do you change perfection? But all of his elect children stand guilty. So what’s he gonna do? Back to our text, Romans 8:33, who will bring a charge against God’s elect? Well, God is the one who justifies, who is the one who condemns. Well, Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather who was raised, who’s at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us. In the flow of the whole overall biblical context. What Paul is pointing out here is while you are the ungodly, another phrase while you were yet sinners, Romans 5:8, while you were in that status and you changed nothing, God did something and changed your standing on your behalf. All as an unmerited favor.

Powerful stuff. It takes the Holy Spirit to rest your heart on this ’cause you’ll never completely wrap your mind around it, but you can rest your heart fully upon it. It’s axiomatic, it’s self-authenticating, these glorious truths that is if you are one of these spiritually regenerated elect of God.

Now Romans 3:24-26 being justified in Catholic theology, you would say as a part of your renovation being justified as a part of your sanctification, no being justified as a gift, by his grace unmerited favor, you didn’t earn it or deserve it. How did he get that done? Through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God, he passed over sins previously committed. For the demonstration I say of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be the just — God never became unjust — He’s the just and now the justifier of the one who has faith, not the one who worked, not the one who changed anything, not the one who renovated himself, not the one who somehow sanctified himself, but the one who just has faith in Christ. So he says, God overlooked these previous sins and now today he’s overlooking sins through the meritorious work of Christ who justly took your punishment on calvary so that God could forgive you and make you as a just one though you don’t deserve it because he took all your penalty, your guilt, and your condemnation as an unjust one.

So Paul continues on, he said, that’s not enough. Let’s go back to your Jewish forefather that you sow, revere, Father Abraham who began the whole country and Father David, who is your mightiest king that you sow venerate. What did they believe? Romans 4:1 – 8. What then shall we say about Abraham? Our forefather according to the flesh has found for if Abraham was justified by works. Now wait a minute, he’s under the old law and the old covenant, but all men are saved by grace through faith. Faith in this day, Abraham’s day of looking forward to the cross, faith in our day, looking back on the cross. Always faith though in the promised Savior Messiah. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. In other words, that could never be before God. For what does the scripture say? Genesis 15:6 is where he is quoting from. Now Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. He believed God’s promise including the coming of the Messiah Savior, and God said, boom, that faith, that belief causes me to credit to your account that you now stand righteous before holy God.

Verse four, Romans four. Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, a grace, but as what is due. Now, if Abraham and others work their way to justification, then they’re getting what they’ve earned. What a ludicrous, he’s just making a point. What a ludicrous thought Paul would say. What a foolish conclusion. But to the one who does not work, to our Catholic friends that we love and appreciate to our church of Christ friends we love and appreciate, we want them to know justification comes to those who do not work — any religious work, right? Ritual sacrament going through the motions, hoop jump, you name it, but he does not work. But what does he do? He believes in him who justifies the ungodly. If you’re gonna be saved, you come to God with absolute convincing conviction that you are the most worthless sinner you’ve ever known. Bar none. But that He is the God through the premier work of the premier person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who can justify the ungodly.

Maybe we need to put a sign out front right there on Avalon Avenue, Grace Life, Church of the Shoals, a church for the ungodly justified once that’d be accurate, be good theology. Now I’m not putting that out for a vote, okay, we’ll just leave it where it is right now.

Verse five again, but to the one who does not work but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited. There it is again as righteousness. Then he goes to David, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom quote, God credits righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered blesses to the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. So the blessing of of verse six, David speaks of the blessing. It means David speaks of the pronouncement. You could say, it could even say David speaks congratulations to all of those who’ve come to the promised Savior in faith that he and he alone cleanses them and causes them to gain a just, a right standing before the holy God.

So there are only two types of people in scripture, those who are justified and those who are condemned. You could said a lot of different ways, but that’s one accurate biblical way to categorize all mankind before God. Those who are justified and those who are condemned. These are the radical antithesis, if you will, contradiction one of the other.

Now let me say to you just to make the point, hang with me, don’t misquote me and out of context quote. There are two ways to be justified before God. Two ways to be justified before God. Number one, keep the law of God to perfection. Those who can keep the law to perfection will find that you are not condemned by God’s law. God’s law imposes no obstacle to your justification if you keep it perfectly. But from the moment you understand God has the law and from the moment you understand that you ought to keep God’s moral and ethical laws, you then realize from that moment on, but I’ve already broken it a lot in my past. So you got to go back and somehow find atonement for the past. Law breaking even if from this point on you can keep all the law, which you can’t. But if you could work all that out, past, present, and future keeping the law perfectly, then the law basically says if you do this, you shall live.

But now where are we going to find such a man? Where are we gonna find a man that has that. Brother Matt preached well on it Wednesday night, rich young ruler said, I’ve done all these things as Brother Matt pointed out. Now probably did several of them pretty well in human eyes, but before God he failed all of them.

You know, there’s only one omniscient, one who knows all things fully and perfectly and when this omniscient one who knows all things fully and perfectly looks on mankind, hears what he says, Romans 3:10, there is none righteous, not even one. Alright, I’ve checked all of you out. God says, and nobody knows man like I know them. Jesus said, I know what’s in men’s hearts. He doesn’t just know perfectly all the outward behavior. He knows perfectly all the inward attitudes and motivations and dispositions and we all fell on both accounts inwardly and outwardly. We’re all those who have fallen short, we’re all of those who find ourselves guilty.

So no one’s gonna get justification that way. It’s just not gonna happen. Romans 3:19 reminds us. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God. In a slang sense. The Bible says, shut your mouth, just shut up. Yeah, but. Just shut up. But I’m not as bad. Just shut up. But I’ve really changed. Just shut up. That’s what God’s saying. You probably have done less things than some of the most vile creatures who’ve walked the earth have done, but that’s not the standard. The standard is God and we all fell there. So we’re condemned under this law.

So the law that condemns, could it possibly also justify us? No, it cannot perform two wholly, antithetical, contradictory achievements. Then how can a man be justified? Here’s the other way. How can a man be justified? One word rather, one name Jesus. Jesus the Christ.

Romans 10:4 looking at me but looking past me. Do you see Romans 10:4, just say ten four. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to gain a right standing to everyone who believes, believes on the person and work of Jesus Christ. You know what the word end there? The the scholars tell us, the Greek scholars tell us. You could amplify that out. You could use the word the goal. Christ has made it so that you achieve the goal of the law without doing any of the law, making you just or justified before a holy God. Christ achieves the aim of keeping the law perfectly, which you can’t do even though you’re not keeping it. You get what the law would’ve given you if you had kept in the law, kept the law rather perfectly.

Philippians 3:9 reminds us, and maybe found in him not in your works, not in your renovation of the inner man as the Catholic system would say, not in the sanctification of your life as the Catholic system would say. Being found in him, having a righteousness, not that I’ve worked and put on not of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

Luther said, “faith in Jesus is a hinge on which turns a sinner’s justification”.

Now one more amplification and I’ll be done. Justification includes forgiveness and justification includes, pardon? Forgiveness is the releasing one of their debt, but it doesn’t mean they were chained from being a debtor. They’re still standing as a debtor. You’ve just released them because of that debt or are of that debt to you. Pardon means excusing one of the consequence of their wrongdoing. Now, these are wonderfully true. These are wonderfully included in our salvation, but Paul pulls out of the ancient world this concept of judicial justification because he says there’s more than just forgiveness here. There’s more than just pardon here. Justification means we now stand before God and we now stand before the law of God as if we never broke any of it. Not just forgiven of the consequence, but is this, I never even tried to keep it and never failed and and any way ever failed to keep it.

Wow. Pastor, how does that work? I don’t know. I’m just glad. That’s where I’m standing in him.

We now stand before God is if we never sinned, we now stand before God. As righteous as Jesus is righteous, we are standing in his righteousness. The scripture says. So Christ righteousness is imputed to us because on Calvary’s cross, our guilt, our lawbreaking, our transgressing, our sinfulness was imputed to Christ. Our sin imputed to Christ on the cross. His righteousness, just standing, is imputed to us when we believe R. C. Sproul calls it the great exchange. But I was preaching this before I knew there was an R. C. Sproul. It is the great exchange, 2 Corinthians 5:21 pictures that for us, he made him who knew no sin, that’s Jesus, to be sin. The Father looked on Jesus as if he committed every sin you’ve ever committed of heart, disposition, attitude, demeanor, and every behavioral action. He made him Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. The great exchange.

Pastor, what does that have to do with the Lord’s Communion, supper? Everything! You see, this is the supper of the justified ones. It’s exclusive. It’s exclusive. You cannot take this supper rightly pleasing before God if you are not one of the justified ones. One who’s come to the foot of a bloody cross and if not literally in your heart, threw yourself down as a totally bankrupt, worthless, depraved sinner and in effect said, if you can’t give me righteousness and justifications a free gift, I’m sunk. Nothing I can do.

If you’ve done that, then you’re one of the justified ones and you’re welcome at the Lord’s table. Matter of fact, not only are you welcome, you’re required to be a part of the Lord’s table. You see, this is a time for introspection for you to say, now am I living up to the glories of what this table represents. You can’t live up to earning salvation, but you can live out your salvation better than maybe you’ve lived it out at times. That includes Jeff Noblit, by the way. But the ca table, the Lord’s table, it’s a unique, and you do that every Sunday by the way you, you see every Sunday service is a realignment service. We try to shake off Saturday night and get on Sunday morning again. Shake off the world and get back to what matters according to God’s truth again! It’s every Sunday’s a realignment Sunday, but in a special way, we realign our hearts with God and the people of God. If you’ve got something that you have an alt against, your brother, sister, get it right. Say, Oh God, forgive me and make it a purpose in your heart. I’ll get it right as soon as we get outta this church service.

Now, you may not be a member of Grace Life Church, but if you’ve received salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone for the glory of God alone, if you are a baptized member of a local church and in good standing, though you’re not a member here, you’re welcome to take this supper with us today.