Received by Faith Alone

The Fierce Assaults Against the Doctrine of Justification

0:02 The closer any man or woman, boy or girl, comes in his thinking and in his concern to the most vital issues relative to man's salvation and acceptance with God, the more he can expect and feel and even at times sense the work of that foul fiend of hell in seeking to confuse and blur the great issues concerning the matters that touch his salvation. And since there is no issue of more vital importance than that which is couched in the question, how can... Can sinful man be just with God?

0:52 We should expect that the archenemy of God in man will do all within his fiendish power to blur or to confuse God's answer to that most vital of all questions. William Cunningham, the great church historian, said on this very point, there has perhaps been no department of divine...

1:19 There has probably been no department of divine truth against which the assaults of Satan have been more fiercely directed ever since the Christian church than the doctrine of justification. And there has probably been no doctrine, the profession and preaching of which have more generally indicated with accuracy the state of vital religion in the church in all ages. And there has probably been no doctrine, the profession and preaching of which have more generally indicated with accuracy the state of vital religion in the church in all ages. Do you see his point?

1:51 Do you see his point? That church history underscores the principle that I've articulated in these opening words. That church history underscores the principle that I've articulated in these opening words. That church history underscores the principle that I've articulated in these opening words.

1:58 That because the doctrine of justification is God's answer to the most vital issues touching man's relationship to God, That because the doctrine of justification is God's answer to the most vital issues touching man's relationship to God, That because the doctrine of justification is God's answer to the most vital issues touching man's relationship to God, That because the doctrine of justification is God's answer to the most vital issues touching man's relationship to God, justification is God's answer to the most vital issues touching man's relationship to God, it is precisely at the point of this doctrine that all the fiendish powers of hell have been concentrated, and church history is basically a record of how well this doctrine has fared in the minds and hearts of men. And where true religion has flourished, it will be found to have flourished because this truth was both clearly preached and powerfully implanted in the consciousness of the people of God. And where religion has languished, you will find this great truth, first of all, was either not preached, or if preached, lost its grip upon the hearts and the affections of men. And so we come again this morning to this message. The most vital of Christian doctrines, the doctrine of justification. We are studying

Review of Justification's Definition and Elements

3:09 it in the course of an examination of the basic blessings or the cardinal blessings of salvation which God imparts to needy sinners who come within the orbit of His grace in Jesus Christ. And as a framework for our teaching of the biblical materials, we are using the definition or description of the doctrine of justification. We are using the definition of justification given in the larger catechism. In answer to the question, what is justification, the catechism says, justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, in which He pardoneth all their sins, and accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in His sight, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for the sake of their own good. But only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ by God imputed to them and received by faith alone. Well, in unpacking that rather lengthy but certainly not overly wordy description of the doctrine, we have covered six major areas of this grand article of the Christian faith. We have seen that the author of justification, the author of justification, the author of

4:31 justification is God. We have seen further that the source of justification is His free grace, that the object of justification or objects are sinners, that the essence of justification is pardon and acceptance. The ground of justification is nothing in us or done by us, but only the perfect obedience and full satisfaction. of Christ. And then the method of justification is imputation by God imputed to them. And now we come this morning to the seventh and final avenue of concern set forth in this definition of justification by God imputed to them and received by faith alone. And in that little phrase we have the means of receiving justification, or as some of the old writers would prefer, the instrument of justification, faith alone. And so the concentration of our study this morning is that we have the means of receiving justification by God imputed to them and received by faith alone.

Explicit Biblical Testimony for Justification by Faith Alone

5:48 And so the concentration of our study this morning is that we have the means of receiving justification by God imputed to them and received by faith alone. And so the concentration of our study this morning is that we have the means of receiving justification by God imputed to them and received by faith alone. faith alone. For the explicit testimony, turn, please, to that which is perhaps the clearest,

6:58 most concentrated statement of this fact in all of the Word of God, Romans chapter 3, verses 21 through 30. The Apostle Paul, as many of you, I trust, by now are well aware, having sat through the adult class, has established the need for righteousness in chapter 1 and verse 18 through chapter 3 and verse 20. And now, in what Mr. Garlington has called for us the revelation of that righteousness, beginning in verse 21, we have this language.

7:35 But now, apart from the law, a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, unto all them that believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation in His blood through faith. To show His righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime in the forbearance of God. For the showing, I say, of His righteousness at this present time, that He Himself might be just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus. Where then is glorying? It is excluded.

8:38 By what manner of law? Of works? Nay, but by a law of faith. Faith! We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law.

8:53 Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of the Gentiles also, if so be that God is one, and He shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith. Now you see what I have done. In my reading, I have simply given undue and almost grotesque emphasis to all of the references in which the gift of righteousness or the justifying act are said to be the possession of those who believe, but only of those who believe. And this close proximity of righteousness by faith, justified by faith, is what I have said of the gift of righteousness. Faith, the justifier of the one that hath faith. It's as though God is just piling upon us this concept one line upon another, upon another, upon another,

9:58 because He knows on the one hand how slow the human heart is to grasp this grand truth and how viciously the enemy of our souls will attack us in seeking to lay hold of it. And here in this passage is the explicit testimony and perhaps the key phrase that, as it were, conditions everything else. Faith so dominates in this matter of justification that we read in verse 28, I'm sorry, verse 27, that faith actually becomes a law. By what manner of law? Of works? Nay, but by a law of faith. And that word law there simply means an operating principle.

10:50 We talk about the law of gravity. We mean gravity as an operating principle, working on my handkerchief, making it drop, a working principle with which we must reckon whenever we touch material objects. Well, Paul is saying as he concludes his statement that faith is so central that it is the only operating principle when we are in hand, with justification. How do we come to possess this righteousness of God?

11:21 How do we come to be declared fully pardoned and fully accepted? It is by a law of faith, an operating principle of faith and of faith alone.

11:37 And as he goes on to chapter 4 to demonstrate that this is indeed the salvation to which the Old Testament bears witness, we have, the words of those opening, the opening words of chapter 4, what then shall we say that Abraham our forefather hath found according to the flesh? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not towards God. For what saith the Scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.

12:10 Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him, now notice, that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. Now you see, the testimony of Scripture could not be more explicit that righteousness as imputed to Abraham, the father of the faithful, was a righteousness that came to him, only by faith. It did not come to him because of his godly walk.

12:52 It did not come to him because of his deep penitence over his sin. It came to him because he believed the promise that was given to him by the living God. Again, chapter 5 and verse 1, being therefore, or better translated, having therefore been justified, by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And again, this has become almost the stock language with the Apostle.

13:27 In this short compass in Romans, he joins together the justifying act and the faith of the believer, and he puts nothing else in the way as conditioning that whole situation. Having been justified, not justified, not by love, not by repentance, not by hope, not by grief, not by seeking, not by yearning, justified by faith. And of course, the book of Galatians is the other very concentrated seedbed of the same teaching. In Galatians chapter 2 and verse 16, and I'm just going through these verses rather quickly so that you may be acquainted with the pivotal, pivotal texts in the New Testament which assert this grand truth. Galatians 2 and verse 16, yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. Even we believed on Jesus Christ, now notice, not because we discovered that we were eternally elected, eternally justified, he says we believed that we might be justified.

14:54 There is no justification until there is faith. But blessed be God, the moment there is faith, there is the justifying act of God that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law because by the works of the law shall no flesh, be justified. And in chapter 3 verses 6 to 9, we come back to Abraham again. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.

15:30 Know therefore, what are we to learn from that? Know therefore that they that are of faith, the same are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel before them, unto Abraham saying, in thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then they that are of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham.

15:56 Blessed with what? With the same declarative act of justification. Fully pardoned, fully accepted. And then of course, the great statement of the apostle in Philippians chapter 3.

16:12 Philippians chapter 3, where the apostle said, the apostle, as it were, bears the deepest longings of his heart, his great spiritual ambition. And here he says, it is that he may be found in him that is in Christ, not having a righteousness of his own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. And the only righteousness that God has provided for guilty sinners is a righteousness grounded in the work of Christ and received by faith alone. And it is that word alone that is so vital. You find the same emphasis in the apostolic preaching. I'll not take the time.

17:09 You can look up Acts 10.43 and Acts 13.39. But then there is not only that.

17:14 But then there is not only this explicit testimony which uses the word justify or justification and says we are justified upon faith or in faith or out of faith, but never on account of faith. The biblical writers were so guided by the Spirit of God that never once did they use a construction in the original that would mean we are justified on account of faith. We are justified upon faith, in faith, out of faith, but never on account of faith. We are justified on account of the work of Christ.

Implicit Biblical Testimony for Justification by Faith Alone

17:53 But the means by which we enter into the benefits of that work is faith. We are justified by faith. But there is, as I suggest, the implicit or the indirect testimony. Justification is one piece in the whole pie of God's salvation.

18:13 And it's not the whole pie. I've been a little bit disturbed that some of you have begun to think and act as though this were the only thing the Bible had to say about salvation. Well, it has a lot more to say. Thank God for this piece in the pie of salvation.

18:32 But salvation is broader than justification. And though perhaps we may say it is central in the proclamation of the gospel, it is not exclusive. There is but one salvation, and that one salvation is in Jesus Christ. Now, if the Scripture says that the salvation is received by faith in the general sense, then certainly if the pie is received by faith, then the pieces are received in the same way.

19:03 So the apostle can say to the jailer, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt not be justified, but be saved. Now, that included justification. But it included also adoption and the other blessings of grace. So when you have a text that says faith and salvation are inseparably joined, then you have, you see, this indirect or implicit testimony that justification must be by faith.

19:32 Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Or Hebrews 10, 39.

19:45 We believe unto the saving of the soul. Now then, could Scripture be more plain than it is in its assertion that if men are to be justified, if women, boys and girls are to have that act of God's free grace in which He pardons all their sins and accepts them as righteous in His sight, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but solely for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ imputed to them, there is but one way to receive it. By faith alone. Now, this should lead us very naturally to the question, What is the essence, then, of justifying faith? If it is by faith that we are justified, justified in faith alone, then, my friend, it is not an academic question for any of us. If I do not come to what the Bible calls justifying faith, then the wrath of God is still upon me, and it will remain upon me in time and in the world to come.

The Essence of Justifying Faith

21:03 If the Scripture is so plain in saying that men are justified only by faith and they are not justified until faith, then it ought to be a burning concern to every one of us to ask and answer the question, What is the essence, then, of justifying faith? What is this faith by which I am to be justified? Now, follow closely. Because there is a matter of distinction that must be made, not for theologians, but for people who want to understand their Bibles and have peace in their own souls, the question is not, What is faith in general, or even saving faith in particular? But we are concerned with the question of justifying faith. In other words, What is that faith that has as its peculiar concern God as holy, God as lawgiver, man as accountable, man as sinner, man as guilty, longing to find how the sentence of condemnation can be changed into the sentence of pardon and acceptance? You see, saving faith is a broad Biblical teaching, and it pertains to many facets of God's salvation.

22:28 But we are concerned to zero in particularly upon the elements of justifying faith, the quality of that faith which is exercised when the sinner's conscience is smitten with guilt, and he longs to know how he may come to that peace with God mentioned in Romans 5 and verse 1. Well, again, I know of no better answer than that of the old catechism. Why give you the fruit of one head when you can get the fruit of a hundred and fifty of the best heads and hearts that existed at a given period in the history of the Church? And we have this question, What is justifying faith?

23:08 And here's the answer of the old larger catechism. Justifying faith is a saving grace wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only ascends to the truth of the promise of the Gospel, but receives and rests upon Christ and His righteousness therein held forth for pardon of sin and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God. What is justifying faith? Why, it is first of all a grace wrought by the Spirit through the Word. You see, justifying faith is not a natural faculty we have which we can exercise, you've heard the old illustration, in a chair. I can say I believe the chair will hold me.

24:14 I can then sit down in the chair. That's faith. Do the same with Christ. No.

24:19 Justifying faith is not a natural faculty of trust. It is a grace wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Holy Spirit. But it's the Spirit and the Word. It is not some mystical thing that is just as it were pumped by some heavenly syringe into the heart apart from truth.

24:43 For we read in Romans 10, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And so it is a grace wrought by the Spirit through the Word. Secondly, it is a grace born out of conviction of sin and inability to recover oneself, whereby he being convinced of his sin and misery and the disability in himself and other creatures to recover him. Saving faith was never exercised in a heart devoid of conviction of sin.

25:24 Now we do not believe because we feel conviction. We do not look within to see if we've got enough conviction before we believe. No. But it is a fact that Jesus said, I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

25:38 And the old writers of this confession were right when they said, whatever justifying faith is, it's a work of the Spirit and the Word. It is a grace born out of this conviction that I have offended God. I do deserve His wrath. I cannot recover myself either by works of the law or by efforts to change my own heart or by trying to conjure up enough grief and agony and pain and chagrin for my sin that God will take pity of me.

26:15 No, no, no, no. It is a conviction that I am not only guilty, I am utterly unable to recover myself and no one else can recover me. So it's a grace wrought by the Spirit through the Word. Secondly, a grace born out of conviction of sin.

26:33 And it's a grace that involves two simple categories of concern. Ascent to the cross as a gospel content and promise and then a receiving and resting upon Christ and His righteousness for pardon and acceptance. You see, no man can exercise justifying faith who has not heard the gospel, but he must ascend to the facts of the gospel. That's why Paul can say, if thou shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

27:09 We must believe the facts concerning the Redeemer and His redemption. There can be no justifying faith where someone refuses to believe that Christ is what He says He is. Now, he may know very little except that Christ is God, that Christ is true man. He may have very little understanding of many things, but surely if he refuses to believe what the Bible says about the One who has made this righteousness, he cannot be saved.

27:42 That's why Jesus said, if you believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. So there must be an acceptance, an ascent to the content of the gospel regarding the person and the work of Christ, but that's not enough. We may ascend to everything the Bible says, that Christ is Son of God, Christ died for sinners, but there must be in the language of the Old Confession a receiving and resting upon Christ and His righteousness. And surely that's biblical language as many as received Him.

28:17 To them gave He the right to become the sons of God. And the concept of resting upon Him is so vividly brought out in other biblical analogies of faith. Running to Christ, fleeing for refuge to Christ, looking to Christ. All of these biblical terms underscoring that there is this active receiving and resting upon Christ and His righteousness for pardon and for acceptance.

Why Faith is the Only Means of Justification: Its Peculiar Nature

28:51 Justifying faith then is this spiritual activity by which the sinner goes out of himself and into Christ. Justifying faith is that spiritual activity in which he rests the whole weight of his soul upon the righteousness that Christ Himself possesses and has wrought out on behalf of sinners. Now having demonstrated the testimony of Scripture that we're justified by faith alone, spent a few minutes on the nature of justifying faith, think with me now briefly in the third place, why is faith the only means of our receiving justification? Have you ever asked that question? Why is faith the only means of our receiving justification? And there are basically two reasons.

29:50 Because of its peculiar nature and because of its appointed effect. First of all, because of its peculiar nature. Faith is wholly receptive. Now you kids listen.

30:07 I want you to get hold of what Pastor's talking about. You all have a mouth. Hmm? You all have a mouth.

30:17 Now your mouth can do lots of things. Now it shouldn't bite your brothers and sisters. If it does that, it's being naughty. But your mouth is receptive.

30:25 It takes in food, takes in water, takes in a little bit of candy once in a while. Not too much. It's not good for you. But it's receptive.

30:34 It can take in things. But it's also active. It can give out things. It can give out words.

30:43 It can speak. It can blow. You see, your mouth can not only take things, it can give things. The same is true with your hand.

30:53 Your hand can receive things. There's a little fellow in the church that likes to see if Pastor keeps candies in his pockets. And so I turn my pockets inside out and tell him, after church, I don't have any candies to give you because he'd like to stick out his little hand and have me put something in his hand. The hand can receive things.

31:12 But just as surely as his little hand can receive something, mine can give it if I have it to give. You see, the hand is an organ that not only receives but can give. The mouth can not only receive but it can also give. It is not only receptive, but it is also something that contributes.

31:30 But what about your ear? What can it do besides receive signals? You see, the ear is completely receptive. When there are no vibrations that we call sounds touching on the ear, then it's silent.

31:48 And the ear can't give out sounds. It can only receive them. What about the eye? What can it give?

31:54 Nothing. It receives light. It can't give any. You go in a dark room, you can't push your left ear and hope your left eyeball will act like a flashlight.

32:04 It can receive, but it can't give. It is wholly receptive. Now follow, follow. Why are we justified by faith and not by love?

32:17 Isn't love the queen of Christian graces? Now abideth faith, hope, love, and the greatest of these is what? Love. Well, if love is the greater grace, why are we not justified by love?

32:32 Well, you see, love is active. It is something we're rendering to someone else, but it is the peculiar nature of faith to be totally what? Receptive. Faith is always and only, justifying faith, an empty hand stretched out in the presence of a giving God and of a willing Savior.

33:01 That's why God has chosen to make the instrument of our justification faith, and faith alone, because the peculiar nature of faith is that it is completely receptive. A servant of God seeking to make these truths plain to another generation wrote a popular treatise of great Christian doctrines and when he's dealing with the whole matter of faith in relationship to justification, notice how he treated this point. How are we justified by faith? Why are we never said to be justified by the other Christian graces?

33:41 Humility is an excellent grace, much commended in Scripture, putting us where we ought to be, in the dust before God. Meekness bears with pity and forgiveness outrageous wrongs heaped upon us, and so makes us like Christ, who was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Hope is an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast, and being a living hope, animates the soul in times of trial. Love with her broad mantle covers the faults of others, fills the world with the fame of her deeds and never faileth.

34:21 Penitence sits at the feet of Jesus and bathes them with his blood and its tears. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. Excellent as all these graces are, yet it is nowhere said in Scripture that a man is justified by the fear of God, by love, by penitence, by hope, by meekness or by humility. But he is said again and again to be justified by faith.

34:52 Why? Because faith, is totally receptive. It takes what God gives. It is the empty hand that receives that which God in mercy and grace holds forth to the sinner.

35:13 Professor Murray in speaking to this thing says in the same vein, the reformers recognize that the essence of saving faith is to bring the sinner lost and dead in sin, into direct personal contact with the Savior himself, which is nothing less than that of self-commitment to him in all the glory of his person and the perfection of his work as he is freely and fully offered in the Gospel. It must be remembered that the efficacy of faith does not rest in itself. Faith is not something that merits the favor of God. All the efficacy unto salvation is in the Savior.

35:57 As one has aptly and truly stated the case, it is not faith that saves, but faith in Christ Jesus. Strictly speaking, it is not even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. Faith unites us to Christ in the bonds of abiding attachment and entrustment. And it is this union which ensures that the saving power, grace and virtue of the Savior become ours.

36:28 The specific character of faith is that it looks away from itself and finds its whole interest and object in Christ. He is the absorbing preoccupation of faith. That's why faith is the only means of our justification. Because of its peculiar nature, it is completely receptive, it makes us totally occupied with another and not with ourselves.

37:01 And then secondly, its peculiar nature is that it's the only grace that is consistent with grace. We read in Romans 4.16, it is of faith that it might be of grace. You see, salvation is all of grace, wholly undeserved, completely undeserved by the sinner.

37:21 Well, you see, faith has the peculiar quality of recognizing that and saying what I take, I don't deserve. What I receive, I have no claim to. Therefore, God and God alone is to be glorified for the grace received. But then faith is not only the only means of our justification because of its peculiar nature, wholly receptive, consistent with grace, but because of its appointed effect.

Why Faith is the Only Means of Justification: Its Appointed Effect

37:52 And what is the effect of faith? It is the bond that unites us to Jesus Christ. As old Charnock said, it is the band of our union to Christ. Again, let me illustrate.

38:07 Imagine a wealthy king has all the wealth of the kingdom at his disposal, and he sets his affection upon a woman who's a commoner, she's a pauper, she doesn't have a penny to her name. And the king offers himself and all of his wealth as riches to her upon condition that she will marry him. Well, you see, when she stands in a ceremony of public declaration that she is entrusting herself and all that she is to that king, the moment she does, the bond of marriage brings her into the possession of all of his wealth. She can say in a very real sense, all that wealth is mine, but it's hers in the person of the one to whom she's joined herself. And that's what faith does. Faith is the marriage bond of the sinner in all his poverty to the wealth that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if this is the teaching of the Word of God, and I trust there is no one who doubts that it is, then the great question that I need to press upon the conscience of everyone sitting here this morning is this.

Pastoral Application: Do You Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?

39:27 Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? It's a simple question, isn't it? But you see, on the answer to that question hinges the whole issue of whether your sins are pardoned, whether your person is accepted and accounted as righteous in the sight of God, or whether sitting here this morning in what now is a sunny, beautiful day, the sword of God still hangs over your head. And in a real sense, if we could see as God sees, the glint of the sun that shines would shine on the edge of that sword and you'd see it hanging over your head. You'd realize that only a fool would go on in unbelief when there is full pardon and complete acceptance in the Redeemer for all who will believe. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? If not, why not?

40:39 Well, if you're honest, you'll confess. It's probably because of one of the following reasons. For some of you, it's because you have no conviction of your sin and your misery. Why believe on a Christ who is offered to me in the Gospel as the one in whom there is pardon and acceptance with God, when the whole issue of pardon and acceptance is not a burning issue to me?

41:15 You see, Christ is never believed on unto salvation as an afterthought or a luxury. William Shedd said, people refuse to believe on Christ for one of two reasons. They either doubt the strictness of the law, the severity of the law, or they doubt the sincerity of the Gospel. And the reason some of you do not believe upon Christ is you doubt the severity of God's law.

41:45 You really don't believe that having broken God's law, the wrath of the Almighty hangs upon your head this morning. And it's your unbelief that causes you to sit in your sin and not flee to Christ. Or it may be because you're not convinced that there is an adequate, and a sincerely offered provision in Jesus Christ. Some of you are very conscious of your sin.

42:21 Every day you live to wake and see another day, there's something akin to gratitude to God that He spared you for another day, because you do know through the Word of God and the activity of a conscience under the pressure of the Word that you have offended God, that you deserve His wrath and His judgment. But the reason you've not believed is because you do not believe that Jesus Christ is an able and a willing Savior. You do not believe that in Jesus Christ there is everything needed for your complete pardon and acceptance with Almighty God. You still think there must be something that you discover in yourself that will make you worthy enough to flee to Him. My friend, it is faith alone that justifies. And until you've come to the place where you say, I refuse to cast one slight glance at anything within, and I am determined as in the language of John 3, like every smitten Israelite to look only to the uplifted serpent as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

43:48 so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish. A smitten Israelite was not to have one eye upon the signs of his burning fever and another eye upon the uplifted serpent. No, no. He was to look away from everything that pertained to himself and fix his gaze solely upon the uplifted serpent.

44:15 And oh, my dear friend who sits here this morning in unbelief. Why? Not because you're careless and indifferent about sin. Your conscience is very active about sin.

44:28 You know what it is to live with something of the terror and dread of death. And when I announced the death of the relatives of one of our people this morning, just the word death sent a chill over your spirit. And you said, oh God, thank you it wasn't me. My friend, how long will you go on in that state of dread and terror?

44:50 Do you think God delights to see you in that state? He sets His beloved Son before you in the Gospel and says, look and live. In Christ is righteousness. Christ is yours if you will have Him.

45:08 Well, you say that's free willism. No, that's the Gospel. The Gospel is whoever will let Him come and take of the water of life freely. Oh, but you say I cannot will to come until I'm regenerate.

45:26 Well, I know that as well as you do. And God knew it when He commanded you to come. And when He told you not to look into your heart to see if you can see the stirrings of regeneration, but to look to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. My friend, some of you got an argument with God.

45:46 And you don't like God's method of saving sinners. You want to reconstruct it. You have an argument with God. And until you cease from that argument, you'll never be saved.

The Terrifying Reality of Unbelief and the Comfort of Faith

46:04 The hour is coming when we shall stand before God. What is our confidence as we face that hour, my friend, if you've not come to the settled position that you have a righteousness imputed and received by faith alone? What a frightening thing to face that hour. I received a note a few days ago.

46:28 I don't know if I've ever done this before. It was from one of our members who had to undergo surgery. And this particular member recounts in this note from which I'm going to read some of his or her thoughts as he or she lay there realizing that I may, I may not ever wake up in this world again. And here's a transcript of some of the thoughts.

46:56 I am sure God was very close to me. It must have been Him who brought me to think so deeply on what it would mean if by some chance I did not awaken. Yet as I prayed that all would be well, fear began to rise up inside of me. It was as if the devil himself were saying, look at your life.

47:18 Do you expect to stand before God, your all-powerful Creator? No, no. But God will never, but God will never forgive and accept you for all your wicked unfaithfulness, prayerlessness and proud independence. I was afraid as I thought of my life.

47:37 I was afraid to die and to see God. I began to fear that it wasn't true. I was deceived. God had not, God could not forgive me.

47:47 It was all a lie and I was still condemned. Perhaps it was all a lie and my hopes were but fantasies. But then I remembered. God had told me, yes, I was base and terrible and my life was an ugly, horrible thing.

48:07 But I remembered, it will not be for anything I had done. Nothing I had done. Nothing I was or ever could be. And I prayed, oh God, You cannot lie.

48:20 And You have promised that if I believe with all my heart and soul in You and in Your Son's death for my wickedness, if I cling to You and You alone as my only hope, I shall be saved. God, You've promised these things. You cannot lie. So yes, You are my only hope.

48:42 Pastor, all the messages came rushing back to me then. And in my fear during those minutes, I never had so strongly realized how lost I am except to believe and to know salvation is of faith through Christ alone. Christ and Christ alone. So strongly did I hang to His promises then.

49:09 I had no other plea but divine mercy. Could I plead my life, my merit? I would be condemned in a moment. My friends, that's saving faith.

49:25 Not as a notion, not as a theological abstraction, but saving faith working in a heart that is, as it were, standing outside the courtroom and knowing that at any minute the summons may come to stand before the judge and faith dares to face the judge and say, You have promised unhealed forgiveness and mercy. I stake my soul upon the word of God. That's faith. My friend, do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?

Exhortation to Flee to Christ and Concluding Prayer

50:07 Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? You say, as did this man or woman, I am undone. I am unfaithful. I am a sinner.

50:23 Nothing in me. Nothing done by me. My soul is in Christ. Oh, my friend, if you are not there, may you, sitting right where you are this morning, run to the Lord Jesus with the empty hand.

50:46 You say, but I don't even have it wet with my tears of repentance. He doesn't say, come with a wet hand. But I don't even have in it a little roll of vows. Don't come with your vows.

51:01 Come with an empty naked hand and lay hold of the offered saving. And having laid hold, continue to cling, and continue to cling, and continue to cling, until one day you will awake and behold His form in righteousness. Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners. And it is received by faith alone.

51:39 Oh, but Pastor, where does repentance fit in? What about what James says? It's not a man justified by works and not by faith. I'll deal with those questions next week.

51:50 But they don't affect one thing of what's been stated this morning. Have you come to grips with the truth preached today? If not, may God grant that you will, even here, in this place, in this hour, and find Christ to be all He has promised to be to believing sinners. Let us pray.

52:27 Our Father, what thanks can we render for such a Savior, for so free and unfettered an offer of mercy to the vilest of sinners. We pray that You would own the proclamation of this simple message of grace and grant that some who to this hour have never believed will stretch out, as it were, that naked empty hand and lay hold of the Savior in whom alone is righteousness. May they be married to Your Son in that bond of faith and receive in Him that righteousness imputed to all who thus trust it. We pray for those who are Your children that we may understand more and more what it is to stand by faith, to walk in the conscious and constant confidence that our acceptance is in the Beloved and in Him alone. Lord, awaken the indifferent to whom this has been nothing but fifty-five minutes of sheer boredom because they have no felt awareness of sin. God, be merciful to them.

53:53 Give them a sight of the depth of their malady. That they may begin to appreciate the glory and the perfection of the remedy in Christ. Overcome the wicked unbelief, the self-righteousness, the works-righteousness of those who are still looking within before they will look without. O God, have mercy and grant that the needs of our hearts may be met as Your Spirit works by and with the Word Hear our prayer and may the blessing of Your presence abide with us as we leave this place and further sanctify this day to our prophet and to Your praise through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.