How Shall a Man Find Forgiveness with God?

Introduction: The Most Important Question and Satan's Deception

0:02 I would ask you to follow with me in your Bibles as I read from Paul's letter to the church at Rome, the book of Romans, chapter 3, beginning with verse 19, and I shall read through chapter 4 and verse 8. You will notice certain words that I will emphasize, and I do that not to make it sound strange, but simply to provide a very vivid framework for the exposition of two verses within this larger passage. Romans 3 and verse 19.

0:40 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world be brought under the judgment of God. Because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin. 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.

1:20 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 through faith in his blood. 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 season, that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.

1:58 Where then is glory? It is excluded. By what manner of law? Of works? Nay, but by a law of faith.

2:09 We reckon, therefore, that a man is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law. Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles also? Yea, of the Gentiles also.

2:23 If so be that God is one, and he shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make the law of God of none effect through faith? God forbid. Nay.

2:39 We establish the law. What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather hath found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not towards God. For what saith the scripture?

2:55 That Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but of death. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the unrighteousness. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the unrighteousness.

3:10 His faith is reckoned for righteousness. Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and those whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. You and I must never underestimate the power of Satan to undermine and pervert, the pure truth of God.

3:45 According to the words of our Lord in John chapter 8, Satan is a murderer and a liar. And he murders, that is, destroys the souls of men by means of the lie. When the devil has destroyed a man, the death weapon in his hands is always the lie. He was a murderer from the beginning, and a liar, and abode not in the truth, he is a liar and the father of it.

4:18 And perhaps nowhere is the subtle, truth-perverting power of the devil more evident than in the confusion he has created with reference to God's answer to the most important question any son of Adam can ask. Now what is the question? The question is simply, How shall I, a guilty, condemned sinner, find forgiveness, and acceptance with God, my holy creator? Or, to phrase the question a bit differently, How can I be righteous before God?

4:56 Or, to state it differently, How can I be prepared to die and to face God in the day of judgment, and to face him unafraid and fully confident that I will be accepted in his presence? Let a man begin seriously to ask that question, Let a man begin seriously to ask that question, because he's come to understand Romans 3.19, that he's condemned by the law, he's guilty before God, he's no longer indifferent to that guilt, but he's beginning to ask the question, How can the guilt be removed? ...where now I have nothing but condemnation and guilt.

5:40 Let a man begin to ask that question, and Satan, in whose kingdom the man belongs, will do all within his power, to confuse him with answers, which, and ultimately, damn him.

6:02 Tonight, it's my joy to direct your attention to what is perhaps the simplest, most vivid, and possibly the boldest statement in all of Scripture, which clearly and definitively sets forth God's answer to that question, and forever expires the devil, which he would give as a substitute answer. How shall I, how shall you, how shall any man, any woman, any boy, any girl, stand before God with a righteousness that can pass the scrutiny of the eye of perfect omniscience and of infinite holiness? If you're standing before a God who can talk out of both sides of his mouth, who's nearsighted and has no moral principle, then you and I have no problem. But the Word of God says, we stand before the God who is infinitely holy and inflexible, and when that begins to bear down,

7:11 I say the devil will do all within his power to confuse the answer of God. How shall I be right with God? How shall I be righteous before him? And thank God it is the very purpose of the book of Romans to raise and then to answer that precise question.

Context of Romans: The Gospel of God and Universal Need

7:28 Now our text tonight in Romans 4, 4 and 5. Now to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him, that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. Before we come to an analysis of Paul's statement in those two verses, let us take just a moment to catch the thread of argument, the drift of thought, the flow of the apostle's mind leading up to these two verses.

8:02 The theme of this particular letter Paul has announced in the first words of the letter. Look at it. Paul, a servant, a servant of Christ Jesus called an apostle separated unto the gospel of God. And the theme of the book of Romans is to unfold the gospel of God.

8:24 The gospel that he calls in verse 16 the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. A gospel which has as its central blessing good news holding forth as its central announcement a righteousness provided by God. Verse 17, For therein is revealed a righteousness of God. It's a righteousness provided by God and received by faith.

8:55 As it is written, the just shall live by faith. So there you have the theme of the book of Romans set before us. The theme is the gospel of God. The good news that originates with God and comes to sinful men.

9:09 It is a good news. It is a good news which is unto salvation. That is, unto deliverance from sin and all of its consequences. It is a good news which holds forth as its central blessing the answer to this question.

9:25 How can I be right with God? The gospel says a righteousness is provided. It is a gospel which says that that righteousness already provided is received by faith and by faith alone. So he announces the theme.

9:40 Now he begins to unfold the theme in verse 18 of chapter 1. And verse 18, chapter 1, all the way through chapter 3 and verse 19 is simply an exposition of the necessity for such a righteousness. No sense trying to sell a man a product unless he's convinced he needs it. And so the apostle says, I come with this gospel to Jew and Gentile and I don't come with a luxury product.

10:07 I come with a necessary product. And so he says, He shows the whole human race as under guilt and in bondage to sin. And his concluding statements in verses 19 and 20, we read, the whole world under the judgment of God by the law comes the knowledge of sin. There is the universal need of the gospel.

10:29 Then in chapter 3 and verse 20 through the end of chapter 8, he shows the essence of the gospel and its blessings. Chapters 9 to 11, the relationship of God's sovereign, purpose to men and nations in the giving of the gospel. And then the book closes chapters 12 to 16 with a word about the application of the gospel to life. Now then, our text tonight is couched right in the middle of Paul's exposition of the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation.

11:01 He has shown us in verses 21 to 25 of chapter 3 that the ground of that righteousness which God alone accepts is the person and work of Jesus Christ. The ground is Christ alone. And that little word alone is the difference between truth and error. Notice how he emphasizes it again and again.

11:26 He says in verse 21, but apart from the law, a righteousness of God hath been manifested. And where does this righteousness focus as to its provisional basis? He says, in verse 24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation. Whatever this righteousness is, its ground is the work of Christ alone.

12:01 And then one other word occurs again and again. It's the word faith. It is received by faith alone. And so I emphasize the many usages of the word faith, faith and believe in this particular passage.

12:15 Now in the verses before us, what Paul is doing is simply this. Having stated man's great need, assuming that men are asking the question now, how can I find acceptance with God? He is very careful to answer, acceptance is found in the righteousness which God provides by that name, Paul says, a righteousness provided by Jesus Christ, a righteousness received by faith alone.

12:49 Now someone says, well, is this some kind of a novel doctrine? And he says, of course not. And he's going to show that this is the way God has always provided righteousness for guilty sinners. So he takes the example of Abraham before the giving of the law, Moses, David under the law, and he says both Abraham and David came to the resolution of that question, the question in precisely the same way that every man must come to the resolution of that question, the recognition, I have no righteousness of my own by nature, I can produce no righteousness of my own by practice, if I'm ever to have a righteousness, God must provide it, God must confer it, and He has provided in His Son, and He does confer it to every believer. That's the heart of the whole message of this section. Now with that, general drift of thought before us, let us address ourselves to the text itself. And the approach to the text is very simple.

The Worker: Description, Problem, and Condition

13:54 We have in verse 4 a description of the one who works, and in verse 5 of the one who works not. And so we have but two basic points to our message tonight, the worker and the non-worker. But what I want you to do as we go into an exposition of the text, I want you to look at the text as a mirror. Because in a very real sense, without any exception, every single person in this building, in this auditorium, those of you downstairs, every one of us, if we're asked the question, how can I find acceptance with God?

14:34 How can my sins be forgiven? How can I be prepared to stand before Him in the day of judgment? Every one of us who's asking that question with earnestness is seeking to answer it either according to the principles of verse 4, or the principles of verse 5. And if you're answering it according to the principles of verse 4, and you go on answering it that way, mark me, my friend, as sure as your eyes look upon me, you'll one day be in the pit of eternal burning.

15:04 And it's only those who've come to answer the question according to verse 5 who should be found in that day filled with unspeakable bliss as they look upon their Savior. All right? Now to the text. First of all, verse 4, the one who works.

15:21 We're going to ask three questions about him. Who is he? What is his problem? And what is his true condition?

15:28 Now to him that worketh. The reward is not reckoned as of grace, as of death. Well, who is this one that worketh, to use the words of the Apostle Paul? Well, very simply, he is the person who knows that he must have a righteousness to commend himself to God.

15:50 He must have forgiveness for the unrighteousness of the unrighteousness in order to turn away the anger of God. He is convinced that the way to construct an acceptable righteousness and the way to turn away God's anger for his unrighteousness is to be found in his own performances, in his own workings. Something that he can do either and follow me closely, something that he thinks God will make him acceptable before him.

16:30 But these people have this common substructure in their answer to the question, how can I find righteousness? I need it in the path of performance, in the pathway of doing. Now, having stated the principle, let me describe him more fully. This man is found in two distinct categories.

16:52 There are those who obviously in a very gross and evident way manifest this spirit. The classic example, of course, is the Pharisee of Luke chapter 18. Look at it. He dares to do He dares to stand in the presence of God and say words such as these.

17:11 Luke chapter 18 and verse 9. And he spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. See the significance of the words? The Pharisee knew there must be righteousness.

17:29 His confidence was in his own working. And so he stands before God, verse 11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican. I am to construct a righteousness which sets me above these other unrighteous pagans about me.

17:56 Then he tells God what he does. I fast. I give tithes. You see what his problem was?

18:03 He was standing before God convinced he had to have a righteousness to commend him to God. Without that mentality, he all, all his talk is nonsense. And the man was deceived, but he wasn't a fool.

18:16 He had the right question raised. He just had the wrong answer. The question was, how shall I find acceptance with God? His answer is, my acceptance is based upon what I am and what I've done.

18:29 He's a description of the man who worketh.

18:33 And so it very obviously brings within its compass all those who are so deluded as to think that their prayers, their alms, their deeds, their acts of charity will build up some kind of a fabric of righteousness that will be acceptable to God. And surely anyone who thinks that way is utterly ignorant of the most basic teaching of the word of God. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he's saved us. By grace he's saved through faith.

19:07 And that's not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not of works. But all my friends, listen to me.

19:11 I want to move to a second category who fit the description of the man who works. And this is far more subtle and far less obvious. Listen. It's the person who sits under a biblical ministry such as is held forth in this place.

19:26 Who has enough acquaintance with the Bible to know that the scripture clearly teaches that Jesus Christ never saves a man from the penalty of sin without saving him from the dominion of sin. They have enough knowledge of the scriptures to know that when Jesus Christ lays hold of a man and brings him to faith he also brings him to repentance. He brings him not only to the joy that sin is forgiven but he brings him to deep grief that sin was ever committed.

19:55 And he's around the Bible enough to know that one who believes unto righteousness also lays hold of Christ unto a life of holiness. And he's aware of those teachings. They're obviously taught in the word of God. Only one grossly ignorant of the scriptures would say otherwise.

20:12 But you know what happens? Listen, listen. The enemy of the souls of man who has such in his potches he's not going to let them go easily. And when they begin to be concerned about the question how shall I find acceptance with God?

20:26 I've broken his law. I've trampled underfoot the privileges of his grace and I've sinned against light and truth and privilege. How to find acceptance? They know that the acceptance is not going to come in their performance.

20:41 They're not so foolish as to go out and think that if they give a little more money to charity attend a few more services God will accept them. But you know what they do? The devil comes and whispers in their ears and says, ah, doesn't the Bible say that you must repent? They know their Bible enough to know yes.

20:58 And doesn't repentance involve deep sorrow for sin and a real desire and resolution to be done with sin? Yes. Aha. Until you see in yourself deep repentance, deep sorrow, deep resolution, you've got no warrant to come to Christ.

21:16 You see what the devil's doing?

21:19 He's saying, go to work. Go to work before you believe. Go to work before you come. Go on, do, have something to present to God.

21:32 And it'll land a man in hell as surely as the poor fool who thinks that by giving money and by saying prayers and doing external deeds he can find acceptance with God. They feel they cannot come to Christ until they can bring to Him something called the spirit of repentance or the spirit of humility. That's the man who works. Now to him who worketh, we've described him.

21:59 Now the second question about him, what is his fundamental problem? Well, his fundamental problem is that he is actually cancelling and negating the whole principle of grace. Look at the text. Now to him that worketh, the reward, the wages are not reckoned as of grace.

22:20 But as of debt, you see what Paul is doing? He's taking something from the common experience of all men to illustrate a spiritual truth. And here's the common principle.

22:31 When one of you boys goes to a neighbor and says, I'm willing to cut your lawn. You want me to cut it? Yes. And the neighbor says, how much?

22:41 And you say, well, three dollars, five dollars. You've entered into a contract. When you have finished cutting that lawn, that neighbor is now in debt to you. You've performed a service which has made that person your debtor.

22:56 And until the three or the five dollars, whatever was the agreement, is taken from his hand and put in your hand, that person is in debt to you. And when the agreed amount is transferred from his hand to your hand, he is no longer your debtor. You are no longer his debtor. There has been an agreement that has been satisfied.

23:16 Paul says this goes on all the time. Whether it's cutting lawn, collecting a paycheck, he that works when he receives his recompense, it is never gratuitous. It never partakes of the distinctive qualities of grace. Now that's perfectly right and perfectly proper in the realm of labor relationships.

23:39 In fact, God has a lot to say if we don't operate by that rule. When an employer no longer feels indebted to treat an employee right and vice versa, God has much to say about that. And I'm not going to digress into the biblical principles of labor relationships, but the Bible has an awful lot to say about those things. But what is perfectly right and proper and commandable in the realm of economics and in the realm of employment is devastating when it comes to the issue of how shall I find acceptance with God.

24:16 The whole mentality of labor relationships is I have performed the one for whom I've performed must recompense and the recompense is not gracious or gratuitous, it is of debt. And Paul says as long as you're operating on that principle, you're canceling the whole principle of grace, which means only undeserved. Grace and debt,

24:49 they can never be synonyms, but always antonyms. Look at the vigor of his language. Now to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as perform righteousness from God. What is his principle of grace?

25:22 Thirdly, what is his condition? Well, think of his condition before God. He is still under condemnation because he's still under the law. Verse 19 of chapter 3.

25:33 What things soever the law saith it speaketh to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world be brought under the judgment of God. Galatians 3.10 and the first part of verse 11 states it even more vividly. This is his true condition.

25:51 Listen to the vigor of Paul's words. As many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. Now that no man is justified by the law before God it is evident.

26:09 My friend, listen. Listen carefully. The law not only makes demands upon the external life but upon the attitudes of the heart. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, minds,

26:23 the laws. Now the teaching of the word of God is this. If you want to have a right to God you must keep the law and that you can keep the law of God in all the motives, the intents, the thoughts,

27:14 external expressions of word and deed and all that. My friend, unless you're prepared to do that you better find a whole basis of hoping to find a righteousness from God.

27:29 For the condition of the man who is working, is the condition of being under a curse. For one slight deed, fall forth the righteous anger of God and the wages of sin is death. So the condition of every man, woman, fellow, or girl in this building tonight who is attempting by external actions, by some preparation of heart, by bringing self-imposed measure of sin or vows of your condition is a tragic condition. You're still under condemnation as many are under the works.

28:30 And what is your condition with reference to yourself? Well, you'll find that breaking down into two kinds of people. In terms of the sensitivity of conscience to the light of the word of God. In some cases, those who are working, who are negating the principle of grace, are led into a delusive complacency.

28:49 That was the Pharisees. Delusive complacency. As long as the outside of the cup and the platter was clean, they didn't care that God saw their hearts. He says, you are they which look beautiful in the sight of men, but inwardly you're full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

29:06 Their consciences have become hardened and seared and insensitive. And as long as they were doing and working externally, they were lulled into a delusive complacency. Seems to be that Paul was in that state for a good period of his life. Read Philippians chapter 3.

29:23 On the other hand, there are others who are working to him that worketh, seeking to produce something that will give them grounds to believe they may come unto the Lord and his provision. You know what it leads in their case? To tormenting misery. Look at Martin Luther, fasting, almost killing himself with religious vigils, but his conscience was tormented that the law of God touched the deep springs of his being, and he felt as though the judgments were hanging over his head hour by hour, and all the torments of a man who sees God is holy, I am sinful, God's law touches every faculty of my being and all that I am, and he's trying into acceptance what tormenting misery is enough to make a man blow his brains out.

30:18 What a miserable condition to be in. Am I speaking to someone in that condition tonight? Your conscience has been made sensitive by the application of God's holy law, and you know that that law is spiritual and holy and just and good, and God is a right to demand of you perfect love to him, heart, mind, soul, and strength, perfect love to your neighbor, which interpreted means you'll have no rival in your affections to God. You'll worship him in the appointed way.

30:49 You'll not take his name in vain. You'll regard the structure of the seven-day cycle of life. You'll regard with sanctity the current child relationship, the law of life and purity and property and possessions in the tongue. You take that law seriously.

31:06 You read it as it's set forth in Matthew chapter five, and you see that lustful thoughts are adultery and anger unrestrained is murder. And you read Romans seven, and you know that covetousness is idolatry, and you say, well, you try to work, bring that heart of yours into conformity with the law, the more it spews out its filth.

31:35 And you know nothing but misery tonight.

31:39 Oh, my friend, listen. To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but of death. In that condition, you're under condemnation, and under condemnation you will remain until you enter into a diametrically opposed orbit of spiritual perspective. And thank God, verse five describes that for us.

The Non-Worker: Description, Resolution, and Condition

32:02 Let's look at it now. Having considered the one who works, let's look in the second place at the one who works not. And we're going to ask a few questions about him. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.

32:22 Question number one, who is he? Who is he described in the words, to him that worketh not? He's got the same problem as the other man. He stands under the condemnation of Romans 3.19.

32:37 He's part of that world.

32:41 Stand under the judgment of God. He's got the same problem. How does he give up all the answer to the problem in his own obvious way? He has no notions that his prayers, his morality, his performance of duties in any way form the basis of acceptance with God.

33:08 And he's also seen through the subtle, subtle lie of the devil in that less obvious kind of working. He knows that no measure of his own grief or sorrow for sin, no measure of repentance, not even if must stand between him and the provision of God. And he has come to say from the depths of his heart with spiritual understanding, nothing,

33:40 nothing, nothing without in my hands I bring. Simply,

33:52 to thy cross I cling.

33:56 Not once foul and now on my way out of foulness. Once foul and now half clean.

34:06 I to the fountain fly.

34:11 This of my heart conscience and the bondage of that with love on the grace of God.

34:43 Who's going to break a hard heart with love my dear friend of you keeping for my sins. And listen, can I bring to commend myself? It is my strength that I don't have. He is the man who worketh not.

35:26 He will not wiggle his little finger to add anything to a righteousness already provided. Second question we ask about him we've already introduced him. What has resolved his problem? Look at the text.

35:41 But to him that worketh not but notice the opposite of working but believeth him that justifieth the ungodly. Oh what precious words.

35:56 Let's take them apart. What has resolved his problem? He has come to believe on another.

36:12 And who is the one upon whom it is fixed? It is fixed upon the only God who has provided a perfect righteousness for ungodly sinners. Look at it. He has come to believe on him who justifies that he declares righteous the ungodly.

36:34 Now that word ungodly is a strong word. It's always used of wicked men enmeshed in nothing but pure wickedness. It's used in Romans 1.18.

36:46 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all. Here it is. Ungodly. Romans 5 verse 6.

36:54 When we were without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 1 Timothy 1.9. The law is made for the ungodly.

37:05 Jude 4 and verse 15. Verse 4 and verse 15 of the one chapter of Jude. The same word is used. Now what's happened to this man who works not?

37:16 He's come to the revelation that the God who summons him to faith is the God who's who justifies ungodly sinners as ungodly. State it in the beautiful couplet of these two statements. Romans 5.6.

37:35 Look at it. For when we were yet without strength in due season Christ died for whom? For the ungodly. Now follow closely.

37:45 When the Lord Jesus poured out his life's blood for his people what were they? They were yet in their sins. They were yet in bondage. They had no righteousness of their own.

37:57 He died for them as ungodly. Now follow closely. When God justifies those for whom Christ died what condition are they in at the point that he justifies them? Partially godly?

38:12 They're in exactly the same condition they were when Christ died for them. Wholly ungodly. I didn't say it. Look at the text.

38:20 He's come to believe in him who justifies the ungodly.

38:26 Now is a sense of longing to please Christ an act of godliness or ungodliness?

38:34 It's an act of godliness.

38:37 Is deep sensitive sorrow for sin that an act of godliness or ungodliness? It's an act of godliness. Repentance, humility, sorrow, grief,

38:51 principle of obedience. These are all the fruits of a godly man. And though there is no break in the time sequences we'll see as we ask the fourth question about this man. We have one more before that one.

39:04 But follow closely. At the point that a sinner receives the provision of righteousness from God he is in God's eyes yet ungodly he is in his own eyes yet ungodly and it's that God who justifies him who believes.

39:26 Now anyone who's attended this ministry for any length of time knows that we seek to be faithful in hammering out the biblical doctrine that God never saves a man by faith. Without also bringing him to repentance and the evidence that we've repented is a godly life. I preached it two large days ago but the same Bible that gives us that class of text teaches us here in terms that only a man determined to pervert them can misunderstand God justifies the ungodly.

40:01 Has that truth broken in upon your spirit? He justifies the ungodly.

40:09 Well having asked the question who is he? What's resolved his problems? We ask in the third place what's his condition?

40:16 Well look at it. Now to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is reckoned for righteousness and the word reckoned immediately brings us into the court of law. It is a legal term. It is imputed.

40:34 It is accounted for righteousness. What's happened to the man who dares to believe that God for Christ's sake justifies the ungodly? He gets what his heart longs for. A perfect righteousness.

40:50 There is imputed to him the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. The righteousness wrought by his own sinless life and his own vicarious death. His condition is that described in Ephesians 1 as accepted in the beloved and therefore all boasting is utterly undercut as Paul says in the latter part of chapter 3. Where is boasting?

41:20 No boasting. Why? Because we come into the orbit of a justification to those who believe as a So they can't say that well I did this. I repented.

41:37 I sought. I, I, I, I. No, no. He found me in my filth and uncleanness and showed me the perfect righteousness wrought in the life and death of his own dear son.

The Non-Worker's Transformation: Justification and Sanctification

41:52 And I believed unto life and salvation. That's his condition. He's ungodly at the moment he believes. But now the fourth question, will he remain ungodly?

42:05 And the answer is very clear in scripture. No. For the same grace that revealed that perfect righteousness, Titus 2.12, that grace has appeared teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly righteous and godly in this present age.

42:22 No ungodly sinner ever believed on him who justifies the ungodly as ungodly and then remained ungodly.

42:34 Because at that moment a principle of life is implanted within him and godliness begins to be his passion. He's still a sinner, but he's never an ungodly man again.

42:46 You see the difference? But you better keep that line of demarcation clear as it's kept in scripture. Because no man believes upon him who justifies the ungodly without becoming a godly man, don't you start bringing this over here and say until I begin to see the marks of godliness in me, I won't believe on him who justifies the ungodly. That's turning from him who works not to him that worketh, and it'll damn you, my friend.

43:18 That's putting something between you and the purest provision of God in Jesus Christ.

43:27 The two great heresies that are within the human heart by nature, and they break out, sometimes with great theological jargon and argumentation in the history of the church to blight the people of God, are the twin errors of legalism and antinomianism, and what are they? They are a missing of this razor's edge truth of God's word.

43:50 The legalist saying that I must do before I can be, I must become before I can embrace. And the antinomian saying because I have received, it matters not what I am. The Bible doesn't need man's lies to support itself. No truth of God needs the assistance of man's lies.

44:14 And the truth of the word of God is that we are not justified by our repentance, by our sincere forsaking of sin, by our willingness to submit to the lordship of Christ or anything else. We are justified freely by his grace.

44:37 That truth stands on its own legs, an impregnable bastion of comfort for every disturbed soul who knows he needs a righteousness not his own. But there is another truth that stands on its own two feet, that all who had believed on him who justifies the ungodly as ungodly will no longer be ungodly but out of gratitude to the savior who loved them and died for them and the God who has declared them righteous. And the truth is that they long to please him and they do so in the power of a new life, so that their justification is always wedded to their sanctification. Tonight my concern is not the establishment of that principle, we did that two Sunday nights ago, but it is to establish this principle that the man who works not is the man who rests upon Christ alone. Well, to summarize, what is the great lesson of this text of scripture? And I can do no better than to quote the words of Christ. Charles Hoggs, who at the close of his exposition of this chapter, where he gives some of the principles of doctrinal perspective that are set forth in any given chapter, says these words.

The Great Lesson: Renunciation of Self-Righteousness

45:54 I quote him now. The great lesson of this text is that the renunciation of a legal self-righteous spirit is the first requisition of the gospel. The renunciation of a legal self-righteous spirit is the first requisition of the gospel. This must be done or the gospel cannot be accepted.

46:20 He who works refuses to be saved by grace. To use the words of Paul himself, turn to Romans chapter 10, if you will, please. Romans chapter 10. Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that is his fellow Jews, that they may be saved.

46:49 Now, in Paul's mind, what does it mean to be saved? Well, in this context, he'll tell us. For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

47:15 For Christ is the end of the law of God. The end of the law unto righteousness for everyone that believeth. As Paul thinks of his unsaved countrymen, how does he view their unsaved state? Well, he tells us in these words, it's a state in which there is non-subjection to the righteousness that God has provided.

47:39 Now, they didn't go out and say, we don't need a righteousness. There is no God. There is no judgment. There is no law.

47:45 There is no heaven. There is no hell. We drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. These were not a bunch of hedonists.

47:51 These were not a bunch of libertines. They were concerned about righteousness. They say there is a God in heaven, and that God is holy. And I am his creature, and I am accountable to him.

48:03 And I must have a righteousness, that is, a right standing before him. But what did they do? They went out to create their own. They were workers.

48:14 And being workers, they never submitted themselves. They submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. One of the simplest biblical definitions of a Christian is a man who has submitted to the righteousness of God. The righteousness God provides.

Application and Warning Against Heresies

48:32 And who submitted on the terms that God sets forth. Faith alone. And oh, how subtle is the enemy. And all around us in our world this very night, there are people utterly indifferent to the question with which we began tonight.

48:50 How can I be right with God? What do they need? They need the preaching of the law of God to show them they'd better be right with God for a day of judgment is coming in which nothing else will matter. And we need to thunder the law to people indifferent about righteousness.

49:06 On the other hand, there's a lot of people in so-called gospel churches who say, Oh, I'm clothed in the righteousness of Christ. No concern for holiness. No desire for obedience. What do we need to tell them?

49:19 We need to tell them if they have been justified, as ungodly sinners, the same God who justified them has taken them in hand and will be sanctifying them. And if there's no evidence that he's sanctifying, he's never justified them. We need to thunder that message. But oh, listen to me.

49:35 Those of you who've been privileged to sit under a ministry such as is extended from this pulpit, where at least in some measure the law of God is preached, and the great and awesome issues of eternity are set before you, and who know that a life of holiness is the indispensable evidence of righteousness. It's the evidence of new life in Christ. I fear that some of you have yet to grasp this truth. To him that giveth not, believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.

50:03 His faith is conscious of dejection and hopeless despair. I plead with you tonight, in Christ's name, stop and believe on the God who for Christ's sake justifies the ungodly. You say, but Pastor, I...

50:33 Yes, you're ungodly. You're ungodly that you don't. He says, believe and live. That God says, I've provided a perfect righteousness.

50:54 Ah, but someone says, that doctrine will lead to license. My friend, if you talk that way, you've never experienced its sweetness. You mean to tell me if I were sinking beneath the billows of an angry sea, and some man came by who was a potential rescuer, and he rescued me freely of his own kindness and risked his own life. And then I'd get out and throw dung on him.

51:25 I'd get out and then I'd spit on him and say, because you didn't charge me to get out of the water, I'm going to kick you in the knees. Oh, if he reached in graciously, gratuitously, with no cost but the risk of his own life, every time I see that man, I'll feel a sense of indebtedness to him. And God doesn't need to say, pay me, or you won't obey me. He reaches down freely and graciously in Jesus Christ in rescue.

51:54 Sinners who are hell-bent to destroy themselves. And when he rescues them freely, they say, oh, my Father, oh, my Savior, here, Lord, I give myself to you. It is all that I can do. You bemoan your hard heart, my friend.

52:14 It'll continue to be hard till it's broken at the sight of free grace. A heart that lingers by Mount Sinai will always be a hard heart. And it'll die a hard heart. And it'll go to hell a hard heart.

52:32 But the hard heart that gazes upon Calvary is melted. A bleeding Savior I have viewed. And now I hate my sin. Oh, may God grant that you'll look to Christ, who lived, who died for the ungodly, and to the God who justifies the ungodly, who believe upon him and upon his Son.

52:59 Oh, that God will own the poor and the poor. He will own the poor efforts of his servant to preach this great and grand and fundamental and essential truth. My friend, if you go into the presence of God, thinking of him in any other light than the God who justifies the ungodly, I wouldn't change places with you for a billion worlds, because you'll go condemned, bound to the power of that law. And it'll press you into the deepest hell and hold you there for all eternity, an eternal monument of the righteousness of God.

The Simplicity of Faith: Look and Live

53:37 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. And the only way to escape being an eternal monument of his righteous judgment against a broken law is to find refuge in that perfect righteousness of his own dear Son. The simplicity humbles us, doesn't it? Like Naaman, who was asked to go wash in a river.

54:00 Oh, if only the prophet had asked me to do some drink. I can imagine what may have happened that day. In Numbers 21, when bitten by the serpents and Moses commanded to make a serpent of brass and hold it forth, with the great news that all who would look in trust would live, they might have had the intellectuals who said, this is all a stupid idea. And while they're debating about the stupidity of it, they die from the snake bites.

54:26 And you might have had the sensitive souls who said, no, no, we're bitten because of our own sin, and it's too simple and too easy that we should simply live. We've offended God. We've grieved God. It's not right that we should now, in the midst of our misery brought upon us by our own sin, simply look and have all the effects gone.

54:44 It's not right. It's not right. Listen. Their greatest sin was not the sin that brought the snake bites, but it was impugning the wisdom of God and despising his grace that provided a remedy.

55:00 And under the guise of a humility that says it's too simple, it's too easy, you're guilty of accusing God of lack of wisdom. He says, as Moses said. He says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth may in him, in him, have eternal life. Look and live.

55:25 That's my parting word to you tonight. Look and live. Oh, but Pastor, wouldn't someone think that...

55:34 My friend, don't you be wiser than the Holy Ghost, and if anybody looks and lives tonight, you watch their life from here on in. It'll be a new life. It'll be a holy life. It'll be an obedient life.

55:48 Where are you tonight? Verse 4 or verse 5? To him that worketh. Are you a worker striving, coping, struggling to produce a righteousness of your own?

56:05 Or have you come to that blessed cessation of your own works? To him that worketh not. Worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the unjust. the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Where are you tonight? You say, well, I'm somewhere. No, there ain't no middle. You're there, there. Now, where are you? Is there that trustful recumbency, as the old writers would say, that resting upon the Lord Jesus Christ alone? God grant that it shall be so, and I'll have no fears that you'll go out and abuse this doctrine. Say, hey, you know, we saw the end of it. We'll justify it. We

56:51 can go out and live with it. My friend, you do that, and God will have a special place in hell for you, because you've turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. But because men turn grace into lasciviousness, I'm not going to change grace into works. This is the promise of God. Let us pray.