Importance

The Human Predicament and God's Complex Resolution

0:04 Will you please follow in your own Bible as I read three very familiar verses, Romans 8, verses 28 through 30. Romans 8, verses 28 through 30. And we know that to them that love God, all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose. Romans 8, verses 28 through 30. The intrusion of sin into the human race has resulted in a vast and ugly and a complex set of problems.

1:24 Just as the man who goes out and gets himself drunk and then has the audacity to get into his car and attempt to drive it, and in that attempt exceeds the speed limits, wanders over the center line, eventually jumps a curb, hits a pedestrian, breaks off a fireplug, and comes to rest at the side of a brick building with his head through the windshield, lacerated and his skull fractured, he has a vast and ugly and a complex set of problems. He has some legal problems. He has, while driving under the influence of liquor, broken numerous laws, all the way from the... He has a law that says you should not drive under the influence across the spectrum of manslaughter to property damage.

2:22 But he also has some very real personal problems, everything from a lacerated forehead to a wrecked automobile. Well, so it is. When our first father, Adam, in a blatant, wide-eyed act of defiance against God partook of the forbidden fruit, he plunged both...

2:44 He plunged both himself and the whole human race into a vast and complex set of problems.

2:54 But, in grace and mercy, God has realistically assessed the human predicament in all its complexity, and he has done so by the provisions he has made in his own dear Son. Going back to the initial illustration, you see the man who did what was described needs a physician to take care of his lacerated face and his fractured skull. He needs a lawyer to represent him in a court of law when charges are brought against him. He needs a claims adjuster to take care of insurance matters.

3:35 You see, the complexity of his legal and personal problems demands a complexity of resolution to those problems. And yet, the Lord Jesus, in the glory of his person and the sufficiency of his work, is so constituted as our Redeemer that all of the vast spectrum of need which our sin has created is wonderfully and gloriously met in some facet of his own work on behalf of sinners. And in our Lord's Day morning studies in the Word of God, we are presently examining...

Cardinal Blessings of Salvation: Justification, Adoption, Sanctification

4:14 We are examining some of those cardinal blessings of this great salvation in Jesus Christ that we might appreciate more fully what our Redeemer has done in coming to us in the human predicament and appreciating more accurately and more expansively what he has done. We may love him the more fervently, we may serve him the more zealously, and we may convey his gospel the more accurately. Now, in the unfolding of these great blessings of salvation in Christ, we have emphasized again and again that every one of them comes within a common orbit, union with the Redeemer. God doesn't parcel out the blessings apart from the Redeemer, but by uniting us to the Redeemer, all the blessings are ours in him. But there is an order in which God gives these blessings, and I've called the initial blessings, those that come on the threshold. As God is bringing us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of his dear Son, he calls us by his grace. He regenerates us by his Spirit.

5:27 And calling and regeneration, then, can rightly be conceived of as the threshold blessings. But when he does regenerate us and effectually call us, and we are vitally joined to his Son, there are certain cardinal...

5:43 There are certain cardinal blessings conferred upon us immediately. That is, the moment we are regenerated, and as the first consciousness of that regenerating work, we repent and believe the gospel, God confers some marvelous blessings upon us immediately. And now, for the next several Lord's Day mornings, or really a couple of months of Lord's Day mornings, we're going to focus our attention upon those blessings, that come to us immediately upon faith. And there will be three of them.

6:19 Justification, adoption, and, for lack of a more simple term, definitive or radical sanctification. That is, a sanctification that is once and for all the moment we are united to Christ. Now, we begin this morning, then, with the doctrine of justification. And we do so because, you will know, this in the passage read in your hearing, when the Apostle Paul would give a very summarized statement to the various blessings of salvation in Christ, of those that meet us the moment we are effectually called, he zeroes in exclusively upon justification.

Justification: Not an Abstraction, but a Vital Reality

7:05 Now, it is not because he conceives of justification as the only blessing that comes to those who are called, but, in fact, in terms of the epistle to the Romans, which you now know if you attend the adult class, it is the cardinal or the foundational or the predominant blessing that comes the moment we are effectually called. Notice the language. Whom he foreordained, verse 30, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified. The moment we are effectually called, and therefore vitally joined to Christ, from God's standpoint, united to him by the indwelling of the Spirit, from the human standpoint, united to him in the bonds of faith, that moment the union is established, we are indeed justified. Now, as we begin our examination of this great doctrine of Scripture, let me issue a word of caution. We are not studying, of philosophical or theological abstraction. Now, physicists may get together and debate whether or not light is particles or light is waves.

8:26 Well, for us common folks, the end of that debate or the resolution of that debate really is of little or no consequence. As long as I've got light bouncing off the page and reflecting into my eyeball so I can read whether it's particles or waves, I could care less. Frankly, it doesn't trouble me one-tenth of one second all the while I'm preaching whether or not the light that helps me see my Bible and my notes is particles or waves. And I hope it doesn't bother you as you sit there listening.

8:58 Now, I wonder, the light that's bouncing off Pastor Martin's face and registering in my eyeball so I can follow him as he preaches, is that particles or is that waves? You see, in a sense, that's a mere theoretical issue to us. Now, it's a tragedy when the people of God, come to a doctrine such as justification and treat it in the same way. No, no, my friends.

9:19 We are examining an aspect of God's glorious and gracious provision for needy sinners, a provision without which a realistic contemplation of the past can only produce the deepest shame,

9:41 a realistic assessment of the present can produce only the deepest shame, the deepest threat and terror, and a realistic anticipation of the future can produce only despair and hopelessness. If this doctrine were not revealed and being revealed if it were not a fact, I repeat, a realistic assessment of what you are as God's creature, a creature who has broken His law, broken it from the womb, a realistic contemplation, a realistic contemplation of your past without this doctrine could only fill you with shame and remorse,

10:27 a realistic assessment of the present, that if indeed I am a sinner and God is not indifferent to human sin, He is angry with the wicked every day, that His wrath burns to the sinner, that could only fill me with dread and with terror. What must it be to have the wrath of the Almighty hanging as a canopy over one's head? If I had to preach this morning with a ten-ton slab of steel hung above my head with a few flimsy ropes and I could hear the strands of those ropes breaking one by one, I'd be a fool to stand here cocksure and unmoved by the reality of that which hangs over my head. You begin to take real the real situation, my friend, that you are indeed a sinner, under the crushing weight of divine anger. It will fill you with dread and horror if this truth is not real. And what about the future?

11:32 I say any realistic anticipation of the future can only produce despair and hopelessness because the future holds for certain that I shall stand before this God to give an account of the deeds done in the body and in that day every idle word, every thought, as well as, every deed that has been a violation of His law, I'll be brought to account. Oh, my friend, we're not dealing with a philosophical or theological abstraction. When we come to the doctrine of justification, do you know what we're taking in hand? We're taking in hand the provision of a gracious God in Jesus Christ that enables men and women, boys and girls, to face the past realistically, and yet, to face it with confidence that every sin has been pardoned. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, enables the sinner to face the present with assurance in the language of Ephesians 1 that we are accepted in the Beloved One, or in the language of 1 John, the blood of Jesus Christ goes on cleansing us from all sin, and then we can face the truth, the future realistically with joyous anticipation. It does not yet appear what we shall be,

13:01 but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. We shall see Him as He is. And all of those things are brought together in a beautiful way in a pivotal justification passage in Romans chapter 5. Look at it.

13:15 Romans chapter 5 and verse 1. Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God. Amen. No longer is God angry with us and we at enmity with Him, but because of His justifying act or declaration, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, but not only so, through whom also we have our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.

13:46 Not only is the past resolved in the enmity of God towards me done away in Christ, but I stand now, I stand now under a canopy of grace. But not only so, what about the future? Well, He addresses Himself to that. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

The Miser's Delight: Appreciating Justification

14:06 My friend, as we come now to examine the doctrine of justification, we I say are not engaging in that which is an abstraction. We are not merely examining a doctrine of the Scripture as something detached from us. We are examining the cardinal blessing of God's saving mercy that is addressed to our real need. As surely as that drunk slumped over the wheel of his car cannot regard the presence of a physician and the lawyer as luxuries, if he has any awareness of his predicament, he realizes that they are necessities to extricate him from his predicament, lest it slay him. So in the presence of this great doctrine, and we who name the name of Christ as we contemplate this cardinal blessing, we should be like a miser with his bag of gold coins. You never saw a miser pull his bag down reluctantly. You say, Oh, well, I think I'll look at my coins today.

15:13 Oh, yeah, there's it. No, no, not the miser. He takes his bag of coins down, and he separates them into their various denominations, and then he fondles them, and then he puts them together. He polishes them, and then he looks at them, and his poor distorted miserly soul drinks in an almost hellish delight from the glitter of the light upon his coins.

15:37 But my friend, we ought to be like him in a totally different realm. We ought, when we look at the various coins of divine provision in Christ, never do so with indifference, never do so with reluctance, but take down the coin of justification, and look at it in all of its various forms, and look at it in all of its various lights, and, as it were, polish it with fresh and intense reflection and meditation, and let our souls drink in the wonder and the glory of the worth of this facet of redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, so much for that introduction that I hope has whetted your appetite, has set the field for our study. Now this morning, in the moments that remain, I want to do but one thing, just one thing. I want to take, as it were, by means of preaching, a red pencil and simply underline the tremendous importance of this biblical doctrine of justification. Having convinced you, I trust, that it is in your own best interest to consider this doctrine, now I want simply to underscore the importance of the doctrine of justification. Luther's words, are well known in many circles, namely, that justification by faith,

The Importance of Justification: Luther's Article of the Standing or Falling Church

17:02 through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, is the article of the standing or the falling church. Now, what did Luther mean by that? Well, simply this. To the extent that the church understands, articulates, and lives in the power of this truth, to that extent, she is a vigorous, vital, vibrant church, or she is a moribund, decadent, dying church.

17:31 To the extent that the church understands, articulates, that is, speaks forth clearly and notice, and lives in the power of that truth, not merely understanding, not merely articulating, but understanding, proclaiming, and experiencing, the power of that truth. That's the index of whether that church is a vibrant church, or whether that church is a dying or a dead church. Now, if that be true, what shall we say of multitudes of churches that bandy about Bible language, but have not in twenty-five years had any systematic exposition of the doctrine of justification by faith through the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ? Where the whole language of salvation has as its beginning, middle, and end, trust Jesus. Get your act together by coming to Jesus. Well, Luther would stand and say, such a church is not worthy of the name.

18:47 But what Luther says doesn't matter much. It's what God says. And I trust we shall see this morning that indeed we cannot overestimate the importance of this doctrine because the most fundamental question that any fallen son or daughter of Adam can ask is this question, how shall I, a sinful man, woman, boy, or girl, find acceptance with the God to whom I am answerable? There's no more fundamental question in all the world but that.

19:22 The question, whom shall I marry, is play stuff compared to that. The question, what job shall I set upon is my career, that's kid stuff compared to this question. There is no question of greater importance than this. How shall I, a sinful man, woman, boy, or girl, find acceptance with a holy God?

19:45 A God who cannot look upon iniquity with anything but holy anger and wrath? A God who in the language of the prophet can by no means clear the guilty? A God who will bring every secret work into judgment? How in God's name can I stand before Him?

20:05 Well, you see, the divine answer to that question is justification. Romans 1, 16 and 17, as many of you have heard in recent days. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, Paul says, it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, the Jew first and also the Greek. Why?

Justification and the Glory of God

20:26 For wherein is revealed a righteousness from God? It's because the gospel addresses itself to that burning question that it is the power of God unto salvation. Now let me suggest two simple lines of thought as I try to develop this one issue this morning, the importance of the doctrine of justification. Well, let's consider its importance in relationship to the glory of God and then secondly the good of man.

20:55 So when you leave this morning, I hope you have embedded in your consciousness, if someone should walk up and ask you, where were you? I went to church. Well, what did you hear? Well, I heard a sermon on the importance of justification.

21:06 Oh, you did? Well, what were the main thoughts? Two thoughts. It is important with respect to the glory of God.

21:13 It is important with respect to the good of man. First of all then, the importance of the doctrine of justification with respect to the glory of God. Scripture reveals that the great goal of God in all His works, both in creation and redemption, is the manifestation of His glory. God manifests His glory so that His rational creatures, men and angels, may, perceiving that glory, in turn glorify Him, that is, praise Him for what He has revealed of Himself.

21:53 Romans 11, 35 and 36 is one of the classic statements of that principle that is found all the way through the Scriptures. For of Him, and through Him, and therefore unto Him, are all things, to whom be the glory forever. Amen. Everything flows from God as the sovereign ruler of the universe.

22:22 Everything is controlled by Him as the present governor of the universe. And it has as its end His own glory and praise. Of Him, through Him, and unto Him are all things. And as the apostle understands that, what does he do?

22:39 As a rational creature, he then ascribes glory and praise to God to whom be the glory forever and forever. As one servant of God has said, the whole plan of salvation which is revealed in the Gospel is simply the unfolding and execution of God's eternal purpose to overrule the fall of man for His own glory by a signal manifestation of all His perfections in the salvation of sinners through the Redeemer. What has God done? You ask the question, why did a sovereign God ever allow sin to intrude upon His universe? Well, there are mysteries that we cannot ever begin to resolve beside of seeing Him as He is. But one thing is certain, God is committed to a course in which He will manifest the full display of His glory to His creatures. And it's in the context of human sin that God displays the magnitude of His grace.

23:51 And in particular, it's in the Gospel method of justifying sinners that there is this glorious display. I direct your attention to a passage we studied in the previous hour. Now, for some of you visiting with us, you've got justification in the previous hour. You're getting it again today.

24:08 You say, does that church preach anything else? Well, it just so happens, as it often happens, in the providence of God, there is a dovetailing. This wasn't planned by us, but I believe it's planned by the One through whom are all things. That at this point in our life as a church, the Spirit of God is, as it were, taking the spotlight upon this great doctrine.

24:29 Now, He's not taking all light off all other doctrines. We'll be studying something totally different tonight. But for those visiting with us, lest you go out and say, well, let church preach justification. Heard that letter, heard that...

24:40 No, no, no, don't make such a hasty judgment. It so happens at this particular point in our life together, we are doing that. But this is the first time in six and a half years that I've brought a concentrated study on the doctrine. I check back into my previous notes, and I can establish that.

24:56 So, no, there are many other things that we teach and preach. But right now, this is the truth that is before us in our systematic unfolding of these great blessings of salvation. Romans 3, 24 and 5. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth or decreed to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to do what?

25:21 To show His righteousness in obedience to God. In other words, that which God has done in securing justification for man through the work of His Son has as its end the showing of 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 Himself might be just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus. Now, without going into a detailed study of the passage, do you catch the thrust of what lies on the surface? The apostle is saying that the gospel method of justifying sinners becomes the occasion of God's marvelous display of how that question can be resolved. How can guilty sinners find acceptance with God? Shall we somehow hope that the character of God will be eroded so that He will not judge sin? Unthinkable!

26:27 Far better that the whole human race be damned than the character of God be stained in the pursuit of our salvation. There's something more important than your being fireproofed. It's that God be vindicated in His godhood. Well, how can God then be just and do anything but damn sinners?

26:49 Paul says it's in this gospel of justification based upon the work of Christ that God displays the full glory of His justice and righteousness, and yet wonders, wonders the full glory of His pardoning mercy. He is both just and the justifier of the one who believes in Christ. So then, you see, in the gospel method of justifying the ungodly, love and justice, mercy and truth, kindness and holiness are all displayed in their clearest light. In the Bible method of justification, the law and the gospel are seen in their mutual dependence upon each other, in their distinction from one another, in their subservience one to another. In verse 31 of Romans 3, he says, Do we make void the law of God through faith, faith in the context of justification? God forbid we establish the law! In other words, we come back to the simple principle.

27:54 The doctrine of justification is important because the glory of God is bound up in that doctrine. Where there is an ignorance or perversion of the biblical doctrine of justification, God is always robbed of some aspect of His supreme glory. Either justice and holiness are obscured by a perverted view of love and mercy, or love and mercy are obscured by a perverted view of God's justice. And in the history of the church, you find this constant tension of some people saying, No, it doesn't suit my notions of justice that God would pardon sinners completely on the basis of the doings of another. And so what they've done is lowered the standard of God and said God will accept man's faith as some kind of an act. And on that basis He'll justify. What's happened?

28:52 They've obscured the inflexibility, the burning purity of God's justice and holiness and righteousness. On the other hand, others have perverted the concept of divine love. Others have perverted other attributes of God. And the doctrine of justification becomes, as it were, the hub which holds together in the mind and consciousness of the people of God all of the glorious attributes of God revealed in the gospel.

29:26 And to the extent that we understand that doctrine and live in awe of it, we shall have an appreciation of the glory of God which no other truth can bring home to our hearts. It's in the gospel that righteousness and peace kiss each other. Well, let me say by way of application then, to you Christian men and women, who say, yes, you do long to bring a maximum measure of glory to God. But you see, now you can't do it if you have and are content with dim, vague, or indistinct views of justification by faith. You see, your praise, unless you would make it something totally irrational and mystical, your praise must be uttered and poured forth along the channels of your understanding. Therefore, if your understanding is obscure with regard to the doctrine of justification, your praise will be crippled. But when by the Spirit, through the Word, you come to see how all of God's attributes are turned, as it were, to their highest brilliance in this glorious doctrine,

30:54 then your praise will, in a commensurate manner, be more full, more abundant, more abandoned, more intelligent, more reflective of the realities of God's glory in the gospel. And as we desire to communicate the gospel, whether as parents to our children, you students in your schools, you who preach the gospel continually or occasionally, do you see if the great end of the gospel is to declare God's glory? If we have dim and indistinct views of justification by faith, we will not be able able to proclaim the gospel in such a way that it fulfills the mandate of the angels. What was their first cry at the birth of Jesus?

31:41 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace toward men of goodwill. The angels let us know why Jesus was born. Not ultimately or primarily a manward dimension. Glory to God in the highest.

32:03 And on earth peace, and peace will never be secured at the price of obscuring the glory of God. So then, the first great reason why we ought to feel the importance of the doctrine and bend every faculty to acquiring a clear grasp upon the doctrine is the glory of God is at stake. But then secondly, our own good is at stake. First of all, the good of the Lord.

Justification and the Good of Man: For the Unconverted

32:34 The good of those who are yet to be called into the fellowship of Christ.

32:40 The good of those that are yet in their sins, but who eventually will be brought to repentance and faith. How are they called? Well, according to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, a passage we studied in some detail when we examined the doctrine of calling, God effectually calls men and women, boys and girls, through the proclamation of the gospel. 2 Thessalonians 2.

33:06 We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you through our gospel. Now, it's God's purpose to call men in the context of gospel proclamation. And because calling and regeneration are so important, so inseparably bound up, that's why I insisted that we must not think of any work of regeneration that occurs in any other context but gospel proclamation. If God regenerates in another context, he hasn't revealed that way.

33:51 What he does with infants, if he regenerates them, what he does with those who do not have normal mental faculties, the Bible is silent, as far as I'm concerned, with respect to those issues. But with respect to those of us who are conscious, responsible adults or children before God, God does not call by any means but the gospel. And if calling and regeneration are inseparable, then he regenerates in no context but gospel proclamation.

34:21 Now, if that's so, and we long to see men regenerated and brought to repentance and faith, do you see why we must be concerned with the doctrine of justification? It lies at the heart of the gospel. And if gospel proclamation is not distinct, distinct and clear at this point, then you see, the spirit of truth, if I may speak reverently, cannot help but be reluctant to own with power an emasculated and a distorted gospel. Now, thank God he is sovereign, and he often takes a very impoverished and emasculated gospel and makes it effectual to the salvation of men.

34:58 But generally speaking, when this gospel of justification is veiled, there is little saving work. It goes on in the hearts of men. The Protestant Reformation, as the watershed of church history, is proof of this. For centuries, though there were pockets of believers who broke through all the ritual of Rome and all of the anti-biblical thinking of that imposing church-state structure, by and large the masses were besotten in the deepest kind of ignorance.

35:35 Then when God was pleased to come forth to vindicate his own truth, and he raised up such men as Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Farrell and others, continental and English reformers and divines, they differed on many things, but on this thing they stood, as it were, on precisely the same ground when the sinner would cry out, On what basis can holy God accept a sinful man or woman? They pointed them to this provision of justification, which was to be in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Buchanan, a Scottish theologian of another generation, speaking to this very issue, says, and I will only summarize in the interest of time, that in a very real sense, when this doctrine comes alive by the work of the Spirit through careful preaching of its main pivotal elements, that it's as though people who've even been around churches have heard the gospel in some form all their lives, it's as though they hear the gospel for the first time. The free pardon of all sin and the sure title to eternal life, conferred by the mere grace of God, and resting completely on the redemption and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ,

36:59 the preaching that this is the actual and immediate privilege of any sinner, the instant he relies on Christ, he says this truth coming home with power, is indeed a new birth, even to some who profess to have been converted before that truth was preached. Dr. Packer, in his introduction to this book, makes the point that the history of the church will reveal that every true revival of religion has come in the context of the fresh proclamation of this truth, the truth of justification by faith. So if we have any desire, for the salvation of men, we can't be indifferent to this thing. And it's not just the responsibility of preachers, for you see, it is what is nourished as precious in the hearts of the people of God that will be demanded from the pulpit. You see, if this truth lives in your breast, and this pulpit begins to be silent, there's going to be some people beating a path to the elders, saying, what's with this business? We're just getting nice little poems and nice little talks about, be good, be nice, help one another.

38:12 We're sinners! We're boundness that there's nothing in us that can commend us to God. We want to hear how it is that Almighty God can be favorable to the likes of us. We want to hear the note of justification by faith in the righteousness of another sounded again from this place.

38:38 So it's your responsibility, you see, not just the responsibility of those who preach. The good of men, and demands that we understand and love and experience the power of this doctrine. So, for those not yet called, if we have loved four of them and yearn to see them called, the importance of the doctrine is clear. But what about to those of us already called?

Justification and the Good of Man: For the Converted

39:00 We are the children of God, many of us. We are united to Christ. Well then, you see, for us, an increasing understanding of and appreciation of this doctrine, according to Romans, is the very thing that not only nerves us with a burning confidence for our future salvation, if you'll turn to that passage. Not only so, he says, we not only rejoice in hope of the glory of God, verse 3, not only so, but we rejoice in our tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh steadfastness, steadfastness, approvedness, and approvedness, hope.

39:44 This is all in the context, in the context of the fruits of justification. He says not only can we look to the past with confidence that our sins are pardoned, we have peace with God. Not only can we look to the present in the knowledge that we have access by grace and we stand in this grace, not only can we look to the future with hope and with confidence, we can face anything in the present in terms of trials and disruptions, and we do so in the confidence that all these things are for our good. And he says that's the fruit of justification.

40:21 And so for us as the people of God, if we would be able to stand in the midst of our own little world of trials and testings, in great measure our appreciation of this doctrine is the thing that will make the difference. You see, God's way of moving His people to holiness of life and zeal and patience is not man's way. Man says, if you be a good boy, God will give you a cookie. If you do, you will obtain.

40:51 That's man's way. God's way is, I give you your cookie, now be good. You see, God's way is to confer the mercy for nothing in us and to get us so taken up with the wonder of what is given that our zeal to serve Him far outstrips the zeal of hoping to get something for what we do. Isn't that the pattern of the Bible?

41:20 I beseech you by the mercies of God. Mercy is already given. Present your body a living sacrifice. That's the divine pattern.

41:29 And that's what makes the gospel so offensive to those who don't understand it. The Roman Catholic Church in its official pronouncements, which by the way have never been rescinded. All the pronouncements of the Council of Trent have never been rescinded. They say, let the curse of God be upon him who dares to say that sinners are freely pardoned.

41:49 For nothing which they do solely on the grounds of the work of another. And their great objection is that will lead to license. That will lead to carelessness. You see, it's like the poor dog in the dog races.

42:02 If you take away the rabbit that's hung out there in front of him and just stop the thing that runs the rabbit around in front of him, the dog will stop running. Well, they say if you take away the rabbit in front of the Christian, he'll no longer run. God says no. God says, I freely confer upon him my grace.

42:21 Grace is pardoned for nothing in himself. He justifies the ungodly. And when that ungodly man receives the gift of righteousness, his heart is filled with gratitude to the Redeemer and to the God who sent him. And the wheels of devotion and service turn far more swiftly and purposefully when driven by the engine of grace than by the engine of merit and of works.

42:54 Now, you see how important it is then, Christian, for you to get hold of this doctrine? It will become, as it were, the mainspring of your own Christian life as you come to understand and live in the enjoyment of the great reality that I am indeed accepted in the Beloved. Are you disturbed with your lack of zeal and holy joy? The lack of sacrificial service?

43:21 Could it be? Could it be? That it is the absence of a clear, unfettered grasp upon this doctrine that lies at the heart of your problem? I'm not saying it is, but could it be?

A Plea to the Unconverted and a Challenge to Believers

43:36 Could it be? Let me speak in closing to you who are yet in your sins. You can't afford the luxury of ignoring this doctrine, my friend. You're a lawbreaker.

43:48 And though you may not take your sins seriously, God does. He takes them so seriously that he says in his word that he's angry with you. You say, I don't feel his anger. It's not a matter of your feelings, my friend.

44:02 The drunk, insensitive by his alcohol, slumped over the wheel of his car, may feel nothing. It doesn't cancel the reality of his obligation to the laws that he has broken. And when he gets sobered up, he'll feel plenty. He'll feel his cuts.

44:21 He'll feel the pressure of the policeman's hand upon his arm. He'll feel the handcuffs on him. Whatever else is done to him. Once he gets sobered, he'll feel plenty.

44:30 You've made yourself drunk, some of you, with the wine and the booze of your own preoccupation with the flesh. And you've dulled your senses. And you think because you're slumped over the wheel of your car and insensitive that there's no policeman to apprehend you. No judge who waits to pass sentence.

44:50 But I have news for you. Almighty God is the living God. And your sins, cry to heaven for judgment upon your head. You can't afford the luxury of being indifferent to this doctrine.

45:06 For there's no way to get out from under that canopy of judgment than to come into the possession of justifying grace. My unconverted man, woman, boy, girl, you better stop pumping that into your system, which is stupefying you, and dulling your senses, and confluence, and thought, and preoccupation. Shit for five! You will not even think for a moment what in the world is that man-man screeching about. You'll say, Pastor Martin, in his most earnest moment,

46:27 before Almighty God, and in my sin. Oh, my sinner friend, this truth is your only hope. You better take it seriously. Dear child of God, I would say to some of you, whom I've counseled, on more than one occasion, that I'm convinced, if God would be pleased, during this series of studies running concurrently, the book of Romans in the adult class under Mr. Garlington, these six or seven expositions on the doctrine here, if God the Holy Spirit would give light from the Scriptures, and enable you believingly to apprehend this truth, it could mark the opening up of a whole new dimension of joyous, restful, vigour, as a Christian. Does it mean you'll never have another period of heaviness? No, you'll have them.

47:46 Does it mean your assurance will always be of the same intensity? No, not at all. I'm not offering some kind of a non-tongue-speaking, charismatic experience, if only you'll grasp the doctrine of justification. But what I am saying is this, that dim or indistinct views on eschatology will not materially influence the measure of your joy, your peace, or your rest in God.

48:15 Will it? But dim or indistinct views here are fatal. Every time you sin, what do you do? Well, if you don't have this truth firmly in hand, embedded in the very fibres of your heart, you're not going to make it.

48:35 And so I plead with you who belong to the Lord, cry to God that by the Spirit He'll come, and open up this truth with such power, that perhaps God would do again what He's done in the past, grant a gracious visitation of mercy in the context of proclaiming this old truth from His own Holy Word. If we've come through the threshold, or over the threshold, we've been called, we've been regenerated, what is it that God gives to us the moment we are vitally united to His Son? He justifies us. All we've done this morning is try to underscore the importance of this great doctrine with respect to the glory of God, and with respect to the good of the creature. God willing, next week, we'll begin our examination by looking at the context, the related truths of this great doctrine, without which it cannot stand, but within which it firmly stands, and by the enablement of the Spirit, will be firmly planted in our hearts. Let us pray.

Prayer for Illumination and Mercy

50:02 O Lord, our God, we stand before You conscious, at least to some little degree, that we are sinners. And were You to deal with us as You dealt with those angels that dared to rebel against You, we know that none of us would be here. For Your Word says that the angels that kept not their first habitation, He hath placed in chains, awaiting the judgment of the great day. But, Lord, You've been merciful to us, and You have sent Your Son to die for sinners.

50:46 We thank You that in Your dear Son You have laid bare the full display of all the glories of Your person. We thank You that in Him and in His righteousness we do indeed see mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace kissing one another. O Holy Spirit, come and teach us, teach us this truth of justification, not in an abstract or academic manner, but, O, make it to be a living, throbbing reality in our hearts. But we know it cannot be that unless it is a clearly grasped truth in our minds. So we do not ask for some mystical experience of this truth, we ask for the illuminating ministry of the Spirit upon the mind, and then His gracious work in our hearts. Have mercy upon those who are indifferent to this truth because they are stupefied, drunk with the wine of their own preoccupation, with the flesh and with worldly interests. Lord, sober them up.

52:04 O this day, sober them, Lord, and bring them to their senses. Before You cut them off in Your frightening judgment. Hear our prayer, we plead, and be with us as we leave this place for Jesus' sake.