Context

The Disturbing Question and the Doctrine of Justification

0:03 In the 130th psalm and the third verse, the psalmist asks a very disturbing question. The question is this, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? In the consciousness that he is dealing with the God who made him and the God who will judge him in the last day, the psalmist asks what I have called a very disturbing question.

0:40 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? This question obviously reveals that there was a profound sense of dread and fear in the mind of the psalmist that the thought of unforgiven sin in the presence of the living God. The God who is judge of all mankind. Now when a man or woman, a boy or girl, begins to ask that question that the psalmist asks

1:16 and begins to ask it with a burning and pressing consciousness of the great issues bound up in the words of such a question, he is in some measure prepared to receive with joy the teaching of Scripture with respect to the biblical doctrine of justification. In the course of our Sunday morning studies which is presently a series of doctrinal studies entitled Here We Stand we have come to that section in our study in which we are focusing our attention upon the cardinal blessings of the salvation of God in Jesus Christ.

2:00 And I have suggested that it is helpful for our understanding as well as our edification to conceive of all of those blessings coming to us within a common orbit, namely, union with Christ, but coming to us in a specific order. And having examined those that I have called the threshold blessings, calling and regeneration, we are now examining the first of those blessings which is conferred upon us the moment we step over the threshold and enter into vital living union with Christ by faith. And that blessing is, of course, the blessing of justification.

2:45 A basis for that approach I have given you again and again by referring to Romans 8 and verse 30. Now, what we did last Lord's Day was simply to focus our attention upon the importance of the doctrine of justification. And I sought to demonstrate from the Scriptures, that the importance of the doctrine can be seen in two categories, the first with reference to the glory of God, and the second with reference to the good of sinners. Now, this morning we want to proceed to the second area of our consideration of this doctrine, and I am calling it the context of the doctrine of justification.

Justification: Not a Philosophical or Philological Exercise

3:28 Now, as we proceed to consider this theme, I want to underscore that this is not, I want to underscore that this is not, I want to underscore that this is not, a philosophical exercise. That is, we are not simply playing with ideas. Your sin and my sin are awesome, ugly realities.

3:51 And justification is God's amazing provision in the face of that reality. Furthermore, we are not engaged in a mere philological exercise. That is, we are not engaged in a mere philological exercise. Playing with words.

4:08 Philosophical exercises involve playing with ideas, whether they impinge upon us in the real world or not. Well, we are not dealing with philosophical ideas. Your sin is an ugly reality. And judgment is an awesome reality.

4:24 But we are not merely dealing with a philological exercise, playing with words, splitting up the difference between calling, regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification. No, no. This glorious doctrine embodies the divine answer to that pressing question, how shall sinful man be just with God? Therefore, with all the concern and interest fitting the subject, the kind of interest that man afflicted with a dread disease would have in the presence of the only physician who could cure them, as he explained the nature of his cure, and prescribed,

5:05 how it is that they might come within the orbit of its influence, their interest, you see, would not be detached. Their interest would not be academic. It would be the involvement of life and death concern. So then, as we come this morning to our second study in this great doctrine, as we come to consider the context of the doctrine of justification, may we come in the consciousness that we are dealing with that which is a great doctrine, which is of the highest interest to each one of us.

The Interdependence of Justification with Other Doctrines

5:39 Now, what do I mean by the context of justification? Well, simply this. Justification, like all the doctrines of Scripture, does not come to us in isolation. It comes to us in a relationship of interdependence with other great doctrines.

6:02 Or, to use a different word, it comes to us permanently, penetrated by other doctrines. And this doctrine cannot be established apart from those doctrines with which it shares this interdependence. Suppose I told you children to go and hang the roof of your dollhouse on a skyhook.

6:31 Now, when I was in construction work, and we'd sometimes find a piece of material we didn't know what to do with it, and I'd say to the boss, Boss, what do I do with this? And he'd jokingly say, Go hang it on a skyhook. Well, obviously, there is no such thing as a skyhook, a hook that's just hanging there on which you can hang something. It's an impossibility.

6:49 When you girls put your little dollhouses together, you know that the roof must rest upon the walls. And the walls, in turn, rest upon the foundation, and the foundation is usually resting on the floor. If we move out of dollhouses into real houses, the roof on this school is resting on the walls, the walls are resting on the foundation, and the foundation is resting on the terra firma. It's resting in the heart of the earth.

7:16 Now, you see, the doctrines of the Word of God come to us like that. And the doctrine of justification I would liken to the roof. It cannot hang on a skyhook. It is vitally dependent upon those truths which are like the support of walls and the supportive foundation and the very terra firma beneath it all.

7:40 Or to change the picture, it's like a boy who has a favorite sweater and woven right in with the wool of that sweater in a different color is a Superman emblem right in the front. And it's his favorite sweater.

7:58 Well, he comes in from playing one day and his mama notices that down at the border of that sweater he got caught something and it's begun to unravel. And she tries to get him to park, and she tries to get him to park, with his sweater long enough to fix that up. And he says, that's all right, mom. I don't care what happens down there just so long as I got my Superman emblem right here.

8:19 But she tries to explain to him, now, son, if what started there keeps pulling, it won't be long before the whole thing will be unraveled and you're going to lose your Superman emblem. Why? Because, you see, that sweater is all of one strand. Now, that's the way God's truth is.

8:38 Justification, the Superman emblem, is vital. It's vitally related to some of its border doctrines. And only as those truths are understood and continually supported by an intelligent, living faith and by a vibrant, authoritative, anointed proclamation will the doctrine of justification have its proper place in the understanding, in the hearts, and in the experience of the people of God. So what I'm going to do this morning is simply to underscore those supportive doctrines.

The Character and Position of the Living God

9:16 And hence, I've called our study the context of the doctrine of justification. And if time permits, I want to draw out three lines of thought. First of all, the character and position of the living God with reference to his creature, then the character and position of man with reference to his God, and then the ultimate purpose of God in the salvation of society. Now, it's my thesis this morning that apart from those three aspects of biblical truth being understood, believed, and experienced by the people of God, it will not be long

9:59 before there will be a material erosion of the understanding, experience, of the doctrine of justification. All right then, first of all, the character and position of the living God as part of the context of the doctrine of justification. First of all, then, a word about his character and then about his position. When we speak of the character of God, we're speaking simply of what God is like.

10:32 And perhaps there is no better uninspired short statement on the character of God than that which is found in the Shorter Catechism. What is God? God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Now, my purpose is not to give a little mini-sermon on the attributes of God this morning.

11:01 I simply want to point your minds in the direction of those attributes of God that are most essential when we have to do with the doctrine of justification. And those attributes of God those two are his holiness and his justice. You see, the doctrine of justification grows out of the reality of the holiness of God on the one hand and the justice of God on the other. Now that God is holy is everywhere affirmed in the Word of God.

11:36 You have such statements as that which is given in the Song of Moses after the great deliverance from Egypt, and the people of God having been brought through safely on dry ground over the Red Sea. And Moses, on behalf of the people, celebrates this great deliverance. And in the midst of that celebration, we read in Exodus 15-11, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

12:12 As Moses, compares the living God with all that is called God, he puts at the top of the list that which distinguishes the true God from everything else that is called God. Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness? And then most of you are familiar with that well-known incident in the life of Isaiah the prophet. In the year that King Uzziah died, and I'm quoting now from Isaiah 6, he sees the Lord in vision, high and lifted up upon a throne.

12:42 And then he sees, these strange created beings with wings, two covering their faces, two their feet, and two with which they fly. And they cry in that great antiphonal chorus, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God the Almighty. Then that holiness is celebrated not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament as well. In Hebrews 12-29, the writer to the Hebrews says, For our God is, a consuming fire.

13:18 John says in 1 John 1-5, This is the message we've heard of Him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. And when the veil is pulled back and we see the church worshiping in the person of its representatives, the four and twenty elders before the throne in Revelation 4, what do they celebrate? They celebrate this same theme. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts.

13:50 And so this God with whom we have to do is a holy God. But now what's that have to do with justification? Well, simply this. Being holy, all within Him is opposed to sin with a pure and positive reaction of anger and of wrath.

14:09 One has very accurately said, God cannot be indifferent to that which is the contradiction, of Himself. His very perfection requires the recoil of righteous indignation. And that is God's wrath. Now let me ask you children something.

14:29 Can a mole be indifferent to the brightness of the noonday sun? If you could find a mole hole in your backyard in the spring and reach in and get a fuzzy little black mole and wrench him out of the darkness of his hole and set him, right in the face of the burning noonday summer sun, could he be indifferent to that? If you know anything about a mole, you know that he's made for the darkness. His eyes and his whole mole temperament is made for the dark.

15:03 And everything in him, by a positive reflex reaction, recoils against the burning brightness of the noonday sun. That's the point of God's holiness. Being holy, everything within, within God, if I may say it in human terminology without being irreverent, reflexively recoils against that which is a contradiction of Himself. God is holy.

15:33 This is why when the Apostle Paul would treat the doctrine of justification in Romans, he begins in verse 18 with the revelation of divine wrath and anger from heaven. Why? Because he knows that the only context in which this glorious doctrine makes sense is the context of some appreciation of the character of the living God. Not only is His character marked by holiness, but it's marked by justice.

16:09 Psalm 97.2 says, Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne. Upon what is God's throne built? Some would say, oh, it's built.

16:21 It is built upon love. It is made of love and administered in nothing but pure, unsullied love. That's not the teaching of the Bible. It says, Righteousness and justice are the foundations of thy throne, and therefore any love that God exercises and manifests will be righteous and just love.

16:47 Any mercy will be righteous and just mercy. Any patience will be righteous and just patience. Everything he administers from his throne partakes of the foundational character of that throne. Now, because he is just, that means he'll give to everyone exactly what he deserves.

17:10 Thou art of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity. Thou wilt by no means clear the guilty. Exodus 34, 7. And you see, the great question that's involved in the Bible doctrine of justification is, how can God be just and still pardon sinners?

17:33 If he only deals in terms of righteousness and justice, and he does not clear guilty ones, how can he do anything other than punish and judge with burning, crushing judgment every fallen son and daughter of God? Now, my friend, until you have felt the pressure of those twin attributes of God, his holiness and his justice, may I say as kindly as I know how, the doctrine of justification at best will be a riddle to you, and at worst, it will be something that you feel you can have the luxury of utterly despising.

18:16 But once you begin to understand that the God, who is, is a God of burning holiness, and involved in that holiness is this recoil against everything in any realm that is a contradiction of himself, and that that holy God who has this recoil against sin is a just God who will bring every work of evil into judgment, I say, when your mind and spirit begin to feel the grip of that reality, you'll be rejoicing. You'll be ready for the Bible's answer to the question,

God as Creator and Judge

18:57 how can sinful man be just with God? But the context of justification has to do not only with God in terms of his character, but in terms of his position, that is, the relationship he sustains to us.

19:15 You see, if as holy and as just, he is a God who is content to deal with himself, and with angels, and with galaxies, all is well. But if he's a God who sustains an intimate relationship to me, in which he is both aware of and determined to be involved with everything I may do, right down to the thoughts of my mind, then, man, I'm in trouble!

19:50 And you're in trouble. And that's precisely the trouble the Bible says we're in. Because this God, whose character is one of, of infinite burning holiness, inflexible justice, is a God who sustains a relationship to the creature, of creator, and of judge. He has made us.

20:16 And therefore, again, in opening up the context of justification, the apostle brings to the fore the concept of creation in Romans 1. They worshipped and served the creature more than the creator. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. But it is particularly this element of his being governor and judge.

20:41 You want to do an interesting thing? Now, Mr. Garlington may have asked you to do this in the class on one of the Sundays I was absent, so if I'm repeating an assignment he gave you, it won't hurt. But if he didn't, it may help.

20:55 I would urge you to take your Bibles and simply go through Romans chapter 3, 2, and underline every time the word judge or judgment is used. And you will find that it comes through again and again and again. Verse 2 of Romans 2, The judgment of God is according to truth. Verse 3, Shalt thou escape the judgment of God?

21:24 Verse 5, Revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And right on through to verse 16, in the, day when God shall judge. Judgment, judgment, judgment, judgment, judgment. He's setting the context for this glorious doctrine. He's saying it is not enough to understand that

21:47 God is both holy and just. His character, you must both understand and feel the pressure of the reality of his position as not only creator, but as the judge of his creature.

22:07 Now it's in that position of judge that he will act consistently with his character as God of holiness and God of inflexible justice. Whatever the eye of his omniscience detects as sin, the arm of his omnipotence must crush with high indignation in the person of the one in whom he detects it. You hear me? If you've been mesmerized by the fact that God is not holy, you've been mesmerized by the fact that God is not holy, you've been mesmerized by the fact that God is not holy.

22:41 If you've been mesmerized by this silly little ditty, God hates the sin but loves the sinner, my friend, I would be the best friend to your soul if I could purge your mind of that ditty this morning. What the eye of his omniscience detects, the arm of his omnipotence will punish. And if you need any other evidence, you just look here in the inscription in Ramblin' comment to give me a reading from the first chapter. In this text it says, Theater 3, verse 1 of Romans 3,

23:25 But I have said unto all those who are in the midst of the world, shall I say unto you, that I am a man, and I have done unto you the right thing? Do you believe not? Or do you believe that I am truly a man? I do believe, Do you believe that I am truly a human being?

23:43 Or do you feel that I am a soul, or that I am a being? Do you believe that I am truly a man? of man that work is evil. I say, my dear friends sitting here this morning, you begin to take these things seriously and you've got a problem. And when that problem begins to be such that

24:04 it haunts you, then perhaps the great doctrine of justification will once again be a precious note. It's very, very interesting that when John Owen, the great Puritan theologian, begins to write his treatise on justification, that he says in the very opening words where he's given the rationale, the reason for writing this, and who can read it with any understanding. These are his words. Necessary it is unto any man who is to come unto a trial in the

24:43 sentence whereof he is greatly concerned, duly to consider the judge before whom he is to appear, and by whom is caused. Because he's finally to be determined. Wherefore the greatness, the majesty, the holiness, and sovereign authority of God are always to be present with us in a due sense of them when we inquire how we may be justified before him. You see what he's saying? You see, if

25:14 you were charged with a crime and you were coming before a judge, let's call that judge Mr. Jones. You inquire about that judge and you hear, oh, he's a softy. You can bring him off for 20 bucks. Oh, you can turn on a flood of tears and he just stretches the

25:29 law. He just slaps you on the wrist and lets you go. Well, if you know that, you see, your thought of going before his judgment bar will be greatly influenced by the reputation of the judge. Now, Owen is saying, if we're to take the doctrine of justification seriously, you better think about your judge. Who is it that you'll stand before in the last day?

25:51 Is it some myopic or dim-eyed? Distant, distant deity who, and half of what he sees, he overlooks? No, no, my friend. The Word of God says he's a purer eyes than to look upon iniquity. And yet, the one who

26:10 is a purer eyes is the one who says, I search the heart, I try the reins to give to every man according as his works may be. I'm the God who will judge according to the secrets of men's hearts. But the Scripture says that judge...

26:26 Judge will bring not only every deed into judgment, but every idle word and every secret thought. And he's never been bribed. He's never been bullied from his position of inflexible justice. I ask you as you sit here this morning, have those aspects of the character of God ever become burning, pressing realities to you? If not, I doubt if you know anything

26:58 experimentally about... Justifying grace.

The Character and Position of Man

27:01 But then, on the other hand, and flowing out of this very quickly, the second aspect of the context of justification, and much of it's already been assumed, so I won't need to spend as much time proving it, is the character and position of man. And what is our position as men? Why, as creatures of God, we're accountable to God. Romans 14 and verse 12, So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

27:29 So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God. So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God. So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God. So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God. So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Now, that's

27:33 our position. Like it or not, that's it. And that accountability, as I've already suggested, touches the totality of what we are as creatures made by God. Therefore, in the day of judgment, the Scripture makes plain, our accountability will be manifested right down to the thoughts of the heart. Romans 2.16, In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men's hearts,

28:00 According to my gospel, Matthew 12 says, By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Every idle word that man shall speak he shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. 2 Corinthians 5, 10, Each of us shall give account of the deeds done in the body. That's our position.

28:23 Whether we like it or not, that's the real world, my friend. And your conscience is God's undeniable proof of that reality. Your conscience is God's own witness to your accountability. And you can no more escape the consciousness of that accountability than you can escape yourself.

28:47 And only when the conscience is utterly seared can a man deny the consciousness of his accountability. That's why Paul can say, Even of the heathen who give themselves, up to the most abominable sins in Romans chapter 1, in the last verse, Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they who do such things are worthy of death. Where did they learn that? Not from preachers.

29:12 They learned it from their own consciousness as human beings.

29:18 But now if that's our position, what's our character? Although originally made holy, we are now wayward in practice and defiled in nature. And this is why the apostle then picks up that theme, in those early chapters of Romans, coming to that climactic statement in verse 19 of chapter 3. Now we know that what thing 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.

29:52 Here we are back to judgment again. Why? Because it's the unavoidable context of justification. One man...

30:01 One man has very accurately said, All error in the subject of justification springs from the defective views which prevail almost universally among men concerning the spiritual requirements of God's law. For these are invariably connected with a slight sense of sin or a false or exaggerated estimate of the virtues of personal character. I don't...

30:32 I don't often read from books in the pulpit. But I do want to give you several quotes this morning for one simple reason. Not as filler, not as a substitute for my own mental labors, but to bring the universal testimony of the people of God into this pulpit this morning with reference to this simple point that part of the context of justification is not only the character and position of God, but the position...

31:02 and character of man, and it is man in his character as sinner that must be known and... if the doctrine of justification is to be understood and loved.

Testimonies on the Necessity of a Sense of Sin

31:15 The first witness comes from a 20th century man of God who went home to be with the Lord just a few years ago, the esteemed and beloved Professor John Murray. In his opening words concerning this doctrine, listen to his word. Far too frequently we fail...

31:33 to entertain the gravity of the fact of our sin. Hence the reality of our sin and the reality of the wrath of God upon us for our sin do not come into our reckoning. This is the reason why the grand article of justification does not ring the bells in the innermost depths of our spirit. When you hear people say, oh, this reformed theology, it's all dry and sterile, and oh, Professor Murray, he was a stodgy old Highlander, with no joy, and only sang the psalms.

32:08 This language sounds surprisingly different from that accusation. This is the reason why the grand article of justification does not ring the bells in the innermost depths of our spirit. This is the reason why the gospel of justification is to such an extent a meaningless sound in the world and in the church in the 20th century. We're not imbued with the profound, senseless sense of the reality of God, of His majesty, and of His holiness.

32:40 And sin, if reckoned with at all, is little more than misfortune or maladjustment. If we are to appreciate that which is central in the gospel, if the jubilee trumpet is to find its echo again in our hearts, our thinking must be revolutionized by the realism of the wrath of God, of the reality and gravity, of our guilt and of the divine condemnation. It is then, and only then, that our thinking and feeling will be rehabilitated to an understanding of God's grace in the justification of the ungodly.

33:24 Then that testimony can be underscored again, and I'll only give a brief part of the quote from that Prince of the Puritan Theologians. Introducing the subject, John Owen says, in his third maxim or axiom at the outset, a clear apprehension and due sense. You see how they both emphasize it? Thinking and feeling.

33:48 Apprehension, mind.

33:51 Sense, feeling. A clear apprehension and due sense of the greatness of our apostasy from God, of the deprivation of our natures thereby, of the power and the guilt of sin, of the holiness and severity, of the law, are necessary unto a right apprehension of the doctrine of justification. Until men know themselves better, they will care very little to know Christ. And then that testimony is most eloquently set forth by Cunningham, one of the great theologians of the Scottish Church.

34:34 And I will read again only a specimen quote from him. All false conceptions of the system, of Christian doctrine, assume or are based upon inadequate and erroneous views and impressions of the nature and effects of the fall. And then he goes on to demonstrate that very powerfully, as does Buchanan, and time will not permit these quotes, but throughout the history of the Church, particularly since the Reformation, every man who has understood this doctrine has taught it by underscoring it, understanding its context.

35:13 There must be this felt awareness of what man is as creature and as sinner. And I press the question upon your conscience this morning. Have you been given a due sense of your sin? A sense rooted in the awareness of God's character and position as holy and as judge, your position as accountable, your character as guilty, guilty and defiled?

35:44 My friends, my question is, are the words defilement, guilt, judgment, are they more than religious? Have you ever been able to enter into the spirit of the question of Psalm 130 and verse 3, where you have said in honesty in the presence of God, God who is holy, God who is just, God who has made me, God before whom I shall stand, in the last day, O God, if Thou shouldest mark iniquities, my iniquities,

36:28 the iniquities of my thought, the iniquities of my words, the iniquities of my deeds, the iniquities of private life, of public life, social life, O Lord, if Thou shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, how shall I stand? Have you ever really asked that question? Not in those exact words? Not in that precise terminology?

37:00 But have you asked that question? If not, my friend, the doctrine of justification, if anything to you, is at best a very nice intellectual religious plaything. But if you've ever asked that question, and into that heart, filled with those overtones of dread and terror, that God should track down your iniquities until He tracks them with you into hell, I tell you to hear that there's a way that that holy God can be fully just, and yet get you off the hook. I tell you that's good news,

37:44 where you can look that same God in the eye and say, O God, I see the way that You can be perfectly just, tracking down my every sin, my every thought and word and deed, in all of its ugliness. There is a way you can be perfectly just, anger upon my every sin, and yet take me into Your presence as though I had never committed one of those sins. And that answer is embodied in the biblical doctrine of justification. Then I hasten to add in the third place that the context of this doctrine

God's Ultimate Intention in Salvation

38:27 is not only what I have suggested, the character and position of the living God, the character and position of sinful man, but thirdly, the ultimate intention of God in the salvation of sinners. Whenever the doctrine of justification has been wrenched loose from its larger context of God's ultimate purpose in redemption, it has suffered at the hands of its friends. Now what is that larger context? Well, we go back to the Romans 8 passage again.

38:59 We've come back to it again and again. Verse 28, whom we know, I'm sorry, and we know that to them that love God, all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Here God discloses, may I say it reverently, the very pulse of His heart with reference to redemption.

39:32 Those upon whom He set His love beforehand, He determined to renovate them into the very image of His Son, that Christ might be firstborn among many brethren. That's the great ultimate intention of God, to secure His own glory by a redemption that when it was completed, it would find all of the redeemed totally renovated into the moral likeness of His own dear Son. Now it's in pursuit of that great end that verse 30 comes. Whom He foreordained, that is, foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, them He called,

40:14 whom He called He justified, whom He justified He glorified. Now the point I want you to see is this. Justification is brought in as a factor in pursuit of the great end. Do you see it?

40:29 Do you see that this morning? If you don't get anything else, I hope you see that. Some of you are nodding your head, wiggling your ears. I hope you see that.

40:37 Now notice, the moment justification is wrenched out of that context, it suffers at the hands of its friends. When the justifying of the sinner is made an end in itself rather than a means to that higher end, it suffers in the hands of its friends. And therefore we must examine this doctrine in the larger context of the ultimate intention of God for the salvation of His people. And what is it?

41:11 Well, in this language, to make them into the likeness of His Son, in the language of Ephesians 5, to present the church spotless and without blame before Him, or in the language of Titus 2, to redeem us from all iniquity, purify to Himself a people zealous of good works. Now why do I introduce that? For the simple reason, you see, that when we understand justification in that context, we will then know that justifying faith is never alone. It will be a faith that brings in its train all the other graces that God says are the fruit of faith.

41:47 Rejoicing in forgiveness and acceptance will never be found divorced from rejoicing in the reality of having a new heart that gives me a principle bent in the direction of holiness. I will never dare lay claim to an imputed righteousness then that does not bring in its train a hunger and thirst for imparted righteousness. Now we must never mix these things. Justification is not sanctification.

42:17 Justifying faith is not sanctifying faith. We must keep the distinctions. And in our own day, there is a great theological controversy going on in a Reformed denomination over this very point. We must not separate what God has joined together in the overall purpose of redemption.

42:43 And now throughout the history of the church, some of you wonder why I'm getting so excited about this. Well, study a little church history in this area and you'll understand why. You see, there were those that said, look, the only way to serve the interest of holiness is to say that justification is not a declarative act. Justification is not something God does outside of us in the court of heaven on the basis of what Christ has done in Christ alone.

43:09 If you tell men that, well, they'll say they've got that and they'll live like the devil. So you've got to say justification is somehow bound up with a change that happens in you and performances done by you. And as long as whatever's supposed to happen in you and whatever is supposed to be done by you is happening in you and done by you, then you can say you're justified. And you ended up with justification by infused righteousness.

43:34 See? And then you have sinners who say, but oh, my performance is so pathetic and God's standard is so high. What do I do? And there's no joy.

43:44 There's no pardon. No consciousness of acceptance. And therefore, there's no zeal. And true Christianity dies when you mix up justification and sanctification.

43:56 But then you get others who say, aha, justifying faith is simply resting in the perfections of Christ and His work. Therefore, what I am, done are I. And you have classic antinomianism. That says I can be perfect in Christ and be a perfect devil in my experience.

44:16 And that's been taught. And when people would sin, they'd say, well, that just magnifies. You see, I'm still perfectly justified. See how that magnifies the grace of justification?

44:27 I can sin like the devil, but resting in Christ all is well. No, no, my friend. If God has brought you to the faith of justification, He's brought you into union with His Son and all the graciousness of sanctifying grace. He has begun to be operative in you.

44:45 But what He's doing in you is separate from what He's done for you in the court of heaven. You see? And God who knows the whole psychology of man, the creature, for our good, has revealed these things in their separate categories. And we must keep them there.

The Interconnected Realities of Justification

45:03 But always keeping justification in that larger context. Well, then we come around full circle to where we started this morning. We stand on the threshold God willing next week of beginning now to examine the essence of the doctrine of justification. And we'll start with simply studying the very word that God uses.

45:25 What does it mean to justify? But oh, as we do, my friend, let me ask you, have you seen the importance of the doctrine? Do you have in your mind and heart those realities which form the context of that doctrine? It is flanked on the one hand by the great reality of the true and living God who's infinitely holy and inflexibly just.

45:51 It is flanked on the other hand by the reality of man as an accountable creature who is justly charged with terrible guilt and afflicted with a crippling and hopeless malady called sin. And then both of these are overarched by God's gracious design to take the guilty polluted sinner and by the mighty work of divine grace so work for him and in him as to make him one of the many who shall stand with Christ as the firstborn. Now you see, we're often accused at this church, well, that's the church where they preach about sin.

46:35 Preach about sin. Well, that's true. And there's two reasons why we preach about sin. Because you can't preach the Bible and avoid it.

46:47 And you can't love the souls of men and avoid it. They that are whole have no need of a doctor, but they that are sick. And the curse of sin is its blinding power so that men do not see their malady. And that's why God says, by the law comes the knowledge of sin.

47:10 And apart from the knowledge of sin, there is no desire for the remedy for sin. But if someone says that's all they preach is sin, I call them a liar. Because Christ is not only proclaimed in the glory of his person as the God-man in this place, he is set forth as the one upon whom God, the living God, poured his own holy wrath. He spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.

47:47 And it is this God who punished his own beloved son. It is this God, in the language of Romans 8.33, it is this God who justifies. No, we do not set before you some kind of a meaningless, religious, gibberish, trust Jesus, love Jesus, commit yourself to Jesus without telling you who he is, what he did to make these adjustments in the divine government so that God may be just and the justifier of sinners.

48:21 My friend, if all you've got is some kind of a woozy, undefined religious experience with some undefined Jesus, how do you know that that's the thing that will stand you in good stead in the day of judgment? My friend, when you go before the God of the universe, you're not going to stand before a dim, indistinct notion called God. You're going to stand before the living monarch of the universe. You better have something more than dim and indistinct views about him and his justice and how he can be just and still justify sinners.

The Sinner's Only Plea: The Death of Jesus

48:58 My close was something that was so encouraging to me this past week in doing background reading in preparation for this morning. I read what was part, apparently, of a pastoral rubric that Augustine gave. And he pictures a person lying on his deathbed. Lying upon his deathbed, God takes the place of an accuser with this man.

49:26 And he pictures God saying to the man on his deathbed, Now, my creature, you have broken my law. What do you say to that? And Augustine says, Say to God, O God, I have indeed broken thy law, but I put the death of Jesus between thee. But then should God say, But I, against whom you've sinned, I am a just God, and I will by no means clear the guilty.

49:57 Augustine says then, Say to God, Yes, God, thou art a just God, who will by no means clear the guilty. But I put the death of Jesus between thee and my guilt. And he went down offering every objection that God might himself bring to the sinner. But the sinner, Augustine says, is to have but one plea.

50:19 He places the doings and the dying of another between a holy God and his sin. My friend, that's justification. But you'll never, never feel the weight of that. Even hearing that this morning will not, in the language of Professor Murray, set the bells ringing in your spirit.

Addressing the Overly Self-Condemning

50:41 It will not cause the jubilee trumpet to be sounded unless your sin is a reality. But then I know I speak to some in this place for whom sin is a reality. You have no problem with the sermon this morning. You've lived for years with a painful consciousness.

51:01 God is holy and I am sinful. God is just and I am guilty. God will not clear the guilty. He must of necessity damn me.

51:13 My friend, listen. Listen to me. That's not the gospel. That's one of its corollaries.

51:20 That's the context of the gospel. Just as much as that table on which your meal will be placed today is the context of your meal. But you're not going to chew on the wood to be fed. That table is there, simply to hold the food which will pass over your taste buds and bring you delight and into your stomach and be assimilated into the body and give you nourishment and strength.

51:46 Oh, hear me this morning. Some of you who've been bowed down for years with the consciousness of the context of justification. You know God is holy. You know that you are a sinner.

51:58 My friend, you cannot feed upon the table offered to you in the gospel. And until you feed upon Him, there'll be no consciousness of sins forgiven. There will be no joy of a free part. And there's no virtue in feeding upon your guilt.

Fleeing to Christ: No Excuses

52:29 Anything that keeps you from feeding upon Christ is the enemy of your soul. If you're here this morning ignorant of your sin and therefore indifferent to Christ, your ignorance is reprehensible and damnable. Cry to God to show you your true state. But some of you see your true state.

52:50 You sense and feel the weight of your guilt. But you still don't come to Christ. You don't come from ignorance. You come from false humility.

52:59 I'm not worthy. I can't come on my own. And all the excuses. My friend, go to God in the day of judgment and tell Him that.

53:09 You want to go before God in the day of judgment and say to God, God, I knew I was a sinner. I knew you'd judge every thought, every word, every deed. But, oh God, I wasn't worthy to come. And God will say, Where did you find that in my word?

53:22 Did I not say in your word, I came not to call the righteous but sinners? Yes, God. You said that in your word. But...

53:29 And God will say, But what? Am I a liar? Do I play games with my creatures? Did I not say in my word, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and I will give you rest?

53:40 Oh, yes, God. But...

53:42 No buts about it. Yes, God. My friend, what will you say to God? Oh, say like Augustine says to the person on his deathbed, I put the death of Jesus between a holy God and my sin.

Prayer for a Deeper Sense of Sin and Grace

54:01 May God grant that whatever it is that would keep us from the Savior, we may this morning deal with it as the enemy of our souls and flee to Christ. Let us pray. Oh Lord, our God, we have spoken this morning of your holiness, but who among us can even begin to conceive of what that holiness must be? We confess that sin has been

54:45 and is so much a part of our existence. We cannot begin to conceive what it must be like to view sin from eyes totally undimmed by moral perversity. We cannot conceive what it must be to feel towards sin that recoil of holiness. Oh God, we confess the sin of our light views of sin.

55:21 We come this morning asking that the Holy Spirit will take the truths expounded in this hour and write them upon the hearts of men and women and boys and girls in this place. We pray that there may be given as much of a felt sense of sin as is necessary to drive us out of every form of works righteousness and self-help schemes and to bring us to rest solely upon your dear Son. We do not ask you to torment men and women, boys and girls with a terror that would last for days or weeks.

56:05 We only ask that you would grant that measure of awareness that will drive them out of themselves to lay hold of Christ. Give to us who have by your grace fled for refuge to the Son of God, give us a renewed sense of the horror of our sin that we may have a renewed awareness and appreciation of the blessing of justifying grace. Oh Lord, we would bring near that last day when we will stand before you. We marvel to think that we shall be acquitted

56:47 before the whole range of intelligent beings at the day of judgment. We thank you that should any of them object that you are acquitting sinners, that you yourself will come to our defense and tell whatever objector would raise his voice that our sins were punished in your Son, that his obedience is our title to life. Oh, we bless you. We praise you this morning.

57:21 Oh God, fill us anew with joy unspeakable and full of glory for justifying grace in the person and work of your dear Son. Hear us and receive our thanks and be with us the remainder of this day. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.