Essence; Ground; Method

Review of Previous Sessions: Importance, Context, and Definition of Justification

0:00 And now I shall just briefly review what we have covered in our previous two evening sessions together.

0:08 It has been my assignment to make an effort at teaching and preaching concerning the doctrine of justification by faith. And so we have set the doctrine against the backdrop of its tremendous importance. First, this doctrine is the article of the standing or the falling church. It is vitally important with reference to the glory of God and with reference to the good of men.

0:41 Then I sought to underline for you the simple but very basic perspective that this doctrine must always be couched in its biblical context. And if we would properly propagate it, and if we would ably defend it, and if we would responsibly preserve it, that context must be propagated and preserved as well. The context then of this great doctrine is the character and position of God with reference to man, his creature, the position and character of man with reference to God, his creator, and the ultimate intention of God in the salvation of men. Then last evening we sought... to define the word justify.

1:30 And we saw that along four lines of biblical evidence, this word can mean nothing other than a declaration with reference to the standard of the law. To justify means to declare righteous, to pronounce just, to pronounce a man in the light of the standard of righteousness as not deserving of punishment and of deserving every blessing. Which a law keeper deserves. And then we looked at a broad overview of the doctrine by reading the shorter catechism, the larger catechism, and then the Confession of Faith, and then we went back to the larger catechism, and began to teach the doctrine by means of the framework of the definition of the larger catechism. And we got just the first three elements of the doctrine of justification in our study last night. We saw, first of all, the author of justification. Justification is an act of God's free grace. The author is God himself. It is God that justifies. It is God who constitutes us righteous in Jesus Christ.

2:46 Hence, if God is author, then it is a declaration which none can cancel or alter. It is, in the second place, a declaration which must be founded upon truth and upon reality. God cannot declare a man just if there is no just basis for that declaration. And thirdly, since it is God who justifies and justifies the ungodly whom he could condemn and damn, therefore the very context...

3:16 The very context of this doctrine is one of gracious dealings at the hand of this God. Then we looked briefly at the source of justification. Justification is an act of God's free grace. Free grace is its source, being justified freely by his grace, Romans 3 and verse 24.

3:41 And then we closed our study by looking at the recipients of justification. Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners. It is sinners who are justified. Romans 4 and verse 5, God justifieth the ungodly.

4:00 And I concluded then with a strong exhortation concerning the heart of true biblical preaching, being bound up in this biblical concept that men come to Christ as sinners. And Christ is brought to men in the gospel. The gospel has the savior of sinners with no other qualifications. He has come to save sinners.

The Essence of Justification: An Act of Pardon and Acceptance

4:24 Now tonight, we move into what is perhaps the most difficult, and yet if we think the matter through, the most blessed aspect of this whole doctrine, the essence of justification. This work that is of God, with its source in free grace, conferred upon sinners. What is the very essence? The essence of the justifying work of God.

4:50 Well, the confession helps us again by telling us these things. Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, in which he pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight. So the very central nerve of the doctrine of justification. The essence of that doctrine is understood in, first of all, the word act, and secondly, in pardon and acceptance.

5:28 So then, the essence of justification is, first of all, that it is an act of God. It is not a process which speaks of imperfection, continuance, and development. It is an act, no degrees admissible. A man is either wholly justified.

5:46 Or wholly condemned in the sight of God. Now, this is emphasized by such classic texts as Romans 5 and verse 1. You have, for the sake of you Greek students, an aorist passive participle. Literally translated, having been justified by faith.

6:06 Having been justified by faith. The work is done. It is an act of God. Romans 8.1.

6:16 There is therefore now, in the present moment, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The state of no condemnation is not suspended until the day of judgment. No, it is a present possession. And, of course, that passage we looked at last night.

6:36 The publican went down to his house, not in the way of justification. Not seeking to attain justification. Not having begun to be justified. But the scripture says in Luke 18.14.

6:50 He went down to his house justified. So then, there is a moment when a man or a woman comes out from under the awful canopy of divine judgment and wrath. Into the smile and favor of God. When the law comes to the man in the power of the spirit.

7:11 It discovers him to be standing beneath the grave. Under heads of divine wrath. And there is the flashing lightning and thunder of the anger of God. And the moment he is justified.

7:24 There is nothing but the clear blue sky. With the rays of the beams of the countenance of the reconciled God. Shining down upon the face of the justified sinner. Having been justified.

7:39 Now, I am not saying every person knows that moment in his own spiritual pilgrimage. Nor am I saying it is necessary for you to know when the clouds parted. And there were no longer the thunder clouds. But the clear bright blue sky.

7:54 All I am saying is that in God's dealings with men. Justification is an instantaneous act of God. Complete and perfect the moment God declares a man righteous for the sake of Christ. Now the essence of justification then is to be understood.

8:12 As an act which comprises two distinct yet never separated blessings. And notice what they are. Whereby he pardoneth all their sins. Accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight.

8:33 The two great blessings then which form the essence of justification. This great act of God are. Remission or pardon of sins. And acceptance as righteous in his sight.

8:49 Now in a very real sense. I should just park right here and spend the rest of the time. But it would not be a balanced overview. So I cannot do this.

9:00 Though these two aspects have been described in various ways. And set forth with different expressions. All who take the Bible seriously are forced to confess. That justification does not mean mere pardon.

9:18 That would be a blessing beyond anything we could ever expect. It would have to be all of grace. But justification is something more than mere pardon. But it also involves it as though we kept the law.

9:38 And were entitled to everything that a perfect law keeper is entitled to. When a man is pardoned. He is no longer liable to penalty. But the judge who pardons a man.

9:51 Is under no obligation to open his home. And have him come in and sit at his table. And adopt him as his son. And make him a co-heir with his wife in his will.

9:59 Something beyond mere pardon. And in justification. God does more than pardon all our sins. He then on the basis of his justifying act.

10:10 Brings us into his very family. In adoption. And makes us co-heirs with his son. Heirs of.

10:18 That is rightfully. That belonging to his own. Blessed son. Now what biblical warrant is there.

Biblical Warrant for Pardon and Acceptance

10:25 For saying then that the essence of justification. Is the act by which there is pardon. And acceptance. Let us look at several of the key passages in the word of God.

10:36 Second Corinthians chapter five if you will please. Second Corinthians chapter five. May I just pause for a moment to say. Let some be discouraged.

10:48 When I began to discover this truth. It was literally. Years after I was justified. I just went around all those years.

10:57 And didn't know how well off I was. And some of you may be tempted. As this. If God is pleased to make this break in upon your soul.

11:06 With biblical glory and freshness. It will almost be like a second conversion. You'll wonder. Well how in the world could I be saved.

11:12 And been so ignorant for so long. Of this aspect of the blessing. But please. Do not undo God's past work.

11:18 Because of his present grace. To show you all that he did for you back then. Now that's not pleasing. To the Lord.

11:25 Now second Corinthians five and verse nineteen. Perhaps to verse eighteen. But all things are of God. Who hath reconciled us to himself through Christ.

11:38 And gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit. That God was in Christ. Reconciling the world unto himself.

11:47 Not reckoning unto them their trespasses. And having committed unto us. The word of reconciliation. For we are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ.

11:58 As though God were entreating you by us. We beseech you in the behalf of Christ. Be ye reconciled to God. Him who knew no sin.

12:08 He made to be sin on our behalf. That we might become the righteousness of God in him. Now here's the two lines of thought. Justification involves the non.

12:27 Not imputing their sins. Unto them. There is the remission of sin. The passing over of sin.

12:36 But there's more than that. For verse twenty one says. We actually become the very righteousness of God in him. That is positive.

12:45 Non imputation is negative. For me to say. I no longer accuse you of a crime is one thing. For me to say.

12:52 I now attribute to you this virtue is quite another thing. And so in the work of justification. In the act of justification. There is the non imputation of sin.

13:04 There is this acceptation in the righteousness of God and of Christ. Turn to Romans four for a similar distinction. In Romans four verses six to eight. The dominant thought here concerning justification.

13:21 For that's the theme of Romans four. Is non imputation of sin. Verse six. Even as David also pronounces blessing upon the man.

13:33 Unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works. Same. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. Whose sins are covered.

13:43 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon or impute sin. You see here. Justification is conceived of. In the framework of the non imputation of sin.

13:55 David says blessed. To whom God will not. Reckon or impute sin. The man whom God will not treat.

14:04 As guilty before his law. But when you turn to chapter five. You find the other side of justification emphasized. In a text such as verse nineteen.

14:15 Of Romans five. For as through the one man's disobedience. The many were made or constituted sinners. Even so through the obedience of the one.

14:27 Shall the many be constituted. Righteous. See the positive angle. Non imputation.

14:33 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Yea. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes righteousness. Sing the ledger.

14:51 Here's your obligation to law. I'll cancel it. So that your ledger is clear. But put into the ledger.

14:57 All the ofeliers of His law. And every one in Christ. That law has been perfectly kept. Yet incurred.

15:08 incurred by the preacher that has been fully paid. This is the essence of this grand and glorious truth, justification by faith. I'll turn to the book of Acts for two more passages which show this basic distinction. In the 13th chapter of the book of the Acts, the Apostle Paul is preaching, and he says in verse 39, And by him, that is, Jesus Christ, as preached in the gospel, by him everyone that believeth is justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses.

15:52 There's the negative aspect of justification. By Jesus Christ, a man is declared righteous in the sense that he is not liable to punishment from those things. from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. But is that all justification is?

16:12 No, for we read in Acts chapter 26, in this record of the commission given to the Apostle by the risen Lord, and I read now from verse 18, to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins That's the negative. And something more. Among them that are sanctified by faith, they not only receive remission, not only condemnation, but every ground of acceptation. Not only does God say no ground for hell, He says every ground. These then framers of the confession were so careful to delineate formed the essence of this great blessing. Now most reformed theologians are careful to point out that, pardon and acceptance as righteous are two different things.

17:23 That to have this title to eternal life, there must be a perfect righteousness in the light of the law of God. Also they have pointed out that if we're to stand before the law of God and the God of law truly acquitted and accepted, we must do so as having fulfilled the precepts of the law as well as having made satisfaction to the penal demands. of the law. Thence a good summary of the biblical teaching is found, and I refer to the article I quoted from last night, Packer's article in Baker's Theological Dictionary, quote, Justification has two sides.

18:04 On the one hand it means pardon and remission and non-imputation of all sins, reconciliation and the end of his enmity and wrath. On the other hand, it means the bestowal of a righteous man's status and a title to all the sins of the just, a thought which Paul amplifies by linking justification with the adoption of believers as God's own son and heirs. Look at Romans 5, 1 and 2 for the last passage showing how these things are drawn together. In Romans 5, 1 he says, Having been therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, no more enmity. No longer do I look to the law of God and to the God of the laws, the God of infinite holiness and inflexible justice, and tremble at the thought of his enmity against me, his righteous enmity because of my sin and my enmity against him. No, no, we have peace with God. But he says not only that, through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, as in holiness, as in holiness, as in holiness, as in holiness, as in holiness, as in holiness, as in holiness, as in holiness, as in holiness, as in holiness, and a hope of the glory of God.

19:26 Not only have the sense being but we have the blessed confidence that we are, I say it reverently, his bosom friends who shall be with him forever in the glory everlasting and in that world to come. Now I, I grant that even to think of this is mind-blowing and mind- diciendo that such blessings are too great for us. You let God say what blessings He wants to confer upon those who are the objects of His love. And do not dishonor Him by unbelief that fails to rise to the heights that biblical data warns us to rise, but pray with power strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man that you may be able to comprehend, to lay hold of the breadth and the height,

20:39 to be able to glory in these great gospel privileges that are ours in Christ Jesus. Then the essence of justification is it is an act of God whereby He pardoneth all and accepteth us as in His sight. As Mr. Plummer says in his excellent sermon on this subject, several sermons in his book, The Grace of Christ, William S. Plummer, for angels, Mr. Plummer says, innocence is a sweet word, but for sinners forgiveness and acceptance are sweet words. He goes on to say when God pardons, He pardons all sins, original sin, actual sins, sins of omission and commission, secret and open sins, sins of thought, of word and deed. One unpardoned sin would destroy a soul forever.

21:44 Sin can rouse the unconscious to the conscience, to the wise, to the wildest fury. And your heart tells you that that's so. The thought that there is but one sin before the judgment bar of God,

22:14 a justification,

22:33 a forgiveness in which the blood, oh,

22:47 that we can stand before Him, the awareness that when He looks at His law and looks at us, there is a just grounds for Him to regard us as though we had kept every precept from the moment of our conception to the moment we breathe, to the moment we breathed our last. And please, all the favor goes even to those angels who've never sinned. This, I say, is the essence of the biblical doctrine of justification. Well, this should arise, should raise a question in your mind and the framers of the confession anticipate it.

The Ground of Justification: Not In Us, But in Christ's Obedience and Satisfaction

23:29 Upon what grounds can God do a thing like that? Upon what grounds can God forgive all your sins? Past, present, future, secret sins, open sins, commission, omission, sins of attitude, sin, sin, sin, sin. And even if you can begin to say, well, I think maybe I can understand how He can forgive.

23:47 How in the world can He accept my person as righteous? What ground can this be done? This is a very vital question with reference to this doctrine. Listen to Daphne speaking to this very issue.

24:00 As is our conception of the immediate ground of justification, such will be our conception of its nature. This proposition will be found necessarily decisive of every man's scheme of justification, be what it may. If the ground of our justification is absolute and infinite, even the righteousness of Jesus Christ, it will also be an act complete and absolute, equal in all justified persons. Let me say particularly to you preachers here, you men aspiring to the ministry, as one studies the history of this doctrine, he's made aware of the fact that this is perhaps the most crucial thing. Upon what ground does God justify? If men are honest with the word to justify, they must admit that it means to pronounce righteous. And they can't evade the linguistic force of that implication.

25:02 However, the human heart, being so inveterately attached to evil, then begins to pervert the grounds upon which God makes that declaration. And so it is necessary that we understand clearly and preach clearly this concept of the word of God. What then does the Confession say in expressing the thought of the Bible? I give it to you.

25:27 Not for anything wrought in them or done by them. Two negatives. What is the grounds of our justification? Negative, nothing wrought in them.

25:39 Two, nothing done by them, but only, here's the positive, for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ. Two negatives, two positives. The ground of our justification is not, negative one, anything wrought in them. This is a negation of the idea that justification is based upon that which God does in us.

26:09 Follow me now. Even if He does something in us in grace, justification is based on that. Calling, sanctification, and glorification are gracious works of God in us, but they are not the ground of God declaring us pardoned and accepted. Let me state it this way to make it forceful in your thinking.

26:39 When we stand and make Him, we shall see Him as He is. Upon what we deem humanity, namers of the Confession are careful to assert the ground is not for anything wrought in us, even wrought in us by grace. Hence, this is a terrible and incisive indictment against the damning heresy of Rome. Rome uses the term justify in the concept of God infusing grace in us.

27:22 And so they were taking a broadside at Rome and its abominable doctrine. No, He justifieth the ungodly, not for anything wrought in them, nor, second negative, done by them. This is a negation of the idea that any works performed by us have anything to do with the ground of this declaration. Not only are we to exclude anything done in us by God, or anything done by us with reference to God.

27:53 So then every passage that excludes works fits into this negation. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. But now a justification, apart from the works of the law, hath been manifested. Romans 3 and verse 28.

28:16 We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. That is, works that he performs. Faith is all contrasted with the law and with works. Faith must never be thought of as a thing done by us in order that we might be justified.

28:42 Though faith is always the instrumental means of laying hold of the blessing of justification, we are not justified on account of this thing called faith. That would be a justification based upon something done by us, namely, our believing. The ground of justification is not anything wrought in us nor done by us, faith included. Well, positively then, what is the ground of our justification?

29:13 Well, I give you the confession again. But only for perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ. If God punishes guilty sinners and accepts them as righteous, how can He be the God revealed in the Bible who hates sin and will by no means clear the guilty? Now, you solve that problem for me.

29:43 Pay justice to this thief. He cannot be breaded. He cannot be food. He cannot be cajoled into deviating from the line of perfect justice.

30:04 And yet, and yet, He has revealed to us in His Word that He pardons and He accepts His righteous. On what grounds? Here's the answer. The obedience and the satisfaction of Jesus Christ.

30:19 Notice then that the answer of the confession brings us directly to Jesus Christ Himself and the work He accomplished and is accomplishing as our mediator. In other words, the ground of our justification is in Jesus Christ and His work. Well, that's simple. Well, let me just say it again, because if that thing gets in and becomes part of your bloodstream, you'll be preserved from errors in the left hand and the right.

31:01 The ground is wholly outside. The ground is not in me, but maybe it's in Christ and the church. Maybe in Christ and the sacraments. No, no.

Christ's Active and Passive Obedience as the Ground

31:15 It's not only wholly outside of ourselves, but it is totally in Jesus Christ and His work. Hence, we are justified by becoming partakers of a righteousness not our own, as thou art. When, dressed in beauty, not my own, a righteousness to be found in Christ alone, the very righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel. Now, since it is the righteousness of one who came to magnify the law and to make it honorable, as Isaiah says, since that righteousness comes to a person, the Lord Jesus, who will not cancel or alter the law, both in its penalty and in its precepts and demands, wrought out by us, for us, I'm sorry. How was it wrought out for us? Well, we're brought back again to what the Catechism says. The perfect obedience referring to the life of Christ and the perfect and full satisfaction of Christ referring to His death.

32:32 So we are warranted in accepting the statement of Charles Hodge that the righteousness of Christ is meant all that He became, did and suffered to satisfy the demands of divine justice and to merit for His people the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. What is the righteousness of God, the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of faith, the righteousness of justification? It is that righteousness based upon all the word to satisfy the demands of divine justice and to merit for His people the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. Now you'll notice that the Confession makes a distinction that I've underscored. His perfect obedience and His full satisfaction and historically the theologians have spoken of these categories in terms of the active and the passive obedience of Christ. Now by using those terms they were explaining, attempting to explain a biblical concept that it is not only what Jesus Christ did when He offered Himself up a sacrifice unto God through the eternal spirit which forms the ground of our justification but it is what He did in His life

34:01 of perfect and absolute obedience to the will of God. Hence, the obedience of His life was called His active obedience and His yielding Himself up as a sacrifice His passive obedience. And to the extent that those biblical concepts are described by those words they are justifiable but they have created a false impression in our minds and in the minds of many people. For Jesus Christ was never more active in His obedience than when as our priest He was both offered lay the writer to the Hebrews says He offered Himself up unto God. Never was His obedience more active and more firm and completely and selfless than when He gave Himself up as a sacrifice unto the Father. And so I do not like the terminology I like what it is describing I just do not feel that that is the best terminology and here again I am indebted to Hugh Martin in his treatise on the atonement for he speaks often of this very subject. Let me quote from him at this point.

35:24 Speaking of this obedience of Christ even unto death as the ground of righteousness he says it is Christ person as God and man ordained for men and having perfectly fulfilled all righteousness which is the righteousness of the saints. Christ it is that is the end of the law for righteousness. Romans 10.4 Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity therefore thy God thy God in that covenant which thou hast established and fulfilled that God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

36:02 Christ needed no work assigned Him to give Him love interest or love influence with the Eternal Father for the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand. His love interest with the Father is the source and origin of the covenant given Him to fulfill and the honorable and glorious work given Him to do. He Himself as God-man His divine and human nature is in perfect harmony with each other His entire person therefore is inconceivably glorified in its conformity with the nature of God for the nature of God is the very personality and then he goes on to say that as the God-man in His active obedience throughout this life even obedience unto the death of the cross it is that righteousness which now becomes the possession of all who are justified. Now is this a scriptural concept that the ground of our justification is Christ's life of obedience in keeping the precepts of the law as well as Christ's death in obedience to the demands of the penal sanctions of the law. I believe it is a scriptural distinction and let's look at several verses. In the third chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew

37:28 the Lord Jesus is to be baptized and there is an objection from John the Baptist and notice what our Lord says in Matthew Matthew chapter 3 and verse 17. I'm sorry I was thinking of the text in which it says for thus it becometh him to fulfill all righteousness but here in Matthew 3.17 lo a voice out of the heavens saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased verse 15 but Jesus answering said unto him suffer it now for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness of my whole life of obedience to the will of my Father and it's as though the Father says to John now John I will amen the statement of my Son so having been baptized the heavens are opened the spirit descends and the voice speaks this is my Son my beloved in whom I am well pleased. You have the statement in Matthew 5 in verse 17 think not that I came to destroy the law of the prophets I came not to destroy but to fulfill Romans 5.19 if by the act of one in disobedience we were constituted sinners Paul argues and says how much more

38:55 by the obedience of one shall we be constituted righteous now you see this brings in and this may leave some of you lay folk who are here but pardon me because I feel again constrained that I must speak to these preachers particularly the young men that the obedience of Christ in his life has nothing to do with forming the ground of our justification we are saying that he was not living in his life as the surety of his people if you suspend his suretyship until he hangs upon a cross and say he dies in my stead at what point is he made a surety and a substitute and to do the was that by his life of perfect obedience every precept of the law might be forming the basis upon which God can say to everyone for whom Christ's perfect record comes their possession I regard you

40:23 as having perfect and the sinners father says my son and so the basis then of our justification is in the words of the catechism the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ but then also his full satisfaction as the Lord as well and need I quote the verses Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law how being made for us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree you have the vivid imagery of Isaiah 53 he hath put him to grief when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin the Lord hath made to light upon him the iniquity of the world and hath made him to be sin for us his whole Romans 8 32 says for us hath

41:38 delivered him up to what but what here's the criminal who stands before the bar of justice and his guilt is established by competent witnesses the statute books are opened and this particular crime of which he's been convicted by the judge and as the judge is about to read the punishment he falls upon his face and he cries out oh judge that there will be a relaxing of the just demands of the law the scripture says he spared him and the opposite of sparing was delivering him up put him up

42:57 to what all that the law

44:28 demanded and what did the law did I quote upon which God guilty be forgiven they go sin no more and my friend listen to me you let the reality of death and judgment begin to loom big in your mind and you start taking seriously your sins and you start letting your mind as it were like a computer scanning all of the information scan your life and all of the diffractions from the law of God and thought and word and deed and you know that you're going to slip out and you're going to do nothing but sin and you feel like you can do nothing but sin after sin I think is the biggest thing in the world so I to have faith in the Lord and to know that he is the only God has God it is this, that has caused the saints of God through the years, who had some biblical

45:51 acquaintance with the holiness and the majesty and the justice of God, to welcome death and speak of sweet death. In the words of that anthem that I heard many years ago that comes back again and again, thou hast made death glorious and triumphant, for through its portals we enter into the presence, and we can enter with confidence. Why? Because the Lord Jesus has drained the last of all the anger and wrath of God against his people. Christ, what burdens bowed thy head, our load was laid on thee. Thou stoodest in the sinner's stead, despair, all ill for me. Death and the curse were in our cup. O Christ, it was full for thee, but thou hast drained the last. Dark is empty now.

46:46 Now for me, that bitter cup, love, drank it up. Now blessings draft for me. Jehovah bade his sword awake. O Christ, it woke against thee. Thine oaths it warned. God's declaration of him that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence we may say then, and I quote from Professor Murray, who capturing this train of thought, says of this great blessing, while his wrath is revealed from heaven.

48:06 Christ, all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, his good pleasure is revealed from heaven upon the righteousness of his well-beloved and only begotten. Those justified may exult in the words of the prophet. Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. In the Lord shall all be justified and shall glorify. Isaiah 45. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath called me. The whole salvation he hath covered me with the robe. This is the ground of our justification.

The Method of Justification: Imputation

48:49 And now I must very quickly touch on these last two strands of thought and leave it to you to study them in more detail. What is the method of our justification? If the blessing is one in which God declares by an act that we are pardoned and accepted on the grounds of the obedience, even unto the end of times, according to one who has accepted and accepted it...

49:13 to death of the Lord Jesus, His perfect, His full satisfaction, what is the method by which that righteousness becomes seen? What its ground is, what it brings to us, full pardon,

49:28 seen from whence it, God Himself, His sinners, but justification. Author, the source, the recipients, the essence, the ground. But now what's the method? And again we're helped by the catechism.

49:49 It is imputed to them and received by faith alone. The method is imputed. And Buchanan rightly says of this, if the understanding of this be muddied, it is impossible that such should be sound in faith. The method of guiding us into contact with this biblical data without looking at the verses, Romans 4, 22 and 24, and 2 Corinthians 5, 19, and several times in the first paragraph of Romans 4, the word in the King James translators were very careful. They were very careless here. And they translate the same Greek word by three different English words. The word reckon.

50:45 But it's the word reckon all the way through. Or the word impute all the way through. Now what does the word impute mean? It means to credit something to someone.

50:55 To put to someone's account. They say of me, Ah, but Mr. Martin, you're imputing motives to me that I do not have. You are crediting me with motives that are not my own.

51:05 They may be someone else's, but don't impute them to me. By imputation you credit something to another. And the method of God in justification is imputation. In other words, God credits to our account this perfect righteousness which is not ours in and of.

51:30 With words and with record books. If he is to impute to us the righteousness of Christ and say it is just as though we had kept the law and died to discharge all the debt of the world, a broken law, upon what basis can he make that debt?

51:49 Professor Murray, he first of all constitutes us righteous that he might declare us righteous. And he constitutes us righteous by imputation in the same way that Adam's sin was imputed to us. We were constituted sinners in Adam. Romans 5.19 We are constituted righteousness in Jesus Christ. And that's why Paul brings in the whole thought in the center of his treatment of justification of the similarity between Adam and Christ. For his dealings with men are on the basis of the method of imputation. And I'm skipping over things very hurriedly, but I must touch this strand of thought.

52:36 The framework of imputation is the covenant of grace and union with Christ. God can impute or put to our account the righteousness of Christ because in grace he actually unites us.

52:55 Dabney says the basis on which this imputation proceeds is in which from God's perspective is constituted in his electing grace. It is a union from our perspective which is effected by God's working in us. But of him who then is made unto us righteousness.

53:22 So we see that the method of God is imputation. And I can't...

The Instrumental Means of Justification: Faith Alone

53:27 Draw it out. I can only leave the thought with you because I do want to close with a couple of notes on the instrumental means of justification. And I go back to the confession. Imputed to them and received by faith alone.

53:45 And that one adjective spells the difference between truth and heresy. Received by faith alone. The biblical grounds of this statement why it's...

53:59 So many. Romans 4, 1 to 5. Galatians 3, 6 to 14. Acts 10, 43.

54:06 Philippians 3, 9. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. Romans 5, 1. Galatians 3, 24.

54:11 Romans 11, 20. Romans 1, 16, 17. If you're going to strip the Bible of this truth that the means by which we come into this blessing is faith alone. You've got to tear out segment after segment of the word of God.

54:28 Again and again told in the word of God that we're justified through faith or in or by faith but never on account of faith. Faith is not the gratification but the instrumental means whereby Christ and His righteousness are appropriated. Hence faith and grace are all...

54:54 ...to works and law.

54:56 Hence faith must never be conceived as a work which brings acceptance. Faith and grace set here. Law and works. The works set here.

55:07 But never are they fused. They are in opposition one to another as to the means by which we are justified. Well then what does it mean? We are justified by faith.

55:20 Well I commend to you a careful reading of the questions of the larger catechism because you have the question what is justifying faith? How does faith justify a sinner in the sight of God? They answer those questions very carefully. Very carefully and very biblically.

55:38 But let me just suggest this much. Christian graces are always found in a justified man. That is everyone who is effectually called and justified is also sanctified. Hence he has the graces of love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control.

56:01 Faith as the only grace by which we are justified. All faith is joined to truth. To true repentance. And without repentance there is no remission of sins.

56:15 Repent unto the remission of sins. Luke 24, Acts 2, Acts 3.19. Why then is faith singled out?

56:25 Well for the simple reason that sin is the only stretch received or offered in the Gospel. The beggar who reaches out his hand to receive the bread offered is saying his mouth is not needed for health and life. His feet are not needed. But we are saying the instrumental means of receiving the bread by which he is fed is his hand.

57:06 And so the Bible is not saying repentance is not necessary. Love is necessary. But what God is saying is the one grace by which we appropriate justifying righteousness is that. The reason why it is faith alone is that it is by faith that we are united to Christ Himself.

57:33 God is God. God embraces us in electing and renewing love. We embrace His Son in true faith. 1 Corinthians 6.16.

57:44 He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord. Galatians 3 speaks of the blessings of Abraham coming upon us that we might receive the Spirit by faith. The larger Catechism, Question 72, deals with the nature of justifying faith. 1 Corinthians 6.16.

58:06 He that is united to Christ is is a wife of God. 1 Corinthians 6.16. He that is joined to the Lord is a wife of God.

Insisting on Faith Alone and Refuting Eternal Justification

58:10 But I close now by saying there are three or four things we must insist upon when we speak of this justifying faith. 1. It is by faith alone that we appropriate Christ and His righteousness. 1.

58:18 It is by faith alone that we appropriate Christ and His righteousness. The great watchword of the Reformation was not only sola Scriptura but sola Fide faith alone. Brethren, consumed with holy passion I trust with me what a way to instrumental means of justice faith alone created in justifying righteousness. righteousness. Let us insist in place with the clarity of the confession that this faith is not a confession. We'll all be accompanied with all other believing and resting on Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument of justification yet. That's point one. Faith

59:33 alone. Preach it. Insist upon it. Yet it is not alone in the person justified but is ever accompanied with all and is no dead faith but worketh by love. Let us insist in that faith alone. To the confession of faith which is never alone is accompanied with all other. Insist upon it, brethren. Insist upon it. Hammer it out. And preach it without tongue in cheek. Paul ending us

60:42 most emphatically in the book of Romans. Faith alone. Through James. To insist upon it is by faith.

61:00 In time that we are justified. And again the confession anticipates the heresy of eternal justification. They anticipate it. They answer it. They say most beautifully. Now you see why I'm so enthused about this old thing. Saved you so many troubles. In the, this is what I want. In the larger catechism we have the question. What is justifying faith? How does faith justify a sinner in the sight of God? I can't find it right now. I had it listed over notes. I've lost my track of thought. I'm sorry. Yes, here it is. Page 59. I do have it. It is

61:47 essential to emphasize this. God did from all eternity decree to justify the elect. And Christ did in the fullness of time die for their sins, rise for their justification. Nevertheless, they are not justified until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them. Galatians 2.16. Pivotal text. There are many others, but this text breaks the back of the Bible. It's a very simple text. There is no idea that we are justified actually from eternity. Galatians 2.16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we be justified by faith in Christ. We believe that we might be justified. You say, why get into titty over that? Listen, whole heresies have been let out upon the church leading to vicious antinomianism and to passivity because men let their logic drive them beyond the word of God.

The Strength of Faith and Its Source

62:47 And then my closing point is this. It is by faith, weak or strong, that we are justified. Dabney has a beautiful illustration, and I share it with you. Suppose a certain community was all afflicted with a deadly malady.

63:04 Different people in the community showed greater or lesser degrees of the extent of this malady at work in their bodies. Someone comes to the town and announces that he's placing in the center of town about some kind of a very peculiar generating power, which, if these people will touch, they will be instantly cured.

63:29 Now, he said, imagine a man who, hearing that announcement, in whom this malady has taken hold, but it has not yet crippled his arms and his legs. He hears the announcement, he runs, and he comes to that machine. It's almost like a blow.

63:52 The virtue of that machine goes through his body, and he's healed. There's another man who hears the same announcement, but the disease is so crippled him that he can barely walk. He comes with each painful step to make his way to that machine, and he's just barely able to reach out his hand, and the moment he touches it, he's just as healed as the man who touched it with the force of a violent blow. Isn't that beautiful?

64:23 Applying grace is where? In Christ.

64:30 And some whom God draws commonly holy because of temper and purposes that God has. If they got saved the other way, they'd think everybody had to, and so God says, I'll humble you at the outset, and save a lot of people a lot of trouble. And so he just says, I'll bring you by a very crippling way.

65:00 But listen, the virtue is in the strength with which we touch the source who is in the source.

65:23 Celestial city just as much as valiant for truth and faithful in great heart.

65:30 Mr. Ready to Vault, he got over the river and got in. Why?

65:38 Because he was valiant for truth. He had the same seal, and that's all that was necessary to get in. He had the gate, have a road, and home. Don't get involved in all kinds of philosophical distinctions about faith.

66:05 Hold up the source of virtue and tell men to get to him as quick as possible.

Concluding Exhortation and Prayer

66:51 As at least an honest, though I'm sure in many ways imperfect attempt, to give you some of the broad outlines of this great and glorious biblical doctrine. Doctrine of the standing or falling church. Justification by faith alone through the imputation of the righteousness, of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I haven't touched on his intercession.

67:17 That's another whole facet of the glory of this. How we're kept in the justified state by his present ministry. But maybe another conference, someone will ask me to speak on his intercession. How's that for asking yourself for a job?

67:32 Well, let us pray, and I would ask an interest in your prayers as I drive back home tonight and face the difficult things of the next couple of days that God will give grace. To bear a good witness to the gospel of Christ in the midst of these domestic concerns. Let us pray. Oh God, our heavenly Father, when we catch a glimpse of just the edges of your ways, we're caused to cry out from the depths of our hearts, who are we that you should ever conceive of such blessings for us? But not only conceive of them, Lord, but actually bring us into possession of them. Surely with the psalmist we cry out, the lines have fallen unto us in pleasant places. We have a goodly heritage.

68:34 And oh God, we confess tonight that we feel, at least in some measure, that we deserve to be in hell tonight. Crying out with that rich man, I am tormented in these flames. Lord, why should we be here thinking about you and your grace and your word and your Son? Oh, we marvel at the grace that not only conceived but implemented such a plan of rescuing the likes of us.

69:07 God, forgive us for our coldness. Forgive us for the sin of our restricted preaching. Oh Lord, liberate us in the glory of this new covenant ministry. That all the fetters will be snapped and our spirits will fall.

69:26 And our tongues be loosed to preach this glorious evangely of the gospel which is the power of yourself unto salvation to everyone that believes it. Lord, help especially these young men. Burn this truth into their hearts. Teach it to them, Lord, experientially.

69:48 Teach it to them with Biblical accuracy. Give them power and unction in preaching it. Lord, what we pray with reference to this, we pray with reference to all of your truth. And then we would ask for those amongst us who cannot face death and the judgment with confidence, whose hope is in some shaky decision, whose hope is in some flimsy righteousness of their own weaving.

70:14 Lord, drive them tonight out of every refuge until they cry out, Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Foul I to the fowl, foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. Hear us, O God, and answer us for the glory and honor of your dear and only begotten Son, in whose name and by whose merit we come unto you.