Not for Anything Wrought in Us

The Weighty Question of Justification

0:02 There is no more weighty question with which the mind and spirit of any human being can ever wrestle than the question couched in the words, How shall sinful man be just or right with God? How can one who deserves judgment and wrath be brought to the place where he receives acceptance and favor from the hand of the very God who has every reason to rain down wrath and judgment upon the head of the guilty sinner? I say there is no more weighty, no more vital question with which the human mind and spirit can wrestle than the question, How shall sinful man be just with God?

1:04 Has your mind felt the pressure of that question? Has your spirit felt something of the haunting, relentless, pressing weight of that question? How shall sinful man be just with God? Well, if it has felt the pressure of that question, then our study this morning should be to you as water to a thirsty soul.

1:33 And if you haven't felt the pressure of that question, it's only because of ignorance, or indifference to the great realities of who God is and what you are before Him. And I trust that God will use even our wrestling with the biblical materials which answer that question to cause some of you for the first time to feel something of that haunting, relentless pressure of this weighty question, How shall sinful man be just? with God? In the course of our Sunday morning studies in basic Christian doctrine, we've been examining for a number of weeks the particular provision of God in grace which addresses itself to that very question. And the doctrine, of course, or the provision of grace is that of justification. The question brings into sharp focus this whole matter of our legal standing before God. And the Bible's answer to that question is to be found in a very peculiar way in its doctrine of justification by faith.

Review of Justification's Context and Essence

2:57 Now, since it's been more than a month since we were together in our consideration of this doctrine, I do want to take at a maximum some five minutes to bring together the major lines of truth that we have already considered with respect to the doctrine of justification. to this doctrine and then proceed in the unfolding of it in your hearing. We've emphasized again and again that the orbit of every blessing of God's grace to sinners, saving grace that is, is union with Christ, and this is true of justification as it is of every other saving blessing of God. As we addressed ourselves to the subject of justification, we considered the context or the presuppositions of this great doctrine, and they are the reality of the character and position of God as creator and as the moral governor of the universe and the position and character of man as God's creature, answerable to God and one who has broken the law. The law of God. If those fundamental truths have never become matters of concern to you,

4:13 then you see you've never asked the question, how shall sinful man be just with God? But once you begin to take seriously who the God of the Bible is and the relationships he sustains to you as his creature and what you are as a creature and as a sinner before that God, then it is impossible. It is inevitable that the question will be pressed upon your conscience. How shall I, a sinful man or woman, be just with this holy God who is my judge as well as my creator?

4:52 Then we proceeded to begin to open up the doctrine itself, concentrating our attention upon the fact that whatever justification is by the very usage of the word to justify in Scripture. Symptoms are the Customer's need, Psychology, Tense grandmotherhood and coming of ageing, in my eyes, the however those question it is. the larger catechism as a teaching framework. What is justification? And we noted from the wording of the catechism that God himself is the author of it. Justification is an act of God's free grace. Free grace is the source of it. Sinners are the objects of it. It is

5:59 God's free grace unto sinners. The essence of justification, it's pardon and acceptance in which he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight. And now this brings us to the very vital issue which we've been examining for several weeks. Upon what grounds does God pardon and accept sinners? And the catechism answers that question negatively. Negatively and then positively. Not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ by God imputed to them and received by faith alone. Well, in our last study, we examined that second negative. Not for anything

Distinguishing 'Not for Anything Done by Them' from 'Not for Anything Wrought in Them'

6:56 done by them. Not for anything done by them. Not for anything done by them. other words, when we ask the question, how shall sinful man be just with God, we must come to grips with the clear teaching of Scripture that the ground upon which God pardons and accepts sinners has nothing to do with anything performed by them prior to, attendant upon, or subsequent to, their effectual calling. The ground of a sinner's pardon and acceptance lies completely outside of himself, for the Scripture says, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Now, this morning we take up that second negative. It's first in the Catechism, but second in our course of study. Not for anything wrought in them. Now, you see the distinction. Not for anything done by them,

8:05 nor for anything wrought in them. This is a simple statement that the ground of our justification, that is, the basis upon which God declares sinners righteous, has nothing whatever to do. With anything which at any time, in any way, may be worked into the heart and life of a man or a woman. As surely as works done by us have no part in the ground of our justification, so nothing of God's mighty work in us has anything to do with the grounds of our justification. You see the distinction now. In the first, there is the denial that anything we may do can help us to find pardon and acceptance. In this second denial, we're saying there is nothing that God can do in us that forms any part of the ground of our justification. And it's been my plea and my prayer and my mental agony for days that God,

The Fundamental Assumption: God's Work In Us

9:23 by the Spirit of God, has given us. And it's been my plea and my prayer and my mental agony for days that God, by the Spirit would come this morning and help us as we seek to open up this that is one of the most glorious aspects of the truth of the gospel, but alas, which is one of the elements of the gospel which is most easily obscured and in the history of the church, tragically has been obscured again and again. Now, as we try to think our way through this biblical concept, that our justification is grounded not on anything done by us nor for anything wrought in us, consider first of all the fundamental assumption that is in that statement. There is a fundamental assumption, something is assumed in that statement. And the assumption is this, that when God justifies any sinner, he not only declares that sinner righteous on grounds outside of himself, but that he always does something in the sinner as well. You see, sin has created a two-fold problem.

10:38 There is the problem of guilt, which has to do with the court of heaven, and there is the problem of pollution and bondage, which has to do with the heart and the condition of the sinner in himself. Now, pollution is sin's influence within. Bondage is sin's influence within. Guilt is sin's influence without, in terms of the court of heaven.

11:06 Now, I may have a problem with guilt as my conscience affirms that external problem. Conscience affirms that I have a legal problem before the court of heaven. Now, when God undertakes to save sinners, and the scripture says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins, God does not only undertake to deal with the problem of guilt. He never deals with a sinner's guilt without also dealing with his pollution and his bondage.

11:37 Jesus Christ is a complete savior from sin. Now, it's precisely because God never deals with the problem of guilt without, at the same time, time, dealing with the problem of pollution and of bondage, that we must understand the distinction between the work of the Spirit in us and the work of Christ external to us. And we must never ground our confidence for pardon and acceptance in anything that has to do in any way with the work of the Spirit within us, but solely upon the work of Christ external to us and on our behalf. Now, am I talking double talk? I hope not. But you see, assumed in that statement, not for anything wrought in us, is the fact that in every justified person, something has indeed been wrought in him.

12:46 In other words, whenever God... God saves as a judge, He also saves as a physician.

12:54 He never makes a pronouncement in the court of heaven without doing something also in the sinner's heart on earth. And that's assumed. Remember, God is the God who is undertaken to effect a complete salvation in all those whom He draws to Himself. And as we saw in our teaching or in our study, the teaching of calling and regeneration, God does some marvelous things in us when He brings us over the threshold, out of darkness into marvelous light.

13:29 He gives us a new heart. He writes His law upon our hearts. He places His Spirit within us. What He begins, He carries on in sanctification.

13:38 And He will complete at glorification. And when He's done with us, we will be made into the perfect moral likeness of the Son of God. But not...

13:49 Not one aspect of that which God does in us, from the first quickening work of the Spirit to the culminating act of glorification, not one part in any way of that whole work in us has anything, whatever, in any measure to do with the grounds of our justification. Not for anything wrought in us. Now, let us...

The Bold Assertion and Its Importance

14:21 Let us move very quickly from the fundamental assumption in that statement to the bold assertion of that statement. The assertion is that nothing, at any time, in any way, of the gracious work of God in us forms any part of the ground of our justification. Now, that's a bold assertion. Not for anything wrought in us.

14:48 Well, let me first of all underscore the importance of the assertion. And then we'll turn to the Scriptures for the biblical basis of that assertion, then the biblical reasons for that assertion, and then we'll try to bring it all home to the court of your own conscience, for your comfort, and for some of you, for your disturbance. Now, let's look at this bold assertion. How important is it?

15:13 Isn't this just a matter of making a big to-do about words? Well, no, it isn't. Not at all. And I can do no better than to...

15:22 Quote from James Buchanan's classic work on the doctrine of justification, and he says concerning this very point, and I want you to listen to him carefully, There is perhaps no more subtle or plausible error on the subject of justification than that which makes it to rest on the indwelling presence and the gracious work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart. It is a singular...

15:53 It is a singularly refined form of opposition to the doctrine of justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, for it substitutes the work of one divine person for that of another. You see, it's substituting the work of the Spirit for the work of Christ, and it's plausible because it seems to do homage to the doctrine of grace by ascribing to the presence and operation of the Holy Spirit. All the effects that are wrought in the life of a believer. It is the more difficult to expose and refute error when it presents itself in this apparently spiritual form than when it comes before us in its grosser and more common shape as the doctrine of justification by works, and also because it involves some great truths which are held very firmly by all who love the Bible. But now listen. Nothing can be more unscriptural in itself and more injurious to the souls of men than the substitution of the gracious work of the Spirit in us for the vicarious work of Christ for us as the ground of our pardon and acceptance with God.

17:21 Nothing can be more injurious. Then he goes on to speak as one who was well versed in the great problems that emerge in reading church history, and this is why we insist that our men in the academy have many hours of church history to learn from the errors of the Bible. The errors that have been made in the past, that by the grace of God we may immunize our people against those errors, for errors, you see, have their ultimate root in the human heart, not in any particular sociological or cultural situation. Error is part of the result of sin, and even in the believer, remaining corruption predisposes him to error. So this is important. If you would have settled peace.

Biblical Basis: The Righteousness of God and Christ

18:25 If you would have settled peace with God, if you would be confident of your standing before the court of heaven, you must understand this truth, that your pardon and acceptance is not based upon anything done by you or upon anything which God may graciously work in you. Now, what's the biblical basis for that bold assertion? And let me give you very briefly, then, three lines of biblical truth that undergoes the assertion. Number one, the teaching of Scripture that the ground of our justification is the righteousness of God.

19:06 The ground of our justification is the righteousness of God. Turn, please, to Paul's letter to the Romans, Romans chapter 1.

19:20 When Paul announces the gospel that he's about to expound to the Romans, he says in those familiar words of verse 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For, now notice the language, the gospel is the dunamis, the power of God unto salvation, for therein is revealed, now here's the technical terminology, a righteousness of God. The gospel sets forth and proclaims and reveals a God-righteousness, and that's what makes it the gospel. It is good news because it announces that there is a way of just standing with God that is of God and based solely upon the work of God. It is a God-righteousness. Now, notice how that terminology occurs again in chapter 3.

20:37 The apostle, having opened up the need for this kind of righteousness, he then says in verse 21 of chapter 3, But now, apart from the law, here it is again, a righteousness of God has been manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, and it is a righteousness which is the teaching of the Old as well as the New Testament. See the phrase again in chapter 10. Here the apostle is disclosing the condition of his heart as he thinks of his fellow Israelites who in their works righteousness deception. Go on. Unconverted, indifferent to Christ. Notice how he describes their problem.

21:37 Verse 3 of Romans 10. For being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Twice in one verse. Ignorant of God's righteousness, and notice the contrast.

21:58 Seeking to establish their own, and here there is the strongest contrast between a human righteousness and a divine righteousness.

22:11 Not submitting to the righteousness of God. And there the whole concept is, you see, that the righteousness of God is something complete in itself to which we either submit or to which we refuse submittal or submission.

22:31 Now that language is again brought before us in Philippians chapter 3, and I'm not multiplying passages simply to fill up time, but I want you to feel something of the pressure of the technical terminology that is used by the apostle. Having stated that he does not seek acceptance before God on the basis of his own doings, he says in verse 9, and be found in him. Not having a righteousness of my own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. And here it is called the righteousness which is from God. Now these phrases all point to the fact that there is a God-righteousness, one that is not our own. As one has wisely said, righteousness wrought in us or by us, even though it be altogether of the grace of God, and even though perfect in character, would still not be a God-righteousness but a human righteousness.

23:55 You see the point? Even if God, the moment he were to call us by his grace into union with Christ, suppose God should at that point. Perfectly renovate us so that our hearts were in perfect tune with his law. Every action, every thought, every motive was from that point on the way it will be when we are glorified.

24:19 The point the author makes is that righteousness would still not be a God-righteousness, but it is a human righteousness. A God wrought righteousness, but because it's righteousness wrought in us, it is a human righteousness. And all of these passages point us in the right direction. And I want you to listen to this.

24:36 It points us in the direction not of a human righteousness, but of a God-righteousness. Therefore, it is external to us, not for anything wrought in us. Now that's the first block in the great biblical basis for that assertion, the teaching of Scripture that the ground of our justification is the righteousness of God. But then secondly, the teaching of Scripture that the ground of our justification is the righteousness in Christ, not in us.

25:13 It is not only a God-righteousness, therefore not a human righteousness, but it is an in-Christ righteousness, not an in-the-sinner righteousness. And of course here I remind you of the familiar words of Romans 8 in verse 1, There is therefore now no condemnation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25:37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . But only justification to them that are in Christ Jesus." If justification involves pardon and acceptance, no just basis to condemn, every basis to acquit and to treat the sinner as a perfect lawkeeper, Paul says that condition is found where? In Christ, not in us. And again in 1 Corinthians 1 in verse 30.

26:07 , Listen. similar point of emphasis. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Here we have the same truth again, that it's in union with Christ that a righteousness becomes ours. It is a righteousness not in us, but in Christ. And then perhaps the most vivid statement of this, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, him whom you know sin, he made to be sin on our behalf that, now notice, that we might become the righteousness of God, there's that technical terminology, and where is it found? In him. The righteousness of God in him. And so when the old framers of the catechism said, not

27:15 for anything done by them or wrought in them, they were simply expressing these biblical truths. And in this way, the prophecy of Jeremiah 23 is wonderfully fulfilled. We read in Jeremiah 23, verses 5 and 6, this is why Paul can say, this kind of righteousness is witnessed by the law and the prophets. Here's one of the prophets witnessing to this kind of righteousness. Jeremiah 23, 5 and 6, behold the days comes, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. He shall be known as the one who is both the procurer and the revealer of a perfect righteousness.

Biblical Basis: The Doing and Dying of Another

28:29 And then the third line of biblical teaching is this, the teaching of scripture that the ground of our justification is a righteousness based on the doing and the dying of another. Never is it said that it's based upon our doing in any way whatsoever, but always upon the doing and the dying of another. It is the righteousness of the obedience of Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 5 and verse 9, much more than.

29:06 Being now justified by his blood, something totally external to us, his own obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. Romans 5, 19, as through one man's disobedience the many were constituted sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be constituted righteous. Our being constituted righteous. In this text is said to rest upon not any obedience wrought in us, even in our perfected state, but solely upon the obedience of another. Now I ask you, could anything be more plain, more explicit, more emphatic than this teaching of the word of God, that our justification as to its ground does not rest upon anything wrought by us? Well, having considered briefly the importance of this assertion, the biblical basis for the assertion, now thirdly, the biblical reason for this assertion. Now why does the Bible make this point so plainly, so emphatically, so repeatedly? Is it arbitrary? No. Two simple reasons why this is true. Number one,

Biblical Reasons for the Assertion

30:29 because God's work in us can never alter our relationship to the guilt provoked by breaking his law. Nothing God does in us can ever alter the guilt we have incurred because we've broken his law. His law says the sinner must die. The wages of sin is death. No more than a vicious, angry, bitter criminal who murders, commits rape, is a thief. That man may be wonderfully transformed in terms of his character in disposition, but his life is a lie. He is a thief. He is a thief. He is a thief. He is a thief. He is a thief.

31:08 into a sweet, docile, law-abiding man. But when he appears before the judge charged with all his crimes, it will not do for him to say, Oh, judge, a marvelous transformation has occurred in me. Something wonderful has been wrought in me. I no longer want to murder and I no longer want to rape and I no longer want to steal.

31:30 The judge would say, Sir, I'm glad to hear that good news. However, you have murdered. You have committed thievery. You have committed rape.

31:39 And here is the demand of law for punishment. What has all this change wrought in you got to do with satisfying the demands of the law? And likewise, God says to the sinner, even the effectually called sinner who's been regenerated, and he says, Oh, God, you've taken away my desire to rebel against you. I love your law.

32:04 I want to obey you. I want to follow you. Lord, you have wrought in me a wonderful transformation. I love your Son.

32:12 I love His people. I love His Word. And God says, fine, wonderful, but what's that have to do with the fact that you've broken my law? And the fact that you've broken my law demands satisfaction to judgment.

32:26 To that law, it demands judgment. The wages of sin is death. So you see, God's work in us, even in glorification, can be done. He cannot alter the fact that we are under the sentence of guilt and condemnation.

32:46 And we cannot have that sentence reversed on the basis of anything done in us. And then the second reason is that God's work in us is always imperfect in this life and doesn't measure up to His law. You see how stupid it is to rest our justification on anything wrought in us at any point in time. Because God's work in us in this life is imperfect.

33:14 Nothing we do measures up to the standard of His law. And unlike some theologians who've said, well, God has lowered the standard of His law to accommodate Himself to us. Ridiculous! God's law is an expression of His own righteousness.

33:29 And that law is an unchanging and an inflexible standard.

33:35 Well, you see, nothing we do, even in our holiest moments, everything we do, is stained with sin. How foolish, then, to rest upon anything of God's work in us when that work is never perfect. Now, having sought to open up this biblical concept, what does all of this say to our own hearts and consciences? Well, let me seek to apply it, first of all, to those of you who are not yet in Christ.

Application to Unbelievers: The Stumbling Block and Glory of the Gospel

34:06 One dear man of God has said in the phrase that's stuck with me or the statement, this truth that our justification rests for its grounds not on anything done by us or wrought in us is both the stumbling block and the glory of the gospel.

34:27 It is both the stumbling block and the glory of the gospel. You see, it's a stumbling block to every form of self-righteousness. The person who wants to say, I've done this, I've done this, I've done this, therefore, God must declare me righteous. You see, that man, like the Pharisee, goes down to his house still under condemnation.

34:54 But what about the person who says, well, because I see some motions of love to God, I see some motions of love to His Word and love to His people, therefore, I must be accepted because of the work of the Spirit in me. That's a subtle form of making God's work in you the basis of your peace.

35:21 And the thing that's keeping some of you from embracing Christ is this stumbling block that you must come to Christ on the sheer basis that as a sinner, you're invited to come just as you are. Discern nothing of God's work in you. You see, many of you have been under the teaching of the Word of God long enough to know that, but the Bible not only teaches justification, it teaches also election and it teaches regeneration. It teaches that no sinner is ever justified who was not previously chosen unto life and salvation.

36:05 Romans 8.30 makes it plain. Whom He did predestinate, then He also called. Whom He called, He justified.

36:13 And you know enough of your Bible to know there's a direct link between election and justification. And so your problem is, you say, well, since I'm not sure I'm elect, therefore I have no warrant to believe unto being justified.

36:29 And there are others of you who say the Bible teaches when God justifies a sinner, He regenerates him. He would never believe if he were not regenerated. He does a mighty work in him. He effectually calls him.

36:41 He implants a new heart within him. Therefore, until I see some evidence that he's regenerated me, I'm not going to believe unto justification in life. My friend, listen. The God who has revealed the truth of election and the truth of regeneration is the God who has set the terms on which you're to come to Him in the Gospel.

37:05 And some of you have an argument with God. Now, there are sinners out there today who have an argument with God's law. That law says, one day in seven shall be set apart unto me. And these rebel sinners say, I don't care what God says.

37:21 I alter the law that says seven days can be used as I choose to use them. I don't care what God says. Now, some of you have a controversy not with the law, but with the Gospel. The Gospel says you're invited to Jesus Christ and the blessings of a full pardon and complete acceptance on the grounds of what Christ has done plus nothing.

37:51 Listen.

37:53 The Gospel says, look away from yourself to Christ alone. It doesn't say look back to see if you're elect. Look in to see if you're regenerated. It simply says, believe and be saved.

38:10 And some of you are perishing because you're arguing with the term. You've got no great controversy with the law. You're even honoring the Sabbath. You're here today.

38:24 You've got no great controversy with any one of the ten commandments. You're not chasing around with someone else's wife. You're not putting your hand into someone else's pocket. You're not guilty of bearing false witness.

38:37 Your great controversy is not with the law. But my friend, men will perish for having a controversy with the Gospel as sure as they perish for having a controversy with the law. And the Gospel commands you to go out of yourself in the naked embrace of faith.

38:59 This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

39:12 God commandeth us to repent. He commands us to believe. And oh, that the Spirit of God would break through that terrible veil that is over the minds of some of you. This is the great stumbling block.

39:31 You see, of the Gospel, that you're bid to come and find justification totally outside of yourself.

39:41 But thank God it's not only the stumbling block of the Gospel, it's the glory of the Gospel. For the person who sits here this morning and says, look, I know enough of my own heart to know that nothing that will ever come from me will be marked by anything but sin. I need, I need a Gospel. A Gospel, a good news, a message of release and deliverance that points me away from my miserable self and tells me that there is perfect righteousness in the doing and in the dying of another.

40:19 And that's the Gospel we preach to you as good news this morning. The unqualified, unrestricted promise, whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have. Everlasting life.

Application to Believers: The Continuous Disposition of Faith

40:37 But now I want to speak a word in closing to those of you who have reason to believe that you are in Christ.

40:44 You had no problem, now listen carefully, in the initial act of faith you looked completely away from your own doings and you looked completely out of anything that God may have been doing in you. You did not come in the initial act of faith saying, oh God, receive me because I feel some stirrings of love to you. You didn't say that, did you? Come on now, be honest.

41:08 Did you tell God that when you came as a penitent the first time? Did you come and say, oh God, look at my tears and accept me? Oh God, look, I think I see and discern in me some stirrings of hunger for you and for your word. On that basis, Lord, receive me.

41:24 Is that how you came in the initial act of faith? Of course not. Some of you sit there shaking your heads and you ought to. How did you come?

41:32 You came in the language of that hymn, just as I am without one plea. But that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God.

41:47 You came in the language again of the hymn writer, fall I to the fountain fly. You came pleading the promise, God, you say in your word, you justify the ungodly. I come as an ungodly sinner, nothing in me to commend myself to you. But Lord, I come because you bid such sinners come to you.

42:09 What was the initial act of your faith? It was an act of self-renunciation. You looked out of yourself to Christ and Christ alone. And what happened?

42:22 You had joy and peace in believing.

42:26 And now what happened after that? Well, you began to see that God not only pointed you to Christ, He did some wonderful things in you and you began to discern a change in your life, in your attitudes, in your disposition, in your longings, in the things you love, the things you hated. You were a new creature in Christ. Ah, but you see what's happened.

42:48 You've moved from that initial disposition of faith.

42:54 You no longer come to God with that same disposition. Say nothing in my hands, I pray. You've begun to weave into the fabric of your foundation some of the things God has wrought in you. And when you don't see those things to the same degree that you see them now, and you see them in others, or to the same degree that you've beheld them in yourself, what happens?

43:20 You begin to give up all hope and all confidence and all rest in Christ. You've made your heart your Savior. And no wonder you're miserable.

43:33 I'd be miserable living with a Savior like that.

43:38 You see, dear Christian, listen. The initial act of faith must become the continuation of the faith. The continuous disposition of faith.

43:50 The initial act must become the continuous disposition.

43:57 When you read the biographies of the holiest men who've lived, you know what their dying prayer most frequently was. Not, oh God, what a wonderful thing to lie upon a deathbed and reflect upon all the things you've done in me and all the things I've done by your grace. No, no. Most frequently, you know what their dying prayer was, God.

44:18 Be merciful to me, a sinner.

44:23 They died in the disposition of the self-renouncing, renouncing faith with which they first came to the Savior.

44:35 Am I making sense or am I talking to myself?

44:39 And some of you, I don't know how to make it any more plain. And I almost fear to come through this series and some of you are still miserable as you were two months ago when we began. Watch! Watch it!

44:57 Watch it! On!

45:02 Looking in! Now, in the name of God, be done with it! Or you'll continue to be such a tragic testimony to the gospel and a dishonor to your Lord. What happens when a Christian begins to have controversy with the law?

45:23 What a shame when a Christian becomes an open lawbreaker and becomes known as one who committed adultery or thievery or blasphemy. But my friend, you're a miserable testimony when you have this controversy with the gospel. You go down and everywhere you go you spill out your misery on others. It's the pure preaching of the gospel.

45:51 Now, if you were living back in the dark ages who was penance and rosaries and everything else, you could understand. Oh, but my friend, you have no excuse.

46:08 You've been told to play explicitly on the Bible. On the basis of the Word of God.

46:16 Justification rests not in anything done by us nor in anything wrought in us, but solely on the doing and the dying of another. Turn, please, to Romans 8.

Romans 8: The Ground of No Condemnation

46:35 And as we close our meditation this morning, I want you to sense something of the thrust of this perspective in the language of the Apostle. Romans chapter 8. The Apostle asks the question,

46:52 verse 33, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who will be able to point to any one of God's people and say, There is a sin unatoned for, unpaid for. There's a sin that deserves judgment. Who shall lay one thing to the charge of God's elect?

47:14 It is God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? Now Paul throws back his shoulders and lifts up his voice and hurls a challenge into the whole moral universe. Faces, as it were, devils and angels and men and says, Who among all of the intelligent creatures of the universe can lay anything to the charge of one of God's people?

47:41 Who is there that will dare to say He deserves condemnation?

47:47 Now that's a tremendous challenge. What brought him to that point of confidence? Well, look at the text. Does he say, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?

47:57 It is God who has wrought a mighty work in Paul to make him a new creature. It is God who effects a marvelous transformation in all of His people to make them new men and women in Christ. No.

48:13 He does not answer the question of guilt and condemnation by making reference to anything God does. God does in the sinner, but He occupies Himself exclusively with that which God has done in Christ. Look at the language. Who is He that condemneth?

48:36 It is Christ that died and the Holy Spirit who works a new work. No! He starts with Christ. He continues with Christ and He ends with Christ.

48:49 Look at it. Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus. It died.

48:55 Yea, rather, that was raised from the dead. Who is at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of God? Oh, my friend, there's the problem with some of you.

49:09 I fear too many of you.

49:13 You begin with Christ as the ground of your confidence, but then so quickly you move on to God's work in you. No, no. We'll have time to deal with that in due course. As we dealt with it in calling and regeneration and we did not stint on the vividness of the biblical language concerning the work God does in us.

49:35 It's a new creation, the giving of a new life, the imparting of a new heart. We'll not stint on it when we come to sanctification. We'll preach the truth that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. We will not hold back on the teaching that progressive sanctification is the only way is the inevitable fruit and necessary accompaniment of justification.

50:00 Those truths are there in the Bible and they must be preached. But they're not there to undermine the truth we're proclaiming this morning that the ground of our justification is not anything that which God has done in Christ.

50:21 And until some of you learn in the struggle with sin day by day to separate those things that God has done and to separate those things that God has done and not to mix them, you'll never have peace. Because God didn't reveal these things so that men could become theologians and recognize the distinction. He revealed them because He knew in the purposes of grace they would be needed by His people.

50:52 Can you say this morning that when it comes to the great question who is He that condemneth? How shall I, a sinner, be just with God? How can I know that there will never come a condemning word from the court of heaven? My friend, the answer is not for anything done by you nor for anything wrought in you but solely for that righteousness which is in the doing and the dying of Christ imputed to you put to your record and account as you are united to Christ in faith.

51:34 And what is the initial act of faith must become the continuous disposition of faith. For as surely as we are initially justified by faith we enjoy the continuous blessing of the justified state as we continue to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a righteousness of God revealed from faith unto what? Not words but from faith unto faith.

52:09 May God write the truth upon our hearts and may God be pleased for the honor of His Son and the good of our souls to enable us to believingly respond to that truth not for anything wrought in us. Are we justified before the living God? Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

52:32 Our Father, what thanks can we render to You that You have come to us with so clear a revelation of the way of righteousness and acceptance. Forgive the dullness of our hearts. Forgive our unbelief. And we pray that even in this place this morning great and powerful deliverance may be brought to the struggling conscience of many a distraught believer who has subtly allowed the work of the Spirit to be substituted for the work of Christ.

53:09 We thank You that the Spirit has come to testify to Christ and that He ever points us away from ourselves to Him. May we not grieve nor quench Him by focusing upon His work in us when He would draw our attention to the work of the Savior for us. Lord, help, we pray. We think of those whose struggles have been shared with us and we pray that even in this hour some of them will be brought to glorious freedom and liberty in Christ.

53:45 And we pray for sinners who have yet to believe the Gospel. May they be constrained by the Spirit even this morning to see this wonderful way of deliverance extended to them by the God who could crush them in judgment. O Lord, subdue their pride and bring them to the feet of Your dear Son pleading for naught but mercy and grace. Hear our prayer and dismiss us with Your blessing and continue with us on this Your day.

54:22 We ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.