An Act of God

The Dread of Unforgiven Sin and the Joy of Justification

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, July 23rd, 2006, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. In Psalm 130 and verse 3, the psalmist asks a very disturbing question, and the question is this. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquity, O Lord, who could stand? This question, raised by the psalmist, reveals that he had a profound sense of dread at the thought of unforgiven sin in the presence of the one true and living God. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquity, O Lord, who could stand? And when anyone, anywhere, of any age, begins to ask that question, with the burning and pressing consciousness of the profound issues bound up in it,

1:23 such a person, in some measure, is prepared to receive with joy and with wonder the teaching of the Word of God concerning the biblical doctrine of justification. And so, So if you have never seriously asked the question, If you, O Lord, should mark my iniquity, O Lord, how could I stand? It's only because you have never taken seriously who God really is, what His relationship is to you as your Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge, and who you are in relationship to Him as a creature, accountable to Him, and on your way to judgment by Him. But the moment anyone, anywhere, in any circumstances, begins to take seriously these realities of who God is in Himself, what God is in His relationship to us, and who we are in relationship to Him, then, in one form or another, this question does indeed become, from the burning, pressing question of the heart,

Review of Justification's Importance, Context, and Meaning

2:45 if you, the Holy One, the Just One, the All-Knowing One, should mark iniquity with the view of calling me to account for all that you know to be iniquitous, O Lord, who could stand before you? And I trust there are not a few of you that, having faith, felt the weight of that question, are indeed coming to these studies in the biblical doctrine of justification with a sense of keen anticipation and with spiritual relish and delight. As we come to our eleventh study this morning, let me just touch briefly on where we have been. We began by considering the importance of this biblical doctrine of justification, its importance with respect to the glory of God and to the good of man. We then spent several weeks opening up what I call the context of this doctrine of justification, that is, those truths in the Bible which support and give significance to this doctrine. And then we looked at the meaning of the word to justify.

4:07 It means to make a declaration. A declaration that someone is righteous in relationship to the law to which that person is accountable. It does not mean to make someone righteous, but to declare him righteous in the light of that law. And then we began to open up the substance of the biblical doctrine of justification, our method being to expound the many key biblical texts which address this doctrine of justification.

4:39 And then we began to open up the substance of the biblical doctrine of justification, using the larger catechism of the Westminster Standards as our organizing framework. Concerning the answer to the question, what is justification? One writer of another generation has stated, and I believe he has stated wisely and accurately, that we will hardly find a better definition than this in uninspired writings. It is true.

The Westminster Catechism's Definition of Justification

5:09 It is guarded, complete, and comprehensive. And what is the answer to the question as found in that catechism? It is this. Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners in which he pardons all of their sins, accepts and accounts their persons as righteous in his sight, not for anything wrought, not 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. Now, in opening up the biblical doctrine using that definition as our framework, we have already considered the author of justification. It is the living God. It is the living God himself and the living God alone.

6:12 Romans 8.33 states it simply, bluntly, unequivocally, who is he that condemns, it is God that justifies. He is called the just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus. And then we noted, secondly, the recipients of justification.

6:36 Justification is an act of God's free grace. It is the grace unto sinners. It is sinners whom God justifies with the gospel grace of justification. It is sinners in a two-fold light.

6:53 Sinners as they are objectively described by God in their true standing and condition, but sinners also who have been brought to the felt awareness of their condition and their standing. This is why Jesus could say, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. When he said of the publican, this man went down to his house justified. It was not just that he was a sinner.

7:25 He was a sinner who had been brought to own and feel the reality of his sinnerhood, who beat upon his breast and cried, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And the only ones whom God, God justifies are those who are sinners, not only sinners in God's objective definition of them, but in their own personal inward felt experience of the reality of their sinnerhood. And then last Lord's day, we looked thirdly at the source of justification. Justification is an act of God's free grace.

8:08 And we went particularly, particularly to the key text in Romans chapter 3 and verse 24a, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And God's grace is not merely his favor to the undeserving, but it is his free favor to the ill deserving. So as we continue to open up the substance, the substance of, the substance of this doctrine, we've considered the author, God himself. We've considered the recipients, sinners, the source, God's free grace.

The Essence of Justification: God's Activity

8:49 Now we come this morning to consider together from the scriptures, the activity of God in justification. Or if you like, the very essence of justification. The essence of a thing is that without which it no longer remains that thing. It's boiled down, down essence is that which constitutes the very reality of what it is.

9:15 And I like to consider it in terms of the definition of the catechism, the activity of God in justification. If God is the author, sinners are the recipients, free grace the source, what exactly does God do when he justifies sinners? When Jesus said in Luke chapter 18, that, that the publican went down to his house justified, what had God done with respect to that publican when he justified him? Or take Romans 5.1.

9:54 Having therefore been justified by faith, we have peace with God. When it is said all true believers have been justified, what has God done with respect, what has God done with respect to them in justifying them? What is the essence, the core things that constitute his justifying act? Well, in answering that question this morning, I'm going to first of all, give a brief identification of the activity of God as it is set forth in the larger catechism.

10:33 And then we're going to secondly, the biblical demonstration of this activity, which is the activity of God in the justification of sinners. Listen carefully now to that definition given to us in the catechism. What is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners in which, now listen to the verbs, in which he pardons all of their sins, accepts and accounts, and those two things constitute, one act accepts and accounts their persons as righteous in his sight.

11:16 So justification according to the larger catechism involves the pardon of all of our sins and the acceptance and accounting of our persons as righteous in his sight. And although these two activities of God, which constitute, his action in the justification of sinners, are always joined, always together, each one assuming the other, they are nonetheless distinct and ought to be understood in their distinctions. They're like repentance and faith. All true saving faith is permeated, is laced with repentance. All true repentance unto life is laced and permeated, and permeated with faith. Therefore the Bible sometimes describes a saving response to the gospel with only the word repentance, and sometimes with only the word faith. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

12:28 But surely not a repentance without faith. For the scripture says the just shall live by faith. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. But because repentance and faith are inseparable but distinct, God can sometimes describe just the one.

12:49 On the other hand, when the jailer cried out, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? The scripture says they said unto him, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now was that a faith divorced from faith? Faith divorced from repentance?

13:07 Of course not. Because further on in Acts, Paul can say he testified to Jews and Greeks both repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. But because the scriptures are plain that all true faith is permeated with repentance, all true repentance is permeated with faith, and though they are different, acts of the awakened, quickened, spirit-wrought soul in response to the gospel God can sometimes just name the one or name the other, but he wants us to understand they are never separated. Distinct, but never separated.

13:45 Likewise, in justification, God pardons all of our sins. That's a distinct aspect of the activity of God in justification. However, he does more than that. He then both accepts and accounts our persons as righteous in his sight.

14:11 A distinct element in God's activity when he justifies us. The one is negative, the other is positive. The one is a cancellation, the cancellation of all of our sins and the wrath they deserve. The other is the conferral of a blessed status to be regarded as having perfectly kept the law in the sight of God.

14:41 One, God takes something away. He takes away our sins and the guilt attached to them. In the other, he gives something. One resolves the threats of a broken law.

14:58 That's when God pardons all of our sins. The other addresses the rewards in the presence of a kept law. Accepting and regarding and treating us as though we had fully kept the law is different from pardoning us because we have broken the law. Therefore, we must come as God's people to understand, to believe, and to rejoice in and live out our Christian lives in the blessed reality that the activity of God in justifying us involves the pardon of all of our sins, dealing with our sins in such a way that not one of them will ever be charged against us in terms of their wrath deserving legal punishment. And believing that with all of our hearts, living in the light of it, but also understanding and believing that in the court of heaven we are not just pardoned criminals. We are regarded as those who have fully and perfectly kept his holy law and therefore God binds himself

16:25 to welcome us into his fellowship now and into his presence in the age to come. In all the unfolding of the glories of the new heavens and the new earth. Now, on what grounds God is able to do this righteously and justly, that awaits further studies. That will take us to the work of Jesus Christ in his death upon the cross and in his perfect life of obedience culminating in the death of the cross that's dealt with in the latter part of the definition of the larger catechism.

17:04 On what grounds? We're not dealing with that today. By what means do we lay hold of this? That's not our concern today.

17:13 That's faith alone. We are concerned today with one thing. When God justifies, what does he do? What is the activity of God when he justifies the sinner?

Biblical Demonstration: Pardon of All Sins

17:27 And here in the catechism we have this identification of the activity of God in the justification of the sinner in the pardon of all of his sins and in the accounting and receiving that sinner as righteous in his sight. Now then we come secondly to the biblical demonstration of this activity in the justification of sinners. And we're going to take them up in the order in which the catechism sets them before us. First, justification is an act of God in which he pardons all of the sins of every penitent believing sinner. Now when seeking to choose several pivotal texts, sitting at my desk I was embarrassed by the plethora of texts in the Old and the New Testament. Which though many of them do not use the term justification they do clearly assert that believing penitent sinners who cast themselves upon the mercy of God in Christ are pardoned of all of their sins. But one text that I knew had to be opened up is the one text in the book of Acts

18:56 where the verb to justify is found and it's found twice. And it's the only place it's found in the book of Acts. Forgiveness of sins is found frequently but the only place we find justification and it will point us to this fact that in justifying sinners God pardons, God forgives all of their sins. Turn with me please to Acts chapter 13.

19:24 We read in Acts 13 and verse 13 and 14 that Paul and his company pass through several towns and cities and they come to Antioch in Pisidia. That's the Antioch in what we now know as Turkey. There's another Antioch north of Israel from which the Apostle was sent out on his first missionary journey. This is an Antioch in Asia Minor in the land we now know as Turkey.

19:57 And when the Apostle comes there he does as he always did when in any town he found a synagogue. He would go into the synagogue and he would enter into the form of the synagogue worship. And part of that form was the reading out of the Old Testament scriptures out of the Law and of the Prophets verse 15 and after the reading of the Law and the Prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them saying, Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Remember this happened to our Lord in the synagogue at Nazareth, Luke chapter 4.

20:34 The scriptures were read, the Lord himself read a portion and then the Lord began to speak and say this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. So the Apostle, he enters into the rubric to the ritual of the synagogue worship and the synagogue pattern and he begins to speak. And so he starts addressing these Jews and these would some be proselytes, men of Israel and you that fear God. That would be the God-fearers who had attached themselves among the Gentiles to the synagogue worship.

21:08 And then he gives a bit of Hebrew history. He shows his thorough acquaintance with how God worked in redemptive history in the past and then in this summary and remember these are but summaries. You read these sermons in the book of Acts and most of them can be read in two to three minutes. God does not want us to think all they did was preach for two to three minutes.

21:30 Here in this summary we find Paul giving a bit of history leading up to the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament in the person and work of Jesus and then having preached about Christ's death and Christ's resurrection based upon that work. Now we come to verse 38. Be it known unto you therefore in the light of what God has done in the history of redemption culminating in the coming of his own Son Jesus of Nazareth his death, his resurrection be it known unto you therefore, brethren that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins and by him everyone that believes is justified from all things from which you could not believe be justified by the law of Moses. Two times we have the word justified and in conjunction with justification a justification that gives what the law of Moses could never give he clearly identifies one of its cardinal blessings the remission of sins the forgiveness of sins the letting loose the cancellation

22:57 of all the charges which our sin justly bring upon us. And so in this passage we see very clearly that justification and remission of sins are one and the same. Justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses and what is that? That is the full, the final the irrevocable remission of sins and all who by faith embrace God's Messiah experience this dimension of justifying grace the remission of all of their sins. He that believes is justified from all things all that can be called sin past, present and future is pardoned is forgiven is cancelled in the grace of justification. Now a second key text demonstrating that justification means the act of God by which is the only rightful judge of the universe he pardons the sins of each and every penitent believer is found in Romans chapter 4 and I want you to turn there with me please

24:23 Romans chapter 4 in the previous paragraph where Paul began to expound the gospel remember he spends all the way from 118 to 320 expounding universal sinfulness there is no gospel in 118 to 321 it's all preaching of the law it's all bringing condemnation upon every segment of humanity Jew and Gentile alike those who have never seen a page of the Bible those who have been blessed with being born with Bibles in their laps they are all under sin and then in verse 21 of chapter 3 he begins to open up the way of righteousness now revealed in the gospel in the person and in the work of Jesus and in the midst of that paragraph he makes it abundantly clear that that provision of God of a righteousness that is apart from the law a righteousness wrought by the bloodletting the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus that that provision is to be received by faith and faith alone it's not based upon human works and so to establish that in chapter 4 he's going to demonstrate

25:49 that both Abraham and David understood this truth what shall we say that Abraham our forefather hath found according to the flesh for if Abraham was justified by works he is whereof to glory but not toward God but what does the scripture say Abraham believed God and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness upon believing God Abraham came into the justified state now to him that does not work I'm sorry to him that works the reward is not reckoned as of grace but as of death but to him that does not work but believes on him that justifies the ungodly his faith is reckoned for righteousness even as David also pronounces blessing upon the man unto whom God reckons righteousness apart from works David is going to speak about justified man a man to whom God reckons righteousness he does not reckon sin to him therefore he does not reckon condemnation and death and judgment and hell but now notice in quoting those words of David notice how forgiveness of sin is central to justification

27:18 saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin so in conjunction with the righteousness of faith in conjunction with God's method of justifying sinners involved in that justification are these three things that David highlights iniquities are forgiven sins are covered and the living God will not reckon to the account of the believing sinner any sin as that which deserves and will receive his wrath and his judgment so that in this passage where justification by faith alone based upon the work of Christ alone is central forgiveness of sins is brought to the forefront as inseparably joined to and a part of God's justifying act now we could add to these pivotal texts many affirmations from both the Old and the New Testaments and we could flip through passage after passage I have them written out when Moses prays

28:46 oh God show me your glory and God passes by and proclaims his name central to his name he proclaims himself as the God who forgives sin Exodus 34 and verse 6 in Psalm 103 a Psalm we often sing in this place bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me forget not all his benefits and what's the first one mentioned who forgives all of your iniquity later on in that Psalm as far as the east is from the west east and west always chasing each other around the equator but never never meeting as far as east is from west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us and then the Psalm with which I began the sermon if you Lord should mark iniquity oh Lord who could stand verse 4 but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared then Micah 7 18 and 19 God speaks of burying our sins in the depth of the sea when we come to the New Testament and our Lord is establishing the supper of remembrance

30:14 this is my blood of the covenant which is shed for what the remission of sin is Matthew chapter 26 and verse 28 and then when that covenant is expounded in Hebrews 8 and Hebrews 10 the crowning blessing of that covenant is found in these words their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more God has a kind of self-imposed amnesia with regard to the sins of justified sinners he says I will remember them no more I will to put them behind me and that's why he uses these different images in the book of Isaiah he talks of blotting them out like a thick cloud he says though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool these are the texts Old and New Testament which affirm again and again that in the act of justification God pardons all of the sins of his people now for anyone sitting here this morning who does not take seriously that God is infinitely holy

31:39 infinitely just perfectly and profoundly omniscient knowing every thought every word every motive every deed every facet of our lives and knows every single thing about us which is not fully conformed to his holy law and every such thing be it motive word thought or deed is a provocation of his justice and calls forth his wrath if those things have never gripped you this stuff that I'm talking about is as boring as boring can be and you sit there and wonder what in the world is he getting excited about is this just part of his stick is this just part of what he does to earn a living you can't anyone would be excited about the words the pardon of all of their sins and that describes some of you bored and in what your sins are the magnitude of them the number of them what they are in terms of provoking the living almighty holy God of heaven and earth

33:06 but bless God for the many of you sitting here this morning awake to these realities the reality that God is indeed infinitely and unchangeably holy just and true and that I stand related to him as creature to creator as subject to sovereign as one who is bound by that God to perpetual and perfect obedience to the law that my sins are numberless sins of thoughts sins of words sins of deed sins of disposition of attitude and motives sins against God sins against my fellow man to hear that there in Jesus Christ a provision by which I can know based upon the authority of the word of God that the God who has a controversy with me has come to me and said thy sins are all forgiven blotted them out as a thick cloud I have cast them into the depths of the sea

34:30 I will to remember them no more in a full complete irreversible act of pardon listen to how one man obviously with a flaming heart expressed it when God pardons he pardons all sins original sin and actual sins sins of omission and of commission secret and open sins sins of thought of word and deed one unpardoned sin would destroy a soul forever a single transgression can rouse an enlightened conscience of conscience to the wildest fury and every sin deserves the wrath and curse of God both in this life and in that which is to come language from the shorter catechism yet to those who believe in Jesus all all is freely forgiven full pardon our none at all is what God designs to give this suits human necessities nor is this gift ever revoked by God when he forgives he forgives forever he who is once pardoned never again comes under the curse of the law upon new provocations

35:59 men sometimes revive old controversies husbands and wives do it all the time a husband sins against a wife she says oh they there you go he said I thought oh yes that was forgiven but I remember and vice versa we do it with one another all the time but this writer says not so God sin once pardoned by him is done with forever he's casted behind his back and will not return to search for it forgiveness of sins that are past is a sure pledge that future sin shall not have a condemning power yes I will eventually address what about the real sins of a real believer a believer justified how is he to regard his sin is he simply to disregard it because he's confident he will never be brought into legal judgment for it we'll address that that will have its place in its time but what I want you to see this morning is simply this focal point of concern when God justifies what does he do he pardons all of our sins as far as God is concerned the case in the court of heaven regarding the punishment of sin that deserves death case is dismissed

37:26 forever in the life of the one who believes in Jesus fatherly discipline fatherly displeasure a displeasure in some cases according to first Corinthians 11 that may result in the chastisement of sickness and even premature death yes but as far as God's judicial dealing with sin it was exhausted in our surety when he cried it is finished it was finished and when by faith I'm incorporated into Christ all of God's judgment all of his wrath all of his judicial dealing with my sins was exhausted in the cross of Jesus Christ to be justified means all of my sins are pardoned bless God if you doubt the severity of the law and the absolute justice and truth of God you'll be careless about your sins but if you doubt the love and absolute sincerity of God in providing in Christ the body of righteousness in which your sins are all pardoned you'll be an unstable Christian all of your days

Biblical Demonstration: Acceptance as Righteous

38:52 but then I must hasten on not only does justification involve the pardon of all of our sins but the catechism says the accepting and receiving of our persons as righteous in his sight justification is an act of God in which he accepts and receives our persons as righteous in his sight before I begin to open up several key scriptures that clearly teach this I want you to listen to the words of a man who wrote what many consider to be the finest work on justification in the English language and it's not been superseded though it was written over a hundred years ago listen to it James Buchanan the pardon of sin is an indispensable and important part of a sinner's justification but it is not an adequate or complete description of the privilege of justification it includes also his acceptance as righteous in the sight of God his admission to the divine favor and possession of the gift of God and the gift of eternal life his person although he is still unworthy in himself and also his services

40:20 although they are still imperfect and defiled by sin are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ both being sprinkled with his blood and perfumed with the incense of his intercession some have been anxious to show that justification consists in pardon only and that when all sin has been forgiven there's either no need of this distinct privilege of acceptance or if there is that this is not secured by the righteousness of Christ but is left to depend on the personal obedience of the believer we are not considering at present the ground on which it rests or what that righteousness is on account of which the believer is accepted by God and obtains the gift of eternal life but that question is left open for future inquiry the fact that justification includes acceptance with God as well as the forgiveness of sins should be distinctly apprehended if we would form any adequate estimate of the nature and value of this great gospel privilege do you want to know your gospel privilege then have a distinct apprehension a grasping of this truth that when God justifies the sinner he not only pardons all of his sins

41:47 but he accepts and receives his person as righteous in his sight now where is that taught in the word of God well let's look at a couple of texts Romans chapter 5 and verse 19 we saw several weeks ago that the apostle has this section Romans 5, 12 to 21 where Adam is set forth as a type of Christ because he wants us to understand that our salvation comes to us in the framework in which our sinnerhood came to us our sinnerhood came to us in terms of the one man Adam he was appointed the federal head and representative of the entire human race when he sinned we sinned in him Romans 5, verse 12 and in a similar way it is in the one man Jesus Christ and the righteousness of his life and in the death that he died that we are reckoned accounted righteousness as Adam's sin was imputed to us constituting us sinners so there is a righteousness in the one man Jesus Christ imputed to us that constitutes us righteous verse 19 for as through the one man's disobedience

43:16 the many were constituted sinners even so through the obedience of the one now notice shall the many be constituted not just forgiven with the slate being cleaned but we will be constituted righteous that's a positive statement that there is credited to me a standing of righteousness of positive universal obedience to the law of God not only does God pardon my disobedience to his law if he merely pardoned that would put us where Adam was in his innocence in the garden and he credits us with righteousness what is righteousness? righteousness is a standing of acceptability to God in terms of his law because of obedience to that law and through Jesus Christ I am not only pardoned and forgiven I am constituted righteous that's a positive standing before God expressed in the catechism with those words he accepts and receives and accepts our persons as righteous

44:43 Romans 5 and verse 19 the many shall be constituted righteous and then 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30 but of him or by God's doing are you in Christ Jesus who was made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness Christ is made my righteousness he not only procures my forgiveness he is made to me righteousness as we shall see and I can't help but occasionally slip in what's going to come because it's so critical his perfect life of obedience to God culminating in his obedience even to the point of death was representative obedience he was obeying as the second Adam he was obeying as my covenant head so that God can credit to me his perfect obedience so that when he says of his son this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and receives him back into his presence united to Christ folded in the in the folds

46:11 of the robe of his righteousness God can say of you and of me this is my son in whom I am well pleased well pleased with the righteousness that is ours by virtue of union with Christ and then 2 Corinthians 5 19 to 21 some of the pivotal text to demonstrate that when the writers of the catechism said justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners in which he not only pardons all of their sins but he also accepts and accounts their persons righteous they didn't spin this out of their own heads they saw it in their Bible 2 Corinthians 5 19 to 21 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not reckoning unto them their trespasses and having committed to us the word of reconciliation we are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ as though God were entreating by us we beseech you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God him Jesus who knew no sin who was no sinner in himself but by imputation in the court of heaven he was constituted sin

47:39 him who knew no sin he God the Father made to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him that we might not only have forgiveness and the pardon of our sins but a positive status of a right standing in Jesus Christ that's why Paul could say in Acts 26 in verse 18 in quoting the commission given to him by his Lord to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and the power of Satan unto God now notice I missed this for years that they may receive remission of sins and remission of sins glorious wonderful we sing my sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more and well we should so sing but look at the text that they might receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me the positive conferral of eternal life the inheritance of God's grace

49:08 forgiveness and the inheritance you find a similar emphasis in the text in Titus 3 4 to 7 we don't have time to look at all the text that are there in the word of God this again has caused one man to write how precious such doctrine is how faith lays hold of it with both hands Bishop Hopkins says it is not therefore oh my soul a mere negative mercy that God gives you in the pardon of your sins it's not merely the removing of the curse and wrath which is which your sins deserve though that alone can never be sufficiently admired but the same hand that plucks you out of hell by pardoning grace and mercy lifts you up to heaven by what it gives you together with your pardon even a right and a title to the glorious inheritance of the saints above has it got through it all do you see that you say Pastor that's too good to be true that's the problem we measure God's lavish heart God wants to magnify His grace by providing in Christ and in His justifying act that which we say it sounds too good to be true but you don't measure

50:38 truth by what it sounds to us but by what God says to us in His word and I want you to consider with me in closing this morning two beautiful pictures of this aspect of justification that is that it is not only the pardon of our sins but it is God accepting and receiving our persons as positively righteous in His sight and they are but pictures if I were expounding these passages I would have to begin by saying what they were intended to say and mean in their context to Israel at this point in her history and so I'm very carefully and purposely saying they're just two beautiful pictures analogies first one is in Isaiah 61 our brother quoted this passage in the previous hour Isaiah 61 and verse 10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation He has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and a crown and a bride adorns herself with her jewels He has covered me with the robe of righteousness He has not merely washed me of all my defilement

52:07 that cries to heaven for judicial wrath and judgment and negated all the sentence against me He has decked me with garments the robe of righteousness so that when He looks upon me He sees as we shall see God willing in subsequent expositions the perfection of the righteousness of the holy life of Jesus His obedience under the law an obedience that touched what God's law touches think of it think of it living as a real human being in a real human setting with siblings who didn't even believe on Him and every single thing thought He ever thought from His birth to His ascension not one thought not one thought was ever tinged with jealousy dishonesty tempted to exaggerate to make Himself look better not one thought that was not mathematically parallel to the demands of the law of God He loved His Father with all His heart all His mind all His soul all His strength every moment of every hour of every day of His thirty plus years life in a real human situation

53:35 in all of His responses to His siblings later on to those who hurled insults into His faith His holy soul never felt the twitch of sinful resentment think of it never once never once His holy lips never spoke a word that in any way had the slightest flavor of untruth unkindness and that life of perfect obedience constitutes a robe of righteousness which to the penitent believing sinner becomes His when God justifies Him He is clothed in that robe of righteousness another beautiful picture an analogy that's all it is is found in the book of Zechariah second to the last book in the Bible Zechariah and in chapter 2 we have this very chapter 3 I'm sorry Zephaniah Zechariah chapter 3 and He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at His right hand to be His adversary and the Lord said unto Satan the Lord rebuke you O Satan

55:04 yea the Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you is not this a bran plucked out of the fire now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and he was standing before the angel and he answered and spoke unto those that stood before him saying take the filthy garments off from him and unto him he said behold I've caused your iniquity to pass from you your sins were cleansed forgiven pardoned passed away but God doesn't stop there I've caused your iniquity to pass from you and I will clothe you with rich apparel and I said let them set a clean miter or turban the priestly turban upon his head and so they set a clean turban upon his head and clothed him with garments and the angel of the Lord was standing by ah dear child of God you and I come in that initial disposition of going out of ourselves brought to the end of ourselves weary of earth and laden with our sin we look to heaven and wonder how can we ever enter and God brings the truth of the gospel home to us

56:32 with power and we turn from our sin and our self righteousness and our confidence in ourselves and we go out of ourselves into Christ and Christ alone God says cause his sin to pass from him all of our sins part sins and iniquities remembered no more the slate is clean and the record is clean and all the leaves in the pages of the book of God that record all of our sins are torn out and we are but God says that's not enough I want pages replaced that show an obedience that merits my presence and my acceptance and the inheritance of grace and though that sinner does not have it in himself he has it in his representative and surety the Lord Jesus by whose obedience a righteous has been secured for all who trust in him and so when God has said let that iniquity pass from him he says now deck him out clothe him with beautiful garments clothe him that he might be an acceptable new covenant priest unto me that his life

Conclusion: The Transforming Reality of Justification

58:01 and his prayers and his worship will be fragrant with the garments of the righteousness of my own beloved son that's what God's done for us that's what God's done for us say in conclusion what is the essence of justification what is the activity of God when he takes a hell-deserving guilty sinner and justifies him as ungodly remember we're ungodly when we're justified we won't remain ungodly we'll come to that but he justifies he justifies he justifies he justifies the ungodly he requires no fitness from us not for anything done in us or by us as we shall see in our ongoing studies we come in our sin 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 I come and when we come what does God do when we go out of ourselves and into Christ he pardons all of our sins and he accepts and receives our persons as righteous in his sight Christian that's who you are that's who you are

59:30 and God wants you to believe who you are and he wants you to live in the light of who you are and if you've not laid hold of that reality I plead with you get alone with God and with God with his word and with the passages we've gone over and pray O Holy Spirit help me to see and to grasp who and what I am in Christ and as you do it can be transforming it can deliver you from that crippling sense of of a wrong kind of sin consciousness and lead you to a proper sense of sin consciousness that instead of keeping you in your spirit dull and crippled will enlighten your spirit and intensify your love to Christ and your service for Christ no wonder Luther said this is the doctrine of the standing or the falling church God grant that it will be more than just a doctrine to which we subscribe but it will be the truth by which we feed our needy souls let's pray our Father we confess to you that our minds and our spirits

61:00 are too narrow to wrap themselves around the expansiveness of your grace so enlarge our hearts stretch the fingers of our faith and help us to glorify you by believing that you have done for us in Christ what you have said you have done for us and we pray for those who sit here still under your wrath exposed to your righteous judgment oh God make them jealous to know and to experience the blessed reality of being justified by faith in Jesus Christ seal then your word to our prophet and to the praise of your name we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen