What Are Its Grounds? (2)

The Critical Situation of Humanity and God's Clear Directions

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, August 6, 2006, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Last Lord's Day morning, as we were in the midst of our season of corporate intercessory prayer, commonly identified as the pastoral prayer, the fire alarm began to clang. Thankfully, it was a false alarm, precipitated by a two-year-old hanging on the shoulder of his mother, who, when she bowed her head to enter into that prayer in the nursery or in the hallway,

0:47 seeking to worship while caring for this little one, its hand reached out and grabbed the lever. So that was the situation, and because watching the activity of the deacons, I was persuaded quite early, that it was a false alarm, I didn't immediately say, please exit this way and that way and give you directions according to the prearranged plan for evacuation. However, had it been a signal that the building was indeed on fire, all of us would have been placed in an immediate and critical situation,

1:29 one of real and impending danger. Danger to our well-being. And in that situation, any directives given to secure our exit away from danger, to be worthy of any directions, in that setting, they should be accurate, they should be loud, and they should be clear. They ought to be accurate.

1:59 Directions that actually take you from danger to safety. Not directions that would cause you to be holed up in what appears to be a safe place, only to be trapped in a raging inferno. Furthermore, they ought to be loud enough for vibrations to reach your outer ear and send some signals to the inner ear to register on your brain, and in the case of our hearing-impaired brethren, loud enough that our brother Leslie could hear them and translate them to the other ear. And translate those vocables into signs that were intelligible to the hearing-impaired.

2:41 And they ought to be clear. No confusion. So you have some people going this way when they think what I said was they ought to go that way. Surely, anyone giving directions to people in that critically dangerous situation ought to give those directions marked by accuracy, sufficient volume, and clarity to lead them to the right direction.

3:04 To lead you from the place of danger to the place of safety. Well, according to the scriptures, all of us, as sons and daughters of Adam, are in a critically dangerous situation. By nature, Paul says, we are children of wrath. The righteous wrath of God of which we heard in sobering tones, in the previous hour, hangs over each of our heads by nature.

3:42 And Almighty God, in His Word, has given us directions as to how to escape the place of danger into a place of sure and certain safety. And those directions, in a very unique way, are focused in what we call the biblical direction. The doctrine of justification by faith. And in the scriptures, God has given us an accurate, loud, and clear voice as to how we may escape the wrath to come

4:22 into the safety of His full pardon of all of our sins and the reception and acceptance of our persons as righteous in His sight. And so, for these past several months, we have been studying together this glorious doctrine of justification. Having underscored the importance of the doctrine, the context of that doctrine, the meaning of the word to justify, which in this aspect of our study always refers to that which is judicial, forensic.

Review of Justification's Definition and Previous Points

5:05 It has to do not with what God does in us, but what He declares is true about us with reference to His law and to His rights as the judge of heaven. We then began to wrestle with the substance of this doctrine. And I have chosen to use as my teaching framework the definition of justification as found in the larger catechism of the West. Question 70 is, what is justification?

5:40 And the answer is, justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners in which He pardons all of their sins and accepts and receives their persons or accounts their persons as righteous in His sight, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for the sake of God. But only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ by God imputed to them and received by faith alone. Now we have considered four aspects of this definition

6:23 opening up the relevant and central scriptures which lie at the foundation of that definition. We've considered the author of our justification. It is God. It is God Himself and God alone.

6:37 He is called in Romans 8.33. It is God that justifies. The recipients are sinners.

6:46 It is an act of God unto sinners. Sinners they are in themselves objectively as described by God. But sinners who have come to own and feel and understand the reality of what God says they are. For Jesus did not come to call.

7:05 Not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Those who have come to embrace like the publican that their condition is that of the sinner in the presence of a holy God. And then thirdly the source of justification. It's an act of God's free grace.

7:25 Romans 3 and verse 23 4a says being justified freely by His grace. It is an act of God's free grace. It is an act of God's favor to the ill-deserving, not only the undeserving. And then, fourthly, what does God actually do when he justifies?

7:46 What is the activity of God? When it says of the public, and he went down to his house, justified. What had God done with respect to him when he justified him? Well, the answer of the catechism is, he pardons all of our sins, and both receives, accepts, and accounts our persons as righteous in his sight.

8:11 He pardons, that's the negation. He confers, that's the accepting and accounting of us as righteous. Forgiveness would place us where Adam was before the fall. But in justification, God gives us something more.

8:29 He gives what it appears. It appears Adam would receive, had he passed his time of probation, right to eat of the tree of life. We are given that in Christ the moment. We cast ourselves upon him in this self-abandonment of true, saving faith.

The Grounds of Justification: Not for Anything Wrought In or Done By Us

8:50 And now we are considering this next category of deep concern. On what grounds can a holy God do this? On what basis can God remain just and holy and inflexibly righteous and pardon all of the sins, past, present, and future, of any sinner, and at the same time, accept and account that sinner as though he had perfectly kept his holy law, so that nothing could be added to the basis on which God declares him to be righteous. What?

9:32 What is the ground on which God does that? Well, our catechism addresses that. He does this not for, but for. Following the biblical pattern of defining by negative and positive, the catechism says not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ.

10:01 And so, what we did last Lord's Day was to reduce those statements into three propositions. And knowing we have a number of visitors, that's why I've given a little more lengthy review. And I hope it's kind of a personal test for you to say, ah, I know what's coming next. I know what's coming next.

10:18 I know what's coming next. If you don't, you really needed the review. If you do, it confirms you and makes you feel good. So we've lost nothing.

10:26 So last week, we began to address the ground. And I reversed those terms. Two negatives, not for anything wrought in them or done by them. And I put them in the opposite way.

10:37 And I said the truth of this section can be dealt with under three very simple propositions. And they are these. Proposition one, works performed by us have nothing whatever to do with the ground of our justification. Proposition number two, God's work in us has nothing whatever to do with the ground of our justification.

11:02 Proposition three, Christ's work for us in his perfect obedience and his substitutionary death is the sole and complete ground of our justification. Christ's work for us in his perfect obedience and substitutionary death is the sole and complete ground of our justification. Then last week, we took up proposition one. God's word clearly teaches that works performed by us

11:42 have nothing whatever to do with the ground of our justification. Many passages. We know, Paul says, that by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Not by works of righteousness.

12:02 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. Not only our unrighteous deeds deserve the wrath of God, but the prophet Isaiah says all our righteousnesses are his filthy rags. Even the best things we do are defiled and besmirched with sin and cannot enter into the ground on which God pardons and accepts us as righteous in his sight. Now, then, with that review behind us, we come this morning to wrestle with proposition number two.

Proposition Two: God's Work In Us Has Nothing to Do with Justification's Ground

12:38 God's work in us has nothing whatever to do with the ground of our justification. God's work in us. Not only do our works have nothing to do with the ground, but God's own gracious work in us has nothing whatever to do with, but God's own gracious work in us has nothing whatever to do with the ground of our justification. The grounds on which God pardons all of our sins, accepts and accounts us as righteous in his sight.

13:12 I want to state it in a shocking way. God's gracious, powerful work in us has nothing more to do with the ground of our justification than our stinking, rotten, filthy, rag works have to do with the ground of our justification.

13:35 Now, this is not just a verbal distinction. Some fine line of theology. James Buchanan, in what is the classic work on this doctrine, states the issue this way. There is perhaps no more subtle or plausible error on the subject of justification than that which makes it rest on the indwelling presence of the gracious work of the Spirit, in the heart.

14:06 It is a singularly refined form of opposition to the doctrine of justification grounded in the imputed righteousness of Christ, for it merely substitutes the work of one divine person for that of another divine person. It is substituting the work of the Spirit in us, for the work of Christ for us.

14:39 It is plausible because it seems to do homage to the grace of God. Surely it is grace that God would work anything in us by the Spirit, and therefore what he works in us by the Spirit is a gracious contribution to our justification. So Roman Catholic theology goes. So some modern aberrations of this doctrine would teach us.

15:03 But James Buchanan, wise, actually says this error is the more difficult to expose and refute when it presents itself in this apparently spiritual form, far more than when it comes to us in its grosser and more common shape as the doctrine of justification by works. Then he goes on to say,

15:28 I'm trying to reduce the quote, he says very perceptively,

15:34 subtle and plausible as it is, difficult as it may be to disentangle, the error from the partial truth involved in it, nothing can be more unscriptural in itself, more pernicious 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. For if we are justified solely on account of what Christ did and what Christ said, suffered while He was yet on earth, we may rest with entire confidence on a work that is already finished,

16:18 on a righteousness which has already been wrought out and already accepted of God on behalf of all who believe on His name, and that we may immediately receive on the sure warrant of His word the privilege of justification as a free gift of God's grace through Christ and as the present, the privilege of every believer. For these reasons, it is of the utmost practical importance to conceive aright both of the mediatorial work of Christ and of the internal work of His Spirit and the relation which they bear to each other

16:59 in God's scheme of grace and of redemption. Practical importance. Dear people, I've never used this pulpit to try, to have a display of learning. I want to do you good.

17:14 And wise men who know church history and understand the human heart and know their Bibles say words like this. Nothing in the doctrine of justification has more practical relevance than coming to grips with why these wise pastor-theologians when answering the question what is justification? They ground that justifying work not, not in anything done by us and not in anything wrought in us. And what I want to do in my labors this morning is to open up this blessed biblical truth under three heads.

The Fundamental Biblical Assumption: God Works in Every Justified Person

17:55 Number one, the fundamental and biblical assumption in the words, not for anything wrought in us. What's the assumption behind the use of those words? Well the assumption is that in every judgment, every justified person, God is doing something in them. He's not only declaring something to be true about them in the court of heaven, that's the courtroom.

18:23 He's doing something in them, in their hearts and in their lives, that's the operating room. And the assumption of that definition when it comes to the ground of our justification, not for anything wrought in us, the assumption is, there is no justified person on the face of the earth or in heaven in whom God does not do something very real, very supernatural, very powerful, very transforming. It's called a new birth. It's called a new creation.

18:57 It's called putting off the old man, putting on the new. The scripture speaks of taking out the heart of stone, giving the heart of flesh, putting the spirit within us, causing us to keep the heart of stone, to keep his statutes. Those are marvelous works God does in us. The Bible says he is renewing us into the image of his son.

19:19 But we all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into that image. God is doing something wonderful in every justified person. That's the assumption of this definition. But you see the crux of the matter is this.

19:41 All the glorious things he is doing in us and shall yet do in us when we are like him, when we see him as he is, do not enter one ten-millionth of a gram into the ground on which God pardons all our sins and accepts and reckons us as righteous in his sight. Sound radical? Good. It is radical.

20:14 It's astounding. It is something that transcends our ability ever to conceive of. It is a glorious revealed truth. Well, I wanted to highlight first of all that fundamental biblical assumption in those words and I share that assumption.

20:31 If you sit here justified, God has done and is doing something marvelous in you. If he isn't, you're not justified. However, you are justified not for anything wrought in you. You got it?

Biblical Basis for the Assertion: Designation, Location, and Composition

20:50 The assumption that it doesn't in any way take away from the affirmation. So we come secondly having looked at the assumption that is bound up in those words for the biblical basis of that assertion. That definition asserts that he justifies us not for anything wrought in us. Well, what's the biblical basis for that?

21:14 Well, what's the biblical basis for that? Well, I want to try to open it up under these three subheads. How the righteousness of justification is designated. Secondly, where the righteousness of justification is located.

21:32 And thirdly, of what the righteousness of justification is comprised. How designated, where located, of what comprised. You got it? Three very simple.

21:46 How, where, and what. And if you don't think you need that, the next time you miserably fall, and you know you need to seek God, how do I come? On what grounds can I expect to be received? You better know.

22:07 Righteousness is designated. How your, where your righteousness is located, and of what? The righteousness of justification. Justification is comprised.

22:21 First of all, then, look at the clear teaching as to the ground of our justification with respect to how it is designated. The righteousness that is ours in God's declaration of justification. How is it designated? How is it described?

22:40 What name is it given? Turn to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. We've come back to this text again and again in this series.

22:51 We've come back to this text again and again in this series. We've come back to this text again and again in this series. We've come back to this text again and again in this series. It's so pivotal.

22:55 It's so pivotal. After Paul gives some introductory information about his desire to come to Rome, and why he wants to come to Rome, and one of his great passions, not his only one, is that there at Rome he might preach the gospel to the Romans as well. Verse fifteen. Then he says in verse sixteen of chapter one, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

23:24 Therein, in this gospel, is revealed, is made plain, a righteousness of God. From faith unto faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Paul is not ashamed of his gospel, the gospel he's preached throughout the Roman Empire, that he now wants to preach at Rome. He's confident there is but one gospel.

23:49 I'm not ashamed of the gospel. He does not have one of many. He has the one and only sure gospel. And the reason he's not ashamed of it, it is God's instrument of power unto salvation, to rescue sinners regardless of religious and ethnic background and identity.

24:10 It's the power of God to salvation to everyone that believes, the Jew first, and also to the Greek. But what is there in this gospel that makes it such an instrument of power? He tells us, for, that little logical connecting word for, therein, in other words, within this gospel, is revealed, is made known, a righteousness of God. Now, in answer to the question, how is the righteousness of justification designated, here is the key phrase.

24:48 It is designated the righteousness of God. Or the righteousness of Christ. It is the righteousness of God, with no comma, saying God, also something that the sinner produces, or something that God produces in the sinner that he can add to it. It is the righteousness of God.

25:15 A righteousness conceived by God, procured by God, offered by God, but more than all of these things, while including it, it is a righteousness that has all of its substance and character in God, and not in us. And that becomes a key phrase, as Paul then, after spending the rest of chapter 1, all of chapter 2, all of chapter 3, to verse 20, showing how every single segment of society, is devoid of a righteousness that can commend them to God.

25:57 They need a righteousness from God, a God-righteousness, when he begins to address that righteousness of justification. Notice the language in verse 21. But now, having demonstrated the whole world is guilty, has no righteousness of its own. But now, apart from the law, here's our phrase, a righteousness of God, a way of right standing with God, that is of God, has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God,

26:40 through faith in Jesus Christ. Two times, in short compass, he says the righteousness of justification is designated as a righteousness of God. Righteousness of God. Righteousness of God.

26:52 Righteousness of God. Righteousness, that is, of God. Now, turn over with me to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10.

27:04 Where we find this again, verse 1, Paul dealing with the whole subject and the unbelief of national Israel. Verse 10, chapter 10, verse 1, Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them that they may be saved, for, I, might bear them witness they have a zeal for God, but, not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves, notice now, to the righteousness of God.

27:48 He calls this righteousness of God, which is the right standing with God, held out and conferred in justification. He says, it is something to which men either submit themselves, or they do not submit themselves. And the verb used is that verb, hupotasso, which is a military term, to range yourself under another as an act of obedience. And he says that the great burden for his fellow Jews is not that they're not religious.

28:22 They have a great zeal, they have a great zeal for God as he did. Read Philippians chapter 3. He said, you want to know what my zeal was? I was tracking down Christians like they were criminals, as zeal persecuting the church.

28:36 They have a zeal for God, but it's not according to knowledge. That is not according to the truth of how it is that a sinner finds acceptance with God. And what is the knob of their problem? They go about to establish a right standing with God, that is spun out of the stuff of their own hearts.

28:57 And in so doing, they do not range themselves in an act of faith obedience under something that exists objective to them and outside of them. You see that? There is a righteousness of God that stands there outside of them, objective to them. It has nothing to do with what they do, what they can perform, and it is a righteousness to which we either submit ourselves in faith, or we resist in unbelief and in the pride and self-righteousness of the human heart.

29:37 So that terminology, the righteousness of God, points us to a righteousness that has to do with something other than that which God effects in us. It is objective to us. And is grounded in something other than anything performed by us or wrought in us even by God himself. One other text, Philippians chapter 3, where that same righteousness is called here, the righteousness of God in Christ.

30:12 Philippians chapter 3 verse 9, break into the sentence, My great desire, he says, having suffered the loss of all things, and I count them but refuse to 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. Now notice, the righteousness which is from God, by faith. Now how much of the righteousness is from God? The totality of it.

30:49 The righteousness of justification comes from God. It is a God-righteousness objective to us, and the Apostle Paul wants to be found in possession of that righteousness and that alone. Professor Murray commenting on this very phrase, as to how the righteousness of justification is designated as the righteousness of God rights, it should be noted that this righteousness is not our own, not of the law, but a righteousness revealed, a righteousness of the faith of Christ. The emphasis upon this phrase, the righteousness of God,

31:34 can perhaps be most adequately and pointedly expressed by saying it is a God-righteousness. And to assess the force of this designation, we may express it negatively and positively. Negatively, it's contrasted, not only with human understanding, unrighteousness, but with human righteousness. It is not of human origin, not of human authorship, not of a merely human quality.

32:02 You see, whatever righteousness God works in us is still a human righteousness, even though He works it in us. But the righteousness of justification is a God-righteousness. A human righteousness, however high in attainment, however perfect it might be in character, could never measure up to the demands of the situation which God's justification of the ungodly contemplates. Herein lies the iniquity, and I love his vigorous terminology.

32:34 Herein lies the iniquity of every doctrine, Pelagian, Romish, Arminian, or liberal, which conceives of human righteousness, whether it be that of character or performance, as constituting or contributing anything to the justifying, justifying righteousness. Positively stated, it is a God-righteousness not simply because it is provided by God, approved by God, bestowed by God, but chiefly because it is a righteousness with divine quality or property.

33:12 It meets the demands of God because it is a God-produced righteousness. Not only does it warrant the justifying act, but it demands it. When Almighty God puts to the credit of a sinner a righteousness of His own creation, a righteousness objected to us, provided in the person and work of His Son, Almighty God is conferring that which is irrevocable, that which is inviolable, because it is a divine righteousness. That's me.

33:50 I stopped quoting Professor Murray. Thank you. Two sentences ago. So then, why do we insist, when we think of justification as to its grounds, on what basis can I believe with all my heart that all of my sins are pardoned, past, present, future?

34:10 And the pardoning God not only pardons all my sin, so that I have no more dealings with my sin in the courtroom which demands death, hell, and judgment. I have still ongoing dealings with sin, yes, and they are deep and often traumatic and real, but never again do I have to deal with my sins in terms of the offended judge of the universe sitting in his majestic robes, ready to crush the offender. No. No.

34:46 Forever dealt with. On what grounds can I be confident that is so? And further, that that offended God, who has fully pardoned all of my sins, accepts and treats me as though I had perfectly kept His law in every thought and word and deed for every moment of my life, so that there is absolutely nothing that can be added to the basis on which God treats me that way, because He has made me that way in the reckoning of the court of heaven. What's the ground?

35:24 Not for anything wrought in us or done by us. How do we know that that's the righteousness of justification? Because that's the designation it is given. It is the righteousness of God.

Biblical Reasons Why Justification Must Be External

35:39 But secondly, because of where it is located. Where is this righteousness located? If I get to that location, it's mine. If I miss that location, it's not mine.

35:55 Where is it located? And the teaching of the Bible is very clear that it is located in Jesus Christ. It is located in Jesus Christ. Several key texts.

36:11 Romans chapter 8 and verse 1. Here's the location. There is therefore now, in the present, for the true believer, as we'll see in a quote that I have reserved to the end of the message from J. I. Packer,

36:32 there is therefore now, right now, no condemnation for the justified man or woman the day of judgment, as far as dealing with sin judicially, has come and gone. No condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. The righteousness that results in no condemnation, full acceptation, what's its location? In Christ Jesus.

37:02 Not a half of it. Waiting for some of it to be located in me? Even the good and great and glorious works God's going to effect in me? No, no, no.

37:14 Not for anything wrought in me. Its location is in Christ alone. Blessed be God. To those who are in Christ Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1.30.

37:30 Hear the text, believers. You ought to memorize. Feed upon them. But of Him, that is by God's doing, are you in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness?

37:49 He is made unto us righteousness when we are found in Him. The location of our righteousness, of justification, is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21. Him who knew no sin, speaking of our blessed Lord, He God made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

38:22 There's the location of justifying righteousness. It is in Christ. And the whole of it is in Christ. Hence Paul's words that we looked at a few moments ago.

38:35 That I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, but the righteousness which is of God and by faith is located in Christ Jesus. And in this way the ancient prophecy of Jeremiah has come to beautiful fulfillment. Turn with me to Jeremiah 23. A chapter that begins with an indictment to the false shepherds of Israel.

39:09 And God's promise to gather a remnant and to set up good shepherds over them. It's a new covenant promise. And then picking up the reading at verse 5. Behold the days come, says the Lord.

39:24 I will raise unto David a righteous branch. Remember the Davidic covenant we studied in the last couple of weeks. In the Lord's day. God says through the prophet Jeremiah, I remember that word spoken to David.

39:37 That when he is in his grave, I'll raise up one after him whose kingdom shall be forever. Here's God's promise renewed, reiterated. I will raise unto David a righteous branch. He shall reign as king and deal wisely.

39:55 Shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah shall be saved. Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called.

40:09 Jehovah, the covenant God, who is now revealed as Jehovah Jesus. Jehovah Jesus is our righteousness. How much of our righteousness is located in him? All of it.

40:26 In terms of justifying righteousness, it is all in him. Jehovah is our righteousness. So, when the old pastor theologians were sitting there seeking to put into the answer of the catechism, what is justification? And they wrote the words, not for anything wrought in us.

40:54 They understood the biblical teaching we've considered thus far. That, how that righteousness is designated is the righteousness of God. Precludes anything wrought in us. Where it is located in Christ, precludes anything wrought in us.

41:15 But then thirdly, we're going to see from the scriptures not only how it is designated, where it is located, but of what is it comprised. What is the stuff of justifying righteousness? And though we're not going to go into great detail now, because that comes later in the positive, but for Christ's obedience, Christ's satisfaction, but just a teaser as to what is to come, of what is that righteousness comprised? Well, the teaching of the word of God is, in passages such as Romans 5, 8 and 9, with Romans 5, 19,

41:58 II Corinthians 5, 21, and many others, We'll come to proposition number three that our justifying righteousness is comprised solely and completely of the obedience of Christ and His substitutionary death for us. But suffice it to say in trying to nail down this point today, the scriptures tell us it's by the obedience of the One that we obtain righteousness. Not our obedience plus His, even an obedience inwrought by the Holy Spirit. It is because He was willing to be made sin for us that we are constituted the righteousness of God in Him.

42:43 So when we take this... This broad testimony of the Bible in answer to the question, what is the righteousness of our justification?

42:55 When we consider how it is designated, the righteousness of God, where it is located in Christ, how of what is it comprised, the perfect obedience and the substitutionary death of Christ, God cannot speak more clearly about the way... ...that we have escaped for sinners in real and mortal spiritual danger.

43:20 Would you escape my wrath in such a way that none of my attributes as a holy, a just, and a righteous God are in any way stained or diminished, but all of them highlighted in their full glory that I may be both just and the justifier of the One who believes in my Son. I've provided a righteousness totally external to...

43:45 ...who you.

43:46 It has nothing to do with my work in you, but wholly to do with the work accomplished by my beloved Son. Well, we've looked at the assumption that is in the words, not for anything wrought in us, the biblical witness to this truth that our righteousness, our justifying righteousness as to its designation, its location, and its composition...

44:15 ...is all external.

44:16 External to us. Now, thirdly, what are the biblical reasons for this fact? Is this all arbitrary stuff? Let me give you two very clear biblical reasons why, if you and I will ever receive this kind of a righteousness, it has to be this way and there is no other.

44:36 Reason number one.

44:39 God's work in us to change us could not alter our relationship to the law we have broken. And to the guilt we have incurred. Think for a moment. Why have we broken the law of God?

44:55 Because we are sinners by nature. Behold, David says, not as an excuse of what he did as a middle-aged man, but as the humbling expression of awareness that he did what he did because he was who he was from his mother's conception. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. We do.

45:19 We do what we do because we are what we are. Now, that being so, we have violated the law of God. We have incurred and provoked the God of heaven to damn us for our sins. Well, suppose God says, I don't want to damn him.

45:36 So I'm going to so change him and so purify his nature, his whole being, that he will have a perfected heart here and now. A heart that will give birth...

45:49 A heart that will give birth to nothing but holy thoughts and holy emotions and holy desires and will find its way out into holy deeds. And suppose from the moment you believed in Christ, there was no stain of sin left in you of motive, of desire. God perfectly purified your spirit. Suppose he did that.

46:11 He doesn't, but suppose he did. What does that do to the guilt you incurred for all the times before he did it?

46:21 What does it do to it? Does each virtuous deed cancel out one's sin? No, because God's word says, the wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

46:35 So you see, if God's work in us were in any way a contributing factor to our justification, God would cease to be the God who means what he says.

46:50 Sin deserves wrath. Sin receives judgment. Sin deserves judgment. Sin deserves judgment.

46:53 Sin deserves judgment. Sin deserves judgment. Sin deserves judgment. Sin deserves judgment.

46:54 And no amount of his work in us, changing us from sinners to saints, could in any way silence the thunders of a broken law, which demands that almighty God maintain the honor of his character as a holy and a just and a righteous God by judging our sin.

47:20 Well, that's why anything wrought in us cannot contribute to our justification. And secondly, according to the scripture, God's work in us in this life, though miraculous and real and progressive, is imperfect.

47:41 His work in us is miraculous.

47:44 Aren't you at times a mystery to yourself? You say, you know, I really love singing tunes. At times I really love praying. I once loved being a scoundrel and dishonest and conning people and manipulating people.

48:08 I didn't love church. It was the worst thing in the world. It was the worst thing in the world when Sunday came. Long sermons.

48:16 Those hymns with the V's and Vows still in them. You know, nice contemporary beat. Not my kind of music.

48:24 But I love them now. Are you ever an amazement to yourself? I hope you are. That's because of God's work in you.

48:32 His work in you. It's real. It's powerful. It's amazing.

48:36 At times we're a mystery to ourselves. But my friend, listen. None of that work in you is perfect here. And it won't.

48:45 It won't be. God has chosen that His miraculous, supernatural, wonderful, real, progressive work in us now will not be perfected until we see Him. Either through the door of death or at His second coming. Then we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

49:04 And anyone who's out of touch with reality enough to think He has a perfect work in him now, God calls him a liar in 1 John. If we say we have no sin, we lie. And we do not the truth. We don't know reality.

49:17 When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, what did He weave into their daily prayers? Forgive us our trespasses. Among a company of people who what? They also still trespass.

49:30 Even as we forgive those who trespass against us. You see, God's work in us, in this life, is at best imperfect. But the righteousness which alone can stand the scrutiny of the old, seeing, all-knowing judge of heaven, must be an absolutely perfect righteousness in which there is no deviation from what God commands or forbids and full compliance with all that He requires. You must love Him every millisecond of every minute of every day of every week of every month

50:12 with all the heart, the mind, the soul, the strength. If you did that, God would say, yes, I declare you righteous for your performance. I'll weave that into the fabric of the righteousness I procured in my Son. But until you can present that, there is nothing wrought in you that can contribute to your justifying righteousness.

The Liberating Truth: Luther's Paradox and Its Application to Believers

50:40 Am I making any sense, folks? Or am I just preaching myself into a glory fit? Anybody else? Asking the wonder of this.

50:51 This is the gospel. No wonder the devil. The devil hates it. You see what this does?

50:56 This gets your nose out of your own navel, groveling in dispirited, discouraged, morose, dark spiritual experience and enables you to say with Luther, and this is what I trust God will drive home to your heart as I come to my final application, first to the saint and then to the sinner. Luther loved to state things in paradox. And he had to do it for his own soul. You know how he as an Augustinian monk struggled with the sense of his guilt and all of his pilgrimages and his fastings and almost killing himself with asceticism when the truth dawned upon him.

51:42 There's a righteousness of God provided by God external to me. And he said, when I lay hold of that by faith in Jesus Christ, Luther then came up with this. Marvelous statement. It seems, it's paradoxical, yes, but it's understandable.

52:03 He said this,

52:05 Outside of myself and in Christ, I am not a sinner. Myself and in Christ, I am not a sinner.

52:23 Outside of Christ and in myself, I am yet a sinner. And he held to both truths, with a death grip. You see what he was saying? When I contemplate who and what I am outside of Christ, at my best, I am still a sinner.

52:48 When I am at my most passionate moments of devotion,

52:54 my soul, God deserves more undivided passion from my soul.

53:02 You know that. I know that. What do I know when I've blown it? And I've entertained, the unkind, unloving, unclean thought.

53:13 And I've let dirty feet drown through my mind. Looked upon images I should not have looked upon. The words that come out of my mouth, the sarcasm and bitterness and biting and stinging and whipping others.

53:31 I know outside of Christ and in myself, wretched man that I am. The good that I would, I do not. And the evil that I would not. That I do.

53:42 Outside of Christ and in myself, I am still a sinner. But at one and the same time, having gone out of myself and into Christ by faith, I am no sinner. I am justified. I'm declared as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself.

54:07 For He is the Lord, my righteousness. And what He is, in the judgment, or the court of heaven, I am in Him. I hide under His robes. And when the Father looks upon Him and says, Oh, my perfectly righteous Son, never once did You deviate from my law in thought, in word, in attitude, in motion of mind and heart, or deed.

54:34 My Son, I'm pleased with the righteousness of the life that You lived. I say, Oh God, I'm under His robe. And I'm hidden in Him. You're saying that to me.

54:48 That I have a righteousness in Christ, in the court of heaven. That ten million years in heaven will not improve upon one wick. I have it now. It is mine here and now.

55:08 Child of God, this is the gospel. This is what liberates people to be free to serve others. This is what liberates people from the junk and the toys and the tawdry trinkets of this world that occupies so much time and energy and interest and concern. This is what enables the heart to soar in selfless abandonment to serve others.

55:41 Child of God, has this truth gripped you? Does it grip you this morning as the Spirit of God brought it home with fresh power to you? You see, the way you came at first is the way you've got to learn to live. When God stripped you and showed you what you were as a sinner and took away all your silly notions that was anything in you or anything you could do that would bring you acceptance and you threw yourself upon Christ and Christ alone.

56:14 You said from the heart, though not necessarily with these words, this was your disposition, nothing, nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling foul. Foul I to the fountain fly. I don't get cleaned up and then come to the fountain. No, I go to the fountain foul.

56:36 Wash me, Savior, or I die 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 just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one's sin. One dark blot to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot. O Lamb of God, I come.

56:59 That's how you came. But my friend, what's happened? Because God's wrought some changes in you and it's evident he's doing something in you, now you begin to weave into the fabric of your confidence of acceptance your performance. And that seems to work when you've been faithful in your devotions, you haven't blown your cork, to your wife, or to your husband.

57:24 You've been unusually sweet and compliant to your parents. But what do you do when you run and out of your fantastic self-defensive word that cuts and wounds your loved one? What do you do when your eyes light upon the forbidden object and you look and you're lost? What do you do then?

57:52 You go groveling for a couple of days. You don't open your Bible and pray as I'm too dirty to go pray at it. It's hypocrisy. You're a critic.

57:59 You see what you've done? You've allowed the measure and the nature of God's work in you to become a ground of your confidence of your acceptance with God and you've got to learn to stop it. You've got to learn to live in the disposition with which you first came.

58:22 Until you do, you'll make no substantial progress as a child of God.

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

58:30 Then to you who are unconverted,

58:33 one man has said, this truth is both the stumbling block and the glory of the gospel. It's the stumbling block. But when you are told if you would ever have acceptance with the God of heaven now and in the day of judgment to which you are moving, you must have it based totally on something external to you. Not based upon anything you have or can or ever will do or even based upon anything God may be pleased graciously to do.

59:05 Nothing is more humbling and yet more glorifying to God than to say it's all in Him. It's all from Him, of Him, through Him and unto Him are all things pertaining to our salvation. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

59:25 That's the stumbling block.

59:29 Surely there's something in me that can commend me to God. Something God's doing in me that can give me brownie points with God. No, my friend. When Paul says, who is he that condemneth?

59:41 He doesn't say, well, nobody can condemn me because I'm Paul the apostle. I'm Paul the preacher. I'm Paul the sufferer. He said, no, no.

59:52 It is Christ that died. Yea, rather there is risen from the dead who is also at the right hand of God who makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of God? When Paul thinks of sin and condemnation, all the focus of his life, his mind is upon Christ.

60:11 And what Christ has done and Christ continues to do, nothing on the apostle. You and I must learn to live that way. That this is not only the stumbling block but the glory of the gospel. But when someone has begun to see what he or she really is, as God describes you, what you are as a sinner condemned, defiled, guilty, bound, a slave of sin, defiled by sin, a lover of sin, a condemned criminal in the court of God.

60:43 And you say, how in the name of any rational perspective can I get out of this mess? God says the answer is in another. Go out of yourself into him by faith. And in him, he'll break the chains.

61:00 He'll cleanse you by his blood. He'll snap the power of sin that holds you in its grip. And he will then receive and accept you. As righteous in his sight, clothing you in the righteousness of his own beloved.

61:17 My dear sinner friend, that's the gospel. It's that gospel that liberates people. It's that gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. So we come around full circle.

Conclusion: Summary of Grounds and Prayer

61:30 And I said I'd give you that quote from J.I. Packer. Too much time has gone.

61:38 Let me start, close where I began. What is the ground? What is the ground of our justifying righteousness? Not anything done by us.

61:50 Nor anything wrought in us. You have the biblical answer. We know this is true because of the way in which it is designated. How is it designated?

62:02 Righteousness of God. Where is it located? In Christ. Of what is it comprised?

62:09 His perfect life. His substitutionary death. Plus nothing. And it must be so because no amount of his work in us could ever cancel the demands of a broken law.

62:22 And his work in us in this life at best is imperfect and could never, never be the stuff of earning our acceptance before God. May God grant that this truth will be written upon our hearts and may become the stuff by which we live until we see him face to face. Let's pray. Our Father, we confess that these things are so far beyond us.

63:02 And with your servant of old, when we attempt to speak of them, we feel we do but mumble and stutter. But we thank you. You've promised that your word that goes forth from your mouth would not return to your void. And insofar as your servant has rightly handled your word, we pray that that word will not return to your void.

63:23 Amen. May it prosper in that whereunto you've sent it. We believe that it was your purpose to send it to bring fresh joy and stability and confidence to your people. To call some out of darkness into light, out of condemnation into a state of acceptance.

63:42 Lord, bless your word to the ends for which you've sent it. And to you be the praise and the honor we plead in Christ's name. Amen.