Transcription
We're in a series on the book of Romans, also known as the Gospel according to Paul, you might say. And so, we're learning about the theological ramifications of our salvation. It's so exciting. So, if you have your Bibles, I'm fighting to determine me to Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4, where, and I feel like a broken record, we come to a very, very significant passage. Significant for three reasons.
First of all, because there are many people, both in the church and outside the church, who believe they can work their way to heaven. If you'd ask most people, "Do you believe in heaven?" Most people will say, "Yes." If you ask them, "Are you going there?" Most people will respond, "Yes." And then if you ask them, "How do you know?" What most people are going to do is they're going to give you a list. "Well, I'm a good person. I gave money to the hurricane relief. I'm a member of a church. I try to be nice to people. I believe in God. I believe in, in the man upstairs. I, I'm my grandma, she was godly. My, my, my grandfather, he was a preacher." Or, or sometimes people say, "Well, you know, I'm Methodist, or I'm Baptist, or, you know, I was raised Pentecostal." And people have a list of things that they believe qualify them for heaven.
Second, there are many Christians who believe that in order to be accepted by God, they have to do a list of things. And their list might include things like, "Read their Bible every day, or pray more, or maybe if they've sinned, cry more, or do more, or stop doing certain things." And then there are some people who often talk of salvation in terms of Christ forgiving their sin. So, if you ask them, if you said to somebody, "What does it mean to be a Christian?" Well, "It's when Jesus forgives you of your sin." Which, while true, is only about a third of what salvation, and maybe less, is all about. Most believers, I would venture to say, do not understand the foundational concept of salvation. And consequently, the spiritual formation of their life is less than it ought to be, with the result that people find themselves caught up in a works righteousness rather than doing what they do as a response to His righteousness in their lives. Or people go through a series of questions or angst regarding guilt because they don't understand salvation.
So, for the next few moments, I want to talk, I want to look at Romans chapter 4. It's sincerely one of the greatest passages in all the Bible because it explains how you and I receive salvation. So, before we get started, ere, turn to your neighbor and say, "Salvation is the best thing that could ever happen to you." Because it is. Now, it just is.
A background, before we jump in the text, what I want to do is I want to give you a little bit of a background, a little bit of an explanation. I think it'll help you see then what's happening in the text and apply it to the text. And so, it'll help if we understand that salvation is essentially a three-part process. And within the framework, and I'm going to use theological words because theological words, we shouldn't shy away from. Just telling you you're smart, you can pick this up, you can understand this. First time you've heard it might seem like a little much, but if you hear it a few times, you get used to it, you get comfortable with it, and it helps you understand what we're talking about when we talk about the Lord's work in our salvation. It's a three-part process.
There's justification, which we're going to talk about in Romans chapter 4 and chapter 5. There is sanctification, which we're going to talk about in Romans chapter 6 and chapter 7. And then there's glorification, which we're going to talk about in Romans chapter 8. So, there's three parts to salvation. In a very real sense, there, it involves past, present, and future for the believer. There's a sense where you would say, "Justification, I was saved." That day that God justified me, then ongoing in the life of the believer is sanctification. So, a believer would say, "I am being saved." "I am being renewed." "I am being conformed into the image of Christ." "I'm becoming more and more like Jesus." That's what sanctification means. And then there's glorification. "I will be saved." So, I was saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved. The fullness of my salvation happens in that moment when His face I see, and I am transformed and eternally free from every vestige of sin, and I'm living in a glorified body in a glorified state, doing, just enjoying the glory of God in a whole new way. That's when I am, I will be saved. Glorification.
Now, Romans chapter 4 is about that first phase of salvation called justification. So, just to get us all on the same page of justification, because a lot of times, if you ask people, "What does justification mean?" Here's what people say if they've been around church at all. "Just as if I've never sinned." Which is really a faulty definition of justification. So, if you've heard that, just say, "Man, somebody taught me poorly, or I picked something up in first grade and never went beyond that." So, not bad to learn things in first grade, but you've got to add to what you learned in first grade, or you don't go as far, right? So, "Just as if I never sinned" is really an inadequate definition.
Let me give you a definition. I want to snooze. Justification is the act of God whereby He forgives the unsaved person's sin and imputes, and I'm going to give you several words here because "impute" is not a word that we use often. So, it's a great theological word, but I'm going to use some other words so that you don't get hung up on "impute." I don't ever use "impute," you know. So, and imputes, credits, or assigns to the sinner the righteousness of Christ when through faith they believe. Justification is the act of God whereby He forgives the unsaved person's sin and imputes, credits, or assigns to them the righteousness of Christ when through faith they believe.
So, just by way of review, you remember in Romans chapter 1 through chapter 3, we saw that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous, not even one. Every person is guilty of sin before God. The court of heaven has issued the verdict, and it's guilty. If God is just, and He is, then He must both oppose evil and punish evil. Man is an eternal being made in the image of God. Therefore, eradication or annihilation of any individual is impossible. Therefore, the punishment for sin is the eternal incarceration in a place called hell. But God, who is rich in mercy, sent His Son, His only begotten Son, to live a righteous life, and then on the cross to bear our sin and the punishment for our sin, and He tasted death for us that you and I might live. All of which makes justification possible.
Now, as we look at justification, three components. I hope you take notes here. Three components to justification, or let's say salvation, to being saved. Three things that have to happen in order for any man, woman, boy, or girl to be saved. The first component: God forgives sin. In that wonderful, God forgives sin. The Bible says, "As far as these days from the west, so far has He removed our sin and transgression from us." But here's the fact of the matter: salvation is certainly more than God's forgiveness of sin. So, that is a glorious and wonderful part of it. That is not all of it. And I would suggest you that is simply a third of it. You can forgive somebody and remain distant from that person. What you can do is somebody you have wronged might say, "I forgive you. I'm not going to take you to court. I'm not going to sue you. I'm not going to seek your punishment." But that doesn't mean that you're reconciled and you're enjoying relationship. Forgiveness is only the first step that leads to reconciliation. And when we know this, in 2 Corinthians, "God was reconciling the world to Himself." God wants relationship with people.
In our case, now, think about this. If God forgave you, forgave me, I'd still be unrighteous. Because the fact of the matter is, we don't become sinners when we sin. We sin because we are sinners. This is a critical thing for people to understand. That baby in the cradle, cutest can be, is as big a sinner as you want to have. The sin nature's in that child, evidenced by fits of anger, rage, and emotion that if, if acted out in a larger body, would be deadly, right? So, we sin because we're sinners. God can forgive us. But in order to have right standing with God, in order to approach God, in order to have relationship with God, we have to be righteous. And righteousness is something none of us possess on our own. You can be forgiven and still be unrighteous. Hence, our need not only for God's forgiveness of us, but the second component is when God credits, assigns, some theologians use the word "reckons," "imputes," Christ's righteousness to our account. Our righteousness account is empty. We are bankrupt when it comes to righteousness. There is no one righteous, not even one. We don't possess it. We don't have it. We can't achieve it. We can't attain it. It, it is an impossibility for us. And without righteousness, I cannot approach God on my own. Through my own good works, I cannot fill my righteousness bank account to make myself acceptable to God. That we've talked about. And the Bible is clear on this. The Bible says, "My righteousness, your righteousness, our righteous, our righteous works are as filthy rags."
So, when I had no righteousness in my account, what did God do? God put Jesus' unlimited righteousness in my bank account. He took my empty righteousness bank account and He not only forgave my sin, but then He filled my empty bank account on terms of righteousness with the unlimited righteousness of Christ, which clears my guilt before God, which absolutely clears my sin debt. I don't become righteous. I am declared righteous. Let me say it again: I don't become righteous. I'm declared righteous. And it's critical to understand that because what happens to us is when people, when believers run around and we're telling you, "Oh no, you're righteous, you're righteous, you're righteous." But then you, you just finished up a conversation where you gossip, where you lied, where you, you're like, "Well, I don't feel righteous. I didn't act righteous. So, how can I be righteous?" If I don't feel? The reason is, you are righteous. You're forgiven, and you have a righteousness not your own, granted by the One who knows true righteousness, that's the Father, and the One who is true righteousness, that's the Son. And He gave your righteousness, righteousness, and He took your unrighteousness on the cross. I am now, as a believer, at salvation, forgiven, clothed in righteousness. Now, my own clothed in righteousness, whose righteousness? Christ's righteousness.
Let me use this scriptural illustration. It'd be like the richest man in the world. He's driving down the street, and he sees an absolutely destitute beggar, who's, who's thirty, who's whose nearly naked, who has absolutely nothing. And this, this multi-billionaire is going to a party that he's hosting. Only in order to come to this particular party, the people there are going to have to, they're going to have to be spiffed up. They're going to have to have a billion dollars net worth in their bank account because that's who he wants to hang out with. And they're going to have to have an Armani suit. And he invites the beggar and he says, "I'd like you to come to my party." And the beggar says, "Well, I would absolutely love to come to your party. I would love to hang out with you. I would love to be around you. But obviously, I'm not even in your class. You live in a whole different world." And the multi-billionaire says, "No, come with me." And he arranges, he gives him a bath, he clothes him in an Armani suit, and he puts a billion dollars in his bank account. I mean, that's what God does. God forgave us. He gave us a bath. He removed our sin from us. Then He credited a righteousness to our account and clothed us in that righteousness of Christ. So, we are forgiven, we are clean, and we are clothed in Christ's righteousness. That's the second component of what happens at salvation.
Third, the only way for people to receive justification is through faith. The only way you and I can ever be justified, the only way you and I can be forgiven and have credited to our account the righteousness of Christ, which gives us right standing with God and, and, and makes it possible for us to relate to Him, is when we by faith respond to the message of salvation. Here's what happens though. I have people, and while certainly faith is, is spiritual, and faith is supernatural, I have had people who have told me, "You know, the problem for me, pastor, is that I just don't have faith. I just don't, I just don't. The whole faith thing, I'm just not really, I'm just not, I'm just not sure where that is." So, what is faith? When we're talking about faith, let me give you a little acrostic that I think will help you.
Number one, faith, first of all, is facts. It's you and I hearing the facts about the gospel, hearing the facts about who Jesus was, what Jesus did for us, what Jesus accomplished for us, and hearing the facts about our own sinfulness, hearing the facts about judgment, hearing the facts about God's righteous wrath, hearing the facts about eternal damnation, hearing the facts about the fact that there's no one righteous, not even one, and there's nothing you and I can do to make ourself righteous before Him. Those are the facts.
Number two, it's agreeing with the facts. You could know the facts and not agree with them. You can know the facts and say, "You know what? I don't agree with that. I don't, I don't think that's true." But faith says, "If I, I get the facts, I, I see the facts, and I agree with the facts." I agree that Jesus died for my sin. I agree that His blood covers me from all my sin. I agree that God is going to give me a righteousness not my own. I agree that God loves me. I agree if I don't do that, I face eternal judgment. I agree.
Number three, I individualize it. I take it into my heart. I realize I apply it to myself. I say, "Listen, if the facts say that all have sinned, then one of the all is me. If the facts say, 'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord,' then if I call on the name of the Lord, I will be saved." So, we're talking about a personalization of of what we've heard on the facts and an agreement with the facts.
And then, he trusts. So, now what happens is I'm saying, "I'm not only internalized, don't see how it applies to me and want to participate in it, but I am going to trust that what I've heard is true. I'm going to trust that God is going to receive me." It's a problem for a lot of people because I'd like to people all the time would say, "Well, no, no, no. You know, I'm, I want to start coming to church, but I gotta quit smoking first." You know, quitting smoking is not going to save you, and it's not going to make you more acceptable to God. Furthermore, smoking is not going to send you to hell. May make you smell like you've been there, but it's not going to send you there. But what people do is they have this list of things where they're going to, they're going to, they're going to get themselves ready. They're going to make themselves acceptable. But no, no, no, no, no. Faith says, "A trust that He receives me, and that He's the one who forgives, and He's the one who assigns righteousness, irrespective of what I am or where I've been."
Amazing. Hope. What is hope? Hope is anticipating God's goodness in her life. Hope is saying, "Man, now I'm like, man, I can't wait to see what God's gonna do. I can't wait to see the way God's gonna work in my life. I can't wait to see the plans God has for me. I can't wait to see what this is going to be like walking with the Living God in righteousness, in relationship, totally forgiven. Wow." And it's only gonna get better and better because He's promised me heaven. That's faith. That's faith.
And that takes us to Romans 4. Let me lay a little bit of a groundwork then for you in terms of just Old Testament, New Testament. People have always approached God in the same way. Old and New Testament, it didn't make a difference. You had to be justified by faith. Wasn't you say, "No, no, they had sacrifices. They did this. It was keeping the law." No, no. The law never made anybody righteous. The law never brought about anybody's forgiveness. The writer of Hebrews says the, the blood of bulls and goats could not, could not get a person's forgiveness because that blood can't cover sin. It was simply pointing to the need for a sacrifice greater than a bull, greater than a lamb, greater than a goat. And the one who is greater is greatest of all, Jesus Christ. He is God's greater covenant. He's a greater sacrifice. He's a greater priest. He's a greater. This is the message of Hebrews.
So, what Paul does, as Paul uses two of the most famous people, personages in the Old Testament to explain, to show how righteous men have always come to God by faith. And he uses Abraham and he uses David. Why Abraham? Well, because whenever the writers of Scripture want to talk about faith, they invariably go to Abraham. He's frequently called the friend of God, over and over and over again. He's called the friend of God, Old Testament, New Testament. He's also the father of our faith. He's the man of faith.
So, let's pick it up in Romans chapter 4 and verse 1. "What then shall we say? Because we've had that great preamble in chapter 3 and verses 21 through 31, where it kind of lays out in brief what we're going to cover then in chapter 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. So, Paul picks it up starting with justification. "What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?" What do we learn from Abraham walking with God? If we want to learn about walking with God, which is what salvation is all about, you and I walking with God, not only in this life but in the next life. What do we learn from Abraham according to the flesh? You say, "What does that mean?" In his flesh, in his own human strength, by his own human effort. What did Abraham discover about walking with God? Did Abraham, by his own human effort, you know, like, "God, wait a minute. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna do that. And I'm gonna do that. And then I'm gonna do this." Um, is that, is that how he was made right with God?
First, too, if Abraham was justified, if he was saved by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. If Abraham could have made himself right with God by his own human effort, he could have boasted about it. He could have, if he can save himself by being good, then he could have said, "I was so good that I saved myself." And honestly, if you're one of these list people, like, "I'm a righteous person. I'll try to do this. I try to. I go to church. I've had James River. Your services are way longer." You know, you know what you're saying is, in effect, what you're saying to God is, "I was so good, I saved myself. I was so good, God just had to have me."
Romans 4, verse 2. "For if Abraham was justified by works," in other words, if it was his own human effort that got him right standing with God, got him righteousness and forgiveness and erasing of his sins, "boy, then he could boast, but not before God." What does that mean? "Before God." Such a thing is inconceivable. That that would be a way to translate it, but that's absolutely inconceivable. That's impossible because God is absolutely spotless, holy, righteous, sinless, perfect. And from His vantage point, and in comparison to Him, there is no one righteous, not even one.
So, what do we learn from Abraham? There is no one who could say, "I was so good, I saved myself." Then, what Paul does is he shows us how Abraham was saved. Look at at verse 3. "For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." Abraham believed God, and righteousness was assigned, righteousness was credited, righteousness was reckoned, righteousness was put in his account.
Now, just quickly, and I'd encourage you to write down Genesis 15, because it is really one of the most thrilling stories in the Old Testament, life of Abraham. And I'm gonna summarize it for you, but my summary is not going to be nearly as good as the scripture telling. But I want to summarize it, and I hope you'll go back and read it. Genesis 15. What you have is God makes a promise to Abraham, and He says, "Man, I'm gonna bless you, bless you, bless the whole earth through you. I'm gonna give you a son. I'm gonna give you land. I'm gonna give you descendants. If you could count the stars, you'll be able to count your descendants." And Abraham is thinking what you and I might possibly think. His, "Well, in that situation, well, how do I know, God? You're saying that, but now I've been, I've been waiting for a while on the son, and I haven't had, you know, Sarah's not conceived, we don't have a son, and you're talking about descendants as numerous as the stars. I don't even have one." And you're talking about me living in this land, and you've given me the land, but there are seven nations living in the land. There's the Canaanites, the Perizzites, there's all these people that are more powerful, violent, wicked people. I, how's this going to happen?
And in that day, what you would do is, if, if a stronger king conquered a weaker kingdom, here's what he would do. He'd make that weaker king swear allegiance to him. And here's the way it would roll. This was a part of the ceremony that was done. He would have that weaker king get some animals, cut them in half, and just put a space between each half of the animal. And then what the weaker king would do, the stronger king would stand at the end of that path, and the weaker king would walk through that path, and he would say, "I swear, I'll be faithful to you. I'll be loyal to you." Well, you can imagine if you cut animals in half and you set them that close to each half to the other half, there'd be blood. So, you're walking in the blood, getting on your sandals, it's getting on your feet, it's getting on your robes. And what you're saying is, you're saying to the, the weaker king saying to the stronger king, "Hey, listen, if I break the covenant, I deserve to have happen to me what's happened to these animals. Drawn and quartered, torn apart, punished."
So, God says, God makes His covenant with Abraham, and God says to Abraham, "Listen, take the animals, cut them in half, get ready." And Abraham knows exactly what this means. I mean, this is him pledging allegiance to God. He's gonna walk between there, and if he breaks the covenant, not going to go well for him. But then something shocking happens. Instead of Abraham walking between the animals, God does, as if to say, "Abraham, I'm making a covenant. And if you, Abraham, break the covenant, because God's never going to break a covenant, Abraham, if you break the covenant, I will pay the penalty." God was saying, "Abraham, I am so committed to blessing you, I will bless you even if it means I have to be torn to pieces."
And on the cross, what happened? I say, it puts it this way in Isaiah 53. "All of us like sheep have strayed away. We've left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all. He was oppressed, treated harshly, yet He never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter." Jesus took our place. He was torn asunder for us. And Abraham, in that moment, when it says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him, it was counted to him as righteousness," in that moment, he understood that God, at great cost, would keep His covenant with Abraham. And I believe this. I believe he understood more than what we actually read in Genesis. That he understood that God gave him insight into His redemptive plan and what Jesus would do. And the reason why I say that is because when you read in John chapter 8, it says this: "Your father," this is Jesus speaking to the, the Jewish leaders who are mad at Him, "Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad." God said, "I'm sending a Redeemer." Abraham, and He explained enough that Abraham saw it, understood it from a distance, and he believed. And in response to that believing, God credited to Abraham, He assigned to Abraham, He poured into Abraham's bank account a righteousness Abraham could never have possessed on his own. Did he earn his righteousness? No. How did he? It was a gift.
Verse 4, Romans 4. "When people work, their wages are not a gift but something they have earned." You say, "Boy, tell me about it. Y'all see my boss. I mean, when you get your paycheck from your employer, that is not a gift." You sow, "I just feel so blessed to be able to work." Yeah, but it's not a gift. You feel blessed to have the job, but you're paid an hourly wage to work a certain number of hours. You're paid a certain commission. You're paid, you do this, your employer says, "You do this, and we'll do this. You do this, we'll do this." It is a wage. It's not a gift.
Verse 5. "But people are counted as righteous." Same, same word there. Abraham believed God, and it was counted, credited, assigned. It's the Greek word *logizomai*. Used 11 times in this passage. It's a huge, huge concept. "People are credited, counted as righteous, not because of their work." Hey, I'm glad you came to church, but it didn't make God look at you and say, "You're righteous." I'm glad you're nice to people, but it doesn't make God look at you and say, "You're righteous." It's not how you earn the right standing with God. "People are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners." Your faith in God. Salvation is a gift. You can't earn it. It's not by works.
And some people say, "Well, you know, that's where, I mean, faith is kind of a work, isn't it? Because like, I believed, and so I believed, and because I believed, I received. So, I said, it's maybe a matter of semantics." Not true. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this is not from yourselves. The grace isn't from you. The salvation isn't from you. And the faith isn't from you. It's a gift from God." Like everything God does. When you read the New Testament, this is the amazing nature of God. The gracious, generous, good God. He calls us to do something, then He empowers us to do it. He calls us to believe, and then He gives us the faith to believe. To every man has given the measure of faith. But the faith isn't yours. It's Him.
Look at it. Ephesians chapter 2. "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. The grace isn't from you. The salvation isn't from you. The faith isn't from you. It's the gift of God. Not by works, so no one can boast." No one can. All boasting is finished.
Now, let me take you back to our definition of justification, which is the first step in salvation. So, we're kind of all on the same page. Justification is the act of God whereby He forgives the unsaved person's sin, wiped out, washed away, and imputes, credits, or assigns to them the righteousness of Christ when through faith they believe.
Verse 5, Romans 4. "But people are counted." You could say, "people are credited." You could say, "people are assigned." You could say, "people are reckoned." You could say, "people's empty bank account of righteousness is filled, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners." You say that, you know, sometimes, "Jonah, I don't feel very righteous." Well, your righteousness has nothing to do with how you feel. Your righteousness has to do with what He did. What He did on the cross. What He did in you. He gave you and me the faith to believe. And when you act on that little bit of faith that He gives you to believe, because a little tiny faith the size of a mustard seed will move a mountain. So, when you act on that little bit of faith He gives you to believe, then that faith begins to grow in you. But it happens by faith. Salvation happens by faith. Faith that is given by God. And it happens as God forgives sin.
Now, look at it. Verse 6. "David." Now we're moving to King David, one of the greatest kings in the Old Testament, spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it. See, here's the thing. When a person really understands, "Wow, are you serious? My sins are forgiven. All of my sins, past, present, and future." And we'll talk about that later, but it's true. Washed over with blood, sins are gone. When a person understands, "My sins are gone, and a righteousness I could never have in a thousand years, even having my sins forgiven, have created in terms of a bank account to give me a right standing with God, that was automatically dumped in there." And are you kidding me? I, man, on my own, could I have believed all this? No. But God energized me with faith to believe in Him. It's all from Him. It's all Him working in me to draw me to Him, that He might have relationship with me, because He just simply loves me that much. He went to all that trouble to do all of that so that you and I could be friends. Are you kidding me? That's amazing. The God of the universe. All what happiness, what joy. This is what David's saying of those who are declared righteous without working for it. Listen, you're righteous before God. You're declared that. You've got it in your bank account. It wasn't yours. It was His, but He gave it to you. I mean, if somebody came up to you and deposited a billion dollars in your bank account and said, "Not only are you not gonna have, are you gonna have no financial worries, you're gonna have no troubles. It's just smooth sailing from here on. It's just relationship and joy." I mean, you would be so happy, wouldn't you? Say, "Well, I don't know. Well, I don't believe you." I mean, and you know who's writing this? This is David. And he's writing this after he sinned with Bathsheba, committed adultery, then had her husband murdered in battle. He was a big, big sinner. And so is everyone in this room. David gets a glimpse of God's forgiveness, and he's like, "I can't hardly believe it. I can't believe it."
Well, let the musicians come. Verse 7, Romans 4. "Oh, what joy!" Do you see this? "What happiness." The happiness of those who've been declared righteous. And now, "Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Their sins I will remember no more." What's the worst sin you've ever committed? Does it haunt you? Does it play you? If you're a Christian, God has forgotten it. So why haven't you? God has forgiven you. So why not live in that forgiveness?
[Music]
"Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight." Some of you think when God looks at you, and the enemy loves us so because you came in here today, and during the worship, it was like, "Well, you can't lift your hands, and you can't sing because of whatever it is." Because the enemy, the accuser of the brethren, is accusing you in the presence of the Lord. And instead of listening to him, you need to be theologically informed to understand that's that's forgiven, and that's as forgiving as it's ever going to be, and it's been put under the blood. And as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our sin and transgression from us. And God doesn't see it. And, and, and so you're saying, "But I just don't feel very righteous." Well, you're not righteous, but you're clothed in His righteousness. So when God sees you, when He looks at you, this is why Paul will say later in Ephesians and, and in the New Testament throughout, "We're in Christ. We're with Christ. We're, we're, we're clothed." As the hymn writer said, "Clothed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne." To catch, yet faultless to stand before the throne. Unbelievable.
"Oh, what joy!" Some of you have lost your joy because you've never understood its forgiveness. Some of you have not experienced joy because you feel so unrighteous. You don't understand His righteousness has now become yours. Yes. "What joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared." And God forgives sin. He removes it. What joy. It's covered by the blood of Christ. Your, your sin record expunged. And I can't help but bring you up, even though we're almost out of time. I can't help but bringing up Colossians chapter 2, because I love this. "When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. But God brought you alive right along with Christ." Just like He raised Christ from the dead. He tasted death for all men, that all that men might live. Think of it. All sins forgiven. The slate wiped clean. That old arrest warrant cancelled. Nailed to Christ's cross. It's nailed. It's there. It's in the past. And it's covered by His blood. Total forgiveness.
[Applause]
Back to our definition. Justification is the act of God whereby He forgives the sinner, not the righteous person, not the person who stopped doing this and started doing that and got this together and that's getting no. Justification is the act of God whereby He forgives who? The ungodly, the sinner. And assigns, credits, imputes, reckons to who? The sinner, the unrighteous, the righteousness of Christ when they through faith, again, given by God, believe.
That's how you become a Christian. A Christian is a person who's saved. Christians are people who believe God forgives sin and assigns righteousness through faith instantaneously. Are you a Christian? Do you realize every human being faces God's just judgment for sin, and there's nothing we can do in and of ourselves to avoid it? Do you realize that there is no one righteous, not even one? Do you realize that none of your good works will be righteous enough or good enough to get you into heaven? Jesus paid it all. He did it all. He gave it all.
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Have you stopped looking at yourself, your sin, your religious effort, your moral goodness? Listen, believers, let me just say this, and hear this well. If you repented for a thousand days and wept a bucket of tears and gave away all of your money to help people and said you were sorry to every person you ever wronged, you'd be no closer to being saved than you are now. Not saying there's not a merit in those things, and we'll address those things. Right now, I'm addressing works of righteousness. There are none. But there is a response that flows from righteousness that is working on us, that is different. God justifies the ungodly when through faith they believe. That He does. Have you believed? What are you waiting for? Him.
Give so much theology. And the hymn writer had it right. "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. I come." "Just as I am." And waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot, to Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot. O Lamb of God, I come.
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