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well good morning welcome to free grace Baptist Church once again there's a few visitors out there so a special and a warm welcome to to any and all who are visiting just by way to announcements the first is for the ladies that I think you received an email those are on the email list but if you're not on the email list there are there are notices on the back on the back table you're welcome to pick up it's a matter of trying to save the date generated the 25th I was going to be a ladies fellowship and breakfast upstairs in the in the fellowship hall so ladies and young girls 14 and older are certainly welcome to come along and obviously any nursing babies so details will follow and if you want to speak to anyone you can speak to Wilhemina lutein or my wife who's down nursery this morning but anyways you both of them have papers that if you're not on email then they can give you a piece of paper that will kind of out lay it out that they will the the the other thing is very wonderful news that that we have a baptism coming up and that is Pete Fisher has requested to be baptized and that baptism will be January the 5th so the first Sunday in in the new year so we rejoice with with Peter Fisher and his wife Liz and they will also become members at free grace at that time as well so we give we give much thanks to the Lord for a work of grace in in Pete's life and I encourage you to to hear from him over the next couple of weeks as to as do the Lord's working in his life well that's let's turn in our Bibles to begin worship this morning to Psalm 29 Psalm 29 let's read Psalm 29 to begin worship and focus our hearts and minds upon the things that we're here for it this morning a psalm of David give unto the Lord o you mighty ones give unto the Lord glory and strength give unto the Lord the glory due his name worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness the voice of the Lord is over the waters the god of glory thunders the Lord is over many waters the voice of the Lord is powerful the voice of the Lord is full of majesty the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars yes the Lord splinters the Cedars of Lebanon he makes them also skip like a calf Lebanon and Syrian like a young wild ox the voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare and in his temple everyone says glory the Lord sat in throat the flood and the Lord sits as king forever the Lord will give strength to his people the Lord will bless his people with peace amen well please turn with me in your in your hymn books to the first hymn which is him number 300 he number 300 a lot you stand please [Music] [Music] well let's go to God in prayer and ask his blessing to be upon our upon our worship of time this morning let's pray our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father we come into your holy presence now through your son the Lord Jesus Christ and we are grateful Father that we get to come into your house this day to worship such a god as you a God of the God of heaven and earth the God who created all around us in the space of six days and all was very good we praise you father that you are the eternal God the God who was yesterday today and forever we praise you Lord that you that you never changed that you're always the same yesterday today and forever we praise you for all that you've given to us a knowledge of yourself through your word we thank you for that word father we praise you for that word we thank you that you have saved us to be your very own that that you have you've saved us to be your children that you've adopted us as your sons and your daughters in Christ Jesus we praise you father that you sent your son your one and only son the Lord Jesus Christ to be our friend to be our Redeemer to be our savior and how we praise you father as we gather together as your people here at free Grace Baptist Church this day here in Chilliwack that father you have been that you are well pleased to tabernacle to be with us to be amongst us this day as we worship an audience of one how we pray Lord that you would cause our hearts our minds to be lifted up this day to glory and that great God that you are that we would think think not of the week past or the week forward but rather all of our concentration all of our focus all of our love all of our attention this day will be upon the eternal God who has saved us from our sins and how we praise you Father for the gift of salvation we praise you you have saved us that you have cast our sins into the deepest part of the ocean those who are in Christ Jesus this day we rejoice in the fact that we are counted amongst that number whom you have saved we rejoice father that you are and ever loving God a God who does save we praise You Father that you have lifted ups up out of that miry clay that dot that pit that we were born into and father you've given you've removed those stony hearts you've given to us fleshly hearts hearts who would seek after you and hearts would breathe from the things of Christ we can only confess father that we do have remaining sin that we are not always as we ought to be we do not always have those yearnings those desires that we ought to have you had father we praise you that you are gracious God that you are a that you do that you do hear us when we confess our sins and and father you are you you are willing you are desirous to forgive those sins and how we pray that you would just cleanses afresh this day in the precious blood of your son the Lord Jesus Christ as we gather together as the church here we pray Lord that you would be pleased to do two cleanses afresh and and cause us the Lord to - to look into your holy law this day with through your son the Lord Jesus Christ we thank that we have that that that great High Priest that we can come to you through who is who is one who was able to there - to be with us and in a very real sense of this day he was tempted in every way such as we are and yet he was without sin so Lord we praise you that as we gather together this day that we gather as the people of God a people who are elect people who have been called in out of the world the people who are whom you have placed appraised and honor and and and glory into our lips into our into our mouths father we can sing these praises back to you that we can worship you on this the Lord's Day so Lord would you blesses they bless the Word of God as it says its heralded forth from this pulpit we prayed you bless our pastor strengthen him and in mind strengthen human spirit we pray Lord that he would know your your help and your aid this day to preach your word and we pray Lord that you would come with great power and great strength and we pray there would be on to edification and unto salvation those are outside of Christ we pray that you would awaken them cause those those stony hearts to be removed and and and given fleshly hearts we praise you and rejoice in in the fact that Peter Fisher desires to to walk in obedience and enter the waters of Baptism and and to declare his faith before others we praise You Father having worked in his heart and his life over the last number of years sitting under the Ministry of the word of God here in this place and what he has experienced Lord we pray for others perhaps our here in our midst to who are strangers to grace and know nothing of saving faith we pray Lord that you would be pleased to give to them that gift of faith that gift of repentance to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins Lord we do pray your blessing to be upon other churches here in the Lower Mainland we pray lo that you would be pleased to bless those churches that are declaring truth from their pulpits this day we pray that you would be glorified by the by the Word of God as it goes forth bless our our brethren in in Surrey and others up in Vernon at those Reformed churches we pray Lord that you would bless those ministers of the gospel this day as they declare your truth we pray Lord that you would give them unction and and health mont high to declare your truth and to be bold with the with the word of god not shaving off those rough edges but rather declaring all that the Word of God is and declares we pray Lord that you would be pleased to bless them too with the spirit of Living God as they as they declare those truths Lord we do pray for the persecuted Church we pray Lord that you would just enable them to continue on in the in the in the faith make them bold we pray that they would that they would find joy and the preaching of the gospel even though they are persecuted even though they are they are beat down yet father you are a God who is ready to help and ready to aid and we pray that you would give to them comfort and encouragement even in the midst of persecution we know Lord that you have your purposes in persecution we see it throughout the book of Acts that we are studying here on the Lord's Days and Lord we know that your purposes are our right and and our are holy and so we can only pray for them as though we were chin chained with them that you would bless them as you would embolden them and cause them Lord to not grow faint not grow weary but to to be but to be all the more encouraged as the day drawn ears towards the end we pray Lord that you would bless them and cause your church to go forward there in those places we do pray Lord for any and all who are sick and ill amongst us those here or those who cannot be here this day for those who wait appointments this coming week we pray though that you would bless bless each and every one and cause them to know your strength from day to day and we pray that they would be healed from their sicknesses from their diseases we look to You Father that you are the good that you are the God of who give life and gives us health and strength and we know Lord that you have your purposes and we pray those purposes who might be might be met out in each of their lives we pray that they would know that that help and that aid from your Holy Spirit to bear up under difficulty under under duress and we pray Lord they would that they would seek you in these days and that they would find great comfort and hope and help from your word and by your gracious Holy Spirit so Lord bless these things this day we pray that you would be pleased to cause your spirit to be here in this place and we do pray Lord that as we worship you in in in in in our worship of the hymns that we say that we sing in the Word of God that's read and the word that's opened up in the preaching our that all these things that father would be done for your honor and for your glory you'd be well pleased to to to give to us your spirit that's in Jesus precious name we pray amen well please turn with me in your hymn books to the second ham 447 447 and again Alaska stand please [Music] and please turn with me your Bibles to Acts chapter 12 Acts chapter 12 as we continue on in the book of Acts we're almost catching up to where pastor Butler is at when he is preaching through but I do remember I think it's good for us to be reminded in that when he was preaching through this tax he he quoted John Stott and I think it's just as an excellent excellent thing to keep in mind before we read the chapter because the chapter certainly opens in a very dark way in some ways but ultimately it's the it's the hand of God we see in this whole chapter opens with James dead in those first couple of verses and Peter is imprisoned and Herod seems to be triumphing but notice as we read through the chapter this morning that it ends very different than the way it opened we have at the end Herod dead and Peter is now free and the church is triumphing and I think those are just great encouragement I found that very encouraging when when he preached through this chapter that that really we need we do need to see the entire chapter we need to see the the chapter in its entirety so it's a great it's a great tongue it's just a great chapter as we as we consider that it's God that's building his church and some sometimes things may look the scourging but but the the last chapter has not been written on the on the Church of Christ as it continues to march forward triumphant well that's a beginning at beginning of verse verse 1 of chapter 12 now about that time Herod the King stretched out his hand to harass some from the church then he killed James the brother John with a sword and because he saw that it pleased the Jews he proceeded further to seize Peter also now it was during the days of unleavened bread so when he had arrested him he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him intending to bring him before the people after Passover Peter was therefore kept in prison but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church and when Herod was about to bring him out that night Peter was sleeping bound with two chains between two soldiers and the guards before the door were keeping the prison now behold an angel of the Lord stood by him and a light Shon in the prison and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up saying arise quickly and his chains fell off his hands then the angel said to him gird yourself and tie on your sandals and so he did and he said to him put on your garment and follow me so he went out and followed him and did not know that what was done by the angel was real but thought he was seeing a vision when they were past the first and the second guard posts they came to the iron gate that leads to the city which opened to them of its own accord and they went out and went down the one Street and immediately the angel departed from him and when Peter had come to himself he said now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people so when he had considered this he came to the house of Mary the mother John whose surname was mark where many were gathered together praying and as Peter knocked at the door through gate a girl named Rhoda came to answer when she recognized Peters voice because of her gladness she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate but they said to her you're beside yourself yet she kept insisting that it was so so they said it is his angel now Peter continued knocking and when they opened the door and saw him they were astonished but motioning to them with his hand to keep silent he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison and he said go tell these things to James and to the Brethren and he departed and went to another place then as soon as it was day there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had happened of Peter but when Herod had searched for him and not found him he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death and he went down from Judea to cezzah RIA and stayed there now Herod had been very angry was the people of tyre and sidon but they came to him with one Accord and having made Blastoise the personal aid their friend they asked for peace because their country was supplied with food by the Kings country so on a set day Herod arrayed in royal apparel sat on his throne and gave an oration to them and the people kept shouting the voice of a god and not of a man then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God and he was eaten by worms and died but the Word of God grew and multiplied and Barnabas and saw returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and they also took with them John whose surname was mark well it's a key verse there at the end verse 24 but the Word of God grew and multiplied of course that's what we pray for our church and our churches throughout throughout the Lower Mainland here that they would grow and be multiplied but growing truth and the truth of God's Word well let's pray our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father we rejoice in the fact that that certainly the the enemy of our soul would seek to destroy the church and get it amongst the church and destroy God's people yet father you have promised that you will build your church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against that we praise you Lord that the church is marching forward that the church is is triumphant and will be triumphal in that final day and how we praise you father that the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church and he is leading our church he is leading the church universal and we rejoice the fact that that the Lord one day all these things in this lore world will be wrapped up and all will be in that eternal bliss of heaven where there will be new new heaven and a new earth and we pray Lord that you would be pleased to cause us to be kept pure to that day we pray that you would bread that you would cause us to persevere that we would not grow weary that we would not grow faint in this lower world but rather father we would seek the best in your church seek the breast the best in the in the variety of Christ here in this place and we do pray your rich blessing to be upon the Word of God is it's preached a few minutes we pray though that you would just own the preaching on our pastor and we pray that the Spirit of the Living God would be pleased to to be here this day - as he opens up that word that would they would find a and they would find ready hearts that have been ploughed up by the Spirit of the Living God to receive that good word that would fall upon fertile soil that we would grow in the things of God grow in grace and and growing a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ Lord bless this day bless the preaching hour and we pray these things in Jesus precious name Amen well please turn with me for the last time before we do go to preaching and that will be him number 459 [Music] well please turn with me back into the book of Acts we're in Acts chapter 13 Paul's first missionary journey he's with Barnabas he's in Pacitti and Antioch he's in a synagogue of the Jews on the Sabbath day and I want to read this entire sermon this section and our focus this morning will be on the practical application when Paul exhorts the hearers to believe on Israel's Messiah so beginning in chapter 13 at verse 13 now when Paul and his party set sail from paphos they came to purga in Pamphylia and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem but when they departed from purga they came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down and after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying men and brethren if you have any word of exhortation say on then Paul stood up and motioning with his hand said men of Israel and you who fear God listen the god of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt and with an uplifted army brought them out of it now for a time of about forty years he put up with their ways in the wilderness and when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan he distributed their land to them by allotment after that he gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years until Samuel the Prophet and afterward they asked for a king so God gave them saw the son of Kish a man of the tribe of Benjamin for forty years and when he had removed him he raised up for them David as king to whom also he gave testimony and said I have found David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart who will do all my will from this man's seed according to the promise God raised up for Israel a savior Jesus after John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel and as John was finishing his he said who do you think I am I am NOT he but behold there comes one after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose men and brethren sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God to you the word of this salvation has been sent for those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not know him nor even the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath have fulfilled them in condemning him and though they found no cause for death in him they asked Pilate that he should be put to death now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb but God raised him from the dead he was seen for many days by those who came up with them from Galilee to Jerusalem who are his witnesses to the people and we declare to you glad tidings that promise which was made to the father's God has fulfilled this for us their children in that he has raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second song you are my son today I have begotten you and that he raised him from the dead no more to return to corruption he has spoken thus I will give you the sure mercies of David therefore he also says in another Psalm you will not allow your Holy One to see corruption for David after he had served his own generation by the will of God fell asleep was buried with his father's and saw corruption but he whom God raised up saw no corruption therefore let it be known to you brethren that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses beware therefore last what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you behold you despisers marvel and perish for I work a work in your days a work which you will by no means believe the one were able to declare it to you or were were to declare it to you so when the Jews went out of the synagogue the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath now when the congregation had broken up many of the Jews and devout proselytes Paul and Barnabus who's speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God on the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God but when the Jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy and contradicting and blaspheming they opposed the things spoken by Paul then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the Word of God should be spoken to you first but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life behold we turn to the Gentiles for so the Lord has commanded us I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth and when the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed and the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region but the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief man of the city raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region but they shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to Iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit amen will let us pray father in heaven we thank you again for the written word of the living and true God we know that word is like a powerful to to crush the Cedars of Lebanon and we trust that word is powerful to crush heart and rebellious hearts against you and against your truth we pray that your Holy Spirit would do that work would bring that conviction for sin and would set forth Jesus Christ that one who's altogether lovely that one who is chief among ten thousand that one in whom there is forgiveness of sins and a righteousness that avails with God father I pray that as your word goes forth here and elsewhere it would run swiftly and be glorified that it would go forth conquering and to conquer for certainly as we look around the world and was as we look around our our own situation man's chief problem is sin in rebellion against you so God blessed the gospel as it goes forth we pray that many would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and even now forgive us and cleanse us in that precious blood and fill us with your Holy Spirit and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen well as I said Paul and Barnabas are in this synagogue on the Sabbath day in pasilla in Antioch he had been invited to preach the Word of the Living God and he does that he begins by first rehearsing their own history and their own scriptures and showing how it led to Jesus Christ the Lord and then he expounds on the person and the work of Christ and then in verse 38 he gets practical with his hearers he doesn't want to just teach them data he doesn't want to just preach but a present material but rather he wants them to be saved he wants them to come out of darkness into marvelous light he wants them to know the blessing a forgiveness of sins that joyful transaction wrought out by God through the blood of his son wherein he forgives us not just of some of our sins but of all of our sins the scripture declares the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin and what a blessed reality that is so Paul wants them to be forgiven and as well he wants them to be justified so in verses 38 to 40 he highlights or rather 41 he highlights the practical response to the word of the Living God and then secondly this morning we're going to take up the response to Paul's preaching in the synagogue in verses 42 and 43 but let's look at his exhortation to believe on Israel's Messiah in verses 38 to 41 again it's practical in terms of emphasis Paul doesn't want to just show that his hermeneutic or his ability to interpret their history their scripture is superior to their them but rather he wants them to be saved that's what the people of God want remember David in that great psalm of repentance in Psalm 51 after having been cleansed after having that joy of his salvation restored to him after having that blessed communion back in his own heart life he says then I will teach transgressors your ways data ought to be the the heartbeat of each and every one of us here is to see our fellow creatures saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord Paul the Apostle tells the Philippians that were to shine as lights in this crooked and perverse generation and were supposed to hold forth the word of truth now to various degrees persons will differ not everybody's going to preach not everybody's going to go to China not everybody's going to be a missionary but everyone conquered by Sovereign Grace is able to say with that man that was blind who was able to see again I was blind but now I see I was getting my trespasses and sins and now I live I was going to hell and now I'm heavenward this is the emphasis in scripture for the people of God there's a lot of things we can certainly talk to sinners about but we ought to include this as being top priority and Paul is a great model here when he says therefore let it be known to you brethren that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sin we saw last week the redemptive focus in his preaching we only took up that first aspect in verse 38 we only looked at the forgiveness of sin but this morning we're going to look at his preaching of justification by faith alone so the redemptive focus in his preaching is twofold forgiveness of sins and justification by faith alone and we see that in verse 39 after having set forth the wonder of forgiveness through price he then says in verse 39 and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses so he preached justification again this is a an important emphasis in Scripture so I want to spend a little bit of time here as Martin Luther said I preach justification by faith every week because my people forget it every week if you rightly understand this doctrine if you rightly understand the gospel if you rightly understand the forensic nature of it it promotes peace in the hearts of God's people this is why Paul in Romans 5:1 can say therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God if you have an absence of peace with God this morning that I want to encourage you to pay close attention I want you to stand the implications involved of forgiveness and justification by faith so I want to look at three things with reference to his preaching of justification by faith alone first the explanation of justification secondly the instrumentality involved and then thirdly the necessity of it but notice in the first place with reference to the explanation the Bible tells us very clearly that God demands obedience God demands us as his creatures to do what he says in his law we saw that several weeks ago in Galatians chapter 3 the Apostle Paul cites Deuteronomy 27 cursed is everyone who does not do all things that are written in the law you have that instance in 1st Samuel chapter 15 God through Samuel the Prophet tells Saul to go and utterly destroy the Amalekites to go and destroy agag and all of the Amalekites saul says for sure I'll go do that he goes and he doesn't do that he comes back in Samuel rebukes him Samuel approves him and then Samuel by God tells him this has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity in idolatry because you have rejected the word of the Lord God also has rejected you from being king so the Lord demands obedience he demands perfection on the part of his creatures as well the Bible declares that fallen man those of us in Adam cannot render that perfection we do not obey all things that the law of God has commanded because in Adam all died and as a result of that we reject God we rebel against God we transgress God and we don't do what his law demands so you see the bad news involved in this particular situation but the Bible goes on to declare God's provision of forgiveness verse 38 and God's provision of justification in verse 39 it is a wonderful and blessed thing now the provision of forgiveness is connected to the death of Christ when Christ dies on the cross he's not there as an example he's not there just to teach us what love looks like he's there to bear the wrath and fury of God for us he is there to suffer hell for us he is there to make it such that our sins can be forgiven he is a substitute on that cross he is a wrath a bearing substitute for his people on the cross at Calvary and so we get forgiveness as a result of that obedience of Christ but as well we need a righteousness we need to be clothed in the wedding garment so that we can attend the feast we need to be washed and purified we need to be holy before God this is why the Prophet says that that it's better to obey than to sacrifice well how do imperfect sinners ever get such a spotless Ness how do imperfect sinners ever get to the place of a righteousness that avails with God that's the doctrine of justification by faith alone so when by grace we believe the truth as it is in Jesus we are forgiven of our sins but we also received the righteousness of Christ because while we were born in Adam while we were dead in our trespasses and sins while we live our lives and abject rebellion against the living and true God that wasn't the case for Jesus in the fullness of the time God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those under the law how does he do that by living for us and by dying for us and by being raised for us Christ always obeyed the implication of the emphasis in Deuteronomy 27 curseth is everyone who does not continue in all things of the law Jesus did obey Jesus did continue Jesus did persevere Jesus especially in John's Gospel you see this emphasis my meat is to do the will of him who sent me I always do that which is pleasing to my father so with reference to the gospel when Jesus dies when Jesus is raised again and when sinners believe in him we are forgiven of our sins and then we receive that righteousness of Jesus so that we may stand spotless before the throne of God Paul says it well in 2nd Corinthians 5:21 God the Father made Christ the son who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him do you see why this is gospel gospel isn't try harder be better and do more that's not good news that's good advice but that will ultimately land sinners in hell the good news is is that Christ obeyed Christ died Christ was raised and that for our justification justification is a most blessed truth that the Bible sets forth over and over and over again Paul captures the significance in both Romans 1 in Philippians 3 Romans 1:16 he says I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek for in it for in that gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith that as it is written the just shall live by faith you see that doesn't mean God's righteous perfection though that's involved but the righteousness of God in Romans 1 16 and 17 and that developed by and expounded by Paul is the righteousness that he demands and that he supplies so he not only demands this but he also supplies it through the work of his son and that comes out in Philippians 3:9 Paul says concerning his position in Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God by faith so righteousness from God received by faith alone and that brings us to a wonderful confessional sort of statement concerning justification the Westminster Shorter Catechism says justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of ice computed to us and received by faith alone again that is something to hang your soul on as a believer to be sure because we need that constant encouragement we need that constant refreshment that gospel grace brings and gives but is unbelievers you're not going to go to heaven because you respond favorably to preaching on the law you're not going to go to heaven because you gave up a few bad habits or because you've decided to start going to church the only way to heaven is through the Son of God the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world the one who said in John 14:6 I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me the gospel is good news justification is most excellent and it is a most comforting and stabilizing truth for both God's people and I hope and pray that it will serve as an enticement to those who are not God's people to come to Jesus if you look around yourself around you this morning if you're not a Christian here this morning I never want you to conclude this is a great group of people they're going to go to heaven because they're virtuous ask one of them is that why you're gonna go to heaven because that's not what they're gonna say they're never gonna say I'm gonna go based on my virtue they're gonna go based on Christ's virtue they're gonna go based on the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of Christ's righteousness received by faith alone so that's an explanation of justification if you have questions about that call write text email whatever it may be carrier pigeon because this is the most important thing that you need to know how does one pass from death into life how does one go from under the wrath and fury and condemnation of God to justified freely by His grace what is involved in that is absolutely necessary for each and every one here to know and then notice the instrumentality it's everyone who believes it's by grace through faith it is the instrumentality of faith it's not faith plus works it's not you know ninety percent faith 10 percent works it is faith alone in Scripture is conspicuous at that particular point in Romans 3:28 Paul the Apostle says ever therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law Luther and followers and the Reformed have been castigated for adding alone to the whole idea of justification no the castigation belongs to those who make it not alone to those who add works to faith Paul couldn't be any clearer here in Romans 3:28 we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from alone apart from the works of the law you see the emphasis on the instrumentality of faith in our own book go back to Acts chapter 10 Peters preaching to the household of Cornelius and he summarizes in the same sort of way that the Apostle Paul does he doesn't want to just teach them and have them learn and be cognitively strengthened in their understanding of Scripture he wants them to come to Christ he wants them to live he wants them to be saved he wants them to know the joy of the Lord is their strength and that's why he says in 10:43 to him all the prophets witness that through his name whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins I've already cited Romans 1 16 and 17 faith is emphasized Habakkuk 2:4 is invoked by Paul there and in Galatians 3 another place in Galatians 2 with reference to an emphasis solely on faith alone is found in verse 16 Galatians 2:16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified I need to understand with reference to the Galatians and you need to understand with reference to Roman Catholics they're not teaching works alone they're not teaching only works there are precious few that have actually adopted that futile road but what the Galatians are suggesting or the Judaizers affecting the Galatians are suggesting or what Rome is Tao is faith plus works no no it is grace through faith alone that's the instrumentality that's the empty hand that God gives us to receive the blessings that he gives us it is all of grace it is through faith and the emphasis is always that way Paul in Galatians 2:20 he says I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God and then notice the personalisation who loved me and gave himself for me always thought that's a beautiful description of our religion it's about personal pronouns let everybody else out there talk about what kind of pronouns they want to be identified by with reference to Christianity he died where he loved me and he gave himself for me that is most blessed most excellent and most wonderful and it's at that point that Paul then says in verse 21 I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness comes through the law then Christ died in vain now I should tell you at this point that some say that justification only involves forgiveness there's no imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that's absolutely contrary to what Paul says we need righteousness if righteousness comes through the law then Christ died in vain what's the implication we need a righteousness but it doesn't come through the law rather it is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord the Westminster Shorter Catechism again asked the question what is faith in Jesus Christ faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he has offered to us in the gospel so that blessedly simple is that beautifully metaphorically wonderful this idea of resting and receiving are metaphors for the the act of faith belief in the Lord Jesus Christ when Paul and Silas later in Acts chapter 16 meet that Philippian jailer and he says sirs what must I do to be saved they don't say well try harder be better be more lawful in your in your approach to life in society now let's believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved it's not believed and is that belief and but rather it is believed in him alone for salvation Calvin I referenced this last week his comment on John 333 now listen how simple this is he says to believe the gospel is nothing else than to assent to the truths which God has revealed to believe the gospel is nothing else than to assent to the truths which God has revealed and then one after Calvin J Gresham machen said faith is not a meritorious work the New Testament never says that a man is saved on account of this is why I keep speaking of the the instrumentality were not saved because of faith were saved through faith we're saved because of the active and the passive obedience of Jesus Christ were saved based on the reality that he is our sole righteousness that's what Scripture emphasizes back to Mei Chen he says the New Testament never says that a man is saved on account of his faith but always that he is saved through his faith faith is the means which the Holy Spirit uses to apply to the individual soul the benefits of Christ's death as I said it's the hand that receives the blessings poured out and conveyed by God Paul and the Ephesians 1:3 will say blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ how do we receive those blessings it's through faith it's not a combination of our faith and works because Romans and Galatians of the rest of the Bible tells us that could never be it is faith alone in Christ alone and in this the believer rejoices and then notice thirdly in terms of Acts 1339 the necessity so we've seen an explanation of justification by faith and emphasis on the instrumentality everyone who believes but then the necessity of this doctrine when he says in verse 39 and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses now for those of you who come on Sunday night or those of you who come to the confession study you'll know there's certain ways that we can use the law of God in a righteous way Paul says in 1st Timothy 1:8 we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully and there are three uses of the law identified by interpreters throughout the history of the church that the Bible definitely does manifest there's what's called the civil use God gives the law to restrain his creatures from being as bad as they can possibly be another use of the law is called the pedagogical pedagogue simply means child tutor the law of God shows us how far short we fall and how desperately we stand in need of God's grace and then the third use of the law is the normative the normal way that believers in Christ use the law not as an attempt to gain justification but rather as a as an expression of the fact that they have been justified freely by God's grace notice that none of those uses of the law rightly identified by theologians as uses of the law include trying to gain salvation from God that is a misuse of the law of God if you this morning saying I'm gonna just do better and then God will accept me that's never going to happen you need to listen to what I'm telling you you need to understand what Paul is saying here in pasilla and Antioch there is a necessity for justification by faith because of our place in Adam because of our rebellion against God and because of our inability to render the perfect obedience to God's law that we see so clearly in Scripture so Paul says this now now think about this Paul is in a synagogue of the Jews okay don't forget that he's not a place where antinomianism prevails and flourishes you don't know what that means that's okay you can carrier Pidgeon me that question as well he's in a synagogue of the Jews with persons who trust in Torah or law for their acceptance with God and he tells them point-blank candidly clearly he says no that could never happen by him Christ everyone who believes is justified from all things which you could not he's not saying well there was a possibility if you tried really hard if you pulled up your bootstraps and and you just you know put your shoulder to the plow you could no he says you could not be justified by the law of Moses and again I'm gonna reference what we looked at our Lord's Supper service this month Galatians chapter 3 specifically verses 10 to 14 the Apostle Paul there tells us that there is no access to God by the works of the law the Apostle Paul declares that the works are those under the works of the law are under a curse and there he cites Deuteronomy 27:26 cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written in this law the Apostle then declares that the way of acceptance with God is by faith and he appeals to Habakkuk 2:4 the just shall live by faith if that's the case then your attempt at law keeping is futile and then the third text the third emphasis that Paul gives in that brief section is the declaration that the law is not of faith and there he appeals to Leviticus chapter 18 5 you see what he's doing if faith is the instrument by which we enter into heaven based on Christ is active in his passive obedience then that law is not a faith these are two competing ways these are two various ways to try and gain or garner acceptance with God a right use of the law is never to try to gain acceptance with God by the law that's what much of the New Testament is concerned to demolish and destroy I think Fisher describes it excellently he says so that if you desire to be justified before God you must either bring to him a perfect righteousness of your own and wholly renounce Christ see it's not a mingle mangle that's the problem in Galatia and this is where Paul is in this section in pacinian Antioch this first missionary journey is about 8b 47 and 48 after Paul concludes this he writes the letter of Galatians to these churches in southern Galatia why because after he went to these places and preached justification by free grace these people called Judaizers came along and said everything Paul said is good up to a point you need to believe plus you need to be circumcised you need to obey the Jewish calendar you need to do the various aspects that are unique to Judaism and so the Apostle Paul is writing to demolish that reality that that thought rather that it's never the bit never to be the case Fisher goes on to say he says or if you desire to be justified before God you must either bring to him a perfect righteousness of your own and wholly renounce price or else you must bring the perfect righteousness of Christ and wholly renounce your own may I exhort you today that's the path to follow that that hymn we sang on the Christ to solid rock it is right after top ladies him how fast the benefits divine we just sang that recently I didn't want to redo placate that but another hymn tells us nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I claim we stand before God on that day of judgment it's never gonna be the case oh I believe Jesus plus I was a great guy I was a great girl I read my Bible four times a week I went to every meeting of the that's not gonna happen we're gonna say foul eye to the fountain fly wash me Savior or I die we're gonna cite Romans 8:1 there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus it is not a mixture of faith plus works in his faith alone and that's Paul's emphasis in this synagogue of the Jews Fisher goes on he says Christ Jesus will either be a whole Savior or no Savior he will either save you alone or not save you at all so the necessity of justification by faith is seen in the fact that we cannot be justified by the law of Moses and one more quote before we move on this is John Gill explaining justification in a way that I hope will make your heart leap those of you who know me know that I really like John Gill I mean the guy could probably fix an automobile engine I mean he's just as far as I'm concerned there wasn't much he couldn't do it he was extremely broadly read he was what's called an autodidact he taught himself basically through reading and through searching and through all of that sort of thing and you know he writes as as an 18th century Puritan ish Devine Puritanism was technically over by that time he was a particular Baptist sort of a patron saint for reformed Baptists and you know and when he writes as his theology and his commentary it's not really it's just steady sturdy 16 ounces to the pound accurate exegesis on just about everything I mean he had some some issues along the way to be short because all of us do but but there are those seasons there are those times there are those clips in his comment where it hopefully makes the soul just just soar and I think this is one of them listen to what he says he says in justification by this Christ is I'm sorry justification by this Christ in His righteousness is complete and perfect it is from all sin original and actual secret and open greater or lesser sins sins of presumption and ignorance of omission and Commission from all things the law can charge with as breaches of it from all things which the Justice of God can demand satisfaction for and from all things that Satan or a man's own conscience can justly accuse him of I think that's gorgeous beautiful wonderful expert expounding on this thing now if you say well if that's true then we can go out and sin more and more no no that's not gospel logic Paul dealt with that in Romans chapter 6 if somebody hears the reality that justification the forgiveness that God gives through the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and then concludes hey that's a good setup God loves to forgive sin I love to sin I'm gonna go out and do it Paul says what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound may it never be you died with Christ you were buried with Christ and you've been raised with Christ therefore no longer present your members as instruments of unrighteousness don't let sin reign in your mortal body no the gospel does not promote licence the gospel alone promotes holiness it is the case that when we are justified freely by grace sanctification always follows because that faith alone that justifies never remains alone but it's always accompanied by all other saving graces this is the system of theology taught by the prophets taught by the Apostles obviously taught by our Lord Jesus Christ it is grace through faith in Jesus and if you are not a believer today I hope that everything in you wants Christ I hope that everything in you says give me Jesus or I die remember Rachel to Jacob give me children or I died that ought to be the heartbeat of everyone here that is still under the wrath and curse and fury of God Almighty and that brings us to consider Paul's warning a serious warning attached to his preaching in verses 40 to 41 again Paul isn't about what I want to teach you your history and show how it terminates in the Lord Jesus let's go now and eat lunch no he wants them to know that forgiveness and justification are to be had by faith in Jesus Christ the Lord but then again and are continuing in that vein he warns them he warns this synagogue of the Jews concerning rejecting this message so again I want you to think through this and understand that what Paul is saying here is very very serious and very very important notice the caution given in verse 40 he says beware therefore less what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you that beautiful the abiding validity of Old Testament prophets the abiding validity of the Old Testament prophets in a new covenant setting Paul doesn't say well you don't need that Old Testament we just have the New Testament no Habakkuk is relative or relevant rather in per city and Antioch in the first century and it's relevant in Chilliwack British Columbia in the 21st century he tells them be beware there for last what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you and then the particular text is verse 41 behold you despisers marvel and perish for I work a work in your days a work which you will by no means believe the one were to declare it to you now this is God's response to the Prophet Habakkuk Habakkuk asked two questions of God sometimes we are told never question God and that's absolutely positively accurate you shouldn't say why oh why are all these bad things happening to me but there is a lament aspect in scripture where lament ORS like Jeremiah like Habakkuk like David the salt psalmist where Asaph the psalmist they look around they see the the destitution facing the people of God they see the the heartaches facing the people of God and they with reverence and trust see I think the way that persons will question God doesn't evidence trust it's almost a questioning to abandon but then you get to the prophets and you get to the psalmist and you'll see them say how long O Lord but they're doing in Anna posture of faith they're doing in a posture of trust the Bible is candid the Bible is clear when you become a Christian it doesn't mean that every earthly sorrow will just go away there's heartache there's affliction there's trial there's pain there's difficulty there's suffering associated with life in Christ in this current evil world and so the psalmist and the prophets before then or the prophets as well would cry out to God and so that's what a back it does and God gives the answer God gives an answer in a back ik1 five to eleven and basically his answer is this you're right Habakkuk things are messed up in Judah and I'm going to work a work in your days that you would have never believed and he is speaking specifically concerning the Babylonian captivity of Judah he is speaking about raising up Nebu cogniser now God calls Nebuchadnezzar in the Prophet Jeremiah my sir he was God's servant a means by which the Lord is going to bring to bear upon Judah the curses of the Covenant that he promised to do so in Leviticus 26 in Deuteronomy 28 so God says to a backache you're right everything is wrong in Judah so I'm going to work a work in your day I'm gonna raise up Babylon a bitter and a hasty nation a terrible people is essentially what he says and I'm gonna send them into Judah and they're gonna decimate your land now was that the answer that a backtick wanted probably not but God nevertheless answered him vanna back 'ok asks another question you know what the Lord's answer to him is aback at 2 for the just shall live by faith in the midst of calamity in the midst of trial in the midst of affliction in the midst of hardship the people of God are never devoid of their God when Babylon comes when Babylon destroys the city when they destroy the temple it is not the case that they will destroy your communion with the true and living God but back to the first question this is the answer and notice in verse 41 what Paul is doing is he's quoting from the Greek Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament despisers is not in the back at 1/5 if you turn there to the New King James again there's just different versions there's different sort of semantic range that words have and here he calls it despisers it's he's saying to the people in the synagogue both Jew and Gentile be careful what you do with this message be careful what you do with the truth of justification by faith alone be careful what you do with the reality that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins behold you despisers marvel and perish for I work a work in your days a work which you will by no means believe the one work to declare it to you one commentator bought says with reference to this word despisers he says this is the only occurrence of this term in the New Testament it refers to someone who despises or has contempt for something rejecting God's work in Christ puts one in this category now again I want you to pay close attention because this is momentous this is important this is everything notice that Paul doesn't say I know some of you had a bad upbringing I know you had Sunday school teaching that was bad I know that your church has preached and in imbalance know you've heard it you've heard the truth preached that through this man is forgiveness of sins you've heard the truth preached that through this man is justification from all things which you could not get through the law of Moses we're all on an equal footing right here and right now regardless of our upbringing regardless of our theological education or our lack of ed here's the truth here's the clarity of it in verse 38 forgiveness to Christ verse 39 justification through faith in Christ behold you despisers you need to be very cautious and careful with how you proceed from here on out because you have received the truth the Geneva Bible says the benefits of God turned to the utter undoing of them that contempt them a modern commentator brings the the thought this way he says the Prophet Habakkuk on the eve of the Chaldean or Babylonian rise to world power called on the nation's in the name of God to look with astonishment on the impending invasion as these words were reminiscent of warnings uttered earlier by Isaiah in the days of the Assyrian peril so paul now takes them up and applied them to the new situation in which god is offering deliverance through the greatest of all his mighty works great as was the disaster that overtook those who ignored the prophetic warnings an even greater disaster will befall those who refuse the gospel think about what he's saying here if you know anything of your biblical history you'll know that when Babylon came to Jerusalem it was not a walk in the park you will know that it was a time of great calamity a time of the judgment and vengeance of God Almighty against his covenant breaking people and so what Bruce suggests here is that what happened then is outdone by what happens now when persons hear the great message of redemption and forgiveness and justification by faith alone and then they despise it or they contaminate you they disregard it listen to Calvin Calvin says Habakkuk prophesies of the destruction brought upon them by the Chaldeans or Babylonians but the punishment whereby God revenge's the contempt of his gospel was more severe therefore let us accustom ourselves to fear God and reverently embrace his word lest some such thing befall us see for Paul he doesn't just present data and then go for Paul he presents the data impeccably so and then he calls men to faith he calls men to believe he calls men to experience that forgiveness of sins that justification by faith and then he warns men that if they do despite to this if they despise it revile it and disregard it and reject it then what happened in Babylon or Babylon happening to Judah is a walk in the park we're not talking about a temporal earthly judgment what they suffered in 586 BC we're talking about eternal suffering eternal punishment eternal judgment we're talking about God the Lord delivering man up to the very a boat of the devil itself that's what's in view and that's what Paul ends with in this section I think you'd be thrown out of the church today Paul we can't end there I mean come on you got it you know there's more you catch more flies with honey don't you know that Paul didn't you understand if you've never been taught about what a negative Nelly you're gonna actually leave them on that down or note you know what there is a time in seasons of life where we need to abide James for lament and mourn and weep cleanse your hands you sinners we are far too peppy far to join us far too frivolous in light of the great realities of a coming judgment on the last day I'm not saying don't have fun don't be joyful don't you know watch your kid that's not my point we are frivolous we do not care we do not think about the age to come we are more concerned to prepare for school to prepare for jobs to prepare for retirement than we ever considered the eschaton the world without end the age to come where there will be no sensation ever if you do not refute flee to Jesus Christ and believe in him the very warning that the Apostle Paul issues in Placidia Antioch will be on your head and then let's look quickly at the response to Paul's preaching in the synagogue verses 42 and 43 we'll pick up the next Sabbath verse 43 says the next Sabbath we'll pick that up the next time we get back to the book of Acts but the response to Paul's preaching in the synagogue immediately there was a desire for the gospel and a desire to follow Paul and Barnabas notice in verse 42 now there's some difference in terms of the English versions your English version may not read the way that I'm about to read this if you've got the ESV and I think the NIV and the NASB it doesn't say that the Gentiles beg that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath that's what's called a variant reading in the manuscripts I'm gonna preach it the way it's found here in verse 42 and I want to draw out a particular lesson look at what he says Luke under the inspiration of the Spirit close companion of the Apostle Paul the author of Luke of Luke and acts verse 43 so when the Jews went out of the synagogue the Gentiles Bank that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath the fact that these Gentiles begged indicates that the Gentiles understood right because I guarantee you if you understand your plight your problem if you understand what you're facing as a unbeliever then you too will want to beg for the gospel see these Gentiles heard of justification by faith alone from everything which you could not be justified by the law of Moses as far as the Gentiles that were in the synagogue or concern faith in Jesus us words will not even faith in Jesus at this particular juncture for this original crowd of Gentiles in acts 13 it was simply works do this get circumcised obey Torah and then hopefully you'll make it at the end you could see why the Gentiles now beg for this gospel of free grace why they beg that the Apostle Paul come back the next Sabbath and interestingly enough when we get there the next Sabbath guess what happens almost the whole city is there why do you think that was because the persons that were there on that first Sabbath went and told friends they said you need to come back to the synagogue next Sabbath because this man called Paul is preaching a way of acceptance with God through God's Son called Jesus Christ and that by faith alone so what happens almost the whole city shows up see religion mattered then nowadays you could run down the street telling people hey I've got free gifts for you it's in Jesus Christ it they think you're not they don't want anything to do with you they reject it wholly and completely but in this instance these persons valued this preaching why because they knew God was holy they knew they were not and they knew that through the works of the law they would never achieve acceptance with God Gentiles begging I've never in my life experienced that in terms of preaching and I'm not saying you terrible people and free grace baptized of encouragement I'm thankful to God for the encouragement that I get here but in this sense Gentiles were begging and I think the idea is is that they were begging as if their lives depended upon it because their lives did depend upon it we undervalue religion as I said today we generally I don't know if all of us do in this place but if you do you need to think through these implications Gentiles beg that they could hear the Word of God and then in verse 43 it tells us now when the congregation had broken up many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas who speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God they followed Paul and Barnabas not like Paul and Barnabas were cult leaders but they followed Paul and Barnabas because they just preached forgiveness in Christ they followed Paul and bar because they just breached justification by faith in Christ they follow Paul and Barnabus because these men had the word of eternal life remember that scene in John's Gospel in John chapter 6 when Jesus feeds the multitude and then Jesus starts to preach what we would later call reformed theology to them he would tell them no man can come to the Father except all that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out he emphasizes Sovereign Grace and a lot of the people depart from him they got the food they got the doctrine they didn't like the doctrine so they left and departed and then Jesus asks his immediate disciples do you also want to leave and what does Peter say in John 6 I think it's at 68 Lord to whom shall we go you have the words of eternal life in other words you're what we want you're what satisfies you're the one that brings forgiveness well I think the scene is the same here they followed Paul and Barnabas because these men spoke the truth as it is in Jesus Christ and I love what Paul does he persuades them to continue in the grace of God you see brothers and sisters that's what we need yes we need to put on or put off the deeds of the body we need to take no prisoners we need to chop off right arms metaphorically please don't go do that we need to gauge out right eyes again metaphorically don't go do that certainly all those things are true brethren but it's in the context of the grace of God if you are struggling with temptation if you are struggling with sin if you are struggling with remaining corruption yes duty yes alarm clocks but always God's grace how do we persevere how do we go from the point of justification to our place in heaven it's grace grace and more Grace and that's what they called them unto persuaded them to continue in the grace of God well brethren in conclusion we see first the content of the gospel it's not us and our religiosity the content of the gospel is not us and our warm feelings the content of the gospel is the life the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ that's what Paul emphasizes in the synagogue in facility in Antioch it's all about Jesus the good news is not that I have a time every day to read my Bible no the good news is is that Christ came into this world to save guilty vile helpless wretched sinners like you and I secondly the response to the gospel it's faith belief assent to the propositions concerning the life the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ to believe everything that the Bible says to believe everything that scripture testifies but the chief element the most principled act of saving faith is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to receive him and to rest upon him alone for salvation thirdly the blessings associated with the gospel forgiveness of sins and a righteousness that avails with God in other words everything that we need see God doesn't look down on the mass of human depravity and say you know I'm gonna help them I'm gonna give them a little bit and then I'm gonna see if they can you know make up the rest sometimes we do that well I'll give you a little bit of a cyst that that's not what God does when God comes to deal with his sinful creatures he comes to deal with his sinful creatures there's no salvation wrought out by us but there is a salvation perfectly wrought out by God and it includes the forgiveness of sins and a righteousness that is we see imputed to us and received by faith alone listen to a brothel or Braco with reference to the importance of justification he says justification is the soul of Christianity and The Fountainhead of all true comfort and sanctification he who airs in this doctrine heirs to his eternal destruction the devil is therefore continually engaged in denying perverting and obscuring the truth expressed concerning justification that's true that's what happens there's opposition to this perhaps why right now your minds a million miles away because the devil doesn't want you to hear the truth that there is in this man forgiveness of sins and justification from all things which you could not be justified through the law of Moses you need to be on guard you need to resist that you need to believe the truth as it is in Jesus and having believed my dear brothers and sisters I cannot stress it enough the thing that we need to continue in is grace grace grace grace now again I don't you know me I don't mean lay on the couch at home and just say you know Lord fill me with your grace obviously you do need to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness you need to do that Paul tells us to do that we need to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts we need in the language of the apostle to perfect holiness in the fear of God we need to understand that reality we need by God's grace to be to move to persevere and to endure all things for the glory of God and for our own well-being but it's always in the context of grace it's never the case that any of us will ever be done with grace Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see what's the last stanza when we've been there ten thousand years bright shining as the Sun we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun you see we're always dependent upon grace and that's why in this synagogue in the city in Antioch they persuaded them to continue not in the works of God not in their obedience to God again works and obedience and the proper context is correct but they needed to continue in the grace of God too many times as God's people we fall into temptation we fall into sin we do something that that violates our own conscience before a holy God and then we simply think in terms of no more doing that again no more doing that but in the context of God's God God's great grace Lord grant me the grace so that I don't want to do that grant me the grace so that I won't do that grant me the grace so that I will honor and will glorify you it's grace in which we stand as well the warning connected to the gospel to encourage all of us to think through Paul's sort of emphasis practically in terms of this sermon there is a warning attached great blessings promise believe forgiveness justification but you reject you despise you can tell you you don't want to have anything to do with it then there's going to be this wrath this judgement there's fury there's power of God coming down upon the heads of those who do not believe and then the final thing I want to say is that the Old Testament teaches the exact same truth abraham believed god and it was accounted unto him for righteousness it's not been the case that in the Old Testament you know they didn't they didn't make it by their works of the law in the Old Testament they did sort of knuckle under and grin and bear it and did did the best a kid could and God sort of rewarded them with that no the Old Testament teaches the exact same doctrine of justification by faith alone and there's a beautiful illustration of that doctrine in the Prophet Zechariah in Zechariah chapter 3 there is this vision of Joshua the high priest not Joshua the military commander that went into the land of Canaan died a Canaan and dispossessed the Canaanite no Joshua the high priest after the Babylonian captivity after the Exile there is this vision of him standing before the Lord Most High and he's standing there representing all of Judah and the scripture tells us that he's filthy and when it tells us he's filthy it doesn't mean he spilled some milk on his on his shirt on the way to church I mean if you saw me with a blotch of cream cheese you'd say wow that guy's filthy he didn't make sure that that is his shirt was that that's not what's in view the filth in Zechariah three is used elsewhere in the Old Testament for feces and for vomit so he's not standing before the Lord with just a little glob of great cream cheese he is standing before the Lord completely ruined he's standing before the Lord completely disgusting he is standing before the Lord and such a mess of a way and again representing the entirety of Judah the devil is right there ready to accuse but the Lord rebukes the devil before the devil even even opens his mouth why because the Lord knows Judah's problem the Lord doesn't need the the bigmouth devil saying well you know the best and the brightest here are actually filthy and disgusting and vile the Lord knows that the Lord rebukes him and then you what the Lord does he orders that those filthy garments be taken off of Joshua and then he orders that a pure clean beautiful garments be put on to Joshua you want to know what justification by faith alone looks like read zechariah chapter three God rebukes the devil God orders the forgiveness of sins and God orders the imputation of Christ's righteousness that's Austin that's us according to Paul in Romans according to Paul in Galatians according to the entirety of both old and New Testaments we are filthy before a holy God we are a mass we have rebelled we have transgressed we have lack conformity God tells us go we stop God tells us stop we go every single one of the Ten Commandments we treat as if it is absolutely contentious to us we step all over everything we're standing before Yahweh in that condition and God gives the order forgiveness and the imputation of Christ's righteousness it's a beautiful wonderful excellent illustration of what the New Testament explains to us is the doctrine of justification by faith alone let us close in a word of Prayer father we thank you for your word we thank you for your grace we thank you for your mercy God there is nothing in us that deserves this kind of treatment there's nothing in us that deserves heaven but there's everything in you to provide it to us and we give you praise for forgiveness we give you praise for this righteousness that you have given to us we give you praise for the faith that you have given to us that we might receive these blessings and God our hearts desire and earnest pleas that more and more people would know this more and more people would be drawn to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and God we pray for our children our young people we pray that you would move them by grace to flee after Christ and to know the joy of being found in him not having their own righteousness which is from the law but that righteousness which is from you given by faith and we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen we'll close our service by singing the doxology on page 568 568 we'll stand and we'll sing together [Music] Oh Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is abundant redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities amen god I pray that you would go with us now that you would help us to sanctify the day to enjoy the day to call it a delight and may you encourage and strengthen our hearts may that grace be pervasive in our lives may the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit be be be constant and may we always depend upon you and may we persevere by that grace and for your glory and again we pray for any and all here this morning that do not have faith in Christ that have not believed the gospel that are still in their sin we pray that you would change their hearts give them faith and repentance give them life eternal in the Lord Christ and we pray this in his most blessed name Amen well you may be seated for a brief time of meditation