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You may turn in your Bibles to
Philippians chapter three. The last few weeks, I know reference
has been made to the doctrine of justification, and at various
times I've said that this doctrine is under attack and I believe
it does deserve and require some specific attention. And Philippians
chapter three is a wonderful place to go to see justification
by God's grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. As Martin Luther
said, with reference to this doctrine, it is the article by
which the church stands or falls. John Calvin said the main hinge
on which religion turns. We're wrong on justification.
We're wrong on everything else. So this morning we're going to
consider the possession and the position of believers with reference
to our Lord Jesus Christ. And God willing, this evening
we'll look at the privileges that believers have. And all
of this specifically from Philippians 3 verses 8 to 11. But I'll pick up reading in verse
1 so we can see and appreciate the larger context. Finally,
my brethren rejoice in the Lord for me to write the same things
to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the mutilation for we are the circumcision who worship
God in the spirit. Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence
in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may
have confidence in the flesh, I'm more so circumcised. The eighth day of the stock of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning
the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church
concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to
me. These I have counted loss for Christ. Yet, indeed, I also
count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things and count them as rubbish that I may gain 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 that I may know him. and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed
to his death. If by any means I may attain
to the resurrection from the dead. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you that in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, men fought for this
doctrine of justification. We thank you that the Reformation
occurred and that men were given light to see the truth of Holy
Scripture preached by Paul. We thank you, Lord, that in the
history of the church, there have always been those who have
seen this beautiful doctrine that we are saved by grace through
faith in Jesus Christ. God, we know in our own generation
this doctrine is under attack, not a new attack, the same thing
that has been launched against it in several ways. We just pray
that it would be vindicated, that the truth would be appreciated,
that the clarity of Scripture would come to each and every
believer's mind and heart, and that we would truly see what
it is to be in Christ. Father, we just thank you for
these blessings. We thank you for these gifts
that you have given to us. We pray that even now you would
encourage us as we reflect again on this wonderful and precious
truth that the church has been given stewardship of. And we
pray in Christ's holy name. Amen. Well, if you notice here,
Paul's statement or Paul's instruction comes by means of warning. Chapter three, verse one. Finally,
my brethren rejoice in the Lord for me to write the same things
to you is not tedious, but for you, it is safe. Paul was a repetitious
man. Paul banged the same drum. over
and over again. A quote we'll look at in just
a few minutes. Robert Raymond says, With a gloriously
monotonous regularity, Paul pits faith against words with a gloriously
monotonous regularity. You were not surprised there
was no innovation. There were no new developments
with the Apostle Paul, but he always and consistently preached
that sinners are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in
Christ alone, not based on their cooperation, not based on their
faithfulness, not based on their addition, but solely based on
the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul cautions them
against those who would disrupt. Notice in verse two, beware of
dogs. He's not speaking of canines.
He is not speaking of Doberman pinchers. He's not speaking of
pit bulls. He is not speaking of dogs that
would bite them physically when they walk down to the market.
He is speaking of religious heretics. It was common for the Jews to
refer to the Gentiles as being gods. Well, Paul has in mind
Judaizers. They are those who taught that
faith in Christ was good, but you also needed to keep certain
elements of God's law in order to be saved. Paul says their
dogs, religious heretics, those who peddle false doctrine are
dogs. You are not to entertain them.
You are to beware of that. He says, beware of evil workers. Heresy is an evil work. False
doctrine is an evil work. So a lot of times where we just
undermine the authority of scripture by sort of a lack of lack of
basic latitude to truth. We need to be earnest contenders
for the truth. Remember, Pastor Cam preached that two weeks ago.
We need to contend earnestly for the faith which was once
for all delivered to the saints. We need to be aware of the leaven
of the Pharisees. We need to be aware of the leaven
of the Sadducees. We need to be on guard. We need
to be inoculated. We need to be protected. We need
to be garrisoned. We need to be rooted firmly in
the truth of God's holy word so that we can beware of dogs,
beware of evil workers. And then he says, beware of the
mutilation. Those who would come and say
faith in Christ is good, but be circumcised as well. Also,
that's not circumcision. That's mutilation. It is simply
the cutting off of physical element of the flesh. It is mutilation. Then he goes on to identify the
Christians. Specifically, a Gentile church
here in Philippi. We are the circumcision. Remember
Paul's statement in Romans chapter two. He's not a Jew who is one
who is one outwardly. That's just because you've been
physically circumcised. Are you a Jew? But a Jew is one
who is circumcised inwardly. You've been regenerated. You've
been born again. God has changed your hearts.
We are the circumcision, Paul says, who worship God in the
spirit, literally boasting in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. And then Paul in verses four
to six gives us his religious resume. Imagine Paul wants to
apply for a job and he comes to the head of the Pharisees
and he says, this is what I've done. Well, he's not applying
for a job. He's showing the uselessness
of these things. He's showing the futility of these accomplishments.
He is showing that the works of man cannot gain favor with
God. he says, if anyone has any reason
to boast, I'm more so. He did everything the way he
was supposed to. He was circumcised on the eighth
day, born to the tribe of Benjamin. He was of the stock of Israel.
Concerning the law, he was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, he was a persecutor
of the church. He was blameless with reference
to God's law in terms of outward conformity. If anyone could gain
favor with God by themselves, it was the Apostle Paul. And
that brings us to consider his possession of Christ in verses
seven and eight. Paul is speaking in terms of
commercial, in terms of economics. He's using commercial terminology,
profit and loss. Literally, that's what he's doing.
Profit and loss. Not reducing Jesus to a commercial
commodity, but he is using language that was very much in vogue at
the time. On one hand, you have your liabilities
and on the other hand, you have your assets. Notice in verse
70 says, But what things were gained to me? What things were
profit to me? He says, These I have counted
loss for Christ. Now, I want you to follow along
here for just a moment, because it helps us to understand just
what Paul is saying when he says in verse seven, he uses the type
of word that means something happened in the past and it has
abiding results. He says in verse seven, what
things were gained to me, those things he mentioned in verses
four to six, those things that were in my prophet column. I now have counted loss for Christ. In other words, I have taken
those assets, put them into the liability, and I don't look back. I have counted them loss for
Christ. That happened in the past and
has current results for the Apostle Paul. Past accomplishments no
longer mattered to him. Verses four to six. His stock
of Israel, his tribe of Benjamin, his circumcision on the eighth
day, his religious pedigree no longer mattered. Now, notice in verse eight, he
moves from using that tense, which speaks of something that
happened in the past with abiding results. Now, in verse eight,
he moves to the present tense and the present simply means
that it means present. It means continuous and it means
constant. Notice verse eight. Yet, indeed,
I also count all things loss right now. So it's not only those
past religious accomplishments that I have counted loss, but
I count everything loss. What's everything here? Oh, probably
things like comfort, probably things like health, probably
things like strength, probably things like relationships. Turn
to 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, just to get a bit of a bird's
eye view on what Paul engaged in for the cause of Jesus Christ.
When he says in verse 8, Yet indeed, I also count all things
loss. He is not speaking theoretically. He is speaking as one who does,
in fact, count all things loss. Notice in 2nd Corinthians chapter
11 at verse 22. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are
they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of
Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of
Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more.
In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more
frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews, five times I received
forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with
rods, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked.
A night and a day I have been in the deep, in journeys often,
in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own
countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city,
in perils in the wilderness. in perils in the sea, in perils
among false brethren. When you read Philippians three,
eight, think about this. What have you counted loss for
the excellence of Christ Jesus as Lord? Have you lost comfort? Have you lost strength? Have
you lost freedom? Have you lost anything at all? Our Christianity, to a large
degree, is spineless. It's milquetoast, it's feeble,
it's limp-wristed. This is the stuff of biblical
truth. This is what moves a man to live
in such a manner, he says, in weariness and toil and sleeplessness,
often in hunger and thirst, in fastings, often in cold and nakedness. Besides the other things, what
comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches
who is weak and I am not weak, who is made to stumble and I
do not burn with indignation. I think what he says there in
verses twenty eight and twenty nine, I am concerned for the
people of God. I want them to be happy. I want
them to be holy. I want them to be healthy. I
want them to be vibrant. I want them to be strong. I want
them to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
That's why he says who is weak and I am not weak. When he hears
about the Corinthians and the troubles going on there, it affects
him. You know, scholars debate what
this thorn in the flesh was that Paul received. Was it some physical
malady? It was probably people to some
degree or other. or a person. When he says who
is made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation, it made
him angry that people were departing from the doctrine of justification
by faith. It made him angry that people
were being sucked in by this religious dogma that teaches
what the Bible doesn't. So, when we go back to Philippians
chapter 3 verses 7 and 8, we see that what happened in the
past, what happens in the present for the Apostle Paul in terms
of his relationship with Christ, those things are lost. Those
things aren't important anymore. Pedigree and power and position
and accomplishment. Now, sometimes you hear people
give their testimony. They say, well, you know, I was
on my way to a Ph.D. in the liberal arts and I gave
that up. And some people say, oh, you
know, women, I was on my way to a great degree and I gave
that up. This man had everything. He gave
it up. This man had everything in that
time frame and in that context, and he didn't give it up grudgingly. I think that's the thing that
is markedly different. You know, I could have been this,
but for Jesus, I gave it up. Oh, really? Is that Paul's attitude? I was a religious Pharisee. I
had all these things going for me. I had, I had, I had. And
now look at my lot. That's not how the text reads.
As O'Brien said, his earlier decision was no impulsive or
of breaking with the past. Rather, it was a deep seated
resolution. And he continues up to the time
of writing to regard everything as loss for the sake of Christ. That's the contrast. What things
were gained to me. Verse seven, verse eight. Yet
indeed, I also count all things lost for what? for the excellence
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. That's what matters. All that was an asset has become
a liability. And what at one time for Paul
is a persecuting wretch was a liability has become the asset among all
assets. That I may gain Christ, he goes
on to say. That's what mattered for the
apostle Paul. Assumed in Philippians 3 is Acts
chapter 9. The road to Damascus when the
apostle was converted. James Stocker said the whole
of Paul's theology is nothing but his explanation of his own
conversion. That's right. That's what Philippians
3 is all about. He's basically saying to the
Saints in Philippi, look, these dogs are going to come in, they're
going to tell you to believe and keep the law. Paul says,
if anybody could have ever kept the law, it was me. Do you know
what that law is? It's done. It's rubbish. It's
muck. That's what he says. Notice in
verse 8. Yet indeed, I also count all
things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count
them as rubbish. He's not saying, oh, I lost everything,
I lost my position, I lost my prestige. Boy, I could have been
a contender. I had so many things going on
for me. So that's how you know it's markedly different than
some of the testimonies that we hear today. Oh, I could have
this or I could have that. We exalt the special, we exalt the
performers and we go, wow, look at what they gave up. What are
we giving up? We're giving up dong for Christ. If you're not a Christian here
this morning, let me tell you something. Believing on Christ
does not mean giving up. It does not mean parting with
it means gaining everything. That's what Paul says, the word
dung or the word rubbish means just that. It has the concept
or it has the idea of the two notions of something worthless
and something filthy. It's what he's saying about religious
pedigree. It's what he's saying about religious
accomplishment. It's worthless and it's filthy. You think that you're going to
stand in the presence of the thrice holy God and say, well,
I never committed adultery and I never murdered anyone. And
he's going to say, wow, you great guy or girl. It's not how it
works. Remember the question of Job
and Job 9? Modern man needs to ponder this
question. How can man stand before a righteous
God? That's the issue, brethren. Contrary
to the problem that is preached, that God is love and He'll never
do anything bad to you. God is love, but He's wrath. He's justice. He's anger. He's
fury. In fact, in the context of exhortation
for Christians, we are told our God is a consuming fire. That's what modern man needs
to hear, so that justification by grace alone, through faith
alone, in Jesus Christ alone, will be seen as beautiful, will
be seen as glorious, and will be seen as amazing. The grace
that is preached in the church in so many places today. Ain't
that amazing, brethren? Without terrifying holiness,
grace really isn't that amazing anymore. Now, notice he moves
from his possession of Christ that I may gain Christ. Oh, just
just for a moment. Look here in verse eight. Yet,
indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus. Note the next two words. My Lord,
it's not beautiful. My Lord. My Lord, you see, when
I was a stock of Israel, Hebrew of the Hebrews persecuting the
church, I could say, my Lord, But having come to know Jesus
Christ, my Lord, everything has been radically revolutionized.
Everything that once was glorious and wonderful to me, now I look
at it as so much done. And what once was a target of
enmity, I now count as most beautiful and most glorious. He moves from
his possession of Christ. Verse eight, that I may gain
Christ and the gaining of Christ here when we compare it in the
context does not mean anything other than learning him, understanding
him, believing him. Gaining Christ isn't some mystical
experience. You gotta go live up on a mountaintop
in order to gain Christ. No, you gotta open your Bible
and you gotta prayerfully study it. You gain more Christ. You
learn of Jesus. You do what Paul says in Colossians
3. You set your mind on things above. You seek those things
which are above, where Christ is. He is the one in whom is
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. What should you
do that you may gain Him? Study to show yourself approved.
He moves on to his position in Christ. Notice verse nine and
be found in him 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. He is asserting
here what we will call the doctrine of justification by faith. Absolutely important doctrine. Again, we already mentioned Luther's
take, we already mentioned Calvin's take, and we ought to look at
those historic documents of the Christian faith that clearly
articulate these truths. The London Baptist Confession,
Chapter 11, Chapter 11, Paragraph 1, and the Westminster Confession,
Chapter 11, Paragraph 1, says those whom God affectionately
calls, he also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness
into them. We'll see that in just a moment.
Very important. We understand what justification
is and what it isn't. They say not by infusing righteousness
into that. But here's the glorious two things
that occur in justification by pardoning their sins and by accounting
and accepting their persons as righteous. It is the pardon of
sin and it is the accepting of them as righteous. How does God do that? not for
anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake
alone. But some will say it doesn't.
Are you saying that as a Christian, we got to do what God says? Yes,
we got to do what God says. That's sanctification. That's
another sermon. Right now we're looking at justification. How does a sinner get right with
God? Not by what he does, but by what
Christ has done. That is crucial. Roman Catholicism
has historically taught that justification is a process, that
it is a renewal of the man. It is an infusion of righteousness. Now, that's bad out there. Protestantism
has its own variety. It is called the new perspective
on Paul, or it is called the federal vision. But it is an
infusion of righteousness. It is a conglomeration of justification
and sanctification in order for a sinner to be saved. That's
not what Paul is saying. Paul is saying it is an objective
work done by God on the basis of the doing and the dying of
Jesus Christ alone. You will not go to heaven because
you've been faithful. You will go to heaven because
Jesus has been faithful. Justification looks to him. Law keeping looks to self. Justification looks to the cross. Romanism looks to accomplishment. You've got to get this. Again,
if it was just the Catholics out there doing it, it's in the
church. wouldn't surprise me if you go to many Protestant
churches today and ask for a definition of justification. And here's
some minglings in there that are not to be. May I attempt
by everything that is good and holy to bind your consciences
in this one thing. Memorize the Westminster Shorter
Catechism definition on justification, number 33. Actually, I can't
bind your conscience to do something. I can bind your conscience to
study and memorize the scripture. But you want a good working definition
of what justification is and what the Bible teaches? Westminster
Shorter Catechism, number 33. It says this. 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 Christ imputed to that, given to that, constituted as theirs
and received by faith alone. That's the element that Paul
is highlighting here in verse nine. All throughout the New
Testament, he talks about God remitting or God forgiving or
God cleansing us from our sins. It shouldn't take us long to
be able to go to certain texts in our Bible and to highlight
that first aspect of justification, wherein he pardons all our sins. That's not difficult. But interestingly
enough, it's that latter part. What Paul speaks of here in verse
nine as under attack today, the imputation of or the giving of
Christ's righteousness to the center. That's under attack. That's offensive. To men, it's
offensive to the devil. The forgiveness of sins reflects
back on Christ's passive obedience and by passive, I don't mean
he was a passive spectator, but it's just the title given to
his death at Calvary. Why was he delivered up for our
offenses? Why did God lay upon him the
chastisement for our peace? God made him who knew no sin
to be sin for us. that we might become the righteousness
of God in him, that active obedience, his doing, his never ever disobeying
God, his always doing the law of God, his delight to fulfill
the Father's law. That righteousness is imputed
to his people, not infused. It's not about making us better. The righteousness that Paul speaks
of notice in verse nine is not based on law keeping. He is very
clear and be found in him not having my own righteousness,
which is from the law. What's he talking about? Being
born the stock of Israel, being circumcised on the eighth day,
being a Pharisee, accomplishing things, doing good works, engaging
in religious practices. My status and my standing with
God is not based on my righteousness, which is according to the law.
That righteousness that I have worked out, that righteousness
that I have wrought, that righteousness that I have secured. If that
is what you are banking on this morning, which is ultimately
what every false religion banks on, you will go to hell. The
Bible teaches that all we like sheep have gone astray. We need
an alien righteousness. We need a perfect righteousness.
And in the gospel, it is imputed by God to the believer. That's what we need. The from
God and the from law are mutually exclusive here. Not having my
own righteousness, which is from the law, but the righteousness,
which is faith in Jesus Christ, that righteousness, which is
from God through faith. The righteousness in this context
isn't simply the rightness of God, the justice of God. It is the righteousness which
he requires and he gives. See, this was one of Luther's
struggles with the righteousness of God. Romans 1, 16 and 17. For 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. Why? For in it, for
in this gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith
to faith. Luther struggled a righteous
God. And I'm an unrighteous man. All
I can ever do is go to hell. But then when he understood what
Paul was speaking of there, yes, righteousness in certain context
means the rightness of God. But in other ones, it means that
righteousness which God demands and that he supplies. We know
this is the case from Romans 321, but now the righteousness
of God is revealed apart from the law being witnessed by the
law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ. Paul is highlighting here that
our status before God is not founded in not grounded upon
anything that we have accomplished, but we are justified freely by
grace and that justification involves the pardon of our sins
and the imputation of our righteous of Christ's righteousness. Raymond
says, with a glorious monotonous regularity, Paul pits faith off
over against all law keeping as its diametrical opposite. Now, I know Raymond uses a bit
of a little bit of words there, but listen, gloriously monotonous
regularity. That means in every context,
in every situation, every time you're getting the same thing
from Paul. He doesn't mix it up. He's not novel. He wasn't a developer of this
doctrine. He was its chief expounder. But Abraham was justified by
grace through faith. Romans 4. David was justified
by grace through faith. Romans 4. Paul is simply explaining
how God's means have always been in terms of justifying sinners.
He says Paul pits faith off over against all law keeping as its
diametrical opposite. They're separate. You're not
in because of a little of this and a little of that. You're
not in because there's an 80-20 mix. You're not even in because
there's a 99.999 and a .0001 mix. If you are ever in heaven,
it is based solely upon Jesus Christ. Never forget that. He says, whereas law keeping
relies on the human effort of the law keeper looking to himself
to render satisfaction before God, the former faith repudiates
and looks entirely away from all human effort to the cross
work of Jesus Christ, who alone by a sacrificial death rendered
satisfaction before God and before God for men. Let me highlight
something in his discussion of justification in a systematic
theology. Say one time or a preacher preaching on justification by
faith and the preacher actually said, I don't really know why
God chose this way, but he did. And that's what we need to believe.
What do you mean you don't know why Paul tells us why? Because faith looks to Christ. Faith exalts or exalts Christ. There's no mystery as to why
God made it a gracious faith arrangement. It is so that God
gets the glory so that man cannot pat himself on the back. Man
cannot contribute. Man cannot take any of the credit. Man cannot say, you know, I was
a little bit better than the others or my faithfulness is
the difference here. That's not it. You will not go
to heaven because of your faithfulness. You go to heaven because of Christ's
faithfulness. And that's what faith is all
about. This righteousness, O'Brien says, that comes from God is
God's way of putting men right with himself. What a beautiful
statement the righteousness of God here in Philippians chapter
three verse nine is the righteousness or is that God's way of putting
men right with himself. Paul emphasizes the instrument
over and over again. It is but that which is through
faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God by faith and
that faith rather is not our work. It's not something we conjure
up. We know from Ephesians 2 and
Philippians 1 that faith itself is a gift from God. Faith is
not the reason. It's not because of faith. It
is through faith. That is the instrument by which
God and the sinner in Christ are brought together again. Again,
the confession of faith, not by imputing faith itself, the
act of believing or any other evangelical obedience to them
as their righteousness. There have been those who have
taught in the history of the church what is called neo legalism. The idea that faith is a work
that we contribute in order to be saved. And if this is all
very confusing and all very waiting for a hot summer Sunday morning,
I'm sorry, but you need to understand it. If you're not getting it,
I will send you the notes. Because if you take a wrong turn
here, you end in hell. You get eschatology wrong, God's
gracious, you're going to heaven. You may not know all the particulars
associated with heaven and still go there. You miss Christ, you
miss justification, you miss faith, you miss this whole idea
of law. You're going to go to hell. It
is absolutely crucial. And it's not the situation where
we're paid ignorant, you know, heathen living out in the bush
and acting upon one page of Bible. And we've got we we have a lot. We've been given much. There's
no excuse for sloppiness in this field, in the doctrine of justification.
There is no excuse, not in light of church history, not in light
of the books, not in light of the sermons, not in light of
the Bible, not in light of all those things. God will require
that we be clear thinkers on these issues. It says, not by
imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical
obedience to them as their righteousness. So it's not my faith that is
the righteousness. Again, I mentioned this last
week. Today, it's very common to hear, oh, as long as somebody
has faith. No. You go on, believe in that rock,
you believe in that totem pole, you believe in Buddha, you believe
in Allah, you believe in that pole. It is not going to save
you. It's the object of faith that's
important. It's the object, which is Christ. Goes on to say, but by imputing
Christ's act of obedience in his death for their whole and
sole righteousness that they receiving and resting on him
and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of
themselves. It is the gift of God. So, Paul here highlights
for us the doctrine of justification by faith. Very specifically,
he treats the element of the imputation of righteousness.
And again, imputation for you kids that don't maybe get your
head around that word. It's like God took our sin and
imputed it to Christ. Put it on him, punished him,
took his righteousness and put it on or imputed it to us. These
are terms dealing in the law courts. So you've heard that
word forensic. Everybody today hears about forensics
through criminal investigation. Forensics goes in and finds hair
or DNA or blood, and they run it through their scientific data.
Forensic belongs in theology because it has to do with God's
declaration, legal statement about our position before him. We need that forensics. We don't
need infusion. Infusion is the opposite of imputation. Infusion is making me something,
making me righteous, making me holy. And that's what Catholicism teaches.
Again, we're not against Catholics because they wear funny hats
and their priests carry big sticks or I mean, yeah, we are in some
ways against them for that. But the bottom line is that in
the sixth session, a sixth session at the Council of Trent, which
dealt with justification, they pronounced thirty-three canons,
thirty-three statements concerning the doctrine of justification.
I'll just read two for you and realize they've never repudiated
this. With all the alleged progress that the Church of Rome has made,
they've not made any terms of justification. Canon nine, Council
of Trent, Sixth Session. If anyone says that the sinner
is justified by faith alone, meaning that nothing else is
required to cooperate, that's the core of false religion. We don't cooperate with God. Do we share his glory with another? Do we need our help? Did Jesus pay some of it? I'm
sorry, brethren, I love to sing 590 or 690. Jesus paid it all,
not some. God have mercy on woolly-headed
Protestants that follow this garbage that want to sign documents,
evangelicals and Catholics together. If anyone says that the sinner
is justified by faith alone, meaning that nothing else is
required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification,
and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared
and disposed by the action of his own will, let it be anathema.
You know, Pastor Butler, you sound pretty vicious taking on
the Roman Catholic Church. They pronounce anathema on you
and I and on Paul. There's nothing more vicious
than that, anathema means be damned to hell forever and ever
and ever. If anyone says that men are justified either by the
sole imputation of the justice of Christ or by the sole remission
of sins to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is
poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost and remains
in them, or also that the grace by which we are justified is
only the goodwill of God, let him be anathema. They speak of
justification as the process by which the soul is regenerated
by God. It is not a process. It is a
one time declarative act by God. The moment the sinner believes
is justified. He is justified. You don't grow
in your justification. You don't get more justified.
There are some in this room that are more justified than the others.
This is the great leveler of Christians. We're all justified
by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. In that respect, God is all about
equalizing sinners. And as I said, there is a doctrine
of teaching out called the new perspective on Paul. We don't
have time to develop all of these things, but suffice it to say
you want the old perspective on Paul. You want Philippians
three, nine, Paul. You want the pardon of iniquity,
Paul. You want the imputation of righteousness,
Paul. You don't want a redefinition
of Paul. You don't want a redefinition of the Protestant Reformation.
You see, a new perspective says Luther, Calvin, they read into
Paul what was going on in their own situation. Because of their
fight with the Roman Catholic Church, they read into Galatians
and Romans what they were facing in their historical context.
Absolutely not. They read out of Paul from Galatians
and Romans to combat the prevailing heresy of Roman Catholicism.
The new perspective is to abandon Paul. Within what was conservative
Presbyterianism, there is a movement called the Federal Vision, which
is quite a large movement, a lot of diversity, a lot of difficulty
to try and analyze it, because the moment you try to do, they
say, well, you haven't understood us. You haven't understood us. You haven't understood our arguments.
You know, we're simple men. Just cite Westminster, Shorter
Catechism, number 33, and mean it. Mean it. Quit trying to take those documents
and argue that there's something they were never intended to be.
When they talked about the imputation of righteousness, they meant
it. When they talked about a covenant of works made with Adam in the
garden, they meant it. Don't try to redefine those men.
Just be honest enough to say we have departed from the Westminster
standards. Every system in short, which either relies on man's
performance or includes man's performance, is contrary to the
gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And in summary or in conclusion,
rather than the importance of what I'll call the old perspective
on Paul, the righteousness we have is an imputed righteousness. This is not a subjective change
in our person, but an objective act wrought by God. Justification
is not about infusing goodness in us. It's about declaring us
as righteous. That's what we need. Because
you try to make me better, I'm probably just going to get worse. But if you think about yourself
as a Christian, do you keep the law? Do you obey God? Do you wake up in the morning
and say, Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul,
mind, and strength. You get up in the morning, you brush your
teeth to the glory of God, you drink your coffee to the glory
of God, you read and meditate over His Word, you joyfully kiss
your wife, you joyfully kiss your children, you march into
your workplace, you work as unto the Lord, you do craftsmanship,
you engage in labor, you are fastidious, you are as far as
you are able, you are perfect. None of us do that. If it's an infused righteousness,
we're hell bound. We need imputed righteousness.
I like what White says, James White, Paul sought the alien
righteousness that comes only from God, only by faith and only
from Christ. He rejected the idea of having
a righteousness of my own derived from the law. That is one inherent
within him that comes from obeying God's highest revelation of his
moral standards. Paul knew that no man could live
up to such a standard to begin with. So he looked outside of
himself to a righteousness imputed, whose origin and source is God.
This is why imputation is such a beautiful word to the sinner
who feels so keenly his lack of righteousness and the perfection
of the righteousness of Christ. You don't like imputation, you
got it all messed up. In light of your sin, in light
of your rebellion, in light of your lawlessness, that alien
righteousness imputed to you, what is better than that? What
is more glorious than that? He says that such a gift cannot
be purchased, it cannot be earned, it cannot be merited, it must
be imputed by grace. The focus of the gospel is shifted. If we're looking for subjective
change, the focus of the gospel then becomes my doing my performance
rather than a standing in amazement and in awe at what Christ has
done in his doing and in his dying. And then, of course, if
we botch this up, the glory for salvation is then divided, some
for the Savior and some for the man who has been faithful. Don't
make a mistake, brethren, Roman Catholics talk about grace. They
talk about the death of Jesus, but by their addition of God,
of man's righteousness, they are pulling away from stripping
away from and engaging what Paul says in Galatians 221. If righteousness
comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. And the practical
benefit of the doctrine. This doctrine of justification
by faith alone is a sure protection against legalism. Legalism. I know that word gets bandied
about a lot. And even anymore, if you're a
sanctifier, you're living in sanctification, you look to the
law, oh, you're a legalist. I'm talking about legalism in
its purest form or impurest form. The addition of works to Christ
in order to be saved. You'll never go wrong by focusing
on Christ alone. That alone is a very important
word, which is a subject for a study all in itself. The Catholicism
never attaches alone. In fact, they anathematize those
who say alone. Assurance is grounded upon a
solid foundation. You want assurance in your Christian
life? Understand justification by faith.
See, we tie assurance to our sanctification. So that if I'm
reading my Bible and I'm praying and I'm going to church, man,
I feel good. What's wrong, man? Our justification is connected
to our assurance of faith is connected to justification. That's
Paul's argument. Romans 5.1. Therefore, having
or let us have peace with God that since we have believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me just read it. I don't
want to box it up. It's flown out of my mind. Romans chapter
five, verse one. Therefore, having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through faith, through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God. Not having read our Bible today,
we have peace with God. I'm not saying you shouldn't
read your Bible today. Not having prayed today, we have peace with
God. I'm not saying you shouldn't pray. Not having gone to church,
we have peace with God. I'm not saying you shouldn't
go to church. But what's assurance connected to that? It's justification.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with
God. One more long quote. Right. Raymond says it beautifully.
It means that saving faith is directed to the doing and dying
of Christ alone and not to the good works or inner experience
of the believer. It means that the Christians
righteousness before God is in heaven at the right hand of God
in Jesus Christ and not on earth within the believer. It means
that the ground of our justification is the vicarious work. That means
he's a substitute. So that vicarious means he's
a substitute. OK, don't get shaken by I don't
know that word. Very easy. Vicarious. If I dropped
dead on the way to church, Tim would have been the vicarious
preacher. He would have been the substitute. When we speak
of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, we're referring to his
substitution on our behalf. So, Raymond says that it means
that the ground of our justification is the vicarious work of Christ
for us, not the gracious work of the Spirit in us. So, to minimize
the work of the Spirit in us in sanctification. Remember,
we're talking about justification here. He says it means that the
faith righteousness of justification is not personal, but vicarious,
not infused, but imputed, not experiential, but judicial, not
psychological, but legal, not our own, but a righteousness
alien to us and outside of us, not earned, but graciously given
through faith in Christ. That is itself a gift of grace. From first to last, with reference
to the doctrine of justification, it's of God. It's not of us. Some men teach that we make it
to heaven based on our covenant faithfulness. That's simply not
the case. We make it to heaven based on the faithfulness of
Jesus Christ, that he lived in obedience to the law of God,
that he died as our sacrifice, and that he rose again. That's
the foundation upon which we stand. All other hope or all
other ground is the song as the hymn writer says, is sinking
sand. There's certain hymns that if
you got in your mind, they'd be very helpful and adequate
to to keep you on the straight and narrow path. Other arguments
of hymn singing in the churches. Hymns were written by pastors
who knew theology and doctrine. How did they teach theology and
doctrine? They wrote good hymns so that the people would sing
good theology and doctrine. See, when we stand here and sing,
Jesus, I love you, Jesus, I love you, Jesus, I love you for 15
minutes. That's good. And we do love him. But you know,
when our one year old says, Daddy, I love you. By the time he's
21, we hope he's able to say, I love you because of this, that,
this, that, this, that, this, that, this, this, this. That's
what these hymns do. Theology and doctrine. So that
when you're singing, you're rehearsing good doctrine. Mindless repetition
of choruses ultimately empty themselves of any meaning. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name. What's he saying? I dare
not trust the sweetest frame. You know how that goes, brethren.
You've got a sweet frame, so you feel good. You've got a sweet
frame, so you feel saved. You've got a sweet frame, so
you feel assurance. And then what happens? That sweet
frame goes away and then you start questioning, does God love
me? Is God for me? Is God going to kill me? Is God
going to send me to hell? But holy lean on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. You see, this doctrine promotes
promotes assurance of salvation and it is then the basis having
a proper understanding of what it means to be justified in the
sight of God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Then sanctification
can proceed along its biblical path. Then we do what God has
called us to do, not because we think we're earning our salvation
or we're adding to our salvation or we're helping God save us
or we're being covenantally faithful or we're securing our final salvation. But we have been saved. We have
been justified. And as a result, we want to go
out and we want to do what the Lord has called us to do. We
want to reckon ourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive in Christ
Jesus. We then want to put on the Lord
Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its
lust. Not because we think we're adding or helping or benefiting,
but because God has saved us and it is our chief desire and
delight to do those things that the Lord has called us to. Knowing
this justification by faith, we can abstain from the fleshly
loss, which war against the soul. Putting them in their proper
perspective gives them the biblical liberty to function as they're
supposed to, rather than mixing it all together, getting all
messed up, getting all wondering whether we're we're safe in God
or we're not. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, you're safe. Go live. See, what we do is we
get out, then we sin. Well, maybe I wasn't ever saved.
No, you're saved. You believe. Now run. Do what
you're supposed to. Therefore, having these promises,
brethren. Having these promises. Let us
perfect holiness in the fear of God. Second Corinthians 7.
having been justified by faith, have peace and perfect holiness
in the fear of God. So we need to understand these
truths, God willing, for our assurance, for our sanctification,
and as well to guard against legalism so that we do not fall
prey to a neo-legalism, a new lawism, a new addition of something
to the work of Christ. It is grace alone through faith
alone in Jesus Christ alone. Let us pray. Father, we thank
you for this doctrine. We thank you that you have included
us by your grace and for your glory. We thank you for Jesus
Christ. And certainly we confess, Lord
God, that everything else is lost. Everything else that was
gained, everything else that was precious to us. is done in
comparison with the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
our Lord. Give us more this perspective. Give us more of this mindset
and help us to think clearly with reference to these truths.
And I pray that you would go with each one of us now and watch
over us, Lord God. And we ask in Jesus name. Amen.
