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,
Introduction: Paul's Warning
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's Religious Résumé
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
Possession of Christ
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.
The Cost of Counting All Things Loss
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.
Position in Christ: Justification by Faith
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.
Confession on Justification
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.
Righteousness from God, Not from Law
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.
Faith Versus Law-Keeping
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 Versus Infusion
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.
Rome's Anathema and Its Refutation
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.
Application: Assurance and Sanctification
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.
Closing Prayer
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.