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Good morning to everyone. You 
can turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Romans. Romans 
chapter 3. The focus this morning will be on 
chapter 4 verse 23 to chapter 5 verse 1, but we're going to 
read an extended context just to set us in the right frame 
of consideration as we look this morning at the the doctrine of 
justification. Pastor Butler has been bringing 
us through this wonderful quest through the Gospel of John, this 
wonderful preaching through the Gospel of John. we're approaching 
the crucifixion and resurrection. And it's not a hard and fast 
rule, but by and large, in observing the New Testament scriptures, 
we can see or come to the conclusion that the gospel accounts give 
us the historical narrative, concerning the life, death, and 
resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the epistles give us the 
purpose for the divine commentary on and the purpose for the life, 
death, resurrection of Jesus Christ. And of course, some implications 
or some exhortations based on that. The gospel accounts are 
the what, and the epistles are the why. And so here in Romans, 
we have that set forth for us, the why of the life, death, and 
resurrection of Jesus Christ. So this is Romans 3, beginning 
at verse 19. Now we know that whatever the 
law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every 
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before 
God. Therefore, by the deeds of the 
law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law 
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of 
God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and 
the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus 
Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall 
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set 
forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate 
His righteousness, because in His forbearance God has passed 
over the sins that were previously committed. to demonstrate at 
the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the 
justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting 
then? It is excluded. By what law? 
Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 
Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from 
the deeds of the law. Or is he the God of the Jews 
only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the 
Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the 
circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 
Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. 
On the contrary, we establish the law. What then shall we say 
that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if 
Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, 
but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 
Now, to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but 
as debt. But to him who does not work, 
but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted 
for righteousness. Just as David also describes 
the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness 
apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless 
deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is 
the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. Does this blessedness 
then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised 
also? For we say that faith was accounted 
to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While 
he was circumcised or uncircumcised. Not while circumcised, but while 
uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, 
a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while 
still circumcised, that he might be the father of all those who 
believe. though they are uncircumcised, 
that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father 
of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, 
but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father 
Abraham had while still uncircumcised. For the promise that he would 
be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed 
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. But 
if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and 
the promise made of no effect. Because the law brings about 
wrath, for where there is no law, there is no transgression. 
Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace. 
so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only 
to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of 
the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is 
written, I have made you a father of many nations in the presence 
of him whom he believed God, who gives life to the dead and 
calls those things which do not exist as though they did, who, 
contrary to hope, in hope, believed, so that he became the father 
of many nations. According to what was spoken, 
so shall your descendants be. And not being weak in faith, 
he did not consider his own body already dead, since he was about 
a hundred years old, and for deadness of Sarah's womb, he 
did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but 
was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully 
convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to perform, 
and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now 
it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to 
him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who 
believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 
who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised 
because of our justification. Therefore, having been justified 
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which 
we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not 
only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that 
tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance character and character 
hope now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been 
poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to 
us amen well let's ask our God for blessing upon this act of 
worship Heavenly Father we come to you in prayer once again asking 
that you would help us now in this act of worship, the preaching 
of your word, fill us with your Holy Spirit, help us to understand 
blessedly the things of Holy Scripture, help us to rejoice 
in you, our triune God, and to sing the praises of Jesus Christ, 
our blessed Savior. We pray that in this act, you 
would be glorified and that Jesus Christ would be exalted upon 
the praises of this gathered congregation. And we pray in 
his precious name, amen. Well, this book of Romans is 
a wonderful book. All books, of course, that God 
has inspired are wonderful books. But the book of Romans has a 
particular place in the New Testament, and it's set as an epistle first 
in the set of epistles. And we could sort of engage in 
some conjecture as to why it's placed first. It wasn't the first 
written, so it's not a chronological placement. Some suppose that 
it's placed first because of its preeminence among the epistles, 
not that it is somehow more inspired than the other ones, but because 
of its great and extended, as we noticed in the reading, its 
extended presentation of justification by faith alone. justification 
by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, this 
portion that we read is only a portion of the book of Romans 
presentation on the doctrine of justification. A note of its 
preeminence is such that Christostom, it is said, had his assistants 
or whomever read the book in its entirety to him twice a week. which sort of sets forth to us 
something of what the early church thought of this Book of Romans. 
And in only this portion that we read, we have this wonderful 
transition. We only read the end of the bad 
news, but Paul opens up the Book of Romans with that bad news. In fact, from 118, all the way 
through to 320, we have the bad news that Paul sets forth that 
there is universal condemnation upon all men because of their 
deadness and sin. In fact, in Romans 1 18, this 
language you'll no doubt recognize For the wrath of God, this begins 
the bad news, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against 
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth 
in unrighteousness. This first level of attack by 
the Apostle Paul comes to the Gentiles, those outside of the 
oracles of God, or those who weren't within the Jewish community 
and under their proselytism and that sort of a thing. So, you 
know, the heathen in the jungle or those heathens or Gentiles 
away from the special revelation of God. But the Jews are just 
as guilty as we read in 2.17. Indeed, you are called a Jew 
and rest on the law and make your boast in God and know his 
will and approve the things that are excellent being instructed 
out of the law. If we fast forward, we see What 
advantage, in verse 1 of chapter 3, then has the Jew? or what 
is the prophet of circumcision much in every way chiefly because 
to them were committed the oracles of God but then notice in verse 
nine what then are we better than they that is the gentiles 
jews better than gentiles not at all for we have previously 
charged both jews and greeks that they are all under sin and 
so paul issues this universal condemnation upon all men And 
then we have this blessed transition though. We have something of 
a concluding statement in Romans 3, 19 to 20, 19 and 20. We have this nail, if you will, 
hammered into the coffin of works-based salvation. Now we know that whatever 
the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every 
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before 
God. Let's just pause on that statement 
for a moment. What a statement that is because 
natural man is full of big words. As much as we like to think we're 
humble people, even in Christ Jesus, we are filled with pride, 
we're filled with a lack of humility, and we're filled very often with 
mouths that like to start and continue, not mouths that like 
to be stopped. We like to sing our own praises. 
Mankind likes, we like to sing our own praises. An absolute 
testament to that is social media. We like to sing our own praises. 
We like to show our own praises. Man in sin even likes to shine 
forth his own supposed goodness, but Paul brings the hammer to 
the nail, driving it into the coffin of man's boisterousness 
in his own pride and in his own exuberance about himself, and 
he says, every mouth may be stopped. All the world may become guilty 
before God and then before the transition we have therefore 
by the deeds of the law No flesh will be justified in his sight 
for by the law is the knowledge of sin Let's just stop there 
for a moment for any pseudo-Christian or for any, you know, supposed 
Christian, someone who says they fly the banner of Jesus Christ 
to try and wiggle in their own good works into an economy of 
salvation, rubs up against the absolute, unmitigated clarity 
of God's divine and holy word when he writes through Paul, 
therefore by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified 
in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. And 
then we have two of the most blessed words in Holy Scripture, 
well, sort of, that follow, the but now. Remember, we visited 
that before, Jim and myself, on occasion, the but-now transitions 
that we have in Holy Scripture. Here, the Apostle Paul sets before 
man, whether Jew or Gentile, whether Jew or Greek, the universal 
condemnation that man has and is under sin, but then we have 
this but-now, the righteousness of God apart from the law is 
revealed. So, initially, the wrath of God 
is revealed, and now the good news comes with the righteousness 
of God, apart from the law being revealed. And so, fast-forwarding 
to our passage this morning, we want to look at chapter 4, 
verse 23, to chapter 5, verse 1, under four heads. And those are simply the nature 
of justification, the receiving instrument of justification, 
the perfect ground of justification, and then the blessed result of 
justification. And notice first, then, the nature 
of justification, and maybe just before we look at the nature 
of justification, This will explore it a little bit, but justification 
concept, not conceptually, but really is truly opposed to condemnation. As we see in Romans 8.1, the 
term condemnation is used. So when we think about justification, 
let's think about it as the glorious antithesis, the opposite to condemnation. All those who are in Christ Jesus 
are justified, that is negatively not condemned. So notice first 
the nature of justification. we see in 4.23. Now it was not 
written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also 
to us it shall be imputed to us who believe. It is for all 
who believe justification. Firstly, the nature of justification 
is that it is for all who believe, praise God, that it wasn't just 
for Abraham and David. These are the two Old Testament 
figures that the Apostle Paul brings out here as those who 
were justified by faith. As if calling the Jews who were 
marked by a Judaism, perhaps, you know, those who were trying 
to smuggle in their own works and to an economy of salvation. 
Yes, this Christ thing is nice, but we also must obey the laws 
of Moses in order to finally and truly be justified. As if 
they were to as if Paul is, not as if, he is anticipating and 
dealing with those objections and so he sets forth two of the 
Jewish heroes before the Jews and the Gentiles as those who 
were not justified by works, who were not somehow blessed 
by God, with a divine reward for the perfection of their performance, 
as if anyone could ever perform perfectly, but much rather, Abraham 
and David were justified by faith. And Paul brings out the reality 
of that, the historical reality of that, in rehearsing the life 
of Abraham and a psalm that David wrote. But getting back to this, 
it wasn't just for Abraham and David that justification is for. 
In the immediate context, not just for Abraham, it was not 
written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, that is 
righteousness, the righteousness of God, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who 
believe in him, who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. So justification is for all who 
believe. There is an expansive nature 
to justification. It's for all who believe. As 
we learn from the book of Revelation, that's men, women, boys, and 
girls from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Is there 
an exclusivity to Christianity? There is absolutely, but that 
exclusivity has to do with the fact that there is one God, the 
living and true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, And the 
only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ, the Son. The only 
way of salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ, our precious 
Savior. So that is the exclusivity. Christianity 
has the divinely appointed and divinely given truth wherein 
one can come to salvation, and that is through Jesus Christ, 
the Savior. But Christianity is very inclusive. very very 
inviting in the sense that it calls men and women from every 
tribe and tongue and people in nation to believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and Therefore have the righteousness of God imputed 
to you the forgiveness of sins You know think about this for 
a moment. We're often charges Christians as being you know 
bigoted and intolerant because we subscribe to one way of salvation 
only that is through by grace through faith in Jesus Christ 
let's just move that argument for a moment and would it be 
intolerant for a doctor in an operation room to suggest to 
a a patient that the only way for them to be healed is to have 
their gaping wound cleaned, disinfected, and sewn up. If another doctor 
came along and said, well, I have another way. If we shove cotton 
candy in there and sprinkle some baking sprinkles on it and just 
give him a month, he'll also be OK. Well, it would not be 
intolerant for the doctor to say, you're mad. That's absolute 
madness. There is only one way in which 
we can heal this man, and that is this particular way. And yet, 
in the realm of religion, we're charged with intolerance for 
giving the blessed message, the blessed and exclusive truth, 
that there is one way to heaven, that there is one way to God, 
that there is one way to everlasting life. And it's not by deeds of 
righteousness which we have done, but it's by deeds of righteousness 
which Christ alone has done for all who believe. It is for all 
who believe. Notice, secondly, under the nature 
of justification, it is by an act of imputation. You know imputation 
isn't a word that theologians, you know came up with it's in 
our text In fact multiple times we have these wonderful Asian 
words. We've got propitiation in the 
text we have expiation elsewhere we have Reconciliation we have 
redemption with regards to justification which is another Asian word we 
have imputation and that's the language used here and that simply 
means a reckoning or an accounting of something and Righteousness 
is imputed to the believer, that is, we are accounted as or reckoned 
as righteous based upon, as we'll see, the righteousness of Christ. It's that righteousness accounted 
to us. We don't have a righteousness 
that avails with God, no one ever will, but there is one who 
has and does a righteousness, that has a righteousness and 
performed a righteousness that avails with God. and that is 
Jesus Christ. But it is by an act of imputation. 
Let's turn back to the psalm that's cited here for a moment. 
Psalm 32. It's a psalm that Paul brings 
up when he talks about David writing concerning the mercies 
of God. Psalm 32. A wonderful, beautiful psalm for 
the Christian to rehearse Perhaps in those low times you haven't 
been doing well, you've been stumbling, you've been sinning. 
We all do as Christians with our remaining corruption have 
those times where we do stumble, where we do trip, where we do 
require the aid of Christ, the aid of the risen Christ in the 
spirit to return to us the joy of our salvation. And the answer 
is not to engage in some measure of self-atonement in order to 
make ourselves right with God, but simply to reflect blessedly 
on this. Psalm 32, a Psalm of David, a 
contemplation. Blessed is he whose transgression 
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the 
Lord does not impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit 
that the wonderful reflections that the Christian can engage 
in contemplation is the word used in our English translation 
a Contemplation you know this is something that we are to do 
always as Christians last Lord's Day with the the sermons on the 
Lord's Supper we talked about this activity in the in the realm 
of remembrance. Contemplation is very similar. We roll around in our Christian 
minds the blessings and the goodnesses of God, the love of God poured 
out on us through Jesus Christ. Blessed is he whose transgression 
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the 
Lord does not impute iniquity. This is Gill on this passage. 
Their sins and iniquities he remembers no more. One of the 
things I forgot to say last Lord's Day is that the Lord's Supper 
in one sense is the remembrance of God's non-remembrance. That 
is, that their sins and iniquities he, God, remembers no more. Not 
as if God, in his omniscience, he wouldn't be omniscient then, 
somehow just causes himself to forget these things ever happened, 
because he knows all things, he's not like man, he doesn't 
come and go with memory, nor can he force himself. to lose 
memory because of the perfection of who he is. It simply means 
that their sins and iniquities he remembers no more. That is, 
he does not charge them with them, Gill says, he does not 
reckon them or place them to their account, having imputed 
them to his son. Let's pause there for a moment. 
That's the blessed transaction of the cross Our sins are imputed 
to christ those who believe in the lord jesus christ all those 
who believe in him Their sins are imputed to christ upon the 
cross and he bears divine wrath for those sins the blessed reciprocating 
transaction is that Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, 
received by faith alone. Gil goes on, the Apostle Paul 
interprets this as inclusive of the imputation of righteousness 
without works, even the righteousness of Christ in which the blessedness 
of a man lies. For such an one is accepted with 
God, is justified in his sight, and is secure from condemnation 
and wrath. It is well with him at all times. You can think of the hymn, It 
is well with my soul. When we sing, it is well with 
my soul, hopefully as you're singing that, you're not at the 
same time contemplating, because I did well this week in sanctification, 
you know, because I've, you know, I've, man, I've loved the Lord, 
my God, with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and I've 
loved my neighbor as myself this week, it is well with my soul. 
We sing, it is well with my soul, because of the perfection of 
the work of Christ, because of the grace of God, because Christ 
Jesus came into this world, to perform a perfect righteousness 
and to secure forgiveness for us. For such in one is accepted 
with God, is justified in his sight, and is secure from condemnation 
and wrath. It is well with him at all times, 
in life, at death, and at judgment. He is an heir of eternal life, 
will enter into it, and be forever glorified. What a wonderful thing 
to meditate upon as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord 
Jesus Christ, that we have such a champion who performed perfectly 
in our stead. And so it is by an act of imputation. You can turn with me to 2 Corinthians 
5. Many of you will know this passage. 
2 Corinthians 5, here we have something 
of that double imputation, our sins imputed to Christ, his righteousness 
imputed to us, that is, accounted as ours or reckoned to us as 
ours. Notice in 5.18. Now all things are of God. This 
is 2 Corinthians 5 18. Now all things are of God who 
has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has 
given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ, 
reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses 
to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 
Just two important things there. One that you might not care a 
lot about, but one that you might care more about. First off, the 
imputing of their trespasses to them. This is contemplating 
or reflecting upon the negative of imputation. Our sins are not 
imputed to us. Not only do we have Christ's 
righteousness reckoned to our account, but we don't have our 
sins reckoned to our account, not imputing their righteousness 
to them. The other thing that we have 
or we don't have in this passage is that Roman Catholics argue 
from this passage for the ministry of penance by a priest in a booth, 
their doctrine of confession, as if Paul is rehearsing that 
to priests, to those with apostolic authority, there is this ministry 
of reconciliation, which is interpreted as a priest sitting in a booth 
with a little mesh thing. He sits sideways, you face him 
and you recite something, you confess your sins, he prescribes 
10 Hail Marys, and then you're good with God again. It's simply 
saying that God has committed a ministry of reconciliation 
to the apostles. That ministry of reconciliation 
is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what 
the ministry of reconciliation is. God, the ascended Christ, 
has given to his apostolate the charge to go forth unto all the 
nations to proclaim reconciliation, the gospel of peace. to all men 
and women, boys and girls. Now then, verse 20, we are ambassadors 
for Christ. As though God were pleading through 
us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin 
to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God 
in him. This is a blessed passage that 
brings forth to us that glorious transaction that at the cross, 
Christ's, our sins, the sins of all who believe in him are 
imputed to Christ. He bears divine wrath for those 
sins. that every sin ever committed, 
not just those up until our time of conversion. And then after 
that, we got to sort of self atone for everything else. No, 
all sins ever committed. Christ has died for all of those 
sins ever committed by all those whom the father had given to 
him, his people, they are imputed to Christ and he upon Calvary's 
cross bears the punishment. in our stead, and reciprocally, 
that blessed thing, because if we reflect upon our own lives, 
if we think back to our careers as sinners prior to grace coming 
to us, if we reflect back upon our careers, that's probably 
not the best term, but our lives as Christians, with remaining 
corruption, it would take a long time for us to rehearse the sin, 
to rehearse the transgression, to rehearse the violation of 
God's law. Even just in the matter of time 
that we've all come into this building, we have sinned against 
God. All of those sins ever committed, 
to use that language of Spurgeon again, if we were to peruse the 
diaries of our memories, we would there find the landmarks of sins 
committed. We would there find not sweet 
memory, but painful memory of all those times we sinned against 
one another and we've sinned against God. All of that is heaped 
upon Christ in that transaction of imputation, but a righteousness, 
His righteousness, the righteousness of one who never committed a 
sin, the righteousness of one who in those 33 years never transacted 
transgression against God, never sinned. Our minds can't wrap 
around that sort of reality because we just live with sin every day. 
in ourselves and with others, but one who never transgressed, 
never raised his voice in sinful anger against anyone, never stole, 
never had a lustful thought, never had a murderous thought, 
always and at all times loved the Lord his God with all his 
heart, mind, soul, and strength, never coveted, What an amazing 
thing we have in our Savior. So if we reflect upon our careers 
as sinners, and then we reflect upon the blessed life of Jesus 
Christ as having never sinned, let's glory in the fact that 
He has provided us with that means of escape whereby we have 
His righteousness accounted, and He bears the penalty for 
our transgressions committed. What an amazing thing we have 
in the doing, in the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes 
with, thirdly under the nature of justification, it comes with 
the same power and promise behind the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
Notice the language here in verse 23 of chapter 4 of Romans. I'm in 2nd Corinthians. I was 
reading that and that doesn't seem right at all. I just read 
it. Romans 4, 23. Now it was not written for his 
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us, it shall 
be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our 
Lord from the dead. We've talked about this before. 
You've heard it before that very often in the Christian milieu 
or the Christian landscape, there are some that are very, some 
that subscribe to the reality that there are still these powerful 
signs and miracles and wonders performed in our own day. We 
subscribe to the reality that those ceased with the completion 
of the New Testament canon. The Holy Spirit's activity, though, 
is very much alive and well, and we would want to argue that 
the salvation of a sinner, the salvation of a sinner, however 
great The healing of a blind person may be, if it actually 
happened by Joe Evangelist in a church somewhere, however amazing 
that would be, it would not even approach the glory and the power 
and the majesty of the triune God bringing forth a dead sinner 
to life by the very same power that brought creation into existence. So what we read in 2 Corinthians 
4, by the very power that is behind the creation of all things 
out of nothing in the space of six days and all very good, by 
the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, by that 
same power, God brings us forth from darkness to light. By that 
same power, God brings us forth from deadness to life. This connection 
between justification, maybe largely salvation, to the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ is absolutely glorious. We look upon man's 
reality, and he's not just limping in sin. He's not just weakened 
by sin such that he needs a little bit of a spoonful of medicine 
of Jesus Christ and all will be well. The Bible sets forth 
the grave and colossal reality that man is dead in his trespasses 
and sins. And so it is by divine power, 
the very same power that rose Christ from out of the grave, 
that God saves dead sinners. And this is behind the blessed 
reality of justification by faith. Now, secondly, largely, we want 
to notice the receiving instrument of justification. We first see 
it in the passage as we read through verse 23 and verse 24. Now, it was not written for his 
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us, it shall 
be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our 
Lord from the dead. And then verse one of chapter 
five, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace 
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." So, we have this summary 
statement of the bad news that we've already rehearsed, where 
Paul sets forth the fact that it's not by the deeds of the 
law which any man shall be justified in the sight of God. There's 
this negative statement. It's not by the deeds of the 
law. Now, we know that whatever the 
law says, it says to those who are under the law that every 
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before 
God. a man trying to argue that it 
is by his good deeds that he enters into eternal life. You'll 
hear this when you talk to some, and unfortunately, it's been 
the picture of Christianity presented to the world, largely speaking, 
that, you know, if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, you know, 
we've done bad in the past, if we do good up until, you know, 
our dying breath, then there will be this divine sort of scale, 
and if the good deeds outweigh the bad deeds, Peter will open 
up the pearly gate and let us in. It's a horrible picture of 
Christianity, an ineffectual and impotent view of Christianity. The one who says that he can 
work his way to justification, or even just partially work his 
way to divine favor, that God would issue this legal declaration 
of innocence, comes to this passage, his mouth is stopped, and he's 
guilty before God. And we have this statement, therefore, 
by the deeds of the law, no flesh. will be justified in his sight. 
But then we have this blessed language of verse one of chapter 
five, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And as Paul builds his argument, 
there are a number of elements that he uses. He explicitly excludes 
works from the picture, but he also does something of the exclusion 
of boasting. You know, he uses the clear argument 
here, where is boasting then, 327, it is excluded. By what 
law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 
This question, where is boasting then, is answered by the very 
next four words, it is excluded. Those are three words actually, 
there's a hyphen and then another line. It is excluded. Boasting is excluded from the 
Christian economy of salvation and because of the reality of 
sin that Paul has already set forth and the inability for anyone 
to work themselves unto and against the holiness and the justice 
of God. Where is boasting then? It is 
excluded. We also read with regards to 
Abraham here that he had Something to boast in, for if Abraham was 
justified by works, he has something to boast about. But not before 
God. Not before God. If anyone is 
a boaster in themselves before God, they will be cast down. 
Remember that God casts down the prideful, but he raises and 
lifts up. The humble. We have this exclusion 
of boasting. There's that wonderful language 
in Galatians 5. Actually, turn there with me. 
This language of the exclusion of boasting in Galatians 5. No, I'm sorry, Galatians 6. Galatians 
6, 14. And this is in the context of 
those arguing that works contribute to divine favor. For not even those who are circumcised, 
this is 13, keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised 
that they may boast in your flesh. Now notice verse 14, but God 
forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to 
the world. This language here, but God forbid 
that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
just stop on that for a moment. Paul isn't saying this, you know, 
in the face of the reality that, you know, he could boast before 
God, but he just won't because he's going to boast in Christ. As if, you know, he's so holy 
and so humble that he's not going to boast in legitimate arguments 
about his own performance, He's simply going to cast that legitimate 
argument aside and just boast in Christ. That's not it at all. 
Christians have nothing to boast in before God. God forbid that 
I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The exclusion of boasting, the 
clear statement concerning justification, as we've already noticed, but 
notice in 328 therefore we conclude there's this therefore conclusion 
in Romans 328 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith 
apart from the deeds of the law the the the raging clarity if 
you'll allow that language of justification by faith alone 
in Christ alone jumps off the pages of the Bible and Dashes 
to pieces any argument for the inclusion of human good works 
to merit salvation If that is the case, as we've 
noted on many occasions, Pastor Butler noted it a couple weeks 
ago, that language of Galatians 2.21, if salvation comes through 
the law, then Christ died in vain. You know, that is one of 
the many implications, grave implications, of a doctrine of 
justification, even partially by works, faith plus works, for 
example, is that Christ died in vain, and his incarnation 
was vanity, his life was emptiness and vanity, and his death on 
the cross is vanity, if we are justified by the deeds of the 
law. Thirdly, we want to know well 
just before on receiving the instrument of on the receiving 
instrument of justification Being faith. We want to close with 
what that means therefore having been justified by faith We have 
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ So what does it 
mean then the receiving instrument of justification? because next 
we're going to look at the perfect ground of justification and with 
time ticking on and We're going to look at a case this evening 
of justification in the Good Samaritan. We'll spend a little 
bit of time with him this evening, but I want to bring forth the 
fourth point this evening, the blessed result of justification. But moving on, before we move 
on to the perfect ground of justification, what does it mean then to be 
justified by faith? First, what it doesn't mean. 
It doesn't mean that our act of believing justifies us. That's 
not what justification by faith means, because if our faith justified 
us, if our act of believing justified us, then that is a works-based 
salvation. Faith is the empty hand that 
receives the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and the 
forgiveness of sins. Faith doesn't bring to table 
the table of salvation, the merit that warrants justification. 
It is that receiving instrument. Faith, our believing in the Lord 
Jesus Christ, is that whereby we receive the righteousness 
of Christ. So we're not received by our 
act, we're not justified that is, by our act of believing, 
were justified by what the perfect ground of justification is, that 
is, by the cross and the tomb of Christ. Notice, as we look 
then at the perfect ground of justification, Christ by cross 
and tomb, verse 25, who was delivered up because of our offenses. So it's speaking about the one 
we believe in, Jesus, our Lord, who was raised from the dead, 
who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised 
because of our justification. There is the two-fold ground 
to our justification, and the two-fold ground is captured in 
The the context of the deliverance up to the cross who was delivered 
up because of our offenses You've heard you've heard us say this 
before and it's very important It's important to the apostle 
paul because he gets to this in chapter 5 12 and following 
when he talks about the adam Christ comparison or the Adam 
Christ juxtaposition. Adam fell in the garden. He sinned 
against God and he thrust all of his progeny, all of humanity 
into sin and depravity and transgression. which merited only condemnation 
and wrath in this world and that which is to come. Christ, the 
second or last Adam, comes and provides the blessed and glorious 
remedy for Adam's transgression. Christ comes and he performs 
that which Adam failed to do and he dies for the sins of all 
those who fell in Adam. He answers the question of Adam's 
transgression. But notice this language, who 
was delivered up because of our offenses and raised because of 
our justification. Captured in that, and we won't 
spend a whole lot of time on that, but captured in that is 
what we just said. Christ's obedience where Adam 
lacked. the perfection of Christ's adherence 
to the entire law of God. We'll notice tonight by alluding 
to and reading from the parable of the Good Samaritan. It's interesting 
there, see, because there are those in our day who are trying 
to pit Paul against Jesus. Those who fly the banner of Christianity, 
but are animated by Satan himself, who are rejecting justification 
by faith and arguing that Jesus taught the proper, view of justification. For example, in the case of the 
Good Samaritan, where in this case, the Samaritan asks, what 
must I do to inherit eternal life? And there is this rehearsal 
that Jesus brings of the where Jesus responds with a question 
concerning the law of God. What is written? What does the 
law say? And the Samaritan answers, and 
he says that he gives that two-fold summary of the Decalogue, or 
the two-fold summary of the Ten Commandments. The first table 
of the law, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, 
soul, and strength. The second table of the law, 
and love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus Christ says, do this 
and you will live. So now, is Christ somehow in 
opposition to Paul here? Because Paul is saying, not by 
the deeds of the law. It's not by the deeds of the 
law that you will have everlasting life. So, what is Christ saying? 
Well, in the context, and we'll see that tonight, he's bringing 
to the Samaritan the weight and the heaviness of the law to find 
the Samaritan out because he is the one who excludes, or to 
find the Jewish fellow out because he is the one who excludes Samaritans 
from the grace of God. And he's bringing to bear the 
weight of the law to this man because the man is arguing for 
his, it says in the text that he's seeking to justify himself. And so Christ brings the weight 
of the law and says, do this and you will live. In other words, 
to say, you can't do it. The weight of the law is such 
that, yeah, if you could do it perfectly, you would merit everlasting 
life. But the reality is such that 
man in sin cannot do so. So he finds the Samaritan out, 
and he brings the Samaritan to the foot of Christ himself, who 
is the good Samaritan in the parable, and he says, it is only 
in essence by me that you can have everlasting life. Getting 
back to this then, it is Christ's obedience to the whole law that 
is imputed to us when we receive that blessedness by faith. Again, 
rehearsing our careers as sinners, we ought to glory in the fact 
that we have a righteousness that avails with God. And it's 
not our righteousness because that never would. not by deeds 
of righteousness, which we have done, Paul writes in Titus, but 
according to your mercy, his mercy, he saved us through the 
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And this 
language is pointedly centered around the cross of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who was delivered up because of our offenses. The focus is on the cross. Often 
when we, if you ever read language in the New Testament that is 
only capturing the cross, we're not to see that as an exclusion 
of the life of Christ, but as that which culminates the perfect 
life of obedience that Christ exercises. For example, in Philippians 
chapter two, it gives us the purpose of the incarnation, that 
Christ would be obedient unto his cross death. And so here 
we have captured, though, this deliverance has to do with the 
cross of Jesus Christ. He was delivered up, that is, 
to the cross because of our offenses. And that deliverance is twofold, 
if you'll turn with me to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 2, 
that deliverance is twofold, and Paul is probably capturing 
divine purposivity. the divine purpose in salvation, 
but there is a twofold delivering up as we'll notice in Acts 2 
at verse 22. Men of Israel Hear these words, 
Jesus of Nazareth, the man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders 
and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves 
also know. Now notice him being delivered 
by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God, you have 
taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death. So 
this delivering up captures the reality of the cross of Jesus 
Christ. And yes, it does capture, of 
course, the lawless deeds of wicked men who took him and delivered 
up to that bloody massacre upon that Roman gibbet of execution. 
But it also captures the reality that according to divine purpose 
and foreknowledge, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born 
under the law, that he might redeem those who are under the 
law and provide to them the blessings of salvation, including justification 
by faith alone. He was delivered up because of 
our offenses. And we ought to see that language 
and understand in that language the weightiness of the suffering 
that Christ undertook upon Calvary's cross. We noted last time that 
it wasn't only, and chiefly, bodily suffering. Though that's 
often what we think about because that That's really the only way, 
the only sort of part of that that we can even partially enter 
into. Physical pain. We know nothing about what's 
really going on with regards to the soul travail, the spiritual 
travail of Christ upon the cross. We know nothing about bearing 
substitutionarily the sins of millions of people. That is immense 
and undiscoverable. And he was, Christ was, delivered 
up because of our offenses. All those whom the Father had 
given to him before the foundation of the world, all of their sins 
imputed to Christ, he bearing the punishment do those sins 
upon Calvary's cross. And we have this wonderful language 
here, and was raised because of our justification. What does 
this mean? because his resurrection is not 
that which justifies us. The language seems to carry that 
weight and was raised because of or for our justification. It's not his resurrection that 
provides our justification, but the language here is that his 
resurrection is the vindication of our salvation. That means 
it is a testament to the blessed reality that Christ really did 
save us. This is what Gill writes. He 
was raised again from the dead by his father, to whom this is 
often ascribed, and by himself by his own power, which proves 
him to be the mighty God. And this was done not only that 
he might live an immortal and glorious life in our nature, 
having finished the work he undertook and came about, but for our justification. He died in the room instead of 
his people, and by dying made satisfaction for their sins. 
He rose again as their head and representative, and was legally 
discharged, acquitted, and justified, and they in him." Now notice, 
Christ's resurrection did not procure the justification of 
his people, that was done by his obedience and death, but 
was for the testification of it, that is, the weight of its 
truthfulness, but was for the testification of it that it might 
fully appear that sin was atoned for and an everlasting righteousness 
was brought in. and for the application of it, 
or that Christ might live and see his righteousness imputed 
and applied to all those for whom he had rotted out." So that 
wonderful resurrection that we celebrate, I imagine Pastor Butler 
next Lord's Day may preach on the resurrection, given the Sunday 
that we happen to fall on there, Easter Sunday. The resurrection 
of the Lord Jesus Christ is a powerful, God-honored, blessed vindication 
or testament to the reality that if you believe in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, you are and shall be saved. What a blessing that we 
have. So Christians here this morning, 
if you come back tonight, we're going to look at the blessed 
result of justification from 5.1. Therefore, having been justified 
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians, this morning, this 
is the stuff of the highest and the sweetest contemplations. 
When we read in these headers to the Psalms, or these introductions 
to the Psalms, where it says a Psalm of David, a contemplation, 
I want you to latch on to that language of contemplation. and 
engage in that. When you read your scriptures, 
we are not simply to engage in some superficial or surface act 
of simply reading and then slapping her closed. We're to open up 
our Bibles and read with a mind to contemplate the glories and 
the majesty of God. We're to open up our Bibles with 
an eye and with the mind to engage in these in this sweet remembrance 
of Jesus Christ in this context as we read Romans 3 19 through 
through 5 5 we're to look at Christ and we're to rejoice in 
God were to Reflect if only for a moment upon our sinful careers 
and fly quickly to the one who provides remedy atonement and 
glorious substitutionary obedience for us imagine if you were Imagine 
if you were, you're in a, you've committed horrendous crimes, 
and you're in court, and you're, you know, you're sitting in the 
defendants, behind the defendants table, whatever they call it, 
and you're dead to rights. You've committed these crimes. 
The judge knows you have, the jury knows you have, the prosecution 
knows that you have. There there is no out there is 
no remedy. There is no escape but but one 
comes To bear the penalty for you and goes in your place an 
amazing thing. That would be in the earthly 
realm Knowing that you've committed such violence knowing that you've 
committed whatever crimes they may be someone Innocent takes 
your place. That would be something else 
if someone who was also guilty of the same crimes came and said, 
well, I'll take his place. Well, you were with him. That's 
not efficacious at all. But someone comes innocent. Someone 
comes not only innocent to provide a righteousness, but someone 
comes innocent to bear also the penalty that the judge is going 
to render based upon the obvious truth. In that earthly sphere, 
in that earthly realm, you would rejoice, wouldn't you? Well, 
let's transfer that and we must transfer that to the glorious 
macrocosm and universal and greater reality of God through Christ 
reconciling the world to himself. Sending Christ in our stead to 
perform obedience in a perfect manner. to every jot and tittle 
of the law, to die upon Calvary's cross as a vicar, as a substitute, 
as one in our place, to bear the wrath of God, which again, 
we cannot plumb the depths of the justice and the holiness 
of God, visited upon multitudinous infractions of His most holy 
law. We have Christ who goes for us 
in our place. Christian, that's the stuff of 
the sweetest contemplation. As you read your Bibles, as you 
reflect upon the boons to the Christian soul that jump off 
its pages, you are to reflect and roll around in your mind, 
reflect upon the doing and the dying and the rising again of 
Jesus Christ, that resurrection. for our very vindication, to 
show us that yes, the victory was victory, that the champion 
has won. And unbeliever, if you're here 
this morning, hopefully you've heard something of God, you've 
heard something of sin, the language of Romans 3 comes to you, 19, 
we know whatever the law says, it says to those who are under 
the law, that is every breathing human being, that every mouth 
may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 
If you're an unbeliever here this morning, you stand guilty 
before God. You stand before the bar of divine 
and holy justice and righteousness, and you stand before it as one 
guilty, having sinned time upon time, just like all of us, before 
God met us by His grace and brought us to a place that, though we 
sin, we have justification through Christ. But you're in a place 
where you don't have justification, you have righteous condemnation 
resting upon you, the wrath of God, the just and holy wrath 
of God for having violated His law, for having sinned with every 
day that you've drawn breath. But there is blessed hope in 
this Christ. There is blessed and there is 
only hope in this Jesus Christ who came into this world, assumed 
our humanity, that he might live in our place, that he might die 
in our place, and that he might rise again on the third day to 
bring many sons to glory with the punctuated message that his 
work has been completed. His work has been perfected, 
and He will bring those many sons to glory, with no one interfering, 
with no one molesting the blessed salvation that He affords. All 
of us will be those who believe on that great day, brought into 
Emmanuel's land, where we'll sing the glories of the Lamb 
forever and ever. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and you will be saved. Well, let's pray. Heavenly Father, 
we thank you for your truth. We thank you for the Holy Scriptures. 
We thank you for what this passage teaches us regarding the blessed 
reality of justification by faith alone. We thank you that we are 
saved not by righteousness, which we have done, because those righteousnesses 
are as filthy rags, as you say, through the prophet Isaiah. And 
we know and we rejoice in the fact that it is by Christ alone, 
the perfection of his righteousness and the perfection of his death 
that we have justification, that we have salvation. Help us always 
to, as the psalmist, engage in contemplation, to reflect with 
great joy, not upon ourselves, but upon Jesus Christ, our blessed 
Savior. Do go with us into the rest of 
this Lord's Day. Help us to rejoice in you. Help 
us to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of grace, 
knowing that we've been saved by amazing and victorious grace 
through the perfect work of Jesus Christ. bring us back this evening 
that we might once again worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen. Well, 
let's all stand. We'll sing a doxology, not the 
doxology, but you can turn in your hymn books to 568. We'll 
stand and sing 568 as we close. is As you saw that was the doxology 
I was just making sure everybody was still awake 564 I was thinking 
of Back to sacred things though. Let's close with this benediction 
from the book of Jude. Now to him who is able to keep 
you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence 
of his glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone 
is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now 
and forever. Amen. Lord, go with us now. We 
rejoice in your truth. We rejoice in this benediction. We pray that we would give you 
glory, that we would give you honor, that we would give you 
praise. And we thank you for the perfection 
of salvation through Christ our Savior. Do animate us to show 
ourselves and to shine forth as lights in this lower world. 
to be able to preach to others the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ, 
and to, as we've prayed, conduct ourselves in a manner worthy 
of your gospel, knowing that it's by grace we've been saved 
through Christ and Him alone. We pray in the name of Jesus 
Christ, our blessed Savior. Amen. We'll have a brief time 
of prayer. When the piano's finished, you're 
dismissed.