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we rejoice in this blessed opportunity 
on a new day that you've given us, and on this, your Lord's 
Day, to gather together to study your word, to know of our God, 
to know of your truth, and we do pray that you would help us 
in this hour to have our minds focused upon the doctrine that 
we find in the Holy Scriptures, and specifically the doctrine 
of justification by faith alone. We rejoice in this. We rejoice 
in the perfection of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
knowing that we are not justified by deeds of righteousness which 
we have done, but we're justified solely and alone by the perfection 
of the work of Jesus Christ, his active obedience unto the 
whole law and his passive obedience in his death, and we rejoice 
in that blessed truth, and we give you all honor and praise 
this morning. In Christ's name, amen. Does everyone have a confession 
of faith? Everyone's good to go? All right, 
you can turn to chapter 11, the doctrine of justification. Chapter 
11, I'll read all the paragraphs. There are six of them. And then 
we'll have a look at primarily the content of paragraph one, 
the doctrine of justification, its definition, what it is, but 
with branching out to some of the other paragraphs here as 
well. So this is chapter 11. Those whom God effectually calleth, 
he also freely justifieth. not by infusing righteousness 
into them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting 
their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them 
or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone, not by imputing faith 
itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience 
to them as their righteousness, but by imputing Christ's active 
obedience unto the whole law and passive obedience in his 
death for their whole and sole righteousness. They receiving 
and resting on him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have 
not of themselves, it is the gift of God. Faith, thus receiving 
and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument 
of justification. Yet it is not alone in the person 
justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, 
and is no dead faith, but worketh by love. Christ, by His obedience 
and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are 
justified, and did, by the sacrifice of Himself in the blood of His 
cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them, make 
a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in their behalf. Yet inasmuch as he was given 
by the Father for them, and his obedience and satisfaction accepted 
in their stead, and both freely, not for anything in them, their 
justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice 
and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification 
of sinners. God did from all eternity decree 
to justify all the elect, and Christ did in the fullness of 
time die for their sins and rise again for their justification. 
Nevertheless, they are not justified personally until the Holy Spirit 
doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them. God doth continue 
to forgive the sins of those that are justified. And although 
they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they 
may by their sins fall under God's fatherly displeasure. And 
in that condition, they have not usually the light of his 
countenance restored unto them until they humble themselves, 
confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance. 
The justification of believers under the Old Testament was, 
in all these respects, one and the same with the justification 
of believers under the New Testament. Amen. Well, we come to a doctrine 
of justification, and we might want to say of justification 
by faith alone. There are many who fly the banner 
of Christianity who have a doctrine of justification, but fall short 
of the true and biblical doctrine of justification, which is justification 
by faith alone. And so this chapter carefully 
and calculatedly, if that's a word, and with great measures of precision, 
It sets forth the proper biblical doctrine of justification by 
faith. As you've heard perhaps through 
your life of Christianity, some quotes from the old reformers 
with regards to this justification. Martin Luther said something 
like, this is the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls. 
John Calvin, this is, justification is the hinge upon which religion 
turns. Benjamin Keech, noted by Dr. Renahan in his exposition of 
the confession of faith. wrote, the doctrine of justification 
is one of the greatest and most weighty subjects I can insist 
upon, it being by all Christians acknowledged to be a fundamental 
of religion and salvation. It's of the utmost importance 
that Christians know what salvation is, that Christians know, in 
particular here, what the doctrine of justification is. How is a 
sinner justified before a righteous and a holy God? Remember Jude 3, Jude writes 
that he wants his recipients, the recipients of his letter, 
to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all 
delivered to the saints. In John Gill's exposition on 
that passage, he talks about what it means, what the faith 
means. the faith once for all delivered 
to the saints. And he speaks about the fact 
that that includes the Trinity, it includes the certain deity 
of the Son and Spirit, and it includes justification by the 
imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is of the utmost importance. It is an essential of our Christian 
confession. And so we have six paragraphs 
here wherein the confessionalists are setting forth the sure doctrine 
of justification by faith alone. The quotes that I just mentioned 
by Luther, Calvin, and Keech, and Gill, they're not the first 
to say those things because the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ 
set forth the reality that justification is the hinge upon which true 
religion turns, and we'll have occasion to look at some passages, 
chiefly by the Apostle Paul in the books of Romans and Galatians, 
and also Philippians, where the Apostle Paul says the very same 
thing. It is not a gospel that rejects 
the true doctrine of justification, and it is most certain that the 
true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ includes the declaration 
of a proper doctrine of justification by faith alone. Just before we 
get into the content here, we've noted as we've moved through 
the confession that when we arrive at a particular chapter, chapters 
previous to that are intimately connected to that chapter. For 
example, the doctrine of God is most certainly in the background 
here. the doctrine of law, though we haven't arrived at that yet. 
That's coming up in chapter 19, though it's alluded to and the 
stuff of the law is touched upon in chapters previous to this. For example, chapters 6 and 9, 
to name only two. The doctrine of man, the doctrine 
of sin, and the doctrine of Christ are very intimately connected 
to this, and the doctrine of covenant. How we land on the 
doctrine of justification as professing Christians will speak 
to whether or not we impugn the character of God. whether or 
not we exalt man instead of casting him down into the dust of sin 
where he belongs. It'll speak to whether or not 
we do violence to Christ and the perfection of his work. And 
it'll speak to how we treat the law and the doctrine of sin. And hopefully we'll see that 
as we move along. So we want to look at just three 
things this morning. First off, the recipients of 
justification. Secondly, what biblical justification 
is. And then thirdly, the instrument 
by or through which we are justified. So first off, the recipients 
of justification. Notice at the beginning of the 
paragraph here, paragraph one. Those whom God effectually calleth, 
he also freely justifieth. It's a wonderful thing as we 
move along in these sections with regards to salvation, with 
regards to the various doctrines of salvation. We noticed it in 
effectual calling. We're going to notice it here 
now in justification. We'll see it in adoption, in 
sanctification, and also in the doctrine of faith. But you'll 
see that with each of these chapters of salvation, the recipients 
of these salvific blessings are announced. Each chapter is mounted 
upon the next in describing who are the recipients of these blessings. For example, if you look at chapter 
10 of effectual calling that we noted last time, those whom 
God hath predestined unto life, he is pleased to effectually 
to call. And now when we get to the doctrine 
of justification, it builds upon the previous chapter of effectual 
calling. Those whom God effectually calleth, 
he also freely justifieth. And then you'll notice in chapter 
12, all those that are justified, God vouchsafed in and for the 
sake of his only son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace 
of adoption. And then we'll just notice one 
more, chapter 13, those who are united to Christ, effectually 
called and regenerated, having a new heart and spirit created 
in them, et cetera, are also farther sanctified. So the purpose, 
I think that we are to, well, one of the things that we're 
to see here that the confessionalists are setting forth is that inviolable, 
that unbreakable chain of redemption or salvation. All those whom 
God predestinates unto life those same people, those same innumerable 
people, are also effectually called. All those whom are effectually 
called, none lost, are also those who are freely justified by the 
grace of God. And then, of course, it continues. 
So there are none lost, along that blessed salvific journey 
of predestination unto life to glorification. All those predestinated 
unto life, none lost, are those who are in the end glorified, 
and along that blessed quest of divine salvation, there are 
none lost. All predestinated are called 
or regenerated. All regenerated are justified. 
All justified are adopted. all adopted are farther sanctified, 
and all those who are sanctified will meet that blessed end in 
Emmanuel's land, singing his praises forever. So, the confessionalists 
rightly say here, those whom God effectually calleth, he also 
freely justifieth. And that word is a blessed one 
there, he freely justifieth. As we notice here when we move 
along in this chapter, well, in every chapter, but in this 
chapter, because that's what we're doing this morning, is 
there are a number of calculated adjectives that the confessionalists 
apply here in order to ensure that the recipients of that those 
reading, that Christians reading this understand the blessedness 
of justification by faith alone, by grace through faith alone, 
in Christ alone, without man included in the equation of justification. It is first and last, midst and 
throughout, of God who freely justifieth. So the recipients 
of justification are those whom He freely justifieth. Notice 
as well, we have this in paragraph 4. The recipients of justification. God did, from all eternity, decree 
to justify all the elect. and Christ did in the fullness 
of time die for their sins and rise again for their justification, 
nevertheless they are not justified personally until the Holy Spirit 
doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them." I believe 
what this paragraph is is sort of writing against is the doctrine 
of eternal justification, that the elect are eternally personally 
justified. There is a reality to justification 
that it has an eternal nature, that all those whom God decreed, 
or that God from eternity did decree to justify all those who 
are elect, but they are not justified, they are not personally justified, 
as the Confession says, until the Holy Spirit applies Christ 
unto them. So prior to their justification, 
they are not justified, but The point here is just drawing us 
back to the fact that God decreed to justify the elect, and in 
time he does do so. Secondly, and perhaps more, well, 
I'll say perhaps more importantly, but that's obviously an important 
note, is what justification is. Because, of course, at the time 
of the Reformation, the Reformers were fighting against a perversion 
of the doctrine of justification propagated by the Church of Rome, 
the Roman Catholic Church, the Papists. And much of this is 
targeted against the Papist doctrine, against the Roman Catholic doctrine, 
but not them alone. And we'll note that, also the 
Sassanians, also Unitarians, also Armenians and Quakers. But 
much of what's in the background is the Reformation divide where 
the reformers upheld, restored, repristinated, whatever we may 
want to say, restored the doctrine of justification by faith alone 
against papal perversion. So what biblical justification 
is? There are three affirmations 
and denials that are contained in this next collection of clauses. So three denials and three affirmations. You'll notice the language of 
not by and but by as we read through this definition of what 
justification is. So notice the first set. of denials and affirmations. 
Those whom God affectionately calleth, he also freely justifieth. And here's the first denial, 
not by infusing righteousness into them. So the Roman Catholics, 
for example, but not they alone, also the Sassinians and the Quakers, 
who perhaps are lesser known in the history of the Church, 
certainly the Roman Catholics and then the Sassinians, but 
they taught, as Renahan notes, that the verdict of justification 
is pronounced because the sinner has, by this process of infused 
righteousness, become personally righteousness. So the idea is 
that God, in salvation, infuses grace into the believer progressively 
and through through the journey of that Christian, infuses grace 
into them, and they attain a measure of personal righteousness by 
which they are justified. And hopefully we see the problem 
immediately, that that then finds the ground of justification in 
the individual and not outside of himself. Okay, yes, he is 
aided by the grace of God, but ultimately and finally, the determination, 
the verdict of justification, has to do with their own personal 
righteousness. And this immediately flies in 
the face of biblical revelation, the character of God, the perfection 
of Christ, the reality of man, and the weightiness of the law 
and of sin. Yes? They were a group of people, 
Sosinus was sort of their founder. Basically, he was a fellow that, 
with the Reformation time, there were proper reactions to the 
Roman Catholic Church, and there were, what we might say, perverse 
overreactions in the Reformation to the Roman Catholic Church. 
And so, Sosinus, from where we get the Sicinians, his followers, 
he rightly He rightly rallied against transubstantiation in 
the Roman Catholic Church, but he opposed vehemently the doctrine 
of the Trinity and also of legitimate tradition or the inheritance 
of our sort of antiquity in Christianity. He saw Trinity as a papist doctrine 
and not the biblical doctrine of God, as well as he repudiated 
any sort of tradition outside of the scriptures. So he would 
repudiate a biblical tradition. There are some other things as 
well connected to that. It's a snowball of bad doctrine, 
but yeah, he was a fellow in the 16th century that went way 
beyond what the reformers intended in opposition to the Roman Catholic 
Church. It exists. It exists in many 
different forms. The Unitarians, which I think 
are maybe more strongly in the UK, but also in North America, 
so they would be the anti-Trinitarians in the 17th century, and then 
sort of following through even to our own age, Unitarians who 
reject the Trinity today, would be sort of the descendants of 
Sassinians. There are some who take a Sassinianistic 
approach to certain things in the treatment of the Bible that 
would affirm things that we affirm, but would use almost Sassanian-like 
approaches to interpretation and things. And that's a dangerous 
road to travel. But yeah, that's a little Sassanianism 
in two minutes and 13 seconds. So we must see and we must appreciate 
and we must believe, along with these confessionalists, that 
justification is not by infusing righteousness into us. Because 
that, again, brings down the character of God, exalts man, 
brings down the perfection of the righteousness of Christ, 
and does all manner of violence to the biblical revelation of 
what justification is. So the verdict of justification 
is not pronounced because the sinner has become personally 
righteousness by aid of the grace of God. Now notice the affirmation 
then. So it's not by infusing righteousness 
unto them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting 
their persons as righteous. And that language will be magnified 
and amplified here in a moment, but we must stop upon this affirmation 
for a while and appreciate here some of the language. First off, 
by pardoning their sins. That wonderful Christian doctrine 
of the pardon of sins, the forgiveness of sins, the remission of sins 
by Jesus Christ, our Savior. We cannot counter, if you will, 
the matter of sin, the seriousness of sin, and the gravity of sin 
by ourselves. We must be pardoned by the work 
of someone outside of ourselves. We don't work away the pardon. 
We don't somehow chip away to achieve pardon based upon our 
own personal righteousness. It must come, and as we'll see, 
it does come from one outside of ourselves. and this language 
of accepting their persons as righteous. This has in the background, 
not only, but it has in the background Romans 4, 5 to 8, and much of 
what we see in Romans, I mean, from Romans 3.20 all the way 
through Romans 5. We revisit some of it also in 
Romans 8. But this rich reality of that 
our persons, as the effectually called, are accepted as righteous. And as we'll see, accepted as 
righteous, not by anything done by us or wrought in us, but solely 
by the work of Christ. Perhaps a passage that we can 
go to is in Isaiah, just to see some biblical Biblical language 
that immediately destroys any notion that we can, by our own 
personal righteousness, attain unto a justification, Isaiah 
64. Isaiah 64, and hopefully this 
passage is familiar to you, within the discussion of God, man, and 
salvation by Christ alone, and the idea that man can somehow, 
by his own righteousness, attain everlasting bliss. Notice in 
Isaiah 64 at verse 6. But we are all like an unclean 
thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. We all 
fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us 
away." You know, this language comes with the most gravity and 
sobriety here. First off, we are like an unclean 
thing. If a man is to boast that he 
can make his way to God through his own doings, he must immediately 
be confronted by the reality that all of us are unclean things 
before God. And then this language of righteousness 
now being included explicitly, and all our righteousnesses are 
like filthy rags. And so the Bible, with the greatest 
clarity, speaks against any notion that by a personal righteousness 
we can attain unto a justification. We have the pardon of sins, and 
we have an accounting and an accepting of our persons as righteous. Again, not because of our persons, 
but because of an accounting and an accepting based upon Jesus 
Christ and Him alone. We'll move along now to the second 
denial. Notice, carrying forth the language 
he also freely justifieth, and then, not for anything wrought 
in them or done by them. So the language of excluding 
things continues, the language of denials continue, and the 
confessionalists here, with the warrant and authority and clarity 
of scripture, are asserting that we're not justified by anything 
wrought in us by God, nor anything done by us. And when I say wrought 
in us by God, what I mean is what you'll see in the Roman 
Catholic Church is a confusion or a conflation of justification 
and sanctification. That's probably the simplest 
and quickest way we can say where the Roman Catholics err with 
regards to justification. They would say that with very 
strong language anathematizing anyone who says justification 
is by faith alone in Christ alone and his imputed righteousness, 
they merge together justification and sanctification in asserting 
that it is by an infused righteousness and that it is also by those 
things wrought in us, and including those things done by us, by sure, 
the grace of God, but nevertheless, it is a works-based salvation, 
a faith plus works-based salvation, where they mingle justification 
and sanctification as the grounds by which a sinner is accepted 
before God. So the confessionalists here, 
realizing that, explicitly state that it is not by, justification 
is not by, anything wrought in them or done by them. We might 
have also in view, in the background, the Roman Catholic doctrine, 
their doctrine of sacramentology. From baptism through to death, 
there is this observance of certain sacraments where grace is infused, 
whereby their faithful adherents are basically justified before 
God. So baptism, you know, something 
is wrought in. Roman Catholics purportedly, 
where original sin is washed away in the rite of baptism. 
That is sort of the beginning of this process of infused righteousness 
and this rotting, whatever the proper word is, but this making 
it such in the adherent that they are progressively that they 
are progressively made righteous before God. So it begins with 
baptism and it continues with the rest of their sacraments, 
with the Eucharist, with confirmation, with marriage, with all of these 
other rites and things, unto death and those final rites when 
the priest pronounces prayer and benediction over them. in 
the background is not only simply, generally speaking, a works-based 
mingling of justification and sanctification, but also the 
sacramentology of the Church of Rome. So the confessionalists 
here are asserting, with no way of wriggling out of it, that 
it is not by these things, it is not by works, it is not by 
the so-called graces in Roman Catholic sacraments. Now notice 
the blessed affirmation that follows here, but for Christ's 
sake alone. It's this continued affirmation 
that justification is by Christ. And we'll notice here in a number 
of moments that when we say justification by faith, or when we say justification 
by faith alone, and actually the next denial will state this, 
it's not our act of believing, it's not our faith that justifies 
us. Faith is the instrument that 
lays hold of, it's that empty hand that lays hold of the act 
of obedience of Christ unto the whole law and his passive obedience 
in his death. It is the object of our act of 
believing, it is the object of faith that is the ground of our 
justification, and that is Jesus Christ alone. Hence, the confessionalists 
here write that we are freely justified for Christ's sake alone. That blessed reality that Christ 
is the center and circumference and the sum and substance of 
our justification and of our salvation. It is for Christ's 
sake alone. Now notice the third set of of 
denials and affirmations here. So we'll carry the language forth. 
He also freely justifieth, not by imputing faith itself, the 
act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them 
as their righteousness. So we've noted along the way 
here, if only very quickly, that with these affirmations and denials, 
they are targeting contemporaneous errors, the Roman Catholics, 
the Sassanians, the Quakers. And again, we would note maybe 
primarily the Roman Catholics, but not just them. Here we get 
to the Armenians and the Unitarians that are in view, because it 
was them largely, that would say, that were justified by the 
act of our believing or by a measure of evangelical obedience. And that simply means the obedience 
rendered by Christians, almost like if we could think about 
it as a, well, really as a reduced law, as a watered down obedience. Remember that God requires exact, 
entire, personal, perfect and perpetual obedience to the law 
of God in order for our justification. This sort of approach to justification 
significantly waters down the requirements of a holy and a 
righteous God, bringing it down to a measure of simple evangelical 
obedience that we as Christians in our in our walk with Christ, 
in obedience to the law of Christ, can somehow merit our justification 
by virtue of that. So the Arminian and the Unitarian, 
there was a fellow at the time that possibly precipitated the 
writing of the Confession of Faith, Thomas Collier, who I 
believe was a particular Baptist, but then fell away from that. 
And that was he, along with the Arminians, held this particular 
sort of view with regards to justification that it is our 
act of believing and or our evangelical obedience that justifies us before 
God. But you see the problem there. 
when the dust of any articulation or any expansion or any flowery 
language upon that topic settles, it really is that we merit our 
own justification because it's our act of believing. that justifies 
us. It's not something outside of 
ourselves, however much the grace of God might be involved, it's 
our ultimately, our act of faith, our act of believing that justifies 
us, or our evangelical obedience to the law of God as Christians. So we certainly, we most certainly 
exclude that reality. And on that note, just turn to, 
just turn to chapter 19 for a moment, just something that I had mentioned 
in brief. Remember that we noted that the 
covenant, God's covenant, well, specifically the covenant of 
works, and also the law of God and man and sin are intimately 
connected to the doctrine of justification. Notice this language 
in chapter 19 in paragraph one. God gave to Adam a law of universal 
obedience written in his heart and a particular precept of not 
eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 
by which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, 
exact, and perpetual obedience, promised life upon fulfilling, 
and threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him 
with power and ability to keep it." So there is this obligation 
upon man connected to the covenant of works that if a man is to 
justify himself. If a man is to somehow, by himself, 
gain that verdict of righteous before the eyes of a holy God, 
he is to render that entire, that exact, that perpetual obedience 
unto the whole law. And so coming back to chapter 
11 in paragraph one, we want to notice then that, my good 
man, thank you, We want to notice that any of 
these systems of justification that is to set as the core of 
the doctrine or as the matter of the doctrine anything other 
than the exclusive and perfect work of Jesus Christ in his active 
and passive obedience, bumps up against the unbreakable wall 
of God's character and law. And that it can only be because 
of the fall that one outside of sinners justifies sinners. That one outside of men justifies 
men, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Notice this wonderful 
language that we have as it continues here with the affirmation. So 
the denial is, not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, 
or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness, 
but by imputing Christ's act of obedience unto the whole law 
and passive obedience in his death for their whole and soul 
righteousness. there is the blessed definition 
of justification by faith alone, that God imputes to the effectually 
called Christ's act of obedience unto the whole law and passive 
obedience in his death. And notice this language of the 
communication of certainty and exclusivity for their whole and 
soul righteousness. It's not that we have Christ's 
righteousness in part, or even in a large part, or even in the 
majority of a part, given to us for our righteousness, and 
then a little bit of us, a little bit of man, a little bit of the 
believer, but it is that Christ's active and passive obedience 
is the ground of our justification, the ground of our whole and soul 
righteousness, that wonderful whole and soul portion of the 
clause there. Exclusively, it is the perfection 
of the work of Christ in His life and in His death that is 
the ground of our justification. So it's not our works, it's not 
an infused righteousness, it's not our act of faith or our act 
of believing, it's not our obedience as Christians that justifies 
us, but rather it is the perfect obedience, the perfect obedience 
unto cross-death reality of the Son of God that is our whole 
and sole righteousness. Man, the sinner, plays no role 
in his justification. It is, from first to last, midst 
and throughout, the work of the triune God, based upon the perfection 
of Christ's active and passive obedience. You've heard those 
terms before, no doubt. Pastor Butler refers to them 
quite a bit, and rightly so, with regards to our blessed salvation. the act of obedience pertains 
to Christ's life of obedience unto the law of God. So from 
cradle to grave, he was obedient to the law of God. His obedience 
that we read about, for example, in many places when we talk, 
when the Lord Jesus Christ himself says that it is his his meat 
to do the will of the Father who sent him. He reiterates that 
in the Gospel of John quite a bit, that he came to do the will of 
him who sent him. And that wasn't simply simply 
to do that will or to set an example, but it was an obedience 
that was substitutionary also from cradle to grave. Yes, it 
was the joy, the meat of the son to do the will of the father 
who sent him, but that will of the father who sent him, that 
obedience to the law was rendered substitutionarily in the stead 
of all who were predestinated unto life and effectually called. So the whole life of Christ is 
one grand vicarious and substitutionary work for the salvation of the 
elect. So when we see Christ's act of 
obedience unto the whole law, we're to see that blessed reality, 
the very purpose for the incarnation, that he took on the form of a 
bondservant and became obedient unto the death upon the cross. That wonderful language of Philippians 
2, that the very purpose of the incarnation was that the Son 
of God would glorify God through the perfect salvation of the 
elect. And he does that by an obedience 
unto cross death, vicarious perfection. but by imputing Christ's act 
of obedience unto the whole law and passive obedience in his 
death. So that passive obedience is, 
and you've heard Pastor Butler explain this before, we're not 
to see passive there as in passivity or as in the language of grammar 
as something happening to perhaps somebody unwillingly or willingly. 
Though Christ did go to the cross willingly, of course, and endured 
the punishment of God in our stead, that passive has more 
to do with the language of passion, the language of enduring suffering. 
The language also of passive obedience captures not simply 
the cross death, but the cross death ultimately and finally 
and centrally, but also his entire life of suffering. Remember, 
Christ did not only suffer upon the cross, but when he came into 
this world, He obeyed God's law actively, but he also suffered 
at the hands of his own countrymen from the outset of his incarnation. He was the recipient of the hate 
and the venom of his countrymen from the time of his coming into 
the world. He came to his own and his own 
did not receive him. Time and again, we see the Jews 
wanting to kill him. They want to destroy him and 
yet he finds his way out of their way until that final act of suffering 
upon the cross. So his act of obedience captures 
that life of obedience to the law of God. and his passive obedience 
in his death captures that obedience where he endures the suffering 
in the stead of all those whom the Father had given to him. 
And remember, as sinners fallen in Adam, we require both of those 
things. We require the perfection of 
an act of obedience, and we require the perfection of a passive obedience. Adam, failed in his obedience 
in the garden, he failed in his act of obedience with respect 
to the covenant of works, so we need a perfect Adam who does 
not fail in order to uphold the righteous demands of the law 
of God for us. And also, Adam, in violating 
the law of God, in falling, in disobeying God, incurred the 
penalty due for the transgression of that law. Death came upon 
Adam. And so there is a penalty that 
is due for those who have violated the law of God, Adam and all 
his posterity. And Christ also provides the 
satisfaction of divine justice in enduring the penalty in our 
stead. What a blessed thing we have 
in Jesus Christ. The perfection of an act of obedience, 
the perfection of a passive obedience. As we consider the life of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, The Son of God incarnate went about doing 
good. We read about His blessed exploits 
in the Gospel accounts. Let's never forget, though, that 
as we're reading through the Gospel accounts and as we're 
reading concerning the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is 
doing and engaging and completing and perfecting for us. in that life. You know, we have 
these blessed accounts of interactions with sinners, these blessed accounts 
of interactions with the unjust as Christ boldly rails against 
the God-haters of His day. We have the giving of these parables. 
We have all of these things that Christ does. And let's not simply 
see these as blessed and true historical counts of Christ's 
doing, but let's move, including that, let's move beyond that 
and recognize the blessed substitutionary perfection and act of obedience 
that Christ is doing for us. reflecting upon our own sin, 
reflecting upon the fact that we have broken the law of God, 
we see in the life of Christ the blessed remedy for that law's 
violation, the blessed remedy for sin. We rendered nothing 
but disobedience. Christ rendered nothing but obedience 
in our stead. we gave nothing but sin, Christ 
gives nothing but the bearing of the penalty for sin upon the 
blessed cross of Calvary. This language of imputation is 
given, so it is the case that we have Christ's act of obedience, 
as the text says, unto the whole law, and passive obedience in 
His death imputed to us for our whole and soul righteousness. This moves us back to that first 
language in the first affirmation, but by pardoning their sins and 
by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous. So this 
is that language of imputation and accounting and accepting 
their persons as righteous, not because of what they have done, 
but imputing or accounting them as righteous based upon what 
another has done, Jesus Christ, imputing. Not, of course, their 
own doing, their own perfection unto them, but imputing, that 
is, accounting their persons as righteous based upon Christ's 
active and passive obedience. And as we reflect upon the fact 
that all our deeds, All our unrighteousnesses are as filthy rags as we reflect 
upon the fact that we are unclean things. Praise God that it is 
not up to our doings and our dyings in order to be saved, 
because we would never be saved. Praise God that we have the imputed 
righteousness of a perfect one, who was perfect according to 
active obedience, who was perfect according to passive obedience, 
and who renders the perfection of salvation for our whole and 
soul righteousness. What a horrible place it would 
be to be a papist. to be anyone who rejects and 
denies the blessed gospel, the blessed truth of justification 
for a justification that inserts man as the ground of meriting 
righteousness, man as the ground of meriting everlasting life, 
It is a sad case, it is a sad salvation if it's up to man, 
but it is a perfect and a blessed salvation that we have in truth 
because it is according to Christ and the perfection of His work. 
Now notice, let's go to some text because we spent some time 
in the Confession and we have spent some time talking about 
these affirmations and denials, but let's turn to the book of 
Romans for a moment because, of course, The confessionalists 
here are using biblical language. They're expounding the Bible, 
summarizing the Bible and its revelation with regards to the 
doctrine of justification. So you can turn to Romans 3 with 
me for a moment. When we consider this language 
of not by and but by, this language where the writers of the confession 
are denying, they're saying that justification is not according 
to one thing, but it is blessedly according to another thing. This 
is, of course, gained from the very revelation of God in the 
scriptures. Notice in Romans 3 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. So there is a not by statement 
that comes from the Holy Scriptures. It's not by deeds of the law. Therefore, by the deeds of the 
law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law 
is the knowledge of sin." Now here comes a but by statement, 
this wonderful language as the movement from the bad news to 
the good news obtains here. and we have this wonderful setting 
forth of justification by Christ. Notice verse 21, 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. Now, we have this wonderful language 
that the Apostle Paul brings out in his epistles attached 
to justification. We're familiar, of course, with 
the statement justification by faith. The Apostle Paul uses 
two other statements. He uses justification by grace 
and also justified by his blood, that is Christ's blood. This 
wonderful a confluence of divine truths, faith, grace, blood, 
that come together and that speak with regards to the fact that 
we are not saved by deeds of righteousness, which we have 
done, but solely according to the mercy of God through Jesus 
Christ. And so we have a very clear statement 
here that it is not by deeds of righteousness, which we have 
done, but solely justification by grace through Christ. Now 
notice as well in Romans 4, Romans 4 beginning at verse 5, And that's 
a wonderful statement right there too, isn't it? God justifies 
the ungodly. That clause in and of itself 
destroys any notion that we're justified by our own act of believing, 
that we're justified by our own works, or that we're justified 
by evangelical obedience. He 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." And then Romans 4, beginning at verse 
25, speaking of Christ 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. that wonderful language of peace 
with God. There is therefore now no condemnation 
for those who are in Christ Jesus. And let's just stop upon that 
word for a moment, condemnation. Condemnation, we could say, is 
the antithesis of justification. A man before a courtroom A man 
within the realm of jurisprudence and justice is either condemned 
or he's justified. You know, this brings to the 
fore the reality that justification is a verdict. It is a legal declaration 
from God, by God, of the innocence or the righteousness of a particular 
party. In the realm of Christian salvation, 
a declaration of righteous, that the sinner is righteous, based 
upon something and someone alien to himself, namely Jesus Christ 
and the perfection of his work. Drawing that, this idea of condemnation 
and justification together with the character of God, you can 
turn with me to the book of Proverbs for a moment, Proverbs 17. Proverbs 17, there's a particular 
proverb there where we see Something connecting 
the character of God with condemnation and justification. Notice in 
Proverbs 17, 15, he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns 
the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. 
So how does this connect to justification? Well, if we have a justification 
that isn't by imputation, and if we have a condemnation in 
a sense with respect to Christ, Christ as a wrath-bearing propitiation 
that isn't by the imputation of the elect sins, then we have 
a God who is an abomination. We have a God who is unjust. 
If justification is anything other than by imputation, then 
God is unjust and he is not acting according to holiness and righteousness. 
But because he does justify the wicked, but by an act of imputation, 
and that he does judge Christ or pour out his wrath upon Christ, 
but by an act of imputation, that is, the imputation of the 
sins of the elect to Christ, God is holy and righteous because 
of that twofold imputation. In any scheme of justification 
and in any scheme of atonement, outside of or not connected to 
imputation, we have something where God is not acting according 
to His most holiness and His most righteousness. We have the 
blessed language of Galatians as we move towards a close here. 
Now, this passage in Galatians is absolutely glorious for a 
number of reasons, but the Apostle Paul here, speaking about threefold 
denials and affirmations, the Apostle Paul here, in threefold 
repetition, repudiates any notion that justification is by the 
works of the law. Notice in Galatians 2 at verse 
16. Knowing that a man is not justified 
by the works of the law, but by, here's that language of not 
by and but by again. Remember, it's not the confessionalist 
making it up, it's Paul. Knowing that a man is not justified 
by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even 
we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by 
faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the 
works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. the language of 
the Apostle Paul could not be clearer at the point of justification 
by faith alone. And notice the implication, as 
Pastor Butler has often pointed us to, connected to this passage. Notice the implication, if justification 
is even in part by works. Verse 21, I do not set aside 
the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ 
died in vain. Christ's work of active obedience 
unto the whole law and passive obedience in his death is rendered 
as vanity if justification is by anything other than the imputed 
righteousness of Jesus Christ. You can see, for what then, for 
why then did Christ come into the world if we could even in 
part justify ourselves? Certainly, if we could in whole 
justify ourselves, but the whole and sole righteousness of Jesus 
Christ is imputed to us and received by faith alone. And in that, 
in the perfection of the work of Christ, we have justification. What a blessed truth that God 
has given to us. What a blessed work that God 
has done for us. And notice, just in closing, 
the instrument by which we are justified. at the end of the 
paragraph, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness 
by faith, which faith they have not of themselves, it is the 
gift of God. Isn't it wonderful there that 
they close off the paragraph by also noting that the very 
instrument by which we are justified, so not the object, the justification 
is a free gift, and the very instrument that we lay hold of 
the imputed righteousness of Christ is also a free gift. God gives us faith, the faith 
by which we are justified. This is why we speak about amazing 
grace, of victorious grace. This is why we exalt the sovereignty 
of God. This is why we exalt the sovereignty 
of God alone in the salvation of sinners. because of the very 
character of God, the very severity of His law, the very lowliness 
of man, the significance of sin, and the glory of the Lord Jesus 
Christ in doing and dying and rising again for a multitude 
of sinners which no man can number. Praise God for justification 
by faith alone in Christ alone. Well, let's pray. Heavenly Father, 
we thank You for Your truth. We rejoice in the glories of 
salvation. We rest upon the reality that 
salvation is not by deeds of righteousness, which we have 
done, but solely according to your mercy. We thank you that 
we're saved by the active and passive righteousness of Jesus 
Christ, the perfection of his work rendered in our stead as 
we go into worship. Might we rejoice in Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit, and might we be rejoicing in and resting upon 
the perfection of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us 
to return unto you all honor and praise and worship and we 
pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior