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but by imputing Christ's active 
obedience unto the whole law and passive obedience in his 
death for their whole and sole 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 who 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 time do 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 in 
the same with the justification of believers under the New Testament. 
Amen. Well, let us pray. Dear Heavenly 
Father, we thank you for this day, Lord God. We thank you for 
the privilege and honour it is to be in your house, where we 
can hear your truth today. There is no better day than the 
Lord's Day, where we get to come and have rest and rejuvenation 
in you. There's no better day where we 
get to come and worship you in your house freely, Lord God. 
We thank you for this wonderful work of justification, how you 
apply Christ's righteousness onto sinners, Lord God. We know 
that it is crucial and important to understand, so I pray that 
you give me strength and aid and help from your spirit, Lord 
God, to rightly teach it, to understand, to make clear the 
nuances of it, that we might hold fast to the truth, for there 
are many different doctrines seeking to pollute this wonderful 
doctrine. And so, Lord God, help me now. 
Help us as believers and as hearers to take what you say in your 
truth and how it's been summarized in this confession, Lord. Help 
us to understand it and to know it well. Father God, we pray 
that you forgive us of our sins. We pray that you would be glorified 
in all things, Lord God, in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen. Well, 
this morning, as you can see, there are six chapters. I'll 
probably just focus on, excuse me, six paragraphs. I'll probably 
just focus on paragraphs one and two and a bit of five, but 
I will still summarize the other ones as well. So before we begin, 
I'll just summarize each paragraph and then we'll get into the nitty 
gritty of it. So I think paragraph one highlights the nature of 
justification, that is, what it is. Paragraph two highlights 
the instrument of justification, that is, how we are considered 
justified. Paragraph three talks about the 
justice and grace of God in justification. Paragraph four highlights the 
justification of believers in history, even though it is decreed 
in eternity. Paragraph 5 deals with the reality 
that those who are justified never fall from that state of 
justification, yet we can still fall under God's displeasure, 
fatherly displeasure. And then paragraph 6 highlights 
that the justification of Old Testament saints, as we read, 
is the same with the New Testament. Now, as I said, we will focus 
on paragraphs 1 and 2 and 5, and we'll draw implications from 
the other ones as well. So justification, which teaches 
that sinners are legally righteous in the sight of God because of 
Christ's work, is an essential doctrine to Reformed and Protestant 
theology and cannot be altered. Justification, which teaches 
that sinners are legally righteous in the sight of God because of 
Christ's work, is an essential doctrine to Reformed and Protestant 
theology, and it cannot be altered. If you do not hold to this doctrine 
as it's laid forth and summarized in our confession, as it's set 
forth in scripture, you're not a Protestant. You're not Reformed. So it is absolutely crucial that 
we understand this doctrine, and know it inside and out, and 
know it very, very well. We will look at this doctrine 
under three headings. We will look, first of all, at 
the nature of justification, paragraph one. We will look at 
the instrument of justification, which is paragraph 2. And then 
we will look at the relationship between justification and sanctification, 
which is found in both paragraph 2 and paragraph 5 as well. So we'll look at the nature, 
the instruments, and the relationship between justification and sanctification. So let's first look now at the 
nature of justification. I want to highlight right off 
the bat that I use Sam Waldron's distinctions here. He talks about 
some negative aspects and positive aspects of justification. So 
I'm giving him the credit right away because he outlined it very 
clearly and very succinctly and very well. So notice, first of 
all, under the nature of justification, that justification is a saving 
grace. It is a gift from God. Those 
whom God affectionately calleth, he also freely justifieth. This is part of what the theologians 
call the ordo salutis, or the order of salvation. We see that 
skeletal framework in Romans 8.28. Those whom he predestined, 
he also called. Those whom he called, he also 
justified. Those whom he justified, he also 
glorified. That's actually Romans 8.30. But 28 to 30 is a good 
section to remember as well. So those whom he called, he also 
justified. So that's part of how the Holy 
Spirit applies what we talked about last week in the covenant 
of redemption, how the Holy Spirit applies what Christ accomplished 
to believers. And one of these blessed things 
is justification. And so we see that it's a saving 
grace. But also now let us look at the 
essence of justification. And this is where Waldron highlights 
a negative and a positive aspect. And this is right from the confession. 
First of all, the negative aspect. Not by infusing righteousness 
into them. Justification is not by infusing 
righteousness into them. Unfortunately, this idea was 
taught in both medieval theology and was characterized by Roman 
Catholic theology as well. And what it teaches is this idea 
of grace and cooperation with grace unto justification. It 
teaches this idea of grace and cooperation with grace unto justification. And what the medieval soteriology 
does is it minimizes the effects of sin. We are certainly still 
fallen in Adam, but what grace does is it awakens our free will 
to cooperate. It is something within us. And 
so grace in the medieval church is more of a medicine that you 
kind of take. So you're baptized and you have 
this grace infused into you. And if you are called righteous, 
therefore you must be righteous, and therefore you must work as 
a righteous person until your acceptance with God. So justification 
really is through sanctification. They still teach grace, but there's 
this cooperation with grace, this mixing together. And that's 
exactly what Roman Catholic soteriology teaches as well. Listen to the 
Council of Trent, session six on justification. In Trent, there 
are many different sessions. So what they do is they highlight 
what the doctrine is, and then they highlight anathemas in canons. So this is chapter seven on justification. Listen carefully. This disposition, 
which is the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, or preparation, 
is followed by justification itself, which is not the remission 
of sin of inward man, through the voluntary reception of the 
grace and of the gifts, whereby man of unjust becomes justification 
of the inward man. See, they're mixing grace and 
works together unto salvation, excuse me, unto justification. 
Canon 9, this is where they pronounce anathemas. What they do in Canon 
9 under Session 6 on justification is they anathematize, tell them 
they're nothing, just like Paul does in Galatians Chapter 1. But what they do is they anathematize 
those who believe that faith alone and nothing else is required 
for the obtaining of justification. Those who believe that faith 
alone and nothing else is required for the obtaining of justification. 
So again, what they're doing is they're mixing works unto 
justification. Canon 11, they anathematize those 
who believe that the imputation of the justice of Christ, that 
is the imputation of Christ's righteousness to sinners, is 
the sole remission of sins. And they anathematize those who 
deny the inclusion of cooperation with grace. So I think it's very 
clear what Rome teaches. They teach us that we are justified 
through sanctification. Justification isn't just an event 
or a one-time thing. It's a process. Justification 
is a process. And if we understand that justification 
is an event, a one-time thing, versus sanctification, which 
is a process, We will be do very, very, very well, and it will 
help us distinguish between what is right and what is false. So 
as we see, there's this negative implication where this, as the 
confession is drawing out, this infusion of righteousness in 
a person. That's not justification. But 
note the positive side of the essence of justification. It 
is in the confession, it says, but by pardoning sin and by accounting 
and accepting their persons as righteous. It's pretty wonderful, 
but by pardoning sin and accepting their persons as righteous. And 
the word that comes from the Greek New Testament that we like 
to use is called isdikaiao. And there are many different 
meanings it can have, but the one that we want to look at is this 
meaning, to render a favorable verdict. It's a legal language. It's like a courtroom. God is 
the judge, and he's pronouncing a verdict on someone, and what's 
a favorable verdict? We're not guilty. We're not guilty. That's what the idea is it has, 
and it even carries the idea of being found right in the sight 
of God, free of charge. Being found right in the sight 
of God, free of charge. And this is a quote from Waldron 
concerning this legal idea. God is acting as a judge and 
not as a surgeon. It's quite amazing actually how 
one little word can change the meaning. It's Christ's work for 
us, not Christ's work in us. Christ's work for us, not Christ's 
work in us. And so now we can move forward 
and look at why it is we can have this favorable verdict in 
the sight of God. Because if we understand anything 
about sin, if we came to God on our own, based on our own 
works, we would be declared guilty, guilty, guilty, because we have 
sinned against the Lord God Most High, which is what makes justification 
truly, truly wonderful. And so let us look at why now 
we can have this favorable verdict. We're going to look at the grounds 
for justification to be justified. Again, there's a negative aspect. 
Notice in the Confession. Not for anything wrought in them. Not for anything done by them. There's nothing in us or done 
by us. Now let's look at Galatians chapter 
2. If you don't have this memorized, 
I would encourage you to memorize it. I should probably have it 
memorized, because it's a very important, important verse when 
it comes to the doctrine of justification. I'll read verses 15 and 16 of 
chapter 2 of Galatians. We ourselves are Jews by birth 
and not Gentile sinners, Yet we know that a person is not 
justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ, 
in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, 
and not by the works of the law. Because by the works of the law, 
no one will be justified. So as you can see, there's nothing 
that we can do to justify ourselves, to get this favorable verdict 
from God. It must come from somewhere else. 
And unfortunately, in our postmodern world today, people don't understand 
the effects and the implications of sin in Adam. People, if you 
were to ask, might say, well, I'm a pretty good person. I'm 
a pretty good person. That's works-based. That's a 
works-based reality. And so the confession is a wonderful 
guide. And what they're doing is the 
way they summarize this doctrine, not only with what it is, but 
also what the false ideas are as well, in such a short amount 
of time. It's truly wonderful. It is a 
wonderful safeguard. And what it's saying is, you 
know, there's nothing done in us that we can gain acceptance 
with God. We can be declared not guilty. 
But notice the positive aspect. It's for Christ's sake alone. For Christ's sake alone. For Christ's legal action alone. And as we read in paragraph 3, 
notice it's Christ by His own. 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, he makes a proper, 
real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in their behalf." 
Not only does Christ fulfill the demands of the law, but he 
takes the penalty that we were due because of our sin. He takes 
the penalty that we were due because of our sin. And what 
this is, is it's an alien righteousness. Theologians talk about an alien 
righteousness and a proper righteousness. Proper refers to Christ's righteousness 
because it belongs to Him. Alien, like an alien from outer 
space is not from this planet, means that the righteousness 
is not our own. The righteousness is not ours. 
There's nothing done in us. The grounds for justification 
is because of Christ's work alone. Turn with me to Philippians 3 
verse 8. I'll read verses 8 through 10. 
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing 
worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have 
suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in 
order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having 
a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that 
which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from 
God that depends on faith. that I may know him and the power 
of his resurrection and may share his suffering, becoming like 
him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the 
resurrection from the dead." Notice it's not a righteousness 
of my own that comes from the law, but which Christ, the righteousness 
from God that depends on faith. It is Christ who lived, Christ 
who died. He was born of a woman, born 
under the law, that he might redeem those who are under the 
law to save sinners. And notice in chapter, excuse 
me, turn with me to Romans 3.24. We see there's grounds for justification, 
but notice that this justification, as I've said already, satisfies 
the justice of God. It satisfies the wrath of God. 
God the judge is appeased because of what Christ has done. Romans 
3, 24 to 26. I'll read 23. For all have sinned 
and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His 
grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom 
God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to receive by faith. This was to show God's righteousness 
because in His divine forbearance, He had passed over former sins. 
It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He 
might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus 
Christ. It's truly a wonderful thing, 
knowing that Christ has taken and fulfilled the demands of 
the law, but also borne the penalty that we deserved as well, in 
a legal sense. It's truly, truly a wonderful 
thing to understand. Now, we've seen the essence. We've seen the grounds. Let us 
look at the method of justification, what Waldron calls the method 
of justification. Again, another negative and positive 
thing we're going to deal with. First, the negative aspect of 
this method. Well, the method is the idea 
of imputation of alien righteousness. The imputation of alien righteousness. It's very much debtor bank language. The word carries, has the idea 
of a mathematical process and could have been used with the 
idea of transferring So just as, say, a parent needs to transfer 
or give money to their children, they transfer money to them. 
So too is the same with Christ, whose righteousness is transferred 
unto the believer, unto the sinner. And so let us look at the negative 
idea of imputation. First of all, or he says the 
negative idea, the negative idea is the, it says right in the 
confession, not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing 
or any other evangelical obedience to them as a righteousness, not 
by imputing faith itself. And this, it highlights Arminian 
theology, or the theology of Jacob Arminius. Dr. Fesko, I 
mentioned him last time, he has another great book on the Westminster 
Standards. I highly recommend that you read 
that. Very accessible. Highlights the history of the 
Westminster Confession, what they were dealing with. But he 
has this quote regarding the summary regarding Arminius' theology. For Arminius, strictly speaking, 
a person is not justified by the imputed righteousness of 
Christ. Rather, God looks upon the sinner's 
faith as righteousness. It's not the imputation of Christ's 
righteousness. but a sinner's faith is considered 
righteousness. See what that does? See, we always 
have this idea where we want to mix something of our works 
within justification, even whether it's our choosing God or our 
having faith in God as our righteousness. That's not what it is at all. 
Faith then becomes the foundation or the grounds for justification 
rather than what we'll talk about soon, the instrument of justification. So it's very, very important 
to understand what they're dealing with here is because Arminius 
is saying that our faith is our righteousness, not Christ's work. 
And notice as well, it says, or any other evangelical obedience. And what this comes from is a 
guy named Richard Baxter, who was a Reformed pastor. He wrote a book called The Reformed 
Pastor, which is really good, but he was heretical when it 
comes to the doctrine of justification. He taught the idea that faith 
and repentance were imputed as righteousness, or imputed with 
obedience, that you might be finally justified. That you might 
be finally justified. That faith and repentance, this 
idea of new law, was imputed to the believer. And so what 
they were trying to do is, again, they're mixing faith and works 
onto justification. Now, what they were trying to 
do is they were combating the idea, what Baxter and his cohorts 
were doing, it was combating the idea of antinomianism, that 
we can, that the idea that there is no works involved in our day, 
in our life. And so what they do, though, 
is they mesh justification and sanctification together, which 
is false and wrong. So as you can see, justification, 
the imputation is not our faith. It's not repentance. It's not 
works. It's Christ's work. It is Christ's work that we have 
imputed to us. Now, note the positive aspect 
of this imputation. It is the obedience of Christ. 
This positive aspect is the obedience of Christ. As it says in paragraph 
one, but by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole 
law and passive obedience in his death for their whole and 
sole righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of 
themselves, it is the gift of God." Remember, we're dealing 
with the nature of justification, and this idea is that Christ's 
obedience is imputed to us. Both his active, that is, him, 
his living, dying, fulfilling the requirements of the law. 
As I said in Galatians 4 already, he was born of a woman, born 
under the law, that he might redeem those who are under the 
law. But it's also his sacrificing himself to fulfill the wrath 
of God. That's his passive obedience 
as well. Both things are imputed to us. We have pardoned for sin, 
the sacrifice of Jesus, and we also have the acceptance as righteous 
because of Christ's work fulfilling that law. Because of Christ's 
work fulfilling that law. And I think one thing, one document 
summarizes these ideas very well. The relationship between or the 
dealing with faith as the imputation to us rather than Christ's righteousness 
is found in the Irish Articles. This is found in Fesco's book 
as well. was probably the closest predecessor to the Westminster 
Confession of Faith. I really like how they summarized 
this idea of justification. When we say that we are justified 
by faith only, we do not mean that the said justifying faith 
is alone in man without true repentance, hope, charity, and 
the fear of God, for such a faith is dead and cannot justify. Neither 
do we mean that this, our act to believe in Christ, or this, 
our faith in Christ, which is within us, does of itself justify 
or deserve our justification unto us. For that were to account 
ourselves to be justified by the virtue or dignity of something 
that is within ourselves. For that were to account ourselves 
to be justified by the virtue or dignity of something that 
is within ourselves, it is Christ's righteousness, his active and 
his passive obedience that are imputed to sinners. If we get 
that wrong, we're in bad shape. If we get that wrong, we're in 
bad shape. And I just want to highlight 
something concerning the Old Testament saints. It's summarized 
very clearly in paragraph six that justification in the Old 
Testament and the New Testament is the same. It is the imputation 
of Christ's righteousness on the grounds of Christ's work. 
And it's the pardoning of sin and being accepted as righteous 
in the sight of God. So we've seen the nature of justification, 
what that is. We know that we've seen the essence, 
the grounds. We've seen the method by which 
we are justified. Now let's look at how we receive 
this justification or the instrument of justification. Paragraph 2. Faith thus receiving and resting 
on Christ and his righteousness is the alone instrument of justification. It is the alone instrument of 
justification. That is, it's the way in which 
we receive justification in history. Just like, how do you make music? Now, I look pretty stupid if 
I look like I'm plucking along a guitar and I'm not making any 
sound. But when you put a guitar in my hand, the instrument That's 
the means by which we have music. The same thing is true when it 
comes to faith in Christ. It's the instrument by which 
we have faith, by which we receive justification. Now, turn with 
me to Romans, yeah, Romans 3.28, where it talks about this idea. Romans 3.28, for we hold that 
one is justified by faith, again that instrumental idea, by faith 
apart from the works of the law. Justified by faith apart from 
the works of the law. Turn with me to Ephesians 2 verses 
8 through 10. Ephesians 2 verses 8 through 
10. For grace, you have been saved 
through faith. And this is not of your own doing. 
It is the gift of God. Not a result of works, so that 
no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created 
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand 
that we should walk in them." Again, the idea, by grace, you 
have saved through faith. that instrumental idea. Fesco 
summarizes it well. Believers are not justified upon 
the ground of faith. Faith is purely instrumental. Faith is purely instrumental. 
It's not our grounds. It's not our foundation. But 
it's the instrument by which we receive justification. I know 
that was a shorter point, but I think it's summarized very 
clearly and very well in our confession. So now we'll move 
to the relationship between justification and sanctification. It's interesting. You have to combat legalism on 
one side, that is the mixture of justification and sanctification. 
We also have to combat antinomianism on the other side that has no 
place for the law when it comes to the life of the Christian. 
And that's exactly what they were doing, especially in the 
end of paragraph two. 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. Paragraph 5 of Chapter 
11, God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified, 
and we will never fall from that state. Yet they may by their 
sins fall under God's fatherly displeasure. There is still a 
place for works when it comes to the life of the Christian, 
not to justify oneself, but because we have been justified. And some of the characteristics 
of this antinomian idea are summarized in Fesco's book. Here's one. The evidence of justification 
is the testimony of the Holy Spirit, not sanctification. That is, we don't need to be 
taught the law, but by the Holy Spirit we'll be prompted to do 
what the law requires. But what antinomian is is when 
we deny the use of the moral law because we are justified 
in Christ. So there's this idea, it's not sanctification that's 
an evidence of justification, but the testimony of the Holy 
Spirit. Another characteristic is the idea that faith is the 
consequence, not the condition of justification. Faith is the 
consequence and not the condition of justification I think that's 
dealt with here in paragraph four where it talks about this 
idea of eternal justification. Remember we talked about last 
week how there's the difference between decree and its accomplishment 
in history. God decrees that people will 
be justified, but that doesn't mean you are justified yet until 
in history you have faith in Christ. There were those that 
taught that when God decreed someone was justified in eternity, 
that you were actually justified at that time, and faith was, 
as we see in the antinomians, the consequence of justification, 
that you're just realizing that you're justified. Not so much 
as an instrument, but more the realization that you've already 
been justified in eternity. That's kind of what they're dealing 
with in paragraph four. Another characteristic is that 
sinners cannot prepare for salvation by good works. That is, works 
aren't part of salvation. But when we talk about the whole 
ordo salutis, the whole encompassing act of salvation, and we talk 
about the relation between justification and sanctification, works are 
a part of that. Works are a part of sanctification. It's that process by which we 
are made holy, right? Justification, there is no works 
of ours involved at all, but in justification there is that 
works there as well. Not perfectly, again, not for 
acceptance, but as one who has been justified. Another characteristic, 
Christ does not merely renew, but completely overtakes the 
sinner so that all is of Christ. Now, it's not mere renewal, but 
Christ completely overtakes someone. Therefore, and another characteristic, 
God in no sense sees sin in his children. God in no sense sees 
in his children. That's contrary to what the Baptist 
divines defined in paragraph five, that we can fall under 
God's fatherly displeasure. Sin is still a serious thing. 
Even in the life of a believer, sin is still a serious thing. 
And we will not be perfect on this side of heaven. When we 
sin, we need to repent. We need to look to Christ. Yet 
we must, by God's grace, by his aid, seek to live in a manner 
worthy and consistent with the gospel. Another characteristic is that 
the law of God is not necessary for one's conversion or for life 
after conversion. That's contrary to Reform thinking 
as well, because we talk about that third use of the law, which 
is a pattern for sanctification, a pattern for living. We see 
Paul uses this language in Romans chapter 7, where he talks about 
the idea that he would not know, that's the pedagogical use, but 
there's also another section, I believe Romans 13, where he 
actually uses, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not 
murder, you shall not do all these types of things. Even in 
other places as well, that second table of the law is used as a 
pattern of living. It's used as a pattern of living 
for believers. And so we've seen that one of 
the reasons they're combating with this section is they're 
combating antinomianism. And so what they're trying to 
highlight as well is that justification does lead to sanctification. 
Justification does lead to sanctification. As I said at the outset, justification 
is an event. Sanctification is that process. 
Justification is an event. Sanctification is that process. 
For Rome, though, justification is a process. Right? Rome, justification is a process, 
but the reformed justification is that event. But one of the 
beauties the Baptists were highlighting in paragraph 5 is that if you 
believed on Christ, you can never fall from that state of justification. As Pastor Butler and I were talking 
about on Friday, he mentioned that we're just as justified 
as Paul was. We're just as considered accepted 
as Paul was. As he highlighted, Paul is more 
holy than we are. But nonetheless, we are still 
considered justified the same amount the same degree, because 
of Christ's work. So if you've believed on Christ, 
you can never fall from that acceptance with God because of 
Christ's work. But you can still sin and fall 
under fatherly displeasure, and the Lord, by His grace and goodness, 
will humble you, and we need to confess our sins, beg pardon, 
and renew that faith in repentance. So it is truly a wonderful thing 
to understand because we can't lose that status if you believe 
on Christ. You're always accepted for the 
Father because of Christ's work, even now. Even now, but because 
of that, we should seek to live in a manner consistent with the 
gospel, because we can fall under that fatherly displeasure. It 
is still a serious thing. Sin is still a serious, serious 
thing. Holiness is still required of 
sinners. We need to be holy as God is 
holy, but again, in sanctification, not for justification. And what 
J.C. Ryle does, as he highlights both 
the similarities and the differences when it comes to justification 
and sanctification. So this is from him. We'll first 
look at the similarities and then look at the differences. 
So first, the similarities. Both are from the free grace 
of God. Both justification and sanctification 
come from the free grace of God. Both are part of the great work 
of salvation. Remember, I mentioned that order 
of salutas, that order of salvation, how the Holy Spirit applies the 
benefits that Christ has procured for his people. They're applied to us. It's part 
of the overall encompassing act of salvation. Both are found 
in the same person. And now both occur at the same 
time. When we have faith, justification 
is declared, sanctification begins. Justification is declared, and 
sanctification begins. And both are necessary unto salvation. Both are necessary unto salvation. Now let us look at these differences. 
This is Raoul. Justification is counting a man 
to be righteous for the sake of Christ. Sanctification is 
the actual making a man inwardly righteous by the Holy Spirit. 
That is, one is the counting righteousness for Christ's sake. 
The other is actually the inward work of the Holy Spirit. Justification 
is Christ's righteousness for us. Sanctification is our righteousness 
brought about in us by the Holy Spirit, though imperfectly. Justification 
are not our works, but Christ's work. Sanctification, our works 
are important, and God bids us fight and watch and pray and 
strive and take pains and labor. Justification is finished and 
complete. Sanctification is imperfect and 
never perfected until heaven. Justification, there is no growth 
or increase in it. But in sanctification there is 
a progressive work and admits continual growth so long as a 
man lives. Justification is the reference 
to our standing in God's sight and deliverance from guilt. Sanctification 
is the reference to the moral renewal of our heart. Justification 
gives us our title to heaven and our boldness to enter in. 
Sanctification gives us our suitability for heaven and prepares us to 
enjoy it. Justification is the act of God 
about us and not easily discernible by others. Sanctification, the 
work of God within us and cannot be hid in its outward manifestation 
toward men. He sums those things up very 
well. That's taken pretty much directly from him. He says it 
very clearly, very concisely, very wonderful. And so he has another quote concerning 
the mixing of justification and sanctification. I am persuaded 
that one great cause of the darkness and uncomfortable feelings of many well-meaning 
people in the matter of religion is their habit of confounding 
and not distinguishing justification and sanctification. It can never 
be too strongly impressed on our minds that they are two separate 
things. And unfortunately, it's amazing 
how important theology is when it comes to distinguishing and 
understanding justification and sanctification, something that 
I think is unfortunate in the evangelical world, in the mainstream 
Christianity, where they don't distinguish between these two 
things. You probably have heard the term many, many times, cheap 
grace. And what they try to do when 
they say cheap grace is they see licentiousness happening, 
and they want to include works somehow. But unfortunately, they 
don't distinguish very well when it comes to justification and 
sanctification. I know I didn't before I became a Reformed Christian, 
but it's important to have these distinctions, because here's 
the thing. I hate that term cheap grace, because the grace that 
Christ accomplished for us was not cheap. It came at a cosmic 
price. Came at a cosmic price. And we 
make it cheap when we mix our works with our faith. It becomes 
cheap when people are trying to teach cheap grace. When they 
try to mix their works into it, then it really does become cheap. 
Because Christ's work is not cheap. Christ's work is rich 
and wonderful, and the grace that we receive because of Christ's 
work is truly a blessed and wonderful thing. And it helps for us to 
distinguish between these two doctrines of justification and 
sanctification. So we've seen what justification 
is. We've seen the way that we receive 
it. We've seen its relationship to sanctification. So as we conclude, 
we must remember that justification is essential. for our acceptance 
with God. It is essential for salvation. 
It is essential for our acceptance with God. And the denial of justification 
by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, does 
not equal Protestant. It does not equal Protestant. 
It does not equal Reformed. We must remember that there's 
always going to be errors as well. There's going to be legalism. 
We try to mix justification and sanctification. There's going 
to be antinomianism, that there's no place for works when it comes 
to our sanctification. But unfortunately, when people 
combat antinomianism, they go the other extreme and mix works 
and faith, grace and works together. And we saw that the essence is 
the pardon and acceptance But pardon for sin and acceptance 
is righteous. The grounds is Christ's work 
for us. And the method is imputation 
of Christ's obedience unto us. And so I think the application, 
there can be many lessons we can draw from this. But one is 
we must be theologically accurate. We must be theologically accurate 
to know the difference between justification and sanctification. 
Because unfortunately, we may think that we're immune to antinomianism 
and legalism. But they do still lurk in our 
own hearts. They do still seem to penetrate 
within us. We seem to have our hobby horses, 
our things that we think are God's law, when maybe they are 
man's law. So we must be careful we avoid 
legalistic ideas and understand the grace of God, but yet not 
get rid of the seriousness of sin as well. We also must not 
go the other way and say that because I'm justified in Christ, 
I can sin like any wretch on the face of the earth. We are 
still wretched after we believe, but I think you know what I mean. 
We still can't sin, we still can't go and commit adultery 
because we're justified in Christ, but we must understand that sin 
is still a serious thing. And secondly, we must look to 
Christ. We must look to Him as the one 
who not only justifies, but also He is the author and the perfecter 
of our faith, according to Hebrews 12. We must look to Christ in 
our sanctification as well. And thirdly, I think it's clear, 
we need to walk as slaves to righteousness. We once were slaves 
to sin. Now we must walk as slaves to 
righteousness. Again, not unto perfection. The 
law for us is a pattern of living, not a covenant of works unto 
salvation. The law is a pattern of living 
and not a covenant of works unto salvation. And fourthly, It gives 
us great assurance for a believer that our state of justification 
is secure, that we have acceptance before God the judge because 
of Christ's wonderful work. So let us revel in that. Let 
us praise God in that and seek to live in a manner consistent 
because of that wonderful justification. And let's not fall under God's 
fatherly displeasure, because nobody likes it when their father 
is angry with them. So praise God for justification. by grace 
alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, that we are accepted 
before God. Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we 
thank you for this day, Lord. We thank you for your goodness 
and your grace upon us. We do thank you for this wonderful 
doctrine of justification that we are considered righteous in 
your sight, Lord God, that we have pardoned from our sins. 
Lord, I thank you for your strength and your aid in giving us the 
ability to listen and to hear, Lord God. I pray that you would 
impress this doctrine on our hearts, that we might be overjoyed 
with it, and that we might seek to live in a manner as well consistent 
with your truth. And Father God, we pray that 
you bless our brothers as they preach today. Give them both 
strength and aid as they proclaim the truth. Help them to know 
that your spirit is with them, Lord God. And may you be with 
us, the hearers as well, as we help us to be attentive and awake 
and alert, for this is your word. And Lord God, we pray in the 
name of Jesus Christ that you be glorified in all things. Amen.