Good evening. Please take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 4, verses 1 through 12 as our scripture reading and our sermon text for this evening. Romans 4, verses 1 through 12. Romans 4, 1 through 12. This is holy ground, holy ground, this blessed truth. Romans 4 verses 1 through 12, this is God's word. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh, has found? 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 credited to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. but to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not take sin into account. Is this blessing then on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it credited? 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 uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them. And the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had while uncircumcised. May God bless the reading of this holy word. Let's pray, please. Father, thank you for the gospel. Thank you for the blessed truth that we are justified before your throne of judgment. By grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, on the legal grounds of his righteousness alone, not because of any subjective change in us personally, but solely because of his personal righteousness and his justice satisfying cross work where he died, was buried and rose again. May that be where our hope rests now. and for the rest of eternity, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. In the 1990s, there was a controversial document that came out called Evangelicals and Catholics Together, the Christian Mission in the Third Millennium. And the media grabbed hold of this when it happened in the 1990s, and they called it a watershed and historic document. It was said to have even circulated inside the Vatican itself. It was mentioned by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Christianity Today, and many other media outlets. There were 20 Protestants and 20 Roman Catholic signatories of this document. Its primary purpose was to strike up some measure of common agreement theologically so that evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics could work together against social issues such as secular humanism, abortion, homosexuality, pornography, the rising tide of Islam, et cetera. Among the Protestants who signed it were such notable names as Chuck Colson, J.I. Packer, Pat Robertson, Oz Guinness, Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. The Evangelicals and Catholics Together document contains many troubling statements declaring that there's a unity of faith between Protestants and Roman Catholics where there is, in point of fact, not a unity of faith. As a principal point of application right at the outset of my sermon to you this evening, I want to issue this warning to you as followers of Christ, because you will deal with this in your life, I promise you. Unity that is purchased at the expense of truth is not unity at all. Unity that is purchased at the expense of truth is not unity at all in the biblical sense. Unity that is achieved by purposeful massaging of language in such a way that it's misleading and ambiguous so that those affirming contradictory beliefs can be comfortable attaching their names to those massaged and ambiguous statements is not the unity of which the word of God speaks. Now the document contained the following statements that many Christian people found to be very troubling. The first one was this, quote, all who accept Christ as Lord and Savior are brothers and sisters in Christ, evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ, end quote. The next statement, quote, we affirm together that we are justified by grace through faith because of Christ. And third, quote, those converted whether understood as having received the new birth for the first time, or as having experienced the reawakening of the new birth originally bestowed in the sacrament of baptism, must be given full freedom and respect as they discern and decide the community in which they will live their new life in Christ." End quote. Now those are profoundly disturbing statements. I remember I was 22 years old when I discovered this controversy and I was shocked at some of the names that were on the document. J.I. Packer, I had read Knowing God by J.I. Packer and I could not believe he had signed this. Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, signed the document. Oz Guinness, a brilliant intellectual, author of many books, some of which I had read that are very good, he signed it. Now, I want to go through three things with you this evening, including walking through Romans 4, 1 to 12. But the first point I want to make to you is why the word alone is worth dying for. And I hope that you will share that conviction if you don't already. The ECT document was very strongly opposed and denounced by, can anyone guess? R.C. Sproul, who authored a book against it. John MacArthur wrote a book against it. D. James Kennedy, John Ankerberg, Michael Horton, James White, many others. There were radio programs, talks, interviews, et cetera, on this veritable explosion within evangelical ranks. And one of the most helpful responses to it was a six-part series on the John Ankerberg show, where they had as guests, Dr. R.C. Sproul, Dr. MacArthur, and Dr. Kennedy as the panel. And I wanted to tell you, that was the first time I had ever even heard of R.C. Sproul. I had no idea who the guy even was. But I remember listening to those programs going, man, whoever that guy is, he's brilliant. And he really knows his stuff. Evidently Chuck Colson, J.I. Packer, Bill Bright, along with these men, along with Michael Horton, Sproul, Kennedy, MacArthur, a few others, they met at D. James Kennedy's church down there in Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They locked the doors and were behind those closed doors discussing this for seven hours. I would love to have a recording of that. From what they reported, those discussions got very animated and very loud. At one point, R.C. Sproul got up on the table they were sitting at and stood up on the table and started yelling at everyone there at the table, sticking his finger in their faces saying, you guys don't get it. This is about who's saved. And this is about who's going to heaven. As I understand it, none of those Protestant signatories ever removed their names from the document. Now, I'll admit to you, when I heard this on the radio for the first time, I was driving to work, this is my first job out of college, I was listening to the radio, listening to this, that statement, we affirm together that we are justified by grace through faith because of Christ. I thought, what in the world's wrong with that? I mean, we all agree on that, don't we? What in the world could be wrong with that statement? During the 16th century Reformation, there was a Latin word that emerged as a major dividing line. And knowledgeable Roman Catholics and evangelical Christians who know their Bibles and know their historic confessions to this very day recognize this word is a massive dividing line between us. It's the Latin word sola, which means alone. And you'll notice that the word alone is absent from the statement, we are justified by grace through faith because of Christ. And R.C. Sproul pointed out repeatedly over and over and over again to everyone willing to listen during the controversy. He said, quote, every delegate to the Roman Catholic Council of Trent would have happily signed that statement. But if you add the word alone in three places, they won't. And Sproul said the statement needs to say, we're justified by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. And if you add that to the document, they're not gonna sign it. Why is that word alone so important? Why is that so critical? Why would anyone think that the word alone, as I just read it in that statement, it's not only worth fighting for, it's worth dividing over, it's worth giving your life for it. In order to explain this well, I wanna jump right into the heart of what the real controversy was about between Roman Catholicism and evangelical Protestantism regarding how we're justified before God and how we get into heaven. And I want to first show what was really at stake at the controversy and what it was all about. The question that separated and continues to this very day to separate us from one another, from Roman Catholicism is this, listen. What is the grounds of the sinner's justification before God on the day of judgment? What is the legal grounds of our justification before God on the day of judgment? In other words, what is it that God will examine when we're summoned forth to the judgment seat to hear our verdict? When we do evangelism, what are we calling upon sinners to put their confidence in to give them eternal life? Is it Christ's blood and righteousness alone? Is it Christ's blood and righteousness plus the fruits of our faith? Is it Christ's blood and righteousness and our good works? Upon what legal grounds are sinners pronounced righteous in the sight of God as the judge of all mankind at the last day and thus saved from the wrath of God? Upon what grounds does that happen? The question in the 16th century that came into the foreground was not, does God require righteousness for us to get into heaven? Everyone agreed on that. The question was, where do we get that righteousness? Where do we get it? Protestant reformers answer that question with this. The only righteousness that has the merit necessary to meet the requirement of the holiness of God is that righteousness that was achieved and performed by Jesus Christ and by Jesus Christ alone. And that's where the word alone comes into focus. Historic Protestant theology, and I would maintain just following scripture, simply biblical Pauline apostolic Christianity, has always acknowledged that what the phrase justification by faith alone really means is justification by the righteousness of Christ alone. That the only righteousness that can make it past the judgment of God is Christ's. And it can't be mixed with anything. The Roman Catholic Church said that the way in which God will declare a sinner to be justified on the day of judgment is if they have a righteousness that adheres within them, an intrinsic righteousness that is brought about by the works of the sinner done in cooperation with the grace of God infused into them through the sacraments. Now, the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century and to this very day would say, you cannot be justified without the grace of Christ. You cannot be justified without the help of Christ, without the infusion of his power, without grace or without faith. But added to that grace, added to that faith, added to that Christ must be the personal contribution of the sinner without which God will not declare you justified. That's all the difference in the world. That's the difference between heaven and hell. In other words, they believe and teach that grace is not a disposition within God whereby he acts in behalf of sinners in Christ to save them, but rather that grace is kind of an aid. It's an aid. In fact, I saw it defined on a Catholic website. Catholic.com defines grace as, quote, a spiritual kick in the pants, end quote. It's an aid that God infuses into us to create new habits and to enable us to be better and to do good works. And when those works are viewed under the lens of grace, they become meritorious in the sight of God and become the very basis upon which a sinner gains eternal life. See how different those two religions are? It's not just a nuance. It's not just a subtle difference. It is as different as it could be. Roman Catholicism justification, it's not an act of God, it's a process. It's not a once for all judicial declaration, it's a process of moral transformation. And this process has as its goal the sinner becoming inherently righteous enough by their own good works to be justified before God. And that process is initiated by baptism, which they believe infuses what they call sanctifying grace into the soul. Baptism is the point in Catholic theology of initial justification. And now this principle they call sanctifying grace, it can be destroyed at any moment by the commission of a mortal sin. What is a mortal sin? It's a sin that is very serious. And the reason it's called a mortal sin is that it erases the sanctifying grace that was infused into you at your baptism. And if you commit a mortal sin and you die before you've gone through the sacrament of penance, you will go to hell. If you commit a mortal sin, you need to get re-justified. You gotta get saved again. And this is where the sacrament of penance comes in. And penance is what Rome calls, quote, the second plank of justification for those who have made shipwreck of their souls, end quote. You have to confess your sin to a priest and he will absolve you of the eternal guilt of your mortal sin and thus you're justified again. But they also have to do penances, and you have to do punishments, and you have to undergo works of satisfaction, which include praying a certain number of prayers. You have to pray a certain number of Our Fathers, or Hail Marys, and you've got to give alms, and you've got to pray in front of these candles, or do this or do that. What that does is it discharges before God what they call the temporal punishments they believe are still remaining because of their sins. And there's more that could be said, but suffice it to say that in Roman Catholicism, whether or not you're gonna be justified before God on the day of judgment depends entirely on how well you've kept it going with doing good works brought about with the help of sacramental infused grace. And the chances are you haven't kept it going good enough and you're going to purgatory. You're going to purgatory. What is purgatory? It's a place where in their dogmatic textbooks that have what's called the nihilopstad. Nihilopstad is Latin for nothing objectionable. And then imprimatur is Latin for let it be printed. That means the curia, the magisterium reviewed the book. They describe it as doing what they call saraspatio. Saraspatio in Latin means suffering of atonement. What do you do in purgatory? You suffer, you atone for your own sins. Once you've suffered long enough, once you by your own pain, suffering and purgatory have atoned for the remaining temporal punishments of your venial sins, you will finally be able to enter into the presence of God and glory. There are precious few in the Roman Catholic religion that they identify as saints, that there's somewhere around 300. These are the ones who were able to do all that God's law required and thus they were able to go straight to heaven, they didn't have to go to purgatory. Rome also teaches that there are some, like the Virgin Mary, like Christ, some saints, who actually did more than God requires. They did more righteous deeds than even the law of God requires of us. And thus their excess merits were channeled into what they call the Thesaurus Meritorum, the treasury of merits. And you can do certain things and you can have these excess merits transferred to your own or to your dead loved one's accounts to shorten the amount of time that they will have to spend in purgatory, atoning for the temporal punishments of their venial sins. It's also a practice I learned about recently called the Sabatine Privilege. If you die, the Virgin Mary evidently said this to someone, if you die wearing a patch of brown leather around your forehead, they call it a brown scapular, if you die wearing that, the Virgin Mary will come get you out of purgatory on the Saturday after you die. And there are many people who wear that, who really believe that. And we can chuckle at that, but how tragic, how evil is that? How wicked is that? I want to tell you, nothing could be a more convoluted view of what is in the word of God, a judicial act on the part of God based on what Christ did, where he places all of our guilt and the accompanying punishment on Christ at the cross. That's why it was so terrible. That's why it was such an awful ordeal for him to pass through. And then in our justification, he puts the righteousness of Christ upon us like a robe to cover our nakedness. 1 Peter 2.24, Christ bore our sins in his own body on the cross, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. So in conclusion for point one, why the word alone is worth dying for is that the word alone in that phrase, justification by faith alone, or by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone, it signals that it is Christ's righteousness and only Christ's righteousness that can save us from God's wrath and make us forever right with God. It is a safeguard of the very heart of the gospel and the heart of what our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished in the incarnation, cross work, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and intercessory work in heaven. You would think that if there's one thing that would always be most valuable and most worthy of defense to a Christian, it would be the sufficiency of what Jesus did to save us. Wouldn't you think that that would be the thing that those that love the Lord would be willing to throw down and go to battle over? Not sell down the river to fight a culture war. And yet so many of my heroes did that early on in my Christian life. I could not believe the people that gave in and capitulated to that very kind of thinking. But I wanna tell you, that's like Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss. We cannot do that. When you tread on what it is that's going to get us into heaven, you are treading on holy ground. Now, Romans 4, 1 through 12. Let's look at this passage together. I just want to make a few introductory comments, and we're going to walk phrase by phrase through it. Let's go to the word of God now. Romans chapter four, which gives us the most straightforward step-by-step approach to understanding the Christian faith, beginning with sin, moving to the cross of Christ, and then into a detailed exposition of the doctrine of the justification of the sinner before God. Paul uses Genesis 15, six, and three specific passages in Romans four, in verse three, verse nine, and later in verse 22. Genesis 15 6 is the background of Paul's opening statements in that great chapter in chapter 4 the corruption confusion and distortions of Justification by faith alone as it could also be said justification by faith apart from works That's also another shorthand thing that we're saying when we say justification is by faith alone We're simply saying that it's by faith apart from works. I It's not by anything we do, it's by faith in Christ. That's been constant. It's distortions and the confusions about it have been constant and relentless throughout church history. Opposition to the gospel began immediately when the apostles were still alive. That's why they wrote most of the New Testament. It was defending that truth. Why is this doctrine constantly under attack? Why is it always under attack? First, Satan hates it. Satan doesn't want people to understand this. He doesn't want people to be saved. He doesn't want them set free from the treadmill. He doesn't want people to have assurance so they can actually live their Christian lives and not be worried about whether they're going to go to heaven, but can actually focus on glorifying God and focus on the people around them that they're supposed to love, rather than constantly biting their nails, wondering if they're going to heaven or not. Satan hates it because where it's understood and embraced, there you have true worshipers and true worship of the true God. But where this doctrine is destroyed, there is no church. Secondly, because it is shattering to man's pride and because it speaks the loudest to man's utter helplessness and his absolute dependence upon the grace of God to be saved. Paul and every conscientious Christian person since his day must be ready, willing, and able to defend this doctrine from its enemies. Nothing less than the gospel and the eternal destinies of souls is at stake. In order to defend justification by faith alone, Paul turns to the Old Testament example of the justification of Abraham himself. And let's walk through it. Look at verse one. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found in this matter? It was what he's asking. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Abraham was a very great, noble, mature man of faith. He was not perfect, but nevertheless was a great man of God, humble and confident in God. Any understanding of the gospel that would grant a sinner anything they have done in which they could boast is off the table. If our works form any part of the grounds of our acceptance with God, any part of the grounds upon which God justifies us or welcomes us into heaven, then we would most certainly boast, wouldn't we? Paul says, if Abraham was justified by works, which is what most of the Jewish people then thought, yeah, Abraham, he's our forefather, because he was so righteous, he was so good. And Paul says, no, what did he find in this matter? He wasn't justified by works, and if he was, he would have something to boast about, but not before God, he says. Think of Ephesians 2, eight through 10, that great passage, I hope everyone has it memorized. For by grace, you have been saved through faith in that not of yourselves as the gift of God, not by works, lest, Anyone should boast. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared before and that we should walk in them. Saved by them? No. Created in Christ Jesus to walk in them? Yes. Saved by them? No. Apply that text to what you just heard about the Catholic doctrine of justification by grace-enabled works righteousness. Rome is a system that produces boasting. Now, back in the 1990s, there were two debates that took place between three Protestant theologians and three Roman Catholic apologists on the issue of sola scriptura, and then they discussed the gospel justification. The last Roman Catholic apologist to speak was a man named Patrick Madrid. I'll never forget watching the VHS of this debate. His final sentences in the debate on justification literally chilled my bones to hear. He said, on the day of judgment, he will stand before the holy God of the universe and say the following, quote, I did know you, Lord. I did follow you. I did what you asked of me. Wow. No Jesus, no cross, no shed blood, nothing. I did it, Lord. What's Patrick Madrid trusting in? Himself. what he believes God's grace helped him do, his own following of Christ, and he believes he did what Christ asked of him. I would ask you, what has Christ asked of us? Matthew 5, 48, be perfect, even as God is perfect. That's what Christ has asked of you. I would encourage you, don't stand before God and say, I did what you asked of me, Lord, because you didn't. There's only one who did, his name is Jesus Christ, and you have to have his righteousness. Of course, I doubt we're gonna be saying much of anything on that day. What does a Christian think about? What's a Christian thinking about on the day of judgment? I have no hope with the blood and righteousness of Christ alone. Abraham, had he been justified by works, he'd have something to boast about, says Paul, but not before God, he says. Look at verse three, see it? What does the scripture say? Quoting Genesis 15, six, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. It's here that Genesis 15, six is first cited. What did Abraham do? Were there great works of charity, almsgiving, piety, personal holiness? No, Abraham believed. What does it mean to believe? Think about how simple that is to understand. Where is the great dividing line between the two categories of humanity? There are believers and there are unbelievers. Remember how Paul described it when it comes to who you're unequally yoked with, 2 Corinthians 6.15. What accord has Christ with Belial? What part has a believer with an unbeliever? To believe is to assent and to trust in what you previously did not assent or trust in. Abraham went from being an unbeliever to truly believing the promise that God made to him. Yes, Abraham did not have the fullness of the details about Jesus, the cross, et cetera, revealed to him, but what he did have was sufficient and Abraham believed it. Notice the next phrase, you see it? And it was accounted to him for righteousness. And now here, we've got to do a little Hebrew and Greek here. The Old Testament was written almost entirely in Hebrew and the New Testament was in Greek. And when the Old Testament is cited by the New Testament writers, they're translating Hebrew into Greek, or sometimes they're quoting a Greek translation, the Septuagint version. But their choices of words are very significant. That word accounted. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That Hebrew verb, cheshav, means to reckon, consider, or impute. The Greek term that Paul chose to translate it, the verb logizima, means exactly the same thing. Now, listen to the way the term is used in the Old Testament. You've got to get this. You've got to get this. Leviticus 17, 3 and 4. Whatever man of the house of Israel who kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp and does not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of meeting to offer an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, listen, the guilt of bloodshed shall be imputed to that man. Okay, whoever doesn't bring the ox or lamb or whatever, the guilt of bloodshed will be charged against him, will be accounted to him, imputed to him, charged against him. The man who did that was legally charged with bloodshed. The guilt of bloodshed will be imputed to him. That's the term kashav. Now listen, another usage, you'll see it. Rachel and Leah, remember Rachel and Leah, Jacob's wives, they speak of their father. Remember Laban and the treatment that they had received from him at his hand, Genesis 31, 14. Listen carefully to God's word here. Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not considered strangers by him? The same exact word. Are we not legally being treated like strangers? Now, Rachel and Leah were Laban's daughters, weren't they? But they're saying we're being treated. We're being reckoned as though we were foreigners. Now, were they, were they actually foreigners? No. but they were being legally treated as foreigners. One more, one more example. Sorry, this is a little bit technical, but you've got to see this. Leviticus 25, 31. However, the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. Okay, so houses of villages which have no wall around them, legally in God's law, they were chashav. They were treated legally as if they were open fields. Now, were they actually open fields? No, there were houses on them. But they were chashav, treated, accounted as open fields. It's the exact same thing with how we're saved, dear congregation. We are accounted as righteous. Are we actually righteous? No. But we are accounted as such, treated as such. Okay. I hope you see why Paul's use of that term is vitally important. You might think, man, this is crazy. Why are we doing this? I had Hebrew and Greek stuff. You've got to see this. Paul's use of Genesis 15.6 is vital here. And he believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness. Just like those fields with houses on them, they were accounted as open fields if there were no walls around the houses. Now they were not actually open fields, but they were legally treated that way. We are sinful and evil, and yet we are accounted as righteous in the sight of God. Because righteousness is imputed to us. That's how God does this. The great Dr. Charles Hodge wrote this wonderful paragraph, just listen carefully to him here, about this issue of being accounted as righteous. Hodge said, these and numerous similar passages render the scriptural idea of imputation perfectly clear. It is laying anything to one's charge and treating him accordingly. It produces no change in the individual to whom the imputation is made. It simply alters his relation to the law. Paul, speaking to Philemon of the debt of Onesimus says, put that on my account. You know what term he uses there? Logizimae, impute it to me. If he owes you anything, charge it to me. Meaning what? Charge it to my account and I'll take care of it, I'll pay it. That's exactly what Jesus does when he goes to the cross. Sin, our sin, is charged against him. And us, when we stand before God, his righteousness is charged on our accounts. Praise God for it. Impute it to me, is what Paul is saying. No less than twice also in this very chapter, Romans 4, verses 6 and 11, Paul speaks of imputing righteousness, not to those to whom it personally belongs, but to the ungodly. Righteousness is imputed to, it's credited to us. To those who have no works, verse six. So when righteousness is imputed to the believer, he does not thereby become subjectively righteous. If the righteousness be adequate, and if the imputation be made on adequate grounds by competent authority, the person to whom the imputation is made has the right to be treated as righteous. And therefore in the legal sense, the imputation of the righteousness of Christ does make the sinner legally righteous before God. That is, it gives him a right to the full pardon of all his sins and a legal claim in righteousness to eternal life. If you're a Christian, if you understand the gospel and you rest on Christ alone, you have a legal right to eternal life because Christ's righteousness is accounted to you. Is that not the most glorious thing you could possibly imagine? I possess the righteousness of Christ. That's why Christians through the centuries have been willing to lose everything to hold on to that truth. If I have Christ, I have perfect righteousness upon me. Now look at verses 4 and 5, glorious stuff here. Romans 4, 4 and 5. Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor or as grace, but as what is due or as debt. Now listen to verse five, but to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. The importance of these two verses can be seen especially in light of our brief review of the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification by grace enabled works righteousness. Verse four states clearly that the wages we receive for doing work are not counted as grace, but as debt. Friends, if heaven were given to us on the grounds of our own inherent righteousness produced by our good works, it would not be grace, it would be debt, wouldn't it? God would owe it to us. Scripture does not allow for a mixture of works and grace when it comes to being saved and justified before Almighty God. Romans 11, six, if it's by grace, it is no longer works. Otherwise grace is no longer grace. And look at verse five. Verse five is one of the clearest gospel passages in the Bible. To the one who does not work, but believes. Those are actually participles. To the one not working, but believing. On him who justifies, who? The ungodly, the wicked. His faith is accounted for righteousness. Think about the teaching of the Holy Spirit here carefully. Who does God justify? Who does he justify? Rome says God only justifies those who work hard for it. Paul says God justifies those who do not work for it. to the one not working, but believing. Rome says eternal life is earned by lifelong cooperation with infused grace and good works. Paul says eternal life is a gift. Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rome says God will only justify those who are inherently righteous. Paul says God justifies the wicked, the ungodly, while they're still wicked and while they're still ungodly. From the time the gospel of a free salvation, completely apart from works done in or by the sinner, from the time that was first announced, people have charged that gospel with being a license to sin. And opponents of the truth have said repeatedly, you are telling people they can live like the devil and still go to heaven. Rome's anti-reformation charge against the gospel was from the time of the 16th century forward. They have said to us again and again and again, what you guys teach is a legal fiction. They call it a legal fiction. They argue that our doctrine makes God out to be a liar because he's pretending. He's pretending that we're righteous when in fact we're still evil and sinful. They believe our doctrine is a libel on the character of God. And yet Paul is about to explain in the next three verses how it is that God can do that. How can God justify a wicked person while they're still wicked without violating his own character doing it? Look at verse six, you see it? Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. See that? Verse seven, 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. The justification of sinners before God is anything but a legal fiction. You see, if you argue, well, God can't impute Christ's righteousness to us, that would make God a liar. Then you likewise have to argue that Jesus can't die for our sins either. because that would make God a liar too, wouldn't it? Was Jesus inherently sinful when he was nailed to the cross? No, he was perfectly righteous, morally intrinsically righteous. And yet somehow God treated him as if he wasn't righteous, as if he was actually sinful. God pronounced him to be sinful, wicked and evil, and he was condemned and cursed. Is that a legal fiction too? Does that make God a liar? Of course not. 2 Corinthians 5.21, God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. The one who knew no sin was made to be sin for us. Isaiah 53.6 says, and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all. One of the great illustrations that I was taught when I took Evangelism Explosion training was, let's say this book represented a detailed account of all my sins throughout my whole life, all my secret sins, all the thoughts that have run through my head that are violations of God's law, all detailed right here. And this hand is me, and here's all my sin. And if I die like this, what's gonna happen to me? They're going to be charged against me and I'm going to go to hell. That old prophecy from Isaiah 53, and the Lord Christ, He has no sin. He has no book of sins, but at the cross, the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And he's nailed to the cross and dies for it all. The Lord God of heaven and earth prays his name. He has the authority to charge our sins against a substitute. And that is exactly what he did. And Christ's whole life of righteousness is then imputed to me. so that I can go free, so I can die knowing I have eternal life. With that blessed assurance, it's not the sin of presumption. What's sinful is not believing in its sufficiency to save us. That's sin. Galatians 3.13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse. And the Greek phrase, hupere haemon, in behalf of us. He became a curse in behalf of us. How? Because the legal crediting of our guilt to his account. Why is it that I can die knowing I'm going to heaven? When I stand before God, I am not afraid. I am not afraid of dying. I'm not afraid to stand before the judgment of God, because the scripture says, who will bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. I want to assure everyone, the death of Jesus on the cross was anything but a legal fiction. And I've said to you all before, that charge, when Rome says that to us, you guys, what you believe is a legal fiction, I believe that to be the most blasphemous thing that can come out of someone's mouth. Our sins were really laid upon Him in our place. There was nothing fictitious about it, I assure you. When Scripture says repeatedly that Christ died for our sins, that He bore our sins, as Isaiah 53 says, bore our transgressions, bore our iniquities. That was not a legal fiction. That was real suffering. That was not God lying about Jesus. And while Jesus remained inwardly, sinlessly, morally, spotless, perfect, and pristine in His righteousness throughout His whole suffering for us, He was legally charged with our sins and He bore their punishment. Just as those who believe on Him for eternal life are legally charged with Christ's righteousness and gain eternal life thereby. That is the good news. on the authority of God, the Father's rule as judge of the universe. Our real sins were really charged against Jesus and He was beaten and scourged and nailed to a cross to die on account of them. This imputation, this legal charging to Jesus of our sins, it didn't change Him in any way subjectively. Jesus remains inherently sinless and perfect throughout the whole ordeal, but He's reckoned a sinner. He's legally credited with our sins. And I'm quite certain one day we will look upon the scarred hands, feet, side, head, and back of Jesus, and we will know that His sufferings were not fictitious. They were real, and that His righteousness by which we entered heaven is real. Remember what Dr. Hodge said about the imputation of Christ's righteousness. He said, if the righteousness be adequate, I have a question for you. Is the righteousness of Christ adequate to get us into heaven? Yes, it is. And if the imputation be made on adequate grounds by a competent authority, is God competent as an authority to do it? Yes. The person to whom the imputation is made has the right to be treated as righteous. Jesus Christ's righteousness is not a fiction. It is real. It is just as real as our unrighteousness and sin are real. God imputes Jesus's righteousness to us when we believe on him alone for our salvation and justification. At the cross, God the Father imputed or charged our sin to Jesus's account and treated him accordingly. It's a substitutionary atonement. Jesus was made to be sin on our behalf, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, so that we could be made the righteousness of God in Him. The legal fiction charge would be correct if God simply pronounced us to be justified and forgiven without sending Jesus to be born under the law, to obey the law, to undergo the curse of death of the cross, to bear that law's penalty on our behalf. If God hadn't done that, then yeah, He would be lying about us. But because our savior did come, and he did that great work of obedience on our behalf, and he bore the law's curse on our behalf, God has the legal grounds upon which to pronounce us righteous and forgiven, just as our sins were laid upon Christ at the cross, so his righteousness is laid upon us when we believe. Remember the father in the prodigal son parable who runs down the road, and what does he say? Bring out the best robe and put it on him. That would have hearkened people back. Isaiah 61 10, I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will exult in my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation. He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness. I hope you can see the utter folly. of believing that our works or our righteousness or anything wrought in us or done by us could ever in any way play a role in our justification before God or any role of any kind in getting us into heaven. The whole reason the incarnation, the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ was necessary for us to be saved was precisely that our works cannot possibly play any part in our justification, any part in getting us into heaven. Paul said it perfectly, Galatians 2.21, I don't nullify the grace of God. I don't set aside the grace of God. If righteousness comes through the law, let me translate that for you. If we can get into heaven by keeping the law or by anything we do, then Christ died for nothing. You know what the real legal fiction is? The idea that there is anyone who could actually achieve heaven by their works of obedience to the law of God. The idea that there's anyone who could go above and beyond what God requires. So that their excess merit could be sold as indulgences. Christians call Jesus their Lord and their Savior because it's Jesus who has saved them. Abraham did not work and then it was accounted to him for righteousness. Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness. In closing, remember good old Dr. Luther, Martin Luther, blessed Martin Luther. John Calvin, although he disagreed with Luther about certain things, John Calvin called Luther the 13th apostle. What was it that made it impossible for him to try to find peace with God? Why could he not find peace with God? Very simply stated, it was this. He was trying to become righteous. That's why. He's trying to become righteous. But being under the convicting work of the Holy Spirit of God, nothing other than the gospel is going to work. For those who have felt even for the smallest moment the full and unbearable weight of their sin in the light of the holiness of God bearing down upon them, no system of grace-infused works righteousness is going to bring relief to your tortured conscience. When it is the Holy Spirit of God who convicts a person of sin, nothing but the true gospel is going to give them a sense of peace with God. Jeremiah 23 verse five says, I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days, Judas shall be saved and Israel will dwell in safety. Now this is the name by which he will be called the Lord our righteousness. The word alone and the phrase justification by faith alone is shorthand for we get into heaven by what Christ has done alone. That's what we're really saying. Here's my problem. God is holy. God is righteous. I am not. How could I survive the judgment day when I know that God requires perfect righteousness to justify anybody? And thus our only hope is that the righteousness demanded from us in the law of God would be freely given to us as a gift. And that the curse debt we owe to God for having broken his law would likewise be paid by someone else who can actually pay it. To those who repent and believe in Jesus as their Savior, the debt is paid and the righteousness is in your account. Now, before we close, I want you to look at Romans 8 verse 1. Turn over to Romans 8 verse 1. After Paul describing the monumental struggle with sin that God's people face there in Romans 7, he gives this wonderful verse of assurance, verse 1. There is therefore now No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Notice what it says. There is therefore now. Not at the end if you cooperate well with grace, not if you've done enough, but there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Jump down to verse 28. So many people know verse 28, but fail to keep reading to see why verse 28 is true. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called ones, according to his purpose. Verse 29, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom he predestined, he also called, and these whom he called, he also justified, and these whom he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? God is for us. Who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? And here it is, who will bring a charge? Who will bring a charge of sin against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. And then look at verse 38. I am convinced neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing that will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's security, isn't it? That's not the sin of presumption. That's security knowing that Christ has done it all. Let's close in prayer. Father, we bless your name for the perfect and pristine righteousness of Christ, that holy garment he achieved by his righteous life and by his cross work to satisfy divine justice. May our hearts and our souls and our bodies rest in him, knowing that full atonement has been given. and that a perfect righteousness has been credited to us so that we have a legal title to eternal life based on His finished work. In His name we pray, Amen.