Well, good evening. Please take your Bibles and turn to Romans 3, verse 19. Romans 3, verse 19. We will eventually get back to Exodus, but I wanted to address the most important truth in the whole world. Romans 3, verse 19 to 31 is our scripture reading and sermon text for this evening. Romans 3, beginning at verse 19, this is God's Word. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God. Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested. being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed. For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be. On the contrary, we establish the law. Let's pray, please. Father, we thank you for this time to look through this glorious passage, this nugget of gospel gold that you have given to us in your word. Help us to understand it. If there are any who are not yet born again by your spirit and don't understand the gospel and don't know what it truly means to rest upon Christ alone for their salvation, may this be the day of their salvation, we humbly ask in Jesus' name, amen. The doctrine of justification has always been an intense battleground. Throughout church history, it has been explained, defended, denied, distorted, confused, and vindicated repeatedly. In the last several decades of world history, of church history, there has been a concerted attack on this doctrine, which Paul himself simply calls the gospel. He calls the doctrine of justification the gospel in his letter to the Galatians, as we saw this morning in Sunday school. Because Paul is the doctrine's primary teacher and expositor in scripture. The focus of many scholarly trends has been precisely not just on Paul himself, but on the details of what Paul means when he speaks about the justification of sinners before God. And the results of these scholarly endeavors in our time have been almost comprehensively negative regarding biblical Christianity, as it centers on this grand truth of the justification of sinners before God at the final judgment. There has been an avalanche of articles and books written on what Paul means by the phrase works of law in his letters, for example. Why is that so important? because Paul repeatedly affirms that justification is by faith apart from works of law and that by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. It ought not to shock anyone here to know that nearly all of the scholarly work that's been done on the meaning of the phrase works of law, and Paul's writings have tried to limit that phrase to be referring only to ceremonial and dietary works of the law, i.e. no pork, no circumcision, things like that. If that is all Paul really means by the phrase works of law, then the door is left wide open to insert man's law keeping, his keeping of the commandments as being at least part of the grounds upon which we're justified or maintain our justification or somehow that obedience gets us into heaven at the final judgment or something like that. What a person thinks that phrase works of law means is, I have to say, going to determine whether or not they're a Christian. You get that wrong, you're not a Christian. Does that sound like an overstatement? It's not. It's not. Why do I say that? Because it's as plain as it could possibly be in Paul's letter that what he means by works of law is anything human beings do at all in obedience to any part of God's law, dietary, moral, or ceremonial. And we could discuss and document at length all of the attacks on the biblical gospel and biblical Christianity that are right now going on. But the point I want to start out with is this. It ought not to surprise us that there is in our time such an incredible fascination with and fixation upon Paul, justification, the gospel, works of law, the books of Romans and Galatians and how we get to heaven. You know why there's such an incredible fixation on those truths and why there's such an incredible fixation on trying to twist and distort them? Because there has always been a fixation upon those truths and a desire to distort and ruin them because that's what the devil is all about. Why the fixation upon these things and the need to change under the guise of scholarship what everyone thought they knew about these things. And when I was in seminary, I was introduced to people like E.P. Sanders, Paul in Palestinian Judaism, and people like N.T. Wright and James D.G. Dunn, and who would ever have thought that what the phrase works of law means in the Apostle Paul would necessitate thousands of pages of books to understand. It's actually pretty easy. But you see, that's the only way that these false teachers can continue to gain notoriety and followers. I've emphasized this before, and I wanna hammer it again. Why do false teachers sneak in, come in unnoticed, and wreak havoc upon the church? Two words, pride and arrogance. Really? It's really that simple? Yes, it is. It is that simple. Let all of you, if you're a Christian and all the officers in Christ's church, if you're an elder, remember what Paul said to the church at Ephesus, Acts 20, 28, listen carefully. He says, therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves, men will rise up." You see what he's saying? He's saying, don't look on the outside for people on the outside. They're gonna spring up inside the church, inside the church at Ephesus. Savage wolves will come in among you. Also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things. And here's the motive, according to the Holy Spirit of God in scripture, here it is. Why do they speak perverse things? To draw away the disciples after themselves. They want followers. They want followers. Paul says, therefore watch and remember that for three years, I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. Jude 1, verse 4, where certain men have crept in unnoticed. They sneak in, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly men who turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Really, they sneak in? They creep in unnoticed? Paul, when he wrote Galatians, Galatians two, verse four, this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. Does that still happen today? Yes, constantly. People who are wolves will sneak in unnoticed to our churches. Remember, Satan masquerades as an angel of light. Satan's ministers, masqueraders, ministers of righteousness, and wolves wear custom-tailored sheep outfits, which make detecting them extremely difficult. They speak perverse things because they want followers. They want to take the church in their own new direction. The motivation is pride and arrogance. They want followers. And Paul's answer to such things, to ministers of the gospel, if you're an elder, here's the answer. Here's what you have to do. Warn people night and day with tears. Warn people night and day with tears. Why such passion on his part? Why would Paul be crying, tears flowing down his face, warning people about false gospels? while he's warning them night and day about this. He's crying while he's telling them this stuff. Why? Because the eternal destiny of every soul of every human being on earth is at stake. That's why. He didn't want people to go to hell. Paul understood what apparently the vast majority of the professing Christian church in the United States doesn't understand at all. What is it? A false gospel can't save people. Never has, never will. Can it make a church big? Oh yeah, sure. Lots of followers? Oh yeah. Invitations to speak at conferences, write books? Oh yeah. But a false gospel can't save anybody. These sneaky stealth tactics of Satan have never changed. Satan's ministers masquerade as angels of light, as ministers of righteousness. They will say repeatedly and emphatically, tears flowing, I love the gospel. I love Christ Church. I'm just reading the Bible to get it for all it's worth. Just reading it with fresh new eyes to bring fresh new insight to it. I don't like new stuff. Charles Hodge, great Princeton theologian, when he retired, when he stopped being the president of Princeton, one of the greatest quotations I've ever heard from a churchman, he said, well, I was the president of this university, not a single new thing was ever taught here. 2 Peter 2, verses 1 and 2, here's another warning. But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies. Even denying the Lord who bought them. You notice all this stuff about sneaking, stealth, creeping in unnoticed, all this stuff. I mean, when the devil comes to your church and when his ministers come to your church, they're not gonna knock on the door and say, hi, we're here to deceive you. We're here to deny the Christian faith so you can perish eternally. They come in wearing a sheep outfit, finely stitched together. And you can't see the fangs and you can't see the claws and you can't see the ill motives. They bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring swift destruction upon themselves. In 2 Peter 2.2, one of the saddest verses in the God-breathed Scriptures, many will follow their destructive ways. The bad guys are enormously successful, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. Paul told Timothy some of the last words he ever wrote before his beheading. He said to Timothy in chapter four, verses two and three, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. I mean, picture that, picture like Joel Osteen and N.T. Wright and all of them all piled on top of each other. There's a pile of false teachers, a heap of them. For very many sharp Christian people, the tendency I'm noticing is this. Yeah, we believe all those passages, all those warning passages, but we don't know any bad guys. And certainly nobody that we like could ever possibly be one of these satanic ministers. If you're thinking like that, you're in danger. That's where so many are wrong. Now, we ought not to jump quickly to identify and label people as false teachers. We ought to, or on the side of caution, don't want to jump too quickly. But once you've seen direct denials of God's word and direct denials of the gospel, we're obligated to speak. Paul wrote concerning the elders of the church that they are always to be Titus 1.9. Every elder and every local church in the world is to be holding fast the faithful word. which is in accordance with the teaching so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it. For there are many insubordinates, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, especially people who distort this truth, the gospel, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain. The justification of the sinner before God is the centerpiece of the Christian faith. It is the beating heart of the gospel that we preach to people. Get it wrong, and it doesn't matter where else you're right. You're not a Christian, and you will, in fact, go to hell when you die, justly condemned by the holy God for your sins. And the thing is that what I just said remains true, whether there are any ministers of the gospel that emphasize it or not. The divine revelation given to us in scripture belabors this point repeatedly, emphatically, without qualification or ambiguity. The fact that unregenerate people can read words of the Bible and fail to understand their plain meaning is a simple testimony to the blindness and hardness of the human heart. The Bible, God's very word, is like that. It provokes intense spiritual responses from all who read it. To the blind who want life to be about social concern and trying to live a better life, they'll read scripture, they'll find a way to make it say that and only that. To the unregenerate who have never lost a wink of sleep considering their own sin before the holy tribunal of God, they will, without any pangs of conscience whatsoever, turn Paul's doctrine of justification into a doctrine that has no reference to Jesus' cross or to man's sin at all. And what I want all of you to know before we walk through our passage is this, the Bible is clear enough for every single person here to be able to say with confidence what the true gospel is and to identify all of its counterfeits. It's that clear. And you know, today, if you do that, what's the charge? You're arrogant. You're full of yourself. What do you think, you're the only one that knows the truth? And people said that to Luther. You think you're the only one who knows the truth? The gospel, what scripture says about it is so simple, so straightforward, so clear. We don't need reformed celebrities to tell us if someone is teaching falsehood. You and I are obligated before God to identify falsehood and to reject it. All of us are. You don't need reformed celebrities to do that. In fact, you don't even need me to do that. Now, our Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 11, one of the greatest chapters on the subject ever written by human beings, says, those whom God effectually calls, he also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, by legally pardoning their sins. And by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them, not for any work that the Spirit of God does in them, and not anything done by them, not by any works they do either, but for Christ's sake alone, nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience. You know who that's a shot at? That's the Arminians. They're rejecting. or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness, but by imputing, by legally crediting the obedience and satisfaction, that's the cross work of Christ, unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God. Now Paul has spent the first three chapters of Romans in that glorious letter spelling out man's biggest problem. He is under the wrath of God for all of his ungodliness and his unrighteousness. Men know God through the created order itself as it bears powerful witness itself to the reality that there is a God and that revelation does get through. Men don't just know that there's a God somewhere. They know the one true and living God himself through general revelation and creation and in conscience, but it's not a saving knowledge. It's just enough to leave us without excuse. They don't know him in a saving way as a heavenly father, but they do know God, the one true God, as the being they hate, are running from, and whose truth they are actively and always suppressing in their love for unrighteousness. Jesus taught, and I quoted it to you this morning, this is the judgment, light is coming to the world, but men love darkness rather than light. That's the problem. It's not an intellectual problem. Unbelief has nothing to do with facts, has nothing to do with evidence, it's a moral problem. Men don't want to bow their knee to God. They don't want to bow to the Lord Jesus. And so they'll believe that dirt became life or that we landed from a comet. Anything but God, anything but God. Men prefer their sinful lusts to the God of glory who is their maker and judge. Man is under God's just and righteous condemnation for his sinful nature and all his sinful acts, all of his transgressions against the law of God. The first 20 verses of Romans 3 is Paul setting the final piece of the stage for the grand and gracious answer of God to the insurmountable problem of human sin. Paul's summary indictment against the entire human race is utterly sobering, sad, and frightening to read. Such passages as this, look at Romans 3 verse 9. What then? Are we better than they? Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. Okay, stop there. I remember in my pre-reformation days thinking, I sought God. Aren't I a seeker? The church I grew up in had seeker services. I remember learning, actually, there's no human beings anywhere that seek God, anywhere. Who is the only seeker that the Bible knows about? Jesus. If you're a Christian, it's not because you sought God, it's he sought you out, he found you. Verse 12, all have turned aside, together they have become useless. There is none who does good, there is not even one. Now look at verse 19. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God. Now, the imagery here is powerful and it's striking. God is our sovereign and all-righteous judge. On the great day of judgment, to which all of us will be summoned, there will be a verdict rendered by our judge, our all-holy, all-seeing, all-knowing God, who knows everything we've ever done, thought, or even desired to do. And the verdict is already in. over all of us. For those outside of Christ, condemnation before God's law is a present reality. Romans 3.19 says that God's law shuts every mouth. And the image is that of a defendant trying to stand up at his trial to begin to open his mouth to make some excuse, to try to make some defense as to why they're not guilty. And the next image is as if God's all-knowing hand shuts their mouth, closes it before they can even begin to speak in their own defense. We are defenseless. We are without an excuse against God's judgment. We are all guilty. We are all bad. We're all selfish. We're all sinful. We are all wicked. All of us who do not believe the gospel of Christ stand as it were on the precipice of eternity with that horrific guilty verdict hanging over us. Every mouth is shut. The whole world is liable to the judgment of God is what that term that's translated accountable in the new American standard means. It means liable to the judgment of God. Guilty and not a thing we can do to exonerate ourselves. We are exposed to the most unimaginable danger in our sin, the very wrath of almighty God. Why are we liable to this terrifying judgment of the omnipotent and omniscient and all holy God? Look at verse 20. Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. You see why the phrase works of law would be such a battleground? Paul just said the works of the law can never justify anyone, can never save anybody. cannot get them into heaven. What does works of law mean? In its context, as I said before, it means anything a human being might do in obedience to any part of the law of God as a means of being justified before the judgment of God. And I want to say this. It is an exegetical error. Exegesis is simply the science of pulling out of scripture what it says and being faithful to what it says. It is an exegetical error that ought to flunk a student out of an even semi-decent undergraduate Bible program to suggest that works of law is limited only to circumcision and dietary restrictions. That ought to have gotten them flunked out of Bible school. let alone having a master's degree in theology or a PhD from some prestigious university somewhere. Why do I say that? Because in the book of Romans leading up to this section that we're reading here, Paul's already told us what he means by the law. He's already told us over and over again. Turn back in your Bible to Romans 2, 17. Look at it. Romans 2, verse 17. Romans 2, verse 17. Follow along with us, please. The Holy Spirit writing through the Apostle Paul, speaking to us says, but if you bear the name Jew and rely upon the law, there's a reference to it, and boast in God and know his will and approve the things that are essential being instructed out of the law, there's the phrase again, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the law, there it is again, the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? Okay, question. Is the prohibition, you shall not steal, a ceremonial work? A dietary law? Where does do not steal come from? 10 commandments. Okay, look at verse 22. You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Is the prohibition against adultery a dietary law? Is that a ceremonial law? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? Is the prohibition against idol worship as part of the ceremonial or dietary law? Of course not. Verse 23, you who boast in the law, through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God? So when Paul summarizes his entire argument so far in Romans 3.20, because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Where does the knowledge of sin come from? It comes from the law of God. What does he mean by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight? He's talking about trying to keep the commandments of God. The moral law of God, the 10 commandments. Why would anyone suggest all of a sudden here, he's just talking about circumcision and dietary restrictions? Why would someone do that? Because they want to insert our keeping of the law into the salvation equation. It's that simple. That's what they're trying to do. And it doesn't make any sense. I wanna read verse 21 to 25 as a block and then unpack it one verse at a time. Look at verse 21 to 25. Here's where the entire tone of the book of Romans changes. Verse 21, it's opening phrases are so important. They're so important, you should star, underline them, memorize them. Listen, verse 21, but now apart from the law, The righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. Okay, I'm gonna stop there. Now look back at verse 21 again, see it? But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Okay, think about this. For guilty sinners who are under God's just and righteous wrath for their sin, a divine and perfect righteousness that was done in obedience to that law that condemns us must be achieved. And Paul uses the amazing phrase that this righteousness of God is revealed apart from the law, apart from law. What does that mean? It means apart from our obedience. apart from us doing things in obedience to the commandments of God. The righteousness of God, which justifies the sinner before the judgment of God at the last day, is a righteousness that is achieved by the work of someone else, namely Jesus Christ. When it comes to the justification of the sinner before God, the righteousness by which that takes place must be revealed and given to us by God, apart from our own law-keeping of any kind whatsoever. This divine righteousness of God by which alone sinners can be justified at the last judgment and enter heaven is revealed apart from the law to sinners. When it comes to being right with God, the law of God is of no use to you whatsoever, none. Now, once you're saved, once you're justified, once you're reconciled to God, then you look to the law. That's fatherly instruction. That's how we show our gratitude to God. But when it comes to our justification, when it comes to getting into heaven, the law is of no use to us whatsoever. It only shows us how much we need someone else's righteousness to save us. This righteousness of God, we're told it was witnessed to by the law and the prophets from Genesis to the prophet Malachi. The Old Testament bore witness to this all along. The story of Israel is the grand story of Israel's failure to stay in the promised land based on their obedience. They're given grace upon grace, chance after chance to repent and obey. But as we all know, eventually the land spews them out. And when the Northern kingdom is destroyed by Assyria because of their unending sin, the way in which God speaks to them is stirring about this. In 2 Kings 17, very important pivotal point of Old Testament history. 2 Kings 17, 13, listen to scripture. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, against the North and the South, by all of his prophets, every seer saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent you by my servants, the prophets. Nevertheless, they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he had testified against them. They followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations which were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, making a wooden image and worshiping all the hosts of heaven and served Baal. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practice witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his sight, and there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel, which they made. And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until he had cast them from his sight. The repetitious offering of the Passover lamb that they were supposed to do every year and all the other sacrifices of the old covenant law, they were supposed to be a constant reminder to all of God's people then that they were in fact sinful and they needed to look for a coming redeemer. The prophets testified to this Redeemer, upon whom the Lord would lay all the iniquities of His people and thus justify them solely by grace and not by their own law-keeping or efforts. The entire 53rd chapter of Isaiah is one of the most wonderful chapters in the whole Bible to read, but one verse in particular stands out as a profound testimony "'to the coming Savior and what he would accomplish "'by his work.'" Isaiah 53, verse 11. "'He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. "'By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, "'for he shall bear their iniquities.'" The law and the prophets bore witness to the Messiah and to the fact that by his work alone, righteousness would be achieved and salvation would be achieved. That's what Paul's talking about. But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed in the gospel. And it was witnessed to by the law and the prophets. Daniel says the very same thing, Daniel 9 24. 70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness. What's that talking about? That's talking about the imputed righteousness of Christ. What is it that Messiah will do? He will bring in everlasting righteousness. And what does that mean? Look at the passage, see Romans 3.21. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. At last, the reality is here. We no longer look at types and shadows and prophecies. Christ has come. The righteousness is here. The everlasting righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is imputed to us and received by faith alone, received apart from the law, received apart from works of the law, received apart from any work at all that we would or could ever do. And Romans three continues, see verse 22, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe for there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified as a gift or freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. I cannot tell you how many times we've talked to people who are professing Christians trying to witness to them in Kingsport or at the flea market. And you ask people, You ask them, who is Jesus? What did he do? Oh, he died for sinners. Do you believe he died for you? Yeah. Do you think you're gonna go to heaven when you die? Yeah. Why? Because I'm good. What? But you believe he died for you? Oh yeah, I believe Jesus died for my sins. And why are you gonna go to heaven? Because I'm good. Clearly there's a disconnect here. The righteousness by which a sinner enters heaven. is solely, completely, and only the righteousness that was achieved and performed by Jesus Christ and by Jesus Christ alone. That's what, but now, apart from law, the righteousness of God is revealed. Look at verse 22 again. even the righteousness of God, the divine righteousness, through faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, not through our good works, or through our law-keeping, or through anything wrought in us or done by us. Now we're gonna unpack that section in a bit more incoming sermons in more detail, but I hope the gospel of how we're saved and brought into heaven past the judgment of God is very clear in scripture. Our works, our subjective transformation plays no role in it at all. None, none. And Paul was accused constantly of preaching license. Well, you're just saying we can live like the devil and still go to heaven. What is Paul's answer to that? Do we then make void the law through faith? On the contrary, we uphold the law. We establish the law. God's regenerating work has changed us completely. We want to keep the laws of God now. We love the law of God, but we would never, ever, ever look to our obedience to it to play any role in getting us into heaven. That would destroy the motive for good works anyway, wouldn't it? Justification is itself the final legal verdict at the last judgment. I've said to you all many times, when you hear temporal qualifiers put on that word, beware, there's a wolf in your midst, like initial. Well, yeah, faith alone is good for initial justification. Justification doesn't have an initiation point. It's a one-time act. And once God has changed that verdict, it will be that verdict for the rest of eternity. Salvation is not a process. It is not a process. It's not, there's an initial point, and then there's an ongoing process, and then there's a future completion. That's a lie. That's not the truth at all. Once a person's united to Christ by faith in him, they are justified. They have the righteousness of Christ covering them like a garment. They cannot possibly be anything other than declared righteous on the day of judgment. And to say otherwise is to spit in his face. It's not an initial act. It's not an initial step. This is the teaching of scripture. It's the teaching of all of the great reformed confessions. Question 90 of the larger catechism. What shall be done to the righteous at the day of judgment? At the day of judgment, the righteous, being caught up to Christ in the clouds, shall be set on his right hand, and there openly acknowledged and acquitted, shall join with him in the judging of reprobate angels and men, and shall be received into heaven. That legal acquittal that we have, that legal acquittal, that is our justification before God. And on that basis, we are received into heaven. You know, when the evangelicals and Catholics together controversy started, Chuck Colson, the guy that was the founder of Prison Fellowship, he had been in prison himself and had allegedly come to Christ there. He said to a reformed theologian, he said to Michael Horton, look, When I'm in there talking to prisoners and witnessing to prisoners, I'm not gonna get into a technical discussion with them about the doctrine of justification. And Michael Horton said, Chuck, don't you think if there's ever been a group of human beings on this planet who would understand the concept of legal acquittal, it would be people in prison? Is justification, is that, we need to emphasize that? Is that that important? Look at Romans 5.9. I want you to turn your Bible to Romans 5.9. People are like, I don't care about that stuff about justification. I just want to know, brother, are you saved? Brother, have you been saved? Look at Romans 5.9. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. Is this important when it comes to telling people how to get saved? Without it, you can't tell people how to get saved. This is the beating heart of everything. There's a day of judgment. God is the judge of all humanity. We're all guilty before God. To get that verdict justified, you need the blood and righteousness of Christ applied to your account legally before God. The justification of the believing sinner is what alone gets us into heaven. because it's the shed blood and the imputed righteousness of Christ alone that has meant the law is absolute, immovable, immutable, and perfect demands. I cannot tell you how many emails I've gotten, how many nasty emails I've gotten from people. Well, don't you think that good works are necessary in some way? God just leaves us the way we are. Don't you think that works are necessary? Well, necessary how? As fruit and evidence? Yes. As what saves us at the last day? No. No. Well, you're just telling people they can live like the devil and still get into heaven. My answer to that is Paul's answer. My answer to that is Paul's answer. Romans 6 verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried with him in baptism that we might be raised to walk in newness of life. Notice Paul does not say, oh no, no, no, no, no. The faith part, that's what gets you initially in and then you're finally saved by your works. Is that how Paul answered the charge? You're an antinomian. You're telling people they can just do whatever they want. His response to that was no, God changes our hearts. God gives us new desires. We're liberated from sins, tyranny and power and slavery. But our good works that we do as Christians, they do not save us. They play no role in getting us into heaven of any kind whatsoever, that being supplied by Christ alone. In his wonderful short piece, his reply to Cardinal Sadaletto. If you've never read John Calvin's reply to Cardinal Sadaletto, I would encourage you to Google it, look it up online and read it. Calvin said this to this Roman Catholic Cardinal that was trying to lure Geneva back to Rome after they fired Calvin. He was so glad to leave too. They were firing guns outside of his house at night and they were naming their dogs after him. They were singing nasty songs about Calvin in the taverns and they finally fired him. He said, thank God, I just want to leave anyway. And they got this letter from this Catholic Cardinal. They saw their opportunity. He's gone. Let's get him to come back to Rome. And they wrote this long letter. This Cardinal wrote a letter to the Geneva Council. And they said, boy, we sure could use him now. I bet he'd know how to answer them. So they asked him while he was in exile. And he wrote one of the most masterful defenses of the Reformation you could ever read. The Reply to Salilato. One of those things he said was this, you, Cardinal Satellito, in the first place, touch upon justification by faith, the first and keenest subject of controversy between us. Is this a naughty, spelled K-N-O-T-T-Y, as in like just tying little knots, is this a naughty and useless question? That's what Satellito said. All these guys, these reformers, they're such eggheads, getting into all of these technical details. It's a naughty and useless question. And Calvin says, is it really a naughty and useless question, Cardinal? Wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished, religion abolished, the church destroyed, and the hope of salvation utterly overthrown. That doctrine then, though of the highest moment, we maintain that you, Sadalato, have nefariously effaced from the memory of men." He also told Sadalato, It's not very good theology, my dear Cardinal, to confine a man's thoughts so much to himself. In other words, that theology, that system of grace is poured into you, and then you better get busy, and you're gonna have to do a bunch of works, and you're probably not gonna be ready to go to heaven, you're gonna have to spend some time in purgatory. Calvin saw right through it and said to him, it's not very good theology to confine a man's thoughts so much to himself, so that he never raises his thoughts above himself to sanctify the name of Christ. You see, it's only those who understand that the whole of their salvation was achieved by someone else, they can go on and live their life for others, lay their life down for their neighbor, sanctify the name of God. See, as long as you're trying to earn it in some way, however nuanced, your thoughts will always be confined to yourself. It's not very good theology, says Calvin to this cardinal, to confine a man's thoughts so much to himself so that he never sanctifies the name of God. For every church, every Christian, every ruling elder, every deacon, every teaching elder must labor to preach, teach, proclaim, defend, and make this doctrine crystal clear. For without it, we have no good news with which to complete the great commission. And to everyone here, given the nature of the days that we live in, you need to be prepared, I'm warning you, to walk the lonely road in your defense of the gospel. and fear not the faces of men. Fear rather the one who by his shed blood and by his righteousness, that righteousness of God revealed apart from law that is given to us by faith and not by works. By his shed blood, by his righteousness alone, he has secured your entrance into heaven and your eternal life. Never let anyone detract from the glorious perfection of his great work. And denials of sola fide, the great sola justification by faith alone. Faith alone is shorthand for the righteousness of Christ alone. Denials of sola fide detract from the perfection of what Christ has done. Detract from the glory of God. Detract from the grace of God. Don't let anyone do that. When someone spits in the face of your Lord, I don't care if they're wearing a clerical collar or speaking at a reform conference or are part of the reform celebrity cult. None of that matters. God is no respecter of persons. You keep your hope and your faith fixed on Christ alone for your salvation. And when you hear that denied, you rise up in defense of the truth because the glory of God is at stake and everyone's salvation is too. Let's pray. Blessed Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gospel, the pure gospel that is revealed apart from the law. And it is witnessed to by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God that is given to us by faith, not by works, by belief in Jesus, not by works of law, not by anything we do, not by any transformation in us or anything of the kind. May our hope rest solely upon Jesus and nothing else ever. And we pray you would use us to be vessels through whom that message of a free and full salvation can come to the world that they too might believe and be saved. We ask in Jesus name, amen.