What we Teach and What we Believe about Salvation - Justification

Now, I want you to turn to one place in your scriptures, and that is Galatians chapter 2 verse 16. I know for a fact I'm going to reference some other scriptures besides Galatians 2.16. I might even ask you to turn to a couple. If I ask you to turn and you don't turn, write that down. Really, there is a lot. And as a matter of fact, if you look at our paragraph there dealing with justification, there's a lot of scripture there. If you're a good student, you can go and study our doctrinal statement and those scriptures that are there. That will help you. But I will reference a few. I will read a few.

And if you miss a scripture reference, you ask. There's no such thing as a dumb question. Now, so far we have gotten into the fourth section. Notice what we've covered. We covered number one, the scriptures. Then we got into number two, the true God. And then we got into number three, the fall of man, not just man, but the fall of man. And then you know that we have taken the fourth section, the way of salvation, and we put everything to do with salvation under that large umbrella. And we have covered grace and regeneration, and then we have covered repentance and faith.

So if you want to look at it in the form of an outline, number four, a Roman numeral four, the way of salvation, and then A, grace and regeneration, and then B, repentance and faith. You see that on your handout. But I always want to say this. I want you to get this. This way of salvation is the umbrella and everything to do with salvation is up under that umbrella. Now, it's very important for you to remember a few things about grace and regeneration and repentance and faith. I'm reaching back to what we've already covered. Okay. I've shared some of this, but this is vital information.

It's vital to your understanding of salvation, but it's also vital in how we practice this, how we do this. Let me share with you what I mean. First of all, we have a paradox here in all of this teaching, a paradox. It is a seeming contradiction. Sometimes these things can be hard to grapple with. Sometimes these things can be hard to understand. Sometimes people can say, you know, pastor, I just, I can't quite get all this. This does seem contradictory. Now let me explain what I mean. Is salvation God choosing and God working and God calling or is salvation man believing and man trusting and man repenting and expressing faith?

It's yes, it's both. And at times it seems contradictory. There is this tension between some of these truths that are hard for us to rectify, bring together. So we have a paradox here in a lot of this teaching. All right. And then second, we can only teach what the scriptures say, and then we stop. This is a mistake so many people make. They want to bridge these gaps, seeming gaps, and they make a mistake. We teach what the scriptures say, and then we stop. We can't fully understand many of these great mysteries. So we teach what the Bible says, and then we stop.

There are passages of scripture we emphasize trusting and believing and giving your life to Christ and expressing faith in Christ. That's all of the human responsibility. And then there are other passages where it's all about what only God does, what only God can do, regenerating and granting repentance and faith. And so what we do is we teach those scriptures and we teach them and we stop. But then third, we can't believe one at the expense of the other. Many times that is the mistake people will make here. Some teach man's responsibility when it comes to salvation in such a way that they ruin God's sovereignty in salvation.

And then some teach God's sovereignty in salvation in a way where they ruin the responsibility of man. It's both. It's just both, okay? And then fourth, fourth, what we are describing here, these things that pertain to the way of salvation, these things that we've covered are experiential. Now let me help you see what I mean. We went to Disney world once, once is enough. That was an experience. That experience, it was more than just food. It was more than just rides. It was more than just little girls dressing up like a princess. We, as in our family, got the stomach virus. That was an experience. I don't know why I put that in my notes.

We understand what it means to experience things. I had a wedding. My nephew got married. We experienced that wedding. There are many things that we experience in life. Now let me show you what I mean. We experience regeneration, although we can't fully understand it. Sometimes folks will just say, God did something to me that he just saved me. We experience repentance and faith. We turn from sin. We express faith. We experience what we describe as being born again, God saving us. We can feel it. We can describe it. We articulate it in different ways. It is experiential. Well, and what we're studying tonight is not experiential. It's not.

Remember our bookends? I've used these bookends, these analogy of the bookends and explaining what encompasses the plan of salvation, God's plan of salvation. We have two bookends. We have what God did in eternity past that term election that scares so many forever ago, God chose and God moved and God worked. We have God's electing, God's choosing. And then at the end of the journey, we have glorification. Glorification is the culmination of God's redemption plan, the final step. So let me ask you this question. This election, do we experience that? No, that's not experiential.

Do we experience what God did in eternity past when it comes to our salvation? No, but we certainly do experience regeneration, repentance, and faith. We experience God's work of grace in our lives where we're believing and we're trusting. Well, tonight we're going to briefly study a part of God's salvation plan, and that is justification. You see in your handout, it is number three, our small letter three, under Roman numeral four, after repentance and faith. Now think with me for a minute here, okay? Before we get into a basic theology of justification, here we are dealing with the most basic and universal question in all religion.

Let me say that again. Here we are dealing with the most basic, the most fundamental, the universal question in all religion. How can a person be made right with God? You see? All religions, all religions seek to bring man into some type of a right relationship with God. I'll never forget years ago, I saw a television interview with Muhammad Ali's wife. Happened to be the wife he had when he died because he had multiple wives. Some of you know that Muhammad Ali, his given name, his birth name was Cassius Clay. He converted to Islam. He was a Muslim.

Well, she began to articulate how he lived out his faith and what that looked like and it just caught my attention. And she began to express a work salvation. She said he was desiring to do enough good work so he could be made right with his God. It was a work salvation. And what I'm trying to show you is this. We would say it's false, but he had a way in which he was trying to be made right with his God. Some of you know who Jim Elliott was? And that group of Americans who sought to take the gospel to the Waddonnie people there in Ecuador in the 1950s.

If you study their indigenous religion, although we would say it was savage and it was stone age and it was barbaric and it was, they had a way in which they thought they could become right with their God. And you know our grandparents, our parents, our forefathers, they had a way in which they thought they could become right with God. See, all men have some type of religion and that is supposed to bring them into a right relationship with God. You see that basic universal fundamental question, but the basic question must be asked of all of us. How can man be made right with God?

And I will add to that question based off what we have studied and what you know, I have taught you thoroughly. How can sinful man, how can sinful man come into a right relationship with God? We know man is sinful. I've taught you that. I've taught you that thoroughly, but we look out into the world. Do I have to convince you that man is sinful when we look out into the world today? So if we are sinners, see now I'm getting personal. If we are sinners and if you're a sinner and I'm a sinner and if your children are sinners and they are, if we are going to have any good news, there must be a way we can be in a right standing with God.

We learn that all mankind have broken God's law and we have been alienated from God. We are not right with God. We are rebels. We are alienated from God. So how can this problem be overcome? How can sinful man be made right with God? Hold on to that question. In Jesus' ministry, he dealt with this problem continuously, but I want to read you a couple of verses. You can jot these down. Matthew 5 verse 20, Jesus says, "For I tell you, unless your righteousness," he's talking to the crowds, he's contrasting their righteousness to the righteousness of the religious leaders.

"For I tell you, unless your righteousness succeeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." You see, in Jesus' day, the scribes and the Pharisees were the most righteous people in the nation of Israel. They were the cream of the crop, folks. They were the religious professionals, not necessarily in a bad way, in the eyes of the people.

All of the Jewish people saw the scribes and the Pharisees as having attained the righteousness that God requires, but Jesus said, "No man can enter heaven unless they have a righteousness that is greater." A righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the most righteous people on earth. See how he's raising the bar? One more verse. Matthew 5, 48. Jesus, again, is talking to the crowds, "You therefore must be perfect." That's not a typo. "You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Here Jesus goes one step higher. He says that a man must be perfect.

Jesus says a man must possess a righteousness, a perfection that is greater than the most righteous people on earth. He then raises the bar even further because he says that man must be perfect. He is saying that a man must possess a perfect righteousness before God. So it's important to see that a man must possess a perfect righteousness to be right with God. I need to say that again. It is important. It is vitally important. We shipwreck everything if we don't get this. A man must possess a perfect righteousness to be made right with a perfect God.

People are condemned to an eternal punishment because they do not have a perfect righteousness, the perfect righteousness that God requires. Remember what I just read? And the only way a man can possess a perfect righteousness is if a righteousness is given to that man. I have taught you thoroughly how sinfully sinful, utterly sinful man is. Man can't inherit this righteousness. Man can't earn this righteousness. And man can't buy this righteousness. Man must somehow get a righteousness that is acceptable to God. Really, it's one step further. Actually, man must be given an alien righteousness or a righteousness that is outside of himself.

And that righteousness that he must have is God's righteousness because the only righteousness God will accept is perfection. And then there's only one person who is perfect and that's God. Man's kind of in a corner, you see. Now, here's a key verse. You know this verse, Romans 1, 16 to 17. Paul says, "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel." The gospel, okay. "For it," the gospel, it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Verse 17. "For in it the righteousness," we've been talking about that, right? "For in it," what's the gospel?

"In the gospel, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" The righteous, the ones who are made right with God. So the gospel, the gospel is the power of God for salvation for man, for anyone who would believe. And in that, there is a righteousness that is from God that is revealed from faith to faith. Verse 17 says. I love how MacArthur explains this verse. It's real simple. The gospel reveals that on the basis of faith and faith alone, God will impute. That's a new word for you. He will give his righteousness to ungodly sinners. Now, what's all this about?

Man being made right with God. That universal problem, that fundamental question, and that one question that all of the religions seek to try to answer. Man being right with God is what all of this is about. Man possessing the righteousness of God from God, which is the doctrine of justification. And the doctrine of justification is the one doctrine that is at the heart of the gospel. If somebody says, "What is the one thing at the heart of the gospel?" Justification. Man being made right with God. Here's where I want you to look at Galatians 2.16. Galatians 2.16.

"Yet we know that a person is not justified, not made right, by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ." So we also have believed in Jesus, or Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Jesus and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be justified. Some of you know some church history. Listen, the doctrine of justification was at the heart of the entire Protestant Reformation. The entire Protestant Reformation. That was the heart of the whole fight. And I'm going to come back to that. Now at this point, I want to make a transition, okay?

I want to give us a simple, but a good definition here of justification, and then I'm going to make five powerful, short observations. I'm going to give you five powerful, short truths concerning justification. Now the definition comes from Wayne Grudem. This comes out of his systematic theology, his work on justification. And he defines justification by asking a question. What is justification? What is justification?

Grudem says, "Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he," that's God, "one thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness is belonging to us." Remember, we got to have a righteousness that's not of our own. And two, declares us to be righteous in his sight. Let me read that again. What is justification? Justification is an instantaneous legal act, act of God in which he thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness, the only perfect righteousness, the only righteousness that God will accept as belonging to us, and then he declares us to be righteous in his sight.

Now I want to give you these five truths, and I'm going to be honest with you. This was really frustrating. Volumes are written on this subject. Volumes. And the frustration comes from being able to hit the high spots and not leave anything that's vital out and not being bogged down. Now we're going to combine the first two. So number one, justification comes not, not, not by works. And number two, justification comes by faith in Christ. That's easy for you to write down. Justification comes not by works. Justification comes by faith in Christ. Here's where I want to go back to our Galatians passage. Galatians chapter two, verse 16.

You're going to see this all in there. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law shall no flesh, no person be justified. Now here we must see that Paul is elevating two very important facts here concerning our understanding of justification. They're separate, but they're related. They're connected. Notice here three times Paul states that salvation is only by faith and not by works three times. Three times in the verse he says it.

Now I'm going to give you an observation. I think this is in the John MacArthur study Bible, although I have other materials by him. I like an observation that John MacArthur makes. The first, this is a general observation because he says a person, a person is not justified by works. A person is justified by faith. I'm paraphrasing. I know. And then the second is a more personal observation. We also have believed. In other words, we have trusted in Christ. We by faith are justified, not by works. And then the third is more of a universal observation because he says no one will be justified, not one person. You see?

So what MacArthur is helping us see here is that Paul covers this thoroughly. It's a general observation. No people. It's a personal because he's using personal pronouns. We, and it is a universal observation. No one. So with all of that in your mind, I want to read the verse again. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Christ, even we, see, we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Since by the works of the law, no one, see how universal that is, shall be justified.

So Paul knew that there was no salvation from keeping the law for anyone. The law only brought condemnation and death to those who failed to keep that law. Well, who has failed to keep that law? Everyone. Paul presents Christ as the only one object, the only true object of real saving faith. He presents a summary of true salvation by saying that salvation by faith in Christ and not by keeping the law or any works. You see how it's a summary? Simply Paul is saying that salvation is by faith. No works. No works. Now there's a key word here, the word justified. You've seen it in the verse. It describes a judge.

This, this word describes a judge declaring an accused person as innocent or not guilty before the law. And in the scriptures, this word justified speaks of God himself declaring a sinner, not guilty and in a right standing before him. So we must see that justification, man being made right in a right standing before God. It is not of works. It is by faith in faith in Christ and it is a righteousness that comes from God. You see? Now I'm going to get to this coming from God here in a second after I make a little application. Now an application, we need to understand these truths.

We need to know them and we need to understand them, but it's not just enough to understand them. We need to apply them into our little Baptist world. We all come from a Baptist background. We need to understand these in our Baptist context. I shared with y'all the last time we met that I was a recovered decisionist. I have moved away from all of the decisionism. See in our Baptist world, it's all about decisions and decisions and decisions. And some theologians will call that decisional regeneration. What we see is some really believe that if folks will come down that aisle and make that decision, well then they're born of God.

But the problem with that is this. We're not regenerated because we get up and make a decision. We regenerate it because the Spirit of God works in us. I've taught you that. And some people get that twisted. They get that off and they really think, boy if we've made that decision, well then we're right with God. And it leads to a fallacy. It leads to a faulty understanding of the way God works in salvation. So if we're not careful, this decisionism environment can produce this. We just think that people are right with God because they've made that decision. It's not by works.

You can make a thousand decisions, but unless you're regenerated of God, you're just wasting breath and words. But another one, baptism. You know I get asked a question. Y'all must not be Baptist because you don't have Baptists in your name. No, we're Baptists because it's in our doctrinal position and statement. It has nothing to do with our name. We believe in baptism. It's a symbol of what spiritually already happened. But you know some people think there's something magic about the water. And boy if they've been baptized, they've just got to be right with God. And that could be called baptismal regeneration.

That's what the reformers were working out of. Some people really think if you're baptized, that's going to make you right with God. It's not by works. I'm pointing out two things that our Baptist friends, two things we've seen. Decisional regeneration doesn't save you and baptismal regeneration doesn't save you. It's not by works. You can't do anything to get it. The thief on the cross cried out because God first did a work in him. You see? And he didn't climb down and get baptized. So our justification is not by any works. It is by faith in Christ. And that is more important for you to see and know and understand than maybe you know.

And I think pointing out our little Baptist culture and background might have helped you some. All right, number three. Justification is an imputed righteousness. Now I used that word earlier. Justification is an imputed righteousness. Now we need to see where this justification or this right standing with God comes from or how this is possible. I said earlier that a man must have an alien righteousness or righteousness outside of himself. He can't do anything to get it. So how does this happen? We need to see that a man or a person is justified.

He is declared by God not guilty before God because of Christ's righteousness that has been given or imparted to him. Philippians 3 verses 8 to 9. Write that down. We might come to that again in a little while. Depends on our time. Now what's taking place here with this imputed righteousness? Two things very basic here. First, we must see that God imputes our sin to Christ. This is a two-sided treasured coin, folks. We must see that God imputes our sin to Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 21 says that for our sake God made him, that's Christ, to be sin who knew no sin. You get that? God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin.

And in that one verse we see that the Father saw Jesus as if he committed all of the sins of all who would repent and believe. Not that Jesus sinned. Jesus did not sin. But in taking upon himself our sin, God the Father saw Jesus as if he had committed our sin. He was our substitute. He was our atoning sacrifice. He that's Christ took upon himself our sin. So God imputed. He gave our sin to Christ. Then the other side of this rare invaluable coin. Second, we must see that God imputes Christ's righteousness to us. Now when we say that God imputes Christ's righteousness to us, that means that he sees Christ's righteousness as belonging to us.

He sees it as it is credited to our account. In Romans 4 verses 4 to 6, Paul talks of one who does not work but trusts him, trusts Christ, who justifies the ungodly. His faith is reckoned in the verses. It is credited as righteousness. It is reckoned, it is credited to the sinner's account apart from his work. See? He can't do anything to get it. Now real brief, listen to how we see the teaching of imputation. Right now when your children are in here they would say amputation. No, not amputation, imputation. Listen to how we see the teaching of imputation in the scripture. First Adam in his sin and his guilt was imputed to all mankind.

I've taught you that. It's called original sin. Why do your little boys and girls sin? They inherited it. Guys, you can say they inherited it from the mother's side. They inherited it from both sides. You hear me? They got it from Adam. They got it from Eve. So Adam's sin was imputed to all mankind. Second, when Christ was on the cross man's sin was imputed to Christ. It was placed on Christ. And when God the Father looked at God the Son, he saw sin. Not that he had sinned. And God saw that sin as if it belonged to Christ, although he didn't sin.

And then third, in justification, when we're justified, Christ's perfect righteousness is freely given to those who believe by faith in Christ alone and by grace alone. Christ's righteousness is imputed. So within the doctrine of justification, we have this funny word, imputation, imputation, not amputation. It's a free gift. Christ's perfect righteousness is given to sinners who repent and believe in trust in Christ. Let me see the other side of the coin. Christ's righteousness is given to sinners who are regenerated of God. You see? Wayne Grudem describes the importance of this doctrine. I liked how he said it. This might help you really.

It's just layer after layer. And there's a lot more that we could say here. Let me read what he says talking about imputation, this work. It is essential to the heart of the gospel to insist that God declares us to be just or righteous, not on the basis of our actual condition of righteousness or holiness, but rather on the basis of Christ's perfect righteousness, which God thinks of as belonging to us. Why does he think it belongs to us? Because it's given. You see? Now an application. What is this theological discussion? This word, imputation, what does all that have to do with us? How do we apply that in our life?

Listen, if we are not depending on Christ's righteousness, then we're depending on some other righteousness. You see that in any other righteousness is a flawed righteousness. There's only one perfect righteousness. Only one. It's Christ's and listen, there are jillions of people on church pews that are depending on some other righteousness other than Christ's righteousness. And the fair season describes it was a flawed righteousness. Jesus called them whitewashed tombs or whitewashed sepulchers because inside they were dead. They didn't have Christ's righteousness. So my question for you is this.

Are you trusting in some other righteousness or righteousness that is greater than you are? And then number four, justification is a legal declaration. This will be shorter. Number four and five will be shorter. Justification is this legal declaration. Now I've already said that this word justified speaks of God himself declaring a sinner is not guilty and in right standing before God. You get that? God himself is declaring a sinner not guilty and in a right standing before him. In the scriptures justification speaks to a legal declaration by God. In the halls, in the courtroom of heaven, a legal declaration by God.

This speaks to how God declares the believer to be in a right standing before him. Now this does not speak to any change or transformation in the sinner. It's not experiential. This does not speak to any change in their nature or their character. This is only a change in their standing before God. Upon their justification, the sinner's status is instantly changed as one who is justified as opposed to the one who was condemned. It's a legal declaration. I'm going to give you a host of scriptures here. I'm just going to rattle them off. These would be good for you to go in and study and let this soak in. Romans 3, verses 20 to 28.

Romans 3, 20 to 28. Romans 4, 4 and 5. Romans chapter 4 verses 4 and 5. Romans 5 verse 1. The verse we've been reading, Galatians 2, 16. Then Galatians 3, 11. And then Galatians 3, 21 to 26. Galatians 3, 21 to 26. And then Galatians 4 verse 5. Now question, what are the grounds for this declaration? What are the grounds for this legal act by God? How can God do that? Christ. His perfect substitutionary death on the cross. He was the perfect atoning sacrifice. Listen, this work of God can only be done because of Christ. It was paid. The debt was paid. So therefore God can make this legal transaction and declaration. It's not experiential.

You understand? If you're nodding your head, yes, you probably don't because I'm still struggling to understand this. And I've been studying it for years. Number five, justification produces good works. This one is important more than you know. Justification produces good works. Now here is where we see, we get to this seeming contradiction. Okay. Here's where we can get to one of those things that stumps us because I'm telling you, if you read it at first face value, you're going to say, "Aha, I see a contradiction." Here's where I want you to turn to the book of James. James chapter 2 verse 21 to 26. James 2, 21 to 26.

James is going back to the patriarchs, some of the patriarchs, Abraham. James says, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works?" Oh, see the contradiction. "When he offered up Isaac, his son, on the altar." It almost seems like James is saying that Abraham earned justification by offering up his son. You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected and the scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham and Abraham believed God and it was reckoned or credited to him as righteousness." That's imputation folks.

"And he was called the friend of God." You see that a man, verse 24, is justified by works and not by faith alone. See the seeming contradiction? "And in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works?" See the contradiction, the seeming contradiction? "When she received the messengers who sent them out by another way." Seems like she's earning it there. "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, also faith without works is dead." Here James says that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. See the seeming contradiction here?

Now we got to ask this question, how can we rectify that we are justified by grace through faith alone while at the same time we are justified by works and not by faith alone? It almost seems like we've got a Paul versus James thing going on here. Let me pause here. This was so difficult for Martin Luther the reformer because when he discovered justification by grace and grace alone, see he was trying to earn his salvation. When he discovered justification by grace alone, faith alone, and Christ alone, he had a hard time with James. At times he even said he didn't even know if it should be in the Bible.

So how do we deal with this Paul versus James? James was not contradicting Paul. James is not saying that Abraham was saved by works. James does teach in chapter 1 verse 17 and 18 that salvation is a gift. James is saying that there are works which prove a person's claim to possess salvation by faith as they live before man. I'll give you a good resource if you're looking for a good commentary to buy. It's called the Believer's Bible Commentary by William McDonald. My wife uses it. I use it at times and I grab what he said because he really wraps a bow on it here. This is very practical and very accurate.

This helps us see what's happening here. So I'm reading and I'm quoting. This, what we're talking about in James, does not mean that he, Abraham, was justified by faith plus works. He was justified by faith, Godward, vertical. He was justified by faith, Godward, and by works, manward, horizontal. You see? And that's right. God justified him the moment he believed. Man says, show me the reality of your faith and the only way to do that is by works. You see, James is talking about manward horizontally. Paul is talking about upward vertically. You see?

So we see that justification is not as a result of works, but works are a result of justification. We say that again. Justification is not as a result of works, but you can't separate them because works are as a result of true justification. We are justified before God by faith and we are justified before man by our works. Did you know you've been doing that all your life? You look at people who say they know God and they live differently and you know what you do? You discount their justification. See? You do it all the time. But when someone lives for the Lord and they say they know God, their works justify them before your eyes. You see?

And we must see that we can't separate the two. Justification is a legal declaration and justification produces good works. Now, I'm going to wrap this up. I'm going to go back to our bookends. Remember the bookends of God's salvation plan for man? I've said this before. If you study on your own, you're going to see that other theologians put other things like adoption that we're not going to cover. We could cover, we could go years trying to cover it all. So we've got the bookends. We've got what God did in eternity past, that word election that makes certain people nervous and we got glorification.

It's the culmination of God's redemption plan. It's the final step. And there is one verse that speaks of the bookends and what we have covered. One verse and this is a verse you need to know. Romans 8.30. Romans 8 verse 30. Let me read the verse and I'm going to show you how it's the bookends and what we've covered. Paul says, "And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." So what do we see? Those whom he predestined. That's that mysterious elective work of God forever ago that we can't fully understand. That's what God did forever ago.

There's the bookend. So whom he predestined he also called. There's the regenerating work of God. God comes, God draws, God brings that person to that faith in Christ. There's that whole work of conversion where sometimes people just say, "God saved me." And then we see that those whom he called he justified. There's the legal declaration. God looks down and he says, "I see the righteousness of my son. They are in a right standing." And then those whom he justified he glorified. You see? So right there, right there, there are the bookends and this wonderful work, non-experiential work of justification.

I got one more thing I want to read and then we're going to look at our statement. We haven't read our paragraph or our statement yet. I want to read you what the Bible commentator, theologian John Murray says. He's talking about all of this, okay? Notice what he says. I will pause and make comments in the quote. So if you see it, this is how regeneration, what we've studied, repentance and faith is tied to justification, but it's different. Listen, regeneration is an act of God in us. All right? We're born of God, born of the spirit, an act of God in us. Justification is the judgment of God with respect to us.

And he goes on to say, "The distinction is like that of the distinction between the act of a surgeon and the act of a judge." He uses an illustration. The surgeon, when he removes an inward cancer, does something in us, something in us. See? That's what God does in regeneration, something in us. That's not what a judge does. He, the judge, gives a verdict regarding our judicial status. If we are innocent, he declares us accordingly. That's what God does in justification. He declares us innocent because of Christ. See? Maybe that helped you see it all. Now, the last thing we'll do, let's look at our paragraph.

I don't know why it just worked out for me this week to just read this at the end. Notice what we see. We believe that justification is the great gospel blessing. Isn't this a blessing, folks? That Christ bestows on those who believe in him, believing in him, that justification consists of a full pardon for sin, a full pardon for sin, and the promise of eternal life, that payment for man's sin was not waived. It wasn't put aside. But payment for sin was accomplished in Christ, that justification is bestowed upon any man in consideration of any works of righteousness, which that man has done. See? No James accuser here.

But solely due to Christ's redemptive work, his work of atonement on the cross, which is applied to the believer through faith in that finished work of Christ, that by grace through faith, God the Father freely imputes, gives the perfect righteousness of Christ to those who believe in him. And that justification brings those who believe into a state, a position of peace and favor with God and secures every other blessing needed for what time that's life and eternity. That's justification. What we teach and what we believe, you can summarize all of this by three phrases. It came right out of the heart of the Reformation.

You said justification did yes. We're justified by grace alone, by faith alone, through Christ alone. If you take any of the three out, one of the three out, you're off. We're justified by grace alone, by faith alone, and in Christ alone. That's justification. Let's do this. Let's pray. And I do want to mention a couple of prayer needs. Let's pray.