If you have a Bible, go ahead and get it out and go with me to Romans Chapter Three. We’re going to continue our series through the book, and we are now in what we’re calling the second peak. There are five peaks in the Book of Romans and overarching narratives within that narrative. The first is condemnation. The second is what we’re in now, which is justification. The third is sanctification. Then you have illustration. Then you have application. And what’s important here is that we really get this down all the way from chapter three verse 21 through the end of chapter five. It’s very important you get this if people miss out on the fundamentals of justification, then they’ll never really understand how sanctification works, you’ll kind of conflate the two. You’ll think one is the other or the other is the one. And when you mess those up, you start really getting confused in your walk. And a lot of people are going to find a lot of freedom when we go through those three chapters, six, seven, and eight, but we have to lay the foundation of those so that’s what we’re doing. We’re still in the peak of justification. And so, the title of the sermon is “Justification: Why By Faith?” Now, several weeks ago, we went through a sermon and we were talking about justification. We’re going to have several of these that are going to be titled this way. And it was “Justification: A Divine, Forensic, Declaration.” You probably remember that if you were here, very foundational. This is as well. But when we say the title, we’re saying really what the third point is going to be, but I’m going to work my way to it. Okay? Why by faith? Now, if you’ve been saved over 10 minutes, you understand that salvation comes by grace through faith. I’m not expecting you to be hearing that for the first time but so often we miss why did God do it this way? Why is it by faith? I want you to have that question answered that will genuinely help when you get to chapters 6, 7, and 8, so many things will make more sense, and when you get to 9, 10, and 11, it takes away a lot of the objections that are that tend to come up. And so that’s what we’re doing. We’re understanding here this morning, what happened to you, if you’re a Christian, what happened to you when you were saved? Now you don’t get saved by understanding what’s happening to you. Okay, any more than a baby gets born by understanding how they’re born, right? There’s no baby who’s like, “Oh, it looks like it’s dilating. Guess we’re going to push now. Here we go!” No, you learn those things later, and those things are important to really have an identity. Where am I from? Where am I now? Where am I going? That’s what’s being established.
So, let’s look at the text, and we’re going to read Romans 3:20-28 and we’re going to derive from the text the fact that it is by faith. And then we’ll say why. Start verse 20, “For by works of the law (that’s the keeping of the Mosaic Law and all the ordinances of God) no human being will be justified in his sight (that’s in God’s sight), since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” Right? The law comes. It shows you that you’re broken but it doesn’t fix you. It only points out your flaws. It’s like a mirror. It can show you that you’re ugly but it won’t help you do your hair. That was aimed at the men, by the way, not the women. Keep the emails away from me. Verse 21 goes on, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.” Right? They pointed to its type, shadow, and narrative. What is it? Verse 22, “It is the righteousness of God (here it is) through faith…” There is a righteousness that comes from God which comes “…Through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, (we’ll see that here in a moment) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom (speaking of Christ) God put forward as a propitiation by his blood…” Propitiation is simply a theological term. It’s a biblical term but it’s a theological term meaning it’s the one that takes the wrath. It’s somebody that took something in your place, The wrath and the judgment and the punishment that you deserve. He propitiated that by taking that on the cross. “…God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be (what?) to be (here it is again) received by faith….” It’s always in there, “…Received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier…” In other words, He’s just. He’s going to keep the law His law. He’s not going to break it. He’s not even going to bend it. He’s going to punish sin. He’s just going to punish it either on the person or on the substitute. That’s Christ. He’s “…Just and the justifier of the one (here it is again) who has faith in Jesus.” Faith, faith, faith, faith. Faith we start learning is the mechanism by which God justifies. It goes through that mechanism. Roman 3:27-28, “Then what becomes of our boasting? (What do we get to brag about?) It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.” You’ll understand what the “law of faith” is by the end of this sermon if I’ve done my job and you’ve been listening. No, it’s not by works but it’s by the law of faith. And then finally, 28, “For we hold that one is (what? Again) justified by faith, apart from the works of the law.” Why faith?
Well, we want to take that in order but let me remind you of the definition of justification. It comes by faith. But here’s the definition. This is our working definition.
Justification: “The act of God whereby he declares the believing sinner righteous on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ.”
In other words, somehow He looks at Jesus and credits you so that when He looks at you in Christ, He sees Jesus, He sees His righteousness in you and the mechanism is by faith. Super important that we understand this.
So, I’m going to go through three points. The third one will be the germane question but I want to build to that so we’re all on the same page.
Here’s number one, faith defined.
1. Faith Defined
We need to define it. If we don’t define it, we’re going to make it up on our own, and that’s not a good idea. We want the Bible to teach us what faith actually means because there are teachers who are false all around the world who teach that faith is some kind of force that you use to manipulate God. And then, if you have enough of it, He’ll give you a jet. Or if you have enough of it, you’re guaranteed to be healed. Or if you have enough of it, you’re going to have great friends, or a brighter smile, or a, you know, a promotion at work, or a lot of money. So, all these things will happen if you just use your faith like it’s some kind of force. If you’ve been taught that, that is a false teaching. That’s not what faith is. Let’s define it. Here’s going to be the working definition. This is not authoritative, but it’s derived from scripture, and I’ll show you this here in a moment. Very simple, faith is this.
Faith: “The Supernatural Gift To Believe What God Says.”
That’s it. It’s supernatural, it’s from God. It’s a gift, He gives it to you. And what does it cause you to be able to do? To believe what He says. It’s that simple. It’s not anything more complicated than that. Say, where do you find that it’s a supernatural gift from God that causes you to believe what He says? Well, here’s some of the text. I think I left sixteen other verses related to this subpoint on the cutting room floor. You’re welcome. I know you want lunch eventually. Ephesians 2:8 is very familiar. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. (Look) And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Now some people will argue with this, and they’ll say, “No, no, faith is not the gift. Grace is the gift.” That’s ridiculous separating grace and faith. By grace through faith, that’s a combo deal. These are both the gifts of God. It is a gift. How do you know? Well, let me just say it to you this way. You can argue over Ephesians 2:8 or you can read the rest of the Bible, right? The Bible assumes we’re going to what? Read the whole thing. The Bible assumes you’re going to read the whole thing.
So, there are other places in the Bible that help us understand what the gift is here. Let me give you a couple of examples. This is really a checkmate right here. This is Hebrews 12:2a. Speaking about Jesus, “Looking to Jesus (that’s us) he is (what? Here’s the description of Jesus) he is the founder and perfecter of our faith…” He’s the “founder and the perfecter”. Now, this is the ESV. This is the English Standard Version. I don’t appreciate this translation in this instance. “Founder”. It’s a fine word. It’s not doing violence to it but every other translation that’s reputable, if you look at New American Standard, if you look at Legacy Standard Bible, LSB, even if you look at the King James. King James gets this right and uses this word, “Author”. “The author and finisher.” “Author”, that’s King James, or “Perfector”, that’s NASB. “The author and perfecter of our faith”. Let me ask you something. If I author something and you take credit for it, what is that? Plagiarism. It’s illegal. Okay? That is illegal. If we take credit for the faith that was given to us freely as a gift, we are plagiarizing. We are stealing glory from the one who is the author. He wrote it and He’s perfecting it. This is why Paul can say to the to the Philippians, right? And “I’m confident (he says) of this very thing, (what?) that He who began a good work in you (what is that? Faith) he will perform it or perfect it or complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Why? He’s perfecting and He’s completing what He authored. He’s finishing what He started. It is a gift. It is a supernatural gift from God Himself.
Now here’s a bit of a narrative. Here are two verses of a narrative, Jesus dealing with Peter. Thoughts we can say about that. But here’s one instance. Remember, Peter’s the big man of faith and power for the hour. He’s never going to fail. “All the others might run away but I’ll protect you, Lord.” And then he gets called Satan and some other stuff. It’s kind of funny people are like, “Yeah, he’s the first pope.” Judas was the first pope. Anyway, that’s for free. I guess we just broadcast that. Don’t clutch your pearls. Read it. Luke 22:31-32a. Jesus is saying this, “‘Simon, Simon, (He’s calling by his original name), behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.” That’s bad, right? Same thing he did with Judas. Right? They both ended up in some way betraying the Lord. He says, “Satan has demanded that he might sift you like wheat.” He wants to have you but watch this. “But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail…” What is He doing? He’s securing and ensuring and strengthening and completing, if you will, in some sense, the faith that He’s begun in Peter. He is the author. He is the finisher of the faith. Peter is not the author of the faith. You’re not the author of your faith. And if you were trained that way, you were wrongly discipled, and trust me, that’s messing you up in Romans 6, 7, and 8. It’s confusing the mind out of you in 9, 10, and 11. And it is disrupting you from applying all the rest. It really is because you’re taking credit for something that you did not do, and therefore you feel like you’ve got to complete it. You can’t. He does. It’s very important. It’s a supernatural gift.
In fact, look at the first man who ever had faith. If we now, I’m excising Noah, because what I’m going to look at is Abraham. Now there’s a reason for it because we call him Father Abraham, right? We call him the father of our faith. How many of you had to do Father Abraham at any point in time? You should be proud to hold your hand up. Would you mind doing it right now? Can we do it right now? Some of y’all would do it. It’s not that kind of party. But you remember, “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons. Father Abraham and I am one of them, and so are you. So, let’s just praise the Lord.” Right arm. You start doing this, and then you do some other things. And if you’re new to Christianity, don’t count that. That’s not in the Bible. They call him Father Abraham because he was the father of what we would call a formal faith where God says something and he formally believes it in Genesis 15. Watch! Just these two verses, Genesis 15:5-6 says, “And he (that’s God), brought him (that’s Abram) outside and said…” Now remember what the definition of faith is, right? Supernatural gift that allows you to what? Believe God in what He says. Take Him for His word in other words. He says, “‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them, then he said to him (God to Abram), So shall your offspring be.’” Now God has spoken. That is Pasa Graphe Theopneustos. That’s all scripture breathed out by God. God cannot speak non-authoritative. God cannot lie so He cannot deceive. He cannot not tell the truth. And He fully expects to be taken at His word. And it’s a gift when you can because look at the next verse, it says, “And he believed the Lord (he believed the Lord. That’s faith and God), and He counted it to him as (what?) righteousness.” Justification, counted him as righteous. You say, “How could he do that? Jesus wasn’t but crucified and raised yet.” Right! This was saved on credit. We’ve been saved on debit. It’s already in the account. That’s exactly how God saved people, by faith and repentance, and that’s what exactly was happening. He simply said, “I believe”. You say, “Well, maybe Abraham was just a great guy. He had some intrinsic value.” Listen to me. He was from the worst city of the worst nation on earth at the time. He was from a nation called Chaldean. He was from Chaldea. All right, we don’t have a nation comparable to it. I mean, we’re headed that way. But no, nothing that bad. And when you say Ur which was the capital, think Sodom, think Gomorrah, think the worst city doing the worst things you could possibly imagine. Think of child sacrifices put into fires, kids walking into flames, and being burned to death as sacrifices to these idols. That’s how bad it was. God calls him out of that and he goes where God tells him to go, and when He gives him a promise, this man from a wicked background, a wicked family, a wicked city, a wicked country, a wicked upbringing, a wicked education, wicked, wicked, wicked. He says what? “Yes, I believe.” That’s faith. That’s a gift. It’s a free gift. Abraham had the gift. Who gave him? God gave him that gift. Otherwise, Abraham would have been able to boast. He would have been able to go, “Well, you know, I just believed. I’m noble. I came out of Chaldea.” It’s like the exodus from California. You know, I came into the Promised Land. Some of you in here, I know my friends y’all are from California, like, “Oh man, it’s true.” Welcome to freedom.
What about Hebrews 11:1? It says this, “Now faith is (that’s a good definition I would say) the assurance of (what?) things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen.” So, it’s the assurance of what’s “hoped for” and “the conviction”. So, if you have hope and conviction, it’s based upon something. What’s it based upon? The fact that God made a promise, the fact that God said something, and then it goes through all these details of people in that chapter, who heard about God, heard God say, heard God did. They hear God and they do what? They do this, “Yes, I believe You.” That’s it. That’s it. Fact, Romans 10:17, very familiar with this, probably right? “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” The word comes and faith comes with it. That is a gift of God. It’s not in you. It’s not of yourself. That’s why you can’t just make faith up. That’s why you can’t just make someone have faith. You can share the gospel, you can preach the truth, you can speak the truth in love. You can encourage them, put your heart out in God’s hands, and trust Him. You can’t give them faith. Parents, you can’t save your kids. Do you know that? God has to do that. And if that’s news to you, I’m breaking it to you. That’s why we pray for our kids. We don’t pray to our kids. God saves. He’s the one that gives faith. It is a supernatural gift from God for you to believe what He says.
Here’s the second point, what is God’s response?
2. God’s Response To Faith
It’s not really a question but it’s a statement. God’s response to faith. Did you know God has a response to faith? The response is this, it’s very simple. When God sees the faith, this is saving faith, by the way. Remember, we’re not talking about your ongoing growth and walking in the Lord. That’ll come in later chapters, that’ll come in six, seven, and eight. Right now we’re talking about justification. We’re talking about what happened to you, okay? What happened to you when you were born again, and if you hadn’t happened yet, we’re praying it does happen. You actually hear the truth. So, what actually happened? God sees the faith that He gave. He sees the sinner have faith. He trusts His Savior, he repents of his sins, and he runs after the Savior. That’s conversion. That’s later in the ordo salutis. Forget I said that. We’ll edit that out. But it’s part of it. And it’s key that you understand this so you can see what happened to you. And when God sees that faith, what He does is what the Reformers call the divine exchange. He takes your sin and puts it on Jesus Christ. You say, “But that already happened.” That’s right, it was in the decree of God, but He put that sin on Jesus, and then what does He do? That’s called expiation by the way. And then what does He do? He puts the righteousness that Christ had on you. That’s the divine exchange. Your filth went on Him, and His righteous robes go on you. That’s the best deal ever. And so, expiation and imputation are the two words.
Here Imma draw something for you. You’re welcome in advance. So, this is a blank slide here. And let me just I’m going to make two circles, and I get nervous when I draw. So, this circle is mankind. This is every human being. And here is Jesus. This is the finished work that he did on the cross. Okay? Now the problem with mankind is he has all these deficits and defects before his Creator. These are all sins. And it’s not just the itemization of sins but it’s the fact that he is sinful inside. He does the sins because he’s a sinner, and so he’s covered in sin, and when God sees man in his sin, He does what He always does. He has wrath toward it. That doesn’t mean He’s poured it out yet, but that’s what sin calls for. But Jesus. 33 years of perfect law-keeping, never broke one law, not one ordinance of God, not through commission, not through omission. And He was born, conceived in the womb by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, therefore, no original sin from a forefather like we have from Adam. So, when He goes to the cross, He doesn’t just go to the cross as a normal human being, He goes to the cross with credits perfect fulfillment of righteousness. I realize that the illustration breaks down because this is just a word picture. Right, I want you to see this though, He has all the credit of righteousness that causes Him to be acceptable to God. So, when God looks at man, He says what? “All have sinned and fallen short of My glory.” When God looks at His Son, He says what? “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” That means He has active righteousness just as we have active unrighteousness. But when a man has faith which is a gift from God to believe what He says. He hears the gospel, the proclamation of the truth that God has given a sacrifice for sin, and that sacrifice is His Son, and He’s the only refuge, the only shelter, the only scapegoat, the only Lamb of God who takes away the sin. He hears that message and in his heart says this, “Yes, I believe it.” You find yourself believing it. It’s not because the preacher’s eloquent. It’s not because I yell at you enough although I like it. No, it’s a supernatural work that the Holy Spirit does. He goes to work on the heart. And when that happens, the great exchange takes place.
Let me get that next slide, please. Let’s redraw this. And what happens is the exchange takes place from the cross to the man, whereby the sin is expiated and put on the Lamb, put on Jesus Christ, a picture of the scapegoat, laying their hands on, sending him away, a picture of the Lamb. The sin goes on Him, and also the righteousness from the Lamb goes on the man. So, Jesus bears the sin while we get the righteousness. That’s the great exchange. That’s God’s response to faith. And when He does that, He looks and He says this, “Justified, justified.”
So, let’s pick those apart, A and B. Expiation, imputation. We’ll do it quickly. Here’s a couple of verses for each.
A. Expiation
I mean hundreds of places we can go from. Here’s Isaiah 53:5-6, speaking of Jesus, speaking of Messiah that would come, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” It goes on Him. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned- every one- to his own way; and the Lord has (what?) laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Those minuses went on Christ. If you’re in Him, your sins been removed. And that’s how. Someone bore it. That’s why He’s not just giving you a free pardon. The price was paid. Paid in full. “It is finished.” Jesus said. That’s what He meant. Here’s another place, 2 Corinthians 5:21, this is we use this verse all the time. Why? Because it points to both. It shows us expiation and imputation. Look at this, “For our sake, he (that’s God the Father) made him (that’s Jesus, the Son) to be sin…” Not just to bear it but to be sin. That means, when God looked at Him bearing the sins of His people, He treated Him as sin. He treated Him as a curse and cursed Him with wrath. Yes, that’s what happened. He took what you and I deserve, “…He made him to be sin who knew no sin (that’s expiation), so that in him we might become (what?) the righteousness of God (that’s imputation).” You’re seeing them both in that one, Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law (how did He do it?) by becoming a curse for us- for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” He became a curse for me. He became a curse for you, Christian. That means when God saw your sin on Christ, He cursed it as He would you on the Day of Judgment. It’s already happened. The Son bore it. He suffered and He died. He carried the full weight of it but because He was sinless, the grave couldn’t hold Him, and after making atonement, He was raised from the dead. Grave couldn’t hold Him. Death had no claim on Him. The devil had no power over Him. And so, He rose. So, we have a risen Savior who took our sin. But not only that, He imputed His righteousness.
B. Imputation.
This is Imputation, God’s response. You don’t just come back to neutral, guys. You don’t just come back to, “Oh, you know, okay, He took your sin, now you better get on it.” I mean that’s how I was raised. I was raised in the Catholic Church. Jesus did His part, now you better get on the stick because you got your deal to do and if you don’t do enough, you may not go to hell but you’re going to go to purgatory. And I don’t think enough people like me enough to pray me out of there. Right? No, it’s not. You don’t begin to work for your own righteousness. You stand in righteous robes, which He gives you, He imputes it to you. Romans 3:21-22 again, “But now the righteousness of God (that’s the righteousness from God), has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe, there is no distinction.” You see? It’s a righteousness that’s given to you, active righteousness. Romans 5:19 says it great. It says this, “For as by the one man’s disobedience (who’s this? This is Adam) for by the one man’s disobedience (that’s our forefather, Adam, Genesis three) the many were made sinners (many in the term of the all), so by the one man’s obedience (this is Jesus) the many will be made (what?) righteous.” Not neutral, not innocent. Adam and Eve were innocent. They weren’t righteous. They did not have active righteousness. Now, Christian, has had that imputed to them. That’s the good news. That’s the divine exchange. We know what faith is. We know what God’s response is to it.
Now let’s ask the question in point three,
3. Why “By Faith”?
Why Faith? What’s so big a deal? Why is it by faith? Why isn’t it like salvation is by grace through love? I mean, God’s into love, isn’t He? Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13 “Now abides faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love.” Why didn’t he say the greatest is faith? Why is it by faith? Why doesn’t God just look at people and go, “Oh you’re loving, you’re kind, you’re sincere, I’ll save you, I’ll respond to that, I’ll expiate your sin and I’ll impute to you the righteousness of my Son.” Why doesn’t it work that way? I want you to understand that. I want you to really, really catch this. Genesis chapter three. Let’s look at the origin of it. Must have it been something I said. Genesis 3:4-6, you remember this? This is the fall. This is where it all happens. And you’re going to see what needs to be corrected in the sense of being the polar opposite of this. “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.’” Right? God said to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you won’t eat because, in the day you eat thereof, you will surely die. The serpent comes along. He says, “Oh, did God say you couldn’t touch it?” She’s like, “Oh, no, we can’t eat of that, or touch it or something.” You know, “You can’t eat of that”, right? He says, “You won’t surely die.” Now watch the lie. Here it comes. It’s not just that. It’s this. He goes on, the serpent says, “‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened (eyes opened), and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” You are going to get something. If you’ll disobey Him, you’re going to get something. You’ll be like Him apart from Him. In other words, you don’t need Him. What you need is for you to self-actualize. What you need is for you to realize your true potential. What you need to do is realize how awesome you are, how wonderful you are, and now you can live your best life right now, Eve. Devil’s been writing the same book ever since. You’ll be just like God. You’ll know the difference between good and evil. And here’s what she does, I want you to see it through these lenses. It’s the exact opposite of faith, isn’t it? It sure is. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes (it looked like something that was appealing but watch this), and that the tree was desired to make one wise…” That’s not bad to want to be wise, is it? No! But what wisdom is she talking about? What wisdom is the Bible telling us about? It’s not just wisdom in a neutral sense. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is a wisdom that’s actually demonic. She wanted the wisdom where she could say, “God, I’m just like You. In other words, God, I’m just like You, and I don’t need You. I’m now my own God. My eyes are open. I don’t need Your law. I don’t need Your restrictions. And in breaking them, I found real freedom, and I’d actually realized who I am and how wonderful it could be without You. Without You.” Listen to me, here’s the sin. This is the sin. The original sin was not an apple. The original sin was autonomy.
Autonomy. Autonomy. Autonomous means by yourself alone, needing no other, self-existent. You don’t need anything. That you have some kind of aseity is the theological term. That you’re able to exist and even thrive without the One who made you. This was the sin. “I won’t need Him. I’ll be like Him.” This was it. So “…She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” This is prideful autonomy and it is the polar opposite, listen, of humble trust. What does faith say? Faith says this. Faith says this, “Yes.” God says, “You are guilty. You’ve broken My law.” Faith says this, “Yes, yup, I confess.” That’s a true confession. In the biblical term means to say the same thing. Homologos is the Greek word. “Yes, I’ve broken Your law.” And then God says through the scripture, what does He say? “I gave My Son for you.” “You gave Your Son for me.” He took your payment. “He took what I deserve. He took the payment for my sin.” He took your payment. Repent of your sin. “I’ll repent of my sin.” Trust in Christ. “I’ll trust Him.” That’s faith. That’s the polar opposite of prideful autonomy. Prideful autonomy says this, “I will do it myself.” And there are people in supposed Christian churches, and they got crosses on the ceiling and on the building, and maybe they’ve even got a Bible and a hymnal, and they’re sitting in the pews this morning learning how to please God on their own merits so that God will accept them and love them and bless them. And I don’t mean walking in holiness. That’s a good thing. I’m talking about earning a righteousness that you don’t currently have. That’s impossible. That is autonomy. That’s still you doing it. You’ve just dressed it up and added some Jesus. True faith says this, “I can’t do it but You did.” That’s what true faith says.
Romans 3:26-27, “It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Look) Then what becomes of our boasting? (Go to verse 27, oh here it is, our boasting, what becomes of it?) It is excluded…” There’s no brag in it. That’s why people fight it. That’s why people hate it. That’s why people struggle with true faith because you don’t get to brag when it’s over. You don’t find yourself believing the gospel for no reason, sitting in some church, some guy’s either whispering to you, yelling at you, or a song that’s going on, or you’re seeing gospel presented sometimes, or you’re at somebody’s kitchen table, you find yourself believing, and immediately, what happens is you’re given a new heart. God has expiated your sin. He’s imputed righteousness to you. It is immediate. It’s not a process. That’s sanctification and we’ll get there in three years. Why did you laugh? This is immediate. And the problem with humanly speaking is you don’t get to brag about it. You don’t get to show up and feel like you’re better than somebody. You don’t get to look down your nose at those that are still lost. No, they’re not the enemy. They’re the mission field. Right? It’s true. Now things they do might make you sick, I get it. We’re in this boat together. My gosh, man, I didn’t save me. And if you think you saved you, you got an arrogance problem. That’s autonomy. You’re saying, “Well, God did His part, but then, I mean, I brought faith to the table.” It’s like the old teaching that says, “You know you were you were dying in your sin. Salvation is like a man in the ocean, and he’s treading water, and eventually, he’s going to drown. And Jesus comes along in a boat, and He throws you the rope, and your faith is what you reach out, you grab that rope, and you say, ‘Yes, Jesus,’ and you slip up your hand or fill out this card, and He pulls you into the boat.” That’s nonsense. The truth of that picture would be you are dead and bloated and stinking and waterlogged, dead at the bottom of the ocean. No one can see you. You are lower than whale feces. I can get away with that, right? And Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, the gospel comes to you, He dives down by the power of His Spirit, He breathes new life into you, stands you up, brings you into a new kingdom, and there you are saved. How silly would it be for that person rescued from death to get into the boat and be like, “Sweet. I never gave up. I did it. Alright, high five.” There’s no high-five section in heaven. No, nobody’s boasting in heaven because, in heaven, we have the open Revelation. There is no more boasting to be had. We need it here. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you’ve been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, (look) so that (that’s the reason. There’s the reason) so that no one may boast.” No one can stand in prideful autonomy that’s been going on in humankind since Genesis chapter three. It’s the essence that He fights against and faith is the solution. That’s why it’s by faith. That really is. That’s why it’s by faith because it’s the opposite of pride when you realize He did all the work.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 says it this way. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this (you can brag in this) that he understands and knows me (whoo), that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.’” You can boast in knowing Him when you realize you didn’t find Him, He found you. Romans 4:2-3, “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about…” We already saw how he was justified. He just believed the Lord. “…But not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was (what?) counted to him as righteousness.’” He saw faith. It was no longer a prideful autonomy. He recognized his sin. He had to have. And when God says, “I’m going to do this”, he just says, “Yes, I believe You.”
Here’s your resume, Christian, 1 Corinthians 1:27-31, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being would boast in the presence of God.” Preachers who strut are in danger of lightning. When every story’s about the minister, when every story’s about the counselor, when you’re always posed to be the hero. There’s one hero. There’s one hero and when He pulled you out of the trash, it wasn’t because you did something good, it was in spite of you. It goes on in 30-31, it says, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus (not because of you, because of Him), who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness (there it is) and sanctification and redemption.” We’ll get to those others in Romans too. “So that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” We saw that in Jeremiah. In fact, Galatians 6:14 says it this way, “But be it far from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” True faith is a humble attitude. It’s a gift from God because it simply says this, “I can’t, You never said I could. You did. You promised that You would. And so I hope in You. I trust in You.” And there’s no brag left about that.
Romans 4:16a. “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace…” That’s God’s unmerited favor. That’s you getting what you don’t deserve. You did not earn it. If you don’t nail this down, you’re going to go into 6, 7, and 8 in Romans with a misunderstanding, and you’re going to get it wrong. Your hermeneutic will be broke. That means your basic lens by which you interpret the scriptures. By the time you’re done with Chapter Five in Romans, you need to be like this, “He saved me. I really don’t know why except for His glory. It wasn’t something in me. I can guarantee you that.” Christian, if that’s your heart, you are maturing. That’s a mature attitude. An immature attitude is this, “Well, I mean, I had a lot, you know. I mean, He was very, I mean, I had some musical ability, you know, He needed these kind of people like me.” When you say that, what we actually see is you’re in a big diaper and you have a bow on your head and a binky in your mouth, and you’re carrying your banky. You’ll grow out of that with sound doctrine. But let me just tell you this, if you never do, you won’t have that attitude in heaven. There’s no boasting.
People say, “Well, there are rewards.” There are. There are crowns. There are seven different crowns in Scripture that Jesus will award. I want to show you what they’re for and then I’ll close. Revelations 4:9-11. This is a picture of worship in heaven. This is your future, Christian. “And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne (by the way, that’s not me, and it’s not you), who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne…” That is a picture of saying, “All of my glory, all of my praise, any credit I will ever have there! I don’t deserve it. This is from You through You and to You, it’s all things. To You be the glory.” “…They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will, they existed and were created.’” That’s the polar opposite of self-willed, prideful autonomy. And that’s why justification is by faith, and the more we sit under that, the more gratitude will roll out of our hearts for the One who gifted us and saved us with the gift of His own Son.
SPEAKER
Steve LeBlanc
KEYWORDS
Gospel, Justification, Justify, Conversion, Condemnation, Sanctification, Illustration, Application, Faith, God, Propitiation, Wrath, Righteousness, Active Righteousness, Ordo Salutis, Salvation, Aseity, Orginal Sin, Jesus, Pasa Graphe Theopneustos, Expiation, Supernatural gift, Law, Imputation, Divine Exchange, Pride, Humility, Autonomy, Confession, Homologos, Romans, Audio Sermon, Church