About this sermon
Romans 3:20-28 answers how a sinner can stand righteous before a holy God. This Reformation Day sermon explains that justification in this passage is a legal verdict. God, the judge in the courtroom of heaven, declares a person righteous, and that verdict stands outside the believer, distinct from the inner renewal of sanctification. It rejects three unbiblical views: legalism, which trusts in our own law-keeping; universalism, which expects God to save everyone; and the Roman Catholic teaching that God infuses grace into the soul so that the believer can merit justifying righteousness. Paul teaches instead that God gives his righteousness in Christ as a gift, which the sinner receives by faith apart from works of the law. Christ’s blood satisfied God’s wrath, so God remains just when he justifies believers, and all boasting falls away.
Sermon transcript
Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word, and you may notice that this evening we’re taking a brief detour from our study of the book of the prophet Isaiah to consider an important passage in the book of Romans dealing with the doctrine of justification. And one of the reasons for this is that you may know that we’re not too far from away from Reformation Day, so I thought it would be appropriate, especially during this time of year, to consider one of the significant and central doctrines of the Protestant Reformation. So, this evening I’ll be preaching from Romans 3 verses 28, you’ll find that on page 1128 in your Pew Bibles. I’m going to read, starting at verse 19 through the but our focus will be again on verses 20 through 28. Romans 3, beginning 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 stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. Although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be 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 of the one who has faith in Jesus. then what becomes of our boasting?
It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of His Word. Our sovereign Lord God, gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. It is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, a guide to our way, and we pray that as we approach this text of Holy Scripture this evening, we pray that Your Spirit would cause Your Word to find a lodging place in our souls.
We ask, O Lord, that You would grant that by Your Spirit This word, this gospel word, would be implanted within our souls in such a manner that it bears spiritual fruit in our lives. We ask that You would give me the grace, Lord, to, as it were, get out of the way so that the truth of this passage might come through, through the power of Your Spirit. and might impact each and every one of us. Lord, we pray that you would be present in the proclamation of your word this evening for our blessing and salvation. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. My sermon this evening is entitled By Faith Apart from Works, and the four key words to listen for this evening are the words justification, unbiblical, faith, and works.
What makes you a Protestant? Why are you a Protestant? Have you ever considered that question? Have you ever been asked that question? I’ve had occasion a number of times in the past to have a dialogue or a discussion with a Roman Catholic individual, and at times I have said, well, I’m a Protestant who is still protesting. But what is it that we are protesting? What is it, on a positive note, that we are affirming? There’s many things, a number of key doctrines that were reaffirmed in the Protestant Reformation, but one of those key doctrines is the doctrine of justification by faith without works. In other words, justification by faith alone. Dear ones, at the heart and center of the Protestant Reformation was this biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from works of the law.
The Latin term for this doctrine is sola fide. Sola fide simply means faith alone. This biblical Reformation doctrine of justification by faith alone is believed by Protestant Christians like us because we believe that it is clearly taught in the Word of God, the Bible. In other words, the Biblical Reformation doctrine of sola fide, faith alone, arises out of the Biblical Reformation truth of Scripture alone, sola scriptura, which is the truth that the Bible is the only infallible rule for Christian faith and Christian living. We have our creeds and confessions, but they are subordinate to the Word. They are under the Word, not over or equal to the Word. And one of the things that the Word of God teaches is this very doctrine of justification by faith alone. But what does this doctrine mean? Well, friends, the doctrine of justification by faith alone addresses a very particular question, and that is the question, how can a sinful man or woman, boy or girl, be accepted as righteous before a perfectly righteous, holy God?
In other words, how can we sinners, we who have missed the mark, we who have fallen short of the glory of God, we who in Adam are fallen and sinful and corrupt and who by our own fallen choices sin every day, in fact, every moment of every day by not loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, not loving our neighbor as ourselves, how can we sinners be justified before our perfectly righteous Holy Creator. Friends, I would assert that we would do well, even as Orthodox Presbyterians who love sound doctrine and are steeped in the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation, because those doctrines are themselves steeped in the scriptures, I would assert that we would do well to frequently review and study this doctrine of sola fide, justification by faith alone.
Why do I say that? Well, I say that first of all because in our sinful pride, it’s easy for us to forget it or to ignore it. And I say it also because in the contemporary Christian world, there is indeed widespread ignorance of this basic Bible doctrine. Dear friends, justification by faith alone is part of those Christianity 101 doctrines. It’s just as vital to our faith as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the incarnation of Christ, his atonement on the cross, his bodily resurrection. There is great ignorance of this doctrine in particular. To give an illustration of this, in his book entitled Putting Amazing Back Into Grace, the Reformed theologian Michael Horton recalls an experience that he once had at a non-denominational Christian high school. And just to let you know, this book is one of Dr.
Horton’s earlier books. I think it was written several decades ago. So it’s a little bit dated, but I think what he says back about the situation back then would be just as true, if not more so, today. And he writes about this following experience that he has. And I quote, he says, the Bible teacher, an old college friend, asked me to spend a day defending the Reformation position on grace. in six class periods with a total of 160 Christian high school students. Only one person raised her hand when I asked, how many here have ever heard the term justification? I mean, think about that. 160 Christian high school students, only one of them had heard of justification. Dr. Horton writes, out of the 160 Christian young people, only one person had even heard of, much less understood, the central tenet of the Protestant Reformation, and indeed of the gospel itself.
He says, when I explained the doctrine, hands shot up all over the place in each period. It was a radically new concept that they’d never heard before in all their years of Christian churches, camps, conferences, and youth groups, or in their homes. And if that was the case 20 or so years ago, no doubt that is still the case, if not more so today. But that raises the question, what is the meaning of justification? As we come to our passage for this evening, we read in the first verse of our passage, verse 20, Paul writes, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” Now, there’s many questions we could ask about this verse, and if you’re a perceptive Bible reader, a careful student of Scripture, when you come to passages that use this kind of verbiage, you need to ask a lot of good questions, like, what does Paul mean by works of the law?
What law is he talking about? What does he mean by the term justification? And in what sense does the law lead to the knowledge of sin? These are questions that we could spend whole sermons addressing. And in brief, the term works of the law is referring, this is referring to the Mosaic law, it’s referring to God’s law. And some would suggest that, well, he’s only talking about the ceremonial law here, but no, the context makes it clear that he’s talking about God’s law, all of it, and especially the law, the moral law of God, which reveals sin, which reveals that which is displeasing to God. When God says, thou shalt not steal, for example, he’s telling us of behavior and attitudes that we are to avoid. He’s describing sin and how that violates his holy standard.
But what, again, the central question is here, what does he mean by the term justification? And how is that term used in the scriptures? Well, like many words in our own language, the term justification has a range of semantic meaning. In other words, it can mean different things depending on the context. And so, for example, sometimes the scriptures use the term justification as a virtual synonym for vindication or for justness. In other words, context is key. For example, Romans 3, verse 4, in this very chapter, earlier in the chapter, Paul seems to use the term justification in this sense, because he talks about God being justified in Romans 3, verse 4, where Paul quotes from Psalm 51, 4, in order to show that the faithfulness of God is not undermined by the unbelief or the falsehood of man, as it says in Let me start at verse 3, “‘What if some were unfaithful?
Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written,’ and here’s where he quotes from Psalm 51 verse 4, and the Lord is being addressed by David in that context, that you, you God, may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. Clearly, God is justified in a sense of being vindicated. He is just in his judgments and in his declaration of his judgments. So sometimes, again, the term justification can mean vindication. But when the scriptures address the matter of man’s justification before God, it uses the term justification and justify in a legal forensic sense. And this will be very important, so take note of this. You see, in the context of our passage for this evening, when the Apostle Paul speaks of justification, he’s using that term in this particular context as a legal term which views God as a righteous judge, a judge who is deciding whether to justify or condemn an individual.
And so this picture that Paul is bringing to mind here in the context of this passage in Romans chapter 3 is the picture of a courtroom. It is as if Paul is describing God presiding in the courtroom of heaven. God is, so to speak, sitting behind the judge’s bench with the gavel in his hand, ready to pronounce his verdict. You say, well, what’s the evidence that Paul is using this term forensically, or in the sense of a courtroom? Again, look at the context. To see that the context of this passage is legal or forensic, consider, for example, verse 6. If you go to verse 5 and 6, he says, But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on man? He says, I speak in a human way.
He’s making an analogy with human proceedings. And then he goes on to say in verse 6, by no means, for then how could God do what? How could God judge the world? Again, God’s judgment is a legal reality in the ultimate sense, and so clearly the context that Paul is setting up here is a legal forensic context. We go on then to verse 7, but if through my lie God’s truth abounds to His glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come, as some people slanderously charge us with saying, their condemnation is just. Now, notice that word condemnation here in this passage. Clearly, this is legal forensic language, since in a legal setting, condemnation is the opposite of justification. When a judge can pronounce the verdict, there’s either two options.
You’re either guilty or not guilty. You’re either condemned or you’re justified. It’s a legal declaration. Now at this point, I would point out and remind us of the overall context of this passage. You see, in chapter 1, verse 18, all the way through chapter 3, verse 19, the Apostle Paul has labored in one unbroken argument. He has labored to show that all people have broken God’s moral law and thus have sinned against God, and therefore all people deserve God’s just sentence of condemnation. And this would even include the Jews, those to whom God had entrusted his oracles, the Old Testament scriptures. And this is why Paul writes what he does in verse 19, where he says, Whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
Back in chapter 1 and also chapter 2, Paul has made the point that Gentiles deserve condemnation because even though they don’t have the written code of the moral law of God, they have the effects of the law of God written on their hearts. They’ve been created in God’s image. They know God through his general revelation, through creation and conscience, but they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. But what about the Jews? Does the fact that God has entrusted his word to the Jews, does that protect them from condemnation? No. In fact, through the law comes knowledge of sin. The law actually condemns the lawless, the sinner, whether that sinner happens to be Gentile or Jewish. And so as Paul writes, we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that would include the Jews, so that every mouth may be stopped, not just the Gentile mouths, but even the Jewish mouths may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
And so the gavel of God has gone down in the courtroom of heaven. The gavel of God has gone down. The righteous judge of all the earth pronounces the sentence of condemnation upon fallen mankind in Adam. It is because of our sin and guilt, which leads to condemnation, that Paul concludes the matter with these words in verse 20, where he says, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Now, let’s again consider this analogy that Paul is making here, this courtroom analogy, if you will. You see, in a human court, as I mentioned, when a human judge justifies a person, does he make that person innocent or guilty? Obviously, he doesn’t make him guilty if he’s justified, but does he actually make that individual innocent?
No, that’s not the judge’s job. The judge does not get into the soul of the accused and then change that individual’s heart to make that individual innocent. No, he simply declares the justified person, the one whom he justifies, to be innocent in the eyes of the court. It’s a declaration. It’s an external legal declaration. He declares that person to be innocent of the crimes of which he is accused. Well, friends, in the same way, When God justifies a person, He declares that person to be legally innocent in His sight. And this is so key, this is so important. Your justification, Christian, and mine, is not something that happens inside our hearts. It’s not something that is part of the interior life of our soul. That’s sanctification, that’s regeneration, that’s inner renewal. and everyone whom God justifies, he also sanctifies.
But again, justification is outside of you. It takes place not within you, but in the courtroom of heaven. It is an objective, outside-of-you declaration. God in the courtroom of heaven, because of Christ, because of Christ’s atonement, and Christ imputing his righteousness to you by grace alone, through faith alone, God declares you to be just in his sight, not because you’re righteous in yourself, but because of Christ’s perfect, everlasting righteousness credited to you, received by simple God-given faith and faith alone. It’s a legal declaration. It’s not an inner renewal. But now that we hopefully understand what the word justification means and how it is used in Scripture when it’s speaking of our justification before God, hopefully having understood that this is a legal forensic term, the question then arises, well, how can God justify anybody in light of the fact that the Bible clearly states that all people have sinned and stand guilty before God and therefore are liable to God’s sentence of condemnation.
Well, before we answer that question and briefly see how the rest of our passage for this evening would answer that question, I think it’s important for us to consider some major errors when it comes to this matter of justification. So let us consider three unbiblical views of justification. Numerous unbiblical views of justification, but I want us to consider three that are very prominent today and have been very prominent throughout church history. One unbiblical view of justification is the view that we might describe as legalism. And legalism, as I’m using it here, is the belief that justification before God is the result of human attempts to obey God’s law. In other words, justification is by our works. And certainly, some would suggest, well, God’s grace may aid and assist us in performing those good works whereby we are declared righteous in the sight of God.
But nevertheless, our works can prevail. This view could also be called Pelagianism, named after the early church heretic Pelagius, who was opposed by the great defender of sovereign grace, Saint Augustine. Pelagius taught that, yeah, God’s grace can help, but ultimately if God tells you to obey, that means you have the power to obey, so you can obey and gain eternal life by your human attempts to obey God’s law. But friends, as this passage makes so clear, God’s word clearly rejects the method of legalism or works righteousness, as we see in verse 20 of our passage for today, where Paul says, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in the sight of God. Pelagius, don’t you get it? By works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
Friends, those who imagine that we sinners can be justified before God by our own good deeds, they do not understand or appreciate one of two truths. Either they don’t appreciate the absolute holiness of God, that God does not judge us on the basis of lowering his standard to meet our behavior. No, he does not grade on a curve. God grades, if you will, on the basis of his perfect standard, the standard of his holy character. And those who think that we can be saved by being good people, you know, I can get to heaven by being a good person. If you think that, then you don’t understand the infinite white-hot holiness of God. You don’t understand how perfectly just and righteous He is. Another thing that those who hold this view don’t understand is the utter depravity, the utter depravity and sinfulness of fallen man.
In other words, those who follow a legalistic approach to justification have too low a view of God and too high a view of themselves. And today, I’m afraid, and even in many professing Christian circles, even professedly Bible-believing Christian circles, there is a pop Pelagianism that has taken root and the understanding of the biblical view of justification by faith alone has been lost on the radar screen of many professing Christians today. So there is legalism which must be rejected according to our passage for today very clearly. Another false view of justification is the view of universalism. This is the belief that God will automatically or ultimately justify everybody in the end simply because he’s a loving God. This is a view very common in the liberal and modernist churches which say, well, you know, God is loving.
He would never judge anybody. Well, yes, God is loving. He’s a God of amazing grace, but He’s also a just and righteous God who cannot overlook our sin. He can’t just wink at our sin and pretend it’s not real. In his helpful book, Chosen by God, Dr. R.C. Sproul recalls a time when he once asked his young son the evangelism explosion question, the diagnostic question, which goes like this. If you were to die tonight and stand before God and he were to ask you why he should let you into his heaven, what would you say? You can see why that is a good evangelistic question to ask because the way a person answers that question shows what they’re relying upon for their salvation. Well, anyways, Dr. Sproul asks his young son this question. His son answered that question by saying, because I’m dead.
At this point in his life, Dr. Sproul’s son believed not in justification by faith, but in justification by death. And there are many others today, including many adults who are professing Christians who hold a similar view. It is the belief that in the end everybody will be saved, but of course, as you know, brothers and sisters, this view is clearly unscriptural. It’s even unscriptural on the basis of that very popular evangelistic text that is often appealed to in John chapter 3, verse 16 and following. For we read in John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. By the way, did you notice that even in John 3.16 we have limited atonement? God’s love for a lost and sinful world is expressed by giving his son to save everybody?
No. So that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. But it goes on to say, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but then you got to keep reading on. whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” And then he goes on to speak of the judgment of those who would reject Christ. And of course, we know that Universalism is false because Jesus himself makes it very clear that it is false in passages like John 14, verse 6, where Jesus says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
No one, no one comes to the Father, Jesus says, except through me. So legalism as a way of justification must be rejected. Universalism must be rejected. Not everybody will be saved. Not everybody will be justified in the end. But another very popular view is the view held by our Roman Catholic friends. I’ll call this view Romanism. And this is the belief that God infuses grace into the soul of a sinner, enabling that sinner to overcome sin and thus to merit justifying righteousness before God. This is the Roman Catholic position. Now, I want to make one thing very clear. It is important for us when we are dealing with our theological opponents, when we’re dealing with those who hold a view that we believe to be so strongly unbiblical, it’s very important for us not to strawman their views.
I’ve heard Protestant Christians say, oh, Roman Catholicism teaches salvation by works righteousness. You know, that’s not true. Might shock you to know that. If you read the official catechism and creeds of the Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism insists upon the necessity of divine grace for human salvation. They insist upon it. The Roman Catholic Church insists upon the absolute necessity of the death of Christ, the atonement of Christ, as the ground and basis of our salvation. And Roman Catholicism, in its official dogmas, insists on the absolute necessity of faith for justification. But here’s the thing. While Roman Catholicism insists upon divine grace as absolutely necessary for our justification, It’s not by grace alone. It’s by grace plus human cooperation with that grace through free will. It’s not faith alone, but faith plus spirit wrought works, works that, by God’s grace, merit justifying righteousness.
In other words, Roman Catholicism essentially confuses justification and sanctification. Remember I said justification takes place outside of us in the courtroom of heaven, whereas renewal and sanctification are works of God’s sanctifying grace. Well, the Catholic Church mixes those two together. So, for example, Part 3 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is entitled, Life in Christ. Article 2 of that section is on grace and justification. And Section 1992 of Article 2 says that justification, quote, conforms us to the righteousness of God who makes us inwardly just. by the power of His mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ and the gift of eternal life.” But should you notice, justification is something God does internally according to the Catholic Church. Section 1995 of the Catechism says, the Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life by giving birth to the, quote, inner man.
Justification entails the sanctification of his whole being. Justification is not simply a legal declaration according to Rome, it is an inner renewal, an inner sanctification enabling the faithful to merit eternal life. And this through their cooperation with Rome’s sacramental system and so forth. And so many more examples could be given. But friends, if legalism, universalism, and Romanism are false ways of justification, what then is the true way? Well, that brings me to my final point. And that is that God’s justifying righteousness is received by faith apart from works of the law. God’s justifying righteousness is received by faith apart from works of the law. We’ve learned that as sinners, we cannot obtain a righteous standing before God by our own attempts to keep God’s law, even if God, by his sanctifying grace, aids us in our attempts to obey.
And that’s bad news, because we’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But the good news of the gospel, the unvarnished biblical gospel, is that there is a justifying righteousness that is available to us sinners. And that justifying righteousness serves as our legal title to heaven. And that justifying righteousness is provided by God out of pure grace, and it is based upon the redemptive work of Christ and Christ alone. It is, as Paul describes it in verse 21, the righteousness of God apart from the law. This righteousness of God is the righteousness which Jesus Christ obtained on behalf of his elect through his sinless, obedient life, culminating in his atoning sacrifice for sin on the cross. And so we see just briefly as we go through, and we could spend a lot of time and many sermons on this passage, but just to kind of take us through on a whirlwind tour through this passage, verse 21.
Paul writes, but now, now in this point, at this point in redemptive history, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. This doctrine of justification by faith alone is not a New Testament doctrine. It was there in the Old Testament, but now it has been manifested in a much clearer way. And this righteousness of God is the righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. It’s not something that we attained by our own works. It’s a gift of God received by the empty hand of faith. Faith in Christ alone. And he goes on to say, for there’s no distinction, for all have sinned, not just the Gentiles but the Jews too, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified, how?
By their works, by their cooperation with God’s grace? No, they are justified by His grace as a gift. It’s not something you earn, it’s not something you deserve, it’s not even something you cooperate with, it is a pure gift of God. through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Jesus died not just to make us redeemable, he actually died to redeem his people, effectually redeem his people from their sins. And he goes on to say in verse 25 of Jesus that God put forward Christ’s redemptive work as a propitiation, a satisfaction to the wrath of God by his blood to be received by faith. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin, brothers and sisters on the cross, and we receive the benefits of that simply by trusting him, by receiving and resting upon him alone for our salvation, not by anything we do, not by anything we think, but by his mercy and his mercy alone.
And then he talks about how God was forbearing towards those whose sins He passed over in former times because in prospect of Christ was going to come and pay the penalty for those sins. Verse 26, 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. How can a just God justify a sinner? A just God can justify a sinner because of the righteousness of God in Christ, which is imputed to that sinner, received by faith alone. And then Paul asks this important question in verse 27. Then what becomes of our boasting? How can we boast that, oh, I’ve made a good choice, I’ve chosen for Christ, or I’ve, like the, Like the Pharisee in the story that was read earlier from Luke’s gospel, the Pharisee and the tax collector, the Pharisee says, well, Lord, I’m so good.
I fast twice a week. I’m not like these other, like this tax collector. I’m not an adulterer. I’m not a thief. Well, what does the tax collector do? He beats his breast. He says, woe to me. He says, be merciful to me, oh God. And who went home justified? The one who recognized his sin. Christ paid the penalty for our sin. He paid the penalty for the sins of all who, through sovereign grace, come to trust in him alone for their salvation. And that strips us from all boasting, You and I have no reason to boast. If you’ve chosen Christ and your neighbor has not, is that because you just are smarter and make better choices? No. It’s purely because of God’s mercy changing your heart and drawing you with the cords of love to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But then he goes on to say, Boasting is excluded, but by what kind of law? And here the term law is probably being used in the sense of what kind of principle? By a principle of works? No, but by the law or principle of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. This righteousness of God is the righteousness which Jesus Christ obtained on our behalf through his obedient life. and his death on the cross. So what are some of the final takeaways from all of this? Well, my friends, the biblical Protestant doctrine of faith alone glorifies God and it brings hope to the sinner because it offers and provides for sinners like me and like you the perfect everlasting righteousness that we need in order to stand justified before God.
It is our soul and only title to heaven. We don’t get into heaven by our good works, even by our good works done in a justified state. No, we get into heaven sola fide, by faith alone, just as we are justified by faith alone. Now, works will flow from that true faith. It is a living faith. Sanctification will occur as well. Everyone who is justified will also be sanctified. but it is Christ’s righteousness alone by which we are justified, His blood and righteousness alone. O sinner, there is full and free forgiveness through Christ’s blood offered to you and me in the gospel. There is a perfect robe of righteousness, Christ’s righteousness, which is offered to us in the gospel. Repent and trust in Him alone as your Lord and Savior, and by the grace of God, you will be justified.
The gavel of God will go down in the courtroom of heaven and he will declare you to be just in his sight because he sees you in Christ. So friends, let us rejoice in this glorious gospel truth of sola fide, faith alone, and let us as a church bear faithful testimony to this gospel message and seek to make it known to others. Amen. Let’s pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you for Your amazing grace, that grace that not only has chosen us in Christ from before the foundation of the world, that grace that not only moved You to send Your Son, Heavenly Father, to live for us, to die for our sins and rise again for our justification, but that grace by which we are justified, declared righteous in your sight, and adopted as your children.
We thank you for your amazing grace, and we would pray that you would help us to never let this good news go, but to bear faithful and clear witness to it. We ask these things, Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen.
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