Well, we can turn again to Romans 3 verse 21. Our sermon this evening is more topical than an exposition of any one passage, but Romans speaks of this great subject of justification. That's its theme, and perhaps the central verse And maybe even in the whole book as chapter three, verse 21, where it tells us that now the righteousness of God, after speaking of the unrighteousness of man, now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. All scripture truth is important. The Bible tells us, Paul tells us when he writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3.16, that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. All Scripture truth is important, but there is no truth that is more important in scripture than the answer to this question. How can a man be just with God? How can we be right or righteous with God? And in fact, the question is more problematic for us than even that. Because the real question is actually how can sinful man be right or just with God? How can unrighteous man be right with God? You see, the real problem is it's not just that we are undeserving. of good. The problem is that we are deserving of damnation. It's not just that we are unworthy, it's that we are worthy to go to hell. And we have just looked for several Lord's Days, as we work our way through these doctrines in the Creed, of some of the things that will most certainly happen at the end. There will be, unless Christ comes first, there will be the time of our death. It is appointed unto man once to die. After this, there will be the resurrection of The dead. The time when the dead bodies rise from out of the graves and unite again with their souls. And there's a resurrection of damnation, and there's a resurrection of life. That will certainly happen. And then after that, there will certainly be the judgment. It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, by appointment, the judgment." So there is no greater question. How can I, a sinful, hell-deserving sinner, how can I be right with God? How can I be in a state of peace before him? How can I be just? Now this question is bound up with concerns the biblical doctrine of justification. This was the doctrine that was recovered at the time of the Reformation. It's the doctrine of which Martin Luther said in his commentary on Psalm 130 verse four, that this is the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls. Calvin in a similar way said that this doctrine is the main hinge upon which our religion turns. In other words, they are saying that if we make a mistake here, the whole thing comes crashing down. This is not something of which Paul would say, if you are otherwise minded, God will in time reveal it unto you. This is not, in other words, one of those secondary issues. There is no more vital issue than this one. J. I. Parker writes about revival, that every revival includes a revival of this doctrine. And so as we desire revival, we desire a revival of this doctrine. Those of you who were here in the adult Sunday school this morning will remember our brother is speaking about how some had come and said that this study on this doctrine changed their whole life. Other people could see it. And as some people listened to it, they were saying in their faces, tell us more. And that is exactly what the Gentiles had said all the way back in Acts 13. When Paul is preaching of Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was crucified and the wickedness of crucifying the Lord of glory, he says unto you, through this man, through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. And the Gentiles, immediately after Acts 13, 42, when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Tell us more. Tell us more about this glorious subject. That's the question that Lord's Day 23 and Lord's Day 24 is asking and answering. And over the next five or six Lord's Days, we hope to look at this doctrine of justification by faith alone. And this doctrine is so important. And it would be good, especially for the young here who have minds that are capable of this, it would be good for you to take this question, maybe the whole of Lord's Day 23 and 24, but at least this question, question 60, how are you righteous before God? And seek to commit it to memory. In the theological education committee of our church, when you go for examination, They examine you in the whole of the Heidelberg Catechism, but there's about four questions that they really zero in on. Questions they want you to memorize. Lord, stay one. What is thy only comfort in life and in death? And this question's another. How art thou righteous before God? So why not commit it to memory? And while you're doing that, and if you have this capacity, why not try to memorize Romans 3, 21 through 26? These verses that get to the very core of this great subject of justification. And I trust that if you can and if you're able, that that will be a source of real blessing to you as we go through these Lord's days. But this evening, This evening, my sole purpose and my sole aim is to seek to persuade you, whether it's for the first time or again, of how vitally important this subject, this doctrine is, that we understand it, that we believe it, how vitally important it is that we be in a right state with God. Question 59 in Lord's Day 23 asks, but what does it profit you now that you believe all this? All this doctrine, this great salvation that there is, this triune salvation, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, what profit is it? What value do you place upon it? And there is great profit. There is eternal profit if you come to know assuredly that your soul is in a right state with God. So we need to apply ourselves like we heard this morning. We have to put our mind to this. And that's partly why I'm seeking simply to persuade you of the importance of this, that you would not see this as either something that's way too complicated for you. My aim, my effort will be to make it as simple as I possibly can. But you need to apply your minds as do I. And I trust that when we underscore the great importance of this subject in life and in death, that you will realize that nothing is more relevant, nothing is more practical than this. So why is this doctrine of justification so important? I hope to give here five reasons, and no doubt there are more, but here are five reasons why this doctrine is so critically important. Firstly, It is important because this doctrine is the central message of the whole Bible. It is the central message of the whole Bible. That chapter that we quoted from Acts 13, when Peter, or Paul rather, is speaking to the Jews and then the Gentiles, that chapter, Paul writes in verse 26, unto you is the word of this salvation sent. It's as though he takes the whole Bible and he says, this is the way I would describe this whole Bible. It is the word of salvation. And it is sent to you. This is what is at the heart, this is what is at the core of this book, of this gospel, of this message. This question is right at the heart of this Bible. How can a man be right with God? And it was all the way back with Adam and Eve. After they fell into sin. After they plunged themselves and their posterity into sin and misery. And they knew that they were naked. And they knew that they were far off from God. And they had this sense of guilt. Yet what was the message? What was the word that came to them? There is a sacrifice. God clothes them. with the skins of an animal, speaking of a death, and speaking of a clothing. This is the word of salvation. This is the message of a free justification. Moses, when he writes at the Exodus, how can we be free from the bondage, the strong Egyptian bondage of death, How can we be brought from under the tyranny of Pharaoh through the blood of a sacrifice sprinkled upon your doorpost and upon your lintel and through this passageway through the Red Sea, through this exodus? It's a word of salvation. And Leviticus goes on and speaks of the, yes, the holiness of God, yes, of the evil and the heinous nature of sin, but of the sacrifices and all these different sacrifices that we have there speaking of how your sin of ignorance can be cleansed, and how this kind of sin of uncleanness can be cleansed, and this sin and that sin, and all these kinds of sin. There's a sacrifice for each one. But the message speaking of one sacrifice for sins forever that would do what these sacrifices could only picture, it's a word of salvation that is sent. And you go on and David sings about it. Justification. How blessed is he whose trespass is freely been forgiven, whose sin is wholly covered before the sight of heaven. Blessed he to whom Jehovah imputeth not his sin, who hath a guileless spirit, whose heart is true within. This is the message of justification of salvation. Isaiah speaks of how we are like sheep who have gone astray of our transgression, of our sin, of our iniquity, but speaks of how these sins, transgressions, iniquities are laid upon the substitute servant who suffers and who bears the sin of many. And speaks, Isaiah does, of how the wicked man can have mercy. speaks of how God will abundantly pardon The unrighteous man. What is this but the message of a free justification? And on into the New Testament, it's the same message. John the Baptist saying, behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And Jesus himself saying, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And on you go and through the Acts of the Apostles and there's Peter and Pentecost and he's saying, you did the most wicked thing imaginable. You crucified the Lord of glory. But he says there, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. A free justification. A free pardon. And Paul goes on, and you can read his epistles, Galatians and Corinthians, and it's all there. Read Romans, and this is his great theme. Chapters 1 through 4, he describes the need for justification. He describes what justification is in chapters 1 to 4, and then from 5 onwards, he, as it were, impacts the fruit, the result, the effects of justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, he begins in chapter 5 verse 1. We have peace with God. And on and on he goes. To you, my dear friends here this evening, is the word of this salvation sent. This message is so vitally important because it is the central message of this Bible. It's not the only message, but it is the central message. The glory of God, the good of man are at stake. So let us ask, what place does this doctrine, what place does this salvation in Jesus Christ have in your own heart? Where do you factor it into your lives? Where is it? Come on, be honest. Where is it in your life? Is it central? Is it right at the heartbeat? Is it the thing you absolutely need? Or is it somewhere out there in the periphery? Well, I hear about it, I think about it from time to time, but it's out there and I want something else now. Do you want to hear more about this doctrine or do you want to hear less? Do you say like the Gentiles in Acts 13, tell us the same things, tell us more about this. Do you hear about a five, six part sermon on justification and think, what is going on? Or do you say, yes, that's what I need because this is the great question that my immortal soul must have answered. Where is it? How does it factor in your life? It is so important because it's the central message of the scriptures. It's so important because of the neglect, secondly, and the distortion of this doctrine today. Because of its neglect and its distortion. You would think that this message that runs from Genesis to Revelation, this message that is the throb and the heartbeat of this Bible, you would think that this message would be spoken and preached about often and thought about often and asked questions about often. As we heard this morning, thousands upon thousands of people in churches have never heard this. They've heard how they can live a good and a prosperous and a fulfilled life. They've heard how they can live at peace with themselves and their inner being and how they can live at peace with others. But, how can a man be right with God? How can I be right with God if not heard? Calvin in one of his letters writes, whatever the knowledge of this is taken away justification, the glory of Christ is extinguished. Religion is abolished, the church is destroyed, and the hope of salvation utterly overthrown. If we lose this doctrine, we may as well pack our bags and go home and never come here again. There's people in churches who have never heard about this. There's people in churches who have confused ideas about this. Maybe you're here yourself and you think, you know, if you came to me and you asked me, what is a justification? Or you asked me to put in my own words, how can I be right or righteous with God? I would struggle to really know what to say. You go into the streets, you find professing Christians, find a hundred professing Christians. on the streets of Grand Rapids and ask them, what is justification? How can you be right with God? And you may end up with a hundred different answers. We live in this age of profound spiritual ignorance and haziness and confusion. If Luther is right, if Calvin is right, then if we don't know this doctrine, Our church has fallen, and so have we. It's a neglected, it's a distorted doctrine because it's not heard, there's confused ideas, also because it's attacked. And it's no wonder this doctrine has been attacked more than any other doctrine in church history. It's no wonder that even today there are many so-called New Testament scholars who are attacking this doctrine. They're coming and they're saying, Calvin got it wrong. Luther got it wrong. Paul's not speaking about this legal standing. He's not speaking as though you're in a courtroom. When he speaks of justification, he's speaking about being in the community. of the covenant. He's speaking about the way in which your lives can be transformed. That's what Paul was speaking about, not this idea of sin and righteousness and judgment. And there's a large number, as we said, of scholars who use language that sounds orthodox, but it's spiritual poison from the pit of hell. There was a movement recently here in America called Evangelicals and Catholics Together, and they were saying that we've had a misunderstanding all this time. We have actually agreed, at least in substance, this whole time. It was probably just semantics. And so they've changed their words, and they've used evangelical language that if you're not careful, you might actually agree with, and yet it's still error. It hasn't changed. as we'll seek to see in this study. So it's important because it's the central message of the whole scripture. It's important because of its neglect and its distortion. It's important thirdly because many of us are not absolutely convinced of our need of it. We're not absolutely convinced of our need of it. To be honest, If you're here and you are unconverted, you would not sleep tonight. You wouldn't go down on your pillow and sleep. If you had this question in your mind, how do I know I'm going to wake up? And how do I know that if I don't wake up, I will go to meet God without this question answered in my own conscience. Am I right with God? If you were convinced of your absolute need of this question and this doctrine, you would get on your knees and you would beg the Lord and you wouldn't get off them until you had this question answered. Jesus says in Mark 2.17, those who are whole don't need a physician, but those who are sick. I didn't come to call the righteous people, but sinners to repentance. The world around us, if you ask them this question, how can you be right with God? Many of them would say to us, I don't care. I simply don't care. God forbid that any of you would say that or think that. People look at you as though you've come from a different planet. I heard our brother witnessing to a Muslim with his friend and speaking about Jesus and how He is the Son of God, how He is the only Savior. And at the end of the hour, the Muslims said, well, that's for you then. It doesn't interest me. And one of them said, no, it does. Because the Bible says in John 8 that if you believe in Jesus, you have life. But if you don't believe in him, you're condemned already. This does interest you. This is relevant. But what about ourselves? You know, you think of, say here in Grand Rapids, we have some of the best medical equipment in the whole world. Maybe you hear of Some course, some program, some guided tour of Spectrum Health. And this brochure is telling you all about the best equipment in the country. The best surgeons in the country. The best success rate in the country. And you say, well that's nice, that's good. But you will probably decline the guided tour. You'll probably decline the offer of the seminar that speaks about the heart surgery. It's nice, but it's not relevant for me when I feel like my heart is perfectly fine. But if you would need a heart surgery, if the doctor said you need a heart transplant or you're going to die within months, then suddenly your opinion would change. you would take this seminar, you would visit this hospital, you would be interested in absolutely everything that they have to say about the heart and about what they do to help it. And you see, this is the reason Paul then is spending so long in chapters one to three of Romans telling them about their need. That whether you are Jew or whether you are Gentile, ultimately it doesn't matter. God has concluded them all under sin. The whole world is guilty before God. That's why we begin this series with the importance of justification, that you would see your need of justification. If you don't see yourself as a great sinner, if you don't feel the weight of your sin, you're not going to need forgiveness and you're not going to need this pardon. Why is this? Well, fourthly, This doctrine is so important because of who God is. Because of who God is. I think that's the main reason people don't see their need of this doctrine. Why they don't think it's relevant. Why they don't think they need a physician. Because they've never really considered who God is. God is a spirit, the Shorter Catechism says, infinite, eternal, unchangeable in His being, in His wisdom, in His power, in His holiness, in His justice, in His goodness, and in His truth. And if you would just take holiness and justice and truth And think of these attributes that God is infinite in His justice. God is eternally just. God is unchangeably just. And think of how that applies to you as a sinner. If you think of God as a God of love in this way, That God's love will mean that at the end of the day, though I sin, everything will work out okay because God is a God of love. No matter what I do in the meantime with his son. And it's not the God of the Bible, it's an idol that you've created in your own mind. That's not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is infinite in justice. And he won't clear the guilty. Justification is not God, taking the guilty person and simply saying, you're no longer guilty. I'll just forget about it. God will never forget about sin like that. The problem is we're thinking of God as though he was one of us. That's what the Psalm says. God says in the Psalm, you thought that I was like you and that I approved your sin. That's not the case, God says. C.S. Lewis writes about the strange illusion that time can solve sin. The strange illusion that time can solve sin. Remember what you did a year ago? Remember how you spoke to me like that? Remember that bitter word? That was a year ago. That was a year ago. In other words, don't think about it anymore. The strange illusion that God, that time will deal with sin. The strange idea that time, once I get all the way to the judgment, once all these hundreds of years have elapsed, I can just forget about it. God can just forget about it. God will never just forget about sin. Habakkuk writes about God as the Holy One, and in reference to the sin that Habakkuk sees all around him, he reasons with God, God, thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and thou cannot look upon sin. What Habakkuk saw there at his own time is true. God cannot look upon sin. He is of purer eyes. And there's the reality of God's wrath Whatever sin is, God's wrath will be. Romans 1.18, Paul writes, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Do you know of any more solemn words? The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, those who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because of who God is, this doctrine is so vitally important. God will not clear the guilty. It's so vitally important because of what sin is, fifthly. Because of what sin is, we have sinful actions. None of us here would deny it. We have broken God's law. None of us here I trust would deny it. We break God's law when we do what He tells us not to. We break God's law when we don't do what He tells us we should do. And question 60 of the Heidelberg Catechism here answers and speaks about, though my conscience accuse me that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God and kept none of them. Is that your conscience? Is that your problem this evening? Though my conscience accuse me." You see, to the degree that we realize what sin is, to that degree this subject becomes important and relevant and immensely practical for us. Do we realize what sin is? We have to really ask that question before we ask what is justification. Let me quote here John Murray. Murray writes, people sometimes say that sin is selfishness. Well, that is a woefully inadequate definition of sin. All selfishness is sin, but sin is not simply selfishness. There's something far more serious about sin than the fact that we are absorbed in ourselves. Sin is the contradiction of God. When sin came into the world, something came into the world that was the very contradiction of God. That's what sin is. It is the contradiction. It is the spitting of our poison towards God. There's our sinful actions, but there's also our sinful nature. Do you notice how the answer goes on? Though my conscience accused me that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God and kept none of them, and I'm still inclined to all evil. I'm still inclined to all evil. That's speaking not just about what I do, it's speaking about who I am. It's saying, as David did, I am born in sin. I am shaped. My shape is shaped in iniquity. Sin is natural to me. Sin is the natural thing that I will do. It's not that I am basically good, but from time to time fall into sin. No, it's that I am basically and fundamentally evil. I am evil born in sin. And that if I do anything good, That is the exception, but even that is tainted with sin. Because of what sin is in its action, because of what sin is in our nature, but there's also this, and we've seen this recently, because of the sin that is in our best work. My prayers, my preaching, My holiest thought, I have to confess, there's sin in it. There's pride in it. It doesn't love God with all the heart, soul, strength, and mind like it should. Isn't this what Paul was saying in Philippians 3? When he took the best of the best of the best of who he is and of what he did, and he spoke about all these things in which he trusted in the flesh, his circumcision, his being of Israel, of Benjamin, his being a Pharisee, his keeping the law blamelessly as far as others would look on and see. Yet Paul coming to realize that all of this And all of this, if this is all I have, will actually keep me out of heaven and into hell rather than get me into heaven. My best works. Ted Donnelly has an illustration in one of his sermons here. He speaks about this brilliant cook. You imagine you have this brilliant cook, this brilliant chef. And they have 30 minutes to prepare you the best meal they can, and all the pans are in the kitchen, all the food is there, and the person says, 30 minutes, can you prepare us a delicious meal? And she says, absolutely, yes. And then she goes, but then, says Donnelly, there's all this grease that you see in the kitchen. There's grease that's stuck to the pans. There's grease in all the utensils. There are germs that are multiplying by their millions all the time. There's mouse droppings and cockroaches. It's absolutely vile. The food is rotten. What's the best chef going to do in 30 minutes? Would you eat her meal? Donnelly says, we're the food. We are the utensils. The best that we can come up with ourselves is going to be rotten at the core. Remember what John Murray had said? Do you know the greatest enemy of the gospel is not human unrighteousness? The greatest enemy of the gospel is human righteousness. It's thinking that somehow, someway I can answer this question myself and on my own terms, how can I be right with God? That's our greatest danger. Remember the story, boys and girls, of James Lang, that young boy? in Robert Murray McChain's church when he was dying at the age of 12 and McChain came to him and he found him in a lot of distress. And he said to McChain, Satan came to me and he told me that this word and that word in my prayer was sin. But I told him, I told Satan, it's all sin. It's all sin. But there's no sin in him. Jesus, and I have taken Him to be my Savior. That is a young boy who understands the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. You're not too young to get this too. Not me. Me, all sin. Him, no sin. Him, perfect righteousness. Are you righteous, young people? Old people, middle-aged people, when you put your head in the pillow tonight, are you righteous? If you would die tonight, are you righteous before God? The glory of this doctrine. is that there is a righteousness that we're going to see in the weeks to come. There is a righteousness that is not our own, a righteousness that comes from the outside, a divine righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, a righteousness that meets your need as a great sinner. Oh, Lord Jehovah, be my righteousness. Let the wicked forsake his way. Let the unrighteous and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord. He will have mercy upon him, and to our God he will abundantly pardon. Amen. Let us pray.