If you will, open your copy of God's Word to the fourth chapter of the book of Romans, Romans chapter 4. We will return to Mark's Gospel next Lord's Day, God willing. But this is Reformation Sunday, and on this particular Sunday morning, we are going to dwell upon the great standing or falling doctrine of the church. as Luther called it, which also is the standing or falling doctrine of every soul here, justification by grace alone, through faith alone, through the work of Christ alone. We will show what Rome said. We will show how the Reformers answered from the Holy Scriptures using primarily this one text before us this morning. Romans chapter 4 beginning with verse 1, but let us first go before the Lord in prayer. O Lord our God, there is no sermon without the Holy Spirit's blessing, without His power. And so we ask that the Holy Spirit would be at work here. that He would call out of darkness those who are benighted, who are lost and undone, that He would help those who have come to faith in Christ to grow in our understanding of the truth and our appreciation for the work of the Holy Spirit through the ages in the church. We ask that as the preaching of the Word was used of the Lord in the Protestant Reformation to bring about that mighty reformation of the church and also biblical revival in its most powerful form. We pray for that again today. That is our great need, and we ask for it. Oh Lord, start here with us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Please take your copy of God's word. Romans chapter 4, beginning with verse 1. The word of the Lord. What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has somewhat to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now, to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works, Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness would be counted to them as well and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be the heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void, for the law brings wrath. But where there is no law, there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written. I have made you the father of many nations in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. The word of the Lord, please be seated. People of God, we remember on the Sunday nearest October 31st, the Protestant Reformation, because on October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg, and this is, in a sense, the official starting point, though it had many precursors of the Protestant Reformation. It marked the beginning of an epoch. The Protestant Reformation was above all an attentive listening to the Word of God. And the blessing on the church and society as a whole from that listening to God's Word was manifold and long-lasting, lasting even to this day. The Reformation, of course, was first of all about worship. If you were to ask Calvin what is the Reformation about, he would first say it's about worship. Then he would say it is about justification by faith. But it also influenced the culture in many ways, political, economic, social, profound and lasting. And at the heart of the Reformation was a rejection of the concept of plagianism. The idea that man, by his free will, can bring himself into a savable state. The idea that man can contribute some work of righteousness of his own in order that he might be accepted by God. A minimization of the truth of original sin and our bondage to sin. The Reformation said no to these concepts and it rejected the pastoral cruelty of Roman Catholicism which taught that, except in very few cases, a Christian could not be, a professing Christian could not be assured of his everlasting salvation. And so the Reformation was a return to the teaching of the Apostle Paul on salvation by grace through faith alone as we have it in this text. Now, I think it's important that I give a brief summary of the biblical doctrine of justification by faith. If we had time this morning to look at all the various passages, it would take us many mornings to do, this would be the summary of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith. The term justify, as used by Paul the Apostle, does not mean to make righteous, but to declare righteous. It is completely judicial. It is the declaration that is made by God in his court of law toward a sinner. The declaration is that the sinner is pardoned and that he is righteous in his court of law. And this is based totally on the work of Christ who obeyed the law that we broke and paid the penalty of the sinner's sin on the cross, satisfying the condemnation of the law, satisfying the wrath of God that was justly against us sinners. And it is the good news of the great exchange. My sin was imputed, laid to the account of Christ. His perfect righteousness was imputed, laid to the account of the one who believes and does not work. so that our works contribute nothing, absolutely nothing to our acceptance with God. Acceptance is based solely on the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith apart from works. The judge himself declares the sinner righteous. Nothing is laid against him. Nothing is laid to his charge. So in Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Or in Romans 8, 31 and following. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. who is to condemn Christ Jesus as the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. And so the biblical view that I've just described is the polar opposite of what Roman Catholicism taught and continues to teach even to this day. And it is not only found there, but it is found in many systems in which works righteousness becomes dominant. In chapter three of the book of Romans, we have the account of justification beginning in verse 21. where it says, 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. 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 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by faith in his blood. And then it says, so that we might be justified, so that he might be just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus. And so it is based, this justifying righteousness is altogether based in Jesus Christ and his work of atonement on the cross. Now we come to the chapter that we have just read earlier this morning, this chapter four. And we want to understand what Rome taught and what our forebearers, the Protestant reformers, said from God's word in answer to it. First, Rome taught and teaches that justification is not by faith alone. But the Bible does teach that justification is by faith alone. Now I go to the Council of Trent, which was the council of Roman Catholicism that was codified the dogma as over against what was preached by Luther and Calvin and the Protestant Reformers. And in the sixth session, article 12, this is what Rome said and still says. Whoever shall say that justifying faith is nothing else than trust in the divine mercy for giving sins by Christ, or that this trust is the only thing by which we are justified, let him be anathema." That's plain, isn't it? But the Reformers listened to the Word of God. If Abraham, as we have it in this passage, had been justified by works, then he could boast in a purely hypothetical way, but not with God. No one can boast before God. And in verse 3 of chapter 4, there's the citation of Genesis 15, 6 that Pastor MacDonald read earlier this morning. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now that word counted is the word credited or the word imputed. We use the word imputed around here. That's in our doctrinal standards. Impute simply means this. Charles Hodge puts it this way. It is delaying anything to one's charge and treating him accordingly. It produces no change in the individual to whom imputation is made. It simply alters his relation to the law. Now that is the first need we have as sinners. We are under the condemnation of the law of God. Our relationship to the law must change, or else we cannot be accepted by God. The law is the reflection of His infinite perfections, His holiness, and that crushes me. That's what Paul means in Galatians when he speaks of the curse of the law. We are all under that curse, born dead in trespasses and sins, and my relationship to the law condemns me. That can only be changed by justification, by faith in Christ. And so, in justification, something that does not belong to you is ascribed to you. That's imputation. What is ascribed? Righteousness. Again, verse 3, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Or in verse 6, counts righteousness apart from works. Or in verse 11, so that righteousness would be counted. It is forensic legal righteousness in God's courtroom that is counted to every believer. It is an alien righteousness. I don't produce it. It is a righteousness that is outside of us. It is not something that you can produce. A righteousness that in the context is legal, hence it means a right relation to God in His court of law. But what does Rome teach? Again, I go to Trent. Session 6, paragraph 11. How, whoever shall say that men are justified by the mere imputation of Christ's righteousness or that the grace by which we are justified is only the favor of God, let him be anathema. And so Rome says, if we believe in justification that is received by faith, we are anathematized. Rome says that if we believe in justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone, then we are under the curse. Rome teaches justification by an infused grace. It confuses justification and sanctification, but not by an imputed righteousness that it will not have. So you'll notice in verse 3 that it says that faith is imputed, that is to say it is reckoned. Now this does not strictly speaking mean faith, that is to say the merit it apprehends is what is imputed to us. For example, in Philippians chapter 3, And in verse 9, the apostle speaks of having a righteousness not my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. That's what he means here as well. Faith reckoned is Pauline shorthand. that the righteousness that is apprehended by faith is reckoned to the account of every believer. And that's true of you today. If you believe in Christ, the perfect record of Jesus Christ is imputed to your account in God's court of law. So it is a faith that receives the righteousness, because it's not a work, it is by grace. Faith contributes nothing, it only receives. Faith does not rely on faith, but it relies on Christ. And the moment you believe on the risen Son of God, God counts you instantaneously righteous in His court of law. Oh, my friends, someone here, you know that you are under the curse of the law. You cannot keep the commandments of God to perfection. And you know that you are under the condemnation and wrath of God. How are you freed from that? Not by any work of righteousness that you do, but by trusting in Christ alone to receive His perfect record in God's court of law. Now, immediately someone is going to say, well, what about James? James speaks of a justification by work, James chapter 2. Well, listen, I can't preach James 2 and Romans 4 this morning. But I will say this, that these are two completely different universes of discourse using these terms in a completely different context. Machen put it this way, the faith that James is condemning is not the faith that Paul is commending. And the works which James commends are different than the works which Paul condemns. So, enough of that. How are you received? Only, only in the righteousness of Christ are you accepted. Have you received the grace of justification by faith alone? And then secondly, Rome taught in the 16th century and continues to teach today, justification by works. But the Bible teaches it is not by works that we perform. And this takes in verses four through eight. Now this was Martin Luther's great agony as he struggled as a monk. this struggle as taught by Rome that he must acquire righteousness through his own efforts. And finally, as he taught the scriptures, the Holy Spirit enlightened his mind so that he could understand justifying righteousness is something passive. It's not something that I work up. And it comes only through Christ and could not in any way be Luther's achievement. And this is why he opposed the sale of indulgences The idea that the church could sell an indulgence and therefore remit sins after baptism based on the merit of Christ, they would say, yes, and the merit of Mary and the merit of the saints, this treasury of merit. Well, there is no treasury of merit but the merit of Christ. A worker is compensated, work is not a gift, verse four. Now to the one who works, his wages are counted as a gift, not as a gift, but as his due. So what is due to us? What does God owe us apart from the righteousness of Christ? Well, in chapter 6, verse 23 of this very book. We read, for the wages, that's what's owed, isn't it? For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so, he justifies the ungodly, we are told in this text, and we are also told in Romans chapter 5. And therefore, we have nothing of which to boast, not a thing, not anything, Listen to me, sovereign grace excludes all human merit. How dare I bring my works as if I'm accepted by God by what I do? The law demands perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience, and this is why we must have Christ to be saved. Only He can meet all of the law's demands and pay its penalty. Now, the same is the case with David. as we read in 6 and following. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. And so you're truly a happy man, spiritually speaking. when you find, as the law condemns, that all of the condemnation and wrath of God is met in the promise of God in Christ received by faith alone. Have you received Christ alone by faith? Well then thirdly, on this great theme of justification, Rome taught and teaches the necessity of rites and ceremonies for justification. But the Bible does not teach that we are justified or that rights contribute at all to our salvation or justification. I go to the Council of Trent, session 7, paragraph 4. This is what Rome said and says, whoever shall say that the sacraments of the new law are not necessary to salvation but superfluous and that without them or a wish for them, men by faith alone obtain the grace of justification, though all are not necessary for each, letting be anathema. And I go on in the next paragraph, whoever shall say that these sacraments were instituted for the sake of nourishing faith alone, which is what we believe, let him be anathema. No right can justify you in the presence of God. or contribute to your justification. And the obvious lesson that the Judaizers failed to learn in the first century was the very same lesson that Rome failed to learn in the 16th, or throughout the medieval period, and even into our day. There are three crucial points about circumcision. Circumcision had value. But as an instrument of justification, it had no value whatsoever. Circumcision is not a sign of what is attained by works, but what is received by faith. And the timing here in this chapter is all important because it teaches us that Abraham was justified while he was still uncircumcised. Therefore, that right instituted by God had nothing whatsoever to do with his acceptance by God. Sacraments are not the ground of confidence. Church membership is not a ground of confidence. What you do or whether you're a nice guy or whether you're a good father or a great mother, these things cannot boast before the courtroom of God. They point to the promise, sacraments do, to the promise in which we are called to put our confidence, and that is their value. Charles Hodge said, this is a rock trusting rites and ceremonies or sacraments for justification. Hodge said, this is a rock upon which millions have been shipwrecked. And it is still true. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are of great value, but they do not justify the sinner. And so the question is for us, upon whom? Upon what are you depending for your acceptance with God? This is why the issue was of such grand pastoral importance in the Protestant Reformation and continues to be today. Fourthly, Rome taught and teaches justification is not given by the free promise of God. But the Bible does not teach that. Rather, it teaches that justification is by God's free promise in Christ. Verses 13 through 15, for the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void, for the law brings wrath. But where there is no law, there is no transgression. So the way in which Rome taught that justification is apart from the promise or not dependent upon the promise, Rome does this by insisting on man's ability to cooperate with grace. to use his free will in order to bring himself into a savable state, or his use of the sacraments in order that this might be possible, to make the promise depend on works to any degree, though says Paul, destroys the whole idea of the promise of God. Why? Because he says in verse 15, the law brings wrath. Sin is the transgression of the law. Law condemns, it cannot justify. Why does Paul underscore this? Because it is all of grace to the excluding of our boasting, not by works, all to the glory of God. Calvin had to defend, found himself in a position to defend Geneva as Rome attempted to bring Geneva back into the Roman fold. And he wrote a lengthy letter to Cardinal Sadeley. Here's a little section that deals with this very point. This is what Calvin said. We bid a man begin examining himself, and this not in a superficial or perfunctory manner, but to assist his conscience before the tribunal of God. And when sufficiently convinced of his iniquity to reflect on the strictness of the sentence pronounced upon all sinners, thus confounded and amazed at his misery, he is prostrated and humble before God and casting away all self-confidence groans as if given up to final perdition, then we show that the only haven of safety is in the mercy of God, as manifested in Christ, in whom every part of our salvation is complete As all mankind are in the sight of God lost sinners, we hold that Christ is their only righteousness since by his obedience he has wiped off our transgressions, by his sacrifice appeased the divine anger, by his blood washed away our stains, by his cross bore our curse, and by his death made satisfaction for us. We maintain that in this way man is reconciled in Christ to God the Father by no merit of his own, by no value of works, but by gratuitous mercy. When we embrace Christ by faith and come, as it were, into communion with Him, this we term, after the manner of Scripture, the righteousness of faith. That's how the Protestant Reformers preached, as over against the teaching of Rome. Fifth, Rome taught and teaches that justification is not by grace alone, but the Bible does teach that justification is by grace alone. Verses 16 and 17. That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring. not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Now, a primary example that was taught by Rome then and taught by Rome now. There's been some alteration, but it's essentially the same. The primary example, a primary example of this teaching, that salvation is not by grace alone, is the teaching of purgatory. Purgatory is not some unimportant teaching of Rome. It is at the core of their thinking. The 25th session of Trent, I won't read any of it, but you could go to, it teaches that most believers who die at death go to a place of suffering in order to make satisfaction for the sins, enabling them only then to enter into heaven. And so in purgatory, you continue to pay for venial sins committed in this life. If this is not meriting righteousness, I do not know what is. Christ's satisfaction of God's wrath for our sins when He shed His blood on the cross is not sufficient. You must pay for it after death. through a period of suffering. And so the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. But Rome says, no, there's purgatory. It is a total denial of Christ alone. This is no small thing. But in verse 17, God's promise is as good as done because this is the sovereignty of grace. And so when you come in your own heart and in your own conscience and you say, oh, my sin is so deep and my sin is so great, I do see something of the condemnation of the law against me. I do see that I deserve the wrath of God and my sin is so deep and so great. My faith is so weak. What hindrance is that to God? What hindrance is it? Who is He? Do we have a low view of Him? Let us not have a low view of Him. He can save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. He gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Do not set aside the omnipotence of God when you consider the weight and agony of your sins. That is what Rome taught about justification. Here is what the Scriptures teach about justification, the Protestant Reformers preaching the Word of God to people who were years in captivity under the bondage of this pastoral cruelty by which a person could never have been assured that he was right with God. I want to bring some thoughts in conclusion. Charles Spurgeon in a sermon on John 14, 5 well said, it is a remarkable fact that all the heresies which have arisen in the Christian church have had a decided tendency to dishonor God and to flatter man. They have always had for their covert, if not their open aim, the exaltation of human nature and the casting down of the sovereignty of divine grace. Robbing God of the glory which is due unto His name, these false prophets would shed a counterfeit luster upon the head of the rebellious and depraved creature. On the other hand, the doctrines of the gospel, commonly known as the doctrines of grace, are distinguished for this peculiarity above every other, namely that they sink the creature very low and present the Lord Jehovah before as sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. And if the Protestant Reformation did anything, It elevated this high biblical view of who God is and the wonder and the glory and the sovereignty of divine grace, abasing the sinner. exalting the only Redeemer of sinners, abasing man in his rebellion, calling upon man to lay aside the weapons of his warfare against him, exalting in our thinking who God is and what He has done for us in Christ. Now, this idea of having a system that actually exalts man rather than God, exalts our works rather than grace. It's not just true of Rome. It has infiltrated many a Protestant's way of thinking, contrary to our history, because there's a Pharisee in every human heart, and works righteousness for justification is the religion of the natural man. Every religion in this world, apart from the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, is all about what we can do and we can contribute in order to make ourselves acceptable to God. For example, talking about today, There's a viewpoint called the federal vision. I don't have time to describe it. It even is among Presbyterians. It's a false teaching, a false theology. And a well-known proponent of the federal vision said this. I want you to listen. This is recent history within the last few years. This is what he said. Those who ultimately prove to be reprobate may be in covenant with God. They may enjoy for a season the blessings of the covenant, including the forgiveness of sins, adoption, possession of the kingdom, sanctification, and yet apostatize and fall short of the grace of God. The apostate doesn't forfeit apparent blessings that were never his in reality. but real blessings that were his in covenant with God. Here is this man claiming to be Reformed and Presbyterian, denying everything that Reformed and Presbyterian theologians have ever taught, and bringing with it those who would bow before this false god of works righteousness, saying that you can actually be justified and lose your justification, actually adopt it and lose it. It's not just Rome. It's the tendency of the human heart, to which the Apostle Paul would have answered in Galatians chapter one, if anyone preach any other gospel than that which I have preached unto you, let him be anathema. The scriptures teach, though Rome denies, that man is a slave to sin, that salvation is by grace alone, that man cannot, as Rome teaches, freely cooperate with grace, And we have to go all the way back here to Romans the third chapter, because here is the fundamental issue. Did Christ shed his blood and satisfy the divine wrath of God for sinners who believe, or did he not? Did he satisfy the divine justice to bring us to God? Is anything that we add to this work usable in making us acceptable to God? If so, then the work of Christ is not sufficient. But the work of Christ is sufficient, completely sufficient, totally sufficient for any sinner who believes in Jesus. And so in Galatians 2.16, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of the law, for through the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. And a life that seeks justification, if this is you here, a life that seeks to be right with God, by your efforts indeed is a miserable life, and you will never have certainty of faith if that's the basis of your approach to God. But as the Belgic Confession says, one of our great confessions from the Protestant Reformation, thus then we would always be in doubt, tossed to and fro without any certainty, and our poor consciences continually vexed if they relied not on the merits and suffering of the death of our Savior. And that is true. Anything else But trusting yourself to a Christ who obeyed the law that you broke and paid the penalty of your sin on the cross is covering your soul with fig leaves. And if you trust in those fig leaves and stand before God, not dressed in the righteous robe of Jesus Christ, then you will sleep in this world, you will go darker and darker, and you will awaken under the wrath of Almighty God. Indeed, already that wrath is upon you if you have not trusted in Christ, Jesus says in John. My friend, there's no quid pro quo in justification. You do this for me, I'll do this for you. No, he justifies the ungodly freely, those who trust in Christ. The way of works righteousness furthers bondage and doubt. The gospel is the way of rest and the way of assurance. It is only the perfection of the work of Christ that gives you the title to heaven. It is only the perfection of the work of Christ his shed blood that gains you entrance and total acceptance into the presence of God. During the period of the Reformation in England, there was a name most of you will recognize just from your memory of history, Hugh Latimer. Hugh Latimer, at the point in which I'm referencing him, was deep into works righteousness and Roman Catholicism he taught at Cambridge University. And he was out to destroy the influences of the Protestant Reformation at Cambridge. There was a man whose name was Hugh Bilney also there, and Bilney had come to faith in Jesus Christ. And as Bilney heard the lectures of Hugh Latimer against the gospel, against the truth, he came to really love this man's soul. and he endangered himself in order to win into Christ. How can I bring the gospel to Hugh Latimer? So, Bilney came up with this idea. He went to this priest, Hugh Latimer, and he said, I want you to hear my confession. And so he thought to himself, hear your confession, oh, the heretic is coming to me to confess his heresies. So Bilney began to confess, and he told him how lost in sin he had been, the depths of his corruption, his inability to come into the presence of God because of his sins, and how Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, became known to him, and he trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Hugh Latimer, you would think he would have said, enough, you heretic, I don't want to hear it, but the Holy Spirit was at work. And the Holy Spirit, as Bill Nee confessed his faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit changed Hugh Latimer's heart. And the confessor, hearing the confession, was saved from his sin by the confession of faith of Bilny. Well, this is why the Protestant Reformation, this is the blessing that we have of being a Reformed church. The gospel was rediscovered So don't allow it to come under the accretions of works righteousness again, no, no. The gospel has been rediscovered. Have you met Jesus Christ and have you been justified from all your sin? Do you realize that if you have not trusted in Christ, if you die now without having met him in grace, it will be too late for you when you meet him in the judgment? And that's why the Protestant Reformation. Don't meet him with your sin on your soul. Rather, meet him now by faith for the forgiveness of sins by the free grace of God. Amen and amen.