I wanted to talk to you tonight about the doctrine of justification, but I also wanted to talk to you about forgiveness. I'm going to get to this later on because justification carries with it so much. There's so much within the doctrine of justification. And out of the five solaces of the Reformation, You know, some people on October 31st, they celebrate Halloween. Well, Brother Doug don't do that. I celebrate the Reformation. Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg, Germany. 95 things wrong with the church. He wasn't trying to cause a church split. He wanted the church to reform. And out of his 95 theses and the debates that sparked over the next few years, there come five points from the Reformation. Sola Scriptura. sola gratae, sola fide, sola Christos, sola Deo Gloria. Prior to the Reformation, the Pope had absolute authority. In other words, if the Bible said one thing and the Pope said something else, you had to go with what the Pope said. Because he came after the Bible. And he was considered the vicar of Christ upon earth. But Martin Luther said, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wait a minute. It's sola scripture. Scripture alone. That's our authority. And salvation is not by works or deeds of the law. Salvation is sola grata. Grace alone. Through sola fide. Faith alone. In sola Christos. Christ alone. For sola Deo gloria. For the glory of God alone. Those are the five points that sparked out of the Protestant Reformation. And the big one was the justification by faith because that is actually, when you read Martin Luther's writings, you will see that when he was translating, the Latin Bible, the book of Romans, into his native language of German. When he comes to the Romans chapter 1, he never got past 16, 17, 18. He was regenerated. That's exactly what Martin Luther said. He said, when I got to the point where it said, for as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Martin Luther said, something sparked in me. And it was all over for me, as far as the Augustinian monkery. He came out of that, and that's the reason we have Protestants today. For the glory of God, amen? Amen. Now God has always had a remnant. Alright? He's always had a remnant on this planet. At one time it got down to as low as eight. But he always has a remnant. So we're going to look at this tonight. And I'm going to... Brother Tom, here's an outline right here. Anybody else that comes in, make sure they get one. I'm not going to have you stand. We're just going to go through this and I'm going to read this and go over this in rapid fire succession. But let me just say this by way of introduction. There's been a lot of false doctrines and a lot of false ideas about salvation sprung up just over the doctrine of justification. There's people that have mixed views on it. There's people that have crazy ideas on it. But right here it's clear cut. I want to go over what Paul said in 11 verses from Romans chapter 3. And the text is already on your outline. But there are some key things here that are brought out within this text. And these things that are in red, green, highlighted, we're going to go back and look at some of these things. The Apostle Paul says, by divine inspiration, as he writes in Romans 3.21, he says, but now the righteousness of God without The law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I want you to notice, starting in verse 24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption. that was in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. is boasting then? Is it excluded by what law of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God which will justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. I'm going to say some things tonight that might turn some of y'all's apple carts over. And one of them is we have never, nobody in the Bible has ever been justified by works or the law. It has always been by the grace of God through faith. Going all the way back to Abel. You say, Brother Doug, why didn't you say Adam and Eve? Because they saw God. They saw God. You understand what I'm saying? Faith is the substance of things hoped for. If you see it, it ain't faith. They saw God before they fell. But what God demands, God provides because who killed those animals? Who made those coats of skin? Who clothed Adam and Eve? Adam didn't do it. Eve didn't do it. God did it. So going all the way back to Abel, it has always been justification by faith alone. Now here's something I want you, if you don't learn anything else tonight, this is the only thing I want you to learn. Salvation is in three tenses. I'm not going to read all this. That's why I give you the outline. You can go back. This is what this is called Bible study. This is what I want you to do. Not to impress me, but to study the Word, to show thyself approved unto God, a workman needing not being ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. Salvation is in three tenses. Past tense, present tense, and future tense. Your past tense is your justification. It's done. Nothing on this side of heaven or hell can change that. Amen? Nothing can change that. Your present tense is sanctification. Justification, you have been saved from the penalty of sin. In other words, everything that stood against you, all the debt that you owe, everything, it's done. Christ has taken care of it because you've placed your faith and your trust in Him and in Him alone. And God has wiped the slate clean. Now your sanctification, the present day, that is how you live your life. And we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. We're not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Amen? That's through and by the Word of God, by the way. You want to know how you renew your mind? You renew your mind through the Scripture. And like I tell everybody everywhere I go, you can't believe it if you don't know it. You can't believe it if you don't know it. And then, of course, we've got the future tense of our salvation, which is what? Glorification. We've got justification, sanctification, glorification. But right now, what state are you in? Sanctification. You passed the justification part. You have moved into the sanctification portion. If you go over to page 2, we will see here that this is what I want to hit on. I want to hit on the word justification. Because I asked this question, and please don't answer audibly. I've asked this question over and over and over again to several, several people. And only one person, well actually one and a half, because one of them asked me to clarify the question. And once I clarified the question, they got it right. Would you rather be justified by God or forgiven by God? Don't answer out of it, but just think about it. Okay? I want you to think about that. Because in justification we are forgiven. Amen? He forgives us. And justification is done. We're going to get to that. Alright? 2 Corinthians, the word justified means to declare, to render, or to pronounce one to be just. to be right, to be righteous, or to be as He ought to be. In other words, look up here at me, pay attention. There was a trial in the court of heaven one day, when you placed your faith and your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And do you know what happened that day in the courts of glory? When you placed your faith and your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, there's so many things that happened. It would blow your mind if I told you everything. You was everything from baptized to circumcised to risen again through the faith of the operation of God, brought into the family of God. You was reconciled. You was considered redeemed. It was finished. It was done. But you were justified. God the Father your slate and wiped it clean. And because of what brother John preached on two weeks ago, two Sundays ago, the great exchange, he took the righteousness of Jesus Christ and wrote it in on your slate. In other words, there was absolutely nothing that stood with you that could condemn you. Now that is your position with a holy, holy, holy God. He forgave you of your sins. He circumcised you with a circumcision that's not made with hands. He put inside of you a new heart. He wrote His laws upon your heart. Caused you to walk in His way. He filled, not filled, He indwelled you with the Holy Spirit. Because the word filled means to be controlled. You don't have no option over being indwelled, but you're commanded to be filled. Amen? That is a command. That's an imperative in the Greek. He done all of these things for you, and your justification was settled. It was done. And here's how it's made possible. 2 Corinthians 5 18-20 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. And given us... Pay attention to this. You've got lost family members that you don't want to talk to because you're afraid you might hurt their feelings. And then they're going to die and go to hell. And you're going to stand before Christ. And you're going to give an account. You've been made a minister of reconciliation. Why didn't you try to reconcile them? We have been given us this ministry of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God. Do you remember Brother John's verse two weeks ago? 2 Corinthians 5. 21, that's the very next verse. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Now there is a word, reconciled. Listen, my wife told me on the way up here, she said, please tell those people what these words mean. I said, I will, honey. Reconciled goes all the way back to the Hebrew. It goes all the way back to the Hebrew days. And I'm going to use two of them tonight to give you an illustration to show you of the contemporary word picture in Paul's day, but it got its roots from the Hebrew day. But the word redeemed means to be purchased. It's the Greek word agarizo, which means to be bought. And does not the Apostle Paul say, you're not your own, you're bought with a price? Amen? Once you place your faith and trust, you've got a new master now, amen? God has made it possible. And God has made a way through His plan of reconciliation. So reconciliation is to exchange, to make right, to balance the books. Even in a coin exchange, as it was used in the Greek word picture of the day of the Apostle Paul. But the word redeemed means to be bought. And the word, are you ready for this? Justified means to be acquitted. That means there's no charges against you. Now you're not sinless, but you're declared sinless by the Holy God. Amen? All three of those things happen simultaneously when you place your faith and trust. You can take it to the bank. You can take it to the bank. You don't have to doubt it. You don't have to worry about it. You don't have to sit there in the middle of the night and wonder, am I going to be good enough? No, you ain't. But the One you've placed your faith in is. Oh, ain't that wonderful? The One that you have placed your faith and trust in, He is perfect. He's the only One that can satisfy, placate, appease the holy justice and the holy wrath of a sovereign God. That's why He's called the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. He's the only one qualified. So we have here the word justified means to be declared or rendered or pronounced just right. The word redeemed means to be purchased. It means to be bought. And the word reconciled means to, notice the bottom of page two, I'm not even going to try to pronounce these Greek words, to properly make right, to change or exchange as coins for others of equal value. Hence, to reconcile those who are at variance. In other words, here's the thing. If me and Brother Tim have a dispute, I can forget him. But we're still not reconciled. You see what I'm saying? Reconciliation is so, so much greater. Justification is so, so much greater. And redemption is so, so much greater than just forgiveness. Because your forgiveness must be ongoing. And we'll get to that a little bit later on. Now, God did forgive you of your sins. Amen. Don't say, well, Brother Doug is teaching that God didn't forgive me of my sins when I was justified. Absolutely, He did forgive you of your sins. Your justification is sealed and settled in the portals of glory and the sovereign courts of heaven. But what about your sanctification? What about your daily walk with the Lord? Because if you walk in darkness, you have no fellowship with light. If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. That's not justification. You've been justified. You're just restored fellowship. You need that. You need that. And He is faithful. Amen? To forgive you. That's what I love about it, because you know what? God don't lie. God means what He says and He says what He means. 2 Corinthians 5.21, "...for He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Now I'm going to give you the Apostle Paul's word picture. Put down your outline. You've got to pay attention to this. Brother Tim, Brother Tom, could you come up just for a second? I need you all to help me with something. Brother Tim, could you come over here? And Brother Tom, could you stand right here? Now since he has hired, I'm going to make him the father. Okay? Right there. And since he don't have as much, Alright? Because I'm sure they pulled out a lot of hair and plucked his beard and did all... I'm going to make him the son. But I want you to hold those like that. And I want you to show everybody what you've got. Hold that up there. That is the righteousness of God the Father. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the expressed image of His person. The expressed image of His glory. In order for me to be right with Him. I've got to go through Him. That's the only way. And this is all I've got, friend Jimmy. Now this is the Greek word picture in the Apostle Paul's day for the word reconciliation. But I'm going to combine the Greek word picture with the verse. For He, God the Father, hath made Him, God the Son, who knew no sin, to be sent for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. So in order for me to be reconciled with the Father, I've got to go through this stuff. Jesus said, no man goes to the Father except through and by me. And oh, by the way, you can't go to the Father unless you're drunk. Alright, so there is so much. Once I place my faith and my trust in what He did, then He takes this. Every bit of it. This is all. My pride. My envy. Covetousness. My idolatry. Anything I place before God. Everything that I've done. So He takes this. by imputation, when I place my faith and trust in Him. And you know what He does? I've got the same righteousness positionally as the Father and the Son. That is the Greek word picture. But let's go a little bit further with this. Thank you, gentlemen. What does the Holy Trinity do with this? What do they do with this? It's settled. It's done. What was our verse in Isaiah? That King Hezekiah said, He has put my sins behind Him. What does Micah say in the book of Micah? The prophet writes, He has cast our sins in the depths of the sea. to be remembered no more? What did the psalmist, King David, and the prophet write? He has separated my sins as far as the east is from the west. And then if you go to Leviticus 16, you've got the doctrine of the scapegoat. Because now the Father has imputed death to Christ based off of our faith. Based off of our faith. And Christ was not only the sacrificial goat, but He was also the scapegoat. Because Colossians 2 tells us, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way by nailing it to His cross. If you jump two verses up from that, it says, Ye are complete in Him. Verse 10. By having forgiven you all trespasses. Justify. Reconciled. Because now, the coin exchange has been done. What God has, the Son has, and now by faith, I have. And I don't have this anymore. It's gone. But there's another word picture. Going all the way back to the Hebrew, because the word actually comes from the Hebrew. It's an accounting term. It means to balance the books. Look at your outline. Top of page 3. This was your statement before you placed your faith and trust in Christ. And you say, oh Brother Doug, I wasn't that bad. Oh quit lying. We all were. Alright? Sin, depravity, enemies with God, by nature, children of wrath, unrighteous, ungodly, pride, envy, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful, God-haters, law-breakers, murderers, idolatry, adultery, blasphemers, and unholy. That's who we were before God's grace moved in and invaded our lives. And we placed our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. But just like those coins, that gave you place to your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, God did a sovereign exchange in the courts of heaven. You know what He done? He wiped your ledger clean. He wrote in this ledger down here, righteousness, sanctified, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, seated in the heavens, positionally. You say, I ain't seated in the heavens, I'm seated right here. Read Ephesians 2. You are seated in the heavens right now, positionally with the Father, because you are at a right standing with His Son. One with God, justified. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? That's done. Ain't nothing in the world can change that. And you know what I like about it? I don't quote this verse a lot. unless I'm in a theological debate. But there's a verse in Romans that says, For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, which is the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, those whom He predestinated, then He also called. That's the effectual call. Because everybody gets a general call. That's the effectual call. In other words, when God does the effectual call, it's going to be effectual. It will produce what God intends it to produce. That's salvation. For those whom He called, He also what? What's the next word? Justified. For those whom He justified, Him, He also glorified. You know what that tells me? Every person that the Father affectionately calls through and by the Gospel and through and by the Word of the Holy Spirit will be justified. And every person that God the Father justifies will be glorified. My eternal security does not rest in a bunch of mumbo-jumbo verses that I have to explain to people out there. And my eternal security rests in the sovereignty of God. Amen. Now there's one I am missing from that chain. Sanctification. You know why? Because you play an active part of your sanctification. That's where that ongoing forgiveness is so key and so vital. But it's a wonderful thing, because Paul goes on in Romans, 8.33, and he says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? For it is God that justifies. In other words, God is the one who has declared you... I was about to say indicted. But no, that's what Paul does in Romans 1, 2, and 3. He indicts all of humanity. God has basically acquitted you. You are considered not guilty, not based off of your own merits, but based off of the merits of Christ. Not based off of your own works, but based off of the works of Christ. The coin exchange has been done, the ledgers have been balanced, and now your accounting statement matches the accounting statement of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. You can't get no better than that. And he says, who can lay anything to that charge because it's God the Father that justifies? Did you know you have an accuser? Every day he goes before the throne. You say, well, I thought Satan's been kicked out of heaven. Read the book of Job. Hey man, that final kicking out don't happen until the midway point of the Great Tribulation and then there's a woe upon to the inhabitants of the earth. For Satan has been cast down and he knoweth he hath but a short time. But right now, he's before the throne. He's accusing you. You know what he says? You see Brother Dale? You see what he said? Did you see Brother Jimmy? You see what he's, the way he's doing and everything? You see Brother Doug? How he's acting, what he's doing? You know what Jesus said? They're mine. All I see is my son. You know why? Because you've been recognized. Statements match. Your coin matches his coin, and his coin matches the father's coin. Your accounting statement matches his accounting statement, and his accounting statement matches the father's accounting statement. Justification, redemption, bought, paid for. You know, Jesus cried for the cross. You know what He said in John 19, 30? He didn't say, okay, Father, I'm going to get them done. I'm going to get them started. And the rest is up to them. No, He said it is finished. The Greek word is tetelestai. Alright? Pay in full. They owe nothing. The dischargement of the debt. But here's the thing. How do you appropriate that? You appropriate that by faith. And that's exactly what we read in Romans. To be reconciled, you must have perpetuation and expiation. You can go back and read your outline. For time restraints, I can't explain all that. But you've got to have P plus E equals R. And how do you get that? Romans 3, Paul says, it's appropriated by faith. They sent me up to Austin, Texas for the Department of Veterans Affairs. And I had to sit through weeks long of training. One of those classes that lasted about a week was called Appropriations Law. You have to sit and learn about how the budget for the federal government and the Department of Veterans Affairs is hashed out. There's money set aside for the VA. And it's appropriated. And the money is there. It's available. The money is there. But in order for that money to be distributed to the VA, and say, OK, we're going to allow for so much funds to go to the VA. That's the appropriations for the federal budget. It has to be passed through Congress. It has to be passed through Congress. The president has to sign off on it, all right? And then it has to get sent down to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Well, you know what's interesting about it? Every big department has a secretary, don't they? The Secretary of Veterans Affairs. has to accept that appropriation. He's got to accept that money. Put it in the VA funds for it to be used. Do you realize all of that is exactly how your salvation works? How is your forgiveness, how is your justification, how is your propitiation, your expiation, your redemption, your reconciliation appropriated? You must receive it. It's by faith. By faith. And what you do, it is settled. There's an old song, Brother Dale. I may end up singing it after all. The old account was settled. You think of it. It was there. It was in the bank. And all you had to do was be like Peter and say, Lord, Be like Paul on the road to Damascus. Lord, what will thou have me to do? Be like Zacchaeus when he shimmied down that old sycamore tree and say, Lord, if I take anything by false accusation, I will repay it fourfold. Or be like that old thief on the cross and say, Lord, remember me when thou comest. If that ain't faith, I don't know what is. And the account was settled. Amen? The account was settled. You know, you're going to see that thief in glory. We all will. Satan can't bring a railing accusation against that. There's nothing he can do. And then there's these people out there. I'm going to speed up. There's these people out there who will say, well, what about your works? What about your needs? What about your law keeping? Are you ready for this? This is going to blow your whiskers off. You won't even need to charge your electric razor for a week after this one. Are you ready? Go to page 4. Who came first? Moses or Abraham? Well, Abraham did. Abraham did. Who did God give the law to? Moses. Are you ready for this? I love this. This is Paul's argument, by the way, in Romans 4, 5, and the end of 3. This is all he's talking about. Genesis chapter 15, and that's exactly what Paul quotes there in Romans 5, 1, I believe. In Genesis 15 verse 6, "...and he believed the Lord, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." That imputation with those coins, that imputation with that accounting statement, that's exactly what God imputed to Abraham in Genesis 15 verse 6. There was no law. Isn't that amazing? There was no law. No, Abraham had been following the Lord for 11 years. Look down here, Abraham and Hagar, the birth of Ishmael, Genesis 16, 16. Abraham is now 86 years old. 11 years Abraham's been following the Lord. No law. 11 years after he's considered justified by faith. The birth of Isaac, Abraham is 100 years old. 25 years he's been justified by faith. No law. Isaac is 60 years old at the birth of Jacob and Esau. 85 years now. No law. Jacob is 91 years old at the birth of Joseph. 176 years. Abraham was justified by faith. Still no law. Joseph is 110 when he dies. 286 years. No law. Justification by faith. Assuming the new Pharaoh took over, that keeps us back at 286. But then we have Israel is enslaved in Egypt 430 years. 430 plus 286, 716 years. God's people are justified by faith. No law. We have one year of plagues. And after the first year of the deliverance, Moses goes up to the mountain and gets the law. Isn't that wonderful? 718 years and none of them was justified by their works. None of them was justified by deeds of the law. They were justified by faith. By faith. It's always been that way. Always! To be justified is to be declared legally righteous. It is the divine act. And look here at what Paul says in Romans 4.11. And he received the sign of circumcision. a seal of the righteousness of faith which he had yet been circumcised. Do you see that? Abraham was considered righteous before he was even circumcised. Before the covenant. Before the giving of the law. You say, now wait a minute, Brother Doug. Didn't Abraham go to Egypt when he wasn't supposed to? Yeah, he did. Didn't Abraham lie to Pharaoh and said, Sarah, she's my sister? Well, that's only a half lie, right? No, a half lie is a full lie. Yeah, he did. Didn't Abraham take Sarah's handmaid, Hagar, and sleep with her and bring about the son Ishmael? Yeah, he did. Didn't Abraham? That's how I know the Bible is written of God. You know why? Because the Bible tells the full story. It tells the good, the bad, the ugly. I'll just give you a quick example. This will be a separate study for you sometime. There's only five women mentioned by name in the bloodline of the Lord Jesus Christ. And every one of them has got skeletons in their closet. Even the little 16-year-old virgin that got pregnant out of wedlock. We know the real story, but perception is reality. What did society think about that? Well, what did the Pharisees say to Jesus? They knew the story. We were not born of fornication. All five of them had skeletons in their closet. But do you see the amazing thing about God's grace? Do you see the amazing thing about placing your faith and trust in the perfect One, the Holy One, the only One? Let's keep moving. I think we've proved that it's not by law. Page 5. Your justification is past tense. You've been saved from the penalty of sin. There is absolutely nothing that can change your position with a holy, sovereign, and righteous God. Because you're seated in the heavens. You're saved here tonight, not based off of your merits, but based off of the merits of Christ. And you have placed your faith and trust in Him. That's your position. It's settled. Nothing can change that. And look at Romans 1.17. This is Martin Luther's regeneration verse right here. Romans 1.17, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Where is it written? You notice that when the New Testament writers say, as it is written, you know what they're doing? Somebody help me. They're quoting the Old Testament scriptures. So what's Paul doing? He's quoting Habakkuk 2.4. Behold, his soul which lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. And then Paul goes on in Galatians 3.1 and he repeats that very statement again, but that no man is justified by the law on the side of God, for it is evident the just shall live by faith. And then there's Hebrews 10.38, the unknown writer under divine inspiration writes, Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Your justification is settled by faith in Christ, in Christ alone. You have been redeemed. The account is settled. Amen. Your ledger matches His ledger. You have the same amount of coins in your hands. All of these people, they think salvation is you get saved and then the Lord puts you on a scale or puts you behind a scale and all of your good works goes on one side and all of your bad works goes on the other side. Well, we've already proved that wrong 718 years through Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob. Justification has always been by faith. And if you have your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, I'm telling you what folks, He'll... I may let you down. People may let you down in this life. But He never will. I guarantee you He never will. He is faithful to the end. So now that we know that we've been justified, now that we know that these things have occurred, we have been baptized into the body of Christ, we've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, we have been circumcised with the circumcision made with our hands, the Bible even says we have been risen through the faith of the operation of God with Christ. All of these things have taken place because of that one single act on your part. It was there. It just had to be appropriated. And you did it. You did it by faith. But you did it because of grace. Let's not pat ourselves on the back and say, OK, I did it all myself. It's all about me. No, it's God's grace. That's what the Bible says in Ephesians 2, verse 4, by grace, or you say, through faith. Paul says it's appropriated His blood, the propitiation, through faith. Appropriation. It's got to be appropriated. But now that we know this, now we're moving into our second phase of salvation. Not our position. Because positionally, we're righteous. I hope I don't get these looks. that I've gotten at other places. But I'm going to say it because it's Bible. I can take you straight to the Scripture. The doctrine of imputation. Brother John preached 92 weeks ago. 2 Corinthians 5.21 Positionally. Notice I did not say practically. Positionally. You are as righteous It's true. Practically, no. For your justification is settled. That's your position. Your sanctification is your daily walk. I've been justified. And in justification, He's given me a new heart. He's given me a longing for His Word. He's given me a desire to serve Him. And He's given me a desire to obey Him. And when I fail that, when I don't meet those standards, and it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Because he who says he's without sin is a liar and the truth is not in him. You notice John there in 1 John, he's not talking to unbelievers. And I've heard preachers behind the pulpit stand up there and they want to use that verse in a context to get somebody saved. If you will confess your sins, He's faithful in you. In the context, that is not what that's talking about. He's talking about believers. Beloved, believers, and for the last three verses, He's been talking about them. So who's He talking to then? If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. He's talking to believers. In the context. You see, you can make the Bible say anything you want to. If you take it out of context, I'll prove it to you. Alright, I know this ain't a Bible. This is just an illustration. And Judas went out and hung himself. I'm sure you all have seen this illustration. Let me flip the page here. Go and do that likewise. You can make the Bible say anything you want to if you take it out of context. Like Brother Walter Staton over at Tri-State Bible College used to say all the time before the Lord took him home to glory, there's a lot of good preaching out there if you don't know much. Because you can't believe it unless you know it. Now positionally, I've been justified, I've been forgiven. But now I'm walking with the Lord daily. The Holy Spirit. Paul talks about that in Thessalonians. He said, grieve not the Holy Spirit. You have God living inside of you. You are sealed. You are permanently indwelt with the Holy Spirit of promise. But now my sanctification, I'm walking with the Lord and I've got to serve Him and there is a measure of my practical righteousness. Now this is what we call in theology, this is what we call where orthodoxy, that's right teaching, meets orthopraxy. That's right practice. You've got to know right in order to do right. And if you don't know right, Oh, I heard a preacher say one time, he said, you know, it would be terrible for a man to climb the ladder in this life of religion. His whole life. Be climbing that ladder. Climbing that ladder of religion. And then he gets to the end of life and finds out his ladder has been laid against the wrong wall. My friend, there is only one wall. Jesus said there's only one way. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So in our daily walk with the Lord, this is why our forgiveness is so essential. God will not fellowship with sin. I'm on page 6. I'm at the very end now. Dr. Seuss is about to close her up. You can go home and have some green eggs and ham! Here we go. God will not fellowship with sin. Therefore, the walk of sanctification is a continued daily walk of faith and repentance. Continued. See, repentance is not a one-time act. The word repentance, metanoia in the Greek, means to turn to God from sin. It's a change of heart. It's a change of mind that results in a change of direction. Why did God tell Moses to build the tabernacle with the door facing the east? Have you ever thought about that? Because where did God dwell? In the holiest of holies. Who was allowed to approach God? Only the high priest. Us common everyday Joe's, we couldn't go in. Well, we would have been Gentiles. We wouldn't have been allowed past the court. Alright? We could have just went to the Gentile court and that would have been it. We couldn't have went into the holy place. Here is the tabernacle that God told Moses to build. And he said, I want you to have that door facing the east. Well, what have we got back here? Well, we've got Eden, Moab, Babylon, Assyria, the ancient worlds that the Hebrew people knew all about. But what do you have west of the Tabernacle? You've got a little bit of land, then you've got the Mediterranean Sea. But they didn't know of the New World. They knew of this world. And God said, when you approach me, you've got to turn your back on the world to approach me. That's repentance. He's teaching us repentance through the children of Israel. He's teaching us the sacrifices and the system that's offered and available through the children of Israel. He even taught us that the sacrifice and then there's the escape goat that carries our sins away to be remembered no more through the children of Israel. He's teaching us all of these things. You can't believe it if you don't know it. And now we've been made to know these things. And now I know what He's done for me. And now I want to serve Him because I love Him all the Lord. It would be like, I asked Anita this question the other day. I said, what do you think about two people that get married? Now seriously, I want you to put your thinking caps on. If you want to answer, go right ahead. What do you think about two people that get married? They say they love each other, they go through the vows, they go through the ceremonies, they do everything. And then as soon as they get home, after they leave the chapel, the husband looks at his wife and says, I don't want to have anything to do with you. We're still married. I want to claim the benefits of being married. But I don't want to have anything to do with you. I don't want to talk to you. I'll sleep downstairs. You sleep upstairs. I don't want to have no fellowship with you. I don't want to have no relationship with you whatsoever. Would you say there's true love in that relationship? It won't grow. You're right. It won't grow. But you know what? I see that in so many churches today. I see people that say, I love the Lord. But you've got to send out almost the FBI to get them to come to church. They don't want to have anything to do with the Bible. The only Bible they get is what little bitch read during service. That's the same analogy as a couple that gets married and their spouses don't want to have anything to do with one another. And the other one is sitting there saying, oh my goodness, what about love? I love you so much. I have done so much for you. Let's say it's the wife. They don't want to have anything to do with the husband. And then the husband is just broken hearted and he says, I provided all this for you. And you don't want it. You don't want anything to do with me. My friend, that's not love. That's not a change of heart. We've been made to know these things. We should love Him so much, so greatly for what He's done for us. And now I walk with Him day to day. And like I said, it's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when I fail, I stumble, I sin, I need that forgiveness. Because I have fellowship with God. I'm justified. I'm positionally seated in the heavens. But practically, I've got to work in sanctification. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who both willeth and worketh in you to do His good pleasure. And I'm able to do this through and by His grace. Amen? Fooled by His Word? And Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, His high priestly prayer just moments before He was arrested in John 17, 17. He said, sanctify them in truth. Thy Word is truth. You want to be sanctified? You say, well, what does it mean to be sanctified? Well, it's just like your righteousness. It has twofold meaning. You're positionally righteous with the Father, but you're practically righteous in your daily walk with God. Sanctified, you've been set apart, you're seated in the heavens, but are you being sanctified right now? That's where your forgiveness comes in. Look at 1 John 1, verse 3-10. that which we have seen and heard we declare unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us." Now notice John says, I want you to have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. So what he's saying to these readers here is if you've got fellowship with me, you're going to have fellowship with Him. Because that's who my fellowship is with. Amen? Look here. And these things we write unto you that your joy might be full. This then is the message which you have heard of Him and declared unto you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him, We walk in darkness, we lie. And the truth. And do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. Do you see the context of who John is talking to here? What's the key word that's been repeated over and over and over again in these short verses? Fellowship. What is fellowship? Fellowship is communion. One with another. Fellowship. Verse 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just. our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar. And His Word is not in us. My friend, we need constant, constant, constant forgiveness. For fellowship. For fellowship. We shouldn't be like the couple where the wife wants nothing to do with the husband. Knowing what we know and knowing everything that he has provided for us and everything he's done for us, we should want that and we should desire that. I'll tell you a story and then I'm going to close. My granddad, Dale can relate to this. My granddad was with the 101st Airborne Division. served in World War II. He was a paratrooper. He was also on the glider. He was a crew chief that was supposed to go in on D-Day. And thank God that he didn't go on D-Day. He went D-Day plus one. Granddaddy, I called him Papaw, all right? I'm going to call him Papaw, because that's what I called him my whole life. He walked out of the mess tent in England on June 5th. And it had been raining and it was very foggy. They were supposed to go that morning, but they got delayed. And they set pallets down on the ground for the soldiers to walk on the pallets. Now my granddaddy was 6'4". It skipped my genie, alright. He stepped off the end of that pallet, that big old 6'4", bulky, hillbilly boy from Moorhead, Kentucky. And he spurned his uncle. And he was laid up and taken off of the chopper for the next day as the crew chief on that glider. My granddad went in a day later. I've said all that to say this so you'd know what kind of person my granddad was. Now, he left this world, say, to justify it. Amen? But back then, he was a tough hombre. I was scared to death of that man. My whole life. But I loved him more than anything. I respected him because of the person he was and the man he was. But I was still scared to death of him. My granddad whooped me one time. I got one whooping from my father. Jenny had never heard of it. But I cried like a baby. You know why I cried? I knew in my heart I had disappointed him. For enough for him to spite me. I'm afraid that's the way we should feel about our Lord. We should go running to Him every time. As soon as we do it. As soon as that thought comes through your mind, don't dwell on it to where it turns into a temptation and where you act on it and then it becomes sin. You immediately start talking to Him. Quote Scripture. Do whatever it takes. But if you get to that point where that sin takes root and you do commit that sin, then you go to Him immediately. You approach the throne of grace with boldness and say, Lord, here I am. I've stumbled again. I've faltered again, God. It should break our hearts. The more we know of Him and what He's done for us, the more it will break our heart when we let Him down. So I charge you tonight. Romans 12. 1 and 2. I charge you. to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. That's your reasonable service. Paul uses that word in the Greek, reasonable, and that's where we get our English word, logical, from. In other words, if you're a true believer in Christ, it's only logical that you do this. He says, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the what? Renewing of your mind. How do we renew our mind? By the Word of God. How do you become sanctified? Through truth. What is truth? Jesus told us what truth is. The Word of God. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He is the living Word of God. But do you understand something tonight, church? This right here is His story. This is His Word. I made a post on Facebook and I said, you know, Jesus is not a created being. He said in John 8, 58, before Abraham was, I am. He was the one that spoke to Moses out of the burning bush in the wilderness on the back side of the desert. He is the one that cried out the thunderous cry in the darkness of Genesis 1, 3 and said, let there be light. That's the Word of God, my friend. That's Jesus Christ, the Creator of all things. You say, I don't see it that way. Well, read your Bible. Read Colossians 2. Read Hebrews 1. Read John 1. By Him were all things made and nothing is made. Nothing is that wasn't made by Him. Yes, God the Father made it. But He made it through and by the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The same Creators are redeemer. That same Redeemer came and paid your price. But it must be appropriated by faith. Do it by belief on His Word. Do you see now why this is so important? Do you remember what I've done up here with the two gentlemen? The exchange. That is actually called the Great Exchange. Brother John preached on it two Sundays ago. And if you memorize 2 Corinthians 5.21 Memorize it. Be able to quote it. Go to sleep saying it every night until you get it down pat. You can give the gospel to anybody. For He hath made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. So that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's the gospel. In a nutshell, that's the gospel. Trust faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone. Amen. The more we know, the more we grow, the more we love. Amen. Brother Mike, would you dismiss us? Heavenly Father, we truly thank You, Lord, for the privilege to come to be in Your house. We thank you, Father, for your word. And we thank you, Father, for Brother Doug and his wonderful message, Lord, that he has enlightened us forward. And it just made us, Father, think again about what all he's done for us. He justifies, he sanctifies. We thank you, Father, for that. We thank you for this very special time of the year, Lord. We ask that you would bless us, Father, we could be a saving station. And take this message. Take this message to the world. We thank you, Father. We love you, Father. In Christ's name, amen. Amen.