So the question for tonight is how can we be set right before God? In the world today, there are many different opinions about how we're set into a right relationship with God. You ask the Muslims how you can be set right with God, they say you follow the five pillars of Islam. If you ask others, maybe a Jehovah's Witness, it's through telling people about what they believe or doing good works to get their way into paradise. Hindus and Buddhists think you need to reach a spiritual state of enlightenment. Roman Catholics think it's through the sacraments and through good works that we enter the kingdom of heaven. But what does the Bible teach about how we enter into God's presence? It's radically different than what the world teaches. We see ourselves as utterly condemned and hopeless before God because of Adam's sin. Yet Christ comes and bends down to humanity in the incarnation when he takes on flesh. And he rescues us through his death on the cross. So it's only through the work of Christ. So tonight we're gonna look at the doctrine of justification. And this was at the heart of the Protestant Reformation. This is what the Protestants fought over, especially Martin Luther. Martin Luther, who was an Augustinian monk, He struggled and he was terrified because he knew he wasn't righteous before God. He knew that he deserved punishment. And he used to confess for hours daily to the priest. And the priest even got sick and tired of just hearing his confessions. Like, that's enough. But he was so condemned by this guilt on his conscience. Joel Beakey explains, Luther tried everything to find peace with God. from sleeping on hard floors and fasting to climbing a staircase in Rome while kneeling in prayer. Monasteries, disciplines, confessions, masses, absolutions, good works, all proved fruitless. Peace with God eluded the monk, yet the thought of the righteousness of God pursued him. Luther hated the word righteousness, which he believed indicted a divine mandate to condemn him. But light dawned on him as God opened his heart to the truth of the gospel as he studied Romans 117. The righteous shall live by faith. It radically transformed him. He saw for the first time that the righteousness that Paul had in mind was not a punitive justice that condemns sinners, but a perfect righteousness which God freely grants to sinners on the basis of Christ's merits, which sinners received by faith. Luther saw the doctrine of justification by grace alone, solo gratia, by faith alone, solo fide, because of Christ alone, solo Christus, was the heart of the gospel. It became for him an open door into paradise, a gate to heaven. This so transformed Luther that he stood up against the Roman Catholic Church and he wanted to bring reform to the church. And because of it, he was condemned as a heretic. He was willing to die. And yet he stood on it because he thought this is what the word of God teaches. So what do we mean when we talk about justification? What is it? Does anyone have, want to throw any ideas out? What do we mean when we say justification? To be put right. Okay. Through repentance. just as if he hadn't sinned, okay? Anyone else? Okay, yeah, so that's right. Justification, this is a definition by Wayne Grudem. It says, justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he, one, thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, and two, he declares us to be righteous in his sight. So the Greek word that underlies this doctrine is the Greek verb, dikayao, which means to justify or to declare righteous. The adverb is dikayosune, which means righteousness or justice. The noun dikayas, which means righteous or just. So whenever you see the word just or righteous, you know, this is the word underlying it. It's to render a favorable verdict, to vindicate, like a judge declaring not guilty. It's a legal term, to be declared righteous. So most significantly, we find this in Paul's writings, and this is where we're gonna be looking tonight, is in the book of Romans specifically. Oh, and when we find this word in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word is tzadik, which means to declare righteous or justify, and we'll look at a passage in Isaiah 53, 11 tonight. So as Luther came to understand the doctrine of justification through looking at Romans, tonight we're gonna turn there and look at Romans as well. We'll be looking at several different passages. So turn with me to Romans 1. Romans 1, verse 16 and 17. And this is really Paul writing his thesis for the entire letter. This is what the letter's all about. Someone wanna read this for us? Alpha. So what do you notice about this verse? What is Paul saying? It's for everybody and it's all about faith. For everyone? It's by faith? It's to everyone who believes? Anyone else? Cut. Giving an explanation as to why he's willing to go through all the things of persecution and Where do you see that in the passage? Okay, not being ashamed. So it was sort of a motivation for how he lived his life. Yeah, that could be. I didn't think so much about that. Anyone else? It's about faith. Righteousness comes through faith. So Paul says he is not ashamed of the gospel, but why? Did you see that word in verse 16, for? Verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, why? This is his answer. For it is the power of God for salvation. So the reason he's confident is because he has something firm to place his trust on, some firm foundation he can stand on. When you have something firm to trust in, you can be secure that you're safe. Like if I'm in a big storm, some of these storms that have been happening, and I'm in a nice brick building, I can have confidence I'm gonna stay dry, I'm gonna be safe, I don't have anything to worry about. But if I'm out on the common in a little tent, and there's thunder and lightning and a torrential downpour, I cannot have too much confidence in that because that which I'm placing my confidence in is very shaky and not very stable. Paul says he knows the greatness of the gospel. That's why he's not ashamed. This is the reason. It is the power of God for salvation. It's powerful. It's mighty. It's a firm foundation. It's not just any power. It's the power belonging to God. So the God who spoke the universe into motion, This is where we see the true power of God. It's not when we look at the stars and billions of galaxies. It's not when we look at the ocean and how mighty and majestic it is. It's not when we look at all these incredible things in creation. Paul says the power of God is seen when you see a rebel sinner turn from his sin and turn to God. He says that's where the power of God's found. When you see someone who is destined for death turn to life, that's the power of God. And this is where God's most magnificent power is put on display. He says, in it, the gospel and in it, the righteousness of God is also put on display. So you see God's character is put on display through the gospel. But how is his character revealed? What does it say here? For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. Verse 17. But how is it revealed? From faith, for faith. What does that mean? Gotta believe it. Any other guesses? Yeah. So it's beginning from faith, beginning in faith, for faith, ending in faith. Something that's from faith, meaning from the faithfulness of Christ, ending in our faith, from the faith of Christ for our faith. So this is where the power of God's seen. This is where the righteousness of God is seen. For Habakkuk says, the righteous shall live by faith. When Luther read this and the Lord opened his eyes, he saw that he had peace with God solely through his faith and not his pious works. Paul says salvation is the power of God, but we need to understand what salvation is from. If I were to come in here tonight and say, I was saved today. It was incredible. Say, from what? I said, well, I was driving down the road. I was going 20 kilometers over the speed limit, and there was a speed trap coming up. And my friend in the passenger seat said, slow down. And so I slowed down and I avoided And I was saved from a ticket. Okay, so maybe that's a good thing. But if I were to tell you a similar story and said, today I was driving down the road going 20 kilometers over the speed limit, and I was not paying attention, and there was a red light, and there was a truck about to come through the intersection. And if I had gone through, I would have been killed. My friend said, stop! And I slammed on the brakes, and I was saved from death. That's a little bit better, isn't it? So it matters what you're saved from, and often we hear in Christianity, I was saved, but there's never any reference, often never any reference from what? What are we saved from? But I think Paul answers it in the very next verse, in verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. So what is it we're saved from? The wrath of God. What's God's wrath? What specifically do you, that stands out in this verse? And suppress the truth. They suppress the truth. If you see, look at the definition of salvation. Our answer is found over there. The definition of salvation. And what I like is when he says, salvation is a rescue from death and damnation and a restoration to Christ. That's very good. That's very good. Notice in verse 18 he says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven and it's against all ungodliness. oppressing against something. It's the ungodliness of men who by their unrighteousness are suppressing the truth. It says that God's nature is clearly seen through the creation. We can tell there's a God, yet people are still suppressing the truth. In verse 23, he says, they saw that God was the creator, yet they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images. resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Notice that this is a breaking of one of the first commands. Is it the second command? Shall not make any idols. They're now making idols. They're trading the glory of God for something their own hands have made. So God gave them up to sin. We see in verse 24, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts. to the dishonoring of their bodies. 26, for this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. 28, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind. So God gives them over to their sin. God's wrath is revealed and that he lets them continue on the trajectory they wanna be on. He lets them continue going from bad to worse. And so this is the plight, this is the danger they're in. 29, They're filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They're gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decrees that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval. to those who practice them. This is the danger they're in. They're under the wrath of God. They're in their sin. It's as if you have an army marching atop a hill, and they know there's this sheer drop-off coming, yet they continue marching. They're just marching off the end. They know that those who do such things deserve to die, and yet they're still going that direction. They're not stopping. They know death is coming, and they're heading straight for it. God lets them continue in their self-destructive rebellion. So in chapter 2, Paul now turns to the religious. He just looked at the whole world, and he says, the world's condemned. Now he turns in chapter 2 to the religious, to the Jews. Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. So notice here, he now says to the religious, he says, they're judging those who do other things, who are doing all those evil things, but they themselves are engaging in those practices. And he says specifically, you condemn yourself. What is condemnation? What does it mean to be condemned? To be judged, to be found guilty. Exactly. Cast out of the presence of God. It's the opposite verdict of to be justified. To be justified is declared righteous. To be condemned is to be declared guilty and deserving the punishment, often the death penalty. So Paul says this is the danger the world's in. They're guilty and they're under the wrath of God. This is the plight that the Jews or the religious people are in. They're condemned because they break the law of God as well. Now in chapter three, verse 10, Paul comes to the pinnacle of man's condemnation. He comes to this mountainous danger that all humanity is in. Three, verse 10. None is righteous, no, Not one. That means in all the world, every single person you see, there's not a single person who stands out as righteous. Not one, not a single one. They're under the judgment of God. Can someone read 11 through 18 for us? No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throats is open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift. in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before they are. So the mighty God who created everything now sees this creation, but every single person in creation has broken his commands and rebelled against him. As John MacArthur says, they're in danger of being thrown into the rubbish heap of the universe, hell. Jesus called it Gehenna, which is an unending fire heap that continually burned that people just took their rubbish to. This is what they're in danger of. The whole of humanity is part of this army marching off the cliff into the abyss, and they're still going, and they're going, and they're going. Now in verse 19, we see that God gave us his law to show us our sin and close our mouths of justifying ourself before him. John, would you read 19 to 20 for us? Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by working the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge obscene. So the law, what's the function of the law? What does Paul say here? It's to expose that sinfulness. It's to expose it where one of those people is marching straight towards condemnation. Anything else? Yeah. Brings awareness of our need of a Savior. It says we'll be held accountable to God so that the whole world may be held accountable. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. So it shows that they have a just condemnation, the eternal death penalty in hell. This is why doing good things can't save you, because it doesn't affect the fact that you've done so much crime and wickedness against God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified. To be justified is to be declared righteous. By works of the law, no one will be declared righteous. But if they stand on their own righteousness, they're in a world of trouble. For they broke his commandments. They dishonored him. They deserve the condemnation. Now, how can they be saved? How can they be saved? How can we be saved? This is where It's like a beautiful song breaking through, like hearing the birds chirping in the morning after the night. And this is where you get a glimmer of hope for the first time in Paul's letter. 3 verse 21. We want to start over here and we can read all the way through 26. Do you want to start until we get through the end of 26 going back this way? Sorry, 21 all the way through 26. 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 freely by His grace through the redemption that came through Jesus Christ. God put forward this propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because if His After all this condemnation of the first three chapters, where is the hope now? Where's the hope? Jesus Christ. How is the righteousness of God revealed? Through Jesus Christ. A rescuer has now come, the one man, Jesus Christ. Where were we? All sin and fall short of the glory of God. People were in danger when they broke God's commands. and they did not glorify him as they ought, rather they worshiped idols, but now they're justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Notice how Paul says in verse one, he says, the law and the prophets bear witness to it. Now, what's he talking about when he says the law and the prophets bear witness to it? What is the law? It's the word of God. What do you think more specifically when he says law? Maybe the 10 commandments. The built-in conscience. But when he says law and prophets, what does that sort of make you think of? The Old Testament scriptures, the law. What's the law? It's the first five books of the Bible. So where do we see this in the law that it's pointing forward to a deliverer? All points to Christ. What happens right after the fall? God gives what? What happens right after the fall? Aubrey? One will crush the serpent's head. This is where the righteousness of God is manifest in the law. There's coming a one who will bruise the head of the serpent. What else? Abraham. The call of Abraham, through you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Moses, what happens with Moses? The Passover happens, pointing forward to this future redemptive deliverance of God. What's the 10 commandments? Moses brings a covenant, and the covenant is, you have these stipulations, the 10 commandments to live by. You have the sacrificial system. Let's look at Deuteronomy 27, 15. And this is where it's kind of a strange passage, but it talks about the curses that come through breaking the law. Deuteronomy 27, verse 15. You can follow along with me. I'm not going to read the whole thing. I'm just going to read little bits of it. 27, 15. Cursed be the man who make a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord. 16. Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or mother. 17. Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark. 18. Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road. 19. Cursed be anyone who perverts justice due to the sojourner. 20. Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife because he has uncovered his father's nakedness. 21. Curse be anyone who lies with any kind of animal. 22, curse be anyone who lies with a sister, whether the daughter of his father. 23, curse be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law. 24, curse be anyone who strike down his neighbor in secret. 25, curse be anyone who take a bribe to shed innocent blood. And 26, curse be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. And the people shall say, amen. So curses, curses for breaking the law of God. Some of them are strange, but it's significant because the curse is coming because the people have broken the law of God. God knew when he inspired these words to be written through Moses, that he was writing his own death penalty. He knew that Israel would not live up to his holy standard and they would break the commandments. He knew that his covenant would be broken over and over again. He knew that Israel would have to be sent into exile because of their persistent disobedience and idolatry. Ultimately, he knew that he himself had to come and live as the faithful one who fulfilled the covenant to Israel. He knew that if his people were to be given the covenant blessings, then a perfect substitute had to come to fulfill the righteousness of the law and bear the condemnation of the law. So Jeremiah foretells of a future king, Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, five. This is after Israel has broken covenant and God's sending them into exile in Babylon. And yet amidst the judgment that God's sending on them, he gives this glimpse, this glimmer of hope. Jeremiah 23. Five and six. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he shall be called. The Lord is our righteousness. So notice something, who is this future deliverer? Christ, but what were the Jews thinking at this time? He says a righteous branch, he shall reign as king. So they're thinking there's a future king who's coming. So another man who's gonna be king. But the significant thing is that this man is called the Lord is our righteousness. How can a man be called the Lord is our righteousness? He can't unless he's the God man, unless he's the divine son of David. But they didn't know this at this time. This would be the one whom they would call Christ, which Christ, all that means is the anointed one, the one anointed as King who is coming. He would be their righteousness. Now remember the covenant curses, which Deuteronomy 27, 26 says, Paul picks this up in Galatians 3, verse 10. He comments on this very verse, this curse from Deuteronomy. I just find it interesting that the prophecy talks about Israel separately from Judah. At the time of Jeremiah, Israel was long exiled. Yeah. Judah was partly already exiled, weren't they? Yeah. So this must have been an amazing prophecy to the people. Yeah, there'd be someone who'd come back to deliver the northern and the southern kingdoms. I mean, that should also give you a clue that it's not just an ordinary man. Yeah. Yeah. Something radical is going to take place in this future deliverer. Galatians 3.10. Commenting on Deuteronomy 27, for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. Sound familiar? It's what we just read in Deuteronomy. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. but the law is not a faith. Rather, the one who does them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. So Paul lays it out clearly that no one is declared righteous by the law because the law So when Paul says the law and the prophets bear witness to this, this is what the law is bearing witness to. You're cursed under the law. Yet there's one coming who will bear the curse for you and who will extend the blessing of Abraham to you. Also from the first five books of the Bible from the law. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Now, when did the prophets foretell of this? One significant passage is Isaiah 53. Look at verse four through 11. Isaiah foretells of a suffering servant 700 years before the time of Christ. Isaiah 53, verse four. And we'll read 4 through 7. Can we pick up where we stopped with John? Go 4 through 7 until we get through the end of 7. For this peace, and with these wounds, we are healed. He was oppressed. Wait, are we at seven? Six. Sorry. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Are we going to seven? Yeah, seven. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb who is led to be slaughtered by her sheep. He is put into grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring, and he shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. So here we see in this prophecy that there's a man who is coming, or there's one who is coming who would bear the weight of the condemnation. What does it say? He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Verse six, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. So he stands in the place of judgment for the entire human race, bearing the brunt of the wrath of God. The fury of the just wrath of God was coming down upon mankind, yet Jesus stood in humanity's place as their substitute. Now look at verse 11 with me. This is significant for the topic of justification. It says, out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. When Isaiah says, the righteous one make many to be righteous, he uses the Hebrew word tzadik to declare righteous. When the Greeks translated this into Greek, they use the word dikayao, which is the same word Paul picks up in his writings when he says, justify. This is what God does in justification. He bears the wrath in our behalf, and he declares us righteous through the work of Christ. We see it in Romans 3, 23 to 24. All have sinned and are justified, declared righteous by his grace. Paul says it again in Galatians 2, 16. We know that a person is not justified, declared righteous by works of the law. but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified, declared righteous by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be declared righteous. So the suffering servant of Isaiah gives his life to bear the iniquities of his people. He makes many to be accounted righteous. Paul says we're declared righteous by faith in Christ Jesus. He's the one who makes us right by dying in our place. What exactly is involved in this process of justification to be declared righteous? Paul says the world is condemned, so obviously it's not anything in and of ourselves. So what's involved in this process of justification? What does it take to bring us from condemnation to righteousness? Awareness of sin, repentance. Grace of God. They have the righteousness placed upon them. Exactly. Declared righteous. That's right. So there are two things that happen in justification. So you have this massive debt of sin that deserves the condemnation, the wrath of God. And so your sins must be taken away. And then a second thing needs to happen. You must be given the righteousness of Christ. So in justification, two things take place. God thinks of our sins as being forgiven and belonging to Christ. It's what we call imputation. Our sins are imputed to Christ on the cross. And the second thing, God thinks of Christ's righteousness as belonging to us. It's imputed to us. This is demonstrated in Romans 4. Romans 4, verse 7 to 8, we first see that God thinks of our sins as being forgiven. And we see this doctrine through the word counted. That's very significant. That's where we get this doctrine of imputation. Romans four, verse seven. This is where our sins are considered as not belonging to us. This is what David says. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. So your sin's not counted to you anymore. It's counted to another. And as we've seen in the prophets, that was through Christ bearing the iniquity of us all. So this would be like, as we said, finding yourself in massive debt. Imagine finding yourself in 300 billion Rand debt. Pretty significant. And some generous benefactor comes along and he sees your family and he has mercy on them. So he covers your debt. He pays your debt. Now what's happened? You've gone from 300 billion in debt to Zero. Okay, so that's good. Your record was wiped out, but now you still have something that's lacking. You don't have anything positive to your account. You just have the negative taken away and brings you back to zero. That's the first part of imputation. Your sin is taken away. Your sin is given to another, to Christ. And when Jesus died on the cross, he cried out. it is finished, which is a declaration that could mean to be paid in full, that it's done, the debt is wiped out, it's paid. So this tremendous debt was paid as Christ suffered on the cross. But secondly, God thinks of Christ's righteousness as belonging to you. Look at Romans 4, verse 3. Just jump up a couple verses, and we'll see this. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. So Abraham's belief gives him the righteousness of God. And it says in verse five, and to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. So now when you believe in Jesus, when you trust in Jesus, now you have all the righteousness of Christ being placed into your account. It's considered to him who trusts in who? What is God called here in verse five? Him who justifies the ungodly. It's interesting. God's the one who justifies the ungodly. God's the one who declares righteous the ungodly. And that's the one we place our faith in. Now, here in the story of Abraham, it says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. When did that happen in Abraham's life? Do you remember the story? It was before he was going to sacrifice Isaac. Yeah, so shall your offspring. Yeah, he's, his wife is barren. He can't have any children. And he says to the Lord, I'm just going to give you my servant here, Eliezer. And, uh, was it Eliezer? My servant Eliezer, he's going to be the offspring in Genesis 15. And God says, no, that's not the way it's going to be. You're not gonna accomplish this through your means. And he takes him outside, shows him the stars, says, if you can count and number the stars, so shall your offspring be. And he believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. So what does Abraham do? He trusts in the promises of God. And he's the sort of the example of how we're to be as Christians. He believed in the provision of God. that through him all the families of the earth would be blessed, even though his wife was barren, and he was getting older and older and older. And it wasn't until he was, what, 90, 100, that the Lord actually fulfilled that promise. So it's incredible. Yet what does Romans 4 verse 20 say? No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. This is why it was counted to him as righteousness. And here's where it applies to us. But the words it was counted to him were not for his sake alone, but for ours also. it will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. So Abraham gives us an example. He believes in the promises of God. And now we too are to believe in the promises of God. But what are the promises of God that we're to believe in? What does it say? What do we believe in? Yeah, we believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. What's that? He's the soon coming King. Yeah, so this promise is a thousand times greater than the promise of Abraham. Through your offspring, all the families of the earth would be blessed. So he trusted the Lord for that promise. And actually, This is where that promise actually is beginning to come true. Through Christ, through this one, the offspring of Abraham, he was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification so that the blessing of God could extend to all the families of the earth. So now Abraham shows us how we're declared righteous before God. We trust in the promises of God. So it's now like after having that 300 billion Rand debt, erased from us. Now that same benefactor gives us a hundred trillion Rand and he makes us a part of his family. And now we're heirs of his family. That's incredible because now you have the riches of that person in your account. And that's what happens when you believe you're given the riches of Christ. It's counted to you. It's imputed to you. And that's how we're set right before God. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, is probably the clearest place we see this really stated. And here Paul is discussing his ministry of reconciliation. He says, we're ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. And now he explains in verse 21, 521, 2 Corinthians, He explains what this ministry of reconciliation is. What is the reconciliation he's preaching? For our sake he, God, made him, Christ, to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him, in Christ, we might become the righteousness of God. So what's taking place there? An exchange. It's a great exchange. What's being exchanged? Our sin for Christ's righteousness. He's taking our filth and he's giving us his riches. It's an incredible, incredible teaching. In the redemption, God thinks of our sin as belonging to Christ on the cross. And he thinks of Jesus' righteousness as belonging to us. And that's how you stand right before God. That's why your works mean nothing. Wow. You told a thousand people about Jesus. My son came and he died on the cross and he extended righteousness to the entire creation. He makes wicked sinners now part of his family. He makes them adopted. He gives them the spirit. He destines them for glory. He makes them fellow heirs with Christ. And wow, you told all these people about Christ. That's great. That brings glory and honor to me. But that's not going to get you into heaven. That just shows people that you've been changed by the grace of God. Something was explained to us years ago, that it's as if God gives you that check. Millions, billions, trillions. And he says, That he is who he says he is. That's how we please God. That's what faith means. And that is how you bank that check. That's how they explained it. It's a good illustration. Because the check can be there, but if you don't take it and put it in your bank account, it means nothing. Yeah, if you don't trust in the provision of God, it's not going to be applied to you. And that's significant. That's very significant. Paul says in Romans 4, 5, and to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. So how, we just talked about this, but how is this work received? How is the righteousness of Christ received? By faith, sola fide, one of the battle cries of the Reformation, faith alone. The one who believes in Him who justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted as righteousness. And that's how we become acceptable to God the Father. Exactly. He looks to us and He doesn't see me and my son. He sees Jesus Christ. You're hid in the righteousness of Christ. It's not your own righteousness. Anyone else have any thoughts? So faith. It's interesting in the world today, a lot of people feel proud of themselves for having faith. Like, I have my faith. And most of the time that doesn't mean anything at all. They just have faith in faith. It doesn't have any real object to it. It's just sort of a nebulous faith. But what is our faith in? Our faith is in a faithful object. Our faith is in the God who justifies. Everyone in the world has faith, even the person who's depressed and says, I've lost faith and everything. They still have faith. They wake up every morning expecting the ground below them to hold them up. They expect the sun to rise, the sun to set. They expect their eyes to function and be able to see. They expect the laws of nature to still work. And even an atheist like Richard Dawkins who sort of boasts about the fact that he doesn't have faith, meaning sort of just a intellectual thing where he says, yeah, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. But it doesn't have any object. He says, oh, no, he has confidence. I have confidence in the scientific method. What's that based on? That's based on the laws of nature. It's based on the laws of logic. But where do laws come from? They come from a law giver. Everyone has faith in something. Yeah, confidence is confide. R.C. Sproul explains it. It's with faith. So I don't have faith, I have confidence. Okay, so you have faith. It's just Latin for faith. But this is how we're set right with God. Yet what is our faith founded in? It's founded in the faithful work of a Savior who died in your place. As Christ hung on the cross, He held the universe and He sustained the universe in His hands. He held the beating of the heart of His enemies who were crucifying Him in His hands. He sustained those who whipped Him. He sustained those who nailed Him to the cross. He sustained those nails so they could hold him to the cross, and he willingly suffered the wrath of God on our behalf. So we had a willing sacrifice, one who's powerful, who's holding the universe in motion, yet he's bearing the wrath of God on himself. And what do people slander him and say? Can't he who's healed the sick bring himself down off the cross? Yeah, he could wipe the universe out with one word. With one word, he could call a legion of angels down, and yet he's there willingly sacrificing himself. He says, no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. That's where our confidence is in. And this is why Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Because this is where God extends his righteousness. So just quickly, throughout Romans, we see the doctrine of justification emphasized. Paul teaches justification to be declared righteous in the sight of God, not on the basis of works, but by faith, in 3.22-26, and in 4 that we looked at. After Paul greets the Roman believers, he lays out his thesis, the gospel is the power of God, and through it, the righteous shall live by faith. So God's answer to our sin, shame, and depravity is justification, a declaration of righteousness that comes about through the righteous, redemptive life of Christ. The Jews and Romans at this time, they lived in an honor, shame-based culture where the Jews thought, or the Greeks thought themselves superior because they were wise. They had all this wisdom. And the Jews thought they were superior because they were the people of God and they observed the law. Yet Paul says, there's no distinction. No one is righteous. All have sinned and fall short of the true honor, which is the glory of God. And they're under his just condemnation. We saw that in the first three chapters. After this, Abraham shows us that imputed righteousness comes by faith. David speaks of the blessing of being forgiven, of our sins being not counted against us. And Abraham gives us an example of how the righteous live. Namely, they trust in the promises of God. He believes in the promises that God make him the father of many nations. Now the practical application of this in chapter five, we see we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Right standing before God means that we face life differently. We even rejoice in our sufferings. For our true honor comes through God. We now boast in our sufferings, which the world sees as shameful. We now have reconciliation with God through Christ. We now have the power to overcome sin in chapter six through Jesus. We now have a right standing before God that removes the condemnation of the law in chapter eight. God now gives us a spirit so that we're freed from the curse of sin. And so that we might be obedient to God by the spirit. He now guarantees that we'll be children of God. And significantly in 8, chapter 8, verse 29, this is kind of part of his conclusion. Chapter 8, verse 29, or verse 28 rather. Aubrey, can you read 28 for us and John 29? John, you're there? I'm reading verse 29 of Romans chapter 8. Do you want to read it? Kyle, you can read 28. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose, And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. So this is Paul's sort of a summary point after talking about this glorious doctrine of gospel justification. We know that all things work together for good for those who love God. Sorry, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. Why? For those who are called according to his purpose. So how do we know all things work together for good? He gives us the basis in verse 29. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. How do we know all things work together in the present? Because before eternity and eternity passed, God foreknew us, God predestined us. God meant our good. in the beginning, before the world was created, in order that He might conform us to the image of His Son. 30. Those whom He predestined, He called. Presently, He called us to salvation. And those whom He called, He also justified. He declared us righteous. And in our future, He means our good, too. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. That means our assurance of being in heaven someday with resurrected bodies with Christ is sure. God meant our good in eternity past. He meant our good when He died on the cross. He means our good in the future. Now we know all things work together for good because He meant our good then, now, and forever. Of course He means our good. So this is where our hope is. This is where the glory of God is. So verse 33. 35. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who is raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Know in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. So it says, who can condemn us? God is the one who decrees the verdict. God is the one who justifies. And that is where our hope lies. There's this amazing letter written about 130 AD to 200 AD. It's called the Letter to Diognetus. It's one of the earliest Christian apologists. And he wrote this to a non-believer, and here's what he says. He lays out the doctrine of justification very clearly, which is interesting because people say justification didn't come about until the time of the Reformation. But this is early church fathers, and this is what he says. But when our unrighteousness was fulfilled and it had been made perfectly clear that its wages, punishment and death were to be expected, then the season arrived during which God had decided to reveal at last his goodness and power. Oh, the surpassing kindness and love of God. He did not hate us or reject us or bear a grudge against us. Instead, he was patient and forbearing. In His mercy, He took upon Himself our sins. He gave Himself up in His own Son as a ransom for us, the Holy One for the lawless, the guiltless for the guilty, the just for the unjust, the incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the mortal, for what else but His righteousness could have covered our sins? And whom was it possible for us, the lawless and the ungodly, to be justified, except in the Son of God alone? Oh, the sweet exchange. Oh, the incomprehensible work of God. Oh, the unexpected blessing that the sinfulness of many should be hidden in one righteous man, while the righteousness of one should justify many sinners. It's incredible. Letter to Diognetus, written before 200 AD. So what does this mean for us today? It means we have peace with God. We're reconciled to a right relationship with God. We have the power to overcome sin through His work on our behalf. There's no condemnation. Every circumstance we face, we know God has our good in mind. Christ is our only hope in life. And that's what Paul teaches in the letters to the Romans.