The Lord of hosts is on our side, our safety to secure. The crown of Jacob is for us, a refuge strong and sure. I want to call your attention to the Word of God and to Lord's Day 23. In the back of your Psalter hymnal, it's page 30. On page 30, I'd like for you to follow along as I read those questions and answers. We want to look at God's Word in Romans 4, and we will turn to that in just a moment. But we want to reflect this morning on the joy of being justified by faith. And these questions and answers here are so very, very important. What a tremendous blessing and joy they are for us as we see these truths. So, listen as I read Lord's Day 23. The various articles of the Apostles' Creed have been covered thus far in the catechism. And then in question 59, what good does it do you, however, to believe all this? In Christ I am right with God and heir to life everlasting. And then if you would respond to this question, how are you right with God? Only by true faith in Jesus Christ even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, Nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, and as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart. Why do you say that by faith alone you are right with God? It is not because of any value my faith has that God is pleased with me. Only Christ's satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness make me right with God. And I can receive this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than by faith alone. Now we shall turn in our Bibles to Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. I want to begin reading at verse 13 and shall read through verse 25. The last few verses, verses 23 through 25, are our text. And so I begin reading at Romans 4 at verse 13. It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value, and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath, and where there is no law, there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations. He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed. The God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed, and so became the father of many nations. Just as it has been said to him, so shall your offspring be. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why it was credited to him as righteousness. The words it was credited to him were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness. For us who believe in him, who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. These words, then, the words that were credited to Him were written not for Him alone, but also for us to whom God will credit righteousness, for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. I know that for many of you the parable that Jesus taught of the young man who left his family, who left his hometown, The story that Jesus told of that young man who wasted his inheritance on riotous, evil living is a story that many of you know. It is a story about the grace of God. As you know, that young man wasted everything, and yet the Bible says that when he came to his senses, that means he came to be repentant of his sins, he returned home. And you notice what the father did. Boys and girls, the father accepted him back with open arms, joyful arms. He put the new robe on him. He killed the fatted calf. And he had a great welcome to this man. And of course, that account is about the grace of God because that father pictures for us what our Lord God does for us in Christ. I want to talk to you this morning about Jesus' grace. We want to do that because it's so important continually to be reminded of the grace of God to us. There is no more important thing for us to understand completely that we are saved by the grace of Christ alone. Our crimes, we might say, are a far lot worse than that young man who wasted everything. And yet we are taken back by the God whom we have offended. And that is what I want to speak to you about this morning, this business of the undeserved favor of God. It's so important for all of us to understand these matters so very clearly. These questions here in this Lord's Day are so very important for us because they focus really on the heart of the Gospel. It asks, how are you right with God? And this is such a very important question for us to grasp hold of. And when you understand this, You have grasped hold of the very heart of the Gospel. I want to ask it this way. Are you saved by what you do? Are you saved by what Christ does? Or are you saved by a combination of what Christ does and what you do? Very, very important question. How are you right with God? And we want to look at two things this morning. We want to look, first of all, at my sin, which is an impossible barrier. And then we want to look at Christ's righteousness. Christ's righteousness, which is certainly the perfect provision. It is true, people of God, that if you grasp hold of what the Bible calls justification. You have grasped hold of the heart and the focus of the gospel of Jesus. The questions that face us here in the catechism are so very, very important. The catechism comes to that place where it says, now what does this mean to all of you? You've been studying the Word of God. You've been studying about the work of the Father in creating. You've been studying about Jesus Christ who is our Redeemer. You've been studying about the Holy Spirit who takes the work of Christ and applies it to you as believers. And then the catechism says, well, so what? What good does this do for you to know all this stuff? And that's a very important question for us, isn't it? It's a personal question. So you've been learning all this Christian truth through all of your life. Some of you young, but some of you old. Let us say that you're 60, 70 years old. The question comes to you, so what? You've been taught all of this through the years. Now what does that mean to you, really? And you see the catechism is really probing then to this question, do you know personally that living relationship with Christ Jesus in which you can say, yes, I am right with God? And so you can begin to see that this is a very important question. Most religious or philosophical systems try to answer that question some way or another. And we can understand why. We as human beings are made to be religious beings. We are made in the image of God. In contrast to the rest of God's creation, we are made in His image and therefore we, to some extent, know God. Everybody knows God. Romans 1 is very clear about that. So that on the Day of Judgment, nobody can say, You know, you can't hold me accountable because I didn't even know you existed. Everybody knows there's a God, and to some extent, everyone knows the standard that God has set out for people. So it's very logical then to think along the lines that everybody would ask the question in some form or fashion, how can I be right with God? Because you see, there is this sense in mankind that God is holy and we don't match up to His standard. He is holy. We are unholy. The Bible speaks about suppressing this truth, this knowledge of God. Romans 1 uses the word that indicates that people try to hold down this truth. I would suggest that it is something like a big pot of water, and you bring that water to a boil, and there's a cover on that pot, and the steam keeps pushing out of there. And man, like that cover on the top of that boiling pot of water, tries to hold down this knowledge, but he cannot do that. Calvin alluded to the fact that we are incurably religious. So that you see, in this incurably religious state, we ask the question, well, then how am I to be right with God? The ethically moral person says, the guy over there, he sins, but I'm good. I think that this is probably the widest kind of understanding of this question. People say we are basically good. We may make mistakes, of course, but, you know, everybody makes mistakes, right? So people say to us, morally, we're pretty good people. After all, I haven't robbed a bank. After all, I haven't killed anybody. Those people over there, you see, behind the prison walls, maybe they've done all of that stuff. But we are pretty good people. We are basically good people. And because we're good people, obviously God should show His favor to us. There are other people who would suggest that after all, we are people who are involved. And if you are involved either in your church or in your community, well, certainly God is not going to bring you into judgment for those kinds of things. I'm involved in church activities. I'm involved with community activities. So I may not be able to be right with God on my own, but if I cooperate with God, If I do something for God, isn't God in the business of blessing those who bless Him? Doesn't God help those who help themselves? And certainly you've heard people say that to you as well. There are other people who would suggest in answer to the question, how are you right with God? They tell us that I'm right with God because of the good things that I do. You see, extra special service. After all, I pray. And I send cards to people who are sick. I might even send flowers to somebody who is ill. I care about other people. And if I haven't done enough good deeds, then probably extra-holy people have some extra merits upon which I can depend so that on the Day of Judgment, you see, I can borrow a few of these brownie points and certainly God is not going to judge me. I will be right with God because of what I have done. And it's very crucial for me to say this morning that all such people who depend upon what they do to make themselves right with God are not right with God. Because the Bible teaches us that even the holiest of things that we do are as bloody, dirty, filthy rags in the sight of God. So there is nothing that we can do to make us right with God. You see, the question that man often asks is this, what can I do to make myself right with God? And when you ask that wrong question, you will always result in arriving at the wrong answer. There is no joy, there is no assurance, because you never know if you've done enough to please God. I had a woman in my congregation who has now since gone home to be with the Lord, who was converted from Roman Catholicism. And this lady, I think, put it very nicely when she told about her going to the Mass. That's the Roman Catholic form of the Lord's Supper, I'm sure that many of you know. She said to me, in summary of what it meant to be an unbeliever, she said, after I took the Mass and drove out of the driveway of the Roman Catholic Church, I said to God, okay, I can die. If you want to have me die in an accident or however you want me to die, I'm willing to die because you see, I've just had God's grace. And she said, a couple of days in the week, She would say to God, please God, don't let me die now because I don't have the assurance. I've got to go back to the Mass once again, you see. And continually, this woman lived in the fear of dying until she came to understand something about the righteousness of Jesus Christ given to us. How long will it take before some people come to understand that it is impossible for us to make ourselves right with God? How long will it be before some people come to understand that there is an impossible barrier between God and us because of our sins? The Bible describes sin in several ways. It describes sin as a great debt, a debt that we cannot pay. You think the national debt is huge. I live in California where the California state is bankrupt. They have a huge debt. But you know, the national debt is but a drop in the bucket next to the debt that we have before Almighty God. And it increases daily. You can't pay anything off and it increases all the time. That's what sin is. The Bible tells us that sin is falling short of the glory of God. And again, it is like a person, however high you can jump, trying to jump to the moon. You always fall short of the glory of God. The Bible describes sin as something that deeply grieves God. It is an offense before the face of God. And that offense needs to be satisfied. And we cannot satisfy that offense before God. We do not deserve saving. That's the point. Sin at its essence means that you and I are enemies of God. That's the way the Bible describes it in Romans 5. You and I are enemies of God. And you see, it is the case that we hate God and God is deeply offended by our sins. The sooner that we realize this, the sooner that we will cry out for the mercy of God. And you see, it's because of our sin then that what we do can never save us. What we do will always be inadequate. And Paul says that's even the case with Abraham. You have to catch this people of God, says the Apostle Paul. This is the case even with Abraham. Paul cites Abraham as the prime example of somebody, if we could be made right with God by what we do, to be the man who would be right with God. Look at him. Here's this great man of faith. The Bible calls him a friend of God. So that if we could be right with God, certainly Abraham would have a chance. He'd have the best chance. Some of you as young people have some small jobs perhaps of babysitting or mowing lawns or what have you, doing chores. And whoever you work for pays you some wages. You do some work, you get paid for it. But is there anybody here who deserves the grace of God in view of our sinfulness? You see, if we did part of obtaining the merit before God, we would have a right to have wages. But who deserves the privilege of being right with God? Not one of us. Not even Abraham. That's the point. So that our sin is this great barrier, this impossible barrier. between us and God that we cannot break down. And I have very good news for you. I have very good news. I don't have to save myself. I don't have to save myself. I don't have to work. I don't have to strive. I don't have to struggle to be right with God. Neither do you. That's the glorious news of the Gospel. We don't have to run here and there and everywhere to try to find the answer. The answer is in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. You see, that is what the Apostle Paul wants to bring home to our attention. That's the message of this text. When Martin Luther read this text, he said, in these verses the whole of Christianity is comprehended. And he's right. Paul is telling us to look at Abraham. Abraham, the chief figure in the Old Testament, looked ahead in faith to the coming work of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. He laid hold in faith upon that work. He was made righteous because of Jesus Christ. And He took that work of Christ by faith. And you and I who stand on this side of the cross, in fact, do the very same thing. We look backward on the work of the Lord Jesus and we lay hold in faith upon that work which delivers us from all of our sins. But the point is this, that all of history focuses upon Jesus Christ. He was the One, the Apostle says here, who delivered us from all of our sins and was raised for our justification. That's good news. That's the joy of being a Christian. I want you to understand two things about the death of the Lord Jesus. First of all, it was planned by God. The death of our Lord Jesus was planned by God. It was part of the Father's plan of our redemption to send His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world to die on the cross and to purchase us. Jesus' death was no accident. It was in perfect fulfillment of God's plan for you and me as believers. The other thing that we need to understand is not only was it planned by God, but Jesus' death is a substitutionary death. Christ substituted for us. When Jesus died on the cross, He died in our place as the sin bearer. You see, because we are sinners, we deserve to die. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, did not deserve to die. We deserve the eternal fires of hell. But Christ suffered that torment there on the tree of the cross. He was delivered up for our offenses. That's the glory of the Gospel. And whatever person, whatever church, whatever idea, overlooks the substitutionary death of our Lord Jesus Christ, does not proclaim the gospel at all. That's the beauty of it. Plan of God. Jesus substituting for us. But He also rose again for our justification. You see, you and I are not only united to Jesus Christ inseparably in His death, But we are united inseparably with Christ also in His resurrection so that the resurrection is God's announcement that He is fully satisfied with the work of Christ on our behalf. And as a result of the work of Christ, the Bible says we are justified. We are declared righteous, pure, holy in God's sight. See, God takes Jesus' perfection, His obedience, His death, His payment for our sins, His resurrection. He takes the value of all that and He places it onto our account, onto our record, so that we are not saved by what we do. We are saved by the righteousness of Christ given to us. That's the gospel. And that's why this answer in the Catechism is so very precious to us. How are you right with God? Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments, and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ as if I had never sinned or been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. You see the value of this people of God. It is as it were that God takes our record in heaven full of black sin and He washes it completely of all the sins that we have ever committed. And then He takes the perfect righteousness of Christ and He places it on our account so that when God looks at our book in heaven, It is as if I had never sinned. It is as if I had perfectly obeyed God in every way. That's the marvelous truth, the good news. We are justified in God's sight. Oh, what tremendous assurance that gives to us. What a relief! We can't do it ourselves. Christ has done it all for us, you see. It's not a righteousness that comes from within us. It's a righteousness that's alien that comes from without to us. So our record stands pure and holy in the sight of God forever. It cannot be changed. Perhaps there is someone here this morning who is carrying a heavy burden. Maybe the guilt of your sin has so weighed you down that you are struggling to be right with God. This is something that you do not know inside. Maybe you know in your head. Maybe you've heard these truths for years in and years out. But you have no happiness this morning. You have no true joy. You have no assurance for the future. Maybe you are hiding behind the facade of working your own way to God. Perhaps you have fallen far away from God. Perhaps today your heart is filled with anxiety. You are miserable inside. That's the way it is with people who do not know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I call upon you this morning in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to believe in His work, to stop this fruitless effort of working your way to God, because it will never work. I guarantee you it will never work. But I also guarantee to you When you place your faith in Christ Jesus, He will save you to the uttermost. He will replace that guilt with true peace. And He will give you an assurance that lasts in this life and throughout eternity. For those of you who do know that assurance, rejoice in it. Be grateful for it. Let your thankfulness never cease, but always grow. Because we are saved by grace and we are saved by grace alone. And when we understand this business of grace alone, it undermines all of our pride. It takes away all of our hateful spirit. It fosters true humility. and offers to God a sweet-smelling sacrifice of praise, you see. And that's what God calls us to do, to offer our lives in obedience and praise to God, not to get His salvation. We already have it in Jesus. But because we have it, we are so grateful that that gratitude spills over into every part of life. There is a joy in our hearts because we've been acquitted. We've been set free from the power of sin. And our record is entirely clean and pure and holy. God looks at us as if we had never sinned. If God looks at you that way, then don't sin anymore. Live a righteous and holy life before the face of God to show Him who you are in Jesus. A person transformed by His grace. A person renewed by the Holy Spirit who lives in you and who lives in me. If you are justified, live like it. Live a life that is well-pleasing to God because you love Him, because you want to serve Him, because you've been given a purpose to live for Him. May the Lord bless you as you truly consider the Gospel of Jesus and what it means for your daily living. Let us pray together. Merciful God and Father, we thank You for the perfection of Christ given to us, placed upon our record, imputed to us. We realize that in and of ourselves we are not only sinful, but we are helpless to do anything about it. But in Christ we have the perfect provision. We have all that we need, all that we would wish to have. We have been set free because of our great Redeemer. We thank You, Father, that though we have a sinful record before You in and of ourselves, You have washed that record completely and You have placed upon it the perfection of our Lord Jesus Christ. O Lord, we praise You for Your awesome mercy and Your grace, for You have not given us what we've deserved, but You have given to us what we didn't deserve. O Lord in Heaven, help us to be grateful. Help us to show that in our daily lives, our respect to our parents, those who are in authority over us, in our worship before You from Sunday to Sunday, in our daily lives, in our business, in our activities, in our work. Lord, in all that we do within the context of our families, help us, Lord, to reflect the glory of Christ, because it is He who has redeemed us for His purposes, for His own glory. Thank You, Father, for Your Gospel. May it be impressed upon our minds by Your Spirit this morning. In the name of Christ we pray, Amen. Shall we turn together to number 439 to sing praise to God for His great redemption? We sing together number 439 after which The deacons will come forward to take our morning offerings, first of all, for the general fund, and then for Central Wisconsin Christian Schools. But let us rise now to sing the four stanzas of 439. I will sing of my Redeemer and His wondrous love in me. Under whom a cross He suffered, from the curse He set me free. O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Tell the wondrous story How thy lost slave was saved In His boundless love and mercy He the ransom freely gave Sing, O sing of my Redeemer With His blood, He purchased me. Under cross, He sealed my trial. He protected me, made me free. You pray, my dear Redeemer, His triumphs and power I'll tell. All the names are He given, over sin and death and hell. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer. With His blood He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my heart. In the depths that make me free. I will sing of my Redeemer, And His heavenly love to me. He from death to life has brought me, Son of God, bring him to me. He will sing of my Redeemer, with His blood He purges me. On the cross He sealed my bondage, In the time that made me free. you. You. I'm a man of my word. I'm a man of my word. I'm a man of my word. You. you you you you you you And now, people of God, will you stand to receive from the Lord His parting blessing. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. Amen. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet All in heaven above And all in thanks On earth's own way With everlasting love And all in thanks On earth's own way With everlasting love you you I know I've been through a lot I know I've been through a lot I know I've been through a lot I know I've been through a lot I know I've been through a lot I know I've been through a lot I know I've been through a lot I know I've been through a lot