We shall now turn to Romans chapter four, and our text for tonight is verse five. Romans chapter four, verse five. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Now it's important for us from time to time to look at our own life, to examine it and to question ourselves. To look inward and to assess our own state in the presence of God. God is holy and God hates sin. Romans chapter 3 tells us about man by nature. We're told, verse 10, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher, with their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace. Have they not known? There is no fear of God before their eyes. What do we have there? We have a description of every unconverted person. And it's a terrible description. Terrible wickedness. By nature, we're dead in trespasses and sins. So that's our unconverted state. But now what about us as Christians, as those who are born again? If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. But how new are we? Old things have passed away. Behold, all things are made new. But we still sin, don't we? A huge change took place. And yet, and yet, we ought to be different. The Holy Spirit has come into our hearts. We've been sanctified and we are being sanctified. We were transformed from being sinners into being saints. And yet, are we not sinful, sinful saints? Very different to what we should be. Is there not pride in our hearts? Boasting, arrogance, self? Pride is a common sin. Every man and woman in this world, every Christian in this world is tempted to pride. And we'll never get complete victory over pride until we enter heaven. Pride. And then there's hypocrisy. Hypocrisy, pretense. Pretending that we're better than we are. It's easy for us to put on a face, to put on a show in public. Hypocrisy, covetousness, jealousy, greed. Deciding what others have, envying others. Anger. losing our temper, resentful, sulky, lust, how common it is, lust. We're to look into our own hearts. And as I look into my heart, I can see my besetting sins. What are your besetting sins? You don't have to tell me, but it's important to tell yourself. And it's important also to tell God. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But what happens if we don't confess our sins? Have we got any right to believe that we're going to be forgiven if we don't confess our sins? We have to face up to the sort of person we are. Confess and repent. Repent before the Lord and grieve before him and claim the blood of Christ. and keep claiming the blood of Christ. And it's as we come to Christ, and as we see what our sins caused Christ to suffer on the cross, that's when we truly repent. And we see the awfulness of sin as that which nailed our holy savior to the tree. Come down from the cross and we believe in you, they said. But he couldn't come down because our sins nailed him to that tree. He couldn't come down until the price was paid. He had to die because the wages of sin is death. How awful sin is, the sin that caused such suffering to Christ. So friends, let us look into our hearts, see our sin, plead with God to sanctify us, to enable us to die to sin, to crucify sin and the flesh. Rejoice in the Saviour at the same time. Praise God for the shed blood of Calvary, the blood that cleanseth us from all sin. So then, in looking at this passage today, the first thing I want you to particularly notice is that God justifies the ungodly. That's quite a surprising statement in and of itself. Who does God justify? The ungodly. That's what it says here. to him, on him, believing on him that justifieth the ungodly. If there was a judge here on earth who justified the criminal, we would think that would be terrible. Think of somebody who was a rapist, a child abuser, and the judge says, oh, it's all right. Or the judge accepts a bribe. We would be scandalised, wouldn't we? Here's this fellow who's done these horrible things to children and he's been let off. The judge justifies him. The judge excuses him. Somebody who's murdered a little girl and it's okay. Justifying the criminal would surely be a criminal activity in himself. But here we have the holy God justifying the criminal, justifying the ungodly. That's the amazing gospel that we have. It's not a gospel for the righteous or the good or the best. It's a gospel for the worst. It's a gospel for sinners. A gospel for people like you and me, if your eyes have been opened to see what you're really like, and the loathsomeness of your own sinful heart. A gospel for the worst of sinners. Think of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus, a chief among the publicans. These publicans, tax collectors, who were traitors to God's people on the side of the Romans and plundering their own people, demanding huge taxes in order to enrich themselves. And there's Zacchaeus with his big palace that he's built by oppressing his fellow Jews. And yet Zacchaeus, Jesus says, come down, for I must abide at thy house. How can he go to the house of a sinner like Zacchaeus? I came to seek and to save that which was lost. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He justifies sinners. That's what he does. Think of the woman in Luke chapter seven. Simon the Pharisee is looking on as this woman comes, and she's weeping at Jesus' feet, washing his feet with her tears, and kissing his feet, and Simon the Pharisee thinks, if that man, if that man was a good man, if he were a prophet, he would know the sort of woman that is. Filthy, sinful woman. He wouldn't let her anywhere near him. But Jesus knew what she was like. A notorious sinner. And he lets her come and kiss his feet and anoint him with ointment. She who is forgiven much, loves much. Simon, you don't think you're forgiven anything. And you don't love me. You never showed any love to me when I came into your house. You didn't welcome me with a kiss. You didn't give me water to wash my dusty feet. You didn't anoint me with ointment, my head. And she has even anointed my feet with ointment, with perfume. Or we think of Manasseh in the Old Testament, the most wicked king of Judah. Why were the Jews taken into exile in Babylon? Because of Manasseh. Manasseh who was born to a godly father and yet Manasseh who went so far astray and who led Israel astray and closed the doors of the temple and set up idols and altars to false gods all over Jerusalem and Judea, and who shed the blood of the godly prophets who spoke to him and called him to repent. Manasseh. Ah yes, but the day came when Manasseh was in a dungeon in Babylon, and he humbled himself. And he cried to the Lord for mercy. No mercy for him, that wicked man. Never, never, never. But our God is a God who justifies the ungodly. And God justified Manasseh. And Manasseh's in heaven. God justifies the ungodly. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. He came for the chief of sinners. There's hope for everyone, even the very worst. God justifies the ungodly. Is that not an amazing truth? And it's there for us in black and white in this verse. But then a second truth. God doesn't justify all the ungodly. He doesn't justify all the ungodly. If God justified all the ungodly, there would be no hell. And Jesus tells us there's a broad gate and a broad way that leads to destruction, and many go in there at. Lots of people will end up in hell. He tells us that on the judgment day, there'll be the sheep and the goats, those on his right hand and those on his left, those to whom the judge will say, come ye blessed of my father, and those to whom he will say, depart from me, ye cursed. How can that be? This verse says that he justifies the ungodly. But of course, we have to take every verse in its own context. And the context of this verse is also chapter 3 and verse 26. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. That's a context, isn't it? He justifies the ungodly, but the ungodly him or her who believes in Jesus. That's what makes a difference. Huge difference. He justifies him which believes in Jesus, and only him which believes in Jesus. Faith is vital. What must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Without faith, you'll never be saved. With faith, saving faith in Christ, you'll never be lost. Faith is the one condition of the covenant of grace. Always from the beginning, when the covenant of grace was first given to Adam in the Garden of Eden, the seed of the woman who would bruise the head of the serpent, faith was the way of salvation. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Cain came with the fruit of the ground, a thank offering. Abel came with a firstling of the flock, laying hold of Christ as his substitute, a sacrifice. We need a sacrifice. And without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Faith, faith is vital. If you believe, well, what is it to believe? To believe the facts, yes. To agree with the facts, yes. And to trust in the savior that the facts present. Faith involves knowledge, assent, and trust. Faith involves casting yourself upon Christ and Him crucified. That's the only hope. What is faith? A saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon Christ alone as He is freely offered to us in the Gospel. The focus is on Calvary. We need a Savior who died for us. Our only hope is in Jesus Christ, the blood that was shed. So, that leads us then to a third point. What exactly is it that Christ has done What exactly is the place of Christ in our justification? We read these verses in Romans 3, verses 10 to 18. That all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's an unrighteous, no, not one. We're all sinners. We're all unrighteous. How do we know that we're unrighteous? We know that we're unrighteous because of the work of the law. Chapter three and verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified. in God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. It's by the law that we are. We see that we are sinners. God gave us a law. We try to keep the law. It's It's part of natural religion in us to think that it's by being good that we get to heaven. So we all try and every religion in the world tries to be good in some way or other in order to get to heaven. But when the law really works in us, it convicts us that none of us are good. We're all sinners. By the law is the knowledge of sin. By the law we are condemned. By the works of the law we cannot be saved. By the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law, verse 21, is manifested, being witnessed to by the law and the prophets. even the righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ, unto all them, upon all them that believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. That's what's vital, the propitiation. What is propitiation? How is Christ our propitiation? What is it to propitiate? To propitiate is to turn away the wrath. to turn away the wrath of God that's against us naturally for our sin. How does Christ propitiate us? By turning away divine wrath from us unto himself. By taking our place and shading us from the wrath of God and the full wrath descending upon him. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, this word redemption means paying a price to set free. Think of a slave, a slave maybe in North America in days gone by, the slave, slave, somebody could pay money for the slave in order to redeem them. The money was paid and then the slave could have freedom to go free. still with members some years ago with ISIS in Northern Iraq, how they were enslaving people. And some of these slaves were set free because a ransom or a redemption price was paid. You and I by nature are slaves to Satan. his slaves and a ransom price had to be paid, not to the devil, but the price was paid to God against whom we had sinned and who, because of our sin, had handed us over to the devil to be the devil's slaves. The ransom price had to be paid, and you are redeemed, not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Redeemed with the precious blood. Christ came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. and to give his life a ransom for many, a redemption. The price was paid so that we are redeemed. And then we have this propitiation. 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. God's forbearance towards us provides us with a propitiation, provides us with a son of God. Paul, remember how he puts it in 2 Corinthians 5 21, he who knew no sin was made sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ made sin for us. We made righteous because of Him. Our sins laid upon Him, imputed to Him. His righteousness imputed to us. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation. He took our sins. He endured our punishment, our hell in our place. And so chapter four, verse 25, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Christ delivered, delivered up, to the Jews, to the Romans, to man, to devils, and especially to the wrath of God, delivered up for us so that we might be saved. And when he was raised again, his resurrection, raised again for our justification, by God raising him from the dead, God was declaring that he had accepted the price which was paid, that Christ had fully propitiated the wrath of God, and we are free, redeemed, ransomed, set free, no longer slaves, no longer in bondage, no longer under the wrath and curse of God. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has earned salvation for us. What is the grounds of our salvation? What is the basis of our justification? The work of Christ, the propitiation. We must be careful to assert that faith is not the basis of our justification. Faith is necessary, but faith is only the instrument that lays hold of Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. We're justified by faith. We're saved by faith, and yet not by faith. We're saved by faith in Christ. And in a sense, we're not saved by faith in Christ, we are saved by Christ through faith. Faith is the hand that receives the gift of salvation, that receives Christ. Faith is the channel through which we receive the blessing of salvation, but the Savior, the Savior is Christ alone. We have a duty, of course, to believe, we must believe, and yet faith itself is the gift of God. By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Faith is the gift of God given to every one of God's elect when God's time comes for the individual to be saved. Faith is a duty, it's our responsibility. We must all believe, yet none will believe until they are born again, until they are raised from the dead, until they're given ears to hear, and the heart to receive Christ. Do you have faith tonight? Do you have faith in Christ, in the cross of Christ, the death of Christ? Remember too, faith is not something you do once. Faith is something you do every day. It's something we must constantly be doing. Believing in Jesus every day. Looking to Jesus. Confessing our sins and receiving Christ every day. Building upon Christ every day. Repentance is not something you do once. It's something you do every day. Turning from sin, confessing your sin, laying hold of Christ. lay in hold of him as your salvation. So then, what is the place of Christ in our justification? He's the basis. He's the ground of our justification. And what is the place of faith? The instrument by which we receive Christ. And then, fourthly, we have here the example of faith and the teaching of David, the example of Abraham. If justification were by works, verse two, Abraham would have something to glory of. If we're justified by works, by the good deeds we do, Abraham would have something to glory of. But what says the scripture? Abraham believed God. and it was counted to him for righteousness. Remember, a way back in Genesis chapter 15 and verse 6, God told Abraham, when Abraham was troubled that he didn't have a child, God revealing to Abraham that through his seed, The nations of the earth would be blessed, that seed which is Christ. And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. He believed. Believed what God said, took God as his word. Believed that he would have a child, even though he was an old man and his wife was an old woman. He believed the promise. As Christ said, Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced and was glad. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of dead. If we're saved by works, then we've earned our salvation. And salvation is not of grace, it's a debt. God is indebted to us. But to him that worketh not, but simply believes on him that justifieth the ungodly, who put their faith in Jesus. His faith is counted for righteousness. So, if it's by works, we've got something to boast of, but if we're believing in the one who justifies the person who has no good works, but simply trusts in Jesus, then it's all of grace, it's all a gift, and it's all to the glory of God, and it's something we must celebrate on the Lord's Day, remembering the Lord's death till he come and rejoicing in it. Look how David puts it. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto him God imputeth righteousness without work, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Psalm 32, verses one and two. Blessed is the man whom God forgives, whose sins are covered, to whom God will not impute sin. David knew what it was to be a guilty sinner. He knew what it was, even as a Christian, as a saint, to be a terrible sinner, committing adultery and murder, fearful. But he repented. And he asked for forgiveness. And he believed in Jesus Christ. And God reckoned it to him for righteousness. After thy loving kindness, Lord, have mercy upon me. For thy compassion's great blot out all mine iniquity. Against thee the only have I sinned, and thy sight done this ill, that when thou speak'st thou may'st be just, and clear, and judging still. Surely sinned against Uriah, sinned against Bathsheba, against thee the only, because at the end of the day, all our sins are against God. That's what's most important of all. Against thee the only have I sinned. Do thou with hyssop sprinkle me, I shall be cleansed so. Dip the hyssop in the blood of thine own son and sprinkle it upon me. That blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. Abel's blood called for revenge. The blood of sprinkling calls for forgiveness, pardon, justification. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Are you one of these blessed people tonight who trust for your salvation only in the blood of Christ? rejoicing that God justifies the ungodly, the ungodly you and ungodly me, the ungodly who believe in Jesus. So finally, is there any room then for works? Surely there's no place for works at all. But there is a place for works. It's not the place in our conversion, but it's the place that follows our conversion. We're justified by faith alone, but then the faith by which we are justified never remains alone and expresses itself in our life. So Paul says, therefore being justified by faith without the deeds of the law, you have peace with God. And James says, justification is not by faith only, but also by works. So Paul is talking about what happens at the beginning of conversion, James is talking about what happens afterward. So our actual justification is by faith alone, but our justification is then manifested and revealed in a transformed life. So our works display and manifest and declare our justification. We must show that we are transformed by the life we live. And so chapter three, verse eight, and not rather as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just. Some people thought this gospel that Paul was preaching, where he was saying that God justifieth the ungodly, meant let us do evil then, let us be ungodly. that good may come. No, no, no, no. He's not saying that at all. Those who say, let us be ungodly, their damnation is just. Why? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? When you're converted, a transformation takes place. You're born again. and you can't go on merrily in sin. You hate sin because you've been changed. You love God and you love his law. Oh, how love I thy law. I delight in the law of God after the inward man. So is there room for works? Yes. Following our conversion, our works show that we have been converted. and our works manifest our justification. So actual justification by faith alone, justification is manifested by works. By faith alone shall no person be justified. If all we've got is faith and no works, you've never been converted. So the converted person is a person whose life reveals a change, a transformation, so that you show by your life that you have been born again. And so we have here then a very encouraging verse for us, the beginning of a communion season. Verse four, now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Yes, we must look into our hearts, see our sin, confess it, trust in Christ, rejoice in him, and go on our way, praising our Savior. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, to him be all the glory. Let's pray. O Lord our God, we thank Thee for the great teachings and truths of Thy Word. Help us to appreciate these truths, help us to understand them, help us to apply them to ourselves and to our own life, and to rejoice in the finished work of Christ on Calvary's cross, and to rejoice also in the ongoing work of Christ If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, interceding for us. Help us, Lord, more and more to die to sin, to hate that sin that nailed our Savior to the tree, and grant that we would love the Lord and walk in His ways. So bless us then, each one, pardoning our sins for Jesus' sake.