Acknowledgment Of Jesus vs. True Justifying Faith

Amen. This is.

Truly. All my.

Hope for tuning in we learn from.

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Amen.

And pray that is. Life.

You are trusting and anything else.

Please visit us at Key Life. Saveyou.com.

To. Forgive you to perhaps grant to

you eternal life that you understand that none of those

things will save you, that it is only through Christ that a

person, a Sinner is truly saved. You have your Bibles, if you

would. It turned to Romans chapter 4.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

I told the man a moment ago when we met for prayer, and I know

that we met a little bit later than normal and that's OK.

How many of you got stuck in a traffic jam and then they're

cool to get stuck in a traffic? Jam on the way to church because

it's interesting that we'll go to the rodeo, we'll go to

stadiums, we'll go to football games, basketball games,

baseball games, and we know we're going to get in traffic

jams. But it's a good thing to see a

traffic jam at church. It's an exciting thing.

I'll just know this. We're working on that.

Hopefully we'll have extended parking soon.

Pray for Montgomery County that they would do whatever they need

to do to get our plans approved right.

But today we're looking at Romans chapter 4.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

I know this is a break from what we've been looking at as we've

been in First Timothy, looking at the pastoral epistles.

And I think this is an appropriate break.

I think this is a very important break.

And I want you and I want you to understand what I'm about to

tell you because there are many people who say things like this

and, and they don't really mean them what I'm about to say.

I really mean this and I want you to pay close attention to

it. This might be the most important

sermon that. You've ever heard, and when I

tell you that I'm not just throwing words around lightly,

if you know me, I don't just throw words around lightly.

This may be the most important sermon that you have ever heard.

In fact, this sermon today could be the difference for you

between eternal life and eternal death.

That's a pretty big deal. Do you all agree?

It's not because we're going to be talking about that, that

difference between eternal life and eternal death.

I would say that this is the most important sermon that

you've ever heard. If you're not sure where you

land in either one of those categories.

And we know. This as many are joining us

worldwide, right? It is what we officially know as

Easter Sunday. It is the the day where

unfortunately, many people set aside only this day to celebrate

the resurrection of Christ. We don't do that here at Key

Life Fellowship. If you're visiting with us next

week, we're going to have Resurrection Sunday again.

And the following week, Lord willing, if we're graced with

another week, we're going to resurrect.

I mean, we're going to celebrate the resurrection of Christ

again. We're actually not going to

resurrect them. We're going to celebrate it.

But I'm afraid. In this time, as many are

joining us and remembering the fact that Christ rose from the

great, I'm afraid that unfortunately many are only

acknowledging their knowledge of Christ.

Resurrecting from the great. They're not actually believing.

And when I say believing, I'm not talking about believing in

your head. I'm talking about a true heart

changing belief. I'm talking about true

justifying faith. They're not actually exercising

saving faith in Christ. And.

When you know there's a distinct difference, and unfortunately in

modern church culture, they don't make that distinct

difference. I'll make that distinct

difference. You knowing about the facts that

Jesus died, he was buried and rose again will not save you.

Because there is a difference between saving or justifying

faith and just basic acknowledgement of the

historical and even biblical facts, even though they'd be

true. We can acknowledge the truth but

yet not be in the truth. And so today what I want to do

is I want us to. Understand the difference

between acknowledgement of Jesus versus true justifying faith.

Here in Romans chapter 4, we're going to see what true

Romans 4 · chapter mention

justifying faith really is. But before we do that, I want to

just kind of walk through history, some figures in

Christianity throughout time, and the statements that they've

made about this, the fact that people really get caught up

sometimes in being deceived into thinking that just simply

acknowledging Christ will save them, right?

To just say, yeah, I know that he died and I know that he died

on the cross. And yeah, I know that he was

buried in the grave. And yeah, I know that he rose on

the third day. Because some of you, you're here

today just to celebrate that factual information.

And let me just tell you this. It's factual information.

I've been to the tomb. I've walked inside.

It's empty. Therefore, it is factual

information. It is historical information.

In fact, every time you look at your calendar, they change the

way they measure time because of this Jesus.

But knowing those things will not save you.

The Bible's going to show us that today.

John Owen, a Puritan, he said this.

There is a faith whereby men believe the truth of the Gospel,

but it is not that faith whereby we are justified.

He's saying there are people who believe the truth of the Gospel,

but yet they are not truly justified.

They haven't been declared as righteous before.

Holy God. Thomas Goodwin, another period,

he said there's a common faith which is but a neck of assent to

the truth. But justifying faith is a

receiving of Christ. He says there's a difference.

There's a difference between assenting to the truth.

Yes, obviously there was a Jesus and obviously there was a

crucifixion and obviously there was a resurrection.

But just acknowledging those things will not save you.

Thomas Watson, he said a man may have knowledge in the brain, Oh,

please pay attention to this and yet perish.

Hell will be full of people who intellectually grasped the

historical facts surrounding Jesus Christ.

He says, and yet perish. He may know.

Christ and yet not trust in Him. Oh, what a sad thing to know

Christ and to know all about Him and to know the historical and

the biblical facts, but never to trust in Him, never to leave

your life of sin and to cling to Christ and Christ alone.

What a tragedy. Richard Sibbs he says it is not.

Sufficient to have a general knowledge of Christ, but there

must be a closing with him. What?

Does he mean by that there must be this intimate closing?

Must be this relationship. It's not enough just to know.

About him, Charles Spurgeon said there's a faith which is nothing

but a mere belief of doctrine. And he goes on to say this faith

saves nobody. Did you know this?

There will be good, sound, educated theologians who spend

an eternity in the depths of hell knowing all of the answers

theologically, never having true faith in Christ.

That kind of knowledge doesn't save anyone.

He said, well, who are all these?

Guys, are they important to us? Maybe they're not important to

you. What about James, the half

brother of Jesus who wrote the epistle of James?

Here's what he says. James chapter 2 verse 19.

James 2:19

He says you believe that there is one God.

Good. He says even the demons believe

that and shudder. What is James saying?

That many people have settled for the faith of demons.

You have acknowledged that there is a Jesus.

Did you know this? There's no doubt in a demon's

mind that there is a Jesus. There is no doubt in their mind

that he died on the cross. There is no doubt in their mind

that he rose from the grave. They know this to be fat.

There is no doubt to the demon that there is a God.

They know who created them. But yet they don't believe as

God calls us to believe. So in a.

Church culture that is rather confused in a country.

That is rather confused. A group of people that are

rather confused, they think that it's OK and just acknowledging

Jesus, right? Some of you came today and I'm

thankful that you're here. You came to acknowledge Jesus,

and rightfully so. He's worthy of.

Acknowledgement. However, you're acknowledging

Jesus on this resurrection Sunday will not save you.

Don't leave here and think that because you came to church today

and you acknowledge the resurrection of Christ that that

is going to be credited to your account as righteousness.

It will not be so. And So what I want to do today

is I want to tell you things that other people are afraid to

tell you. I want to tell you the truth

because there was a time that I acknowledged Jesus.

I believed in him factually, but I did not know him personally.

And I don't want you to fall into that same trap.

And Paul obviously did not want the believers in Rome to fall

into that same trap as he's going to address them about this

matter here in verses 13 of chapter 4, all the way to where

we'll be looking today, chapter 5, verse 2.

And I wish I had time to go through chapter 3 all the way to

chapter 8, but you'll be thankful that I didn't.

I already caused one traffic jam.

I don't want to cause another one.

Let's read this together as we open the Word of God in Romans

Romans 4:13

chapter 4, verse 13. Let's see what the apostles

saying to the church and why he's saying this to the church

and why it's important that we distinguish between

acknowledgement of Jesus and true justifying or saving faith.

Why is this important? I believe it's very important

because I believe some people, many people, even people sitting

under the sound of my voice in this room this morning, have

simply acknowledged Christ. But they're still lost.

Their life is still full of hate.

Their life is still full of sin. Their life is still full of

blasphemy, immorality. They've not truly yet been

saved. I pray today that by hearing the

truth that God would be gracious to you, that He would show you

mercy, that He would save you in spite of you, even this very

day. Paul says this to the church at

Rome after covering in chapter 3 the faithfulness of God,

covering the fact that there are no faithful men, there's none

righteous, no, not one. In chapter 3 he goes on and

talks about a righteousness that is through faith and not of the

law, meaning that we can't work our way into right standing with

God. Try as we may, our righteousness

is that of filthy rags before a holy God.

And then now here he is. He's begins in chapter 4 talking

about Abraham. And I'm not going to give you

all of this, so we'll get to a lot of it.

He's going to use Abraham as an example for us.

And we pick up in verse 13 and he says it was not through the

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.

He's saying that Abraham was prior to the law, so it wasn't

the law that established Abraham's righteousness.

For if those who live by by law or heirs, faith has no value and

the promise is worthless because law brings wrath.

And where there is no law, there is no transgression.

What is he saying there? He's saying the law did this

right. When you read the 10

commandments, what do the 10 commandments tell you?

They tell you that you're incapable of righteousness in

and of yourself, right? Let's just go through the 10 in

your mind right now. Have you ever broken one of

them? Yes, you have.

And the word says that if you've broken one of them, you've

broken all of them. And so it puts us all in the

same category. There's none righteous.

No, not one. We are all transgressors, and

the law was designed by God to. Do this to show us the fact that

we are unrighteous and that we need a greater righteousness

that cannot come from ourselves, but a righteousness that comes

only from God himself. So he's making the point that

Abraham was not justified by doing the right things, living

in the law, because the law was designed to bring forth wrath,

right? When you realize I'm a breaker

of the 10 commandments, I deserve the wrath of God.

Is that not true? Anyone here who's never broken a

command of God? All right, how many of you here

have ever broken one of his commands?

Looking around, we're all in the same boat, deserving of the

wrath of God. Why?

Because when the law came forth, we know sin came forth.

Where sin came forth, death came forth, right?

The wrath of God upon sinful man.

He goes on, and he says this verse 16.

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 those who are of

the faith of Abraham. He says not only to the Jews who

were born under the law, but also the Gentiles who have

received grace from God and have believed on Christ, and it's

been credited to them as righteousness.

They are and grafted into the promise of Abraham, says 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. He's going to give you some

backdrop and some background on Abraham in his faith.

He says against all hope. Abraham in hope believed and so

became the father of many nations.

Just as it as it had 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 100

years old. Now, now, bear with me here.

He's 100 years old. He hasn't had a child yet.

And that Sarah's wound, that's his wife, was also dead.

She was probably in her 80s with a dead wound.

Baron. 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 credited to him were written not

for him alone. Pay attention to this he's been

looking at Abraham. He's going to shift gears to you

and to me and to those believers in Rome, 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. Verse chapter 5 verse one.

It says therefore. Since we have been justified

through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus

Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this

grace in which we now stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the

glory of God. Pray with me, Lord, we thank you

so much for your Word. We thank You for the truths that

we have already seen fly off the pages, Lord.

May they not only enter our ears, enter our eyes, enter our

minds, but may You cause a transaction to occur in hearts.

May the truth of Your Word be absorbed like never before.

And those who do not know. Christ, may you open their eyes

to see the truth, to see that unfortunately they have accepted

just an acknowledgement of Jesus Christ without true justifying

faith. May you use your word to make

that? Clear to them.

May you save them this day. Say cry out to you for the

believer here today. I pray that you would encourage

them by the truths that have already been seen will continue

to be seen during this message that you transform us all for

your glory and we pray all these things in Christ's name, Amen.

So we begin in this text with something very interesting.

Paul begins with the observation of Abraham's faith.

And why do you think he began with the observation of

Abraham's faith? Because there was no one.

There was no one who he was addressing there at Rome.

Not the believers who had come out of Judaism, not the

believers who had come out of paganism.

There was no one there who would ever question the authenticity

of the faith of Abraham. They would not question whether

Abraham's faith was true, justifying faith.

He was the example that God had given of a man who, who was

raised up by the grace of God, counted as righteous, declared

as justified, so that he could bring a people upon this earth

for his name's sake. No one would doubt the example

of Abraham. And so Paul is going to use that

analogy so that we can better understand what justifying faith

really is, right? Because we don't want to accept

just mere knowledge or mere acknowledgement of.

Christ because God requires justifying faith.

And so he goes to Abraham rather quickly here so that examining

their lives. And I pray that you would do the

same this morning. You would lay your so-called or

fought faith or your so-called or fought profession next to the

faith of Abraham and see if that's the kind of faith that

you have in your life. Because if you have any other

kind of faith, it's not saving faith.

It's a wish. It's a hope, it's an acquired

knowledge. It's information that's gone

into your mind and you've stored it there.

But it is not justifying and saving faith.

I know what people are saying, Kirk.

This bothers me. This may cause me to doubt.

Yes, it may. But in the same breath, it can

give you great assurance, in the same breath it can give you

great assurance that you do have this true justifying faith when

you make this comparison. And I would challenge you to do

that. I'm thankful that someone

challenged me to do that long ago when I have settled for just

an acknowledgement of the facts instead of trusting Jesus Christ

as my only hope and my only righteousness.

You see the observation of Abraham's faith.

Let's look at it quickly, verses 13 through 17, we see very

clearly that this was a received faith.

This faith that Abraham has is not something that Abraham went

out looking for. In fact, Abraham wasn't looking

for. In fact, Abraham was looking

toward Pagan idols and he was worshipping false gods.

False deities. God met Abraham right where he.

Was with His grace. This has received faith.

This is a supernatural gift from God.

Let me tell you something. If you have believed and have

been saved, you believe and you have been saved because God has

graced you with that kind of faith.

We know that the man is born into this world with the

capability to acknowledge facts, but you were not in born into

this world with the capability of truly seeking God.

There is none righteous, no, not one, no one seeks after him.

Romans 3 tells us that very plainly.

And so when we get that knowledge of the facts, we can

come to a conclusion that true justifying or saving faith, just

as it was in the life of Abraham who became Abraham, must be a

gift that is received from God. Abraham's faith, obviously in

those verses 13 through 17. I need not read it to you again.

You've read it with me already. But obviously we see this.

It was not based on his own works.

It was not based on his own good deeds.

It was not based on him keeping the 10 commandments or the six

hundred 613 other commandments of the law that was.

Based solely upon the fact that God had graced him with the

faith that God requires for a person to have in order to be

saved. Justifying faith is

supernatural, therefore must be given by a supernatural God.

It is a gift of his grace. Did you notice I met an atheist

not too long ago who understood this.

Sadly, many in the church don't understand this and they think

that that faith is just an obligation, right?

That that God is obligated to give us enough faith to believe

He's not saving. Faith is a gift.

And this atheist that I met not too long ago, even he understood

this. I talked to him for a long time.

We had a great conversation. We talked about his life, we

talked about Christ, We talked about many things and it was

very kind and it was very cordial, but it's also very.

Sad. You know what he said?

He said. I was raised in a Christian

home. I went to Christian School.

I used to attend church as a young man.

And I see all the people around me who have such great faith and

I really admire that. I thought to myself, how sad.

And he acknowledges other people who have true faith, yet he

can't believe. So I asked him before we

departed. I said, hey, do you mind if I

pray for you? Is there anything I can pray

specifically about? I find it interesting that an

atheist said, yeah, pray for me. Who do I pray to?

But even an atheist has to actively deny the truth and the

reality of God that he knows is in his heart.

I said, you mind if I pray for? And it's interesting.

I've talked to lots of atheists, and you know what?

I've never had one of them turn me down for prayer.

I said, what can I pray for? Here's what he said Pray that

God would gift me with the faith if he wants me to have it that

other people have. Even this atheist understood

that true justifying and saving faith is a gift.

That is received from God and from God alone.

He actually asked me that if it was God's will that he would

give me this faith. May it be so.

I prayed exactly that. Or grant this man the faith to

believe. You know how Why?

I know that's important because had God not given me true

justifying, saving faith, I would have never believed.

I would have only acknowledged. So he knows more of this atheist

than many Christians about how faith is a gift from God.

I want to make clear that basic head knowledge of any historical

account, even of an account of Jesus, recognition of that and

acknowledgement of that, doesn't have the power to save you.

There must be a God wrought, God-given faith in order for a

man to be justified, to be deemed righteous before a holy

God. That's what Paul says in

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8. You know what?

Ephesians 2:8

You know what? Well for it is by grace you have

been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves.

People ask ask me this all of the time.

What is he talking about there? Is he talking about grace being

a gift or is he talking about faith being a gift gift?

My answer to you is yes, it is by grace that you've been saved

through faith and this is not from yourself.

It is the gift of God. What is the is the gift of God

grace through faith that he would.

Grace you with the faith to trust in Him, truly believe, and

to truly be saved, He says not by works so that no one can

boast. If Abraham could have somehow

worked his way to God, what would Abraham have done?

He would have bragged about it. If Kirk Hall could have somehow

and still could somehow work his way to God by all the good

things that I do, I know what Kirk Hall's pride would do.

It would well up inside of me and I would say to myself and

probably to everyone else, look what Kirk has done.

But can I tell you that's not true justifying faith?

True justifying faith can't say look what anyone has done and

has to say. Look what God has done.

It is received. It's a gift, just as it was in

the life of Abraham. It is in the life of those of

you who truly believe. Secondly, we see Abraham's faith

as we observe this example. Not only has received faith

being from the grace of God, it is relentless faith, relentless.

Look at verse 18 of that text and see how relentless this

faith is. And true, justifying faith is

relentless. It says against all hope,

Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many

nations. Just as it had been said to him,

so shall your offspring be. Here we see Abraham's relentless

faith. True, justifying, saving faith

will be relentless. Why?

Because God is not going to back down.

And He is the giver of this faith.

He is the one who has ordained it, and He has instituted it in

you. Therefore it will be relentless.

Says against all hope Abraham in hope believe.

You say that doesn't even make human sense.

You're right, it doesn't against all hope, right?

I'm 100 years old. My wife's 80 something years

old. Her wound is dried up, barren.

But he was relentless. He was relentless.

And his faith in God, he trusted in God's unseen hand, God's

ability over anything and everything that he could see.

Right, Because Abraham looked at his life and he said, you know

what, I'm getting old. I looked at his life.

He didn't. Tell her this, I promise.

But he thought she's getting old.

But I'm still going to trust in God.

I'm going to trust in God when everything seems hopeless

against hope. Abraham in hope believed that

word believe is pistuo. In the Greek it means this.

It means that he put all of his trust in God, that that there

was no other option. He was trusting in not himself,

not in his wife Sarah, not in the timetable of their lives.

He was trusting in. God relentlessly true justifying

true saving faith will relentlessly trust in God It'll

trust in God when everyone mocks you It'll trust in God when

everyone laughs at you when you become persecuted when you

become the butt of every single joke that is told.

True believer will relentlessly trust in God against all hope.

Abraham in hope believed. So we see that his faith, as we

observe it, is received and graced by God, A gift,

relentless, completely trusting in God's promises over even what

he sees. And it good to have that kind of

faith where you can trust in the promises of God instead of the

reality that your eyes claims to see.

We see, thirdly, that Abraham's faith was resolute.

Verse 19 makes it so clear. Without weakening in his faith,

he never backed down. Without weakening in his faith,

he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was

about 100 years old, and that Sarah.

'S womb was also dead, yet he did not waver through unbelief

regarding the promises of 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.

Oh, like Paul, he said, I know whom I have believed, and I am

persuaded that he is able to keep that which he has delivered

me until that day. Knew this Abraham, resolute

without weakening or wavering in his face, Faith steadfast,

persevering through every obstacle, every thought

roadblock he had. True justifying faith.

You know this true justifying faith will continue to believe

no matter what, confident in exactly what God promised Paul.

Alludes to this reminding us of the promise that God made to

Abram. He took him outside in Genesis

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15, Genesis 15, verse 5. If you want to turn there, you

Genesis 15:5

can. But he took Abram outside and he

said look up at the heavens and count the stars.

He gave Abram an impossible task.

He said count the stars if indeed you can count them.

The interesting thing about that is God knew exactly how many.

Stars were in the sky. Abram didn't have the ability to

do that, he says, if indeed you can count them.

And he said to him. So shall your offspring be, he

said. Abram, you see all these stars,

You can try to count them, but you won't.

And I'm going to bless you through the faith that I have

given you. I'm going to bless you with

descendants that outnumber these stars.

Now, Abraham could have constantly focused on everything

that he was seeing that we in our life would call reality.

However, true justifying faith does not live in the world's

reality. True justifying faith lives in

the promises of God. He knew what God had told him.

He knew God, said Abram. Look, look up at the stars.

I know you can't count them, but I know exactly how many are up

there. You don't.

That's OK. Just know this that your

descendants just like I promised.

You will be like these stars. And what did Abraham do?

Well, true justifying faith always does this.

He remained resolved. His faith was resolute.

He knew what God had promised him, and he trusted in what God

had promised him over what he saw, what other people might

think. Because, you know, there were

the skeptics. Can you imagine the people

making fun of Abraham? They're like the people who make

fun of us, who believe that Christ is going to return as

he's promised. And.

With him, he's going to bring the Saints who have gone before,

and there will be justice and there will be judgement for the

wicked. Oh yeah, we still preach that

here because it's still in the Bible.

We still believe it. Why?

Because God has promised it. Abraham resolute in that

believing what God had promised, and the next thing that we see

about his faith received relentless resolute.

His faith. Faith was redeeming.

It is only this kind of faith that actually saves a person.

This is all. There's only this kind of faith

that actually is credited as righteousness.

Verse 22 of that. Romans chapter 4 text.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

It said This is why it was credited to him as

righteousness. It was credited to him because

he continued to believe relentless, resolute in his

faith, and because of that, that gift that he had received from

God by His grace. God granted that Abram was

justified by this faith. What does that mean?

To be justified means to be declared righteous.

Abraham was declared righteous not based on any good thing that

he had done. He was not declared righteous

because he never sinned, because he had sinned.

In fact, I told you he was a Pagan idolater.

He was declared righteous. Because of the faith that God

had given him that he received, that relentless faith, that

resolute faith, and that redeeming faith that only God

can work. He was justified because of this

faith. Abraham was redeemed by grace

alone through faith alone in God alone.

Genesis 15-6, it says this Abraham believes the Lord and he

credited credited it to him as righteousness.

Abraham walked out that night. The Lord let him out, said look

at all the stars. Can you count them?

No, I really can't count them. I know how many there are.

Your offspring. You're going to be this many.

And you know what? Abraham, in his own strength,

could not have believed. Such a crazy thing, but yet

Abraham with the faith that God gave him, Genesis 15-6 says that

he believed the Lord, and that the Lord credited it to him as

righteousness. Abraham, now justified by faith,

credited as righteous not because he was righteous, but

because his faith was in a righteous God.

And Abraham's faith procured for him and proved to us that his

justification and his redemption was legitimate, that this truly

was true. Justifying faith.

Romans 4 If you read above where we are right now, what does

Scripture say? Abraham believed God and was

credited to him as righteousness.

Now to the one who works, wages are not.

Credited as a gift, but as an obligation.

He's saying God was not obligated to save Abraham

because of his works. Watch what he says next.

However, to the one who does not work but trust God, who

justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as

righteousness. Abraham, the ungodly, trusting

in God by faith. That's why Paul uses this

example. He says, I want you to observe

the faith of Abraham so that you don't get caught up in just

thinking that you can acknowledge God, or that you can

acknowledge the crucifixion of Christ, or that you can

acknowledge the resurrection of Christ as we're doing today.

But I want you to understand that there's so much more to it

than that. I want you to see Abraham's

faith for what it really is. Received relentless, resolute

and redeeming. And so the observation of

Abraham's faith that he starts with gives us an idea of what

true justifying faith really is. Now what I want you to do is I

want you to look at your life compared to the faith of

Abraham. Why would I want you to do

something that crazy? Because that's what the

scripture calls for. That's what this whole passage

is all about. Watch what happens next.

Watch the transition. Paul now moves from the

observation of Abraham's faith, and he's going to actually move

to the believers there at Rome. And in moving to the believers

there at Rome, here we are 2000 years later receiving the same

lesson he's moving into. Our lives.

So you know what he's doing. He's saying, Curt, you examine

yourself alongside of Abraham. Ivan, you examine yourself

alongside of Abraham. Jacob, you examine yourself

alongside of Abraham. Brandy, examine yourself

alongside of Abraham. Make sure that you're not going

to fall into this trap as so many fall into that.

They just simply have settled for acknowledging the facts

about God. Scripture's clear.

A fool has said in his heart that there is no God.

You have to be an absolute fool to deny the Creator.

Look around you. All of you will walk into a

Walmart at some point in time, and you don't have to know the

contractor, but you know there was a builder.

Yeah, you'll look around at this magnificent world that God had

created by his spoken word, and you deny that there was a

creator. Something is dreadfully wrong

with you. You are a fool.

And that doesn't come from me. That comes from a holy God who

says that a fool has said in his heart that there is no God.

He's denying the obvious. He's refusing to acknowledge the

basics. But then he doesn't want us just

to stop there. He wants us to understand that

simply acknowledging the basics will not save you.

So he turns this to the believers.

After using Abraham's faith as an example, Paul now makes this

personal to all those professing believers there in Rome.

Now, he didn't make the mistake that we often make in the

American church. The American church makes this

mistake. You make the mistake of thinking

that just because someone professes Christ that they're

saved. That's an incorrect assumption.

You know, the apostles never made that assumption.

They addressed all of them as if they were to examine themselves,

to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.

I would encourage you to do the same.

Why? Because your heart is

deceitfully wicked. You have.

You might have been deceived for a long time into thinking that

just because you have acknowledged Christ

historically, biblically, factually, somehow you're saved.

And again, I remind you, that won't save you.

And Paul's going to do a very good job of helping us

understand that. After using this example of

Abraham's true justifying faith, he wants the believers there in

Rome to lay their lives next to it.

To do an examination, the first thing that you need to do is you

need to examine the object of justifying faith.

What is the object of justifying faith?

Well, the object of all real justifying faith is this.

There's only one answer to God. Faith that He is Creator, He is

Sustainer, He is Redeemer, He is Savior, He is Lord.

And so justifying faith must be faith that is directed toward

God, and no one or nowhere else. Don't direct your faith toward

the church. Don't direct your faith toward a

ritual in the church. Don't direct your faith toward

an individual in the church. Especially not me.

I can't save you. Oh, if I could save you, I

would, but I can't. I couldn't even save myself.

The object of real justifying faith is God himself.

So justifying faith must be directed and must be rooted in

God and in nothing else. This example that Abraham sets

for us. That's an example that we need

to see here today. When we talk about the object of

justifying faith, it is faith in a few things, one of them being

God's promises Abraham has commended because he trusted in

God's. Promise.

Are you trusting in God's promises?

Trusting that which God has spoken in His Word?

What has He spoken in His Word concerning you?

That whoever believes in him will not perish, but have

everlasting life? Have you trusted Him for that?

Have you trusted Him in His Word?

When He tells us that we must repent, we must believe?

Have you? Have you trusted that?

That's factual information. You trusted that.

That's biblical truth that is straight from the Word of God,

what He has promised. And if we don't believe that,

we'll perish and we'll be judged for every sin and every sinful

deed and word that we've ever spoken or thought.

The object of justice justifying faith begins with trusting in

God's promises. Please make note of this, your

eternal salvation. I told you this is the most

important sermon that you have ever heard.

Your eternal salvation rests in the reliability of God's Word,

His promises. Do you trust in them?

Do you truly trust in Jesus death, burial and resurrection?

You know the essence of the gospel.

That's what Paul says in First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 3

1 Corinthians 15:3

says for what I received, I passed on to you as a first

importance or utmost importance, that Christ died for our sins

according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and that he

was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

Have you trusted in the gospel of Jesus Christ that the only

hope that you a Sinner has is the death, the burial, and the

resurrection of Jesus Christ? Have you laid everything down at

his feet? Resting only in Him who

justified have you? Or do you do the American thing

where you just acknowledge the facts?

Yeah, he died, He was buried, and he rose again.

Yeehaw. Let's have an Easter egg hunt.

The sad fact is many Americans will spend an eternity in hell

because they did not cling to the promises of God found in His

Word. True justifying faith will have

for the object of their faith God, and God's promises

everything that He said. They will believe that it is

true that He is able to do all that He has eternally promised.

What has He eternally promised? As I've already said, John 316.

What does he make so clear here that we need to know?

For God so love the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have

eternal life. He goes on in 17 and 18 to tell

you that if you don't believe, you are condemned already.

And some of you entered into this room condemned already.

You came in condemned, yet you acknowledge the resurrected

Savior because it is Easter. But you've never placed your

faith in his promise. You've never believed again,

that word believe means to no longer trust in you or anything

else, but to put full complete trust, abandoning everything

else and trusting in God and his promises alone concerning your

salvation. You trust in those things.

You trust that Jesus is who he says that he is, who he said

that he was in John Chapter 11 there when he's talking to

John 11 · chapter mention

Lazarus sister. And he tells her a very

interesting thing Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and

the life. The one who believes in me will

live even though as they die, and whoever lives by believing

in me will never die. And he asked her this question,

Do you believe this? Not?

Do you acknowledge this, Not do you in your mind receive this?

He said, do you believe this? Do you believe this more than

anything else in all the world? That's true.

Justifying faith. That's true, justifying faith as

prescribed by Jesus himself. And so the object of justifying

faith being God, God's promises, but also God's power.

Abraham here believing in in God who is powerful.

Isn't it interesting that in today's time many of us don't

believe in the power of God who claimed to be Christians?

Paul uses the example of Abraham because he believed in the power

of God. He's telling these people here

wrong. Believe in the power of God.

It's important that you do because it's that power that God

has that raised Jesus from the dead.

Ephesians one tells us that Ephesians 1 Paul says in verse

19 and his incomparable great power for us who believe that

power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he

raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in

the heavenly realms. The same power that raised Jesus

from the dead is the same power that raises you from the dead

spiritually and one day will raise you from the dead

physically and you will be glorified through that power in

His presence for all eternity. How do I know this?

Because God's Word promises it, and God's power will complete

it. And do you trust in that more

than you trust in your next paycheck?

More than you trust in your career path?

More than you trust in CNN or Fox News.

Or whatever it is that you watch.

You trust in his power, true saving faith, trust in God's

ability to raise the dead. Do you trust that?

You trust not just in the factual information that, yeah,

Jesus rose from the grave, but do you believe that that was a

display of the power of God and it was a display of the power of

God so that you can believe and trust in that same power?

It is that power that raises us. So the object of justifying

faith is God. We we exercise that in trusting

God's promises, God's power, but also trusting God's propitiation

unless a theological word that in many of you you don't care

anything to know about, but you should.

A propitiation is that atonement that Jesus Christ made on our

behalf at the. Cross Paul here in instructing

the believers there in Rome. He says the words it was

credited to him were not written for him alone.

He turns it to them. It's for you, 2 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. You see there trusting in God's

promises, trusting in God's power to deliver us from death,

but also trusting in God's propitiation, the atoning work

of Jesus Christ, just as we sang it a moment ago, singing,

proclaiming about the blood, the precious atoning work of Jesus

Christ. Do you sing those songs just

because you've always sung those songs?

Do you acknowledge the lyrics to those songs just because you're

familiar with them? Or do you really believe that?

Because there's a huge difference, isn't there?

Trusting in the propitiation of Jesus Christ is atoning work and

actually just only acknowledging it?

And again I've met. Many many, many people who will

acknowledge Jesus crucifixion, they haven't truly trusted in

him. They know that Christ went to

the cross. Yeah, they have still not gone

to Christ and how sad that is. Are you trusting in God's

propitiation that true saving, justifying faith that depends

wholly on the atoning work of God through Christ at Calvary?

Romans chapter 3 verse 25. You back up a little more in

Romans 3:25

Romans. I told you we could read 3

through 8, but it says this in 25.

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through

the shedding of His blood to be received by faith.

And He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in

His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand

unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his

righteousness at the present time so as to be just.

And the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus, who's

going to be justified? Only those who have faith in

Jesus who's going to face the justice of God, because he is

going to be just and the justifier, who's going to face

the justice? Of God, the wrath of God in

hell. Those who do not truly believe

in Christ with this justifying saving faith, they just

acknowledge the information about Christ.

And is it the American church plagued with this, the

acknowledgement of Christ without surrendering to the

lordship of Christ, the object of justifying faith being God,

God's promises, His power, His propitiation?

Do you trust only in the atoning work of Jesus Christ to save a

wretched? Sinner, I can tell you this,

that's the only hope that I have.

I'm not going to get to God on my good works.

Why? Because my good works are flawed

by this guy. The only way that I'm going to

be in right standing with God is through the atoning work of

Jesus Christ and trusting in that and that alone and in that

a person is then justified by their faith in the atoning work

of Christ, not just simply their acknowledgement that Christ went

to a cross. Some of you have told the story.

It is that time of year, right? You told it to your children.

Jesus died. He was buried.

And today we celebrate the fact that heroes.

But in telling that story, all you're doing is giving your

children facts or history lesson.

You're not telling them about anything that you have

personally experienced in your life.

What a sad testimony to the American church who never, ever

challenges anyone to look beyond just mere acknowledgement of

Christ and looking to see what true, justifying or saving faith

really is. Are you?

Trusting in his propitiation, his sacrifice, his

substitutionary atonement. Do you, do you believe that

Jesus really died in your place so that you can live, you can

live a full life here and you can live an eternal life?

Do you really trust in that? Do you just hope maybe that

it'll happen? It's interesting.

I talk. To people about Christ.

Now ask people about their relationship to Christ.

They'll profess Christ. Yeah, I know, Jesus.

Oh yeah, so. So why do you?

Think that Jesus is going to allow you to have eternal life?

And you know what they say? Because I've been pretty good.

That's a lie. Hatched straight from hell.

You haven't been pretty good. In fact, the word of God is very

clear that you're a transgressor.

I'm a transgressor. There's nothing righteous.

No, not one. We must trust in something

greater than us. We must trust, we must trust in

something greater than us by the faith that God has given us to

trust in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, His propitiation.

In doing so, we put our faith in the one true God as our

Redeemer, as our salvation. Jesus covers this in John

John 3:14

chapter 3 verse 14. He says just as Moses lifted up

the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up

that everyone who believes may have eternal lives in him.

Son of Man lifted up on that cross as the atoning sacrifice

for all who would believe in him and all who do truly believe in

him. They are saved.

The object of justifying faith, God.

God's promises, God's power, God's propitiation.

But also God's pronouncement. Where would we be without God's

pronouncement? What do you mean by

pronouncement? He has made a decree.

He has made a declaration concerning those who truly have

justifying faith. Verse 25.

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to

live for our justification. Well, let's make the

resurrection to death, the burial, the resurrection of

Jesus Christ personal here. He did that for the

justification of all who will truly believe in him.

We say God's pronouncement here. What is it that he has decreed

those who have true justifying faith in Christ?

He has decreed that you are righteous and truth be told, He

decreed that you were righteous and that is why He gave you the

faith to believe so that His grace can be on display.

Pronounces those who are in Christ as justified.

You know what justified means, Church?

It means that God looks at you and declares that you are

righteous. He declares that you're

righteous and I know what you're going to say, but I'm not.

You're not. But if you're in Christ, you

are. And that's then causes us to ask

the next question. Well, just how righteous am I?

Well, there's not anything called kind of righteous.

You are declared as righteous as the Lord Jesus Christ.

When God declares you righteous, you stand in His presence, you

stand in His Kingdom, clothed in the full righteousness of Jesus

Christ. Imputation.

He atone for you. That's expiation.

And because of that expiation, He is now imputed to you, His

righteousness. If you trust in that and that

alone to save you straight from the word of God.

God decrees and he declares, and those who truly have faith in

Jesus Christ are 100% righteous. I know if you're like me, you

say, well, I don't feel righteous.

No, you won't. In this life open, in the life

to come, you will be made whole and you will be made complete.

You will dwell forever clothed in the white garments of the

righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 3. Paul says this in verse 2828.

For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from

the works of the law. You can't get there by doing

good things, can't get there by doing right things.

You have to be justified apart from the law.

And who is the one who justifies?

It's God Himself. As we put faith in Him, we put

faith in His atoning work there at the cross.

We believe and we trust in that and that alone He.

Says Those are those who have been declared righteous.

These are those who the object of their justifying faith is

God. God's pronouncement.

Nothing in my hands I cling, simply nothing in my hands I

bring, excuse me simply to the cross.

I cling naked. Come to thee for dress helpless

Look to thee for grace foul I to your fountain fly.

Wash me, Savior, or I die. True justifying faith.

Let's trust in God's pronouncement that God has

deemed us righteous apart from any work that we can do based

solely on faith in Jesus Christ. His death is burial, His

resurrection. Galatians 216 reminds us know

that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by

faith in Jesus Christ. So we too have power.

Or excuse me, we have put our faith in Jesus Christ, that we

may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of

the law, because by the works of the law no one will be

justified. That's for all you people who

think that you can acknowledge Jesus Christ one day of the year

and then try to do enough good the rest of the year that

hopefully when you pass from this lives, you'll be declared

righteous. And it's simply and biblically

just does not work like that. Now I know there are people at

other places whose they don't mind making you comfortable as

you're on your way to hell, but I'm not one of those.

I want you to hear the truth. Why?

Because I'm concerned for your soul and I don't want you to

eternally perish. I know this.

Everyone in this room, myself included.

One day you were going to meet death or disappointed unto man

wants to die, and after this the judgement.

The question is, how will you stand before God after that day?

Will you stand before God with this acknowledgement of facts?

I acknowledge that you died and that you buried, and that you

arose again. Sadly, that won't save you or

you stand there clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ

because God has declared you justified, because you have

truly trusted in Jesus Christ and Christ alone.

See the object of justifying faith, God himself.

And that's why it's so important that we understand good theology

that Christ is the God man, that He was truly and fully God.

He was truly and fully man. And we don't compromise on the

deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was God with us, Emmanuel,

just as Scripture said. And so when I put my faith and

my trust in Christ, I'm putting my faith and my trust in God,

just as Abraham, that example that we saw earlier did.

And then that is where we find justification.

Third Point that I want us to look at today is the outcome of

justifying faith. And I want you to look deep into

your life. You see this in your life.

The outcome of justifying faith is simply this chapter 5 verses

one and two. Therefore, therefore, he's given

us the example of Abraham's faith.

He's. Encouraged us as believers to

make sure that the object of our faith is where it needs to be,

in the promises of God, the power of God, the propitiation

of God, the pronouncement of God, that we're depending on God

and God alone. If you're depending on anything

else for eternal life, for forgiveness of sin, you've

missed it. But this produces an outcome.

He says therefore in verse 1 of chapter 5, since we have been

justified through faith, since this has happened.

He's assuming here that you have true saving faith, since you

have been justified. Through faith we have peace with

God. Through our Lord of Jesus

Christ, you have that peace through.

Whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which

we now stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

What? He begins with this

justification by God. I don't need to repeat that

again. It is God who justifies the

Sinner. Romans 4-5 However, to the one

who does not work but trust God, who justifies the ungodly, their

faith is credited as righteousness.

It is the ungodly trusting in the holy God to justify them.

That is the only hope that you have.

Romans 833 I told you I would read 3 through 8 if I had time.

If anyone wants to beg me, I'll stop and we'll go back and start

at 3 verse one. No, no beggars.

Romans 833 says this. Who will bring any charge

against those whom God has chosen?

It is God who justifies. It is God who is the justifier.

Paul again saying that is the outcome of true justifying

faith. You will be justified before a

holy God. God declares you righteous.

Now that seems crazy, doesn't it?

It seems crazy to me when I think about it.

It seems crazy because I know what I deserve.

And I think if we really got down to today, all of you know

exactly what you deserve. We all deserve death and we all

deserve hell. We all deserve judgment because

we all have sinned against a holy God.

That doesn't make God bad. That makes us sinners.

I want you to see today that there's a God who justifies the

Sinner that you're standing with.

God doesn't have to be a bad standing that you're standing

with. God can be this, that He has

declared you and made you righteous through faith in Jesus

Christ. Therefore, since we have been

justified through faith, how are you justified today?

How how does your standing change true faith in Christ?

It's the only way a Sinner is justified.

Your standing with God is based on His decree, not on your

deeds. And all who truly believe have

been deemed justified, and all who have been deemed justified

have. Truly believed I don't care

which way you want to work that and.

What he decrees can't be undone. Oh, this is the outcome of

justifying faith. It cannot be undone.

Isaiah 46 verse 10. Isaiah testifies to this fact.

Isaiah 46:10

Speaking for the Lord here, He says My purpose will stand.

Whatever God purposes will stand.

And God His purpose to raise up for Himself a people of

righteousness through the seed of Abraham.

Be those people from the Jews, be those people from the

Gentiles. They will be that number that He

showed Abram in the sky that night.

And how will they become that number?

They will be justified by a holy God.

Believing in Him and Him alone. He has decreed this.

And once you are declared justified by faith in God

through the Lord Jesus Christ, there's nothing you or anyone

else can do to undo that. I am in my standing now.

I know in my state I am not yet there.

I'm being sanctified. I'm being made more like Christ

every day. The Spirit reminds me of that

constantly. Hey Kirk, that thing in your

life that doesn't look like Jesus, Jesus at all at all.

Trust me with that. Repent of it, confess it, get

rid of it. That's my state.

But in my standing, I am 100% righteous.

In the presence of God, because my faith is in the righteousness

of Jesus Christ and that alone. My faith is in a God who

justifies wicked sinners by his own decree, and He has decreed

that in my life. How do I know that?

Because I believe I believe in Christ.

He is my only hope. The outcome of justifying faith?

Is that simply justification? By God with God means He's

declared you as righteous, and once He has declared that, He

will never declare you as anything else again.

Have you ever thought that right?

Because people don't teach you right in the church.

Ohio. I really blew it last weekend.

I'm probably not righteous in God's eyes anymore.

Well, if your faith is in you, you're not.

You never were. But if your faith is in Christ,

you're just as righteous as you were before you blew it.

And you're as righteous as you always will be, and you are 100%

righteous in your standing because of what Jesus Christ has

done for you and did for you there at the cross.

And he proved that it was valid by his resurrection.

That's why we celebrate today of justification by God.

The second outcome of justifying faith is this peace with God.

Oh, what a statement. In a world longing for peace,

peace in any form, shouldn't we want peace with our Creator?

Since all we have in our sinful nature's hostility toward our

Creator, since we're unacceptable in our natural

selves, should we want to be reconciled to a position of

peace with God? Isn't it true that all of us at

one time were once alienated by our sin?

Romans 510 makes that very clear.

We were once enemies of God. But when we were God's enemies,

we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.

How much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved

through his life, alienated enemies now reconciled at peace

with God? Right, because the sinful mind

is what hostile to God. And because we've been rescued

from that, there's no more hostility.

The wall of hostility has been torn down by Christ, cautions

121. Once you were alienated from

God, and we're enemies in your minds because of your evil

behavior. That's for all the the liberal

thinkers. You think we're all just

children of God? No, you're not.

Apart from true justifying faith in the work of Jesus Christ,

you're alienated from God. You're an enemy.

Of God because of your. Own sinful minds and your evil

behavior. Watch what he says next in verse

22. But now He has reconciled you by

Christ's physical body through death, to present you wholly in

a sight without blemish and free from.

Accusation. How did he do this?

Well, he went to the cross, and he who knew no sin became sin,

so that you might become the righteousness of God.

What an exchange. Christ bore our sin.

He bore the wrath of God upon his back.

That we deserve because we are sinners, and then we receive

righteousness and peace with God.

What a gracious God. Why would you not run to a God

like this and put all of your faith in all of your trust in

him? What a gracious God who would

take a bullet for me. When I deserved the bullet, He

went to the cross. When I deserved the suffering he

bore. When I deserved to die, he died

in my. Place and he gives me peace,

peace with God. Then I'm reconciled that there's

no longer any hostility. Well, Kirk, that must be because

you're a pretty good dude. No, that's because I'm an awful

scoundrel who God loved, and he displayed his love and the fact

that while I was still a Sinner, Christ died for me.

Oh, don't think for a second that Kirk Hall cleaned his life

up. God rescued me from the mud and

the mire, and he set my feet on the solid rock.

It is he who has done this work. It is he who has made me at

peace with him, not the other way around.

What assurance that we have when we understand this peace with

God. And then he goes on and he says,

therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have

peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Lord, through whom we have now gained access by faith

into this grace in which we now stand.

Well, the outcome of justifying faith, the justification by God,

peace with God. And then he tags this on their

grace from God into this grace in which we now stand.

I know many of. You think that grace is just a

salvific thing, right? We receive grace at salvation.

No, you received grace before you were ever in this world.

You continue to receive grace upon grace upon grace upon grace

if you're in Christ. Grace from God into this grace

in which we now stand. What is he talking about?

Of course he's talking about the gracious salvation that we have

in Christ. Fact that Romans 623 is

explicitly clear when it says for the wages of sin is death,

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He says you have salvation when you deserve death.

How gracious is that? It's more than that.

How about this? How about communion, Constant

communion and fellowship with the Father, with the Son, with

the Holy Spirit, all according to his will and his plan that he

worked out in Christ Jesus. And he graces us with that,

'cause I can promise you this, I don't deserve that.

I deserve to be exiled from the presence of God for all

eternity. And had Christ not intervened,

that's exactly what I would have received.

I know what. Modern thinking is, oh, Kirk,

don't beat yourself up so bad. No, it's the truth.

And isn't it interesting that we live in a culture who they might

say that they want truth, but they don't really want truth.

That's the truth. I deserve damnation and He gives

me life and righteousness and grace and communion with

himself. That's why heaven is going to be

so grand. Oh, don't be so shallow in your

thinking of heaven. Many people say I want to go to

heaven so I can see this and see that and see this and see that

I. Want to go to heaven so that I

can find commune with my savior face to face?

The one who rescued the scoundrel who deserved the

hottest depths of hell. Yet He saved me by His grace,

allowing me to commune with Him not only in this life, but for

all eternity. I don't think we long for that

enough. Oh, that day when He, he wipes

every tear from our eyes, Oh, how long in eternity will that

take for Jesus to walk up to every single believer who has

ever truly been justified and personally wiped the tears from

their face as they worship Him, knowing that without him and his

grace, they would have never had salvation.

They would have never had communion with God.

What about the eternal assurance that He gives us by his grace

right? What Jesus describes in John

John 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, our eternal. Assurance and I don't make any

apologies for believing that nor thinking that because I read

Jesus words plainly. I give them eternal life and

they shall never perish. Anyone who he gives eternal life

will never perish. He says no one will snatch them

out of my hand. My Father who has given them to

me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my

Father's hand. You know what grace I have?

Every night I lay my head on a pillow.

You can ask my wife, it doesn't take me 3.

Seconds to fall asleep. Why is that so?

I'm justified by God. I have peace with God.

I walk in the grace of God. I have that eternal assurance

right as everybody else is freaking out.

Oh. Man, are we going to get naked

by the Iranians? Are we going to get nuked by the

Chinese? Are we going to get nuked by the

Russians? Listen, I hope it hits my house

first. Why?

I'm confident in Christ. I'm confident of the eternal

life that He died so that I could have it.

Eternal life that He paid for on the cross.

I am confident of that. I have that assurance that His

sacrifice is enough. Oh, what grace that we have an

eternal assurance? I feel for the people who think

that they can somehow lose eternal life once they've had

it. It wasn't very eternal, was it?

No, what God says is eternal is eternal.

You can rest in that. You can have full assurance.

No one will pluck you from his hand.

What about more grace like this promise?

Preservation. Did you know that God promises

to preserve all of us who have truly been justified by grace

alone, through faith alone and Christ alone?

He promises. Promises to preserve us until

the end. We're not going to mess this

thing up. That's good news for me, a guy

who messes lots of things up. But haven't you heard some

incorrect thinking and some incorrect teaching that made you

think that? Oh, you.

Can mess it up, blow it one final time and it's all gone.

Not according to the word of God.

You can if you're in Christ. Here's what he says.

First Peter chapter one, verse 3.

Praise to God for a living hope. Why is that hope alive?

Because that hope rose from the grave.

Ascended into heaven where he's seated at the right hand of the

throne of God. He says praise be to the God and

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and his great mercy has given us

new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of

Jesus Christ from the dead and into pay attention to this, an

inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

This inheritance is kept in heaven for you who you who

through faith are shielded by God's power, just as Abraham was

until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be

revealed in the last time. He says you are secure until

Jesus comes back and then you will be doubly secure.

There's nothing that can take that away from you that promised

preservation that God keeps for us.

Philippians 16 Paul says being confident of this that he who

began a good. Work in you will carry it on to

completion until the day of Jesus Christ.

You have that confidence. That confidence is a grace.

That confidence is the outcome of true justifying faith.

I know that the work that God started in me, he'll finish.

Why? Because he said so.

And I also know that this is not a work of Kirk.

It is a work of God and that that work of God will be

complete according to the will and plan of God, period.

I rest in that. Oh, the grace from God that we

have received in this grace in which we now stand, gracious

salvation, communion and fellowship with the Father, the

Son, the Holy Spirit, eternal assurance, promise,

preservation. What about this, the constant

and abiding power of the Holy Spirit in your life?

Contrary to what some false teachers claim, if you're a

believer, the Holy Spirit dwells inside of you.

He is the indwelling Holy Spirit.

In fact, if He does not dwell inside of you, you've not yet

been saved according to Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

You just go back and read it. So we rejoice at the grace of

the Holy Spirit living in US, convicting us, leading us,

guiding us into the righteousness that Christ died

for us to have. Where would the believer be

without the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit?

What a grace from God, the outcome of justifying faith.

God Himself came to live inside of me, the third person of the

Triune Godhead, living in this once deemed scoundrel wicked

center, who has been cleansed by the power of the atoning work of

Jesus Christ. And now I am the Temple of the

Holy Spirit, a dwelling place of God.

Wow. What an exchange is made here?

From God to the rich, the outcome of justifying faith,

grace from God, peace with God, justification by God, and

lastly, hope in God. It says through whom we have

gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand and

we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

This is hoping in God, not just in this life, but for all

eternity. Are you hoping in God for all

eternity? Are you trusting in that hope,

the hope of future glory and eternal life?

Did you know that's what Jesus promised?

He promised you eternal life. He promised you future

glorification. Are you hoping in that?

Are you longing for that? Are you longing?

For the return of Christ, so that you can see these things

come to pass. True justifying faith will be

longing for that. Paul said this.

There's a crown of righteousness that awaits me, but not just me,

but for also. All of those who long for his

appearing, why are we long for the appearing of Jesus Christ?

Because we're groaning for redemption.

We're groaning for glorification.

Just as creation groans, we too groan.

Even so, come. Lord Jesus come changes your

only hope of future glory and eternal life.

Colossians 3/4 When Christ you as your life appears, then you

also will will appear with Him in glory.

Oh to think about that, to experience the glory of God with

Christ, that Christ would share in His glory with us.

To know that all the sufferings of this life will one day be

worth it in that first second of sharing in the glory of Christ.

2nd Corinthians 417 testifies to that.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an

eternal glory that far outweighs them.

All the struggles, all the pains, all the sickness, all the

death, all the things we face in this life, we'll shrink in

comparison to the future glory that we have been promised in

Christ. But what hope we have in God of

that future glory? Why?

Because we've been justified, we count on the promises.

We count on the fact that because he has justified us in

Christ, He will also glorify us in Christ.

Romans chapter 8 verse 30 says, and those he predestined He also

Romans 8:30

called. And those he called he also

justified, right? True, justifying faith.

Those he justified, he also glorified.

Notice that he's talking in the past tense here.

He also glorified. Look around you.

Are any of you here glorified yet?

Let me help you. No, you're not, but you will be.

You will be. So what can we say in response

to this? As Paul goes on in Romans

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8, God is for us. Who can be against us?

Our hope is in God. We've been justified through

Him. We can count on His promise of

eternal hope and eternal glorification.

Those He called He justified. Those He justified, He did also

glorify. We are as good as perfected if

we have true justifying faith. Remember, that's not just a head

knowledge or an acknowledgement of Christ.

There's a full out trust in Christ and Christ alone.

Those who trust in Christ have the promise of sharing in His

glory. Romans 817 speaks is this, Now

we are children. If we are children, then we are

heirs, heirs of God and Co heirs with Christ, if indeed we share

in his sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.

And I want you to stop and I want you to ponder that for a

second. Those who have true justifying

faith have been forgiven of all of their sins.

They have been declared as righteous before Holy God.

They will inherit eternal life in heaven as promised by the

Word of God. They are completely washed and

cleansed and covered through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus

Christ and then for all eternity.

They will share in the glory of Christ.

What does that even mean? What does that even mean to

share in His glory? I can't even begin to fathom the

glory of Christ in heaven at this moment.

What does it mean that I get to share in that first John?

John says it like this, dear friends.

Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been

made known. But we know that when Christ

appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as He is.

Oh, what hope that we have in God, the promise that we will

one day be like Christ, sharing in His glory for all eternity.

I noticed some of you. That doesn't excite you, that

doesn't thrill you. Why?

Because you simply accepted just acknowledging Christ and you're

not engulfed in Christ. My prayer for you today.

So you would trust in Christ as the only hope that you have.

Hey, you would no longer just let him be a historical fact

Bible story, but today He truly would be your justifying Savior

who justifies sinners only through faith in Him of the

thought. That Christ bore my sin and my

shame, taking it upon himself, bearing the very wrath of God in

my place, what I deserved, so that I would be able to share in

His glory for all eternity. What hope He gives to those who

believe. Have you believed?

Have you believed and, and by this have you experienced the

outcome of true justifying faith?

Paul's giving us here the evidence of those who are truly

justified. Do you have that evidence in

your life? Do you, are you confident in

your justification by God and before God?

Are you confident in do you walk in the peace that you have with

God? Those who are in Christ, are you

experiencing his grace time and time again?

Overwhelmed by it? Remember when grace used to be

amazing in the church? They used to sing about it.

Now it's almost like entitled grace.

How sweet the sound. So we think we're entitled to

everything. Is your hope resting in God and

God alone? Oh, that's a great indicator for

you. If you have true justifying

faith today, do you have no hope in anything else?

It's a true believer, hopes and nothing else.

So what do we do with all this? Well, we've taken an in depth

look at true justifying faith today on purpose.

Hope I didn't cramp your schedule.

Why we done this? I can tell you why I've done it

because I care about your soul. I'm thankful that someone cared

about my soul enough to take the time to explain to me the

difference between just acknowledging the facts about

Jesus Christ and true justifying faith in Christ.

Now you know the difference, I hope, if I've done my job,

because it's only the kind of faith that Abraham had, the

only, only the kind of faith that Paul describes that will

save a Sinner. Do you have that kind of faith?

Because unfortunately, and I know this is not popular in our

time, but unfortunately, many people will spend an eternity in

hell having acknowledged Jesus without truly being saved by

Jesus. Because to simply acknowledge

him and his work, even his work of resurrection that we

celebrate today, it's not true justifying faith, But you come

to Christ today, but you come to him as your only hope and your

only plea for eternal life and forgiveness of sin.

Will you repent of your unbelief and repent of your sin, and

trust in Christ and Christ alone?

Father, we thank you for your word.

It has gone forth, and it will accomplish that which you have

set out for it to accomplish. May it Pierce the hearts of the

wicked, may it draw them unto yourself, and may they be

declared righteous by Your holy Word.

May they trust in Christ. May they receive all that you've

promised those in Christ and will give you all the glory and

honor and praise for it in Jesus name, Amen.

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