TPW 69 John Piper's False Gospel Revisited and Refuted from Scripture

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Welcome to the
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Protestant Witness, this is Pastor Patrick Hines here at Bridwell Heights Presbyterian Church in beautiful Kingsport, Tennessee on a
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Tuesday morning, April the 9th. And today I'm just going to post what is my second most downloaded sermon,
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John Piper's False Gospel. I got a very encouraging email,
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I did some correspondence with a fellow that listened to it, and apparently attends a church where Piper is real popular, and it really is upsetting to me that he's been enabled to get away with teaching falsehood about the very heart of the
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Gospel of Jesus Christ. And someone sent me a link to a
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Puritan video or something that's coming out, and they're interviewing some really great folks about the importance of the
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Puritans, and of course John Piper's in there too. And, you know, John Piper doesn't teach what the
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Puritans, for the most part, taught, and he certainly doesn't teach what the Westminster Divines taught about justification and what it accomplishes, namely the very legal grounds of our full and final acceptance in the sight of God, and justification of course is not simply the initial step where you get into a position where God's 100 % for you, it is the once -for -all forensic legal declaration of your final verdict on the
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Day of Judgment. And of course that's what Piper is very clear in emphatically denying.
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So I wanted to post this sermon again, and I hope that people will listen carefully, that you'll look up the passages, that you will forward this to all, everyone who knows who
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John Piper is, and everyone who has been tricked by thinking that he's okay because a lot of Reformed folks and leaders have been quiet about his frontal attack on the biblical gospel.
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So I hope that you'll find this to be edifying, encouraging, there's nothing like the gospel, the gospel is such a blessed, wonderful truth, it is the very thing that sets us free, it's the thing that's changed in the whole world, it's what makes it so that husbands can love their wives, and wives can be loving towards their husbands and love their children and their churches, it's the very lifeblood of our sanctification.
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But when you turn sanctification into that which saves us at the final judgment, then you've destroyed the gospel altogether and Christ will be of no benefit to you, according to Galatians 5, 1 -4.
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So please, I hope that you will enjoy this, and please do forward it, post it, wherever you want, I'm off social media so I don't do that anymore, but once in a while people will say, hey, someone posted some of your stuff in this, in whatever
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Theo cast or whatever these little Facebook groups that I will never know about, and thankfully, but I know social media has its place and there's people that enjoy that kind of thing, so feel free to post this wherever you like, and you can send all my haters my way, because I fear
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God and his son Jesus Christ, and I fear them more than I fear the face of men, and I'm going to defend the gospel no matter what the costs up to and including my own life,
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I don't care who opposes me. I am going to preach the gospel because that's what I promised to do, and I don't care who denies it, they are going to be opposed on my watch.
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So I hope that you'll find this to be edifying, encouraging, and that your heart will soar as you contemplate the glorious, beautiful, and wonderful gospel of a full and free justification, that justification being understood as the final verdict at the day of judgment, since that is what
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Jesus suffered at the cross, was the fullness of divine anger, the fullness of divine justice against all the sins of his people, and that Christ's righteousness is imputed to our legal account and is alone the basis upon which we are declared righteous and allowed into heaven, so I hope that you'll enjoy this and find this to be edifying to that end.
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Let's pray together for God's blessing on our time, and his word now, please. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for speaking to us clearly in the pages of your holy word, and we bless you and praise your name, that we, as your sheep, have heard your voice, we have heard you speak to us and speak clearly, and we pray you would bless us,
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Lord, this morning as we read your word, and we pray you'd protect us and protect all of your church with the one true and living gospel from all of its false competitors, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
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Please take your Bibles and turn to Galatians chapter 3, we have two passages we're going to read this morning,
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Galatians 3, 1 through 3, and then Galatians 5, 1 through 6.
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Galatians chapter 3, verses 1 through 3, and then Galatians 5, verses 1 through 6.
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Galatians chapter 3, beginning at verse 1, this is God's word.
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You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Before whose eyes
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Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you.
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Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish, having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
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And then Galatians 5, verses 1 through 6, Galatians 5, verses 1 through 6.
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This is God's word. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
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Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law.
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You have been severed from Christ. You who are seeking to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.
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For we, through the spirit by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
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May God bless the reading of his infallible word. The question that hangs over every human being on earth, every moment of their existence, from the time of their conception until their physical death, is where will they spend eternity?
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Heaven or hell? God's divine special revelation to man in scripture acknowledges only these two places.
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There is a day of judgment for mankind, and every moment that passes us by, we are one moment closer to that day of judgment, where our verdict will be heard once and for all eternity.
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All of us in this room, and every human being alive, and who has ever lived or will live, is a covenantal creature.
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What I mean by covenantal creature is this. All of us are bound by God to obey all of his holy laws for us, and we are bound by God never to disobey any of his holy laws for us.
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This covenant of works, or covenant of life, or covenant of creation, or Adamic administration, or whatever you want to call it, is something that God enters into with man, not animals.
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Man is the image of God, and that he was created for fellowship with God, and was created with a true knowledge of God, and in true righteousness and holiness.
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And because of this, God entered into this covenant of works. All of us are bound by God to obey his law perfectly, and we are bound by God never to disobey any of his laws.
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That is what is required for a person to enter into heaven. If you want to enter into heaven and not hell on the day of judgment, you must be perfect even as God is perfect.
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Adam was the covenantal head of the entire human race, and when Adam sinned and failed to fulfill the covenant of works, the covenant curses are what fell upon him.
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Genesis 2, 16, the scripture says, and the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.
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Every human being who has ever lived after Adam, except two, Enoch and Elijah, but all of us in this room, everyone that will ever live, everyone who ever has lived, except those two, have died and will die, except those who are alive when
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Jesus returns. All of us in this room, I suspect, will die, because Adam, our covenantal representative, did that which
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God told him not to do. He ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and because of that, Adam and Eve both eventually died.
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Everyone who has proceeded from them by ordinary generation has died, and everyone here is mortal and will die, too, but we were not created by God to die.
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Death is the punishment for sin. Death is for the violation of the covenant of works.
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When people scratch their heads and ask me the question, is there really a covenant of works?
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I can only ask one question. Are you going to die? If you are, yes, there was.
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It was violated. What did God tell Adam? In the day you eat of it, you will surely die. Are all of us surely going to die?
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Yes, there is a covenant. That's the covenant sanctioned. That's the punishment God said would happen.
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Had God wanted to, he could simply have struck Adam and Eve dead at the foot of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but God had planned from all eternity to display his love, his mercy, and his grace instead, and that's why there is a human history.
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That's the only reason there is a human history. God gave the church to Christ before the foundation of the world.
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There is a human history. We are all here because of the advancement of God's kingdom and God's desire to glorify his grace.
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I know that rebellious sinners really do believe that the purpose for which the world turns on its axis and revolves around the sun is so that they can have fun sinning and acting like fools and make a name for themselves and glorify themselves.
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Many of us used to think the same thing before the grace of God changed that, but the only reason there has been a human history after the fall of mankind, after the fall of Adam into sin, is
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God's desire to glorify his grace by giving a group of people to his son, Jesus, that is so numerous no man can count them.
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God the father gave these people by name individually from all eternity to his son and God the son agreed with no reluctance of any kind to become incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth in order to save them all from their sins.
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Why did Jesus come and do all that he did to save his people from their sins so that every last one of those people would enter heaven as trophies of his grace and power?
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Why does God predestine us unto adoption as sons to the praise of the glory of his grace, Paul says in Ephesians 1 .6.
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The purpose for which Jesus came was to glorify the grace of God and the salvation of his church, all of God's elect.
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Every human being who has ever lived will either go to heaven or to hell and this will be decided at the last judgment.
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Heaven or hell will be pronounced by God over every human being who has ever lived.
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Man in his state of sin is not able to obey God's holy laws perfectly, although we are bound to.
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Man is not able, he is not able to keep from disobeying God's laws perfectly. So if God requires absolute perfection of law keeping and absolute avoidance of transgressing his laws, what are we going to do?
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What are we going to do when we're summoned forth before the holy judgment seat of God on that day of judgment?
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Paul told the people of Athens, God has appointed a day in which he will judge mankind by the man he's appointed,
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Jesus Christ. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Many have a vain hope that they've done enough.
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They've done enough good to outweigh the bad to be allowed into heaven. All who have such hope will die in their sins and be condemned to hell.
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Others think that if they believe in Jesus and then with Jesus's help try to make themselves good enough for heaven, that this will suffice.
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They will likewise hear the terrifying verdict of condemned on the day of judgment and will be cast into the lake of fire and hell.
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The problem we face is so simple, it's terrifying. It's so simple, it's terrifying. God is perfectly holy.
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God is perfectly just. God is perfectly righteous. And we are not. We are not holy.
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We are not just. We are not righteous. And so how can any of us expect to make it past the day of judgment into heaven when
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God will judge, as the scripture says, even our secrets by his all -seeing holy eyes?
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If God truly is the Holy One, what are we going to do? The glorious good news that God foretold through Moses, the
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Psalms and the prophets, and which was revealed in and by Christ, is God's gracious answer to that very question.
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How can I enter into heaven? In other words, how can I be justified instead of condemned on the day of judgment?
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These are the most important questions a human being can face. And all of us must face them today and not delay.
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There is nothing more uncertain than your future. There is nothing more uncertain than your future.
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I served with a pastor down in Pearl, Mississippi, who told me the very first sermon he ever preached as an ordained minister.
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He said one of the guys that was sitting there in that church shook his hand, went across the street, was hit by a car and died.
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So I want to encourage you to listen carefully to me. You have no idea what's going to happen when you walk out that door.
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You have no idea what will happen for the rest of this service. There is nothing more uncertain than your future.
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The cemeteries around us are littered with dead people who died far younger than you and I are right now.
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And so I want you to have a certain answer today. I've titled this morning's message,
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Justification John Piper and Getting Into Heaven. John Piper is a very famous pastor, conference speaker and author and has been for many decades.
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And he has always come across in the little bit that I've read from him and listened to as a very humble, knowledgeable and amicable man.
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Many years ago, I was introduced to his preaching ministry via the internet. His Men of Whom the
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World Was Not Worthy series was inspiring and wonderful to listen to. However, a number of years ago, a fellow seminarian at the time mailed me a copy of John Piper's book,
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Future Grace. It's a massive book. I remember pulling it out of the package going, wow, it's over 400 pages long.
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And I read about the first third of it and then I moved on to something else because I found it to be thoroughly confusing.
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And much of what John Piper says about grace, about faith, about works, justification, final salvation,
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I found to be convoluted and almost impossible to make any sense out of. So for me, I put Piper aside as someone
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I wasn't really interested in. I regarded him as so vague on the gospel as to be outright dangerous.
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But I've also seen that his popularity in the reformed celebrity cult, that's just what
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I call it now, the reformed celebrity cult, has continued to soar. His ministry desiring God is huge.
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His church is huge. His readership is huge. And the number of people who hang on his every word is huge.
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Now, someone from our congregation here forwarded me a couple of things that John Piper had preached and written recently that were very, very bad concerning the very heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ itself and the precious and all important doctrine of justification.
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When John Piper is teaching, what he's teaching and what he has taught on this topic is nothing new, of course.
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Everything that he says about it, we've heard before. Everything that he says about it has happened before in church history is nothing new.
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Its similarity to the Roman Catholic religion's doctrine of salvation is strikingly clear.
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And I will demonstrate that to you this morning. I would like to read from an article on Desiring God's website from John Piper.
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He said this, quote, don't substitute with the solas. This is John Piper. If you substitute other clauses besides we are justified, such as we are sanctified or we will be finally saved at the last judgment, then the meaning of some of these prepositional phrases must be changed in order to be faithful to scripture.
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Folks, I just want to warn you about something. Every heretic in the entire history of the church, without exception, has taught their heresy in the name of being faithful to scripture.
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So when you hear people saying that, little light should go on. Everyone that has ever taught false doctrine has always, always, always prefaced doing so with we want to be faithful to the word of God.
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We want to be faithful to scripture. So just bear that in mind here. John Piper continues, for example, in justification, faith receives a finished work of Christ performed outside of us and counted as ours, imputed to us.
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That sounds pretty good. He says in sanctification, faith receives an ongoing power of Christ that works inside us for practical holiness.
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In final salvation at the last judgment, faith is confirmed by the sanctifying fruit it has borne, and we are saved through that fruit.
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As Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2 .13, God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth.
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The faith which alone justifies is never alone, still quoting Piper, but always bearing transforming fruit.
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So when James says these controversial words, a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
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I take him to mean not by faith, which is alone, but which shows itself by works. Paul calls this effect or fruit of evidence of faith, the work of faith and the obedience of faith.
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These works of faith and this obedience of faith, these fruits of the spirit that come by faith are necessary for our final salvation.
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No holiness, no heaven. Listen closely. This is still John Piper. So we should not speak of getting to heaven by faith alone.
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In the same way, we are justified by faith alone. So faith alone doesn't mean the same thing when applied to justification, sanctification and final salvation.
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You can see what extraordinary care and precision is called for in order to be faithful to the scripture when using the five solos and quote.
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I'll just say it just so you all know where I'm coming from. That's a false gospel, folks. Paul is very clear in Galatians that if anybody,
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John Piper, myself, an apostle or an angel from heaven preaches any other gospel, let him be anathema, let him be accursed.
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No one gets a free pass when it comes to the gospel. Get it wrong and you are outside the kingdom of God. Paul says in Galatians 1 6,
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I am astonished that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another.
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But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
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As we have said before. So now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
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What is the heart of John Piper's false gospel? He does not demonstrate from any text of scripture that quote, final salvation and quote, and justification are separate and distinct theological categories.
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And yet that distinction is not only integral to his entire formulation of how centers enter heaven without it, his entire scheme goes up in smoke.
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What does John Piper mean by final salvation? What does he mean by that? He's actually very clear.
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Listen to him again. Quote in final salvation at the last judgment, faith is confirmed by the sanctifying fruit.
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It has born and we are saved through that fruit. Final salvation is for John Piper, the last judgment.
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How are we saved from the wrath of God at the final judgment and thus enter heaven by works?
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We're saved by the fruits, by the putting sin to death and pursuit of holiness. We're saved by our works.
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According to Piper at the last judgment on the last day, on the last judgment, yeah, you get justified by faith alone, but at the final judgment, you're saved by the fruits of your faith.
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That's what the man is teaching. That is a false gospel. Session six of the council of Trent, the
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Roman Catholic religion's response to and condemnation of the reformation says this about justification and final salvation.
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Listen carefully to this quote. This is the council of Trent. This is Rome. But when the apostle says that man is justified faith by faith and freely, these words are to be understood in the sense in which the uninterrupted unanimity of the
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Catholic church, they love to use that phrase. It's not true. The uninterrupted unanimity of the Catholic church has all has held and expressed them.
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Namely that we are therefore said to be justified by faith because faith is the beginning of human salvation.
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What does that remind you of? What John Piper just said, you get justified by faith alone at final salvation.
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You're saved by works. Listen to the council of Trent because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and roots of all justification without which it is impossible to please
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God. Here's what John Piper says. Quote, but what makes that possible and pleasing to God? We put sin to death and we pursue holiness from a justified position where God is 100 % for us already by faith alone.
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Notice here that Piper's entire thought requires a hard distinction between justification and final salvation and his thinking of those are completely different theological categories, but the fact is biblically, folks, here's the, here's the fatal error with what
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Piper is saying biblically, the justification of centers before God is final salvation. Our justification is our final salvation.
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The justification of centers by God is how we get into heaven. John Piper says, quote, so we should not speak of getting to heaven by faith alone in the same way we are justified by faith alone.
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You see how clear that is in his thinking, getting into heaven and how you're justified are completely different things and you should not think of getting into heaven by faith alone.
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You get justified by faith alone. Getting into heaven is on the basis and grounds of your works.
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Piper says, love the fruit of faith is the necessary confirmation that we have faith and are alive.
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We won't enter heaven until we have it. There is a holiness without which we will not see the
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Lord. Hebrews 12, 14 and quote, you see how clear it is in his thinking. Justification is not how you get into heaven, according to John Piper, and this is why
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John Piper is so subtle and dangerous in his teaching. This hard distinction between justification and getting into heaven or final salvation.
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Listen closer to me. It allows him to sound completely biblical, orthodox and reformed when he's talking about justification.
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And so if John Piper preaches and teaches on justification, he will say emphatically exactly what we would say.
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But because he thinks final salvation is entirely different from justification, he's a purveyor of a false gospel.
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Listen to what Piper says about justification. Listen to this. Listen to how good this sounds. Quote, if you choose to rely just a little bit on law keeping as a way of getting justified, as a way of getting into the position where God is 100 % for you, then
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Christ will be of no advantage to you. Paul says, if you want to go the route of justification by any law keeping, you must go the route of justification by total law keeping perfection.
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That's what Piper says. And my response to that, amen, preach it. He's right. He continues
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Galatians 5, 3. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.
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There are two ways of justification, the way of law keeping, which requires your perfection and the way of faith, which depends on Christ perfection.
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Doesn't that sound good? He's right. These two paths into the position where God is 100 % for you are so distinct.
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They cannot be mixed. If you are trusting Christ for a righteous standing where God is 100 % for you, you cannot mix into that way of justification, one ounce of effort to establish your own righteousness.
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And if you are seeking to establish your own righteousness, your own record of virtue as your entrance into the position where God is 100 % for you, you cannot mix in the slightest faith in Christ as your all sufficient righteousness.
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It is one or the other law keeping to establish my righteousness or faith alone to rest in Christ for righteousness, end quote, amen, amen, amen.
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But very shortly after that correct teaching, John Piper says this quote, so we should not speak of getting to heaven by faith alone in the same way we are justified by faith alone.
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Here's the problem. And here's what you must understand, folks. The biblical doctrine of justification is the doctrine of how you get to heaven and is the doctrine of final salvation.
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Justification is a legal act once for all instantaneous act. It is not a process.
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It is an act made by God as our judge at the last judgment, Jesus Christ, our curse bearing substitute is nailed to Calvary's cross and takes the full judicial legal law curse punishment for all of our sins.
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Both original and actual Jesus Christ's cross fully discharges the debt of punishment to God's holy law and delivers us from its punishment completely and perfectly.
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Paul said in Galatians 3, 13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse in our behalf for it is written curse is everyone who hangs on a tree.
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The curse of the law Christ bore in our place. Instead, folks, please hear me. That is the final judgment.
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What happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross? That was the day of wrath.
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That was the day of judgment. That is the day of final salvation brought back in time and applied to us once for all at the moment of our effectual calling when we repent and believe in our united to Christ.
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The cross is the final judgment. Reflect on that. The doctrine of the legal forensic justification of the center before God is itself the very basis upon which centers go to heaven.
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There is also the positive requirement of God's law upon all human beings. Not only are we forbidden to transgress and disobey
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God's law, we are also required to positively produce a perfectly righteous life. And folks, this covenant of works forbidding disobedience, requiring perfect obedience to the law is one of the clearest and simplest teachings in the
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Bible. When Paul describes how a person gets to heaven, he describes it as two imputations, two creditings.
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Romans four, six, just as David speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works.
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That's the positive law keeping. It is imputed to my legal account. It is taken from Christ, transferred to my legal account before God.
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I now stand before God under my new federal covenantal head, Jesus Christ. His law keeping is accepted by God the father as my own.
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The satisfaction of my sins at Calvary's cross that my sins will not be charged against me is the negative imputation.
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Paul says in Romans four, six through eight, just as David speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works.
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Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose transgressions are covered. Listen, blessed is the man, verse eight, to whom the
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Lord will not impute sin. Why will my sins not be charged against me?
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Because Christ bore them on the cross. They were legally transferred in their entirety from me to him.
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He bears the curse in its entirety. His righteousness, as Romans four, six says, is charged, imputed, credited to my account.
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I now stand before God dressed in the obedience and righteousness of Christ and my sins are forgiven.
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And folks, that is the only way a human can get into heaven. That's not just, well, initially you're justified by faith alone, but then you're saved at the last day by the fruits of your faith.
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Folks, that is not true. The fruits of your faith could never stand before God's holiness.
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Never. That's why we need someone else's righteousness. That's why we need the obedience of someone else.
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That's why Paul says over and over and over in Romans five, 12 through 19, by the obedience of the one man, many will be made sinners.
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How much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall live through the one man,
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Jesus Christ. You see how clear it is? It is so clear in scripture.
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Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Folks, that's not talking about initially, initially we have peace with God.
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And then, well, whether or not we're going to have peace at the last judgment depends on how much fruit you've borne. That is not true. That is not the case.
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Paul says in Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. You know what else that means?
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At the last judgment, there will be no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul even asks rhetorically,
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Romans 8, 33, who will bring a charge against God's elect at the final judgment?
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That's what he's talking about. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?
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You see that justified and condemned? That is talking about the day of judgment. Who will bring a charge against me?
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Nobody. Why? Because Christ, my curse bearer, took it all away and I stand justified once and for all eternity in him.
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What about the word saved? And what about the biblical term salvation? John Piper points out a lot that, well, the term saved is often used in a broader context.
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It's used to encompass more than just justification. Aren't those words saved and salvation sometimes seen as including more than justification?
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The answer to that question is yes. And how do we know if saved is synonymous with justification or if it's being used more broadly in any specific passage?
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Well, there's the three rules of exegesis, context, context, and context. The context tells you.
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And we also bear in mind as well that if our interpretation of any given text of scripture is at odds with what is clearly taught in lengthy passages and chapter after chapter after chapter of teaching on that topic, then we are wrong.
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In Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, Paul uses the participle sosmonoi of the verb sozo,
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I save, and he uses it as a synonym for justification. For by grace, you have been saved.
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You have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
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For we are his workmanship, creating Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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Remember what Piper said? We are saved by the fruits of our faith. We are saved by our works.
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What did Paul say? We're saved by grace through faith, not by works, lest anyone should boast.
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If Piper is correct, we will boast on the day of judgment. Those that go to heaven will be there because of the fruits of their faith.
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They will be there on the grounds of that fruit. Paul is using the word saved here as a synonym for justified.
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Thus, it is said to be not by works, lest anyone should boast. If at the final judgment I was saved from God's wrath against my sin through works
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I have done, then I would boast and I would have every right to do so. Here's another passage where salvation and being saved is likewise synonymous with being justified.
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Again, how do I know this? How do I know that saved in the passage I'm about to read is a synonym for justified? The context,
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Romans 5, 8 and 9. But God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners,
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Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
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There, saved is again synonymous with justification. How do I know that? Because it's right there in the passage.
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Having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
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God saves us from his wrath because Jesus's shed blood has justified us legally. Wrath is the legal punishment of God against us for having broken his laws.
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We are saved from wrath because we have been justified by the blood of Christ. Christ bore the curse and wrath of God in our place on Calvary's cross.
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Now, John Piper cites two passages as his basis for believing that final salvation is by works or by the fruits of our faith in our lives and not by faith in Christ alone.
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He cites 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 and Hebrews 12, 14. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 reads as follows.
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But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth.
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Piper sees an association in this verse between salvation as being something that is accomplished through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth.
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And he concludes, see, final salvation is through the works that we do as the fruit of our faith. The problems with this interpretation are several.
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Number one, the translation that Piper's quoting is not a good translation. The preposition through in Greek is dia and it's not used there.
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What it says is because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation, unto salvation in sanctification of spirit and belief in truth.
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That's what it literally reads. We have been and are being sanctified by the work of the spirit in us to be sure.
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But folks, it is not on account of this or on this basis that salvation comes to pass.
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That is being read into the passage. It does not say that. The term Soteria salvation is also being used here in that broader sense to encompass all of the work that God does in the life of the redeemed person.
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But this passage, 2 Thessalonians 2 15, is not discussing the entrance of a person into heaven, nor is it discussing this entirely anti -scriptural idea of final salvation.
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Nor does it say anything at all about the instrumental cause of our salvation, nor of the grounds of our entrance into heaven.
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It is simply stating this glorious truth. God chose us from the beginning for salvation in being set apart of spirit and believing in the truth.
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That's all that passage is saying. There is absolutely nothing here at all that would support John Piper's false teaching.
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Quote, in final salvation at the last judgment, faith is confirmed by the sanctifying fruit it has borne and we are saved through that fruit.
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And I have to wonder once again, why would John Piper go to a passing statement like that? In 2 Thessalonians 2, to ground such an earth shattering and important teaching.
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John Piper says clearly and emphatically, we should not speak of getting into heaven by faith alone in the same way we are justified by faith alone.
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I want you to think about how absurd that statement really is. I want you to reflect on how anti -biblical it is and how much it detracts from the perfection of the work of Christ.
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To be justified before God as opposed to condemned in scripture is talking about final salvation and the entrance into heaven of all of God's children at the last day.
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Remember how I began the sermon, heaven or hell, the justified go to heaven, the condemned go to hell.
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It's that simple. And allow me to elaborate a little bit more here. When the question is asked, how can
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I go to heaven and not hell when I die? That is the same question as how can I be justified before God as opposed to condemned?
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That is the same question. Asking how can I go to heaven instead of hell is asking the question on the day of judgment when
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God sits on his throne and renders the verdict. How can I be sure my verdict will be justified instead of condemned?
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You see, those who repent and believe the gospel of Christ have all of their sins forgiven. Have Jesus Christ's perfect righteousness credited to their legal account before God, and thus they are once and for all eternity justified before God at the final judgment.
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That final verdict is brought back in time and applied to them the moment that they believe.
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But when we say we get to heaven by faith alone in Christ alone, which is what I pray all of you say,
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I am getting into heaven by faith alone. What we're really saying when we say that is this, the sole grounds of our justification is the shed blood and the righteousness of Christ alone.
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When I say I believe I am going to heaven by faith alone, what I am really saying to you is I believe
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I'm going to heaven on the basis of the work of Christ alone. When God summons us forth for judgment,
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God will examine only the righteousness of Christ in our account and the perfect crosswork of Christ as the full payment for our sins.
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And thus we will be justified at the last judgment solely, completely and only because of what
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Jesus has done in our behalf. Jesus paid the full punishment our sins deserve at the justice of God.
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Jesus's preceptive and perfect obedience to the law of God is accounted or reckoned into our account before God so that we appear before God as if we had kept all of his holy laws our whole life.
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That is the only way a person can get into heaven. There will be no assessment of our transformation as the grounds of our salvation.
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There will be no inspection to see if we put sin to death enough or pursued holiness enough to get us into heaven.
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Putting sin to death and pursuing holiness is the fruit of justification, not its cause.
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When the apples grow on those apple trees over there by the manse, those trees are not turned into apple trees by bearing apples.
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They bear apples because they're apple trees. In addition to being justified before God, God, by his awesome and gracious power, makes the dead sinner alive in Christ.
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He implants a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. He causes us to mourn for our sin and to see our poverty of spirit.
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He creates in us a desire to put sin to death, to love our brothers and sisters in the Lord, to pursue righteousness, to love his church, to care about the people around us, to hate idols, to love
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God and to live for the one who died for us and rose again. But that's not justification.
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That's not how you get to heaven. These are all of the other saving graces that always accompany justification and how we get into heaven, but they are not justification and they are not how we get into heaven.
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John Piper is wrong about that. As soon as even the smallest iota of our own works enters into the equation as the grounds or basis upon which we enter heaven, we have destroyed the gospel and the grace of God and turned it into a sham.
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Galatians 2 21. I do not nullify the grace of God for if righteousness comes to the law, if final salvation comes through the fruits of my faith,
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Christ died in vain. If getting into heaven comes by the life of love,
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I live in response to God's initial justification, then Christ died in vain. Galatians 5 1 through 4 stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which
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Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you,
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I'd like to modify this to fit our situation. I say to you that if you trust in the fruits of your faith,
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Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify to every man who trusts in the fruits of their faith to save them on the last day and to get them into heaven, that you are a debtor to keep the whole law and Christ will be of no benefit to you.
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You have become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by the fruits of your faith.
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You who attempt to get into heaven by the fruits of your faith. You who think that final salvation is on the basis of your works.
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You have fallen from grace. Remember, the key to John Piper's error in his false gospel is this.
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He makes a radical separation without, and this is what what stuns me, without even attempting to argue for it from scripture.
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He makes a radical separation between how a person gets justified before God and how we get to heaven and his thinking entirely different matters.
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But folks, justification is how we get to heaven. Justification is how we get into heaven.
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Justification is itself the final verdict on the last day. What does our shorter catechism say?
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What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection? At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment.
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Folks, why are we going to be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment? Christ, Him, not because of the fruits of our faith.
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We are all either justified or condemned. And John Piper's subtle, deadly error allows him to go on and on and on and on about how justification is by faith alone apart from any works at all.
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Even the slightest work. If you go the direction of justification by a little law keeping, he says, you go the direction of justification by total law keeping.
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And we all say, Amen. But someone needs to stand up and say, yeah, but he doesn't think that that's what gets you into heaven. And all the dyed -in -the -wool
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Calvinists and Protestants jump up and shout, Amen. Piper's one of us. And then he shows us his cards.
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How do you get to heaven? You don't get into heaven by faith alone. You don't get into heaven by the righteousness of Christ alone.
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You don't get into heaven by the cross of Christ alone. You get justified by faith alone. You get justified by the righteousness of Christ alone and the cross alone.
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You get into a position where God is 100 % for you by faith alone. And in order to get to heaven, that faith must bear the fruit of love.
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Pursue the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Put to death the deeds of the body and you will live. Piper says we should not speak of getting into heaven at the last day through the last judgment.
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When all of our lives, this is a quotation. When all of our lives are assessed for whether there's been any transformation confirming the reality of our faith, which alone justifies.
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We should not say you can live like the devil and get to heaven. You can't, end quote.
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Think about that again. Has the Christian church ever heard that objection before? You know who heard that objection all the time?
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The apostle Paul did. Well, Paul, this God, this idea that you get into heaven without any works at all, that the grounds of your acceptance with God is the righteousness of Christ alone.
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You're just saying people can live like the devil and go to heaven. Justification is one thing, according to Piper.
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Getting to heaven, totally different matter. Let me just say it the way it really is. For John Piper, justification has nothing to do with getting to heaven.
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Justification has nothing to do with getting past the final judgment. When a man stands up and announces to the world that you don't get to heaven by faith alone, what he is really saying is you don't get into heaven by the righteousness of Christ.
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That is what Piper is saying. That is what he is teaching. Why is that word alone so critical?
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We speak of justification by faith alone. When we say we get into heaven by faith alone, we say the scriptures teach that we are justified by faith alone.
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Why would anyone think that that word alone, as I just read it in that statement, is not only worth fighting for, it's worth dying for.
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It's worth denouncing reformed royalty for, as John Piper is. In order to explain this well,
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I want you to think about the real controversy between Rome and the Reformation regarding how sinners are justified before God.
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The question that separated us from Rome and continues this very day to separate us, and rightly so, is this.
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What is the grounds of the sinner's justification before God on the day of judgment? What is the grounds of our acceptance with God?
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In other words, what is it that God as judge will examine when we are summoned forth to the judgment seat to hear our verdict?
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Upon what grounds? Upon what grounds are sinners pronounced righteous in the sight of God and justified as opposed to condemned?
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The question in the 16th century, during the Reformation, that came into the foreground was not, does God require us to be righteous to get into heaven?
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The question was, where do we get the righteousness? Where does it come from? Protestant reformers, following scripture, answered it with this, the only righteousness that has the merit to meet the requirements of the holiness of God and thus get us into heaven and pass the last judgment is that righteousness that was achieved and performed by Jesus Christ and by Jesus Christ alone.
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So when we say we're getting into heaven by faith alone, what we're really saying by that is, the righteousness of Christ is the only thing that God will examine on my day of judgment to get me into heaven.
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That's where the word alone comes into focus. Historic Protestant theology has always acknowledged that what the phrase justification by faith alone really means is justification by the righteousness of Christ alone.
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The Roman Catholic Church and John Piper would say that the way in which
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God will declare a sinner to be just and for them to get into heaven is that they have to have a righteousness that adheres within them, an intrinsic righteousness that is brought about by the works of the sinner.
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Now, Rome and John Piper would say that you can't be just without the grace of Christ, without the help of Christ, without the power of Christ, without grace or without faith.
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But added to that grace, added to that faith, added to that Christ, must be the personal contribution of the sinner, must be the fruits of our faith, without which
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God will not let you into heaven. John Piper's gospel is so much the same as Rome's.
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It's really quite remarkable. By radically separating justification from final salvation, Piper would have the sinner to rely on the final analysis upon this assessment of the fruit of his faith as being that which will get them into heaven.
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He says it himself, we are saved through that fruit. You're not saved by Christ, you're not saved by his righteousness, not by his cross.
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You are saved through that fruit that you bear by your works. Just in case people are wanting to accuse me of misrepresentation,
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I just want to read it again. This is John Piper on Desiring God's website. In justification, faith receives a finished work of Christ performed outside of us and counted as ours, imputed to us.
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In sanctification, faith receives an ongoing power of Christ that works inside us for practical holiness. In final salvation, at the last judgment, faith is confirmed by the sanctifying fruit it has borne and we are saved through that fruit and that faith.
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He's very clear. He's very clear. In the final analysis of the final judgment, which by the way, his thinking, that has nothing to do with justification.
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Your justification is not the final judgment. How are you saved? By your works. By the fruit you bear. Anathema. Curse.
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My final words to you this morning are some warnings. The most dangerous people to the biblical gospel at any given moment are never atheists.
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They're never defenders of other religions. The most dangerous people to the health of the church and to the gospel of Christ have always been and always will be ordained ministers.
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Paul warned the church about this at Ephesus in Acts 20, 28. He said to the elders of the church, take heed to yourself and to all the flock among which the
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Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
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Also from among yourselves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves.
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Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11, 13. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
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And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
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Who are the most deadly, dangerous people in the church today? Guys that get in pulpits. Guys who are ministers of righteousness, supposedly.
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2 Peter 2, 1. But there will also be false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.
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Folks, so many people have been duped by what Piper is saying. It's really amazing to me.
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Secretly bring in destructive heresies. Even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction.
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In my entire life as a pastor and as a ruling elder, John Piper's false gospel is by far the most crafty and subtle I've ever heard.
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And frankly, I hold him to be one of the most dangerous men alive today. I want you to know, I take no delight in saying that at all.
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But when someone can shout and yell and preach with every fiber of his soul, justification is by faith alone.
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And if you add even any works at all, you go the direction of justification by total law keeping.
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It's all Christ and it's all his righteousness. That is the only way you can be just before God. Christians are going to hear that and go, that's right, that's the gospel.
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But he's not sliding in the other card there. That has nothing to do with how you get to heaven, folks.
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And Piper's thinking, how do you get to heaven? By works. See, justification is not how you get to heaven in his thinking.
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Isn't that subtle? When I first listened to it, I thought, that sounds like what we're saying. But by one sentence, he just throws the whole thing away.
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In final salvation, in final salvation, we are saved through the fruits of our faith, not by faith alone, not by Christ, not by his righteousness, not his cross.
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John Piper made a comment that made chills run down my spine. He said, we should not say you can live like the devil and get to heaven.
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You can't. And how does Piper answer that objection? He conditions final salvation on works.
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What's God's answer to the very same question? I've had people say to me, you're saying you can just send all you want and still go to heaven.
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Would I ever say in response, oh, no, no, no, no. You're saved in the final analysis by the works you do. That's not the answer.
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What's the answer? Regeneration. Romans 6 .1, what shall we say then?
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Why is Paul asking that? What shall we say then? Because that's what people said to him all the time. Romans 5 .20, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.
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A dangerous sounding teaching, isn't it? Paul says, what shall we say then? Shall we tell people they can live like the devil and still go to heaven?
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What's Paul's answer? Does he say in final salvation, there's an assessment of your fruit and that you're saved by those works.
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Is that Paul's answer? No, it is not. How does Paul answer it? How shall we who died to sin live in it any longer?
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Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death.
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Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
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Romans 6 .14, sin shall not have dominion over you. Romans 6 .18, and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
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The biblical answer to the most common objection to the free grace of God in the full justification that we have by faith alone, a full entrance into heaven by faith alone in Christ alone.
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The biblical answer to the question, you're just saying people can live like the devil and still go to heaven. Our answer to that is no.
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God regenerates us. A justified person, the person who will be entering heaven at the last judgment on the basis of the cross and the imputed righteousness of Christ alone has been made new.
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Their heart of stone has been replaced with a living, beating, spiritual heart of flesh that loves
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God, that loves neighbor, that hates sin, that pursues holiness, that puts sin to death. John Piper is actually agreeing with Paul's enemies.
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He says, we should not say you can live like the devil and still go to heaven. And John Piper believes that if we teach justification, which is final salvation at the last judgment, if we say that you get to heaven by faith alone, that we're actually telling people you can live like the devil and still go to heaven.
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And Paul's answer, and the answer of the Christian church to that objection is, may it never be.
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Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live in it any longer? Remember what
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Paul says? I was crucified with Christ. It is no longer
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I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
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Paul would never say, and the church has never said, and the reformers never said, and the
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Westminster divines never said, well, justification is by faith alone, but you get into heaven by works. That's not the answer.
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Ezekiel 36, 27. Here's the answer to Piper's problem. Ezekiel 36, 27.
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Listen to the way God describes every person who's in the new covenant, every person that he saves.
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Listen to what he says. These are God's words. Here's Piper. We should not tell people they can live like the devil and still go to heaven.
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Here's God's answer to that question. Piper's answer is, we got to condition heaven on works. No, that's a false gospel.
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Totally wrong. That's the religion of the natural man. You're stockpiling the line of people who are going to say,
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Lord, Lord, didn't I do this? Didn't I bear this fruit? Didn't I bear that fruit? And Jesus is going to say, depart from me.
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I never knew you. Here's God's answer to the problem. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and you will keep my judgments and do them.
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God does that in the life of every believer without fail. Justification, our legal verdict on the great day of judgment, is by faith alone.
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And that verdict is pronounced upon the legal grounds of the cross work of Christ and Christ's righteousness alone. Justification is by faith alone because justification is by the righteousness of Christ alone.
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We get into heaven by faith alone because we get into heaven by the righteousness and blood of Christ alone.
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John Piper is dead wrong on this point. We put sin to death and we pursue holiness for one and only one reason.
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God puts his spirit within us and causes us to walk in his statues and we will keep his judgments and do them.
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And praise be to God, our walking in God's statues and keeping his judgments and doing them is not and does not form any part of the basis upon which we are saved or upon which we enter into heaven.
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Those for whom Jesus Christ has died on Calvary's cross and those whose legal status has been changed from condemned before the law to justified before the law of God will never have a charge brought against them.
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And I say to everyone here and all who will ever hear this message, justification is final salvation.
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Justification is how we get into heaven. And the only righteousness that has the merit necessary to meet the requirements of the holiness of God is that righteousness that was achieved and performed by Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.
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And if your confidence at the last day is that the fruit of your faith will be what
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God sees in order to let you into heaven, I testify to you as Paul testified to the
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Galatians Judaizers, Christ will be of no benefit to you. What will get you into heaven?
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Christ alone. What will get you past the final judgment of the last day? Christ alone.
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And I want to close with two stanzas of Augustus Toplety's great hymn, Rock of Ages. Here's a man who wrote this hymn who really understood justification.
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He understood the gospel. He understood how you get to heaven. He understood what the last judgment was all about. Listen. Not the labors of my hands can fulfill the law's demands.
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Could my zeal no respite know? Could my tears forever flow? All for sin could not atone.
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Thou must save and thou alone. Nothing in my hand
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I bring. And I would just break in. Not even the fruits of my faith. Not even the good deeds
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I did as a Christian. Not even my transformed life. Nothing in my hand I bring.
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Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress.
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Helpless look to thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly.
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Wash me, Savior, or I die. Let's pray. Our God in heaven, we are so thankful to you for the one true and living gospel that can save us.
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Lord, I pray you would shut John Piper's mouth. He's obviously not open to correction. So many have tried.
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The scriptures teach us so clearly. Our entrance into heavenly glory, our entrance into heavenly glory is upon the grounds of the obedience and cross work of Jesus.
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Nothing else. And Lord, the fruit that we bear is our response of gratitude to you.
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It is the fruit of your work within us. The faith that justifies us. Yes, it is always accompanied by all those other saving graces.
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But those other saving graces are not our salvation. They are not our justification. Our justification before you is that we appear on the day of judgment dressed in the perfect, pristine robe of the righteousness of Christ.
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As the prophet Isaiah foretold long ago, you have clothed me in garments of salvation and have arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.
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We thank you for the perfection of the work of Christ. We thank you that for us who know Jesus and are in him by faith alone, the final judgment has already taken place.
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It was born by Christ at the cross. Our sins have been borne away and we bear them no more.
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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. This is
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Pastor Patrick Hines of Bridwell Heights Presbyterian Church located at 108 Bridwell Heights Road in Kingsport, Tennessee.
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And you've been listening to the Protestant Witness Podcast. Please feel free to join us for worship any Sunday morning at 11 a .m.
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sharp where we open the Word of God together, sing his praises, and rejoice in the gospel of our risen Lord.
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You can find us on the web at www .bridwellheightspca .org And may the
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Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.