Sermon: Defending Essential Christian Truths Pt.2

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If you would, open your Bibles to Romans 3, starting in verse 9.

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Romans 3, verse 9. Hear now the word of the living and the true

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God. What then? Are we Jews any better off?

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No, not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.

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As it is written, none is righteous. No, not one.

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No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside.

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Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.

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Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips.

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Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.

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There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

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For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

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But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

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For there is no distinction for all who have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

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God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.

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This was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.

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It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

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Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By law of works?

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No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

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Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

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Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means.

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On the contrary, we uphold the law. Thus far is the reading of God's holy and inspired

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Word. Let's pray together as His people. Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the salvation that You've freely given to us in Jesus Christ.

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We have no boast. All we have is Christ. Lord Jesus, You are our everything. We confess You as Lord and King.

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You're the Savior. And You're the only One that can give life. And so we trust in You.

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Thank You for the gift of Your Word. Thank You for the good news of forgiveness and salvation. Thank You for this gift that is something that You've given

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God that is unearned. Lord, thank You for what

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You have done in Your people to bring glory to Yourself. And Lord, that we would exalt

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Your grace and Your goodness. We pray, God, that You'd bless the teaching today, that You'd speak by Your Spirit, that You'd guard my mouth and my heart and my mind from error, that You, Lord, would challenge

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Your church, change us. Lord, convict us where we need to be convicted. And Lord, give us strength where we need to have strength.

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Lord, help us to understand Your Word so we can communicate it to a world that needs Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.

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So here we are, the second message on defending some essential Christian truths. I made the argument over the last couple of weeks of preaching that the

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Christian faith can be known. It can be known, and it can be defended. Now, I'd say not very long ago, people wouldn't have had a problem with that, saying the

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Christian faith can be known and it can be defended. But of course, we live in a day that has made truth subjective.

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It is what I feel. It is what I perceive. It is based upon my emotions, my story, my experience.

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And to say that this is right and this is wrong in the modern context brings challenges.

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It brings conflict. People want to say that they have the right to determine what is true or what is the true

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Christian faith. And what I've argued is that we are actually commanded in Scripture. I did last week at the opening,

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Jude 3, that Christians are called to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

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So we have the Christian faith once for all delivered to the saints. That's first century, guys. And we are called, commanded really, to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

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Christians are called by God to speak the truth in love, of course, to defend the truth, to sacrifice yourself for another.

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We have the examples of the apostles and the leadership of the early church just in the book of Acts where you see the leadership of the early church, the apostles going into the public square with the truth.

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And it doesn't come without consequence. It comes, many times, you see it, with dramatic consequences.

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The kind of dramatic consequences, let's admit it, most of the 21st century modern evangelicals don't want to endure.

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We have the same message that they had in the first century. We've got the same spirit of God. We've got the word of God right in front of us.

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And so my challenge has been, what's wrong? I would say, let's look at our methodology. The Bible says in Romans 1 that the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

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It is what God uses to bring about life in people and to bring about salvation.

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And so God is the sovereign. No human being can thwart his will. So if we see a world going to hell in a handbasket around us, what's our ultimate hope?

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It's in the sovereign God and the message of his gospel that brings life and salvation and peace. But we all understand that in our modern context, in what was once a world that was so impacted by the gospel and the

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Christian worldview, if we go into the public square, it comes with consequences. You will be slandered.

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You will be gossiped about. You will be lied about. People will vilify you. And you're in good company if that takes place because they did the same thing to Jesus, the same thing to the apostles, but it comes with consequences.

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And Jesus says to his people, woe to you when all people speak well of you.

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Woe to you when all people speak well of you. Now, here's the problem. A lot of people fall off a cliff when they hear something like that and they go out into the world and they act in such a way as they actually create enemies because of their behavior.

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Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't give people an excuse for rejecting your message because your behavior is actually inherently sinful.

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But you should rejoice like the apostles when they take a beating for proclaiming the truth and disobeying the government of their day, saying we must obey

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God rather than men. When they take a beating because they refuse to quit preaching Jesus' name, they say, the text says, that they actually went away from the presence of the council in the book of Acts, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

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We have to bring the truth into the world to see the world transformed. How were you transformed?

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Let's end with that point. How were you transformed? You were transformed by the message of the gospel.

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You were transformed because God's word penetrated your heart and your mind. It told you that you were a sinner, that you were broken, that God is one, that he's a holy

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God, and that your only hope was in Jesus Christ, the God -man who lived perfectly, righteously, justly, died on a cross for sinners and rose again physically from the dead.

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He has ascended and he has seated, and there will be a day of judgment, and your only hope is through faith in Christ.

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That's how you came to Christ. How are they coming to Christ? In the same way. We shouldn't soften the message.

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We shouldn't deny what this book teaches us. We need to go into the world boldly, with humility, and love proclaiming the truth because the

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Christian faith can be known and it can be defended.

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And so that's what I'm gonna challenge us with, is just that point, to know these essential truths and to defend them.

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I talked about the supremacy of the word, the supremacy of the trinity, and the supremacy of faith.

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And what I argued for is that there are so many things in Scripture that count, that matter a lot.

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They matter a lot. But there are actually things in Scripture that do matter, they do have consequence, but they are not necessarily definitional to the faith.

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They matter, those consequences, but these are things that, you know, we should, as Christians, have graciousness towards one another about.

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We should actually be humble towards one another. I actually, and I know you've heard me say this a number of times, brothers and sisters, but I rejoice over the fact that we have in our body, we're a reformed body of believers.

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We have the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. We are hardcore, pipe -hitting, five -point

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Calvinists. If there were more points to Calvinism to believe, we would adopt that, and we would make shirts, and we would do cups about it, because God is that kind of sovereign who deserves all the glory.

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We're there, but we have such a diverse body of believers here, such a diverse body of believers.

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We come from different cultural backgrounds, there are different colors in this room. We even have believers in this room who aren't necessarily fully on board with the reformed

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Baptist Confession of Faith, but they are members here who are outstanding, gifted members, and the ground is level here.

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We're all serving God together, rejoicing even with some differences, like say over particular ways to see a covenant or particular ways to view baptism, baptismal mode, and I rejoice,

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I rejoice that we have a body so diverse that is unified around the essentials.

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We know what the truth is, and we can defend it, and we defend it together, together. You know, it's funny when you think about what in my own personal history, going out to first really start reaching out to the

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Mormon community, I just had a passion for them, a love for them, I just love that community. One of the things that you instantly hear when you have your first meeting with Latter -day

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Saint missionaries is you hear about the First Vision account, the First Vision account where you're told, and by the way, there are multiple

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First Vision accounts. In early Mormon history, there was no record of a First Vision account.

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That's something that progressed over time, and even the story changed over time. But you have a general First Vision account you'll get today from Mormon missionaries when they come to your house.

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They won't come to my house anymore, but if they came to your house, this is what they would do.

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They give you the First Vision account where Joseph Smith tells people that he comes into a place, a garden, he's there, and he has

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Elohim, Heavenly Father, an exalted God. It used to be a man that sinned and exalted to Godhood and has polygamous relationships with other wives and all of that gave rise to Jesus and to Lucifer, and you also have

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Jesus who is there, and Joseph Smith says he's so confused. He's so entirely confused because he doesn't know which church to join, and he was told by Elohim, Heavenly Father, according to his revelation, to join none of the churches for they are all wrong, all their creeds are an abomination, all their professors, that's you, congratulations, are all corrupt.

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They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, and so he says he's so confused because there's all these disputes during his day and there's one

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Christian versus another Christian and all the rest. That's what you'll hear, but the actual amazing thing is a story like ours, a church like ours.

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You see your elders at Apologia Church. You see the people we have relationships with, that we serve with.

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We, you know, Pastor James is like best buds with Dr. Michael Brown.

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He's an Arminian, but you'll never see a better debate on the Trinity and the history of the

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Christian church, I think, than the debate where they joined together to tag team against some guys who were denying the

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Trinity, but you've got King Calvinist over here and, you know,

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King Arminian. It's your new title. Calvinist and Arminian together defending the

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Trinity together. That's unity. Where's the difficulty?

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What's the problem? Joseph lied. We have essential unity together. You guys all know the people that we serve with and hang out with and work together with.

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We've got Presbyterians and we've got all kinds of people in our community that we serve God together with, together with unity around the essentials.

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We know what the Christian faith is and we can defend it and we do defend it together. And so I wanted to argue that as believers you need to be willing, and as we move forward into the next year of service towards God together, we need to be willing to say, is this an open -handed issue or is this a closed -handed issue?

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Open -handed meaning loose, saying, hey, to your own master you stand or you fall, right?

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If you want to celebrate that day to the glory of God, then celebrate it to the glory of God. If you don't want to, then don't celebrate it to the glory of God.

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To your own master you stand or fall. Whatever those issues are, that's between you and the

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Lord. Weaker brother, stronger brother stuff. Unity, unity, unity. Love one another, okay?

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But there are issues as Christians that we need to be willing, how

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I said it, to let goods and kindred go, your mortal life also. These are things that we would say are essentials.

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The nature of Scripture, the Trinity, and faith.

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And so I started today talking about, or reading through Romans 3.

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I wanted to spend most of today as we talk about answering questions or objections, I wanted to focus in upon the text itself to make sure that we know where we are getting this from.

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This is divine revelation and this is why we believe it. What's interesting is that a couple of weeks ago, when

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I did the message on the supremacy of faith, I was in the text.

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Do you remember that? You guys were there for that? Some of you guys, I hope you were there for it. At least you saw it afterwards, okay? Some of the kids checked out, but we're there.

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We went through the text. I answered objections. I went word for word. I talked about the important elements of the text and what's amazing is that after service,

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I had two or three people come up to me that were with the Church of Christ who denies salvation by faith in Christ alone and they're ultimately built upon a works -based salvation system.

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And what was amazing is they said they wanted to talk and I said I'd love to talk. I love it when God brings the fish to the boat.

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That's always a good thing. Same thing with everyone that goes out there on the sidewalk. It's like, praise

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God. He's bringing them to us. This is awesome. Don't gotta go looking for them. But they came up to me and they started talking, said they wanted to get together.

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I said I'd love to get together with you and so they told me where they were from and so I said yeah. Well, today was an excellent message to be in because we went through these important texts and I said we would say that you're lost and the gospel that you believe is a false gospel because you say contrary to Paul and I went through a little bit of Paul and immediately the woman who was there said yes, but James 2 says faith without works is dead.

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I said yeah. It's one of my favorite verses. It's a good one. I said, but what is

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James talking about? And she goes, huh? I said, well, what is James 2, what is he talking about?

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What's the context of James 2? And she said, well, the faith without works is dead. I said, that's a verse in James but what is

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James 2 about in context? And she didn't know. And that's how it works.

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You could read through an entire discourse from Jesus in John chapter six or John chapter 10 about election and God's purpose and salvation and the people of God and Jesus never losing them and what people will say in response to John six is not stay with Jesus and his discourse although say, yeah, but this other proof text over there, it says something different.

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Well, we need to deal with them one by one and in context. And so what I wanted to do today is talk about when we talk about defending the supremacy of faith or justification by faith,

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I'm gonna talk about the danger of proof texting because oftentimes you'll lead a Mormon or a

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Jehovah's Witness or a Roman Catholic right through Romans three and four and five and an inspired apostle taking pains to make sure you understand it is by faith apart from works of law, it's all the way from Abraham.

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If you're gonna be a child of Abraham, you gotta have the same faith of Abraham that's before the law. It's just faith, it's apart from works, it's all

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God, all God, God justifying the ungodly. You'll take them right through it and every time, they'll always go where?

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James two says, faith without works is dead. Now I actually love

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James two, love it. It is truly one of my favorite sections of scripture because it does challenge you as to whether you really have a saving faith or whether you have a mere said faith or a spoken faith.

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But it's used as a proof text often because people won't deal with the text itself and the inspired apostle's argument.

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They'll just say, yes, but this text over here says. So last week, I had to park in the neighborhood all the way down there, thanks a lot.

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Just kidding, I showed up a little later than normal so it's my fault. So I'm walking up and I see, here's the

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Church of Christ now handing out stuff on our sidewalk and I thought, excellent, fish to the boat, wonderful.

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So I have about 10 minutes and so of course, I stopped and as we started talking, immediately, they said, you know, we need to get together.

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I said, I'd love to. I said, we'll make time but my church body is first and foremost so I'll get you in the schedule.

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And so she said, yes, and James two says, faith without works is dead. I said, right, and I already refuted you on James two.

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You didn't know what it was about. I worked through it with you. You didn't have an answer. Let's just go to one place. How about we deal with Paul in Romans chapter three?

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So I start walking through Paul's thought in Romans three and you know what he did? Did he deal with Romans three?

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He said, well, actually, Psalm, he named some Psalm 37 says,

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I said, no, no, no, we're in Romans three. We'll get to Psalm later. We'll do that together later. I said, but how about Romans three?

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Let's deal with Paul and his argument. He's an inspired apostle. Let's do that together. And so we start walking through it.

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He goes, yes, but James two says, I said, no, no, no, we'll do James two in a moment now. I've already refuted this woman over here on that, but we'll get back to it.

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Let's deal with Paul. And about two more times, as we're working through Romans three, he says, yes, but this verse over here says,

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I said, no, that's not how you interpret scripture. You interpret scripture in context.

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You let the scripture tell you the story. You don't import your ideas from other proof texts into other texts of scripture and call that interpretation.

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Now, by the way, really important thing I want to say here is we believe in sola scriptura.

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That is that the scripture alone is the sole infallible rule of faith for the church.

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We believe that we love tradition, but our tradition needs to be tested by the word of God.

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Amen. Yes. We also believe in tota scriptura, that all of scripture should be used to interpret scripture.

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That doesn't mean, however, tota scriptura does not mean, and a lot of evangelicals get this wrong, that if I can find 50 different proof texts across the

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Bible and pull them together, that that's tota scriptura, right?

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Tota scriptura is all of scripture interprets scripture, but those scriptures all need to be in what?

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Context. You will do damage to the word of God, at least attempt to, and pervert it and twist it, if you simply do interpretation via proof text.

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They need to be in context. That's how you bring the story of God's revelation together, and so the danger of proof texting.

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Now, the question to be asked is this, because we talk about the supremacy of faith and that we are saved by faith, declared righteous by faith, apart from the works of law, people will always run to the proof text in James, and they'll say, faith without works is what?

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Let's do it together so we can, you know, let's be like a Pentecostal church today, okay? Faith without works is what?

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Dead, very good. Make sure you know that verse. It's important that you do. So the question is, when it's brought up, is the person can't deal with Paul, right?

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I mean, what Paul is saying there is incontrovertible. I mean, how much more clear could it be?

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There's none righteous. Well, how about one? Not one. None who does good.

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No one? Nobody. None who does good. What about all these God -seekers? No, there is none who seeks for God.

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There's none righteous. No, not one. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

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How much more clear does it have to be that all of humanity, Jew and Greek, that's everybody,

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Jew and Gentile, the whole world, are all under sin, and they're not righteous. They're not good. They're non -God -seeking.

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The poison of asps is under their lips. Their feet are swift to shed blood. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

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That takes care of about everybody. And what's the law do, Paul says? He says that it shuts your mouth.

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The law condemns the world because it shows how much of a sinner you are. So the law can't be used to justify anybody.

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And so you work through Paul's entire argument where he says that it's faith apart from the works of the law.

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It's faith where God justifies the ungodly, not the righteous, where God credits to people righteousness apart from works, apart from works, and he doesn't count your sins against you.

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And it's all through faith. And he even uses a premier example. Father Abraham, how was he justified?

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Genesis 15 .6. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

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You take him through there, and they say, but yes, James 2 says, faith without works is dead.

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You sound sad, but okay. Faith without works is dead. So the question has to be asked, okay, is there a contradiction in scripture?

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Because you can't deal with Paul in his whole argument. It's his teaching.

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It's his systematic explanation as to how a person is saved and justified and made right with God. So we just go over here to James.

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Are we suggesting that James and Paul are on two different teams?

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Are we suggesting that James and Paul are actually opposed to one another? Are we suggesting something like James and Paul sort of have a decent relationship, but Paul's over here preaching this justification through faith apart from works of law.

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It's all to God's glory, election and all that. And James is going, yeah, but faith without works is dead.

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Am I right, guys? Is that really what's going on? Or are we perhaps not actually reading the

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Bible the way that God would call us to? Because the Christian faith can be defended, and I'll end it with this.

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On this point, Galatians 1 is one example of proof from the word of God that the gospel can be understood, defined, and defended.

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Because Paul indicts people and says, you're preaching that, you should be cut off. You're preaching that, he says, then

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Christ is of no benefit to you. You're preaching that, go to hell. That's what anathema essentially is saying.

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Anathema, go to hell. May you be condemned to hell forever. Anathema, I think the gospel can be defined.

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So what I wanted to do today is simply just work through three portions of Scripture, let

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Paul tell the story, and let's ask the question, is this consistent? Is this the same message?

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Is this just a repetition of the same discourse unpacked in maybe a different way?

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So we're gonna look at three parts of Scripture, Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians.

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I want you to hear the argument, and then we're gonna deal, of course, with James chapter two. So Romans, everyone there?

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We've got one person today with me. Good. Romans. Now I'm not gonna read through all of this because we already did this a couple of weeks ago, but I just wanna remind you, because if this is the first message someone has seen or heard,

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I'll make sure that you understand the text. Romans chapter one through five.

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The first chapter does what? It says that everybody knows God. They suppress the truth of God and unrighteousness, they switch

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God for idols, and in that switching of God for idols and that not wanting to know the true

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God because they are sinners against the same God, because they are sinners, they don't wanna know the true

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God, so they switch God for something else, that explains all the false religions, that explains the idolatry, that explains atheism, and all the rest is we do not want

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God and so we reject him, we worship the creature instead of the creator and so God gives people over to their sin.

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He gives them over to it. And of course in Romans two, you know the story. People bragging on the fact that they got the law itself.

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I'm in possession of the law, doesn't that mean I'm right with God? And Paul says, yeah, but you don't do the things in the law. You have it, but you don't do it.

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You tell people not to steal, but you steal. You say don't commit adultery, you commit adultery. Having the Bible doesn't make you right with God.

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Just being in the possession of it. Nope, doesn't work. And so then Romans three is his smack down, spiritually speaking, where he takes all these verses from the

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Old Testament. He brings them together. This is no novelty for Paul. He's a Jew. He's trained as a rabbi and in synagogue.

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He knows the word of God. He takes all the verses and he says, here is all of humanity. That's the no righteous part.

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That's the no God seeker part. That's that no one good part. That's what he says.

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And so his point is, is everybody is at the same level before the cross.

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Everybody's a sinner, Jew or Gentile. You're all the same. Everybody's lost. Nobody's righteous.

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Nobody's good. And so if the problem is a dramatic and complete separation between humanity and God, the only

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God, the creator of all, how's that get solved? And Paul's point in Romans chapter three, it's not going to be through the law.

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What's the law do? It shuts you up, right? Because imagine going before the throne of God and saying,

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God, I've been trying really hard, led a good life, I think. And so what I'd like you to do, you're a holy

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God, I'm a sinner, but I've been working really hard. Can you open your perfect law that represents your holy character and judge me by it?

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Does anybody want to be in that situation? He's a perfect judge.

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The Bible says numerous places, if you keep the whole law and stumble in one point, you're guilty of the entire thing, right?

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So you might say, I think I'm all right in this area. And the answer is, no, you're not. Probably you failed somewhere in your heart.

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You're guilty before God, right? God, I think I want you to accept me because I'm not a thief.

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And how many instances of thievery would actually show up on the record for any of us, right?

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Or God, I think we should be good because I'm not an adulterer. And lo and behold, it starts in the heart.

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How guilty are you of adultery this week? Got real silent there, didn't it?

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Yeah, that's the day of judgment. That's what it looks like. You want to take God's perfect law and you want to apply it to your life and say,

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I think I'm doing okay. You're guilty. You've broken, it's a unit. You can't say,

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I only broke a corner of the window, Dad. I just broke a piece, a chunk really, but it's still there.

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It's a unit. You violated the law. You're a law breaker. Paul's point in Romans chapter three is the law is just going to shut your mouth.

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And I mentioned it because it is a good strategy. In some context, it's actually a really good strategy when you think about our friend with Living Waters, Ray Comfort, when he goes to people on the boardwalk by the beach and he says, have you ever loyed?

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Have you ever stolen anything, irrespective of its value? All of that, because what's it show you? You're a lying, thieving, adulterous, murderous, covetous person.

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So what is your plea before the judge? Because he's perfect. Perfect. What are you going to plea?

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So the law shuts your mouth. That's the point of Romans chapter three after indicting all of humanity, talking about the law, and then

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Paul moves in Romans three to his discussion about how

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God justifies people. And he says in verse 21 that the righteousness of God has been manifested, here it is, apart from the law.

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Apart from the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

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For there's no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

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How much more clear does the inspired apostle have to be? How am

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I saved, Paul? Well, it's by his grace as a gift through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.

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It's all through faith. It's apart from the law. How much more clear does the apostle have to be?

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But let's ask this question because we didn't do this last time. Let's do it now. He uses this word justified here quite a bit.

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Actually, the word for justified and righteousness is the same. It comes from the dick word group in the

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Greek and it's essentially, it's an expansion on the same thing, righteousness, justice, but he has a word here justified.

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Justified, declared righteous. It's essentially like righteous -fied. What's he mean by it?

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Well, I think to get to the bottom of what the apostle means by it, we should ask the apostle in the same letter.

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Good idea? Same letter. What do you mean by justified? So if you look here in Romans chapter three, he's having a discussion of how this justification takes place, apart from the law, through faith as a gift by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.

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What exactly does it mean? What context is he in? Well, clearly we have the context, you're the sinner.

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You're the broken one. You're the enemy of God. You're the hater of God, Romans one.

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So the problem here for Paul is he's trying to solve the problem of the relationship between the sinners down here and God who is here.

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The context is sinner and God. How does it take place? How does God deal with the sins of the sinner?

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How does he do it? The context, I'm doing this on purpose, you'll figure out why in a minute, is sinner and God.

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The context is between God and man for Paul in Romans one through five especially.

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It's between God and man. But what's he mean by justified? Let's ask him.

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Go to Romans chapter eight. So move over, and you see just this beautiful moment where Paul, he actually talks about, we call it the golden chain of redemption.

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But I'm gonna read that so you can get it together because this is Paul sort of like coming to a climax.

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Now he's been like Romans one, two, three, four, five, justification in Christ, no condemnation, eternal life.

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And then he moves into six where we are being sanctified and changed and we are now alive in Christ.

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We put away the old man. And then of course seven and eight glorious truths, but now you get to this culmination of like, it feels like he's shouting.

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And in Romans chapter eight, he says verse 28, and we know that for those who love

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God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose, for those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

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And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified.

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And those whom he justified, he also glorified. And here it is, verse 31.

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What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

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So where's the point of contact here? It's God and us,

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God and man, God and humanity. The discussion is leading up between my sin issue and what

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God has done to save me. Foreknew me, predestined, called, justified, glorified, that beautiful golden chain.

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It's all about God solving my problem of rebellion and sin. And it says, if God is for us, who can be against us?

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He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

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Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

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Stop. This is what I want to get across here in terms of God and us and what does

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Paul mean by justified? Because he says it a lot. It's central to how God solves our problem of sin.

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He says, who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

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Where do charges take place? In a court. You're guilty.

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God isn't. You're the rebel. God's the holy one. You're the creature. God's the creator.

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And the question is, who's going to bring any charge against God's elect? And here's what he says.

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It is God who justifies. Those two lines should be water for your soul.

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Don't forget it. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.

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This is all courtroom context where charges are brought before a judge.

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And so Paul's point when he talks about justification is it's clearly legal.

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It's clearly God's the judge. We're the guilty ones. His law exposes us. It closes our mouths.

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And so here's the point. Who's going to bring any charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.

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It's courtroom. We call it forensic. It's a legal declaration. Justification in Paul's context clearly in the text is not about what's going on between you and I in our relationship.

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It's about how God solves the problem between God and sinful man.

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God is the one who justifies. It's courtroom. It's the context of a legal declaration.

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God has justified you. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died.

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More than that, who was raised. Who is at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us?

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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

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And for time, his answer is no. No. But the context is clearly

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God and us. Justification in the context of charges being brought.

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You are justified. You are declared righteous. You are free to go. By the way, in his context,

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I just want to say this. It's a beautiful part of the story. It's amazing. If God's the just one, if he's the holy one, if he's the one who is a perfect judge and you're the sinner,

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Paul's whole story is this. You have no hope. You're lost. You aren't a seeker of God.

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You have nothing to bring before God. The law's going to do nothing but shut you up. And so what God does is he gives

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Christ, who is a full diversion of his wrath in your place. So Jesus takes all the wrath and justice of God in your place.

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And God does that so he might remain a just God because he's not just letting your sins go.

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He's dealing with them in another. And he's the one who justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.

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And so how does he do it? How do you come into a courtroom and a judge, is he willy -nilly just letting people go?

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Like flowers out of a hat, right? You're free to go. You're free to go. You're free to go. That's fiction and an indication of a false religion because if you have a religion where their

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God is just letting people go with no justice done, then you've found your unjust

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God, your false God. Only the God of the Bible actually deals with human sin. God doesn't just simply say,

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I choose to forget it. He does not remember your sins anymore because they've been dealt with.

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It is finished. That's the beauty of the gospel. So that you stand in God's court hiding in another.

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You stand in God's court clothed in the righteousness of another. That's Paul's whole argument, but get the point.

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Ready? Let's see if you're tracking. Okay, see if you're tracking. The context is between God and who?

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Man. God and humanity. It's between us. And justification is a forensic declaration.

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You are declared righteous. Charges are brought and God is the one who justifies.

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He deals with the charges. It's legal. That's Paul. How is this problem going to be solved between God and humanity if nobody is righteous and the law cannot justify anybody?

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That's Paul's entire discussion. Now note something. Watch. And you can read me. Check this later.

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You'll see. Romans 1 through 5 is Paul talking about sin. The law can't justify.

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Abraham's a supreme example. Genesis 15, 6. How did Abraham get justified? He believed

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God. But what else? He believed God. And it was credited to him as righteousness.

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But wasn't there circumcision? Didn't he do that obedient thing? Yeah. But that was after he was justified.

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Well, maybe it was when the law was given. Nope. Sorry. Hundreds of years before Moses. So how was Abraham justified?

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Paul's whole argument is that he was justified through faith and that's it. Before anything else was done.

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Before circumcision. Catch this. Years and years and years before he offered his son

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Isaac on the altar. And long before the law was given to Moses.

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So how was Abraham justified? Through faith. That's Paul's whole argument through Romans 1 through 5 and that we are in one of two humanities.

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Adam, fallen, condemnation or you are in Christ where there's a gift of righteousness and eternal life.

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And then Paul does what? Here it is. Catch this. It's a consistent message. In Romans 6, Paul says,

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What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?

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What's Paul's argument in Romans 6? Uh, no. Because if you have been justified you are in Christ.

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And if you're in Christ and not in Adam. If you're in Christ where there is righteousness and eternal life then you've also died and been raised from the dead.

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It's a consistent message. For Paul it's election, predestination,

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God's purpose, God's calling, God taking sinners and justifying them, God putting people into Christ, God raising people to newness of life, to live in a new way filled with God's spirit.

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It's a consistent message. Just read Paul's letters. You'll see the same thing being enunciated over and over and over.

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But that's his point. And then you get to Galatians where he defends it.

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I'm not going to go through the whole book. I'm just going to show you points of contact to read later in context to see the argument is consistent and the same for Paul.

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It's really the same message unpacked in different contexts, applied sometimes in different ways to circumstances.

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But in Galatians chapter 1 what do you have? Chapter 1. He's dealing with a false gospel.

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And he's amazed that they're so quickly deserting him who called them by the grace of Christ to another gospel.

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So you could say Paul says gospel, not gospel. How dare he do that?

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How dare he enter another person's space and question their story, right? Oh, I hate the way we talk today, right?

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He says this is the truth and that's not. If I preach a gospel contrary to the one that I gave you, there's a gospel that's the real one.

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This saves. This is the power of God for salvation. If I come back, Paul, I know you love me.

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I know I'm an apostle, but if I say anything other than this, then let me be condemned to hell forever.

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If an angel came from heaven and preached anything else than this, let them go to hell forever.

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That's Paul's point in Romans 1. It's a great way to open a conversation. Imagine being in church on Sunday.

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You're like, I'm going to pull a letter from Paul. Look, he's going to read it today. You're like, oh, not good.

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But in Galatians 2, you can read this later, he talks about a situation going on between Peter and himself and Antioch where the apostle

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Paul actually confronts Peter to his face, not because he was preaching a false gospel, but because he was just behaving in a way that would cause people to be maybe confused about the gospel.

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That would actually muddy the gospel and so what does he say after he confronts

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Peter? In verse 15 of chapter 2, it says this. Here it is. We ourselves are

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Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

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So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law, no one will be justified.

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How much clearer do we have to be? How much clearer do you have to be to see that the

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Christian faith stands on this essential truth? Faith apart from works of law.

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And some people say, oh, no, no, wait, wait, here's the thing. They were just trying to get saved by law purely.

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No, they weren't. No, they weren't. And it's often the case in false religion that tries to ape

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Christianity and counterfeit it. What they will often do is not deny grace.

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Oh, no. We need the grace of God. The grace of God is very necessary.

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It's necessary. You need God's grace to maybe be infused into you so you can perform in a way that sort of establishes a righteous standing with God and then you have all these good works to bring before God and He can accept those and you're good.

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You know, no religion usually is brave enough to simply say it solely works and there's no grace coming from God.

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Mormonism says grace is necessary but not sufficient. Roman Catholicism says grace is necessary, not sufficient.

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Jehovah's Witnesses, necessary, not sufficient. That's not the message of the Bible. His grace is sufficient.

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It is a powerful grace that actually saves. And in Galatia, what are you dealing with?

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They're saying, yeah, Jesus. Yeah, He's the Messiah. Yep. Yeah, He's the one.

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He's the righteous one. He's the Messiah. He's the one we're expecting. But, I mean, come on. We've got to keep this part of our identity.

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You at least got to keep this part of the law. Bring that over into this faith with Jesus thing.

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Faith in Jesus, yes, but let's at least make sure that we keep this part of our identity.

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Circumcision. Now, why these men wanted to keep that around will always continue to bewilder me, but they like it, and they wanted to keep it as a part of their identity.

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They were attached to it, so they were like, okay, look, all these Gentiles are coming over. Let's at least maintain this commitment to circumcision.

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Let's keep it. And Paul's whole argument is like, what are you doing? What are you doing?

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You can't be justified by the law. But, Paul, I'm just taking a piece. I'm just getting the piece.

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Oh, wait. A part of the law.

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I'm taking a part of the law. Okay. That's gonna go down in history.

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Okay. Back at it. I'm just,

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I'm taking a portion of the law over here, and I'm applying it to faith with Christ, and Paul is arguing against that.

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He says, we have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law no one will be justified.

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Now, watch what he does. He continues the thought. He says, but if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is

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Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not. For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

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For through the law, I died to the law so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ.

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There it is again. See? Same consistent thought for Paul. Different context.

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Explaining it in a way that applies to their context. He says, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer

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I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the

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Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Ready for the punch?

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I do not nullify the grace of God. That's the point. I'm not going to void

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God's grace. I don't want to do that, Paul. How would you place a void stamp over the grace of God and salvation?

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How'd you do it? He says this, for if righteousness were through the law, then

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Christ died for no purpose. There's no need for the death of Christ if it can be accomplished.

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And what's he arguing about? What's the point? It's people who are saying, yeah, grace, yeah, sure.

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But just keep this part of the law. He says, void. Grace, gone from that message.

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If you're saying that's how people are going to be justified, just bring this thing over from the law, he says then you void the grace of God.

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Watch how he expands the thought some more. Chapter 3, verse 1. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, it was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

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Let me ask you only this. Okay, so for Paul, this is a big deal.

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He's saying, just answer this one question for me. Just this one. He says, did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

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Paul is an inspired apostle. He is also a master at argumentation.

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He really is. So he's saying, okay, let me bring it down some more for you. I have one question for you.

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Just one. How'd you receive the spirit of God? How'd that happen in your life?

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How'd it happen? Was it through works of the law? Did you do something for it?

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Or did you simply hear the message of the gospel and believe?

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How'd it happen? And every Christian in Galatia who knows the grace of God and is saved knows they heard the message of the gospel.

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They believed in Jesus. How did it happen? How did you get connected to the spirit of God in your life?

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Was it through works? Did you do something for that? Or did God do this? Was it by his grace?

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Did he accomplish this? Hearing with faith. And so, he says, having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

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Did you suffer so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain, does he who supplies the spirit to you and work miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

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And same conversation for Paul. Here it is again, verse 6. Just as Abraham believed

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God and it was counted to him as righteousness. There's his anchor. Abraham.

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Father Abraham. How'd it happen? He believed God. It was credited to him as righteousness. Know then that it is those of faith who were the sons of Abraham and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the

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Gentiles by faith preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed.

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So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. So, my point was to demonstrate the consistency of Paul's messages.

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His discourse is exactly the same. It's the same story. And what's the direction? What's the direction? God and humanity.

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How are you justified? How are you saved? How are you right with God? How are you going to solve this problem of sin?

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For Paul, it's faith, apart from the works of the law. And for Paul, Abraham, Abraham, Abraham.

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No law, no works, no nothing. He's our father. You want to be a son of Abraham, a child of Abraham?

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You want to be part of this promise? You've got to have his faith. Well, what was it? He believed

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God. It was credited to him as righteousness. And what else? Nothing. He believed

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God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Mark it down. That's Paul's argument. And that's

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Paul's anchor. And one last thing to point you to is after he continues to devastate the idea of any mixture of faith and works for justification, he moves on to the same story he always has, and that's our new life and our obedience, just like he does in Romans 6.

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All through faith, apart from works, but now you're alive, and put this stuff to death.

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And then in Galatians, he does the same thing. In Galatians chapter 5, after he says in verse 2, look,

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I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

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You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.

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Note something in his argument because we're going to see it in a moment in James. Did you hear him? Look at him again.

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Verse 3. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

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You see how the apostles, you're going to see how they see this together. You're going to accept this one.

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If that's how you want to be justified, you better do the whole entire thing. If that's really what you're setting your heart on, that's how

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I'll be right with God. He says, all right, you accept this. That's how you want to be justified. You now are under obligation to keep the whole law.

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How are you doing? Fail. It's over. But that's his argument.

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But after he moves from there, he says in verse 16, but I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the

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Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do.

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But if you're led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now, the works of the law are evidence, sexual immorality, purity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

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I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the

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Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

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Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

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Same thing. Same story. You're a sinner. You have no hope. God does this by His grace, through faith, apart from works, in Christ, eternal life, righteousness, in the

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Spirit now, raised from death to life, and now, what's He say? He says, now what? You live in a new way.

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How? Because you're alive. Because you've been crucified with Christ. Yet it is no longer

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I who live, but Christ who lives in me. That's a consistent story for Paul. Now you're at the end of Galatians.

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Let's look at Ephesians real fast. Is he telling the same story? He is. And this is truly one of my favorite sections of Scripture.

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It was funny. I think it was a week ago, or a week and a half ago,

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I was with my family. It was some morning, and we were doing the Bible reading challenge.

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It was my instruction, instruction was given to me, that we were just simply to read

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Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1 through 6. An hour later...

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Now here's why. Because it's so amazing and glorious, and it's so consistent and beautiful.

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And what's interesting here is, after I was reading through this, verse 14, my wife said to me, she goes, how could anybody deny predestination and God's elect and grace when you read

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Ephesians 1? You can't. Other than just to come into direct conflict with what the inspired apostle says.

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So, here we go. I'm just going to go through it. Sorry, Ephesians 1. Let's start in verse 3.

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

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In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which

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He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which

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He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which

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He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and on earth.

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In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined, according to the purpose of Him who works all things, according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory.

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In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the

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Holy Spirit, the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory.

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How do you like that? You don't even need to preach about it.

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Just read it. How does that not water for your soul? How does that not satisfy you?

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This is all God. It's His purpose. He does this. He'll keep you. It's a guarantee. He's going to do this.

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All to the praise of His glorious grace. Grace, grace, grace. Notice the direction.

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God and us. God and us. God's choice. God's choosing. God's predestining. God's grace.

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God's glory. This is a story of God and His glory. And what's the direction?

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God and us. So Paul's point in Ephesians is one, same as Romans 8, election, predestination,

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God's calling, God's plan, God's purpose, all to the praise of His glorious grace.

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But then, chapter 2, he says, notice how similar the message is with what we've already gotten in Romans chapters 1 through 3.

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Remember where we're at? Romans 1 through 3, indictment of all humanity, everyone sinful, none righteous, none good.

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Ephesians 2, verse 1. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the courts of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

01:00:16

So, again, Romans 3, if it just stopped there, none righteous, none good, poison of ass, feet swift to shed blood, no fear of God before their eyes, you'd be devastated.

01:00:30

Enemy of God, hater of God, idolatrers, it's not a good story.

01:00:36

But then Paul in Romans 3 says, but now, right? Here's the bad story.

01:00:42

This is where you're really at, and you have to accept it, but now. That's what he says.

01:00:48

But now. And he tells the story of Christ and the cross and God's justice and him justifying the ungodly.

01:00:54

And here he says, you were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

01:01:01

He says, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

01:01:16

By grace you have been saved. Can I just have you pause there for a second? You want a good working definition of, what is

01:01:23

Paul getting at when he talks about grace? How effective is it? And what's it really like?

01:01:30

He says, here it is. You were dead by nature, a child of wrath, just like everybody else.

01:01:36

You were dead, and God made you alive. By grace you've been saved. So what'd you do for that?

01:01:44

I don't know, kind of laid around dead? What were you actively involved in?

01:01:50

What were you sowing into the world as seeds of righteousness, and how were you obeying? Paul's like, nah, you're stinking, rotting corpse.

01:01:58

You're dead. God made you alive. By grace you've been saved. Someone says, wow, that seems nuts.

01:02:08

Like, that seems like over -the -top grace. That seems like really undeserved grace, like powerful, effectual grace.

01:02:17

Yeah. That's the point. And that's why you don't get to boast about anything, and neither do

01:02:22

I. Because no one's before the throne of God ever for all eternity saying anything about themselves, because they know the context.

01:02:29

No, I was dead. Dead. Stinking, rotting, dead. I had nothing. I wasn't seeking for God, I wasn't good, and God did this.

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He did this. He gets the glory. Here's what he says. Again, consistent story for Paul. By grace you've been saved, and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

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And it's the famous verse, right? For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

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What? The grace and the faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Jesus, in Christ Jesus, for good works, which

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God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. There's the consistency. There it is again. Election.

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We're lost. God saves. Praise of his glorious grace. Same things.

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Same themes of grace and faith. God saving us by grace through faith. It's not our doing.

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And what's it always lead to in Paul's thoughts? We're getting to James right after this. What's it always lead to in Paul's thoughts?

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Every time. New life. Obedience. Right? Every time.

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It's salvation through faith alone. Grace. God. God. God. He does it. He gets the glory. And it leads to new life.

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New life. Obedience. This is not

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Paul versus James. This is Paul in context saying the same gospel over and over.

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And I want to say this. This is very important. Paul couldn't be clearer.

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It's the same message. Did you hear it? Through and through. It's the same story. It's just repeating it in different contexts.

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When he says that this is the gospel and that's not the gospel, you're hearing what his gospel is.

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You just heard it. Explained and defended. That's his gospel. If you don't believe that, you're condemned.

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You're still in your sin. Because that's his gospel. That's the gospel he taught. This is the gospel he defended.

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This is the gospel he defined. This is how Paul explained it. This is his explanation of it.

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And so we need to make sure that we're able to come into a world that is hostile to the

01:05:10

Christian faith. Many counterfeit versions of the gospel. Many of those who ape Christianity. And we need to be able to walk people through the inspired revelation of God.

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This is the gospel. Do you agree with Paul's explanation of the gospel?

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But there's always someone lurking in the corner, right? And they're always ready.

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They're listening to Paul. They can't respond to Paul. They can't answer Paul. They have a real problem with that predestination and election stuff.

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That's for another day in Layton Flowers or something. But they're like ready.

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Ready to throw it out. And they say, yes, but faith without works is what?

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Dead. Isn't that exactly what the apostle Paul is explaining when he explains the gospel and how

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God justifies us by grace through faith. And he says, now you're crucified with Christ in the spirit.

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And now you put these things to death. Isn't that exactly the same story that Paul is saying?

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Are James and Paul really going different directions? Are they in different lanes?

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The answer is no. The answer is you need to read James in context because it's exactly in line with what

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Paul is teaching. Now I asked you a question on purpose because it's vitally important to get and it's missed by cultists and those who want to distort the word of God and deny the gospel itself.

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I asked you the question of direction for Paul. It's God and what?

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Man. How does God solve my problem between him and I? How's God solving this problem directionally between him and I?

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I'm the sinner. He's the holy God. I'm the lost one. How is this, how am I going to be declared righteous by the one where there are charges and I am guilty?

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That's Paul's direction. It's God and the enemies. It's God and the children of wrath.

01:07:08

It's between us and God. Let's move to James 2 and James James is the brother of Jesus so I'd say he's a fairly reliable source.

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James chapter 2 is where we're going to be and we're finished.

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Now first thing when we go to this bible, this revelation of God, it's incredible.

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It spans about 2 ,000 years of composition multiple different authors multiple locations multiple different genres of literature you have

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Paul in Romans, we would call that didactic literature in other words, it's systematic he's teaching, he's saying here's a category, here's the thought, move through it, he's using logic, he's challenging with propositions and he's defending himself he even has imaginary opponents in the background where he's dealing with the imaginary opponents.

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It's systematic didactic teaching. You have other kinds of literature like you have wisdom literature like say the book of Proverbs if you don't know the book of Proverbs just read a proverb a day you're going to get through that book every single month but it's godly wisdom.

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How do I live? That's the focus of wisdom literature how do

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I apply these things? How do I live? It's different and you'll see it instantly.

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If you were to take Romans and the book of Proverbs and read them kind of a chapter here, a chapter there, you'd say these are going different directions one's systematically explaining one is clearly giving like images and symbolism and it's doing things at times in proverbial ways and so it's wisdom literature.

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You'd know the difference. There's a difference between how you're supposed to read say the book of Kings and the book of Revelation right?

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You can't read the book of Revelation with like a flat literalism or you're in trouble.

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You're looking for seven -headed ten -horned beasts with whores riding them drinking blood and you're like that's terrifying

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Maybe what's happening at the White House right now, I don't know but you can't read it that way.

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You have to read it in like the biblical imagery in which it was given. What does this mean in the Bible sort of a thing?

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But as you read James, notice the difference. Chapter one, he says

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James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ of the twelve tribes and the dispersion greetings. Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.

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If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him.

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And look what he says. But let him who asks in faith with no doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

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For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord for he is double minded and stable in all his ways.

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And you can read through chapter one you'll see the discussion of the tongue and how we speak and how we live with one another and look what he says and I just want to point it out to you verse 26.

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If anyone thinks he is religious and is not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

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Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

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Are you noticing the difference? Already in these two works one with the focus on God and us and one with the focus on how do you live?

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You say you believe this, you say you're religious but if you can't bridle your tongue your religion is worthless.

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There's a difference in how this is even coming out and it's being applied but here we go, James chapter 2.

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My brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our

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Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory for if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say you sit here in a good place while you say to the poor man you stand over there or sit down at my feet have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

01:12:10

Listen, my beloved brothers has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him but you have dishonored the poor man are not the rich ones the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called if you really fulfill the royal law according to scripture you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself you are doing well but if you show partiality you're committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors notice what's happening here he's applying scripture and he's giving examples of how you know someone actually believes what they say and are actually living consistently with their profession he's challenging them he says the royal law you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself he says but if you show partiality you're committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors here it is you heard it in Paul already he says verse 10 for whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it

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I wonder this is why I always ask the question by the way when I have a cultist or another you know religion that apes

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Christianity and they'll hear Paul and their immediate response is yes but James 2 says faith without works is dead this side's alive

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I always ask the question what's James talking about because for the person that believes that James 2 is teaching how a person is justified before God and that somehow our works have something to do with our justification before God they're going to run face first into James chapter 2 verse 10 what's it say whosoever shall keep the whole law and stumble in one point is guilty of all of it how do you like that bag on your shoulders right no no no no it's faith plus works for justification before God oh yeah and you got that from James 2 ok

01:14:27

James says if you kept the whole law and stumbled in one point you are guilty of the entire thing so in all your attempts to be justified before God through faith and works contrary to Paul in all your attempts by 9 a .m.

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when your eyes open you're done amen you guys get it right yeah

01:14:50

I'll tell you what as you get older it gets harder and harder to move in the morning doesn't it man

01:14:56

I'm sounding like an old man more and more the more I get up here like you know there's a lot of potential for sin between like the moment your eyes open to like an hour and a half later right a lot of sanctification taking place within that hour and a half when you get over 40 right am

01:15:13

I right old people yeah okay I didn't look at you but here's the point you're gonna put that burden on somebody and say it's faith and works to be justified before God and then the same passage

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James 2 says if you kept the whole thing and you stumbled in one point you're guilty of all of it you're toast you're done you can't even begin to use

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James 2 to teach that it's faith and works to be justified before God which is not what he's talking about because in James chapter 2 verse 10 it says if you kept it all and messed up in one place you are now guilty of the entire thing take that works based salvation religions you can't use

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James 2 to teach that it's faith plus works for justification before God because that's not his context that's not even his discussion but he lays a stumbling block in front of anybody wants to pervert the gospel because he says you can't do it you're guilty of the whole thing so what is his context for Paul help me now what was it it was

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God and what man let's go chapter 2 verse 14 what good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works can that faith save him what do you think

01:16:55

Paul would say to that no someone who merely says they have faith but they have no works can that kind of faith save what do we do in Romans Ephesians and Galatians what do we show

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Paul's thought it's God and us we're the sinners we're the enemies God's the one who justifies and what does he do when he saves somebody he raises them to what life and they are crucified with Christ they have an old self and a new self now they're in the spirit and now they live in a new obedient way so when

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James asked the question what good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works can that faith save him so where's the direction now for James he's looking across and he's saying examine someone has a said faith they say they have it but then nothing he says can that faith save someone who merely has a profession but they have nothing that happens there's no fruit that's his realm that's where he's arguing he says if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them go in peace be warmed and filled without giving them the things that needed for the body what good is that so also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead so here's the question for James what saves dead faith or living faith for James that's the context this has nothing to do with this discussion that Paul's having between the just judge and the enemy down here how's the problem solved

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James' discussion isn't about this direction what takes place for God to justify the ungodly

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James' discussion is simply this what kind of faith saves dead faith living faith can someone simply say they have faith and then nothing happens and that kind of dead faith saves how many of those people have you met in your life that said that they believe in Christ there's no love for God no love for his word no love for the church no desire to pursue

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Christ nothing they just have yeah sure I'm a Christian how do you how are you a

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Christian at one time I I stumbled across this tract in the bathroom and I saw the back of it and said do you want to burn in hell forever

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I said no it said then read this prayer and I read that prayer so I'm saved so they have a profession of faith

01:19:43

James' point is look if somebody is destitute and starving and they come to your door and you're like go be warm well filled and you slam the door in their face what's that guy thinking the destitute poor guy that guy what's he thinking you liar right if you're going to say to the guy yes

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I hope all goes well for you be warm be filled and you slam the door they don't buy it you're just lying you're lying and James' point is this faith without works is a dead faith now what kind of faith saves real faith living faith and so he goes on verse 18 but someone will say you have faith and I have works show me your faith apart from your works

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I will show you my faith by my works you believe that God is one you do well even the demons believe and shudder that is powerful and I think it's the point it's the point someone says

01:20:50

I believe all that sure it's all true yeah guess what the demons also believe all that they would acknowledge it's all true there's a difference between saying yeah that's true and someone actually coming to God to save them see even the demons know it's all true they know this whole they know this bible better than most of us they've been around for a long time they probably sat through a lot of preaching trying to be disruptive and all the rest they know this book and they know it's all true they know the trinity is true they know justification through faith is true they know it's true true true they'd acknowledge every point of it and they'd ace every test every theological exam they believe it all it's the truth but they don't believe in Christ they won't trust them so merely saying

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I believe that won't work and so he says this do you want to be shown you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless remember for Paul where was his anchor we're almost finished

01:21:51

I know I'm going along today but it's straight Puritan Sunday today is what it is okay it's my hope to train you and equip you okay so I'm not on a clock here sorry so for Paul what was it

01:22:07

Abraham Abraham Abraham now help me and you'll figure this all out right now for Paul when he uses

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Abraham as an argument Genesis 15 6 he says what Abraham believed

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God and it was credited to him as righteousness what was his whole argument is when did that take place for Abraham it took place before circumcision it took place many years before he offered his son

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Isaac on the altar and it took place hundreds of years before the law was given through Moses so Paul's anchor argument is if you are a child of Abraham you got to have the same faith as him and how was he justified by faith alone apart from any work faith alone apart from circumcision faith alone apart from Isaac faith alone apart from law that's his argument but watch what

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James does here he says do you want to be shown you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless was not

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Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar you see that faith was active along with his works and his faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled that says

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Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness wait a minute wait a minute

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Abraham sorry Paul and James aren't even at the same point of Abraham's life in this discussion did you note that for James James is saying do you want to see it how do you know that Abraham believed

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God he offered his son Isaac on the altar so for James that's what he says how do you know that Abraham believed

01:24:04

God how do you and I see that his faith was alive and not dead how do you know because he offered his son

01:24:12

Isaac on the altar that's how you know that he had faith because he offered his son

01:24:18

Isaac on the altar but brothers and sisters we're talking like 20 years after Paul's discussion about Abraham believing

01:24:26

God and who credited him with righteousness now here's where it gets tough right because note what he says he says and Abraham believed

01:24:34

God and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of God you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone hmm well considering the fact that James and Paul are teaching exactly the same story about faith and obedience and a new life and considering the fact that James and Paul are at two different points of Abraham's life it'd be appropriate to ask the question in what sense is

01:25:07

James using the word justified here's the problem and this is a dangerous game to play when you're interpreting the

01:25:14

Bible sometimes people see a word in the Bible and they go that's what the word means and then they take it like peanut butter and they go everywhere right everywhere you see in Paul's context

01:25:25

Romans 8 it was about charges God is holy us is guilty and God justifying that is declaring righteous but if you read

01:25:37

Matthew 11 19 you'll see an example of Jesus using the word justified that has nothing to do with legal and declared righteous you know the famous scene where Jesus is being accused he's being slandered and Jesus says wisdom is justified by her children now if I take the understanding of Paul's use of justification and I put that into Jesus there wisdom is declared righteous before God by her children how does that work we use it all the time don't we when we say you're just trying to justify yourself right or we say hey that guy was vindicated what he did he's vindicated right he's shown to be right so the word justified can mean can mean vindicated now

01:26:32

I would argue especially because of the context of James here that's exactly what he's saying because notice what he's doing he's saying

01:26:39

Abraham believed God he says how do you know he offered Isaac on the altar so you see you see that a person is vindicated by their works and not by faith alone in other words how do you know somebody believes truly believes and they have living faith and not dead faith how in the world will you and I on this level know that someone has living faith answer by what they do they will be vindicated that they have living faith because of what you see and that's

01:27:17

James point James isn't even in the discussion with Paul about how a person is justified before God he's asking the question what saves dead faith living faith how do you know someone really has living faith by what they do like Abraham he believed

01:27:36

God it was credited him as righteousness and how do you know because about 20 years later when

01:27:41

God commanded him to do something he offered his son Isaac on the altar and that's how you know do you see it praise

01:27:51

God okay so so I was encouraged it as a strategy when you walk through the gospel and house person is justified before God when you walk through that and someone throws out the proof text of faith without works is dead say amen that's true what is

01:28:11

James talking about he's talking about living faith versus dead faith and how you know someone has living faith he's not talking about how you're justified before God he's talking ultimately how you're justified before men that you have real faith now this verse isn't a challenge to a context like ours that believes that God raises people from death to life and that they live in a new way do you know who this verse is really for it's for the modern day evangelical the things that can merely say they have faith in Jesus and then nothing happens that's who

01:28:48

James 2 is directed towards not a faith or an expression of the faith that says it's faith alone and Christ alone all to the glory of God alone he saves people and he transforms them and changes them throughout the duration of their lives

01:29:01

James 2 isn't an indictment on that kind of faith and proclamation it's an indictment upon those who have a mere said faith that is really a dead faith let's pray father

01:29:14

I pray you bless the message that went out today I pray that you allow us as a church to proclaim this message with power and humility and love to a lost world in Jesus name amen and now we come to this table