Apologetics Catholoticism Section 2 Part 1

Father, we're grateful that we can gather to worship You, experience Your presence. Help us to be filled with the knowledge of Christ so that we may be sanctified, that we may become more like Christ, so that we please You for Your glory.

Help us to be focused on You this morning, and may Your Word speak to our hearts. Father, we also pray for all those who are traveling, that You would keep them safe and secure. And those who are sick, we ask that You would heal them.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, today we will be talking about the biblical justification. Last week's discussion was more on what's the Catholic view of justification, and how did that develop. And as you remember, their concept of justification is very much Latin-based, because their main text has been the Latin Vulgate.

And how the court system worked in the Roman culture heavily influenced the act of justification. This week, so today, we will be discussing with a lot of the Bible verses, because in order to learn how true justification works, we need to go to the source itself, and that's Scripture.

So we will discuss many of the verses that talk about how we are justified, how we respond in faith, how we are saved, and then we will also discuss a main counterexample that the Catholics throw at us, which is James 2.

Because if we read James 2 in its context, it does not contradict the Pauline justification, as in a concept of justification you see in Paul's letters. And the reason why I say this is Scripture never contradicts itself.

God doesn't contradict Himself. That's His character and nature. He's unchangeable. He is the whole, perfect, one God, right? He can't contradict Himself. After this, we will go more into the practice of the Catholic Church, such as the view of the Church, and papacy, and Mary, and then we'll be done with this series.

All right. So let's turn this. Sola Fide. Sola Fide, Latin phrase for faith alone, right? Sola is alone. Fide means faith. What that means is, Scripture tells us that we are declared righteous by placing our faith in Christ alone.

The key word here is declared righteous. Remember, we don't have to be perfectly righteous in order for God to justify, declare us to be righteous, because it's a court language, right? The punishment that's deserved has been paid for already.

Christ paid for it. Therefore, God can justly justify. And again, it is not based upon our righteousness, but based upon Christ's atoning death on the cross. He suffered the wrath that we deserved. He was the sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice for our sin.

And He took our place and faced God's wrath, and we take His place and are declared righteous by God. In the Pauline writings, oftentimes we see this phrase, in Christ, all the time. In Christ, right?

In Christ, in Christ. We're justified in Christ. We're being sanctified in Christ. We're loved in Christ. We're chosen in Christ. All these in Christ language. This is not just a filler word, right? It's not a filler phrase.

What that means is we've been transferred from the realm of sin and darkness and Satan's world. The moment we believed, we've been transferred into the kingdom of the Son, Jesus Christ. So, we're found in Him.

So, when God looks at us, He looks at Christ's righteousness. That's the only reason we're declared righteous, not because we're any good. We're righteous because we're found in Christ, right? That's an important language that oftentimes we just gloss over because we see in Christ all the time, right?

But it's an important concept to be unified in Christ, to be unified with Christ. So, here's the justification formula. According to the Catholic view, you need both faith and works, and now you're justified, right?

The works help you to become righteous on your own, right? Again, they do require faith. Let's not get that mixed up. They do require faith, but it's not enough. The biblical view is you get faith and then you're justified, and because you're justified, because you're a new creation, you produce works.

The works are on the other side of the equation. The works are not the prerequisite for justification. It is not a recipe ingredient for justification. It is actually the fruit of justification. So, as Protestants, we are not antinomians.

Antinomian means against. Nomian, namas, means law. We're not against the law. We're not against doing good works, right? Let's not get it wrong. If someone at a Protestant church, a legitimate, godly church, is living in sin, the proper response is that the church leaders and the church itself correct that person, right?

We do highly value good works. We just don't put it in the equation as a prerequisite for justification. Only because you're justified by faith, you can actually produce good works. That's the order. Works do not lead to our justification.

It is the product of our justification. And God declares us just only by our faith, right? Only by our faith. Only because that's the only thing a sinner can respond. That's the only way in which a sinner can respond.

They have no good deeds to bring to the table here. Remember, justification by faith alone is a court language. Justify is a court language. God declares you righteous is actually more than a pardon. We don't just start at a blank slate, right?

We're not just neutral when we believe in Jesus Christ. Rather, it is a net positive. God sees you, declares you to be righteous. And the question is, how do we receive this gift of justification? How would we receive justification?

Through Christ, what do we need to do? Have faith, believe, trust in Jesus alone, right? That's the only way in which we can receive this gift. And here are some verses that we need to consider that tell us what our state is without God.

And also the holiness of God. So first, we're going to look at the holiness of God. So Psalm 133, If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Right? If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

And that is the reality of God's holiness. If God tracks record of our sin, does anyone have the hope of being found righteous? No. The psalmist says, no one can stand, right? So the question is, what about our righteous deeds?

Right? And obviously, what about our righteous deeds? So let's go to the next one. This is what Bible tells us about our righteous deeds. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.

Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, right? Even our best works that we try to bring before God and say, look how good I am, it does not meet God's standard of righteousness. In fact, if we try to earn our salvation through our righteousness, it would be even worse, because of the pride that's behind it.

To think that you could satisfy God's demand for righteousness on your own accord. So the question is, how can we be justified? Well, Romans 3 .20,. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, that's God's sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

What that means is, the law is not the means by which we can be found righteous before God. In fact, what does the law do? It shows us our sin. I like this medical metaphor of the law being like the x-ray.

It shows us what's wrong inside, right? It shows us, it displays for us, what is broken, right? Whatever x-ray can find, right? Usually broken bones. But what is broken, what's wrong? Maybe bone density that's wrong.

But it shows us what's wrong. But can the x-ray actually fix the problem? No, it doesn't, right? It doesn't. The question is, well, then what about our works? Well, Romans 3 .28, For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Faith and works cannot work together to save. Faith and works cannot work together to justify, right? When it says, for we maintain a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law, it's crucial.

It shows that the Protestant view, that justification, the prerequisite is only by faith alone. That's the verse you go to, Romans 3 .28, right? Right there. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

You can't obey God enough to be declared righteous before God. It has to be through faith alone. Now, what's the result of justification? Romans 5 .1, Therefore, having been justified by faith, doesn't say faith and works, by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So what's the result? Peace with when? That's right, the moment you believe. The moment you believe in Jesus Christ, you have peace with God. You're reconciled with God. That's why we can have assurance of our salvation.

It's the moment you believe, justified by faith, not justified when you die, and your records are shown, and it outweighs the evil. Right? And then you have the guarantee, oh, I have peace with God. That's not right.

Romans 5 .1 was written to the living people. Right? Church that was alive. And peace through our Lord Jesus Christ is an immediate result. Well, what about the Popes and the Catholics? They said, right, you need works.

Well, here's another passage. Galatians 2 .16 -17, Nevertheless, knowing that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. He makes it clear. You can't be justified by the works of the law.

Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law. Since by works of the law, no flesh will be justified. In fact, you can't be justified with the works of the law.

You can't obey God perfectly to be justified. You can't. This is really powerful. It's very clear and very similar to Romans 3 .28. Right? Again, you just can't be adding the works of the law. No one can be justified by the works of the law.

The next part is justification by grace alone. While justification by faith alone shows us the human level, our response, which is by faith we are justified alone, how we need to respond to God's gift of salvation.

Justification by grace alone is God's initiative. He justifies by grace, which means it's a gift. Right? God declares you righteous not because you've earned it. It is grace. Right? You believe in Jesus Christ because he's given to you as a gift.

Right? Now, what is grace? Salvation. Right? It's a gift. Right? I think I misquoted it, but I like the acronym GRACE. God's riches at Christ's expense. I like that. Right? It's God's riches at someone else's expense, and that's Christ.

Not mine. Right? And the question is, can grace be earned? No, that's contradictory to what grace is. It's freely given. Right? Which means we have to ask the question, can you receive grace with faith and works?

No. You can't partially earn a gift. Right? Let's say if someone gets you a gift that's worth $100, but then, you know, it's a gift, so you're not going to pay him a full $100, but let's just say you write a check for $50.

That's what it is. Or even giving him a dollar bill is just still insulting. Right? Thank you for the gift, but here's a dollar bill. I do want to earn it a little bit. Right? But that's what it means to receive grace with faith and works, because that's our response, faith.

But we can't put works into that. Here's the biblical evidence, right? Of course, none of this is just based upon our tradition. It's based upon what Scripture says. Titus 3 .5, He saved us not on the basis of deeds, which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy.

Right? Think grace. Grace and mercy are kind of the two sides of the same coin. Right? By the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. Mercy is freely given, compassionately given to someone who cannot afford it.

That's mercy. So that's why grace and mercy are the two sides of the same coin. The person who's receiving in no way can afford that. And the point here is, of course, it's free. And we can't earn what is free.

Here's another one. This one, Ephesians 2 .8, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. You can't get clearer than that. I've been on, like, all these forums to research.

How did the Catholics argue against, you know? And Ephesians 2 .8 is one of the main verses that they get stumped by, because you can't put merit into this. You can't put works into this. For by grace, for by free gift, you have been saved.

Well, what do you need to do? Through faith. You just need to believe. And this is not of yourselves. You can't get clearer. It's nothing you do. It's nothing you have done right. It is the gift of God.

Right? That's a powerful verse. Now, the question is, how can God declare sinners righteous? This is an important concept here. It's an important doctrine. It's the imputation. And the reason why I say it's important is because, would it be righteous or just for God to declare a murderer righteous?

Without Christ. Without Christ, would it be righteous for God to declare a murderer righteous? No. We wouldn't allow a human magistrate, like a judge, to let a murderer go free. In fact, it actually angers us, because deep inside, we still have this sense of justice in our hearts, even if you're not Christian.

And you would be furious to hear that a criminal is free. He's not prosecuted. Right? And we're kind of seeing that in California, right? With Prop 47. Right? They say, we're not going to really charge people unless they steal like 900-something dollars.

It's like, now everyone's angry, because the prices are going up, because the stores have to keep up with the security. And they're getting things stolen, left and right. Even private stuff, right? Not even from the stores.

And we're furious. Right? That's the thing. The judge cannot just say it's okay when there is injustice. That injustice has to be dealt with. And only in Christianity is that dealt with. Any other religion, their deities say that if you're good enough, the good outweighs the evil, then it's okay.

Right? Islam's like that. But then the question of evil still remains. Well, let's say good does outweigh evil, but how can your God still let that evil thing be? Right? Where's the punishment for the evil, even if it's little, if your God is that holy and just?

Well, here's the doctrine of imputation. God credits or accounts Christ's righteousness to a sinner based upon their faith. There is an imputed righteousness. What that means is our righteousness is not based upon what we do.

It's based upon what Christ has done. And Paul actually goes back to Abraham to show that. And that's Romans 4, 3. For what sayeth the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Abraham did a lot of good deeds. Abraham did some bad deeds, too. He was no by no means perfect. He committed the same sin a couple of times, too. It's not like he committed once and then he learned his lesson and stopped.

Right? No. Abraham threw Sarah under the bus multiple times. Right? Oh, the common ruler, the whatever ruler of the land we're in, the land that we're in. He likes my wife. She's pretty. Well, I'm going to I feel like I'm going to be killed for her.

Well, she's my sister. Right? A couple of times. I mean, it's really the passivity of Adam that's really passed on. Men get passive with the result of sin. Women's the opposite, aggressive. But that's really like Adam and Eve.

Right? That's what happened. Adam was passively watching and Eve took charge. There was a flip. Well, how was Abraham counted righteous? You know, because he is a sinner. He believed. He believed and God counted onto him as righteousness.

Right? And that happens in Genesis 15. Abraham is still alive and he still has more years to go. Did he reach perfection then when God declared him to be righteous because he believed? No. Abraham was not perfect.

The moment God counted righteous in him because he believed he committed sin still. Right. The very next chapter, I believe he tries to fulfill the promise of God of the promise offspring by. Yeah. By sleeping with his wife's servant.

Right. Like he tries to do it himself. No. Abraham by no means was perfect at that moment. But when he believed, when he believed, God still counted him to be righteous. And ultimately. Abraham, too, is saved because Christ's death on the cross.

And that's from Romans 325. Why did Christ have to die? Well, because it was righteous for God to put that for Christ. Right. To atone for our sin. But not only that, but sins that God had formerly passed over.

That's what it says. Formerly passed over means all the Old Testament saints who did not end up in the place of torment because they all were sinners. Well, they weren't. Well, how is that right? Well, because Christ would end up paying for their sins, too.

And that's what made it right. So God can justly count Christ's righteousness for Abraham. Even back in Genesis 15. Even when he wasn't perfect. Just because Abraham believed. In that sense, God works the same way.

He works with his people through faith. His people interact with God through faith. Here's another one. Titus 3 .7. So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Another question we need to ask is, can you become an heir by works? Can you inherit anything by works? No. Becoming an heir to eternal life, you can't earn that. That's why it was ridiculous when the young rich ruler said, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Rather, it has to be by grace. You are a daughter of God. You are a son of God, because God has graciously given Christ to die for your sin. You can't work for that status. No child who is adopted needs to work to be adopted.

That is ridiculous. So we inherit eternal life based upon Christ's grace alone. This has to be clear. Because the moment we try to put works with our faith as our response to God's grace, we are trying to say it's no longer grace.

The moment faith alone goes away, then grace goes away. I don't even think you need to put grace alone. Grace by definition means you can't work for it. You have to just receive it. Now, we get the double imputation because of that.

God accounts Christ's righteousness to you rather than your righteousness or lack thereof. And because Christ took your sin and paid for it on the cross. He takes the bad from you and then puts the good, his good, on you.

It's a double substitution. It's a double imputation. Romans 3 .26, 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 Christ Jesus.

This was the only way in which God could justly justify sinners without sinners having to be perfect, which is impossible. Sinners cannot be perfect. We're born into sin. They cannot be made perfect without Christ.

God can justly justify without compromising his righteousness. That's important. We have a God who is consistent in his character and nature of holiness and righteousness and mercy. Because the moment you try to show mercy without justice, then there's an asterisk to that mercy.

It's no longer pure. But our God can show mercy justly. Justice and mercy meet at the cross of Jesus Christ. Now we get the Catholic rebuttal. James 2 .21 .23 -24. History of James. James is one of the earliest letters written.

We believe in the 40s and 50s in the first century AD. AD 40 to 50. Obviously hard to pinpoint, but it's one of the earlier ones. And the context of James is there was this first conflict in the church.

In the first century church. And the reason is the Jews and the Gentiles were getting saved left and right. But then there's this question remaining. How are the Gentiles saved? Do they need to convert to Judaism first?

After all, the apostles, they're all Jews. Jesus is a Jew. Paul is a Jew. Do we have to be like them in order to be counted as God's people? And Paul says, no. That's why Romans and Galatians. No, you're justified not by following the law, but by believing in Jesus.

Now, as that teaching spread, you can see how people would corrupt that. Well, I'm justified by faith so I can live however I want. It swings the other way. I'm justified by faith. I pray the prayer. I'm going to sleep around.

I'm going to mistreat people. I'm going to abuse people. So James gets written in response to that. In fact, it's striking to know that both Galatians and James are two of the earliest letters written.

And that's because that was the main conflict in the church. And, of course, by Acts 15, the Jerusalem council smooths that out and says, no. Gentiles do not have to become like Jews. Just don't be sleeping around.

Don't be drinking blood. Don't deal with sacrifices to idols. Just be pure, please. That's the result of the early conflict that Galatians and James, they both speak into. They both solve the problem, but two different sides.

So here's James. I'm going to read 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Ooh, right? It's like, wait, is he justified by works? Right? And then 23, 24.

And the scripture was fulfilled, which says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. You see, then, that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.

Wow. Right? It just seems like he's countering everything I just said and everything Paul said. Right? So we're going to go over that. The biblical answer, of course, the meaning of the word comes from the context.

The meaning of the word has to come from the context. The word by itself does not have a meaning. Right? For example, if I say the word spring, you won't know what I meant unless I give you the context.

Right? It could be the season. It could be the coiled metal. It could be a source of water. Right? It could be a verb to spring into action. But unless I give you the context, the word itself doesn't have a meaning, which means we do need to look at the context of James 2.

Right? So take a look at what Paul did in Romans 4. He cites Abraham's justification going back to Genesis 15 when Abraham believed that God would fulfill his promises to him. Right? Despite his wife being barren.

And Paul cites that as the moment he was counted righteous. However, look at what James cites for justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar. And that comes from where? Genesis, right?

Chapter 22. For those of us who can count, 15 comes before 22. Which means Abraham was already justified by Genesis 22. We have to know that because Genesis 15 said so and Paul echoes that in Romans 4.

Right? The moment Abraham was justified by faith was chapter 15 of Genesis and it was before the sacrifice of Isaac. Now we need to look at James' context. So what's James' context? Well, let's take a look at verses 14 -17.

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked or destitute of daily food and only of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. That's the context. So in verse 14, take a look at this. Can someone who says he has faith and neglects good works, can that faith save him?

I know the translation I read didn't have the word that, but in the Greek, it's an article. And in this case, the article's functioning as a pronoun, a demonstrative pronoun, that. What that means is, if someone says he has faith and does not have works, can that faith save him?

As in, James is looking at the word faith with how this someone is saying that he has faith. And oftentimes, we kind of talk like this too. If someone is obviously not saved, but, you know, he said he prayed the prayer.

When I say someone who's prayed the prayer, obviously, is that prayer legitimate and genuine? No. It's context-driven. That prayer, prayed that prayer, that phrase itself, obviously cannot be a genuine prayer.

And of course, that's what James is saying. Can someone who says he has faith, yet neglects good works, can that faith save him? That's what he's saying, right? So, James is not declaring this person has real faith, it's someone who says he has faith.

So, James is asking a different question. Is it a genuine faith when it cannot be verified outwardly? Is it a genuine faith when it produces no fruit whatsoever? And for Christians, we have no problem saying no.

Like Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruit. Don't just go by how many Bible verses they can quote out of their head. Go by their fruit. What kind of false teachers do the most damage? The ones who know the Bible really well.

They lead people astray, but by no means are they saved if they're leading people astray. That's their fruit, right? So, what's the biblical answer? Martin Luther says it right. We're justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.

We're justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. What Martin Luther is saying is true faith is always accompanied by good works. If you truly believe, there's a change in your life. And that's because the moment you're justified, the work of sanctification gets started by the Holy Spirit.

What that means is works are natural fruits of genuine faith. I'm not saying the fruit has to be flourishing the first year. Many gardeners know that's not the case, often. But there's got to be some sort of growth.

Even by a little. Fruits do not make the tree alive, but alive trees produce good fruits. That's why we don't believe justification by faith and works. Works don't revive a dead tree. Fruits are signs that the tree is actually good.

Jesus said that, Matthew 12, 33. Good trees produce good fruits, bad trees bad fruits. It's kind of like if you glue an apple to a thorn bush, it doesn't become an apple tree. Right? It's still a thorn bush.

You can't attempt to produce good fruits. You've got to have faith. It's the faith that produces good fruits. So let's take a look at James 2, 18. Alright. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works. This is crucial. Take a look. James is actually quoting a probable argument that the opponent would make. Right? Well, you have faith and I have works.

As if you can just separate that. As if genuine faith, you can just separate that out and no works are produced. So what he's saying is God knows the genuine faith but other people can't see it unless it manifests outwardly through works.

Right? When someone is a new believer and they say, yeah, he's saved, right, pastor? I usually say, I don't know. Well, he says he is saved but I'm not God. I can't see his heart. I'm not omniscient. I have to get to know him better.

I have to probably get to know him a couple of years. Because, you know, you could fake good behavior. Right? So that's with anyone too whom I haven't known really many years. It's just if there's a new visitor and they tell me, like, yeah, I'm a Christian.

I've been going to church. I don't put any weight onto that until I have reason to believe that he is truly saved or not. Right? You just have to wait because we're not omniscient. But what James is saying in 2 .18 is you can't show genuine faith to other believers unless works are shown.

That's the point of James. Genuine faith produces good works and that's the only way the church would know. So this is justifying a claim to faith not before God but before man. So when James says, like, justified by works, it's that he's actually showing that a person who says he's a believer and says he believes and actually produces good works is justifying himself not before God but before man.

And that example makes sense now with Abraham. Now going back to 2 .21, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Well, we know historically by Genesis 15, Abraham had genuine faith since Genesis 15.

And how did it show that he truly trusted God? How do we know that he truly trusted God? By his faith when he tried to sacrifice his son on the altar. Remember what this son represented. Isaac was the promised son.

And what were the promises that God made to Abraham that he needed to believe? All the nations of the earth will be blessed through him and through your offspring, right? Not only that, your offspring will be the number of the stars and sand, right?

But Ishmael was not the promised offspring. But Isaac is. And through God's divine, miraculous work, Isaac is born. And when he's grown, God says, you gotta give him back. Can you trust me even if the very son of yours, whose divine promises depend on, is taken away from you?

Can you trust God with that? That is the test of faith. And it's not for God, right? It's for us to see. Because Hebrews 11 says that Abraham believed that God would raise his son back. Because Abraham believed, right?

What that means is, Genesis 22 is not the moment of justification for Abraham. It's not the works, it's the willingness that showed that he had genuine faith. My Old Testament professor said, Abraham knew that the God who could raise a life from a dead womb could raise a life from a dead tomb, right?

That was the act of faith when he brought that knife up there. Because in the pagan days, child sacrifice was widely practiced. And what God really is saying is, are you willing to go as far as what these pagans do?

And Abraham said, yes, sir. And of course, because he's not a pagan god, he provides a lamb as a substitute so that his son would not have to die. And that lamb points to Christ. He's our substitute, so we wouldn't have to die.

So, that's how we understand James 2. It's not that James is totally contradicting Paul, right? James is actually answering a different theological problem, right? Which is, you know, I have faith but I don't really need to live righteously, right?

It's that idea. And we see that all too commonly in churches, right? I'm going to live however I want, but I pray that prayer, right? It's that answer. James is the answer to that kind of Christian, right?

While Paul gives the answer to a legalist. He says, I've got to be good enough, right? I've got to be good enough. Faith alone isn't working, right? I've got to earn something. So, with that, I don't think the Bible actually contradicts each other.

And more importantly, sinners are justified by genuine faith alone. And that genuine faith always produces works, good works. And we know, us fallible, ignorant people, can only know that someone is justified when we actually see the good works.

We have to be wise about what people claim. Because you can easily say, I'm a Christian and not be. Any questions or comments here on the biblical justification? Yeah, it's very common, right? I want to stand before God on my own righteousness.

I want Him to say that was good. That comes from pride, right? How can you say that you could be good enough before God, right? Then your view of God is very, very shallow. And that's probably because you're deifying yourself.

Because you have to meet your standard rather than God's standard. Yeah, I would say so. I would say that only Christianity is based upon grace. Grace, by definition, is no works. I don't know if this is real or not.

I've heard it before. C .S. Lewis, famous Christian essayist, he wrote essays and also the Chronicles of Narnia. There was a meeting with all these theologians and Christian leaders in a room. And they're discussing what makes Christianity stand out, what makes it unique.

Because the Greek-Roman gods, they became human. And sure, they weren't perfect, but they slept around. They became men, women, right? Incarnation isn't quite unique if you view it in that sense. Of course, incarnation is very unique because it happened and the true God came.

And then they were just saying, the miracles are not like... We have records of pagan religions with doing various miracles and creation accounts. So they're like, this is not necessarily Christianity.

It's not like Christianity is the only religion with a creation account. Or like redemption, some sort of sacrifice. No, there's sacrifice. Prometheus, the Greek god who gave fire to the people so they wouldn't starve or fend off from wild animals.

He's always being sacrificed. Zeus gets mad and ties him up and then he sends an eagle to eat the liver every day and the liver grows back. Well, what do you do? It's a sacrifice for humans. Sacrifice is not unique for humans.

And then C .S. Lewis walks in and they're like, hey... I don't know what they would call C .S. Lewis, Clive. But, hey, C .S. Lewis. We can't figure out what makes Christianity unique. And he just says, grace.

It's grace. You don't have to do a thing. God has done it all for you. That's what makes Christianity unique. And if we lose justification by faith alone, we inherently lose justification by grace alone.

Because you can't receive salvation as a free gift if you're going to put works to. Yeah, thank you for bringing that up. It's true. That's how you know. That's how you know if it's a false religion. If you have to say, what do I need to do in order to be saved?

And they can give you an answer. That's not nothing. And it's a red flag. All right. Any questions, comments? Yes. Yeah, you can't believe if you're doing it. It's like, if it depends on you in any sense, then faith's not required.

Right? That's why the birth of Ishmael is not faith. It's doing. Right? It's the total opposite of faith. All right. Good. Let's pray. Father, we're grateful that our righteousness, our justification, our state of justification does not depend on us.

The righteousness that's accounted to us, it's not even ours. We're grateful that it is freely given to us through Christ alone. And all we need to do is believe. And help us to believe genuinely. So that we do produce fruits, good works, that show that we are indeed justified.

In Jesus' name. Amen.