It's time to come back together and continue on with our work. We have studied repentance and faith and it's time to go to the grand doctrine of justification. Hukama brings five criticisms against the Roman Catholic view on 163 through 166. My understanding is they are valid criticisms and Rome is making some important, has confused some important things. 163 in Roman Catholic theology justification is thought of primarily as an infusion of grace which results in a change in our spiritual and moral nature rather than as a declarative act in which God imputes the righteousness of Christ to the believer. It looks like a confusion of sanctification and justification, page 163 of Hukama. Justification is not an infusion of grace which results in moral change, it is God declaring sinners righteous because of the righteousness of Christ as Luther and then Calvin following him insisted and Wesley and all the evangelists since then, 164 faith therefore does not have central significance and justification but occupies a subordinate place. So Roman Catholic teaching distinguishes between unformed faith and formed faith and the differences formed faith is formed by love. This is a confusion again, it is not love that saves us, love is a consequence of salvation that is given to us freely by God's grace and that is received by faith alone. Thirdly, the grace of justification can again be lost according to Rome, fourth 165, there can be an increase in the righteousness received in justification, this has to do with Rome's notion of merit and it is necessarily a, how can I say it, an attack, a misunderstanding of the merits of Christ on the cross which are utterly sufficient to establish and maintain our standing before God. Fifth 165, the bottom justification enables believers to merit eternal life. There is no merit except the merits of Christ. Now to return the favor it is fair for us to consider Roman Catholic criticisms of Protestant theology. In 169 we have it, our view of salvation of justification is purely legal, purely forensic we are told. It is a robe thrown over a corpse, a vivid image, I believe Carl Ranner used that expression, the great Roman Catholic theologian Carl Ranner. That is, it is just a theory, oh it sounds nice you believe in Jesus and you are saved but you are not changed, you are still the same. It is a legal fiction they say, replies are twofold at least, number one, it is not a legal fiction, it is a legal reality, it is as real as the righteousness of Christ and the grace of God. They are not saying all every aspect of the Christian faith is legal but some of them are and justification is. As a matter of fact God does declare sinners righteous but it is not a robe thrown over a corpse alone because justification never stands alone. God does give grace and change our lives. That is not what justification is but that is what sanctification is. That is the application of salvation is not only justification, okay, it includes justification and this legal aspect but it also includes joining us to the Son of God, giving us new life and working progressive holiness into our lives, it involves all of these. So Rome's criticism fails on two counts, we are not talking about legal fiction, we are talking about a legal reality and we do not make justification the sum and substance of salvation. There are moral aspects as well as legal aspects. God gives His Holy Spirit to the people He saves. He gives them new life and that new life shows up. First John is filled with the fruits of regeneration. Those who have been born again believe in Christ. They live a godly life which includes according to 1 John 1 the confession of sin. They do not practice unrighteousness the way they did before they were saved. They practice righteousness. They furthermore love God, stop loving the world the way they did before, 1 John 2 and they especially in the context of 1 John, they love their brothers and sisters in Christ. These are all fruits of regeneration. Salvation is not only justification, it is justification and we rejoice in that simple gospel which justification is not the whole of salvation because there is sanctification. Again I will say it, God gives His Spirit to those people He saves. Not only as a Holy Spirit of regeneration, but the Holy Spirit of sanctification. He set us apart of the holiness once and for all and the Spirit is real and He works practical holiness into our lives. He gives us grace if you will and that grace makes moral changes in our lives. So two responses to the Roman Catholic charge and our counter charge is that Rome has confused the gospel of God's grace with the importance of living the Christian life. So in Roman practice anyway, people are trying to be good Christians in order to win God's favor. They'll never do it. It is no wonder they don't have assurance of salvation. This notion of human merit and of adding to Christ to adding to righteousness is so defective. It's no wonder they don't have peace of conscience. Peace of conscience is only found in resting, in putting faith, in Christ and Christ alone. What if someone who says they do that and there's no change of life? It looks like a false profession of faith based upon all the information we have in the Bible. Jesus said, a good tree brings forth good fruit and a bad tree brings forth bad fruit and a good tree can't bring forth bad fruit consistently and a bad tree can't bring forth good fruit and so forth. I will cease with the fruit business, but I think you have the idea, the Holy Spirit produces fruit in a Christian's life, the life of Galatians 5 and so forth. Work out your salvation, Philippians 2, with fear and trembling Paul writes to believers. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Even our desire for righteousness is a gift from God. But we are to work out that salvation that God has worked in. We are to live for him and his people really do live for him. Perfectly, no, but genuinely, yes, one last distinction that is between Christ's active and passive obedience, at least those of the historical terms, who can give some contemporary and helpful terminology, although it's a little bit complicated, but law keeping obedience and suffering obedience, law keeping obedience is that which traditionally has been called Christ's active obedience. It is his obeying the Father, obeying the law of God, his whole life long. His suffering obedience is the equivalent of the traditional designation passive obedience, which is his obedience in his passion on the cross or his suffering obedience. Both of these save. The first saves only in conjunction with the second, and the second saves only because it follows the first. Jesus perfectly kept the law for us, his whole life long. Merit thing, there's the word merit again, that which we could not merit, and then he took the penalty of the law in his sufferings on the cross in our place. I've got one more sheet on justification that also should be in your notes. It is a summary to help you study for the final exam of my own notes. Justification involves a tremendous need, and the Bible shows the folly of much modern teaching when it begins in Romans after announcing the theme of Romans in 116 and 17 with a long demonstration of the need for sinners that the sinners have for God's righteousness. The basis of justification is given in Romans 3 and in Romans 5, we've said this before in this course, so I'll just summarize. The basis of justification is Christ's saving work understood negatively so-called in Romans 3 as his propitiating the Father's wrath, that is turning away God's holy hatred against sin by being made a curse for us. In simple terms, the Lord Jesus Christ took the condemnation that our sins deserve, that we might be declared righteous. Positively, he merited grace and salvation for us by his lifelong obedience, culminating in his one act of righteousness, Romans 5, in giving himself on the cross. The basis of justification, the ground from which God declares anybody righteous who's ever been declared righteous, is the atonement of Christ, both in taking our condemnation Romans 3 and in earning merit or righteousness on our behalf, Romans 5. The means of justification is faith and faith alone. But as Calvin said, the faith that justifies, and that is a part from works, is never alone. It works, true faith works. We are not justified by faith plus works, we're justified by faith alone, but that faith which justifies, that faith which justifies, always issues forth in works. The benefits of justification, we don't have time to go into, they're peace with God, Romans 5.1, hope of heavenly glory as we said a few moments ago when talking about assurance, God's love, witness in our heart through the Holy Spirit, and safety in Christ. When we were condemned, God justified us, and now he will keep us saved. When we were estranged, he reconciled us, and now we will not fail to be saved. God has pledged himself to do it, joy surrounds this passage in Romans 5, 1 through 11. It's no wonder we have joy with these wonderful benefits of justification. The relation between justification and sanctification is crucial because most of Christendom is mixed up at this point, and that is why most of Christendom, I'm not talking about pagans, but people that make Christian profession most, I'm talking about Roman Catholic, most of the Orthodox, best believers, and their liberal Protestants all mess this up, they get this confused, they don't clearly distinguish between justification and progressive sanctification, and they're trying to be good Christians in order to earn God's favor or to maintain it. It's folly, justification and sanctification must be distinguished, or the gospel gets put out. The gospel light is extinguished if we don't distinguish these things. Justification is not by works, but it is by faith. Titus says that. Ephesians 2 says that, many places. Galatians 2, here's one verse in Galatians 2 that says it three times. We have put Galatians 2, 16. We know that a person is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ number one. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law. Number two, because by observing the law no one will be justified. Number three, God says it one time, that's enough. Do you understand what we are saying if we seek to be justified by doing, instead of believing? Verse 21 says, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through law Christ died in vain, Christ died for nothing. If I attempt to win God's sulting what Jesus Christ did on the cross. In other words, Jesus needed to die and rise again to save me. I can't save my self. There's a necessity to the work of Christ that is tied up with faith, grace and faith are correlative as I read last time in that little table talk piece that you have a copy of now. And it's easy to understand because faith saves when it rests in Christ and when he did. Works don't save. On the other hand, so we distinguish justification and progressive sanctification, but they are inseparable in God's plan. What I mean is this, although we are justified by faith and not by works, sanctification is loaded with works. And here's the second point, they're inseparable. Every one God justifies, he also sanctifies. Said in the opposite direction, progressive sanctification is an evidence of prior justification. Hebrews 10 and the way the NIV renders a verse there says this very shows this very well. Hebrews 10, 14 by one sacrifice Christ has made perfect forever justified those who are being made holy, who are being sanctified. His one sacrifice is the ground of their perfection forever. He saved them once and for all. But the people he saved are identifiable. They are being made holy. They're not being made holy in order to be saved. They're being made holy because they were saved once and for all freely by God's grace. By one sacrifice, Jesus has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. If you don't distinguish becoming a Christian by faith in Christ, justification from living the Christian life, progressive sanctification, you're going to mold the gospel beyond recognition. I'll say it again, most people in Christendom are trying to be saved and win God's favor. It is so futile. We need to tell them the good news of God's grace in Christ. But secondly, those who claim the belong to Christ need to live in a way that befits the children of God. The definition of justification is God's declaring sinners righteous through the righteousness of Christ alone. It's declarative. It is forensic. Here's an awesome thing. It pertains to the last day, technically. It's final in Matthew 1237. We see this as a matter of fact, technically, if I put justification on this chart, it goes at the end. Justification is properly, technically, eschatological. That is future. We're so used to it in time and space that we have forgotten that it's future in any sense, and that is not good. In Matthew 12 and verse 36, Jesus said, I tell you that people will have to give account on the day of judgment. It's plain that the context is future. Last day, for every careless word they have spoken, for by your words, it's the regular word justified, acquitted means the same thing. And by your words, you will be condemned. A future justification and condemnation. And in Romans 5 and verse 19, we have a future tense of justification as well. Through the disobedience of Adam, the many were made sinners, so also, to the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous. Its future will be made righteous. Question. If justification is properly final in what sense is it properly announced now? Notice, in no sense, is it progressive? That's totally a misunderstanding. Show me one verse that talks about people being justified or something like that. I can show you a couple that talk about being justified by the law, but they've got a big X over them. That is, they're not, we're not justified that way. The miracle of the gospel is that the son of God, who is the judge of all the earth, and will judge on the last day and pronounce the sentences, has come in his first coming to be the savior of the world, of everyone who believes in him. And of them, he says that they are justified. They are declared righteous. So in John 3, we have this glorious language that promises that the Father did not send the Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through him, verse 17, whoever believes in him, John 3, 18, is not condemned. Already there's a verdict of justification for every believer, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already. The verdicts of the last day are announced ahead of time, or right on time for us, but ahead of time, if you consider that they properly belong to the last judgment. The verdicts of a last judgment are proclaimed ahead of time by the Lord Jesus, and then by His apostles, based upon persons, relation to Christ. The one who has believed is not condemned. The one who does not believe stands condemned already, John says, because he is not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. How clear God has made eternal destinies because of his son in his person and work. The verdicts of the last day are broadcast. Eternal destinies are clearer in between the two comings of Christ than any time in the prior history of the world, and we can tell our neighbors and friends in love under the guidance of the Holy Spirit at the right time when somebody says, I sure hope my good deeds will outweigh my bad. We will tell them, please don't hope. Instead, trust the Son of God, because we can know now what verdict He will give then because He's the judge, and the judge has come as the Savior. And according to 1 John, everyone who has the Son has life, and everyone who does not have the Son of God does not have life, does not have life, 1 John, 5, 12. So it's the halves and the halves not. But it's not fame and fortune or muscles or wealth or beauty as our world prizes all those things, but it's He who has the Son of God as Savior has life. He who does not have the Son of God as Savior does not have life, whatever else might be true of those particular persons. Comments or questions? Yes. For those of us who are finally justified, will there be a reckoning of our deeds in terms of rewards and so forth? Yes. But I distinguish two things. I distinguish the fates of heaven and hell. Those are settled, but there do seem to be punishments. That is, degrees of punishment in hell. And there do seem to be degrees of reward. It helps me if I think of the new earth and of a holistic physical spiritual existence and resurrection bodies. For example, the notion of this one having five cities and this one having ten cities, maybe that's more literal than we thought. We can conceive of different responsibilities on the new earth, commensurate with faithfulness to the Lord now. I don't even fully understand rewards. They don't fit completely with the rest of my theology, okay? But I don't have to understand or things that I have to fit perfectly. There's enough biblical teaching that I believe that there are such things. And I'll leave it to God's grace. I can tell you this, we won't be jealous in that day. Okay? But if you have fifty cities and I have a couple, I'll be happy to be with the Lord. And I really will rejoice in your cities. I mean that. My present jealousies and so forth will be all gone. You with me? Because God and Christ will be all in all. I have kept you a little bit late. I should let you go. The Lord bless you and see you on Thursday evening. Lord willing.