Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 05 - Justification by Faith - Sermons on Several Occasions

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05 - Justification by Faith - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: Justification by faith to him that worketh not, but believeth
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Speaker 1: on Him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted
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Speaker 1: for righteousness Romans four five One. How a sinner may
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Speaker 1: be justified before God, the Lord and judge of all
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Speaker 1: He is a question of no common importance for every
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Speaker 1: child of man. It contains the foundation of all our hope.
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Speaker 1: Inasmuch as while we are at enmity with God, there
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Speaker 1: can be no true peace, no solid joy, either in
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Speaker 1: time or in eternity. What peace can there be while
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Speaker 1: our own heart condemns us, and much more, he that
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Speaker 1: is greater than our heart and knoweth all things? What
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Speaker 1: solid joy, either in this world or that to come?
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Speaker 1: While the wrath of God abideth on us. Two? And
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Speaker 1: yet how little hath this important question been understood? What
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Speaker 1: confused notions have many had concerning it? Indeed not only confused,
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Speaker 1: but often utterly false, contrary to the truth, as light
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Speaker 1: to darkness, notions absolutely inconsistent with the oracles of God
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Speaker 1: and with the whole analogy of faith, and hence erring
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Speaker 1: concerning the very foundation they could not possibly build their on,
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Speaker 1: at least not gold, silver, or precious stones, which would
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Speaker 1: endure when tried as by fire, but only hay and stubble,
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Speaker 1: neither acceptable to God nor profitable to man. Three, in
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Speaker 1: order to do justice in far as in me lies
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Speaker 1: to the vast importance of the subject, to save those
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Speaker 1: that seek the truth in sincerity from vain jangling and
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Speaker 1: strife of words, to clear the confusedness of thought into
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Speaker 1: which so many have already been led thereby, and to
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Speaker 1: give them true and just conceptions of this great mystery
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Speaker 1: of Godliness. I shall endeavor to show first what is
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Speaker 1: the general ground of this whole doctrine of justification. Secondly
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Speaker 1: what justification is, Thirdly who they are that are justified,
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Speaker 1: and fourthly on what terms they are justified Roman numeral one.
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Speaker 1: I am first to show what is the general ground
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Speaker 1: of this whole doctrine of justification. One in the image
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Speaker 1: of God was made man holy as He that created
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Speaker 1: him is holy, merciful, as the author of all is merciful, perfect,
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Speaker 1: as his Father in Heaven is perfect, as God is love.
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Speaker 1: So man dwelling in love, dwealth in God and God
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Speaker 1: in him. God made him to be an image of
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Speaker 1: his own eternity, an incorruptible picture of the God of glory.
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Speaker 1: He was accordingly pure, as God is pure, from every
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Speaker 1: spot of sin. He knew not evil in any kind
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Speaker 1: or degree, but was inwardly and outwardly sinless and undefiled.
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Speaker 1: He loved the Lord his God with all his heart,
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Speaker 1: and with all his mind and soul and strength. Two
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Speaker 1: to man, thus upright and perfect, God gave a pert
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Speaker 1: law to which he required full and perfect obedience. He
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Speaker 1: required full obedience in every point, and this to be
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Speaker 1: performed without any intermission. From the moment man became a
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Speaker 1: living soul, till the time of his trial should be ended.
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Speaker 1: No allowance was made for any falling short, as indeed,
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Speaker 1: there was no need of any man being altogether equal
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Speaker 1: to the task assigned and thoroughly furnished for every good
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Speaker 1: word and work. Three to the entire law of love,
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Speaker 1: which was written in his heart, against which perhaps he
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Speaker 1: could not send directly, it seemed good to the sovereign
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Speaker 1: wisdom of God to superadd one positive law, thou shalt
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Speaker 1: not eat of the fruit of the tree that groweth
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Speaker 1: in the midst of the garden, annexing that penalty there too,
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Speaker 1: in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
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Speaker 1: Or such then was the state of man in paradise.
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Speaker 1: By the free, unmerited love of God. He was holy
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Speaker 1: and happy, He knew, loved, enjoyed God, which is in
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Speaker 1: substance life everlasting. And in this life of love he
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Speaker 1: was to continue forever if he continued to obey God
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Speaker 1: in all things, but if he disobeyed him in any
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Speaker 1: he was to forfeit all. In that day, said God,
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Speaker 1: thou shalt surely die. Five man did disobey God. He
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Speaker 1: ate of the tree of which God commanded him, saying
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Speaker 1: thou shalt not eat of it, And in that day
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Speaker 1: he was condemned by the righteous judgment of God. Then
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Speaker 1: also the sentence whereof he was worn before, began to
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Speaker 1: take place upon him. For the moment he tasted that
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Speaker 1: rout he died. His soul died, was separated from God,
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Speaker 1: separate from whom the soul has no more life than
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Speaker 1: the body has. When separated from the soul, his body
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Speaker 1: likewise became corruptible and mortal, so that death then took
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Speaker 1: hold on this also, And being already dead in spirit,
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Speaker 1: dead to God, dead in sin, he hastened on to
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Speaker 1: death everlasting, to the destruction both of body and soul,
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Speaker 1: in the fire, never to be quenched. Six. Thus by
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Speaker 1: one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
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Speaker 1: And so death passed upon all men, as being contained
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Speaker 1: in him who was the common father and representative of
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Speaker 1: us All. Thus, through the offensive one all are dead,
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Speaker 1: dead to God headen sin, dwelling in a corruptible mortal body,
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Speaker 1: shortly to be dissolved, and under the sentence of death eternal.
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Speaker 1: For as by one man's disobedience, all were made sinners,
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Speaker 1: so by that offensive one judgment came upon all men
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Speaker 1: to condemnation Romans five twelve seven. In this state we
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Speaker 1: were even all mankind. When God so loved the world
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Speaker 1: that he gave his only begotten son to the end,
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Speaker 1: we might not perish, but have everlasting life in the
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Speaker 1: fullness of time. He was made man, another common head
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Speaker 1: of mankind, a second general parent and representative of the
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Speaker 1: whole human race. And as such it was that he
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Speaker 1: bore our griefs, the Lord, laying upon him the iniquities
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Speaker 1: of a Then was he wounded for our transgressions and
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Speaker 1: bruised for our iniquities. He made his soul an offering
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Speaker 1: for sin. He poured out his blood for the transgressors.
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Speaker 1: He bare our sins and his own body on the tree,
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Speaker 1: that by his stripes we might be healed. And by
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Speaker 1: that one oblation of himself, once offered, he hath redeemed
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Speaker 1: me and all mankind, having thereby made a full, perfect
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Speaker 1: and sufficient sacrifice and satisfaction for the sins of the
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Speaker 1: whole world. Eight. In consideration of this, that the Son
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Speaker 1: of God hath tasted death for every man, God hath
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Speaker 1: now reconciled the world to himself, not imputing to them
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Speaker 1: their former trespasses. And thus, as by the offense of
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Speaker 1: when judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
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Speaker 1: by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
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Speaker 1: all men unto justification. So that for the sake of
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Speaker 1: his well beloved son, of what he hath done and
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Speaker 1: suffered for us, God now vouchsafes on one only condition,
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Speaker 1: which himself also enables us to perform, both to remit
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Speaker 1: the punishment due to our sins, to reinstate us in
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Speaker 1: His favor, and to restore our dead souls to spiritual
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Speaker 1: life as the earnest of life eternal. Nine. This therefore
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Speaker 1: is the general ground of the whole doctrine of justification.
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Speaker 1: By the sin of the first Adam, who was not
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Speaker 1: only the father, but likewise the representative of us all
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Speaker 1: we all fell short of the favor of God. We
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Speaker 1: all became children of wrath. Whereas the Apostle of expresses
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Speaker 1: it judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so
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Speaker 1: by the sacrifice for sin made by the second Atom
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Speaker 1: as the representative of us all, God is so far
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Speaker 1: reconciled to all the world that he hath given him
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Speaker 1: a new covenant the plain condition where I, being once fulfilled,
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Speaker 1: there is no more condemnation for us, but we are
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Speaker 1: justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is
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Speaker 1: in Jesus Christ Roman numeral two one. But what is
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Speaker 1: it to be justified? What is justification? This is the
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Speaker 1: second thing which I proposed to show. And it is
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Speaker 1: evident from what has been already observed that it is
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Speaker 1: not the being made actually just and righteous. This is sanctification,
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Speaker 1: which is indeed in some degree the immediate fruit of justification,
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Speaker 1: but nevertheless is a distinct gift of God and of
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Speaker 1: a totally different nature. The one implies what God does
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Speaker 1: for us through his son, the other what he works
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Speaker 1: in us by his spirit, So that although some rare
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Speaker 1: instances may be found wherein the term justified or justification
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Speaker 1: is used in so wide a sense as to include
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Speaker 1: sanctification also, yet in general use they are sufficiently distinguished
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Speaker 1: from each other, both by Saint Paul and the other
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Speaker 1: inspired writers. Two. Neither is that far fetched. Conceit that
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Speaker 1: justification is the clearing us from accusation, particularly that of Satan,
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Speaker 1: easily provable from any clear text of Holy writ In
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Speaker 1: the whole scriptural account of this matter, as above laid down,
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Speaker 1: neither that accuser nor his accusation appears to be at
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Speaker 1: all taken in. It cannot, indeed be denied that he
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Speaker 1: is the accuser of men emphatically so calm. But it
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Speaker 1: does in no lies appear that the Great Apostle hath
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Speaker 1: any reference to this more or less in all he
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Speaker 1: hath written touching justification, either to the Romans or the Galatians. Three.
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Speaker 1: It is also far easier to take for granted than
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Speaker 1: to prove from any clear scripture testimony, that justification is
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Speaker 1: the clearing us from the accusation brought against us by
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Speaker 1: the law. At least if this forced, unnatural way of
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Speaker 1: speaking mean either more or less than this, that, whereas
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Speaker 1: we have transgressed the law of God and thereby deserved
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Speaker 1: the damnation of hell, God does not inflict on those
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Speaker 1: who are justified the punishment which they had deserved. Or
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Speaker 1: least of all, does justification imply that God is deceived
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Speaker 1: in those whom he justifies, that he thinks them to
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Speaker 1: be what in fact they are, not that he accounts
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Speaker 1: them to be otherwise than they are. It does, by
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Speaker 1: no means imply that God judges concerning us contrary to
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Speaker 1: the real nature of things, that he esteems us better
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Speaker 1: than we really are, or believes us righteous when we
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Speaker 1: are unrighteous. Surely know the judgment of the all wise
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Speaker 1: God is always according to truth. Neither can it ever
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Speaker 1: consist with his unerring wisdom to think that I am innocent,
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Speaker 1: to judge that I am righteous or holy because another
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Speaker 1: is so. He can no more in this matter confound
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Speaker 1: me with Christ than with David or Abraham. Any man
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Speaker 1: to whom God hath given understanding weigh this without prejudice,
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Speaker 1: and he cannot but perceive that such a notion of
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Speaker 1: justification is neither reconcilable to reason nor Scripture five. The
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Speaker 1: plain scriptural notion of justification is pardoned the forgiveness of sins.
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Speaker 1: It is that act of God the Father hereby for
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Speaker 1: the sake of the propitiation made by the blood of
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Speaker 1: his son. He showeth forth his righteousness or mercy by
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Speaker 1: the remission of the sins that are past. This is
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Speaker 1: the easy natural account of it given by Saint Paul
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Speaker 1: throughout this whole epistle. So he explains it himself, more
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Speaker 1: particularly in this and in the following chapter. Thus, in
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Speaker 1: the next verses but one to the text, Blessed are
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Speaker 1: they saith, he whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins
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Speaker 1: are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord
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Speaker 1: will not impute sin. To him that is justified or forgiven.
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Speaker 1: God will not impute sin to his condemnation. He will
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Speaker 1: not condemn him on that account, either in this world
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Speaker 1: or in that which is to come. His sins, all
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Speaker 1: his past sins, in thought, word and deed, are covered,
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Speaker 1: are plotted out, shall not be remembered or mentioned against
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Speaker 1: him any more than if they had not been. God
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Speaker 1: will not inflict on that sinner what he deserved to suffer.
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Speaker 1: Because the son of his love hath suffered for him,
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Speaker 1: And from the time we are accepted through the Beloved
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Speaker 1: reconcile to God through his blood. He loves and blesses
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Speaker 1: and watches over us for good, even as if we
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Speaker 1: had never send. Indeed, the Apostle in one place seems
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Speaker 1: to extend the meaning of the word much farther, where
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Speaker 1: he says, not the hearers of the law, but the
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Speaker 1: doers of the law, shall be justified. Here he appears
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Speaker 1: to refer our justification to the sentence of the great Day.
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Speaker 1: And so our Lord himself unquestionably doth when he says,
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Speaker 1: by thy words, thou shalt be justified, proving hereby that
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Speaker 1: for every idle word men shall speak, they shall give
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Speaker 1: an account in the day of judgment. But perhaps we
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Speaker 1: can hardly produce another instance of Saint Paul using the
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Speaker 1: word in that distant sense. In the general tenor of
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Speaker 1: his writings, it is evident he doth not, and least
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Speaker 1: of all, in the text before us, which undeniably speaks
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Speaker 1: not of those who have already finished their course, but
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Speaker 1: of those who are now just setting out, just beginning
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Speaker 1: to run the race which is set before them. Roman
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Speaker 1: numeral three one. But this is the third thing which
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Speaker 1: was to be considered, namely, who are they that are justified?
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Speaker 1: And the apostle tells us expressly the ungodly, he that
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Speaker 1: is God justifieth the ungodly, the ungodly of every kind
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Speaker 1: and degree, and none but the ungodly has They that
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Speaker 1: are righteous need no repentance, so they need no forgiveness.
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Speaker 1: It is only sinners that have any occasion for pardon.
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Speaker 1: It is sin alone which admits of being forgiven. Forgiveness
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Speaker 1: therefore has an immediate reference to sin, and in this
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Speaker 1: respect to nothing else. It is our unrighteousness to which
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Speaker 1: the pardoning God is merciful. It is our iniquity which
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Speaker 1: he remembereth no more. Two. This seems not to be
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Speaker 1: at all considered by those who so vehemently contend that
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Speaker 1: a man must be sanctified, that is, holy, before he
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Speaker 1: can be justified, especially by such of them as affirm
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Speaker 1: that universal holiness or obedience must precede justification, unless they
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Speaker 1: mean that justification at the last day, which is wholly
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Speaker 1: out of the present question. So far from it that
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Speaker 1: the very supposition is not only flatly impossible, for where
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Speaker 1: there is no love of God, there is no holiness,
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Speaker 1: and there is no love of God, but from a
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Speaker 1: sense of His loving us, but also grossly intrinsically absurd,
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Speaker 1: contradictory to itself. For it is not a saint, but
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Speaker 1: a sinner that is forgiven, and under the notion of
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Speaker 1: a sinner. God justifieth not the godly but the ungodly,
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Speaker 1: not those that are holy already, but the unholy. Upon
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Speaker 1: what condition he doeth this will be considered quickly. But
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Speaker 1: whatever it is, it cannot be holiness. To assert this
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Speaker 1: is to say the lamb of God takes away only
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Speaker 1: those sins which were taken away before three does then
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Speaker 1: the good shepherd seek and save only those that are
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Speaker 1: found already. Now he seeks and saves that which is lost.
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Speaker 1: He pardons those who need his pardoning mercy. He saves
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Speaker 1: from the guilt of sin, and at the same time
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Speaker 1: from the power sinners of every kind, of every degree.
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Speaker 1: Men who till then were all together ungodly, in whom
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Speaker 1: and the love of the Father was not, and consequently
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Speaker 1: in whom dwelt no good thing, no good or truly
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Speaker 1: Christian temper, but all such as were evil and abominable. Pride, anger,
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Speaker 1: love of the world, the genuine fruits of that carnal
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Speaker 1: mind which is enmity against God.
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Speaker 2: Four.
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Speaker 1: These who are sick, the burden of whose sin is intolerable,
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Speaker 1: are they that need a physician. These who are guilty,
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Speaker 1: who have grown under the wrath of God, are they
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Speaker 1: that need a pardon. These who are condemned already not
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Speaker 1: only by God, but also by their own conscience, as
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Speaker 1: by a thousand witnesses, of all their ungodliness, both in thought, word,
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Speaker 1: and work, cry aloud for him that justifieth the ungodly
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Speaker 1: through the redemption that is in Jesus the ungodly, and
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Speaker 1: him that worketh not that were not before He has
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Speaker 1: justified anything that is good, that is truly virtuous or holy,
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Speaker 1: but only evil continually, for his heart is necessarily essentially
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Speaker 1: evil till the love of God is shed abroad therein,
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Speaker 1: And while the tree is corrupt, so are the fruits.
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Speaker 1: For an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit. Five.
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Speaker 1: If it be objected, nay, But a man, before he
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Speaker 1: is justified, may feed the hungry, or clothed the naked,
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Speaker 1: and these are good works. The answer is easy. He
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Speaker 1: may do these even before he is justified. And these
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Speaker 1: are in one sense good works. They are good and
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Speaker 1: profitable to men. But it does not follow that they
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Speaker 1: are strictly speaking good in themselves, or good in the
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Speaker 1: sight of God. All truly good works, to use the
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Speaker 1: words of our Church quote, follow after justification, and they
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Speaker 1: are therefore good and acceptable to God in Christ, because
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Speaker 1: they spring out of a true and living faith. By
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Speaker 1: a parody of reason, all works done before justification are
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Speaker 1: not good in the Christian sense, for as much as
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Speaker 1: they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, though from
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Speaker 1: some kind of faith in God they may spring, yea Rather,
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Speaker 1: for that they are not done as God hath willed
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Speaker 1: and commanded them to be done. We doubt not, how
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Speaker 1: strange soever it may appear to some, but they have
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Speaker 1: the nature of sin. Perhaps those who doubt of this
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Speaker 1: have not duly considered the weighty reason which is here assigned.
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Speaker 1: Why no works done before justifiation can be truly and
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Speaker 1: properly good. The argument plainly runs. Thus, no works are
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Speaker 1: good which are not done as God hath willed and
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Speaker 1: commanded them to be done. But no works done before
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Speaker 1: justification are done as God willed and commanded them to
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Speaker 1: be done. Therefore, no works done before justification are good.
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Speaker 1: The first proposition is self evident, and the second that
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Speaker 1: no work's done before justification are done as God hath
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Speaker 1: willed and commanded them to be done, will appear equally
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Speaker 1: plain and undeniable. If we only consider God hath willed
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Speaker 1: and commanded that all our works should be done in
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Speaker 1: charity and agape, in love, in that love to God
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Speaker 1: which produces love to all mankind. But none of our
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Speaker 1: works can be done in this love, while the love
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Speaker 1: of the Father of God as our Father, is not
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Speaker 1: in us, and this love cannot be in us till
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Speaker 1: we receive the spirit of adoption crying in our hearts.
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Speaker 1: Abbah Father. If therefore God doth not justify the ungodly,
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Speaker 1: and him that in this sense worketh not, then hath
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Speaker 1: Christ died in vain? Then notwithstanding his death, can no
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Speaker 1: flesh living be justified from a numeral four one? But
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Speaker 1: on what terms then is he justified? Who is altogether ungodly?
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Speaker 1: And till that time worketh not on one alone, which
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Speaker 1: is faith. He believeth in Him that justifieth the ungodly,
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Speaker 1: and he that believeth is not condemned. Yay, he is
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Speaker 1: passed from death unto life. For righteousness or mercy of
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Speaker 1: God is by faith in Jesus Christ, unto all and
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Speaker 1: upon all them that believe whom God hath set forth
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Speaker 1: for a propitiation through faith in His blood, that he
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Speaker 1: might be just and consistently with his justice, the justifier
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Speaker 1: of Him which believeth in Jesus. Therefore, we conclude that
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Speaker 1: a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
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Speaker 1: the law, without previous obedience to the moral law, which
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Speaker 1: indeed he could not till now perform. That it is
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Speaker 1: the moral law, and that alone, which is here intended,
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Speaker 1: appears evidently from the words that follow. Do we then
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Speaker 1: make void the law? Through faith? God forbid? Yea we
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Speaker 1: establish the law? What law do we establish by faith?
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Speaker 1: Not the ritual law, not the ceremonial law of Moses,
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Speaker 1: in no wise, but the great unchangeable law of love,
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Speaker 1: the holy love of God and of our neighbor. Two.
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Speaker 1: Faith in general is a divine supernatural ellectos evidence or
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Speaker 1: conviction of things not seen, not discoverable by our bodily senses,
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Speaker 1: as being either past, future, or spiritual. Justifying faith implies
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Speaker 1: not only a divine evidence or conviction that God was
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Speaker 1: in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. But a sure
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Speaker 1: trust and confidence that Christ died for my sins, that
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Speaker 1: He loved me and gave himself for me. And at
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Speaker 1: what timesoever a sinner thus believes, be it an early childhood,
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Speaker 1: in the strength of his years, or when he is
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Speaker 1: old and hoary haired. God justifieth that ungodly wont God
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Speaker 1: for the sake of his son pardoneth and absolveth him
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Speaker 1: who had in him till then no good thing repentance
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Speaker 1: indeed God had given him before. But that repentance was
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Speaker 1: neither more nor less than a deep sense of the
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Speaker 1: want of all good and the presence of all evil.
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Speaker 1: And whatever good he hath or doeth from that hour
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Speaker 1: when he first believes in God through Christ, faith does
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Speaker 1: not find but bring. This is the fruit of faith.
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Speaker 1: First the tree is good, then the fruit is good.
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Speaker 1: Also three, I cannot describe the nature of this faith
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Speaker 1: better than in the words of our own church quote
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Speaker 1: the only instrument of salvation, where of justification is one branch,
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Speaker 1: he is faith. That is a sure trust and confidence
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Speaker 1: that God both have and will forgive our sins, that
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Speaker 1: He hath accepted us again into his favor for the
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Speaker 1: merits of Christ's death and passion. But here we must
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Speaker 1: take heed that we do not halt with God through
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Speaker 1: an inconstant, wavering faith. Peter coming to Christ upon the water,
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Speaker 1: because he fainted in faith, was in danger of drowning.
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Speaker 1: So we if we begin to waver or doubt, it
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Speaker 1: is to be feared that we shall sink, as Peter did,
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Speaker 1: not into the water, but into the bottomless pit of
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Speaker 1: hell fire end quote second Sermon on the Passion quote. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: have a sure and constant faith, not only that the
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Speaker 1: death of Christ is available for all the world, but
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Speaker 1: that He hath made a full and sufficient sacrifice for thee,
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Speaker 1: a perfect cleansing of thy sins, so that thou mayest
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Speaker 1: say with the apostle, he loved THEE and gave himself
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Speaker 1: for THEE. For this is to make Christ thine own,
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Speaker 1: and to apply his merits unto thyself. In Sermon on
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Speaker 1: the Sacrament first part four. By affirming that this faith
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Speaker 1: is the term or condition of justification, I mean first
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Speaker 1: that there is no justification without it. He that believeth
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Speaker 1: not is condemned already. And so long as he believeth not,
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Speaker 1: that condemnation cannot be removed, but the wrath God abideth
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Speaker 1: on him. As there is no other name given under
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Speaker 1: heaven than that of Jesus of Nazareth, no other merit
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Speaker 1: whereby a condemned sinner can ever be saved from the
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Speaker 1: guilt of sin. So there is no other way of
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Speaker 1: obtaining a share in his merit than by faith in
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Speaker 1: His name. So that as long as we are without
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Speaker 1: this faith, we are strangers to the Covenant of Promise.
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Speaker 1: We are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and without
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Speaker 1: God in the world. Whatsoever virtues so called a man
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Speaker 1: may have. I speak of those unto whom the Gospel
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Speaker 1: is preached. For what have I to do to judge
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Speaker 1: them that are without whatsoever good works so accounted he
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Speaker 1: may do it profiteth not. He is still a child
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Speaker 1: of wrath, still under the curse, till he believes in Jesus. Five.
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Speaker 1: Faith therefore, is the necessary condition of justification. Yea, and
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Speaker 1: the only necessary condition thereof This is the second point.
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Speaker 1: Carefully to be observed that the very moment God giveth faith,
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Speaker 1: for it is the gift of God to the ungodly
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Speaker 1: that worketh not. That faith is counted to him for righteousness.
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Speaker 1: He had no righteousness at all at accedent to this,
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Speaker 1: not so much as negative righteousness or innocence. But faith
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Speaker 1: is imputed to him for righteousness the very moment that
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Speaker 1: he believeth not that God, as was observed before, thinketh
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Speaker 1: him to be what he is not. But as he
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Speaker 1: made Christ to be sin for us, that is, treated
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Speaker 1: him as a sinner, punishing him for our sins, so
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Speaker 1: he counteth us righteous from the time we believe in him,
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Speaker 1: that is, he does not punish us for our sins.
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Speaker 1: He treats us as though we are guiltless and righteous. Six.
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Speaker 1: Surely the difficulty of assenting to this proposition that faith
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Speaker 1: is the only condition of justification must arise from not
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Speaker 1: understanding it. We mean thereby thus much, that it is
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Speaker 1: the only thing without which none is justified, the only
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Speaker 1: thing that is immediately, indispensably, absolutely requisite in order to pardon.
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Speaker 1: As on the one hand, though a man should have
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Speaker 1: everything else without faith, yet he cannot be justified. So
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Speaker 1: on the other hand, though he be supposed to want
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Speaker 1: everything else, yet if he has faith, he cannot but
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Speaker 1: be justified. For suppose a center of any kind or
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Speaker 1: degree and a full sense of his total ungodliness or
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Speaker 1: his utter inability to think, speaker, do good, and his
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Speaker 1: absolute meetness for hell fire. Suppose I say, this sinner,
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Speaker 1: helpless and hopeless, casts himself wholly on the mercy of
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Speaker 1: God in Christ, which indeed he cannot do but by
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Speaker 1: the grace of God. Who can doubt but he is
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Speaker 1: forgiven in that moment? Who will affirm that anymore is
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Speaker 1: indispensably required before that center can be justified? Now, if
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Speaker 1: there ever was one such instance from the beginning of
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Speaker 1: the world, and have there not been, and are there
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Speaker 1: not ten thousand times ten thousand, it plainly follows that
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Speaker 1: faith is, in the above sense the sole condition of justification. Seven.
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Speaker 1: It does not become poor, guilty, sinful worms, who receive
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Speaker 1: whatsoever blessings they enjoy from the least drop of water
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Speaker 1: that cools our tongue, to the immense riches of glory
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Speaker 1: and eternity, of grace, of mere favor, and not of debt,
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Speaker 1: to ask of God the reasons of his conduct. It
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Speaker 1: is not meet for us to call him in question,
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Speaker 1: who giveth account to none of his ways, to demand
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Speaker 1: why Didst Thou make faith the condition the only condition
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Speaker 1: of justification. Wherefore didst Thou decree he that believeth and
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Speaker 1: he only shall be saved. This is the very point
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Speaker 1: on which Saint also strongly insists in the ninth chapter
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Speaker 1: of this epistle viz. That the terms of pardon and
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Speaker 1: acceptance must depend not on us, but on Him that
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Speaker 1: calleth us. That there is no unrighteousness with God in
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Speaker 1: fixing his own terms, not according to ours, but his
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Speaker 1: own good pleasure. Who may justly say, I will have
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Speaker 1: mercy on whom I will have mercy, namely on him
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Speaker 1: who believeth in Jesus. So then it is not of
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Speaker 1: him that willeth, nor of him that runneth to choose
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Speaker 1: the condition on which he shall find acceptance, but of
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Speaker 1: God that showeth mercy, that excepteth none at all but
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Speaker 1: of his own free love is unmerited goodness. Therefore hath
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Speaker 1: he mercy on whom he will have mercy viz. On
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Speaker 1: those who believe on the son of His Love, and
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Speaker 1: whom he will that is, those who believe not he
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Speaker 1: hardeneth leaves at last to the hardness of their hearts. Eight.
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Speaker 1: One reason, however, we may humbly conceive of God's fixing
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Speaker 1: this condition of justification. If thou believest on the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved, was to hide pride
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Speaker 1: from man. Pride had already destroyed the very angels of God,
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Speaker 1: had cast down the third part of the stars of heaven.
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Speaker 1: It was likewise in great measure owing to this when
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Speaker 1: the tempter said, ye shall be as God's that Adam
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Speaker 1: fell from his own steadfastness and brought sin and death
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Speaker 1: into the world. It was therefore an instance of wisdom
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Speaker 1: worthy of God to appoint such a condition of reconciliation
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Speaker 1: for him and all his posterity, as might effectually humble
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Speaker 1: might abase them to the dust, And such as faith
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Speaker 1: it is peculiarly fitted for this end. For he that
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Speaker 1: cometh unto God by his faith must fix his eyes
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Speaker 1: singly on his own wickedness, on his guilt and helplessness,
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Speaker 1: without having the least regard to any supposed good in himself,
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Speaker 1: to any virtue or righteousness whatsoever. He must come as
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Speaker 1: a mere sinner, inwardly and outwardly, self destroyed and self condemned,
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Speaker 1: bringing nothing to God but ungodliness, only, pleading nothing of
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Speaker 1: his own but sin and misery. Thus it is and
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Speaker 1: thus alone, when his mouth is stopped and he stands
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Speaker 1: utterly guilty before God, that he can look unto Jesus
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Speaker 1: as the whole and soul propitiation for his sins. Thus
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Speaker 1: only can he be found in Him and receive the
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Speaker 1: righteousness which is of God by faith. Nine, Thou, ungodly
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Speaker 1: one who hearest or readest these words, Thou vile, helpless,
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Speaker 1: miserable sinner, I charge thee before God, the judge of all,
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Speaker 1: go straight unto Him with all thy ungodliness, Take heed.
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Speaker 1: Thou destroy not thy own soul by pleading thy righteousness
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Speaker 1: more or less, Go as altogether ungodly, guilty, lost, destroyed, deserving,
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Speaker 1: and dropping into hell. And thou shalt then find favor
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Speaker 1: in His sight and know that He justifieth the ungodly.
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Speaker 1: As such, thou shalt be brought unto the blood of
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Speaker 1: sprinkling as an undone, helpless, damned sinner. Thus look unto Jesus.
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Speaker 1: There is the lamb of God who taketh away thy sins.
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Speaker 1: Plead thou no works, no righteousness of thine own, no humility, contrition, sincerity,
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Speaker 1: In no wise that were in very deed to deny
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Speaker 1: the Lord that bought THEE.
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Speaker 2: No plead thou singly the blood of the covenant, the
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Speaker 2: ransom paid for thy proud, stubborn, sinful soul. Who art
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Speaker 2: Thou that now seest and feelest both thine inward and
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Speaker 2: outward ungodliness. Thou art the man. I want THEE for
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Speaker 2: my Lord. I challenge THEE for a child of God.
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Speaker 2: By faith, the Lord hath need of THEE.
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Speaker 1: Thou who feelest Thou art just fit for Hell, art
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Speaker 1: just fit to advance his glory, the glory of his
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Speaker 1: free grace, justifying the ungodly, and him that worketh not.
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Speaker 1: O come quickly believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou
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Speaker 1: even thou art reconcil'd to God into Section five