Slides: Justification by Faith

Justification by Faith
by David Feddes

Luther: "Saint Anne, help me! I will become a monk!"

A priest’s terror

At these words I was utterly stupified and terror-stricken.  I thought to myself, "...Who am I, that I should lift up my eyes or raise my hands to the divine Majesty? The angels surround him. At his nod the earth trembles. And shall I, a miserable little pygmy, say 'I want this, I ask for that'?  For I am dust and ashes and full of sin and I am speaking to the living, eternal and true God.”

Troubled sinner

My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit could assuage him.  Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him.

Luther’s liberation

Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the righteousness of God and that statement that “the righteous shall live by his faith.” Then I grasped that the righteousness of God is the righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning. This passage became to me a gate to heaven.

 God justifies the ungodly

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. (Romans 4:4-5)

• Justifies: gives a right standing
• Believing, not achieving
• Faith, not works

Abraham

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. (Romans 4:1-2)

Faith counted as righteousness

³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)

Justifies the ungodly

³ Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ⁴ Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  ⁵ And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. (Romans 4:3-5)

• A wage is very different from a gift.
  

David

⁶ David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ⁷ “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; ⁸ blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:6-8)

Justifies the ungodly

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-26)

Justified through faith in Jesus Christ

We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ…  I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose… Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Galatians 2:16, 21; 3:11)

Conversion = repentance + faith
My whole person receiving the whole Christ

	Repentance	Faith
Mind	Admit that sin is wrong.	Believe that the gospel is true.
Heart	Feel sorry and hate sin.	Treasure God and His promises.
Will	Choose to fight sin and strive to change.	Choose to trust Jesus as Savior. Commit to serve him as Lord.

Justification and Sanctification

• Justification: A once-for-all, new legal standing. The instant we believe, God forgives all our sins (past, present, future) because Jesus paid for them with his blood, and God counts Jesus’ perfect obedience as ours. God accepts us as we are and gives us a right standing based on Jesus’ finished work.
• Sanctification: An ongoing, lifelong process. Our relationship to God grows closer, our sin has less power over us, and we become more and more like Jesus. God gradually changes what we’re like by the Holy Spirit’s work.

Justification	Sanctification
Instantaneous	Lifelong
Once for all	Gradual
Imputed	Imparted
Legal status	Moral character
Based on Christ’s work outside us	Grows from Spirit’s work within us
God accepts us as we are	God changes who we are