REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
FLIP CHART: John Stott’s outline of SOM.
TEACHING GOAL: Explain the Biblical meaning of “Works” and “Justification” for the church.
To finish up his sermon, Jesus gives four powerful illustrations, all with a goal of pressing his listeners for a decision. Each of the illustrations contains a dire warning: destruction, fire, rejection, destruction.
What can wash away my stain?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Not of good that I have done.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace – –
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
He is all my righteousness.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
INTRODUCTION:
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (Mt. 7:15-20)
REVIEW: . . . . Some key ”SO WHATS?” From the previous lessons.
1. We can easily spot false teaching on major doctrines; it is much more difficult to spot gaps in teaching and yet we must make sure the whole counsel of God is taught.
2. Every corruption of Biblical Christianity starts by ignoring the Scripture as the sole source of Biblical truth for life and doctrine.
3. Those redeemed by Christ have entered a “Royal Priesthood,” and are members of a “Kingdom of Priests.” Thus evangelical’s hold to the priesthood of believers, believers who are capable of reading and understanding the Scripture.
4. The Scripture is understood with the enlightenment of Holy Spirit, the use of sound principles of Biblical interpretation, and the help of Gifted Teachers.
OUTLINE:
THE FIVE “SOLAS” OF THE REFORMATION
1. The Reformation
2. The Evangelicals
3. Introduction to the Five Solas
4. Sola # 1 – Scripture Alone
5. Good Works
6. Justification
7. Sola # 2 – Grace Alone
8. Sola # 3 – Faith Alone
9. Sola # 4 – Christ Alone
10. Sola # 5 – God’s Glory Alone
GOOD WORKS & JUSTIFICATION – (F)
V. GOOD WORKS
Since the matter of ‘works righteousness’ is so intertwined with the other four solas, it is important that we discuss this topic.
QUESTION: What are some good verses pointing to the failure of works to provide salvation?
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Romans 3:20)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith . . . . it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Philippians 3:9)
Who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. (II Tim. 1:9)
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:5)
THE PELAGIAN CONTROVERSY
Augustine (A.D. 354-430) combated Pelagius, an ascetic and Christian leader, maybe coming from the British Isles. Pelagius taught that people could contribute to their salvation by their own efforts apart from the grace of God. He did not believe in total depravity.
In Pelagianism Adam’s sin is not imputed to us, which means that we are not sinful by nature. Adam is only a bad example, not the representative of the race in whom we stand guilty. Christ is a good example and salvation depends on following Christ and not just depending on His atoning death.
Evangelicals believe that Adam is the Federal Head of the race and “in Adam all die” (I Cor. 15:22). Of course inborn or hereditary sin (natural depravity) from Adam makes it totally impossible for a person to earn salvation. The tendency of humans is to make external efforts (do good things) or internal efforts (try to be good, e.g. think good thoughts) in order to be worthy of God.
LUTHER’S EFFORT TO WORK HIS WAY TO HEAVEN
READING: What must I do to receive what Christ accomplished on the cross? Luther struggled with this question for more than 10 years. In July of 1505, at the age of 21, while caught out in a rainstorm he was suddenly hit by a lightening bolt. In a flash he saw horrible visions of fiends in Hell and in terror cried out, “St. Anne, help me! I will become a monk.”
That week Luther entered the monastery and began there his pilgrimage in search of the assurance of God’s love and favor and escape from the terrors of His wrath and hell. An earnest young man, he thought that through ascetic practices he might please God. He fasted. He prayed. He slept without blankets. He deprived himself of all worldly comforts and pleasures. Yet all he did seemed to fall short. All his efforts could not compensate for the weight of his guilt. He could sense only God’s anger and displeasure. He later said, “If ever a monk got to heaven by monkery, it was I.” Yet his best efforts, his greatest works, were not enough.
In November of 1510 he journeyed to Rome, the “Holy City,” where he thought surely he would find peace with his Maker. There he sought to appropriate the merits of the saints. He viewed relics. He conducted masses and he repeated the Pater Noster (Our Father). He visited the Holy sites. While he earned considerable merits from the “treasury of the saints,” he still could sense no satisfaction. Still, he felt alienated from God. While crawling on his knees up the supposed steps of Pilates Palace, saying the Pater Noster on each step, he arrived at the top and said, “Who knows whether it is so?”
April, 1511 Luther was transferred to Wittenburg. There he began to seek peace with God through the confession of sins. And confess his sins, he would, sometimes for up to six hours a day, terrified that he should forget even one.
Seeing the futility of this approach he then began to study the German Mystics. Their writings urged him to stop striving. Instead they urged that he surrender himself to the love of God. He must yield. He must surrender all ego and all assertiveness. He must let go and let God do it for him. Luther now was coming close to the answer, but not quite. It would work for a while. He would feel himself at peace with God and with himself for a season. And then it would crash. Again he would fall under the burden of his guilt. God’s anger was too great! The distance was too far! The Holy God could not be satisfied with any of his efforts.
CATHOLICS WORKING FOR SALVATION
In Catholic theology righteous works are considered as providing merit towards salvation in addition to faith.
“It would be foolish, as well as presumptuous . . . to claim to receive forgiveness without the sacrament of penance.” (Pope John Paul II)
In Catholic theology justification is applied to the soul at the time of baptism.
EVANGELICALS AND GOOD WORKS
When asked on a survey 25% of the people who identified themselves as evangelicals agreed with the following statement, “If a person is good, or does enough good things for others during life, he/she will earn a place in heaven.”
In the “Sound of Music” Julie Andrews sings with enthusiasm when she becomes aware of the Captain’s interest in her: Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could. So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.”
For justification by works is, in truth, the natural religion of mankind, and has been since the Fall, so that, as Robert Traill, the Scottish Puritan, wrote in 1692, “all the ignorant people that know nothing of either law or gospel,” “all proud secure sinners,” “all formalists,” and “all the zealous devout people secure sinners, in a natural religion,” line up together as “utter enemies to the gospel.” (Sola Fide, The Reformed Doctrine of Justification, J.I. Packer)
ILL: I have a sister who really loves me. But morally she is in bad shape. She is an alcoholic, smokes like a chimney, uses gutter language like the English language only had a few good words, and shacked up with a guy for 15 years. When I mentioned something to her a couple of months ago about salvation she said: I am better than most people.
All of us have this inborn tendency to think that our goodness is adequate. Rarely does a person measure their ‘goodness’ against the holiness of God.
ILL: The story is told of a man who fell off a cliff, but on his way down managed to grab a branch. He broke his fall and saved his life, but before long he realized that he could not pull himself back up onto the ledge. Finally, he called out, “Is there anyone up there who can help me?” To his surprise, a voice boomed back, “I am here and I can help you, but first you’re going to have to let go of that branch.” Thinking for a moment about his options, the man looked back up and shot back, “Is there anyone else up there who can help me?”
All are looking for a way to help themselves, someway they can be involved personally in the salvation process instead of total trust in a Savior.
VI. JUSTIFICATION
In Job 9:2 Job asks the question: How may a mortal be righteous before God?
For the doctrine of justification by faith is like Atlas. It bears a whole world on its shoulders, the entire evangelical knowledge of God the Savior. (J.I. Packer, Ibid)
QUESTION: When is the last time you heard a sermon on justification by faith? What do we understand by “justification”?
LUTHER’S TOWER EXPERIENCE
READING: The turning point came when he was asked to study for his doctorate and to take the chair of Biblical Studies at the University at Wittenburg. The more he studied, the clearer the gospel became. He taught the Psalms (1513), then Romans (1515), and then Galatians (1516). Yet he continued to wrestle with the phrase “the justice of God,” which he took to mean God exacting His pound of flesh, which everyone owed but no one could escape. Finally, Luther had what has come to be known as his “Tower Experience,” where at long last he came to understand the gospel. Let us pick up his own account of his conversion:
I greatly longed to understand Paul’s epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, “the justice of God,” because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. 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 would assuage Him. Therefore I did not love a just angry God, but rather hated and murmured against Him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant.
Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that “the just shall live by faith.” (The righteous will live by faith – Romans 1:17)Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before “the justice of God” had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven. . . .
If you have a true faith that Christ is your Savior, then at once you have a gracious God, for faith leads you in and opens up God’s heart and will, that you should see pure grace and should look upon His fatherly, friendly heart, in which there is no anger, nor ungraciousness. He who sees God as angry does not see Him rightly but looks only on a curtain, as if a dark cloud had been drawn across his face. (Roland Bainton, Here I Stand, p. 65)
DEFINING JUSTIFICATION
Justification is a “declaration” of righteousness.
Justification is a “forensic,” “legal,” “courtroom” term. Thus Protestants speak of justification in “legal” terms, demonstrating that God, as a judge, declares a sinner to be “righteous” when he is not yet objectively so.
Justification is a judicial act of God pardoning and forgiving our sins, accepting us as righteous, and instating us as his sons. (J.I. Packer, ibid)
“A person is justified, when he is approved of God as free from the guilt of sin and its deserved punishment, and as having that righteousness belonging to him that entitles to the reward of life.” (Jonathan Edwards)
Calvin defines justification as acceptance, whereby God receives us into his favor and regards us as righteous; and we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ.” (J.I. Packer, ibid)
We must remember that justification is a judicial declaration by God that we are righteous. It is not a process.
Why was justification as a declaration so difficult to unearth?
Following Augustine, who studied the Bible in Latin and was partly misled by the fact that justificare, the Latin for Paul’s dikaiou’n, naturally means “make righteous,” the Mediaevals had defined justification as pardon plus inner renewal, as the Council of Trent was also to do; but the Reformers saw that the Pauline meaning of dikaioun is strictly forensic. (J.I. Packard, Ibid)
The Latin Bible which was the only Bible in use, translated the Greek word to mean to “make righteous.” Erasmus and the other humanists cleaned up the translation mistakes and showed that the word dikaioun means to “declare righteous.” Thus Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched.
Rome (The Roman Catholic Church) had said, God’s grace is great, for through Christ’s cross and his Church salvation is possible for all who will work and suffer for it; so come to church, and toil! But the Reformers said, God’s grace is greater than that, for through Christ’s cross and his Spirit salvation, full and free, with its unlimited guarantee of eternal joy, is given once and forever to all who believe; so come to Christ, and trust and take! (J.I. Packer, Ibid)
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (Romans 4:4-5)
Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39)
Justification is more than removing guilt. That would only make us innocent and not righteous.
WHITEBOARD: Draw three circles. Make the one on the left black. Explain that the black circle (my sin) is transferred to the white circle Christ. Make the center circle black and erase the center of the “me” circle. He becomes sin for me. This is the first half of justification. Then draw a line from the third circle that is still white to the first circle (me) and show how Christ’s righteousness is imparted to me.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (II Cor. 5:21)
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. (I Corinthians 1:30)
The believer experiences an “alien” righteousness, a righteousness that is “alien” to him that comes from outside of him. It is the righteousness of Christ.
Justification is being questioned by evangelical leaders
Justification is a declaration, not a process. Thus Luther made famous the Latin statement: Simul Justus et peccator – meaning – at the same time sinners and saints.
In our own time, Clark Pinnock wonders why we cannot embrace the notion of purgatory: I cannot deny that most believers end their earthly lives imperfectly sanctified and far from complete. [Most? How about all!] I cannot deny the wisdom in possibly giving them an opportunity to close the gap and grow to maturity after death. Obviously, evangelicals have not thought this question out. [We have: It was called The Reformation.] It seems to me that we already have the possibility of a doctrine of purgatory. Our Wesleyan and Arminian thinking may need to be extended in this direction. Is a doctrine of purgatory not required by our doctrine of holiness? (Michael Horton, From the web)
Russell Spittler, a Pentecostal theologian at Fuller Seminary, reflects on Luther’s phrase concerning justification: simul iustus et peccator, (simultaneously just and sinner): “But can it really be true–saint and sinner simultaneously? I wish it were so. Is this correct: ‘I don’t need to work at becoming. I’m already declared to be holy.’ No sweat needed? It looks wrong to me. I hear moral demands in Scripture. Simul iustus et peccator? I hope it’s true! I simply fear it’s not.” (The web)
JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION
Justification does not stand alone. Although God declares us righteous, justifies us, at the same time he “regenerates,” that is makes us a new creature.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come!” (II Cor. 5:17)
This “regeneration” (inner transformation) does not make us immediately sinless but puts on the path to practical holiness.
Living out the inner transformation is called sanctification. We read verses all through-out the Bible about “growing” in the Christian life.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 1:6)
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, . . . . . ” (Phil. 1:9).
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. (I Thes. 3:12)
SO WHAT???
1. Being born with a depraved nature, no amount of good works can save a person from the just punishment of sin.
2. The doctrine of justification by faith is the theological Atlas of evangelicals. It bears our spiritual world on its shoulders, the entire evangelical knowledge of God as Savior.
3. Through Justification God declares us not just innocent of guilt but positively righteous. We are freed from guilt and receive Christ’s righteousness as ours.
4. We are saints and sinners at the same time and thus commanded by God to grow in grace and in all the graces of the Christian life.