THE source of it—God’s grace. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3.24).
The instrument of it―Faith. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:11Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5:1)).
The evidence of it—Works. “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:2424Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. (James 2:24)).
WHAT JUSTIFICATION MEANS.
It is that act by which God accounts the believer righteous in His holy presence. He is cleared by virtue of the death of Jesus of every charge of guilt. Scripture amply proves this: ―
“By him (Jesus) all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:3939And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39)). Nothing can be plainer than this.
THE SOURCE OF IT.
If only the anxious sinner got one real idea of what God’s grace means, it would relieve him once and forever from connecting his blessing with his own merit or goodness or worthiness in the least degree. Grace is so foreign to the natural heart of man that it is difficult to find words to express it. It is as difficult as putting God’s great ocean into man’s tiny tea-spoon.
God’s grace is unmerited favor. It expresses itself in the fact that God’s attitude towards the sinner is irrespective of anything favorable in the sinner. It is blessing without conditions.
Queen Elizabeth once wanted to attach conditions to a free pardon, but was met by the indignant response, “Grace that is fettered by conditions is no grace at all.” Our repentance cannot demand the blessing. Our good works lay God under no obligation to bless us. God’s grace is the outcome of His own goodness, and His love is the great spring, the original cause of it all. What wonder that justification is outside all our powers to obtain. It is God’s pure sovereign gift.
THE GROUND OF IT―CHRIST’S WORK.
If the believing sinner is to be justified, God must act righteously. The work of Christ secures this. All the claims of holiness and righteousness were met at the cross of Calvary. Hence the believer is justified by the blood of Jesus. It is the bulwark and glory and necessity of the gospel that God is “just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:2626To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)). “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)).
Oh! the rest of conscience that is the happy portion of the believer when he learns that every question of righteousness and holiness has been settled once and forever at the cross, and that believing in Jesus he has a perfect standing before God.
It has often been said that the work of Christ―
1. Satisfies God.
2. Silences Satan.
3. Saves the sinner.
THE INSTRUMENT OF IT—FAITH.
How may I get the blessing? is the anxious inquiry of many. By simple faith, is the answer. Alas! people stumble over the very simplicity of the gospel. “If only I could feel it, I should be sure,” says many an anxious soul. But we do not act like that in the ordinary affairs of life, For instance, suppose most unexpectedly you received a letter from a well-known firm of lawyers announcing that a vast fortune had been left you by a distant relative. I could imagine your saying, “Well, I am a wealthy man now, but I don’t feel it.” You would, however, KNOW that you were a wealthy man. Faith in the letter would lead you justly to that conclusion, and your not realizing it, or, in other words, your not feeling it, would not alter your knowledge that you were a rich man.
On the other hand, suppose you woke up one morning and astonished your friends by announcing that you were sure that you had a large fortune because you felt you had. I can imagine their looking scared, and sending for the doctor at once to see if you would not be safer in a lunatic asylum. You understand the situation.
Remember feelings always follow faith, but are absolutely unreliable as a ground of assurance. Do you believe in Christ? Are all your hopes in Him? If so, then surely this is enough for you. “All that believe are justified from all things.”
You only need one good title-deed to an estate, and surely one text is amply sufficient to give you peace and assurance.
THE EVIDENCE OF IT―WORKS.
In the common affairs of life it is seen over and over again how intimately faith and works are linked up. For instance a husband goes to a foreign land in search of work. He succeeds, and sends a sum of money to his wife to enable her to settle her affairs in the old country and take steamer to the country where he is. If the wife has faith that her husband wishes her to join him, her faith will express itself by her taking active steps to that end; in other words, she will express her faith by her works.
So with the scriptural illustration given in James 2. The apostle Paul writes, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Abraham had faith in God, and God justified him on that ground. Years afterward his faith was put to the test. God told Abraham to offer up his son―the child of promise. The writer, James, says, “Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” And he adds, “And the scripture was fulfilled which sayeth, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.”
JAMES DOES NOT CONTRADICT PAUL.
Evidently James did not think he was contradicting Paul, but instead was confirming him. How was that? Simply that Abraham confessed to have faith in God. The time came when God put that faith to the test for Abraham’s own good, and as an example for us all. Abraham proved that he had faith in God by doing what he told him without question, though it seemed contrary to nature to extinguish the light of his eyes upon the sacrificial altar, and to put to death the son in whom all the hopes of the fulfillment of God’s promise were wrapped.
So with the believer. He proves by his works that he has faith in God. Has God blessed him and given him a hope of heaven? Then he will be a stranger and pilgrim in this world. He will prove by his good works that he has faith in God.
Two verses in close proximity in Ephesians 2 put the relation between “no works” and “good works” very beautifully. We read: “Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (vers. 9, 10).
Fellow-believer, let us see to it that our works―the evidence of our faith―justify us, yet let it ever be clear in the soul that “to him that worketh NOT, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness,” and let our “good works” be, as James puts it, the fulfillment of this.
A. J. P.