Welcome to “Learning and Living the God-centered life”

Carmel Baptist Church

www.learningandlivingtheword.com
April 19, 2009
DOCTRINE OF GOD
The Trinity
Why should we as Christians study the Trinity?
 Because God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through His
word as God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit and
therefore if we want to know Him we must know Him as triune!

Definition of the Trinity

 God’s whole and undivided essence belongs equally, eternally,
simultaneously and fully to each of the three Persons of the
Godhead, so that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit each is fully
God while each in His own personal expression in role and activity,
of one eternal and undivided essence.
The two key views or aspects of the cross

View #1 of the cross

 The view of the cross that focuses upon the significance of what
Jesus accomplished in relationship to how we would stand before
God. (Atonement, Propitiation, Justification)

View #2 of the cross

 This focuses upon the significance of what Christ accomplished in
relationship to the bondage that the powers of sin, death and the devil
have over us. The fact is we come into this world enslaved to sin and
here the cross presents to us the important work of Christ’s death. It
is His death on the cross which has redeemed and delivered us from
these evil powers. (Redemption, Ransom)
TheThe problems
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 Sin is a two-fold problem

Problem #1 (Problem with the heart)

There is an internal problem. Man himself is crooked, defiled and

perverse.

Mark 7:21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the
evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
Mark 7:22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit,
sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
Mark 7:23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile
the man.”
 Sin is a two-fold problem

Problem #2 (Problem with the law)

There is an external aspect to the problem of sin. Not only do I

have a bad heart but in fact I also have a bad record. I have a
criminal record in the eyes of God’s law.

James 2:10
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he
has become guilty of all.
If a person is not a Christian then we know these two things:

 Sin is defiling and enslaving who they are

 And it’s also condemning them for what they have done.

On the one hand sin is reigning and ruling over them. It has a
chain around the neck and is bidding them to do its work.
But the very penalty of that sin is crying out for their death.

Just think if that person could change today and never sin again,
they would still have to deal with all those past crimes that call for
their death.
But when a man starts to hear and fall under the conviction of the law,
then the name of Jesus will mean something to him.

 Matt. 1:21 “… and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will
save His people from their sins.”

Jesus takes care of the internal problem with regeneration and He

takes care of the external problem with justification.

The key question throughout all of history is simply this:

How can a wicked, evil and rebellious man ever be considered right
before a holy and just God?
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 JUSTIFICATION

Justification is an instantaneous act of God in which He thinks of our

sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us. In so
doing He declares us to be righteous in His sight.
 JUSTIFICATION
Martin Luther said this the doctrine upon which the church either
stands or falls.

In the creed we confess that the church is holy and yet the church is
holy in so far as it embraces and is covered with the righteousness
of Christ.

And that occurs when the church proclaims such a true gospel as
the NT presents and lives by it.

 This means the holiness and righteousness of the church is fully

dependent upon the righteousness and holiness of Christ and that
alone.
 It further means that each individual is unto themselves sinful
and we may only reckon ourselves as holy and righteous in our
standing before God solely on the basis of the justifying work and
the atonement that is ours in Christ Jesus.
As we begin to study…

The following will observations from Scripture regarding

justification

We all have heard the expression “familiarity breeds contempt.”

And unfortunately we have been around the church and Christian

jargon for so long that these things become mundane and worthless
to us.

But these are truths from the Bible that need to be taught,
understood, embraced and lived out in our Christian lives.
OBSERVATION #1

Justification is based on the blood of Jesus.

Rom. 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood,
we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

1John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light,

we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His
Son cleanses us from all sin.

In other words when God justifies a man, He is not looking at the

man. But rather God is looking at the blood of Christ.

When God justifies a man, He does not justify based on anything in

the man.
A man goes to heaven on the basis of what someone else has done.
God doesn’t justify a man because he is or has become in anyway
godly.

But rather we learn from Romans 4:5

But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies
the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,

Do you feel unworthy of your justification?

Well if you do then you are exactly right because you in fact do not
deserve it, nor have you earned it.

Everything about a man cries out against justification but God

justifies on the basis the blood of Christ.
This of course includes our repentance and our faith.
But these are the “means of” but not “ground or cause for”
justification
OBSERVATION #2

Justify means to declare as righteous not to make righteous.

 God declares that something is true about us on the outside in

relation to His law.
 God declares us to be right in the sight of His law.
 Justification is not a process that makes us good on the inside.
God does that via another doctrine that we call regeneration.

Rom. 8:33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the
one who justifies;
Rom. 8:34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who
died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God,
who also intercedes for us.

What is the opposite of justify?

Answer - condemn
Question
When the judge condemns the guilty man for his crime, does the
judge make that man bad on the inside?

Answer - of course NOT!

The judge is simply bring a declaration about him from the outside
based on what he has done.

Therefore justification is our standing before God in terms of His

law.
And having been justified we stand before Him as innocent based
on the blood of Christ.
OBSERVATION #3

Justification has no grading by degrees.

When a person is justified, that person is 100% justified right then

and right there.

A person is either 100% righteous in the eyes of God’s law or a

person is 100% condemned.

Illustration:
Here is a man who has 7 counts of murder against him and he is
absolved of 6 of those crimes, he is still a condemned man.

James 2:10
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point,
he has become guilty of all.
If you have one thought, one word or one action that breaks the law
of God, then you are a condemned man.
 If there is one sin that you need to pay for then you will be in
hell forever, because that one sin carries an infinite offense against
a God whose holiness is infinite.
 Rom. 8:1 ¶ Therefore there is now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus.

If you are a Christian then you are 100% justified in the eyes of
God’s law.

The righteousness that you have is the very righteousness of Christ.

 Phil. 3:9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness

of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in
Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of
faith,
This doesn’t matter how you feel or even how you fail, this has
everything to do with Christ.

Illustration:
The apostle Paul who knew God better that all of us in this class.
And yet Paul’s justification is no greater than those of us in here,
who are in Christ.

Illustration:
Son of Sam the killer who got converted while in prison.
And though he did some terrible and evil things his justification is
not less than any of ours.
Observation #4

Justification is more than a pardon.

In our country the governor of the president has the power to
pardon a criminal.
And sometimes a wicked man is pardoned.

When a guilty man is pardoned is the crime paid for?

Was the threatened sentence of the law carried out?

Ezek. 18:4 “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as
well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die.
If God were to overlook sin then He would not be just. But He is
just so there is penalty for sin and that is death.

Pardon gets a man off the hook without justice being satisfied.
Pardon is an act of executive clemency where the justice of the
law is not carried out.

In contrast justification is the declaration of a judge.

When God justifies He does not let you off the hook and your sin
is still hanging out there in the air.

If the devil ever come to harass you with a specific sin or sins that
you say ”well if it hadn’t been for that...“ It was the that which fell
on the Lord Jesus at the cross that washed you white as snow!

When God justifies He is not pretending that your sins have been
paid for. But rather He looks in the book and sees that your sins
have been paid for by the death of His Son.
OBSERVATION #5

Justification is both positive and negative

Rom. 4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to
whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Rom. 4:7 “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS
HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN
COVERED.
Rom. 4:8 “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD
WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”

The negative side of justification is that God will not impute sin to
that man.

On the positive side He reckons or imputes righteousness not on

the basis of works.
It is scriptural to compare sin with a debt. Forgive us our debts
as we forgive our debtors.
Matthew 18 the parable of the man that owed so much money.
We owed millions and millions and God says the debt has been
paid which brings us up to zero.

But there must be positive obedience in order that we can join

Him in heaven. And that is exactly what Christ does when we
get the righteousness of Christ.
Romans 5:1-2
Rom. 5:1 ¶ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Rom. 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction
by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope
of the glory of God.
Not only were we rebelling and fighting God but more importantly
God was mad with us.

Illustration:
The criminal is running and he has his gun. The police are after
him with their guns and they surround him and the criminal throws
down his gun.

Now what is wrong with this picture?

The criminal throws his gun down and the police then throw their
guns down.
Why don’t they do this?
Because they will hold the gun on that man until justice has been
satisfied.
When it says now that we have peace with God, it is saying that
God has put down His gun against us.

God is not mad at me in any way, shape or form because He sees

me as fully obedient to His law.

Hope is the joyful expectation of what I know is coming.

This is the positive side of justification.
OBSERVATION #6

Justification is once for all.

Rom. 5:1 ¶ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

The word justified in the Greek is dikaioo, which in Romans 5:1 is

in the aorist tense and the passive voice.

In other words a person doesn’t get justified and then fall under
condemnation and then get justified and fall under condemnation.

Then we read in Romans 5:2

Rom. 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by
faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the
glory of God.

The verb stand is in the perfect/active/indicative

Therefore justification puts us in a whole new standing with God.

Illustration #1
A man who is unkind to his wife. He goes to work and a couple
of hours later he thinks and says to himself that was sin. He then
asks God to forgive Him and then calls his wife and asks for her
to forgive his rudeness.
Suppose you die between the unkind words to your wife and
before you repent and ask forgiveness, will you now go to hell?

This man remains in a justified state while he has sin that remains
unconfessed.
Illustration #2
You get up and have an argument and know that you did wrong
because you did it on purpose.
And later that day you go through what you did before.
If you had died between that period of time would you go to hell?
Answer - No

Why are you miserable all day when you have a sin that is on
purpose? Because you are a child of God.

This man is no longer a criminal that is before a judge but a child

that is in the arms of his Father. Because this man has passed from
the realm of sin and darkness into the realm of life and
righteousness in Christ
There may be times where God may still have to discipline you as
His child but this is very different from judicial punishment.
Judicial punishment is suffering that is inflicted to satisfy justice.
Discipline is suffering inflicted because of love for the one that is
being chastened.

If God has to take you to the wood shed then He holds your hand
and carries you on the way back.

If justification was not once for all then we would have to get
justified again and again after every sin we commit.
Hebrews Chapter 10:1-17

When I now come to confess my sins I do not come as a criminal

before a judge but as a child before a loving Father.
OBSERVATION #7
Justification is received by faith

Faith is not the ground but rather the instrument or the channel by
which a person receives the gift of righteousness.

When someone comes to you and says “what must I do to be

saved?”
If you tell them to make a decision or just ask Christ into your heart
what you are doing is directing them inside.

You direct men to faith in Christ. The Bible says that we must call
on Him and whoever calls on Him will be saved.

Faith is the opposite of doing something. Justifying faith realizes

that all you can do is to receive the righteousness of Christ and
throw yourself on the mercy of the cross.
We are not saved by faith in our faith. But rather we are saved by
faith in Christ.

Faith is like the eye that can not look at itself but must look at the
object.

Illustration:
John 3:14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
must the Son of Man be lifted up;
John 3:15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

Peter walking on water was fine when he looked at Christ. But

when his eyes left Christ and he looked at the wind and water he
started to sink.
In Summary:

 Justification is based on the blood of Jesus.

 Justify means to declare as righteous not to make righteous.

 Justification has no grading by degrees.

 Justification is more than a pardon.

 Justification is both positive and negative

 Justification is once for all.

 Justification is received by faith

ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR THE STUDY OF JUSTIFICATION
Therefore justification is a term used in the NT to answer the
question “so what?” in regard to this atoning work that we have been
speaking about in the cross of Christ.

And that is to say on the basis of innocent suffering as payment for

our sins by the Lord Jesus Christ, God accepts that as an atonement
for our sin not as an excuse for our sin.

In other words our sins are paid for by Christ. And on the basis of
that vicarious atonement, He the innocent paying for us the guilty,
when that payment is made, almost like a judge in a court of law,
God accepts that payment declaring us that are sinners to be
righteous.

Sin has not been swept under the rug or just let by-gones be by-
gones but rather Christ has made full payment for our sins.
What God does in justification is after we have believed in Christ,
which means we have trusted in Christ for forgiveness of sins, then
God declares that we have no penalty for our sins or we are now right
in His sight.
Scriptural Support
Romans 8:1 - Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 4:6-8 - just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man
to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Rom. 4:7 “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS
HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN,AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN
COVERED.
Rom. 4:8 “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD
WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”
But the forgiveness for our sins is only part 1 of our justification. At
this point it makes us morally neutral but does not give us favor with
God.

Illustration:
A student goes to seminary and flunks all of his classes the first year
and then through much grace an administrator takes all the F’s away
and says now there are no marks against you. At this point will the
student get his degree?
Answer - No, because that student still has to go to class and pass the
courses in order to earn the degree.
Just having the F’s removed doesn’t mean that you have credits to pass
and get a degree.

So by analogy when we have all our sins removed it just leaves us at

neutral. There is no positive record of obedience.
Illustration:
You go for your drivers license test and on the first day out you run
a stop sign and have a wreck. And the DMV instructor says OK
you were a little nervous I am going to tear this one up but you need
to come back next week and do it again and pass.
Just having you mistakes wiped out does not give you a drivers
license.

Once we get our sins forgiven we still have not passed the test so to
speak.

In order for God to declare us righteous in His sight He must give

us the merits of perfect righteousness and here is where He gives us
a gift of the record that Jesus earned.
Scriptural Support

Isaiah 61:10
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD,
My soul will exult in my God;
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness...

This represents something positive that He has put over us.

Romans 3:21-22
But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been
manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all
those who believe; for there is no distinction;
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness
(Genesis 15:6)

Romans 5:19
For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made
sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be
made righteous.

So how can God declare us to be righteous when in fact you are

not?
The acknowledgement of that comes by way of God saying to us
that we are innocent and right in His sight. Justification is our
innocence and righteousness in our standing before God on the
basis of the atoning work of Christ on the cross.
This righteousness of Christ is given to us through a process called
IMPUTATION.

Some synonyms for the word IMPUTE would be to reckon, regard

or to credit;

The word impute means to think of as belonging to. Therefore God

thinks of the righteousness of Christ as belonging to us.
And that reckoning and regarding is not God playing a game with
Him pretending that the sinner is really not that bad or looking the
other way. He now thinks of us as righteous because He imputes,
that is He gives to us the righteousness of Christ which has been
won on the cross.

Romans 4:3
For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD,
AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
It was reckoned or counted or thought of by God as belonging to
Abraham.

1 Corinthians 1:30
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom
from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Therefore it is “in Christ” that we become something that we were

not.
We become the righteousness of God in Christ.

Philippians 3:9
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own
derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
So the record of Christ which was lived in total obedience to God is
thought of as ours.
And that is why it is so important to read the gospels so that you
can see this life and understand how this righteousness works.

God can declare us to be righteous based on the fact that He

imputes the righteousness of Christ to us.
This means that IMPUTATION is essential to the heart of the
gospel.

So why does Martin Luther say that the doctrine of justification by

faith is the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls?
Because it is upon this that all sinful human beings stand or fall.

In the creed we confess that the church is holy and yet the church
is holy in so far as it embraces and is covered with the
righteousness of Christ.

And that occurs when the church proclaims the true gospel, the
Christ crucified gospel, as the New Testament presents and lives
by it.

This means the holiness and righteousness of the church is fully

dependent upon the righteousness and holiness of Christ and that
alone.
It further means that each individual is unto themselves sinful and
we may only reckon ourselves as holy and righteous in our
standing before God solely on the basis of the justifying work and
the atonement that is ours in Christ Jesus.

In summary regarding justification

 Legal Standing
 Once for all time
 Entirely God's work
 Perfect in this life
 Same in all Christians
 External to us