THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH

Romans 3: 22; 4: 5-8; 23-25; 5: 8; 10: 8-9

These scriptures speak of three things relating to God which are in our favour, namely: the righteousness of God, the power of God, the love of God; and then, of the simple, blessed way in which anyone can come into blessing. The object in view is that all should be certain in regard to their soul’s welfare. That is one great feature of the gospel of God, that it presents certainty! It presents things which are stable and unalterable; on which you can firmly rest the salvation of your soul for eternity, and in which you can find fulness of joy at the present time.

It is important that we should understand how God has presented Himself to man. God has come out with glad tidings which are most important in their bearing towards us all, and in His grace He shows us that the blessing which He proposes, for all who will accept it, is based upon an immovable foundation. The first foundation must be righteousness.

I think you will understand that unless things are morally right they will not stand; that is an essential! The reason why people are not established in the conscious enjoyment of the grace of God is because they do not see that when God offers the sinner forgiveness of sins, He does it righteously! He does it in a way which no one can call in question! The first chapter of this epistle tells us that God is “the uncorruptible God”. God cannot deny Himself, He is incapable of sin, or of being affected by false principles: God moves on sound, righteous principles according to holiness; He cannot deny Himself! The psalmist says that righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne! When God comes out to us with His glad tidings, He shows us that He is righteous in so doing. The first point, therefore, I wish to stress is the righteousness of God. Scripture says: “Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference”. God does not leave out one in approaching men with forgiveness of sins, for His righteousness is unto all, but it is “upon all them that believe”—that brings in the side of your responsibility to avail yourself of what God presents to you in His gospel. I was saying that God will never deflect from what is righteous, hence if He moves out in announcing forgiveness to every one who will have it, He has to see that every question of the responsibility and guilt of those toward whom He moves is settled in such a way that no question can ever again be raised; this involved the incoming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose there is no one here who has not heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, but have you stopped to think who He is? What is the distinctive glory connected with Jesus Christ? Because the righteousness of God is available to us “by faith of Jesus Christ”. That is to say, Jesus Christ is presented as an object for faith. Who then is Jesus Christ? When I speak of Jesus Christ, I speak of One who, in His own Person, is God Himself; as Scripture says, “who is over all, God blessed for ever”. He became a Man in order that He might become the Saviour of men, and that He might establish for God a ground in righteousness through His death, on which God can be free to come out in full and free forgiveness to whosoever will!

As being on Christian ground, we have been baptised “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”. We understand that there are three Persons in the Godhead, who as having come into revelation are known by these respective names. But One of them, “the Son”, became a Man, in order that He might bring into manhood all the moral excellence which attaches to God, so that there might be a Man before the eye of God, great enough to take up the question of the sinner’s guilt and meet it by His own death!

Dear friends, have you anyone or any thing to put in the place of this One? Think for a moment of having to give account of yourself to God. I am sure deep down in the conscience of every man there is the understanding that sooner or later he will be accountable to God! How will you meet your responsibility? How will you answer the claims of a holy God who will not deflect from what is absolutely holy? You must admit you could not stand in your own right, nor bring forward any human righteousness as able in any way to meet the claims of a holy God. God knows that that is the position, and testifies to us that it is so. He says, “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God”. Then, that being the position, God says, I will show you what I can do; I have One by Me, Jesus Christ, who has been great enough to offer “himself without spot to God”, and to make atonement for the souls of men, and who has answered for every claim of Mine against the sinner. On the ground of His finished work God offers free forgiveness to whosoever will, that is the position! Jesus brought into manhood all that He was in moral excellence and perfection, so that there might be a Man under the eye of God great enough to take up the great question of sins. When you see who Jesus is, and what He has done, you can understand the death of Christ being effective as a basis on which God can righteously come out in forgiveness to every sinner!

The death of Christ is so great that it is sufficient for the salvation of the whole race of man, sinners though they be, if they believe the glad tidings. God can come out in righteousness and justify them from every charge! If there was only one sinner on earth, only Jesus could make propitiation for that one sinner’s sins; hence Scripture says, “the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe”. Christ is at God’s right hand, having once died for all, and God has raised Him from the dead. In the value of His death God occupies this glorious position of being righteous in justifying freely everyone who believes.

In Romans 4, God speaks to us very largely of an incident in Abraham’s life. God came to Abraham when he was an old man, and his wife an old woman, and they had no children, and God said, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be”. In the East the heavens are full of stars, and God said to this old man who had no children, “So shall thy seed be”. And Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness”. That is to say, Abraham said, God can do what I cannot do! God can do what is absolutely impossible to us! You cannot justify yourself in the presence of God, nor can you bring forward anyone able to take your place and effect a perfect answer to God for your guilt and responsibility, but what you cannot do, God has done! He has shown Himself equal to it! He has delivered up Jesus our Lord, for our offences, and has raised Him again for our justification. Think of the power of God seen in raising up Jesus from the dead! God has come in with a power which belongs to God only, and has raised up the One who died for our offences, and has glorified Him at His own right hand, in order that we might understand that God Himself is perfectly satisfied with the work of Christ, and will hold every believer in Him as justified and as free from charge as Jesus is Himself!

Now that is a glorious thing, the power of God has come in on our behalf! When Jesus died, there was before God the closing up in death of the history of the man for whom He died and, as you believe in Him, God takes account of your sinful history as having been ended in the death of Christ. God is prepared to give believers life in Christ, not only are they justified as regards the past, but they come into what Scripture speaks of as “justification of life” God gives them His Holy Spirit, and sets them up before Him now in Christ. As Scripture says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus”. That is what God has brought to pass, bringing in the witness of the complete settlement of the question of responsibility in regard to our sins, and bringing into view Jesus, risen from the dead, a Man wholly according to God’s heart. In Him He is prepared to give life to everyone who believes!

I will now refer to the earlier verses of Romans 4: “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness”. You must give up the idea of making yourself fit for the presence of God, or of doing anything to merit forgiveness of sins. Scripture says, “to him that worketh not”. The attitude of God is that He is prepared to justify the ungodly. It is not that He makes light of sin; but having dealt with sin according to His own majesty and settled that question for ever, all He asks from you and me is, that we should believe on Him, as the One who justifies the ungodly. If we would be righteous before God, let us believe the gospel, and as we believe, our faith is counted for righteousness. Our Scripture also says: “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works”.

Now, another man, David, is brought in as a witness; he tells us of the blessedness of having our iniquities forgiven, and our sins covered. That is, David would say, forgiveness of sins is a known thing, I can tell you about it! I can describe its blessedness. Now Psalm 32 is interesting in this regard, the main subject of the Psalm is at the beginning, and then follows the process by which what is stated at the beginning is arrived at. There had been a time when God was looking for David to speak, and because he “kept silence” he became ill, as he says, “my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me”. David had an illness, and he was conscious that his illness was not a matter of chance, but that God had His hand upon him; for David was keeping silent when he should have been speaking to God. When he broke his silence he says, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee … I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord”: he confessed before God that he was a sinner in His sight. And then he adds, “thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin”. David tells us the blessedness of it, as having reached it in actual experience. He knew what it was to have God’s hand laid heavily upon him: some one here may know something of that. It may be an illness, difficult circumstances in your business, trouble at home, or in bereavement; God has His hand upon you, not because He is against you, but because He wants you to speak and not remain silent; taking your place before Him as a sinner deserving to die, but pleading for forgiveness. Indeed you do not even have to plead, because God comes out with a message of forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ, and all you have to do is to believe on Him who justifies the ungodly!

So we have first the righteousness of God; for if we are not forgiven righteously there is no stability in our forgiveness. God justifies freely the man who believes in Jesus, and no one can lay a charge against him, even Satan cannot! God has justified, who then can condemn? If a judge pronounces that a person brought before him is clear of every charge, there is no more that can be said. When God pronounces the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ justified, such a one has “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. You can therefore turn to God without a tremor, because you know that God Himself has undertaken your case, when you were unable to do anything. God Himself pronounces the word of justification, as regards the one who believes in Jesus.

As we begin to go over these things, it dawns upon us that what lies behind the gospel is that God is love.

In this world there are many erroneous thoughts about the love of God, so it is important that in presenting the attitude of God towards men, love is not put first. God brings in righteousness first, in order to show that if He forgives you your sins, He has a perfect right to do so on the ground of the death of Christ. You will not say that it is inconsistent with the love of God for the unrepentant sinner to be consigned to hell fire, when you learn that in order that we might be righteously saved, God visited unsparing wrath upon the head of His own beloved Son.

Oh! avail yourselves now of the glorious opportunity that the gospel affords, and receive forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. We can now take account of the love of God! When we were as unlovable as we could possibly be, when there was nothing to call forth the love of God, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”—That is the commendation of the love of God! Is it not worthwhile to have to do with a God like that?

There were many people in Old Testament times who knew God. The psalmist could speak of “God my exceeding joy”. There is nothing mystical or unreal about these things, the psalmist was a man like you and me, yet he could say, “God my exceeding joy!” Enoch and Noah could “walk with God”; Abraham could be called the “friend of God”, and God treated him as a friend; He told him what He was about to do in regard to the sinful world, that He was about to judge. They knew God! Why should we not know God? If it was open to them, it is far more so now to us through the gospel. There is no greater privilege or dignity to be offered to any man or woman, than to know God and to have access to Him and liberty before Him.

God has nothing less than that in His heart, in coming out in the gospel; indeed it is the gospel concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; God presents to us His Son, in order that He might give us the impression that He loves the idea of a son, and has nothing less in His mind than that those who believe His gospel should be brought through redemption into the place of sons. So as receiving Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit, who not only sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts, but is also the Spirit of God’s Son, giving us liberty, Godward, so that we can freely, happily and affectionately address Him as Father!

When we come to Romans 10, the apostle says: “Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above)”. That is to say, do not think these things are far away and something great on your part has to be done. Christ has come down from above, and He has died! Our Scripture also says: “Say not in thine heart, Who shall descend into the deep? (That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead)”.

We have nothing to do, God has done all! It is an accomplished fact, Christ has come down from heaven and has died, and God has raised Him again from the dead!

What then, is your position? “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach”; God in grace has brought His word close home to you; it is just a question now of your mouth and your heart. God presents His gospel from this standpoint to you, and He is looking for what your mouth is going to say and what your heart is going to believe. For “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”. That is the simple word of God, brought nigh to you. The Lord Jesus is worthy to be confessed as your Lord! The Son of God has come down from heaven to die for you that you might be saved: He is now at the right hand of God; is He not worthy to be confessed as your Lord? It is a question of your attitude as regards Christ; we ask you to take your place before God as a sinner, your only hope being in the mercy of God. You will find in the Lord Jesus One who has taken your place, and has Himself died for you, in order that your sins might be forgiven and that you might be for ever set free. God has raised Him from the dead, is He not worthy to be confessed as your Lord? Do it now! Christ is at the right hand of God, with all the blessings of God in His hand to administer, and is ready to dispense them freely to all who call upon Him as Lord.

The Scripture says: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”. God has done it all!—the One you have sinned against is the One who has delivered up Jesus for you, and has raised Him again from the dead. This shows us that God is for ever satisfied! Will you believe it in your heart?

God justifies the sinner who believes: there are many who know the sweetness of it. He does not do it in view of this world, but in view of another world; He has another world beyond death in view. All those who believe are justified in view of another world. It means that you separate yourself, so far as your outlook, sympathies, and pursuits are concerned, from this evil world out of which your Lord has been cast, and you testify against it by maintaining separation from it, but you move through it in grace toward men, desiring that the grace of God which you have tasted might reach them also.

In separating yourself from the world as a system, and in maintaining that attitude in faithfulness to the Lord, and to God, you have all the support and the protection of the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of God. The fact that God has raised Him from the dead becomes light in your soul, that the Lord is in complete superiority over the power of men and of Satan. You can call upon Him as Lord! You tell men that He is your Lord; if they want you to do that which is dishonouring to God, you tell them Jesus is your Lord. In taking that attitude you prove the power and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus, as supporting you in that position. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe”.

We read in John 12, “Many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him”. Why? “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God”. What a snare, to come under the power of the world which has cast out Jesus, because you prefer the praise of men rather than the praise of God!

If you believe in Christ, and have the gift of the Holy Spirit, it will be your privilege and safety to confess Him as your Lord, ranging yourself under the name of the Lord, having part with your fellow-believers in the testimony of God in this world; while at the same time the Lord will effect in your soul the reality and blessedness of the things of which we have been speaking.

May the Lord grant that you may believe! “For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid”: No! if you do not believe, there are many who do, but God would have all men believe in the glad tidings. Believe in God as the One who justifies the ungodly; believe in Christ as the One who has glorified God, and made it possible for you to have your sins forgiven; and then confess Him as your Lord!

May the Lord bless His word.

 

LONDON

Date not known

From ‘The Foundations of Faith’—Gospel Preachings in the City of London

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