Last week we dealt with the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. While these are but very short studies, they get to the heart of the issue. A person is declared just by God on the basis of something. We can list the logical possibilities:
- God declares a person just by closing His “eyes” and ignoring justice
- God declares a person just because of what some saints have done
- God declares a person just because of what a sinner has done by works
- God declares a person just based on what God has done and what the sinner has done
- God declares a person just because of what God has done in the sinner through works
- God declares a person just because of what Christ has done in the place of sinners
As we look at those possibilities, we can ask which one glorifies God more and which one should strip pride from man more. Clearly it is # 6. Only #6 allows for salvation to be totally of grace and so gives man no basis for pride at all. In fact, man must humble himself in order to receive this gracious gift. If we meditate deeply on the subject in light of the teaching on the depravity of man and the character of God, then we can see that #6 is really the only possibility. God is perfectly just and will not just look over sin. All sin must be dealt with in a perfectly just manner. Since all so-called saints are really sinful human beings, there is no possibility that a saint could have earned his or her own salvation much less assist in the salvation of others. We can also understand that in light of a perfectly holy and just God, there is simply no possible way that a sinner can do a good work that is acceptable to God in and of himself. Once a man has sinned, there is no way for him to make up for that sin since all his future acts must be perfect to be acceptable to God. That does not allow for the possibility of man to make up for past sins. So this demands that a sinless One come in and suffer for the sins of a sinner if a sinner is going to be saved by a just God.
Then we can ask if man can even do one work that is acceptable to go into his account as righteousness. Romans 3 has something to say here: “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE” (vv. 10-12). True enough that the context is dealing with unbelievers. But this also describes each individual before he or she is converted. All of those sins need a perfect satisfaction and that individual needs a perfect righteousness from somewhere if God is going to declare that person just. For a person to ever enter into the gift of eternal life or salvation, that person must be declared just, that is, all of his sins must be suffered for and he must have a perfect standing of righteousness before God. This must happen for a person to be converted. In other words, it must happen at the point of conversion or no one would be able to be saved in this life.
After listing how awful man is in his sin in Romans 3:9-18, and before he goes into justification, Paul sets out verse 19: “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God.” The Law teaches and declares the sinfulness of man so that every mouth may be closed. In other words, before a man can even understand the teaching of justification his mouth must be closed. There are no reasons and no excuses for sin before God. There is no sinner’s prayer before God except for “God, be merciful to me, the sinner” (Luke 18:13).
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.” This text also sets this out with the utmost clarity. Which individual in the above list (list of six above) qualifies in light of this verse? We can see that it is not that a person works enough to be declared just because the text says that it is for the person who does not work. We can see from the text that it is not a saint who assists in the justification of sinners, but it is God alone because the text tells us that we must believe “in Him who justifies the ungodly.” We can see that the sinner has not worked hard because God was working in him and so God declared him just because the text says that God justifies the ungodly. Surely this leaves us with nothing other than the sinner declared just by God on the basis of Christ and nothing but Christ alone. This means that the sinner is saved by a sovereign and glorious grace or “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph 1:6).
As we look at the phrase “but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly,” we must be careful. This verse should give us no reason to think that we are free to sin. But, one will say, “the text does say that God justifies the ungodly and so I should be ungodly in order to be justified.” Yes, but the text also says that it is through believing or faith that God justifies the ungodly. Romans 3:31 gives the balance: “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.” A person that is justified by faith becomes a person that establishes the Law. God justifies (declares just based on the work of Christ alone) a person through faith and apart from works. But we must also not forget the doctrine of the new birth.
Titus 3 sets out the connection between the new birth and justification: “4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Salvation is according to the mercy of God, not on the basis of deeds that man does. Man is saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. I don’t think that there would be a real argument that this text is speaking of the new birth. So we have regeneration or the new birth in v. 6 and then in v 7: “so that being justified by His grace.” Without trying to set up a chronological order or a causal connection between the new birth and justification, we can see that they are inextricably linked. So it should be clear that justification by faith alone does not lead to ungodly living. One who is justified also has a new heart and nature and so will live differently. The one that God justifies is also the one that God gives a new heart and nature to.
So we can look at Romans 4:5 where God is said to justify the ungodly and know that it does not refer to the way a person continues to live after justification. A person who truly has faith will live by that faith and that does not lead to an ungodly life. What the text does refer to is that the person that is declared just by God is ungodly in and of himself. This teaches us that no one can be justified by the works that he does and no one can be justified by God working in the person to make him righteous. God takes a sinner that is ungodly and declares that person just based on what Christ and Christ alone has done. There is no room for boasting in the ungodly person that has been justified in this way but a boasting in the cross alone. Those who were ungodly in and of themselves know that they contributed nothing to their salvation except the sin that they were saved from. Those who were ungodly and came to Christ know that their sins were all suffered for by Christ and the only reason that they are not going to hell for eternity is because Christ suffered in their place. Those who were ungodly and came to rest on Christ alone for salvation know that they had no righteousness of their own and that the only reason that they are going to heaven is because of the imputed righteousness of Christ given to them as a free gift. We must recognize that we are ungodly in order to be saved from our sin. We must see and feel our ungodliness in order to look to Christ alone for our total satisfaction for sins and for our complete and perfect righteousness. Christ does not complete or finish what sinners can’t do, He does it all and He must be trusted in for it all.
It is this teaching that exalts Christ and the glory of grace more than any other. It is this teaching that shows how helpless sinners are who can do nothing to save themselves. God takes sinners who deserve nothing but eternal wrath and saves them by grace alone. There is nothing in the sinner that will move Him to save them; there is only grace, mercy, and love as His motivation to save the sinner. God does not need to work righteousness in the sinner in order to be moved to declare a sinner just; He has all the motivations needed within Himself. This is a freeing Gospel in that God saves according to God and needs nothing in the sinner in order to save the sinner. What must happen to the sinner, however, is that he sees and feels his sin to the point that he gives up on any and all things but Christ alone. Indeed the sinner must be taught to see that he is ungodly in and of himself. The sinner must be taught that there is no hope for him unless God has mercy. The sinner must be taught to look away from Himself and to Christ alone. God saves the humble and the contrite, that is, those who see their own ungodliness and look to Him for mercy and grace in Christ without any hope in their own works or goodness.
God Loves... Himself 
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