"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

"That He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." -R OMANS 3:26 [KJV] Every created thing, every finite intelligence, must sooner be annihilated, than Jehovah can sacrifice, or suffer the slightest tarnish to come over any one of His eternal attributes. Yet God can be just, infinitely just, scrupulously just, unchangeably just - and yet, preserving His attribute of justice unchanging and unchangeable, He can still be "the justifer of him which believeth in Jesus." The way by which this was effected will take a countless eternity to understand, and a boundless eternity to admire and adore. But what is meant by the expression "the justifier?" "The justifer" means, that God can count man as righteous, can freely pardon his sins, can graciously accept his person, can impute to him righteousness without works, and can bring him to the eternal enjoyment of Himself. And who is the character that He thus brings...

"H E SAVED US --- not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy." - see T ITUS 3:5 [KJV] Ritualism, or externalism, or traditionalism are all different forms of self-righteousness; man's self-invented ways of pleasing or appeasing God, or paying for admittance into heaven. These forms of self-righteousness are a human apparatus for procuring God's pardon. They are the means by which the performer of them hopes to win God's favor--perhaps, also, man's praise--most certainly, his own esteem. Every act, or performance, or ceremony, which honors self, exalts self, or gives prominence to self--is an accursed thing. It is an abomination in the sight of God--however religious, or sacred, or solemn, or devout, it may seem to man. It is to self-righteousness in some form or other, that man is always tending. Man attempts to make up for this badness, or to cover it over, by works, and devotions, and ceremonies. All this is ...

The apostle Peter writes in his first epistle, chapter two and verse 23 that Christ “ committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.” As the Substitute and therefore Sin-bearer of His people, He faced the judgment of God in their place and for their sins. Isaiah tells us that the Lord had laid on Him their iniquities. All responsibility for their sins was His and all the judgment for them fell on Him. Then Peter says of Christ, “ Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” What did Christ bear in His own body? Obviously, it was the judgment due our sins. Since that judgment was death, this is why His “body” was required. The perfect body prepared for Him was necessary in order for Him to die as the sinless Sin-bearer the death required. “ The soul that sinneth shall surely die.” “ The wages of sin is death.” He who knew no sin died as the “ Just for t...