“Now
to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
But to him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the
ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans
4:4-5).
Good gracious, that is an audacious statement, but it is
perfectly correct and accurate.
God justifies the
ungodly!
Why the ungodly? Because there is no other
kind of people for Him to justify. All outside of Christ are ungodly.
As Romans 3 explained, “There is none righteous and none that doeth
good.” NONE! That’s comprehensive if you ask me.
So,
let’s say it again, if God did not justify the ungodly, no one
would be justified (acquitted).
All are ungodly, some are very ungodly; but none are too ungodly to
be justified. Why so? Because justification, (acquittal)
is by grace— sheer unbounded grace, and not because of merit (what
we deserve or earn).
At
Calvary, infinite grace met unbounded demerit and grace
triumphed. Notice, we are not even told to believe that
God justifies the ungodly. No, we are called to believe on Him,—on
God Himself,—who justifies the ungodly (see
our text).
Faith
in God for justification implies the abandonment of any confidence we
have in justification by our own good works. The old gospel Hymn by
James Proctor deals so well with this. It says,
“When He,
from His lofty throne,
Stooped to do and die,
Ev'rything
was fully done;
Hearken to His cry!
Refrain
It is
finished! yes, indeed,
Finished, ev'ry jot;
Sinner, this is
all you need,
Tell me, is it not?
2) Weary, working,
burdened one,
Wherefore toil you so?
Cease your doing; all
was done
Long, long ago.
Refrain
3)Till to
Jesus' work you cling
By a simple faith,
"Doing"
is a deadly thing-
"Doing" ends in death.
Refrain
4)
Cast your deadly "doing" down-
Down at Jesus'
feet;
Stand in Him, in Him alone,
Gloriously
complete.”
Our only hope of heaven is Jesus Himself. Our
good works cannot bring us eternal life. As the scripture says, “To
him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt."
Now that is a plain, well-known matter. If we work for a wage, we’ve
earned it. It is not grace, therefore, on the part of our employer
to, at the end of the week, give us our wages. We’ve earned
them. But grace gives us what we haven’t earned or
deserved.
Supposing you met a homeless stranger and you
bought him a meal, that would be grace,—but only in a small
measure. Gospel grace is much greater than that. Gospel grace is more
akin to the following. Suppose a stranger plundered your home and
robbed you and you, knowing who he was and what he had done,
unbegrudgingly and gladly bought him a meal, that’s more like the
grace of God.
We are saved by grace!
There is
no question of working for wages to gain eternal life. Salvation
is “to him that works not— but believes on Him that justifies the
ungodly,"—Gospel truth makes us repudiate our works as our
hope of salvation. In grace, the Lord justifies the ungodly, the
stranger, the destitute and the enemy. He is “the justifier of him
who believeth in Jesus.”
The blood of the Lamb is the
basis on which He can righteously justify. That is why He “is just,
and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus" (Romans
3:25-26). God justifies the ungodly—but some people would rather do
anything other than simply trust themselves to Him. They would rather
work than believe. They want their own righteousness and refuse to
surrender themselves to the righteousness of God. They won't submit,
they won't repent.
But, thank God, the most ungodly who
trusts in Him is declared not guilty.
And that’s the
Gospel Truth!
-Gospel report by preacher Miles Mckee
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