Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

Of the book of Romans, Martin Luther said, this is a book which cannot be read or pondered too often. And the more it is treated, the greater will be your understanding of God and life related we present Ken Smith sharing a vital topic to encourage you to build a firm foundation once again, here’s our speaker, Ken Smith.

We have been studying Romans verse by verse, chapter by chapter, to find that God has declared some amazing truths. The first is found in Romans chapter one, where God has declared that all of the Gentiles are sinners. And because they have inverted their importance, because you and I, apart from Christ, would rather worship the creature rather than the creator, God has left us to his condemnation. Now, Romans chapter two carries the story even further, where God tells us through Paul, that not only is this something that the Gentiles have done, but it is something that the Jewish people had done. And so all of the Jews, by the teaching of Paul, are under the condemnation of God.

And if his point was not clearly made, then in chapter three, Paul says, both the Gentiles and the Jews, all of them together, every man, woman and child on the face of the earth, has fallen short of God’s expectations that we have all sinned and are all under the condemnation of a just and holy God. Now the tragedy of these verses and the gloomy picture that they paint is shattered as we enter chapter four. Having concluded that the Gentiles are guilty, that the Jews are guilty, that in fact, the whole world is guilty, Paul now introduces in verses one through 15 what is considered to be the holy ground of the Gospel. He uses a word called justification, and in these verses, he seeks to explain how a person can be made right with God.

There is a cure to the illness of sin, and Paul says it is to be found in this simple word, justification. Let’s look at the verses to see how he explains and gives clarity to this concept of justification. Now, he does it by challenging the notion that most people have, that the Jewish people had and most of the gentiles, and that is that salvation comes through things that I do, that in some way, if I do the right things, I will find God is pleased with me. I remember back in college giving an explanation of my philosophy of life, and I thought that in Some Way it was a curve, a marking curve. I didn’t know exactly what the passing grade was. I thought it was probably somewhere around 70.

And if God was a little harder, maybe the passing grade was 80, but there was some passing grade. And that if I could just better than some and not as bad as others, that God would allow me to have a little sit down, chat with him and explain those other times when I didn’t do the things that I ought to. And that’s a very interesting theory, but it is not to be found in the scripture. It is the religion that people naturally create. In the teaching of paul, there are certain things that he challenges, and one of them is the concept of salvation that is the result of good works. He challenges the idea that any one of us are going to be able to work our way, earn enough points to go to heaven.

He introduces the concept by raising the question in chapter four, verse one. What then shall we say that Abraham, our father, was found according to the flesh? A paraphrase of that is, was Abraham selected by God simply because of the fact that Abraham was really trying, and in fact, doing good things? Did God look down from heaven and say, who is really trying hard? There’s Abraham. He’s the man that I will choose. One of the great challenges of justification by faith opposing good works is that we are really talking About who you are. Who I am, what I do, what you do. That’s who we are. And God is saying, it was not the choosing of Abraham that was dependent upon who Abraham was. As a matter of fact, there was nothing that Abraham did.

And we will find in a few moments why God chose Abraham. But works are tied into the very fabric of who you and I are. And we certainly believe that if we did not read in scripture, that God must take into account who I am. You mean it doesn’t matter how often I come to church? It doesn’t matter how many good things I do for people. You mean to say that if I were to do so much good for so many people that God would look at me and say, I still haven’t passed? What then, is the passing grade? Well, the scripture tells us if anyone wants to save themselves by works, by being good enough, here’s the passing grade. Be you perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. It is a passing grade of 100%.

By the time we learn the truth of the scripture, we have already failed the test. The second thing that is confronted by Paul is that justification by works challenges pride and boasting. We read in verse two, if Abraham was justified by works, he has something of which to boast, but not before God. And so there is a type of arrogance, pride that is produced by the person who believes that they are earning their way to heaven. Let’s ask the question. If you and I were put at the shore of New York City and were asked to begin to swim to England, and we say, gee, that’s a long way. Some of you might say, I am allergic to saltwater. I can’t even go near it. I won’t even approach it. So you don’t even start to swim.

Others of you go out to your waist, and then you say, I can’t go any further because I don’t know how to swim. Some of you swim several hundred yards. Though labored, you do swim. And then we begin to see you dip under the waves. But there are a few others who are strong swimmers. You have practiced. And so you go a half mile. Some of you go a mile. Some of you go 5 miles before your strength runs out. And as a matter of fact, there is one of you who is an Olympic train swimmer, and you pass the pack by 35 miles before you tire and drown in the depths of the sea. Now, it’s true that Olympic swimmer was a greater example of a strong swimmer, but it is equally true that he drowned exactly as everyone else and works.

That is the hope for salvation. We judge ourselves not against God’s standard, but against other people. And so we think that we can swim our way to heaven. And God says, you’ll never do it. No one will ever do it. Adam, who lived in a perfect garden, couldn’t do it, and you and I will not be able to do it. And what it produces, if we live by that standard of works, is a lifestyle of pride and arrogance about our accomplishments. And how often have you sat and listened to someone tell you of their accomplishments as you have tried to hold back the yawns? How will our accomplishments sound on the day that we stand before the living God and we begin to tell him what a good person we are and all of the good things we have done.

The gospel of works produces boasting, which has nothing to do with the gospel of justification by faith. In verse four, Paul tells us that to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but rather as a debt. If you work 40 hours, it is assumed that you will be paid for those 40 hours of labor. Your employer has not given you a gift. He has given your wages. The assumption that Paul is drawing here is a comparison. Just like you work for your wages, you will work for your salvation. And is that what you are hoping is going to save you? Well, if it is his word to us, is that salvation is a gift. It has nothing to do with what you have earned. It is not a wage that is paid because you were good enough.

It is not a wage that brings eternal life in heaven. As a matter of fact, most of us don’t realize. But as we trust for salvation through justification of works alone, there is a wage that we will receive. And we read in romans 623 that the wages of sin is death, that anyone who would try to see salvation as a result of what they have done and are expecting to be repaid by God. God says, here are the wages that you will receive if you want to be justified by your works. The wages death. In verses five through eight, Paul makes reference to David, and he gives the words of David, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

The word justification is a word that at another time, people literally gave their lives for justification by faith alone. Martin Luther, who attempted to live his life by good deeds, was a monk for many years. And he said, if ever a man were to be saved by his monkey, it was I. There was never a man, as far as he could say, who prayed more, who fasted more, who sought to serve the Lord more. And yet he came to the conclusion as he read the scripture, that it was by justification, by faith alone, not good works, that a person is saved. And Martin Luther’s eyes were opened as he concluded that everything he had done, all of the keeping of the ceremonies of the church, all of the attempts to be a seemingly holy person, that none of those were of any value.

Ultimately, that it was only in the imputation, the word, that the scriptures use, the infusing of God, that makes us to be justified before him. The word justification has a very specific and technical meaning as we look at it in the scriptures and as theologians have looked at it throughout the years. The word justification has to do with the free act of God, who by his grace, pardons us of our sin. And there are two parts of the life of everyone who becomes a Christian. One is related to justification. The other is the word sanctification. We’re not talking today about sanctification, but rather justification, a very technical word with a precise meaning. It is a legal term that has to do with a judge who looks at us, weighs the evidence, and then declares not guilty.

The word justification is an external act that God declares about us. Justification by itself does not change a heart. It does not make us better. It does not change us from sinner to saint. It is simply a declaration of what God declares about every person who by faith trusts in Jesus Christ. It has been said by some that justification is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know that the thief who died on the cross did not have days, years or decades to live out his life and to see the sanctifying, the changing of the inside of his life. But he was certainly justified by his profession of faith in Jesus Christ. In the same way, Paul confronts the notion that sees justification as anything other than that which is done by God.

To declare you and me, as we put our faith in Christ, to be pardoned of our sin. It is an event that occurs. But once we can call it conversion, we can call it being born again, or if we are more legally minded, we can call it being justified by faith. And if God should allow us to live our lives out, he then will begin immediately that process of changing us from the inside out, which is sanctification. In verses nine through twelve, Paul raises a very intricate, concerned argument that was very pertinent to the day in which he lived. And that is the problem that religious people had, especially in the synagogue, of being able to say, but I have gone through the religious ceremonies, in this case of circumcision. And people became confused over religious ceremonies and their relationship to salvation.

And Paul says, now you all remember about Abraham. Now some of you say that Abraham was justified because of his keeping of the right of circumcision. But I want to say to you that was not the basis for his salvation. As a matter of fact, says Paul in verse twelve, that Abraham had faith even before he was circumcised. Now, what’s the application? The application is a challenge against anyone who would believe that they are justified before God by certain external ceremonies that have been performed on them by the church. Some people are trusting for heaven because they are members of a christian church. Others are trusting that God is going to look favorably upon them simply because they are an officer in the church, or that they teach Sunday school, or they have been baptized or confirmed.

And Paul, if he were writing to us today, would say, baptism, church attendance, an officer ship in the church, a member of the church. None of these things are the basis for salvation. It is justification by faith alone. And he might ask you a question. If you were to die and stand before God, and you were to hear God say, why should I let you into my heaven? Do you hear yourself saying things like, I have really tried hard. I have tried to keep the Ten Commandments. I’ve tried to be faithful to the church. I’ve been baptized, confirmed, and God. I hope that you’ll let me in, if that is your hope for salvation, for eternity. It is a hope that is made out of a vapor. It is a religion that you have created in your own mind.

For there will come a day when you will stand before God, and a question of that type will be asked of you. And the only answer that scripture allows is that we would be able to declare, I have done nothing that deserves heaven. I have not been good enough. I have not accomplished enough good deeds. I have not been better than some and not as bad as others. And that’s why you should let me in. It’s not because I’m a member of a church. If we would claim any of that as the basis for salvation, the scriptures make it so abundantly clear that we are clinging to a mirage. And at that moment, God will make it very clear to us what the truth of his word has been. And that is that we are justified by faith alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I claim it is a trusting of Jesus Christ alone for salvation. He challenges those who trust in the law in verse 13. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. And anyone who would want to live by the law will die by that law. Jesus told a parable of a great wedding feast. And coming to that wedding feast were friends from every town, every street, as they gathered in. And they came in their white robes, and they assembled for the king, for the wedding to begin.

And as the king walked in, he looked over those who gathered, and there was a man who came clothed in street clothing with no white robe, but instead came with the clothing that was fashioned by the hands of men. And that king looked at that man, and he asked, why have you come hither without a robe? And seemingly dumbfounded, the man hardly knows how to respond. And immediately the king says, take that man out. Bring him into outer darkness, where there is wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth. The story that Jesus tells is the story of justification by faith, that we will never see the inside of heaven unless we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, unless Jesus Christ’s robe of perfection is around our shoulders. We shall never see that banquet. We shall never sit at that table.

We shall never see the eye of Jesus, except the stern eye that would look at us and say, why have you come dressed? Thinking that you will have eternal life dressed in clothes made of good deeds. Your good deeds are like filthy rags. Why not come to the place that I have prepared for you? Says Jesus. The place? Heaven. How do we get there? By trusting only in Jesus Christ for his death on the cross, his resurrection in our behalf, that we would be justified by faith alone.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to the Lord. Bless you, and Dr. Smith looks forward to hearing from you. We would like to thank Rones web development company for making this webcast possible. You can find their link at the bottom of our website, princetonministries.org.