THE ETERNAL WEIGHT AND IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH...the uncompromised preaching of the Reformation

"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.” (Romans 4:1-8)

Excerpts by Martin Luther
on the chief article of faith of the gospel - Sola Fide
"This doctrine [justification by faith] is the head and the cornerstone. It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God; and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour…. For no one who does not hold this article – or, to use Paul's expression, this 'sound doctrine' (Titus 2:1) – is able to teach aright in the church or successfully to resist any adversary . . . this is the heel of the Seed that opposes the old serpent and crushes its head. That is why Satan, in turn, cannot but persecute it."

"Whoever departs from the article of justification does not know God and is an idolater . . . For when this article has been taken away, nothing remains but error, hypocrisy, godlessness, and idolatry, although it may seem to be the height of truth, worship of God, holiness, etc."

"If the article of justification is lost, all Christian doctrine is lost at the same time. And all the people in the world who do not hold to this justification are either Jews or Turks or papists or heretics; for there is no middle ground between these two righteousness: the active one of the Law and the passive one which comes from Christ. Therefore the man who strays from Christian righteousness must relapse into the active one, that is, since he has lost Christ, he must put his confidence in his own works."

"When the article of justification has fallen, everything has fallen. Therefore it is necessary constantly to inculcate and impress it, as Moses says of his Law (Deut. 6:7); for it cannot be inculcated and urged enough or too much. Indeed, even though we learn it well and hold to it, yet there is no one who apprehends it perfectly or believes it with a full affection and heart. So very trickish is our flesh, fighting as it does against the obedience of the spirit."

"The article of justification and of grace is the most delightful, and it alone makes a person a theologian and makes of a theologian a judge of the earth and of all affairs. Few there are, however, who have thought it through well and who teach it aright."

"Of this article [justification] nothing may be yielded or conceded, though heaven and earth and whatever will not abide, fall to ruin; for 'there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,' says St. Peter (Acts 4:12); 'and with His stripes we are healed' (Is. 53:5). And on this article all that we teach and practice is based, against the pope, the devil, and the world. That is why we must be very certain of this doctrine and not doubt; otherwise all is lost, and the pope and the devil and all things gain the victory over us and are adjudged right."

"The article of justification must be learned diligently. It alone can support us in the face of these countless offenses and can console us in all temptations and persecutions. For we see that it cannot be otherwise: the world is bound to be offended at the doctrine of godliness and to cry out constantly that nothing good comes of it, since 'the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.' "

"In short, if this article concerning Christ — the doctrine that we are justified and saved through Him alone and consider all apart from Him damned — is not professed, all resistance and restraint are at an end. Then there is, in fact, neither measure nor limit to any heresy and error."

"There is this about the article of grace that if one diligently and sincerely remains loyal to it, it keeps one from falling into heresy and from undertaking anything against Christ or His Christendom. For with it comes the Holy Spirit, who enlightens the heart by it and keeps it in the true, certain understanding, so that it is able precisely and plainly to distinguish and judge all the other articles of faith and forcefully to sustain and defend them."

"The papacy is shaken and shattered nowadays, not through these tumults of the sectaries but through the preaching of the article of justification, which has not only weakened the kingdom of Antichrist but has also till now sustained and defended us against its power."

IF YOU AREN'T PREACHING JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE, YOU ARE NOT PREACHING THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL

Romans 3:24
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 3:28
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Romans 4:1
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

Romans 4:2
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we[1] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:9
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Romans 6:7
For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Romans 8:30
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Galatians 2:16
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Titus 3:4-7
"But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 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, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Reformation
This is at the heart of the Reformed faith (Calvinism) and more importantly - biblical Christianity. Salvation is of the Lord - it is all of grace! We add nothing to it and do not cooperate in it to obtain it. It is God's free gift to sinful men. It is a Sovereign act of a holy God upon unregenerate people who are by nature children of wrath, sons of disobedience, and dead in trespasses and sins. We must "made fit" for the inheritance (Col. 1:12-14); because in and of ourselves we are hostile to God; enemies of Him and His truth, with all our own righteousness being nothing but dirty, filthy rags. But because of His great love, unfathomable grace and never-ending mercy - by grace through faith in Jesus we may be clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ our Lord.

This is no spoony faith. This is Christianity; this is what the Reformation was chiefly concerning: a recovery of the biblical gospel of justification by faith alone, through grace alone, because of Christ alone. Theological systems may come and go, but what has become known as Calvinism, symbolically and truthfully, represents the biblical gospel and an exalted sufficient view of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word.

As the Apostle Paul say in Romans 4:5: "To the man who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." Look at these seven great truths on justification mined from this one verse by our dear late brother, Dr. John Gerstner:

1. The justified one does "not work."
2. The justified one "trusts."
3. The justified one trusts not in himself but in another: "God."
4. The justified one confesses himself to be "wicked."
5. The justified one does not have faith in his faith.
6. The justified one sees his faith only as "credited" to him.
7. The justified one sees his faith credited as "righteousness."

Amen?

As we read some excerpts of these men below, may their words encourage us all to proclaim His gospel of grace, not by the authority of Calvin or the Reformation, but by the authority of God's Word alone to which they gave their lives!


Martin Luther:

"This doctrine [justification by faith] is the head and the cornerstone. It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God; and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour…. For no one who does not hold this article – or, to use Paul's expression, this 'sound doctrine' (Titus 2:1) – is able to teach aright in the church or successfully to resist any adversary . . . this is the heel of the Seed that opposes the old serpent and crushes its head. That is why Satan, in turn, cannot but persecute it."

"Whoever departs from the article of justification does not know God and is an idolater . . . For when this article has been taken away, nothing remains but error, hypocrisy, godlessness, and idolatry, although it may seem to be the height of truth, worship of God, holiness, etc."

"Of this article [justification] nothing may be yielded or conceded, though heaven and earth and whatever will not abide, fall to ruin; for 'there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,' says St. Peter (Acts 4:12); 'and with His stripes we are healed' (Is. 53:5). And on this article all that we teach and practice is based, against the pope, the devil, and the world. That is why we must be very certain of this doctrine and not doubt; otherwise all is lost, and the pope and the devil and all things gain the victory over us and are adjudged right."

"In short, if this article concerning Christ — the doctrine that we are justified and saved through Him alone and consider all apart from Him damned — is not professed, all resistance and restraint are at an end. Then there is, in fact, neither measure nor limit to any heresy and error."

JI Packer

“Now the real nature of Calvinistic soteriology becomes plain. It is no artificial oddity, nor a product of overbold logic. Its central confession, that God saves sinners, that Christ redeemed us by his blood is the witness both of the Bible and of the believing heart.

The Calvinist is the Christian who confesses before men in his theology just what he believes in his heart before God when he prays. He thinks and speaks at all times of the sovereign grace of God in the way that every Christian does when he pleads for the souls of others, or when he obeys the impulse of worship which rises unbidden within him, prompting him to deny himself all praise and to give all the glory of his salvation to his Savior.

Calvinism is the natural theology written on the heart of the new man in Christ, whereas Arminianism is an intellectual sin of infirmity, natural only in the sense in which all such sins are natural, even to the regenerate. Calvinistic thinking is the Christian being himself on the intellectual level; Arminian thinking is the Christian failing to be himself through the weakness of the flesh.

Calvinism is what the Christian church has always held and taught when its mind has not been distracted by controversy and false traditions from attending to what Scripture actually says; that is the significance of the patristic testimonies to the teaching of the ‘five points’, which can be quoted in abundance.

So that really it is most misleading to call this soteriology ‘Calvinism’ at all, for it is not a peculiarity of John Calvin and the divines of Dort, but a part of the revealed truth of God and the catholic Christian faith. ‘Calvinism’ is one of the ‘odious names’ by which down the centuries prejudice has been raised against it. But the thing itself is just the biblical gospel.”

CH Spurgeon:

“I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor."

HT: The Irish Calvinist

Your Weekly Dose of Gospel"...hold the old gospel - I can do no other..."

It's sad how easily we all can dismiss genuine believers so ceremonially in the blogosphere today. Throwing people under the evangelical bus has become a spiritual gift. Some make sport of belittling others to exalt themselves; forgetting that "pride comes before a fall." Under the noble flag of "we're defending the truth", they will justify anything they say and do in order to evince their tone and tactic.

How do I know this with such certainty? I have shamefully done this myself; it is wrong; it is sin; and needs to be repented of (no matter who you are). Numbers mean nothing in real ministry; inviting the trolls to stir up controversy and ravage comment threads just to boost ones own visibility is rubbish. Faithfulness, Christlikeness, God's glory, sound doctrine proclaimed in humility and love, yet with boldness, and genuine unity with other Christians IS everything. It is here that we must be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matt. 10:16).

Beloved, true biblical discernment requires skillful use of a scalpel rather than wild mutilation by machete (cp, Eph. 6:10-18; Heb. 4:12). Spurgeon gives us a great remembrance of such skilled workmen, unashamed, approved unto God in handling the truth of God's Word. A dear pastor friend of mine emailed this gem to me and I thought it good timing to share it with you. It is excellent truth for us all to heed. Read Spurgeon's words carefully--they are powerful, convicting, humbling, and useful in our sanctification.

May his tribe increase...

SDG!
Run to the Battle,
Steve
1 Corinthians 15


by Spurgeon

“Everybody admires Luther! Yes, yes; but you do not want any one else to do the same today. When you go to the Zoological Gardens you all admire the bear; but how would you like a bear at home, or a bear wandering loose about the street? You tell me that it would be unbearable and no doubt you are right. So, we admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago; the past ages are a sort of bear-pit or iron cage for him; but narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one. Yet imagine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and their composers had said, ‘The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our night-caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better.’" Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous bogs of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on. Note what we owe them, and let us pay to our sons the debt we owe our fathers.

As for me, I must hold the old gospel:
I can do no other...

It is today as it was in the Reformers’ days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it. The faith I hold bears upon it marks of the blood of my ancestors. Shall I deny their faith, for which they left their native land to sojourn here? Shall we cast away the treasure which was handed to us through the bars of prisons, or came to us charred with the flames of Smithfield?… An ancestry of lovers of the faith ought to be a great plea with us to abide by the Lord God of our fathers, and the faith in which they lived [Hebrews 11].

Look you, sirs, there are ages to come. If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to his truth today. We have come to a turning-point in the road. If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our children’s children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to his Word.

I charge you, not only by your ancestry, but by your posterity, that you seek to win the commendation of your Master, that though you dwell where Satan’s seat is, you yet hold fast his name, and do not deny his faith. God grant us faithfulness, for the sake of the souls around us!

How is the world to be saved
if the church is false to her Lord?
How are we to lift the masses
if our fulcrum is removed?
If our gospel is uncertain,
what remains but
increasing misery and despair?

Stand fast, my beloved, in the name of God! I, your brother in Christ, entreat You to abide in the truth. Quit yourselves like men, be strong.

The Lord sustain you for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

Source: Charles Spurgeon, “Holding Fast The Faith”,
quoted in Ashamed Of The Gospel [MacArthur], p 41: