In his sermon titled 'Sola Fide,' Scott Brown explores the doctrine of justification by faith alone, using Romans 4 to illustrate how salvation has always been based on faith rather than works. The sermon highlights Abraham as a case study, showing how he was justified by faith before the law of Moses and circumcision. Brown contrasts works motivated by grace with those motivated by debt, emphasizing that human pride must be crushed for true faith. He also discusses David's story as a demonstration of God's mercy and the enduring principle of salvation by faith. Brown challenges modern misconceptions that either promote a false sense of security in sin or suggest salvation is earned by works, urging believers to embrace sanctification and live lives transformed by grace. The sermon concludes with a call for believers to rejoice in their faith and the grace of God, which offers a righteousness not of their own.

Reading today from the book of Romans, chapter 4, verses 1 through 16. What then shall we say? That Abraham our father is found according to the flesh. 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 accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.

He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. 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. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect. Because the law brings about wrath, for where there is no law, there is no transgression. Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be made sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of Saul.

Dearly father, it is an amazing thing that You have given us Your Word and that You allow us to read it and study it. And so today we ask that You would open our eyes, that we might behold wonderful things out of it, and that You would bless God for bringing us the message. In Jesus' name, amen. Perhaps at some time in your life you've sang a song that goes like this, Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham and I am one of them and so are you.

So let's just praise the Lord. This passage of Scripture casts a vision of Father Abraham, gives us a living picture of salvation by faith alone. Here Paul shows us in Romans 4 the blessedness that there is in mankind's release from sin as a result of faith. The word blessed or blessedness appears all over this text. You see it in verse 6, verse 7, and verse 8.

This passage is about a lot of things, but it is at least greatly about blessedness and the blessedness that God has brought to His people to relieve them from their sins, to deal with their greatest problem in this life. The gospel was meant to lift our burdens. The gospel was meant to be a refreshing outpouring of living water into our souls so that we could go on in this life. And There is this blessedness, this macarious that Jesus spoke of in Matthew chapter 5, that's right here in this passage. It's this deep satisfaction.

It's an abiding reservoir of contentment in the soul that happens as a result of justification by faith alone. In the previous chapters in Romans, we've been reading about the explanations of sin. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. For the wrath of God is from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." We've been going over these amazing words that God has given us to help us to understand what life is all about, what salvation is all about. We've spoken the word righteousness and propitiation.

Oh, I may just ask some of you children what propitiation means today, so be ready. We've spoken of the word redemption and forgiveness. And these times in the book of Romans, they should be so much times of rejoicing in the blessedness that there is in salvation. And how marvelous it is to be living under the shadow of the wings of Almighty God who sees everything right down into the deepest recesses of our hearts. He sees all of our sins and yet, and yet his vision is modified by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as he looks upon us as his true sons and his daughters.

What I desire to do today is really very simple. I desire to bring forth Father Abraham that we might praise the Lord for the salvation that God brought to Abraham, because the salvation that God brought to Abraham, because the salvation that God brought to Abraham is precisely the same salvation that he brings to his children today. And so I hope to promote a fresh remembrance of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ as He washes away all of our sins and that we would not forget His benefits but that we would see afresh the need for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great expectation of righteousness, not of our own. And that we would say what David said, Bless the Lord, O my soul, let all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits.

Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your youth and your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like eagles. To say, oh, what shall I render to the Lord for His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord and I'll proclaim it in the assembly. I'll proclaim it among the brothers and sisters of the faith. Well, so that's the kind of day I trust that we can have today.

And we begin in this passage of scripture. We'll see the blessedness of the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. Faith alone, sola fide, is one of the five solas of the Protestant Reformation. Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone. Solus Christus, Christ alone.

Sola Gratia, by grace alone. Sola Fide, by faith alone. And Sola Dei Gloria, by the glory of God alone. So Romans 4 brings us down into this principle of sola fide and how one becomes right with God. Now the doctrine of salvation is perhaps the chief target of the devil.

The devil has many targets. We know that. We understand it because of personal experience. But He does have his crosshairs lined up on the doctrine of salvation to confuse the church about how salvation is gained. And so Romans 4 unravels and destroys, decimates, popular Jewish teaching about salvation and sets the record straight.

Paul gives us case studies and reference points to help us understand the doctrine of salvation. I hope you have an outline in front of you. He uses Abraham to demonstrate that salvation is by faith alone. He uses David to demonstrate that salvation is by faith alone. He uses the practice of circumcision to demonstrate that salvation is by faith alone.

He uses David to demonstrate that salvation is by faith alone. He uses the practice of circumcision to demonstrate that salvation is by faith alone. And then finally, fourthly, he uses The law to demonstrate that salvation is by faith alone. It is according to grace. And this is how people are saved in this wicked and this perverse generation.

Last week we talked about three attacks against the doctrine of justification by faith. We talked about the attack of the doctrine of justification by faith through what we call the modified language of the secret sensitive movement. We talked about the emergent church movement that really has set aside the doctrine of justification by faith. And we also talked about the new perspective on Paul and those who advocate the federal vision which says that the Reformers all got justification by faith wrong. There is no imputed righteousness.

And they've really unraveled many of the critical points of this doctrine of justification by faith alone. So la fide. Okay, so let's begin in the text. The first five verses speak of faith alone for Abraham. And it begins with a question about Abraham's justification and what works have done for Abraham.

And there's this rhetorical question. It's really an amazing question. It's the kind of question that you would ask and the answer is you just want to scream back no absolutely not he says what what then shall we say our eight Abraham our father has found according to the flesh. In other words, what did the flesh do good for Abraham at all? And the answer is nothing.

It did nothing for his salvation. And so there's this case study of Abraham's record. And here in these five verses, his record, his life, is scrutinized. And the Jews were very proud of Abraham, their father. John 8.38 is clear that the Jews believed it.

And they took great pride that Abraham was their father and Jewish teaching had become confused and the Jews were teaching at that time that So that that Abraham secured his salvation by works and And this is to set the record straight. So what did the flesh do for Abraham? And the answer is really nothing. And he says if he did secure a salvation by works, then he would have something to boast about. But not before God, because no man can boast before God for their works.

But you can boast before man. You can make something out of yourself before man. But you can't make something out of yourself before God. God alone secures the salvation of the sinner. And So he says, he brings out this tendency in us, we want to be able to boast about our lives.

We want to have something really compelling about us, so people will think greatly about us. And so we shine up the outside of the cup, We whitewash this old tomb, and we put on a show, because we want to boast before man, but it gets us nowhere before God at all. God desires that our human pride be crushed, and that all of our dependence is upon Him, and that we understand that we are as flesh. We want the applause of good works, and that's why Paul said to the Corinthians, in St. Corinthians 5, He says, for we do not commend ourselves to you again, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf that you may have an answer to those who boast in appearance and not in heart.

That's a common problem. It was a problem in Corinth. It's a problem in every church. Where we want to boast in appearance, but the heart is hidden away. You know what?

The church is full of phonies. The church is full of hypocrites. That's who we are. You know, when Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, He wasn't speaking to those people in that church out there. He was speaking to our church.

He's talking to me, the Pharisee, the hypocrite, the whitewashed tomb, the one who cleans the outside of the cup only. That's the righteousness that we have. But to try to boast before man works, but you cannot boast before God. Because all of us stand completely undone as God looks into the deepest recesses of our hearts, He sees all of our sin. But we want the applause, We want to boast in our appearance.

We want to be the center of the attention, which is why Habakkuk, the prophet said, Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by faith. So we want this thought to be cast abroad about us, that we are magnanimous and that we do well and we want the stories to all turn in our favor. Our flesh wants it that way. We want to be able to say, I studied the world religions and concluded that there was only one religion. I made the right choice.

I sized everything up intellectually and I understood and therefore I chose God and it was a wise choice. We want to be able to boast in the flesh. We want the applause of duty. We want the applause of saying and doing the right thing. And this is where Abraham comes in.

He has no reason to boast before God. There are two kinds of boasting, before man and before God. Only one of them works. But the works of the flesh got Abraham nowhere. You know, the works of the flesh can get you to be a deacon, and it might even be able to get you to be an elder, and they can get you business, and they can get you friends, but they cannot get you the friendship of God.

And that's the point that he's making. So he says, what did his works do? He didn't do any. Have you ever heard the song Amazing Works? Have you heard that song?

Amazing Works. How strange the sound. Salvation hinged on me. I once was lost, then turned around, was blind, then chose to see what grace it is that calls for choice. Out of some good within, the part that willed to heed God's voice proved stronger than my sin.

Through many ardent gospel fleas I sat with heart of stone, But then some hidden good in me propelled me to my home. When we've been there ten thousand years, because of what we've done, we've no less days to sing our praise than when we first begun. If grace is sovereign, I am left with only God to praise. I'd rather practice glory theft and on my wisdom gaze." Well, obviously that is so opposite to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our works never did and never could save us.

Works are our reasonable service. They're not badges of honor, but they are just our way of loving God in the midst of this life that God has given us. It's for a steward to be found faithful. Yes, we must have these works. We must stir them up.

We must excel still more. We must be found faithful. Yes, absolutely. But the question here in this passage is, but what does the scripture say? Verse 3.

Is this one of the most important things of this whole text? But what does the scripture say? Verse 3. That's a question that we should ask about everything. What does the scripture say?

And What does the scripture say about salvation and What the scripture says about salvation is that in Adam all sinned and But but on the contrary the scripture does not say as the Pelagians said that Adam only injured himself and not his posterity. No, there is original sin that affects and has infected all of us. That's what the scripture says. And There are many attacks and contradictions today and in ages past against this doctrine of justification by faith. The answer from scripture is found at the end of verse 3, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

So Abraham believed God and he was declared righteous before he had any works. Isn't it interesting that neither Abraham nor Paul were searching for God? Paul was on his way to kill believers and put them in prison. He had no desire for God. He was not seeking God.

He didn't wake up some day. Almighty God changed him in a mighty way. And the same thing happened with Abraham. When Abraham was in Ur, as far as we know, he was a pagan idolater. And we know that by faith, he offered up Isaac.

We know that by faith, he believed that God would raise him from the dead. And he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now this word, credited, logizomai, appears 11 times in Romans chapter 4. Do we get the message? Two words used often, blessed and credited or accounted to Him as righteousness.

Those two words probably sum up the great focus of the teaching here. But what we find here is that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him. Something was put to his account. It was righteousness that was given to him. It was the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, not his own.

There are two kinds of works that are spoken of in this text. There are works motivated by grace And there are works motivated by debt, verse 4. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. So if it's wages we're expecting, then the payment is what we will get. But God, He resists the proud, and he gives grace to the humble.

And that's what Abraham, that's who Abraham was. And it's the prideful worker who wants to be paid for his labor. And unfortunately, there's never enough labor to get the payment that you want through the flesh. I love the way the second London Baptist confession, it's item number 11, speaks of this. Christ by his obedience and death fully discharged the debt of all who are justified and by the sacrifice of himself through the blood of his cross underwent instead of them the penalty due to them.

So making a proper, real, and full satisfaction of God's justice on their behalf. Yet, because He was given by the Father for them, and because his obedience and satisfaction was accepted instead of theirs, therefore they are justified entirely and solely by free grace, so that both the exact justice and the rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners." It's so beautifully stated there that God has accomplished this for us. And so we have a righteousness that has been credited to our account, not of our own. And then he moves to the example of David and how David understood this principle that salvation was by faith alone. And it's just kind of a brief snapshot of David.

Of course, Abraham is the overwhelming focus of this, but there are these other examples that are kind of sorted around to give fuller understanding of it. The example of David is found in verses 6 through 8. And Isn't it interesting that the Apostle Paul uses the worst, probably the worst thing that happened in David's life, when he killed, sent a man to his death and committed adultery. I think that Paul is presenting this to us because He wants us to understand the depth of the mercy of God. He wants us to understand how effective the cross is to deal with sin.

He can deal with your murder, he can deal with your adultery. And so I think if he can deal with that, he can probably deal with anything. In your past, in your present, and in your future as well. So the example of David is played out here in verse 6. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works.

And then he quotes the Psalm, in Psalm 32, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. So this is this blessedness. Again, this story that we read from in Second Samuel, chapter 11 is a story of tremendous degradation and fall. And also, of course, the outcome, the results of this sin, were great and devastating.

God did not protect from the results of the sin, but He did forgive the sin. And he did make his son David righteous through grace. You know Psalm 32 is such a beautiful Psalm. I think it would be worth reading it. If you could go ahead and turn to it, Psalm 32, I would like to read verses 1 through 11, because it really does help us to see the blessedness and the beauty of the grace of God toward a man who had done something that was so devastating to all his entire family and even his nation.

A Psalm of David, a contemplation. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.

My vitality was turned into the drought of summer." Sila. Of course, he's referring to the time before his repentance, before Nathan the prophet came to him, and he says Sila. Just Think of that. Think of the weight of my sin upon me before I was able to repent. Selah.

I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. Think of that. Pause.

Think of that. For this cause, everyone who is godly shall pray to you in the time when you may be found. Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near Him. You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble.

You will surround me with songs of deliverance." Selah. Isn't that amazing? The one who has sinned against God. God turns around, wipes out his sin, and then fills his heart with songs of deliverance. Isn't that amazing?

That God would do that for sinners like us. That He would actually, in the midst of our frailties, He would fill our hearts with songs of deliverance. It's absolutely amazing. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will guide you with my eye.

Do not be like the horse or like the mule which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart." so this is the example of David we have father Abraham who has many sons many sons have father Abraham and I am one of them and so is David so is the man who killed his brother in battle obliquely but yet but yet but yet in a premeditated way yes even this brother who committed adultery God's mercy is greater than all of our sins. And so we can rejoice. We can look back, we can see the stain of sin, but we must rejoice in the same way that David did here.

And remember the heavy hand of the Lord upon us before we repented, and then the release of his salvation and his goodness toward us." So this is the example of David. It was by faith alone, sola fide for David, just like it was for Abraham. And then we see how it's faith alone as well, for both the circumcised and the uncircumcised. And here we learn a number of things. We learn when the blessedness of salvation comes upon us, and when we can be freed from our sins.

And so Paul is using Abraham as an illustration to demonstrate that salvation by faith is not just something that Jesus introduced. Salvation by faith is not only a New Testament concept. Salvation by faith is an Old Testament concept and Abraham is the example of it. You know Abraham lit, why in the world would Paul use Abraham as the example? I mean couldn't he find somebody more contemporary?

But he doesn't. He uses somebody who lived 2, 000 years before his own time. And so he's illustrating that even 2, 000 years before his own time, salvation was by faith alone. And of course Abraham, remember, he lived 600 years before Moses, before the law. Salvation was by faith before the law was ever introduced.

There has been salvation by faith alone since the beginning of time. So Paul uses this amazing example way off in the historical distance to prove that God does save by faith. Here's the second London Baptist Confession again. The justification of believers during the Old Testament period was in all these respects exactly the same as the justification of New Testament believers. We don't have two Bibles, we have one Bible.

We have Genesis to Revelation, and each one prefigures the other. The other one calls forth from the old, the new calls from the old and presents examples to it. We've been given, we have been given one Bible. And it was interesting last night there were a group of businessmen here, we were speaking about the biblical doctrine of the family, and one of the gentlemen asked a question, and the answer to the question really called for a disclosure of what is the Bible, that God has given both New and Old Testaments for all of life. He hasn't just given us the New Testament.

It's not just one third of the Bible that is inspired. I love the way my friend Andy Davis explains this. He says a lot of people think the Bible is like an old garrulous woman who she just babbles on and on and on and on and then every once in a while a word of brilliance comes out and you can hang on that and then she babbles on and on and on and there's another word of brilliance well a lot of people read this they read the Old Testament like that And it's not exactly the right way to read it. Paul didn't read it that way. He goes 2, 000 years back and says salvation was by faith alone then and as it is today.

And that salvation and justification has been consistent. Here again, second London Baptist Confession on justification. Those whom God effectually calls, He freely justifies by accounting and accepting them as righteous, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone. They are not justified because God reckons as their righteousness either their faith, their believing, or any other act of evangelical obedience. He's saying we're not saved because we had faith.

Faith is the instrument that opened up the mercy of God toward us. It wasn't even the faith that we had that saved us. Faith was just the instrument to get us to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It continues, they are justified wholly and solely because God imputes to them Christ's righteousness. He imputes to them Christ's active obedience to the whole law and his passive obedience in death.

They receive Christ's righteousness by faith and rest on him. They do not possess or produce this faith themselves. It is a gift of God. Even the faith that we have is a gift and awakening brought by divine power. So here we have this picture of circumcision and what he's arguing is something that he's already argued that there are two kinds of circumcision.

There's the circumcision of the body and there's a circumcision of the heart and it's the circumcision of heart that saves and so salvation is both to those who have been circumcised and Also those who have not been circumcised physically And then there's faith alone and the law, verses 13 through 16. And I just think verse 16 might be the heart of this section. Therefore it is a faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all." So this is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. And there are many attacks against this doctrine, both in our own flesh and also from the outside, from other theological and religious areas. But from all eternity, God decreed to justify the elect.

Christ died in the fullness of time for sinners, and He rose again for their justification. And they're not justified until the Holy Spirit in due time applies the righteousness of God to them. And then God continues to forgive sins among the justified. And they may, we may, because of our sins, may fall into God's fatherly displeasure. And we may receive wrath from our deeds done in the body.

We do not become perfect as a result of our justification, but at the same time, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and renew us to the place of blessedness that he desires us. Okay. So, that is the doctrine of justification by faith alone, Sola Fide. Now, There are two ways that you can attack this doctrine. And there are two ways that it is attacked in us.

At least there are two. I'm sure there are many more, but I'd just like to talk about two. Here's one. It's the breeding of a false sense of security and use the doctrine to say it doesn't matter how I live. Now Paul attacks this all throughout his letters.

So if the devil is able to cloud and confuse us in the doctrine of salvation, then he would have done a good work for us. And he often clouds and confuses us this to say that you can just be secure in your sins. You can be satisfied to continue to commit them. That the blood of Christ cleanses you from all righteousness, so let sin abound. And this is one of the great attacks against this doctrine.

Now, one of the things that work in the church today, I believe, is actually a rejection of the doctrine of sanctification. It's a rejection of the doctrine of obedience. It's a rejection of the doctrine of making progress. And you know, here's what happens to people in the church today. They're saved and then if they change even one element of their lifestyle, their fellow believers around them will criticize them for changing.

They'll say, you've changed. We have a Christianity. What is up with the church where if someone changes, they're chastised for it? What is up with the church where people are expected to be saved and have the same opinions about marriage, have the same practices about their families, have the same practices of their church life, their same philosophy of entertainment. God doesn't change anything to so many people in the church today.

We're saved and we stay the same And if we step out of the stream of the consciousness of evangelicalism, we're chastised and rejected and belittled. What's that all about? Haven't we been saved so that we would change? Haven't we been saved that we would lay off the deeds of the flesh? Haven't we been saved so that our minds would be cleansed, that we would be, by the renewing of our minds, transformed for good works, so that we would be proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We were saved to prove something. We were saved to change our lives and change everything. Why is it that a person can be saved and 10 or 15 years later they still have the same thoughts about education they did the day they were saved. Why? Why is it?

Why is it that a person can be saved and still have the same thoughts on every category of life? It's absolutely staggering. In the church today, we've rejected the doctrine of sanctification. We've rejected the doctrine of the upward call of striving together, not because it saves us, not because it should give us any pride at all in ourselves, but that we would be there to be faithful to God. This was one of the great lessons of this young man who was killed in a car accident last week.

He sincerely desired to bring everything into submission. We all marveled at it. It was absolutely amazing. He desired to bring everything into subjection to Christ. One of the brothers was telling me his last conversation with him was about the subject of dancing and this young man said here's how I plan to conduct myself regarding dancing.

He said I believe the scripture would lead me only if I would dance. I would only dance with the older women that were there. And the friend of mine who was with him said, ah, that certainly is a wise choice, because the young girls would actually appreciate that, it would warm their hearts greatly. Of course, that wasn't what he was getting at at all. He was just using scripture to guide him in his thinking.

He wanted scripture to conform him into the image of every good thing that he found there. That was his heart. That was his desire. He wanted to go farther. He didn't just want to just, you know, dance without any self-consciousness at all.

If he was going to dance, he was going to dance for the glory of God. He would be governed by this. Well, what is up with the church where you can be saved for 20 years and not change anything about your educational life, your marriage life, or anything like that? What is up with the church? Here's what's up with the church.

The church has rejected the law of God. That's what's up with the church. That's why 50% of the pastors in America are divorced. That's why we have... That's why the churches are falling apart and The lifestyles of the people in the church are no different than the lifestyles of the people of the world.

It's because we've rejected the doctrine of sanctification. And we have maligned the doctrine of justification. We've said justification means I'm justified to live any way I want. And that's not the purpose of the doctrine of justification. The purpose of the doctrine of justification is to set us free so that we could live in freedom apart from the condemnation of the law, but that we would use the law to set out a great pathway to live by, not to be saved by, but to glorify God by.

Well, we have, I believe, rejected the doctrine of sanctification because of our misunderstanding of the doctrine of justification. That's just what I believe about the Church today. The second London Baptist Confession says this, faith which receives Christ's righteousness and depends on Him is the sole instrument of justification, yet his faith is not alone, this faith is not alone in the person justified, but is always accompanied by all the other saving graces. And it is not a dead faith, but it works by love. So we should excel still more in our love toward one another and toward God.

We should conform everything to the pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second way the devil attacks the doctrine of salvation is by making us think that we're saved by our works and that we have something to be proud of and that this whitewash cup is worth anything at all. And when in fact it really is only a tomb. And it's evidenced by spiritual pride. It's evidenced by a focus on externals.

It's evidenced by a lack of repentance for sin, being wise in your own eyes and self-righteousness. By the way, these things here, these things that I just mentioned, I believe, are the chief points of exasperation of children. I believe that when children see this in their parents, it exasperates them. And they begin to be cynical about God in the Church and about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's dangerous.

It is so dangerous to have any spiritual pride. It's dangerous, parents, for you not to repent of your sins before your children. It's dangerous to always be right. It's dangerous for your children as well. It's dangerous for your children to be self-righteous and roll your eyes at your daddy.

Your soul is in peril when you have forgotten these things. But the devil attacks us through a wrong doctrine of salvation, thinking that we're saved by our works, that we have something to be proud of when we have nothing to be proud of at all except the cross. We can boast in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ toward us. We can boast in the cross. But if we boast in our righteousness, there will be only certain ones that will be impressed, and God is not among them.

And it would also be tragic to doubt the sufficiency of the atonement. It would be so tragic to miss the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, to not be free, to not be able to celebrate in this life, to understand that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness. That would be a tragedy, to walk around with a long face, not understanding in a practical way how good God is, to miss the blessedness of the Lord. This passage is so much about blessedness. And the blessedness really has only one source, and that is the grace of God.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, Was blind, but now I see. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed. And so we've just walked through a passage of scripture that is full of grace toward the people of God.

And You know, how is it that we together could truly understand deep within our hearts the grace of God toward us? I think that when we do, or as we do more and more, our love for one another grows, our compassion for the lost grows, the more we understand this grace, the more useful we are in this world and in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a great doctrine for the Church. It has feet. It has much to do.

And today, it has much to do for us as we love one another and as we celebrate the love of the Lord Jesus Christ as He laid His life down for us all and poured out His cleansing blood that we would have a righteousness, not of our own, but of His own. And then someday, He would take us home into His great and righteous kingdom. And we would come and be restored to our rest into the bosom of Abraham. Father Abraham has many sons. Many sons has father Abraham and and I am one of them and so are you.

So Let's praise the Lord. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, thank you for your grace, for this justifying work which is amazing to us, which is so different than our own inclinations. Oh Lord, let Your glory fill this place today. In Jesus' name, Amen.