In this sermon on justification, the speaker discusses the importance of understanding the difference between infusion and imputation, and how justification occurs. Justification is a key doctrine because it answers the question of how sinners can be right with a holy God. The sermon explains that justification happens through the imputation of Christ's righteousness, not by infusing righteousness into a person. This is a free gift from God, not based on works, but solely on the merits of Christ. Justification has two aspects: pardoning sins and reckoning righteousness. The speaker also explains the significance of Christ's active and passive obedience, stressing that it is Christ alone who justifies sinners. The sermon highlights the importance of humility and gratitude in the Christian life, recognizing the need for Christ's atonement and grace.

A reading this morning from the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689 comes from chapter 11 of Justification, paragraph 1. Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone, not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness, but by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death, for their whole and sole righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves. It is the gift of God." We start a new chapter today on the doctrine of justification. This is a really big topic, but a very important one as well. There's been many books have been written on this, there's many sermons have been preached on this. There's really no way for me today just to cover it thoroughly in the short amount of time that we have. So I want to focus on a few of the items related to the doctrine of justification rather than going through an exhaustive presentation. These include understanding the difference between infusion and imputation, and understanding from where and how justification happens. If you want to dig in further into this doctrine, I would direct you to the Ligonier Ministries website. They've got a number of resources, teaching guides, books, videos focused specifically on justification. So, why is the doctrine of justification a big deal? It points us to the question, How can I be right with God? How can I, a sinner, be just before a holy God? When one is guilty, there's nothing more important to understand than how to remove that guilt and how God's forgiveness can be attained. Because of our sinfulness, we deserve the wages of sin, which is death. R. C. Sproul commented on the importance of understanding this controversial doctrine. Luther declared in the 16th century that the doctrine of justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls. Calvin used a different metaphor. He said It is the hinge upon which everything turns. People today hardly get exercised about the doctrine of justification, which was a matter for our forefathers. They were willing to die, And in many cases they did. In Oxford, England in the 16th century, Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer were burned at the stake for their confessed faith in the Reformation doctrines, including the doctrine of justification by faith alone. On a particular street in Oxford, a tiny sign marks the spot where they were executed. R.C. Comments that he watched the people cross the street paying no attention to the mark or to the commemorative plaque. Although people today do not get exercised by a doctrine like justification, it was the issue that changed the whole Western world in the 16th century. Noah Webster defined this in theological terms as the remission of sin and absolution from guilt and punishment, or an act of free grace by which God pardons the sinner and accepts him as righteous on account of the atonement of Christ. Louis Berkhof describes justification as a judicial act of God in which he declares on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that all the claims of the law are satisfied with respect to the sinner. It is unique in the application of the work of redemption in that it is a judicial act of God, a declaration respecting the sinner and not an act or process of renewal such as regeneration, conversion or sanctification. While it has respect to the sinner, it does not change his inner life. It does not affect his condition, But his state, and in that respect, differs from all the other principled parts of the order of salvation. It involves the forgiveness of sins and restoration to divine favor. Joel Beekie explains, As a forensic or legal term, justification is the act of God's sovereign grace whereby He imputes to the elect sinner, who is in himself guilty and condemned, imputes that perfect righteousness of Christ, acquits him on the ground of Christ's merits of all guilt and punishment, and grants him a right to eternal life and enables him to lay hold of and appropriate to himself Christ and his benefits. So, let's take a look at what our paragraph this morning is confessing. It starts with identifying those who will be justified, those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth. Here we see the words that we just spent time looking at in the last chapter of the confession of effectual calling Remember there is an external call the proclamation of the gospel and there is an internal call the effectual call And who are those who God is calling? The elect. Those who were predestinated. Those who the Father had chosen before the foundations of the world were laid. Scripturally, we see these words used by Paul in his letter to the Romans. If we look at Romans 8 30, Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called, in whom he called, them he also justified, in whom he justified, them He also glorified. It's not that He's justifying those He called, but it is emphasized in our confession here that He is freely justifying those who He has called, which implies that it's not associated with any work or thing we do or say, lest we boast. It's grace from God, a free gift. Again, we see these specific words used by Paul in Romans 3-24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And we see here Paul also in this passage connecting justification to Christ. The confession continues with an explanation of how this will not be done and then how will it be done. This is the first of three sections in our paragraph today that follow this approach. It feeds off the first part that we just covered, those whom God effectually called, He also freely justifieth, not by infusing righteousness into them, but pardoning their sin, and by counting and accepting their persons as righteous. So notice in the confession that there are two aspects of justification mentioned here. Not just the pardoning of sins, but also being reckoned righteous. Paul tells us in his letters that our sins are forgiven and that God has imputed to us Christ's righteousness without any works on our part. In Ephesians 1-7, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. And in Romans 4, 5-8, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without works, saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. We also see this in the Psalms in Psalms 32 verses 1 and 2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord impudeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." The confession here uses a specific word, infusing righteousness, infusing. The reason this is included here comes from a controversy between the Church of Rome and the Protestants of the Reformation regarding the application of righteousness to the believer. R.C. Sproul summarized this controversy, In all its complications, the unreconcilable difference between the debate came down to the question of whether our justification before God is grounded in the infusion of Christ's righteousness into us by which we become inherently righteous, or in the imputation or reckoning of Christ's righteousness to us while we are still sinners. The difference between these views makes all the difference in our understanding of the gospel and how we are saved. Now this can be a little bit confusing. Some may not be familiar with the term infusion, even imputation. Probably you've heard imputation a few times here at our church. So let's try to understand what the difference here is. I'll repeat briefly just what R.C. Said, the infusion of Christ's righteousness into us by which we become inherently righteous versus the imputation or reckoning or declaration of Christ's righteousness to us while we are sinners. There's a difference there that I wanna point out. We have a difference of something happening inside of us versus something we're covered with. Sometimes looking at opposites can help us in our understanding. Robert Shaw suggests to apply the idea of infusion, this idea of infusing righteousness, to the opposite of justification. In the legal sense, this is condemnation. Scripture treats justification and condemnation as opposites in Deuteronomy 25, 1, Proverbs 17, 15, Romans 5, 16, and Romans 8, 33 and 34. So, Scripture's not just a single time, but several times over, compares justification and condemnation and contrasts them. So let's look at infusion with respect to condemnation to see if it helps us make any more sense of this. He states, Condemnation lies not in infusing wickedness into a criminal or in making him guilty but in judicially pronouncing a sentence upon him according to the transgression of the law. Someone's condemned not because someone's putting wickedness into them all of a sudden. Condemnation happens because someone in a court of law has declared them, found them, reckoned them as transgressing the law. So in justification does not lie in infusing righteousness or infusing goodness into a person, but it's declaring him to be righteous on legal grounds. And like the sentence of a judge, it is completed at once. So, when we talk about justification, we have to think kind of in legal terms here. It's the court that we'll all stand in front of God in. Martin Luther said that the righteousness by which we are justified is a foreign righteousness, rather than an inherent righteousness, one from inside us. The righteousness by which we are justified is not our own, rather it is outside of us. Another picture of this that—I keep repeating this because it's sometimes confusing, so hopefully This repetition will help. Another picture that helps me is that when God imputes Christ's righteousness to us, to me, it's like a covering. It's like a robe that you would put on. So when God looks at us, He sees not us and our sin, but he sees that covering of righteousness, covering of Christ's righteousness that we're covered with. And then God reckons us righteous. We even in that covering, we're still sinners. Our internal nature hasn't changed. Nothing inside of us has changed. Just what God sees us because we're wearing Christ's righteousness, He reckons as righteous. Robert Shaw states, our Confession declares that God justifies those whom He effectually calls, not only by pardoning their sins, but also by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous. So we have two parts here. The pardoning of sin is unquestionably one important part of justification. It consists of the removal of guilt or the absolution of the sinner from the obligation to the punishment which he lays under by virtue of the sentence of the violated law. The pardon which God bestows is full and complete. It includes all sins, be they ever so numerous, and extends to all their aggravations, be they ever so enormous." In Jeremiah 33 verse 8, I will pardon all of their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me. The other part here of justification is the counting and accepting their persons as righteous. Joel Beekie mentioned that God transfers the perfect righteousness of Christ to the elect sinner as a gracious gift and transfers all of the sinner's unrighteousness to Christ, who has paid the full price of satisfaction for that unrighteousness. By means of this mutual transfer, the justified sinner is viewed by God as if he never had had nor committed any sin, but had himself fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has accomplished. So getting back to our paragraph for today, we continue to the next part. Again it picks up from the first phrase, Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone." This part of our paragraph is stressing that it is solely for Christ's sake alone that we are justified. It has nothing to do with anything wrought. The word wrought means formed by work or labor. So, it doesn't have anything to do with what's wrought in us or by what we have done. Paul tells us to glory in the Lord, not in ourselves. For by the obedience of one, this Jesus Christ, many will be made righteous. We look in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30 and 31, But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and satisfaction and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Romans 5, 17-19 For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." One of the reasons this section was included in our paragraph was to counter positions from other groups. There were a lot of disagreements regarding justification. Robert Shaw points out that the Romanists, the Sassanians, and the Pelagians maintained that we are justified either by a personal righteousness inside of us, inherent righteousness, or by our own works. Paul tells us that it is God who saves us. We're not saved by our own works. In 2 Timothy 1 verse 9, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Finally, we move to the last part of our paragraph. Again, it picks up on the first phrase, Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth, not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness, but by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law and passive obedience in His death for the whole and sole righteousness by faith. Which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God. We have in this section three negatives, imputed faith, believing in obedience, and two positive, Christ's active and passive obedience explanations for our justification. The focus again is not what we do or what has worked in us, but Christ alone. From Titus 3.5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And in Philippians 3.9, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." So, let's take a moment to understand what is meant by Christ's active obedience and Christ's passive obedience. Some might not be too familiar with that breakout. This is connected to the earlier statement that it is not enough to just have our sins pardoned, but we must also be reckoned righteous. There are two parts to our justification. Christ's active obedience unto the whole law points to that Christ had to live a perfect life, a life of perfect righteousness. His perfect and active obedience was essential for his and our salvation. Christ's passive obedience in his death points to Christ's receiving the punitive wrath of God that our sins deserved. Christ paid the penalty, due our sins. If we go back and look at Noah Webster's definition of justification, we read that it is an act of free grace by which God pardons the sinner and accepts him as righteous on account of the atonement of Christ. Sins are pardoned and we are reckoned righteous. And how does this happen? Again, by the free gift of faith. In 2 Corinthians 5 verses 19 through 21, to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, for He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And again, back in Romans 3, verses 22 through 28, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. By what law of works, nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Again, by grace we are saved through faith, and faith it is the gift of God and God alone. We see these words directly from Ephesians 2, 7-9, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. R. C. Sproul summarizes our discussion this morning, quote, at the heart of the gospel is a double imputation. My sin is imputed to Jesus. His righteousness is imputed to me. In this twofold transaction, We see that God, who does not negotiate sin, who doesn't compromise his own integrity with our salvation, but rather punishes sin fully and really after it has been imputed to Jesus, retains his own righteousness. And so he is both just and the justifier, as the apostle tells us here. So my sin goes to Jesus. His righteousness comes to me in the sight of God." I hope this has been helpful. Once again, we have great reason for being both humble and grateful. Humble in seeing how sinful we are, even as Christians, how incapable we are of approaching Jesus on our own. We should be grateful, grateful for all that Christ voluntarily suffered and did to redeem His people. These are good thoughts to have as we begin Easter week and focus on Christ's suffering, His death on the cross, and His resurrection. Amen.