Lectures To
Professing Christians
Lecture V. 1837
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH
by the Rev. CHARLES G. FINNEY
TEXT--"Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." [Gal 2.16.]
THIS last sentiment is expressed in the same terms, in the 3d chapter of
Romans. The subject of the present lecture, as I announced last week, is
Justification by Faith. The order which I propose to pursue in the
discussion is this:
I. Show what justification by law, or legal justification, is.
II. Show that by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified.
III. Show what gospel justification is.
IV. Show what is the effect of gospel justification, or the state into
which it brings a person that is justified.
V. Show that gospel justification is by faith.
VI. Answer some inquiries which arise in many minds on this subject.
I. I am to show what legal justification is.
1. In its general legal sense it means not guilty. To justify an
individual in this sense, is to declare that he is not guilty of any
breach of the law. It is affirming that he has committed no crime. It is
pronouncing him innocent.
2. More technically, it is a
form of pleading to a charge of crime, where the individual who is
charged admits the fact, but brings forward an excuse, on which he
claims that he had a right to do as he did, or that he is not
blameworthy. Thus, if a person is charged with murder, the plea of
justification admits that he killed the man, but alleges either that it
was done in self-defence and he had a right to kill him, or that it was
by unavoidable accident, and he could not help it. In either case, the
plea of justification admits the fact, but denies the guilt, on the
ground of a sufficient excuse.
II. I am to show that by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified.
And this is true under either
form of justification.
1. Under the first, or
general form of justification. In this case, the burden of proof is
on the accuser, who is held to prove the facts charged. And in this
case, he only needs to prove that a crime has been committed once. If it
is proved once, the individual is guilty. He cannot be justified, in
this way, by the law. He is found guilty. It is not available for him to
urge that he has done more good than hurt, or that he has kept God's law
longer than he has broken it, but he must make it out that he has
fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law. Who can be justified by the
law in this way? No one.
2. Nor under the second, or technical form of justification. In
this case, the burden of proof lies on him who makes the plea. When he
pleads in justification he admits the fact alleged, and therefore he
must make good his excuse, or fail. There are two points to be regarded.
The thing pleaded as an excuse must be true, and it must be a good and
sufficient excuse or justification, not a frivolous apology, or one that
does not meet the case. If it is not true, or if it is insufficient, and
especially if it reflects on the court or government, it is an infamous
aggravation of his offence. You will see the bearing of this remark, by
and by.
I will now mention some of the prominent reasons which sinners are in
the habit of pleading as a justification, and will show what is the true
nature and bearing of these excuses, and the light in which they stand
before God. I have not time to name all these pleas, but will only refer
to two of each of the classes I have described, those which are good if
true, and those which are true but unavailing.
1. Sinners often plead
their sinful nature as a justification.
This excuse is a good one,
if it is true. If it is true, as they pretend, that God has given
them a nature which is itself sinful, and the necessary actings of
their nature are sin, it is a good excuse for sin, and in the face
of heaven and earth, and at the day of judgment, will be a good plea
in justification. God must annihilate the reason of all the rational
universe, before they will ever blame you for sin if God made you
sin, or if he gave you a nature that is itself sinful. How can your
nature be sinful? What is sin? Sin is a transgression of the law.
There is no other sin but this. Now, does the law say you must not
have such a nature as you have? Nothing like it.
The fact is, this doctrine overlooks the distinction between sin and
the occasion of sin. The bodily appetites and constitutional
susceptibilities of body and mind, when strongly excited, become the
occasions of sin. So it was with Adam. No one will say that Adam had
a sinful nature. But he had, by his constitution, an appetite for
food and a desire for knowledge. These were not sinful, but were as
God made them, and were necessary to fit him to live in this world,
as a subject of God's moral government. But being strongly excited,
as you know, led to prohibited indulgence, and thus became the
occasions of his sinning against God. They were innocent in
themselves, but he yielded to them in a sinful manner, and that was
his sin. When the sinner talks about his sinful nature as a
justification, he confounds these innocent appetites and
susceptibilities, with sin itself. By so doing, he in fact charges
God foolishly, and accuses him of giving him a sinful nature, when
in fact his nature, in all its elements, is essential to moral
agency, and God has made it as well as it could be made, and
perfectly adapted to the circumstances in which he lives in this
world. The truth is, man's nature is all right, and is as well
fitted to love and obey God as to hate and disobey him. Sinner! the
day is not far distant, when it will be known whether this is a good
excuse or not. Then you will see whether you can face your Maker
down in this way; and when he charges you with sin, turn round and
throw the blame back upon him.
Do you inquire what influence Adam's sin has then had in producing
the sin of his posterity? I answer, it has subjected them to
aggravated temptation, but has by no means rendered their nature in
itself sinful.
2. Another excuse coming under the same class, is inability.
This also is a good excuse if it is true. If sinners are really
unable to obey God, this is a good plea in justification. When you
are charged with sin, in not obeying the laws of God, you have only
to show, if you can, by good proof, that God has required what you
were not able to perform, and the whole intelligent universe will
resound with the verdict of not guilty. If you have not natural
power to obey God, they must give this verdict, or cease to be
reasonable beings. For it is a first law of reason, that no being is
obliged to do what he has no power to do.
Suppose God should require you to undo something which you have
done. This, everyone will see, is a natural impossibility. Now, are
you to blame for not doing it? God requires repentance of past sins,
and not that you should undo them. Now, suppose it was your duty, on
the first of January, to warn a certain individual, who is now dead.
Are you now under obligation to warn that individual? No. That is an
impossibility. All that God can now require is, that you should
repent. It never can be your duty, now, to warn that sinner. God may
hold you responsible for not doing your duty to him when it was in
your power. But it would be absurd to make it your duty to do what
it is not in your power to do.
This plea being false, and throwing the blame of tyranny on God, is
an infamous aggravation of the offence. If God requires you to do
what you have no power to do, it is tyranny. And what God requires
is on penalty of eternal death--he threatens an infinite penalty for
not doing what you have no power to do, and so he is an infinite
tyrant. This plea, then, charges God with infinite tyranny, and is
not only insufficient for the sinner's justification, but is a
horrible aggravation of his offence.
Let us vary the case a little. Suppose God requires you to repent
for not doing what you never had natural ability to do. You must
either repent, then, of not doing what yor[sic.] had no natural
power to do, or you must go to hell. Now, you can neither repent of
this, nor can he make you repent of it. What is repentance? It is to
blame yourself and justify God. But if you had no power, you can do
neither. It is a natural impossibility that a rational being should
ever blame himself for not doing what he is conscious he had not
power to do. Nor can you justify God. Until the laws of mind are
reversed, the verdict of all intelligent beings must pronounce it
infinite tyranny to require that which there is no power to perform.
Suppose God should call you to account, and require you to repent
for not flying. By what process can he make you blame yourself for
not flying, when you are conscious that you have no wings, and no
power to fly? If he could cheat you into the belief that you had the
power, and make you believe a lie, then you might repent. But what
sort of a way is that for God to take with his creatures?
What do you mean, sinner, by bringing such an excuse? Do you mean to
have it go, that you have never sinned? It is a strange
contradiction you make, when you admit that you ought to repent, and
in the next breath say you have no power to repent. You ought to
take your ground, one way or the other. If you mean to rely on this
excuse, come out with it in full, and take your ground before God's
bar, and say, "Lord, I am not going to repent at all--I am not under
any obligation to repent, for I have not power to obey thy law, and
therefore I plead not guilty absolutely, for I have never sinned!"
In which of these ways can any one of you be justified? Will you,
dare you take ground on this excuse, and throw back the blame upon
God?
3. Another excuse which sinners offer for their continued
impenitence is their wicked heart.
This excuse is true, but it is not sufficient. The first two that I
mentioned, you recollect were good if they had been true, but they
were false. This is true, but is no excuse. What is a wicked heart?
It is not the bodily organ which we call the heart, but the
affection of the soul, the wicked disposition, the wicked feelings,
the actings of the mind. If these will justify you, they will
justify the devil himself. Has he not as wicked a heart as you have?
Suppose you had committed murder, and you should be put on trial and
plead this plea. "It is true," you would say, "I killed the man, but
then I have such a thirst for blood, and such a hatred of mankind,
that I cannot help committing murder, whenever I have an
opportunity." "Horrible!" the judge would exclaim, "Horrible! Let
the gallows be set up immediately, and let this fellow be hung
before I leave the bench; such a wretch ought not to live an hour.
Such a plea! Why, that is the very reason he ought to be hung, if he
has such a thirst for blood, that no man is safe." Such is the
sinner's plea of a wicked heart in justification of sin. Out of
thine own mouth will I condemn thee, thou wicked servant.
4. Another great excuse which people make, is the conduct of
Christians.
Ask many a man among your neighbors why he is not religious, and he
will point you at once to the conduct of Christians as his excuse.
"These Christians," he will say, "are no better than any body else;
when I see them live as they profess, I shall think it time for me
to attend to religion." Thus he is hiding behind the sins of
Christians. He shows that he knows how Christians ought to live, and
therefore he cannot plead that he has sinned through ignorance. But
what does it amount to as a ground of justification? I admit the
fact, that Christians behave very badly, and do much that is
entirely contrary to their profession. But is that a good excuse for
you? So far from it, this is itself one of the strongest reasons why
you ought to be religious. You know so well how Christians ought to
live, you are bound to show an example. If you had followed them
ignorantly, because you did not know any better, and had fallen into
sin in that way, it would be a different case. But the plea, as it
stands, shows that you know they are wrong, which is the very reason
why you ought to be right, and exert a better influence than they
do. Instead of following them and doing wrong because they do, you
ought to break off from them, and rebuke them, and pray for them,
and try to lead them in a better way. This excuse, then, is true in
fact, but unavailable in justification. You only make it an excuse
for charging God foolishly, and instead of clearing you, it only
adds to your dreadful, damning guilt. A fine plea this, to get
behind some deacon, or some elder in the church, and there shoot
your arrows of malice and caviling at God!
Who among you, then, can be justified by the law?--Who has kept it?
Who has got a good excuse for breaking it? Who dare go to the bar of
God on these pleas, and face his Maker with such apologies?
III. I am to
show what Gospel Justification is.
First, Negatively.
1. Gospel Justification is not the imputed righteousness of Jesus
Christ.
Under the gospel, sinners are not justified by having the obedience of
Jesus Christ set down to their account, as if he had obeyed the law for
them, or in their stead. It is not an uncommon mistake to suppose that
when sinners are justified under the gospel they are accounted righteous
in the eye of the law, by having the obedience or righteousness of
Christ imputed to them. I have not time to go into an examination of
this subject now. I can only say that this idea is absurd and
impossible, for this reason, that Jesus Christ was bound to obey the law
for himself, and could no more perform works of supererogation, or obey
on our account, than any body else. Was it not his duty to love the Lord
his God, with all his heart and soul and mind and strength, and to love
his neighbor as himself? Certainly; and if he had not done so, it would
have been sin. The only work of supererogation he could perform was to
submit to sufferings that were not deserved. This is called his
obedience unto death, and this is set down to our account. But if his
obedience of the law is set down to our account, why are we called on to
repent and obey the law ourselves? Does God exact double service, yes,
triple service, first to have the law obeyed by the surety for us, then
that he must suffer the penalty for us, and then that we must repent and
obey ourselves? No such thing is demanded. It is not required that the
obedience of another should be imputed to us. All we owe is perpetual
obedience to the law of benevolence. And for this there can be no
substitute. If we fail of this we must endure the penalty, or receive a
free pardon.
2. Justification by faith does not mean that faith is accepted as a
substitute for personal holiness, or that by an arbitrary constitution,
faith is imputed to us instead of personal obedience to the law.
Some suppose that justification is this, that the necessity of personal
holiness is set aside, and that God arbitrarily dispenses with the
requirement of the law, and imputes faith as a substitute. But this is
not the way. Faith is accounted for just what it is, and not for
something else that it is not. Abraham's faith was imputed unto him for
righteousness, because it was itself an act of righteousness, and
because it worked by love, and thus produced holiness. Justifying faith
is holiness, so far as it goes, and produces holiness of heart and life,
and is imputed to the believer as holiness, not instead of holiness.
3. Nor does justification by faith imply that a sinner is justified
by faith, without good works, or personal holiness.
Some suppose that justification by faith only, is without any regard to
good works, or holiness. They have understood this from what Paul has
said, where he insists so largely on justification by faith. But it
should be borne in mind that Paul was combating the error of the Jews,
who expected to be justified by obeying the law. In opposition to this
error, Paul insists on it that justification is by faith, without works
of law. He does not mean that good works are unnecessary to
justification, but that works of law are not good works, because they
spring from legal considerations, from hope and fear, and not from faith
that works by love. But inasmuch as a false theory had crept into the
church on the other side, James took up the matter, and showed them that
they had misunderstood Paul. And to show this, he takes the case of
Abraham. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had
offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with
his works, and by works was faith made perfect?--And the scripture was
fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto
him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then
how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." This
epistle was supposed to contradict Paul, and some of the ancient
churches rejected it on that account. But they overlooked the fact that
Paul was speaking of one kind of works, and James of another. Paul was
speaking of works performed from legal motives. But he has every where
insisted on good works springing from faith, or the righteousness of
faith, as indispensable to salvation. All that he denies is, that works
of law, or works grounded on legal motives, have any thing to do in the
matter of justification. And James teaches the same thing, when he
teaches that men are justified, not by works nor by faith alone, but by
faith together with the works of faith; or as Paul expresses it, faith
that works by love. You will bear in mind that I am speaking of gospel
justification, which is very different from legal justification.
Secondly, Positively.
4. Gospel justification, or justification by faith, consists in
pardon and acceptance with God.
When we say that men are justified by faith and holiness, we do not mean
that they are accepted on the ground of law, but that they are treated
as if they were righteous, on account of their faith and works of faith.
This is the method which God takes, in justifying a sinner. Not that
faith is the foundation of justification. The foundation is in Christ.
But this is the manner in which sinners are pardoned, and accepted, and
justified, that if they repent, believe, and become holy, their past
sins shall be forgiven, for the sake of Christ.
Here it will be seen how justification under the gospel differs from
justification under the law. Legal justification is a declaration of
actual innocence and freedom from blame. Gospel justification is pardon
and acceptance, as if he was righteous, but on other grounds than his
own obedience. When the apostle says, "By deeds of law shall no flesh be
justified," he uses justification as a lawyer, in a strictly legal
sense. But when he speaks of justification by faith, he speaks not of
legal justification, but of a person's being treated as if he were
righteous.
IV. I will now proceed to show the effect of this
method of justification; or the state into which it brings those who are
justified.
1. The first item to be observed is, that when an individual is
pardoned, the penalty of the law is released. The first effect of a
pardon is to arrest and set aside the execution of the penalty. It
admits that the penalty was deserved, but sets it aside. Then, so far as
punishment is concerned, the individual has no more to fear from the
law, than if he had never transgressed. He is entirely released. Those,
then, who are justified by true faith, as soon as they are pardoned,
need no more be influenced by fear of punishment. The penalty is as
effectually set aside, as if it had never been incurred.
2. The next effect of pardon is, to remove all the liabilities
incurred in consequence of transgression, such as forfeiture of goods,
or incapacity for being a witness, or holding any office under
government. A real pardon removes all these, and restores the
individual back to where he was before he transgressed. So, under the
government of God, the pardoned sinner is restored to the favor of God.
He is brought back into a new relation, and stands before God and is
treated by him, so far as the law is concerned, as if he were innocent.
It does not suppose or declare him to be really innocent, but the pardon
restores him to the same state as if he were.
3. Another operation of pardon under God's government is, that the
individual is restored to sonship. In other words, it brings him
into such a relation to God, that he is received and treated as really a
child of God.
Suppose the son of a sovereign on the throne had committed murder, and
was convicted and condemned to die. A pardon, then, would not only
deliver him from death, but restore him to his place in the family.
God's children have all gone astray, and entered into the service of the
devil; but the moment a pardon issues to them, they are brought back;
they receive a spirit of adoption, are sealed heirs of God, and restored
to all the privileges of children of God.
4. Another thing effected by justification is to secure all needed
grace to rescue themselves fully out of the snare of the devil, and all
the innumerable entanglements in which they are involved by sin.
Beloved, if God were merely to pardon you, and then leave you to get out
of sin as you could by yourselves, of what use would your pardon be to
you? None in the world. If a child runs away from his father's house,
and wanders in a forest, and falls into a deep pit, and the father finds
him and undertakes to save him; if he merely pardons him for running
away, it will be of no use, unless he lifts him up from the pit and
leads him out of the forest. So in the scheme of redemption, whatever
helps and aids you need, are all guaranteed, if you believe. If God
undertakes to save you, he pledges all the light and grace and help that
are necessary to break the chains of Satan and the entanglements of sin,
and leads you back to your Father's house.
I know when individuals are first broken down under a sense of sin, and
their hearts gush out with tenderness, they look over their past lives
and feel condemned and see that it is all wrong, and then they break
down at God's feet and give themselves away to Jesus Christ; they
rejoice greatly in the idea that they have done with sin. But in a
little time they begin to feel the pressure of old habits and former
influences, and they see so much to be done before they overcome them
all, that they often get discouraged, and cry, "O, what shall I do, with
so many enemies to meet, and so little strength of resolution or
firmness of purpose to overcome them?" Let me tell you, beloved, that if
God has undertaken to save you, you have only to keep near to him, and
he will carry you through. You need not fear your enemies. Though the
heavens should thunder and the earth rock, and the elements melt, you
need not tremble, nor fear for enemies without or enemies within. God is
for you, and who can be against you? "Who is he that condemneth? It is
Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."
5. Justification enlists all the divine attributes in your favor, as
much as if you had never sinned.
See that holy angel, sent on an errand of love to some distant part of
the universe. God's eye follows him, and if he sees him likely to be
injured in any way, all the divine attributes are enlisted at once to
protect and sustain him. Just as absolutely are they all pledged for
you, if you are justified, to protect and support and save you.
Notwithstanding you are not free from remaining sin, and are so totally
unworthy of God's love, yet if you are truly justified, the only wise
and eternal God is pledged for your salvation. And shall you tremble and
be faint-hearted, with such support?
If a human government pardons a criminal, it is then pledged to protect
him as a subject, as much as if he had never committed a crime. So it is
when God justifies a sinner. The Apostle says, "Being justified by
faith, we have peace with God." Henceforth, God is on his side, and
pledged as his faithful and eternal friend.
Gospel justification differs from legal justification, in this respect:
If the law justifies an individual, it holds no longer than he remains
innocent. As soon as he transgresses once, his former justification is
of no more avail. But when the gospel justifies a sinner, it is not so;
but "if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous." A new relation is now constituted, entirely peculiar.
The sinner is now brought out from under the covenant of works, and
placed under the covenant of grace. He no longer retains God's favor by
the tenure of absolute and sinless obedience. If he sins, now, he is not
thrust back again under the law, but receives the benefit of the new
covenant. If he is justified by faith; and so made a child of God, he
receives the treatment of a child, and is corrected, and chastised, and
humbled, and brought back again. "The gifts and calling of God are
without repentance." The meaning of that is not, that God calls and
saves the sinner without his repenting, but that God never changes his
mind when once he undertakes the salvation of a soul
I know this is thought by some to be very dangerous doctrine, to teach
that believers are perpetually justified--because, say they, it will
embolden men to sin. Indeed! To tell a man that has truly repented of
sin, and heartily renounced sin, and sincerely desires to be free from
sin, that God will help him and certainly give him the victory over sin,
will embolden him to commit sin! Strange logic that! If this doctrine
emboldens any man to commit sin, it only shows that he never did repent;
that he never hated sin, and never loved God for his own sake, but only
feigned repentance, and if he loved God it was only a selfish love,
because he thought God was going to do him a favor. If he truly hated
sin, the consideration that notwithstanding all his unworthiness God had
received him as a child, and would give him a child's treatment, is the
very thing to break him down and melt his heart in the most godly
sorrow. O, how often has the child of God, melted in adoring wonder at
the goodness of God, in using means to bring him back, instead of
sending him to hell, as he deserved! What consideration is calculated to
bring him lower in the dust, than the thought that notwithstanding all
God had done for him, and the gracious help God was always ready to
afford him, he should wander away again when his name was written in the
Lamb's book of life!
6. It secures the discipline of the covenant. God has pledged
himself that if any who belong to Christ go astray, he will use the
discipline of the covenant, and bring them back. In the 89th psalm, God
says, putting David for Christ, "If his children forsake my law, and
walk not in my judgments; if they break my statues[sic.], and keep not
my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and
their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not
utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant
will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."
Thus you see that professors of religion may always expect to be more
readily visited with God's judgments, if they get out of the way, than
the impenitent. The sinner may grow fat, and live in riches, and have no
bands in his death, all according to God's established principles of
government. But let a child of God forsake his God, and go after riches
or any other worldly object, and as certain as he is a child, God will
smite him with his rod. And when he is smitten and brought back, he will
say with the Psalmist, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
that I might learn thy statutes. Before I was afflicted, I went astray,
but now have I kept thy word." Perhaps some of you have known what it is
to be afflicted in this way, and to feel that it was good.
7. Another effect of gospel justification is, to insure
sanctification. It not only insures all the means of sanctification,
but the actual accomplishment of the work, so that the individual who is
truly converted, will surely persevere in obedience till he is fitted
for heaven and actually saved.
V. I am to show that this is justification by faith.
Faith is the medium by which the blessing is conveyed to the believer.
The proof of this is in the Bible. The text declares it expressly.
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we
might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the
law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh he justified." The
subject is too often treated of in the New Testament to be necessary to
go into a labored proof. It is manifest, from the necessity of the case,
that if men are saved at all, they must be justified in this way, and
not by works of law, for "by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified."
VI. I will now answer several inquiries which may
naturally arise in your minds, growing out of this subject.
1. "Why is justification said to be by faith, rather than by
repentance, or love, or any other grace?"
Answer. It is no where said that men are justified or saved for faith,
as the ground of their pardon, but only that they are justified by
faith, as the medium or instrument. If it is asked why faith is
appointed as the instrument, rather than any other exercise of the mind,
the answer is, because of the nature and effect of faith. No other
exercise could be appointed. What is faith? It is that confidence in God
which leads us to love and obey him. We are therefore justified by faith
because we are sanctified by faith. Faith is the appointed instrument of
our justification, because it is the natural instrument of
sanctification. It is the instrument of bringing us back to obedience,
and therefore is designated as the means of obtaining the blessings of
that return. It is not imputed to us, by an arbitrary act, FOR what it
is not, but for what it is, as the foundation of all real obedience to
God. This is the reason why faith is made the medium through which
pardon comes. It is simply set down to us for what it really is; because
it first leads us to obey God from a principle of love to God. We are
forgiven our sins on account of Christ. It is our duty to repent and
obey God, and when we do so, this is imputed to us as what it is,
holiness, or obedience to God. But for the forgiveness of our past sins,
we must rely on Christ. And therefore justification is said to be by
faith in Jesus Christ.
2. The second query is of great importance: "What is justifying
faith? What must I believe, in order to be saved?"
Answer. (1) Negatively,
justifying faith does not consist in believing that your sins are
forgiven. If that was necessary, you would have to believe it
before it was done, or to believe a lie. Remember, your sins are not
forgiven until you believe. But if saving faith is believing that
they are already forgiven, it is believing a thing before it takes
place, which is absurd. You cannot believe your sins are forgiven,
before you have evidence that they are forgiven; and you cannot have
evidence that they are forgiven until it is true that they are
forgiven, and they cannot be forgiven until you exercise saving
faith. Therefore saving faith must be believing something else.
Nor (2) does saving faith consist in believing that you shall be
saved at all. You have no right to believe that you shall be
saved at all, until after you have exercised justifying or saving
faith.
But (3) justifying faith consists in believing the atonement of
Christ, or believing the record which God has given of his Son.
The correctness of this definition has been doubted by some; and I
confess my own mind has undergone a change on this point. It is said
that Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for
righteousness. But what did Abraham believe? He believed that he
should have a son. Was this all? By no means. But his faith included
the great blessing that depended on that event, that the Messiah,
the Savior of the world, should spring from him. This was the great
subject of the Abrahamic covenant, and it depended on his having a
son. Of course, Abraham's faith included the "Desire of all
nations," and was faith in Christ. The apostle Paul has showed this,
at full length, in the 3d chapter of Galatians, that the sum of the
covenant was, "In thee shall all nations be blessed." In verse 16,
he says, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He
saith not, And to seeds as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed,
which is Christ."
It is said that in the 11th of Hebrews, the saints are not all
spoken of as having believed in Christ. But if you examine
carefully, you will find that in all cases, faith in Christ is
either included in what they believed, or fairly implied by it. Take
the case of Abel. "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was
righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet
speaketh." Why was his sacrifice more excellent? Because, by
offering the firstlings of his flock, he recognized the necessity of
the atonement, and that "without the shedding of blood there is no
remission." Cain was a proud infidel, and offered the fruits of the
ground, as a mere thank offering, for the blessings of Providence,
without any admission that he was a sinner, and needed an atonement,
as the ground on which he could hope for pardon.
Some suppose that an individual might exercise justifying faith,
while denying the divinity and atonement of Jesus Christ. I deny
this. The whole sum and substance of revelation, like converging
rays, all center on Jesus Christ, his divinity and atonement. All
that the prophets and other writers of the Old Testament say about
salvation comes to him. The Old Testament and the New, all the types
and shadows point to him. All the Old Testament saints were saved by
faith in him. Their faith terminated in the coming Messiah, as that
of the New Testament saints did in the Messiah already come. In the
15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul shows what place he
would assign to this doctrine: "For I delivered unto you first of
all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he
rose again the third day according to the scriptures." Mark that
expression, "first of all." It proves that Paul preached that Christ
died for sinners, as the "first" or primary doctrine of the gospel.
And so you will find it, from one end of the Bible to the other,
that the attention of men was directed to this new and living way,
as the only way of salvation. This truth is the only truth that can
sanctify men. They may believe a thousand other things, but this is
the great source of sanctification, "God in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself." And this alone can therefore be justifying
faith.
There may be many other acts of faith, that may be right and
acceptable to God. But nothing is justifying faith, but believing
the record that God has given of his Son. Simply believing what God
has revealed on any point, is an act of faith; but justifying faith
fastens on Christ, takes hold of his atonement, and embraces him as
the only ground of pardon and salvation. There may be faith in
prayer, the faith that is in exercise in offering up prevailing
prayer to God. But that is not properly justifying faith.
3. "When are men justified?"
This is also an inquiry often made. I answer--Just as soon as they
believe in Christ, with the faith which worketh by love. Sinner, you
need not go home from this meeting under the wrath of Almighty God. You
may be justified here, on the spot, now, if you will only believe in
Christ. Your pardon is ready, made out and sealed with the broad seal of
Heaven; and the blank will be filled up, and the gracious pardon
delivered, as soon as, by one act of faith, you receive Jesus Christ as
he is offered in the gospel.
4. "How can I know whether I am in a state of justification or not?"
Answer. You can know it in no way, except by inference. God has not
revealed it in the scriptures, that you, or any other individuals, are
justified; but he has set down the characteristics of a justified
person, and declared that all who have these characteristics are
justified.
(1.) Have you the witness
of the Spirit? All who are justified have this. They have
intercourse with the Holy Ghost, he explains the Scriptures to them,
and leads them to see their meaning, he leads them to the Son and to
the Father, and reveals the Son in them, and reveals the Father.
Have you this? If you have, you are justified. If not, you are yet
in your sins.
(2.) Have you the fruits of the Spirit? They are love, joy,
peace, and so on. These are matters of human consciousness; have you
them? If so, you are justified.
(3.) Have you peace with God? The apostle says, "Being
justified by faith, we have peace with God." Christ says to his
disciples, "My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give I
unto you." And again, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." Do you find rest in Christ? Is
your peace like a river, flowing gently through your soul, and
filling you with calm and heavenly delight? Or do you still feel a
sense of condemnation before God?
Do you feel a sense of acceptance with God, of pardoned sin, of
communion with God? This must be a matter of experience, if it
exists. Don't imagine you can be in a justified state, and yet have
no evidence of it. You may have great peace in reality, filling your
soul, and yet not draw the inference that you are justified. I
remember the time, when my mind was in a state of such sweet peace,
that it seemed to me as if all nature was listening for God to
speak; but yet I was not aware that this was the peace of God, or
that it was evidence of my being in a justified state. I thought I
had lost all my conviction, and actually undertook to bring back the
sense of condemnation that I had before. I did not draw the
inference that I was justified, till after the love of God was so
shed abroad in my soul by the Holy Ghost, that I was compelled to
cry out, "Lord, it is enough, I can bear no more." I do not believe
it possible for the sense of condemnation to remain, where the act
of pardon is already past.
(4.) Have you the spirit of adoption? If you are justified,
you are also adopted, as one of God's dear children, and he has sent
forth his Spirit into your heart, so that you naturally cry, "Abba,
Father!" He seems to you just like a father, and you want to call
him father. Do you know any thing of this? It is one thing to call
God your father in heaven, and another thing to feel towards him as
a father. This is one evidence of a justified state, when God gives
the spirit of adoption.
REMARKS.
I. I would go around, to all
my dear hearers to-night, and ask them one by one, "Are you in a state
of justification? Do you honestly think you are justified?"
I have briefly run over the subject, and showed what justification is
not, and what it is, how you can be saved, and the evidences of
justification. Have you it? Would you dare to die now? Suppose the loud
thunders of the last trumpet were now to shake the universe, and you
should see the Son of God coming to judgment--are you ready? Could you
look up calmly and say, "Father, this is a solemn sight, but Christ has
died, and God has justified me, and who is he that shall condemn me?"
II. If you think you ever was justified, and yet have not at present
the evidence of it, I want to make an inquiry. Are you under the
discipline of the covenant?--If not, have you any reason to believe you
ever were justified? God's covenant with you, if you belong to Christ,
is this--"If they backslide, I will visit their iniquity with the rod,
and chasten them with stripes." Do you feel the stripes? Is God
awakening your mind, and convicting your conscience, is he smiting you?
If not, where are the evidences that he is dealing with you as a son? If
you are not walking with God, and at the same time are not under
chastisement, you cannot have any good reason to believe you are God's
children.
III. Those of you who have evidence that you are justified, should
maintain your relation to God, and live up to your real privileges.
This is immensely important. There is no virtue in being distrustful and
unbelieving. It is important to your growth in grace. One reason why
many Christians do not grow in grace is, that they are afraid to claim
the privileges of God's children which belong to them. Rely upon it,
beloved, this is no virtuous humility, but criminal unbelief. If you
have the evidence that you are justified, take the occasion from it to
press forward to holiness of heart, and come to God with all the
boldness that an angel would, and know how near you are to him. It is
your duty to do so. Why should you hold back? Why are you afraid to
recognize the covenant of grace, in its full extent? Here are the
provisions of your Father's house, all ready and free; and are you
converted and justified, and restored to his favor, and yet afraid to
sit down at your Father's table? Do not plead that you are so unworthy.
This is nothing but self-righteousness and unbelief. True, you are so
unworthy. But if you are justified, that is no longer a bar. It is now
your duty to take hold of the promises as belonging to you. Take any
promise you can find in the Bible, that is applicable, and go with it to
your Father, and plead it before him, believing. Do you think he will
deny it? These exceeding great and precious promises were given you for
this very purpose, that you may become a partaker of the divine nature.
Why then should you doubt? Come along, beloved, come along up to the
privileges that belong to you, and take hold of the love, and peace, and
joy, offered to you in this holy gospel.
IV. If you are not in a state of justification, however much you have
done, and prayed, and suffered, you are nothing. If you have not
believed in Christ, if you have not received and trusted in him, as he
is set forth in the gospel, you are yet in a state of condemnation and
wrath. You may have been, for weeks and months, and even for years,
groaning with distress, but for all that, you are still in the gall of
bitterness. Here you see the line drawn; the moment you pass this, you
are in a state of justification.
Dear hearer, are you now in a state of wrath? Now believe in Christ. All
your waiting and groaning will not bring you any nearer. Do you say you
want more conviction? I tell you to come now to Christ. Do you say you
must wait till you prayed more? What is the use of praying in unbelief?
Will the prayers of a condemned rebel avail? Do you say you are so
unworthy? But Christ died for just such as you. He comes right to you
now, on your seat. Where do you sit? Where is that individual I am
speaking to? Sinner, you need not wait. You need not go home in your
sins, with that heavy load on your heart. Now is the day of salvation.
Hear the word of God: "If thou believe in thine heart in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and if thou confess with thy mouth that God raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved."
Do you say, "What must I believe?" Believe just what God says of his
Son; believe any of those great fundamental truths which God has
revealed respecting the way of salvation, and rest your soul on it, and
you shall be saved. Will you now trust Jesus Christ to dispose of you?
Have you confidence enough in Christ to leave yourself with him, to
dispose of your body and your soul, for time and eternity? Can you say
"Here, Lord, I give myself away;
'Tis all that I can do?"
Perhaps you are trying to pray yourself out of your difficulties before
coming to Christ. Sinner, it will do no good. Now, cast yourself down at
His feet, and leave your soul in his hands. Say to him, "Lord, I give
myself to thee, with all my powers of body and of mind; use me and
dispose of me, as thou wilt, for thine own glory; I know thou wilt do
right, and that is all I desire." Will you do it?
Unless he repented of his Satanic teachings on his death bed, the famous
preacher Charles Finney is burning in the fires of Hell today! I was shocked
when I read what this ignorant man said about the Bible. Truly, Mr. Finney
was a very ignorant man regarding Bible theology!
WRONG!
James did not write his Epistle to “contradict Paul.” God is the divine
author of the whole Bible, and God doesn't contradict Himself! James did not
write about Abraham being justified by works, to contradict or correct
Paul's teaching that the just shall live by faith. Paul is speaking about
the root of Abraham's salvation, which is his faith. Romans 4:2, “For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before
God.”Under the gospel, sinners are not justified by having the obedience of Jesus Christ set down to their account, as if he had obeyed the law for them, or in their stead. It is not an uncommon mistake to suppose that when sinners are justified under the gospel they are accounted righteous in the eye of the law, by having the obedience or righteousness of Christ imputed to them. I have not time to go into an examination of this subject now. I can only say that this idea is absurd and impossible, for this reason, that Jesus Christ was bound to obey the law for himself, and could no more perform works of supererogation, or obey on our account, than any body else. Was it not his duty to love the Lord his God, with all his heart and soul and mind and strength, and to love his neighbor as himself? Certainly; and if he had not done so, it would have been sin. The only work of supererogation he could perform was to submit to sufferings that were not deserved. This is called his obedience unto death, and this is set down to our account. But if his obedience of the law is set down to our account, why are we called on to repent and obey the law ourselves? Does God exact double service, yes, triple service, first to have the law obeyed by the surety for us, then that he must suffer the penalty for us, and then that we must repent and obey ourselves? No such thing is demanded. It is not required that the obedience of another [Jesus] should be imputed to us. All we owe is perpetual obedience to the law of benevolence. And for this there can be no substitute. If we fail of this we must endure the penalty, or receive a free pardon. [emphasis added]
Kindly,
Charles Finney gets is all wrong, confusing what both the apostles' Paul and
James taught. I am amazed that Mr. Finney makes a distinction between the
works of the law, and works of holiness in the life of a believer who loves
God. Finney is speaking nonsense! What saith the Scripture? ...
