Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Justified by Faith

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

In Romans 1 through 4, Paul summarizes the story of the Bible. And here, in the last half of chapter 3 and into chapter 4, we have Paul’s most essential summary of what God has done to put the world right.  Three phrases are repeated and brought into relationship with each other throughout these few verses: that we are justified freely, all by faith, and through the blood of Christ. I want to be clear and practical about what these three things are and how to relate to them. We’re going to look now at the first of these three ideas: free justification. 1) What is it? 2) Why do we need it? and 3) How do we receive it? This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 8, 2009. Series: Bible: The Whole Story - Creation and Fall. Scripture: Romans 3:21-28. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. Many people view the Bible as a series of disconnected stories or morality lessons, but in reality, the Bible tells one single beautiful story. What's wrong with the world? What God has done to put it right in Jesus Christ? And how history will turn out at the end? Today we invite you to listen as Tim Keller teaches on the central story of the Bible, our redemption and restoration.

After you listen, please take a few seconds to rate and review our podcast. Your review can help others to discover our podcast and experience the hope of the gospel. Now here's today's teaching from Dr. Keller. Our scripture reading tonight comes from the Book of Romans, chapter 3, verses 21 through 28. But now, a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle, on that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith.

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. This is the word of the Lord. Every single week we are looking at the story arc of the whole Bible. We're understanding that the Bible is not so much a set of disconnected stories, each with a little lesson on how to live your life, but the Bible actually comprises a single story that tells us what's wrong with the human race in the world, what God has done to put it right in Jesus Christ, and then, as a result, how history is going to turn out in the end. And we're looking at Romans 1, 2, 3, and 4, because here we have Paul summarizing the story of the Bible.

And here in chapter 3, the last half of chapter 3, and the beginning of chapter 4, we probably have the Paul's best, most essential summary of what he thinks the Bible is all about and what this salvation is that God has done to put the world right. And there's three phrases that are, that actually are, in a sense, repeated and they're brought into relationships with each other in different ways throughout these few verses. But those three phrases are, we are justified freely by faith through the blood of Christ, free justification, all by faith, because of through the blood of Jesus.

And for three weeks, we're actually going to look at essentially these same verses, chapter three, in the beginning of chapter four, for three weeks to look at each of those phrases. And during these, and the reason why, is because actually, as you know, if you've ever been here before, we actually talk about these three things every week. But what I want to do for three weeks is I want to be as clear and as practical as about what these things are and how you have to relate to these three things. And I'm concerned to be practical and clear more than inspirational. I'm going to aim for clarity and practicality more than being inspirational.

I can't promise I might not occasionally get excited, though on the day you've lost an hour of sleep, it's a lot easier to not be excited. But you never know, because of the theme. So what we're going to look at tonight is the first of these three ideas, free justification. What is that? Why do we need it? What is it and how do we receive it? Why do we need it?

What is it? How do we need it? What is it and how do we receive it? Why do we need it? What is it? How do we receive it? Now, why do we need it? The top of this passage, for the very famous beginning of this passage, but now, a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known. This righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ, all who believe. Let me show you how absolutely radical that is. This word, righteousness, I know, does not compute much. It doesn't connect to us, English speakers.

It's almost a negative word in our language, so let me explain how it functions, what we're really talking about here. Righteousness is a validating performance record, which open doors, which open doors. It's a validating performance record, which open doors. So for example, you want a job, you get out of resume. That resume is your vocational record. It should have all your accomplishments and experiences. And if you want a job, you take it to the employer or whoever you have to apply to, and it's your validating performance record, and you say,

this means I'm worthy of this position except me. And if your performance record is good enough, if you're good enough, the door opens. Or let's say you want to get an advanced degree, and you want to get into a degree program. What do you do? Well, in that case, you bring out not your vocational record, you bring out your academic record, you bring out your grades. And these now function as a validating performance record. And you say, look at this, because of these grades, I am worthy of this position, accept me. Please accept me. And if you're good enough, you're accepted.

And because that's the way it is in all of life, see? Everybody has these performance records, these validating performance records, by which I get jobs, which I get into school, by which I do all these various things. That's the reason why every religion and every culture, everywhere in the world believes it's the same with God. That if there is a God and you're

going to have a spiritual connection, it's the same. It's not a vocational record or an academic record. It's a moral record, but this is how you get connected to God. This is how you go to heaven. This is how you find enlightenment or whatever. Here's how you connect to the divine. You get out your performance record. You develop a righteousness and you offer it and if you're good enough, you're worthy and you're accepted. And then Paul comes along and says, but now, for the first time in history, and by the way, may I add the last time in history, an absolutely unheard of

spirituality, an absolutely totally unheard of approach to God has been revealed. What? He says there's not just a good record or a great record, but a divine righteousness, a perfect record. And it is available as a gift that comes to us. It lights upon us. And when we have it, it's the end of our struggle for validation, for worthy, for worth, and for acceptability. And we don't know anything, apart from the Christian gospel, there is nobody else, no other

place that offers anything like that. Because all anyone else knows is a righteousness that we develop, and then we offer to God, or we offer to the powers that be, and say, now accept me. But the gospel is that God develops a perfect righteousness, and He offers it to us, or we offered to the powers that be, it's they now accept me, but the gospel is that God develops a perfect righteousness and he offers it to us and by it we're accepted. Paul says, but now means that's never been ever heard of before and it never has been heard of since.

The Christian gospel is absolutely and utterly and totally unique and the reverse of what anybody else, any other religion, any other culture, any other philosophy, and any human heart actually believes. What somebody says, I'm gonna, listen, I'm gonna, I'm trying to be as clear and as practical as I can be. If you're a thoughtful person, you may be out there saying, yeah,

but I'm not a religious person. I'm not into righteousness and moral records. I'm a secular person, or I'm not sure what I believe about God. And so, this is nice for you religious people, but this says nothing to say to me. No, I beg to differ with you. Because properly understood, everybody is seeking righteousness. Now, here's the way to understand that.

Better. Is the word righteousness and the word justification in this text are actually the same Greek word. In English, righteousness and to be justified is one thing to be righteous is a very another thing, but it's actually the same concept. So let's look at that term. Let me show you that everybody is trying to find a way to be justified. In the chariot's fire, there's one of the characters.

He's an athlete, he's an Olympic runner, and he's going for the gold in the 100-yard dash. Remember, it was that. And when somebody says, why are you working so hard? Why are you training so hard? He actually says, when that gun goes off, I have 10 seconds to justify my existence. And here's what he's saying.

He says, you know, I want to know that I am justified being here. I want to know that my life is worth something. I want to know that my life counts. I want to know that I'm a person worthy to be known and accepted. And the way I'm doing that, the way I'm convincing myself and other people that my existence has justified is I'm going to be a runner. And that means that, and of course, as you know how the movie goes, the cheering of the crown and the gold medal he wins is his justification.

It's not just the gold medal, it's not just cheering, it's just a vacation. It makes him feel validated, worthy, accepted. Sydney Pollock was a, just died a couple of years ago and he was a movie maker and he made a lot of movies that I liked actually. But I found that he died in 2007, but I found that a newspaper article about him not too long before he died. And it said that he, though he was getting obviously old and he was sick and dying, he couldn't stop working.

Even when his family said, please stop working, you're shortening your life, we want more time with you, he couldn't stop working. And here's why, and this is from the newspaper article. Movie mogul, Sydney Pollock says that although the grueling film making process is wearing him down, he can't justify his existence if he stops. He explained, quote, every time I finish a picture, I feel I've earned my stay for another year or so. What's he saying? I finish a picture, I feel I've earned my stay for another year or so.

What's he saying? It's the same thing as the runner in Charisifier. He says, you know, everybody needs to feel that there's, that they're doing something that justifies their being here. I feel I need to earn my stay. I feel I need to, need to say, here's why my life counts, here's why my life is worthwhile, here's how I get a sense of validity and acceptability. I make movies. And notice, he says, and I have to keep doing it

because I make a movie and for a while I feel I've earned my stay and then I gotta go back and do another to keep up that sense of justification, which means movie making isn't enough actually. And then he died. I was reading an article by a writer, a guy who felt his writing career was just not going anywhere. He wanted to be a writer.

He wanted to make a difference. And nobody was buying his stuff. And he said, occasionally I start to wonder, well, then what am I really here for? What am I really living for? And then he said said in the article, but then when I look at my two little daughters, my two little girls, then I know that my existence is justified. They justify my existence.

Now, you know, I don't know the guy, and I don't know. It could have been hyperbole, and it might just be a way of saying, I just love my daughters. But I also know that there are parents, quite a lot of parents, that look at their children and say, you know, there's really nothing else I do in life

that really justifies my being here, that makes me feel like a worthwhile person, that makes me feel like, you know, my life is worthwhile and acceptable and valid. But the fact is, I'm a father, I'm a mother, my children are happy, my children are successful, I'm living for them. Well, I want you to know that if your children are

the justification of your existence, if that's how they justify you being here, you're gonna destroy them. Parents who do this, never believe, and therefore I don't even try to tell them, but their passion for their children's happiness and success is utterly selfish. It's not about the kids, it's about them. It's their justification.

It's their righteousness, is their validating performance record. If I'm a good parent and my kids are happy and successful, then I have, but you know what, if anything goes wrong with them and God, something will. You will melt down and not be in a position to help them. You won't really be the parent. You really always thought you were. Well, now, so you understand everybody's struggling for righteousness, everybody's struggling to justify their existence. Everybody is wrestling and struggling for righteousness and

validation and worth and acceptability. And some of you are saying, okay, I see your point, but actually these people, you just gave me, do these people really need is not righteousness? They need counseling. You know, they need a good therapist. You know, they're just, they're making too much of their children, and too much of their writing, too much of their, how their movie making, they need counseling. It's really a psychological problem. And I begged the differ again.

No, it's a psychological manifestation of an underlying condition. There's a man who lives near the York railway station in northern England. And he's a secular man, and he wrote an article about some thoughts he had about this. He's a secular man, he's not a religious man, but every day he has to go by a billboard at the York railway station, and somebody evidently put up a sign, and on it is a Bible verse.

Romans 14, 12. And every day he has to go by this Bible verse it says, so then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. And he writes, irrespective of whether you are religious or not, the longer you live, the idea of being able to justify your existence crops up more and more. And he goes on to say, you know, I'm not a religious person. When I go by that, I realize

the older I get, that I really need to justify why I'm even here. And he says, he goes on, he says, some of his secular friends and his religious friends say, that's ridiculous. Why do you need to justify your existence? Why do you need to prove to you to somebody else that you are worthy of being here? You are who you are worthy of being here. You are who you are and you live the way you live and who cares what anybody else thinks. And he says, you know, people who actually believe that, that they don't care what anybody else thinks, they don't need to justify themselves,

they don't need to prove themselves. Those are sociopaths. Those are people who eventually are capable of very bad things. He says, every single person, whether you're religious or not really begins to know, you need to justify your even being here. But he says, the problem comes that if you start to say, okay, what does justify my being

here is you say, well, I have to, what justifies is, I'm living the kind of life I think people should live. I'm the person that I think I should be. I'm the kind of person I think other people should be. And I'm not. He actually says, here's the problem with justifying my existence. It's very hard.

Not because I'm a really bad person, but because I could be, I know I should be, far better than I am. And he's experiencing what we talked about two weeks ago if you were here. In Romans chapter two, we're told that every single person, whether they believe in God or not, does understand that they have, they've got a conscience. And they do know that

they ought to be living in a certain way. And that justifies their being here. And if you remember, Romans 2 says that God is actually going to judge people by what they know in their conscience. And the illustration that somebody some other minister once gave was the little recorder, the little invisible taper quarter around the neck, that only picks up, as it were, the things you say to other people about how they should live. And then on Judgment Day, this minister once said, Romans 2 is saying that God will take that invisible taper quarter off, he'll put it in front of you and he says,

you know, I'm going to be very fair, I'm not going to judge you by the tank of events if you didn't believe in it. I'm not going to judge you by the Bible if you've never read it. I'm going to judge you by what you say your own standards are for people. Let's see how you do. Play. And nobody will be able to stand on that judgment day, because nobody can justify their existence even by their own standards. And this guy, you know it, on the way to the York Railway Station.

So I'm not even religious, and I realize that this time goes on. How can I justify my being here? Everybody struggling for righteousness, and nobody is getting there, you know why? Because Sidney Pollock kept knowing he had to keep doing movies. And one gold medals never enough. And John D. Rockefeller said, one more million dollars, and then I'll feel I'm okay. So that's why we need it. And Paul says there is a solution that it is possible through the gospel to end your struggle for righteousness, validation, worth, and acceptability. What is it? It's free justification. Now, what is free justification?

Let's break this down. Free justification. I'll put it this way. Justified freely. It's in verse 24. And I'd like to show you that the gospel is talking about something that I have to say people can be around church or in church for years and years and I didn't understand. It's almost like free justification is a piece of furniture in the living room that's the main piece. And people know a lot of things.

Could you imagine coming into a big grand ballroom and we're gonna have this incredible feast and there's chairs and there's, you, you know everything else and there's a You know, there's shelves and there's all the other pieces of furniture and there's a rub but there's no table And what I'm about to tell you is the table If you want to understand free justification you have to understand that on the one hand it is Far more than forgiveness and pardon, but on the one hand, it is far more than forgiveness and pardon, but on the other hand, it is distinctly different than moral goodness.

It's more than pardon and it's distinct from being morally a good person. It's neither of those things. First, it's more than pardon. When most people hear, oh, you're justified by grace because of Jesus' death on the cross, right away they say, oh, we're forgiven. And that's true, but that's not what justification is. It's more, infinitely more.

Forgiveness is basically a negative. It means you're now free from liability to punishment. But justification is a positive. It's the bestowal of a status with all the rights and privileges and benefits pertaining thereon too. So as one person once said, Marcus Lone, years ago, to speak of forgiveness is to say, you may go, you have been let off of your penalty, but the speak of justification is to say, you may come. You are welcome into all my love and my presence.

And therefore, as great as forgiveness is, it's basically a negative justification as a positive. Forgiveness is you may go, I'm not going to punish you, but for justification is you may come. And you are welcome to all my love and presence Why? Forgiveness is like getting a pardon so you're out of jail and now you have the freedom of not being afraid that You know somebody's going to come around and arrest you and put you back in but justification is so much more than that It's not just a pardon from jail. It's more like getting the congressional Medal of Honor

is so much more than that. It's not just a pardon from jail. It's more like getting the congressional medal of honor. Bistote upon you so that everyone salutes you and so you have now access to circles and corridors of claim and honor. And therefore, it's possible to understand that justification is infinitely more. In fact, it's more than that.

When you see me say that the righteousness of God comes to us, you might look at this as abstractly a perfect record, and it is a perfect record, but it's more than that because the righteousness of God has to be the righteousness of Christ. The righteousness of God is a performance record. Well, what did God ever do for us? He came to earth.

Most Christians, even pastors, struggle to talk about their faith in a way that applies the power of the gospel to change lives, especially in our skeptical culture. Tim Keller's book of preaching, communicating faith in an age of skepticism is a guide for anyone who wants to become more effective in communicating about their faith.

Pastors and lay people alike. Drawing on his years of experience, Dr. Keller will help you share your faith in a more engaging, passionate, and compassionate way from the public or in the coffee shop. Preaching is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel and Life share the hope of Christ's love with people all over the world. So request your copy today at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. Now here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching.

And not only that, something happened even before. You know, one of the most amazing passages in the Bible, and I don't understand it, and that's why I like it. Because it seems like there's infinite depths behind it, and it's like a lozenge. You know, you put it in there, and it just goes on and on and on, and it never goes away. And it's a place in the book of Revelation where it says,

Jesus Christ was slain before the foundation of the world. And it seems to be saying that outside of history on some kind of cosmic battlefield, before he ever entered into history and acted it out. Jesus Christ already on some cosmic battlefield faced down our enemies of sin and death and evil, and he was slain in order to free us. And that means what you're getting, but justification is, this perfect righteous is not just a good, it's not just a goody-two-shoes record.

Jesus Christ was not just a good, it's not just a goody-touchy shoe's record. Jesus Christ was not just a good person. Jesus Christ was brave. Jesus Christ was bold. Jesus Christ was a man of courage, of nobility, of love, the sacrifice for us. We're talking about, we're talking about bravery beyond, above and beyond the call of duty. We're talking about self-sacrificial noble bravery and he did all that for us on the battlefield

of the cosmos. He won all this for us and his medals, his decorations that now are all over us. And therefore when 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, God made him sin, to be sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him, what that has to mean is, on the cross, he was treated as if he'd done everything we had done so that when we believe, we are treated as if we've done everything he's done and what is he done on the battlefield, what does he deserve, and all that's ours. And that's the reason why old Richard Hooker, the 17th century Anglican, has this marvelous statement

in which he says, let it be counted as folly or frenzy or fury whatsoever. It is our comfort in our wisdom. We care for no knowledge in the world, but this, that God has made Himself our sin, and that we have been made His righteousness. Therefore, we are in the sight of God the Father as is the very Son of God Himself.

Justification is infinitely more than pardoned, but on the other hand, the other thing you have to know is this justification, this righteousness that comes upon us is not in any way a kind of moral goodness inside. Look, we have low church and we have high church. We have liturgical smells and bells. We have, you know, Bible believing evangelical, you know, sawdust trail churches and we all have a problem with something. We actually don't believe the gospel. Let me start with the evangelical types, all right? How do most people in these kinds of churches believe salvation works?

Here's what they think. I have to really give my life to Jesus. I have to really surrender to Jesus. I have to really, I just have to be open and just unconditionally committed to Jesus. And I say, oh Lord, I'm open to you. I'm committed to you. I'm gonna live for you.

I'm surrendering to you. Come into my life and save me and forgive me, fill my life. You hear what you just did? I clean up my heart a little bit, I make myself righteous a bit. You know, I purge myself and cleanse myself of these other kinds of feelings, and I surrender myself,

and I put myself in a committed state, and then God comes in and does the rest. In other words, I make myself a little righteous and then God comes in and does the rest. Any other is a high church version of that. There's a liturgical version of that. I take the sacraments, I give myself to that and then, you know, so I'm making myself available and I take the supper and I'm I give myself to that, and then, you know, so I'm making myself available, and I take the supper, and I'm baptized, and then God comes in and does the rest. But in chapter 4, verse 5, we'll get to in a couple weeks, but it's right nearby here in this passage.

Paul actually goes so far as to say that God justifies the ungodly. And that means that when you're justified, when you're absolutely righteous and loved, absolutely accepted in yourself, you're absolutely unworthy, absolutely sinful, you're ungodly. And therefore, there is absolutely nothing in you that is the basis for this justification. Nothing.

Now, people have a lot of problem with that. And they say, oh my goodness, they say, I've got to be good a little bit. I mean, I mean, I have somebody once say to me, if I really believe what you say, that salvation is absolutely by free grace, and I don't have to be good at all, I don't even have to screw up my heart into a kind of,

you know, good state at all. Said, if I believe what you believe, I have no incentive to live a good life. And by the way, there's plenty of people that have said that to me over the years. If I really believed that I was totally saved, had nothing to do with how I lived, it was completely free of them, I'd have no incentive to live a good life. And here's the proper, I think, response. If when you lose all fear of punishment, you also lose your incentive for living a good life, then the only incentive you had to live a good life was fear. See, if when you lose your fear, you lose your incentive to be good, then the only

incentive you had to be good was the fear. And here's the ironic thing, the fear is selfish. Fear is always selfish because I might lose, I might, this might happen, that might happen, I better be good. Well, what is goodness? Well, goodness is unselfish living, unselfish service to God, unselfish service to the poor, unselfish service to God, unselfish service to the poor, unselfish service to my neighbor. I'm scared that I might be lost unless I'm good and what is goodness being unselfish, but don't you realize that's incredibly selfish.

When you live a good life so that God will bless you and take you to heaven, it's by definition not good. Because it's all for you, all of it's for you, you're not helping, the poor you're helping yourself, you're heaven. It's by definition not good. Because it's all for you. All of it's for you. You're not helping. The poor you're helping yourself. You're not helping God. You're helping yourself.

This is the reason why the Belgium confession. An old Reformation document from the 17th century puts it like this. Far from making people cold toward living in a holy way, justifying faith so works within them that apart from it they will never do a thing out of love for God but only out of love for themselves and fear of being condemned. Did you hear that? Let me tell you what that's saying. Put on your thinking cap and don't laugh too much when I tell you. If you think your good deeds are good, if you think your unselfish good deeds are good, they're no good. In other words, if you think they're good and therefore God owes you something they're not

good by definition, they're not good by your own definition. Your selflessness is really selfishness, but if you say, oh my good deeds are worthless, I need to be saved by grace. I am saved by grace. Now I want to please God. I want to resemble God. I want to delight God. I want to get near God. Well, how do I do that? By serving him, by serving other people, and here's the rid. If you think your good deeds are good, they're no good. But if you think your good deeds are absolutely worthless and you're saved by grace, that makes your deeds good. So if you think they're good, they're no good. If you think they're no good, they're good. They start to get good because you see when you think they're good, they're no good, if you think they're no good, they're good.

They start to get good because you see when you realize they're worthless and therefore you're doing them just to please God, they're actually for God. They're actually for the person that you're helping. You see, my C.S. Lewis said, the reason he knew that Christianity must be true is when he actually looked at it, he realized that nobody could have ever thought this up. And you see the reason why Richard Hooker would say, let it be counted as folly or frenzy or fury whatsoever. This is our comfort and wisdom we care for, no other knowledge in the world but this. Now, let's move to the final point, and here's the final point.

If you don't understand that this justification, this free justification, is on the one hand infinitely more than pardon, but separate and distinct from being morally good in yourself. If you don't understand that, it's like having at banquet without a table. And what I've seen people over the years come in and out of churches like this. They understand forgiveness and they understand moral goodness, but they don't understand free justification. They understand that if I confess my sins, I have a forgiving God Jesus died on the cross and I get forgiven. And now that I'm forgiven, I need to really live for him. And that's how most people think.

So people come in and out of the church, they cycle over the years. You know, they come in as kids and they cycle out as teenagers, they come in as young adults when they start to have problems and they cycle out of it as little slightly older know, they come in as kids and they cycle out as teenagers, they come in as young adults when they start to have problems and they cycle out of it as little slightly older adults, they come in as they get old. What's going on? They try hard to live like they should and they something makes them fail or they just sort of fade away and then things go wrong. They know they need God and they come back in and they recommit and they ask for forgiveness.

They ask for forgiveness and they try their best they ask for forgiveness. They ask for forgiveness. And they try their best to live a moral life, a good life, and then they sort of slip away and then they have to ask for forgiveness again. And that's how they go on and on and on. And they never get to this at all. They actually never become Christians. Because a Christian is someone who is justified freely by faith through his blood. Here's what I like you to do to help you break through and break out of that cycle.

I want you to stop looking for a minute at your sins. Now, don't anybody go home and blog. Tim Keller says, your sins don't matter. Okay. Listen, if you're sinning, I would like you to stop and get forgiveness, but that's what the record show. But I want you to consider this. The Pharisees are very concerned about their sins. Pharisees, self-justifying, moral, legalistic, miserable people. Pharisees, when they sin, they're very upset, they repent, they confess their sins, and when they're all done, they're still Pharisees.

They're not Christians. Here's what will make you a Christian. Don't look at your sins, look at your boasting. Look at what you boasted. Look at the things that you are your justification. Look at the things that you look at and say, that justifies my existence, that validates me. That's what makes me worthy.

See, Paul says, where is boasting? The justification for free justification destroys it. Well, then let's find it. What makes you a Christian is not so much that you repent of your sins. You should repent of your sins, but that could just make you just another Pharisee or just another person that's like, oh, no.

What makes you a Christian is you repent of your justification, your false justification, your false righteousness. Nathan Coles, 1730s and 40s, a Connecticut farmer tells a story about how he was converted listening to the great evangelist George Whitfield. And he says, my hearing him preach gave me a heart wound. And by God's blessing, my old foundation was broken up. And I saw that my righteousness could not save me. By God's grace, my old foundation was broken up. And I saw that my righteousness could not save me. That's what makes you a Christian, not just a person trying harder, confession, trying

harder, confession. Because free justification is infinitely more than just pardon, but radically different than just trying harder. So for example, this week, yesterday actually, I was at a retreat and I heard a man get up and give a testimony. Let me close with this testimony because this tells it all. He says three years ago, I was at this retreat. This retreat is an annual. And at that retreat, I became a Christian. I gave my life to Christ. But when you talked, and he went through and explained, he says, he broke through and understood the gospel. In other words, he had had an identity,

a justification based in his performance. And because of the gospel, seeing what Jesus Christ had done for him, he shifted his trust. He repented of his old justification. And he rooted his justification. He rooted his identity in the costly, infinitely costly grace of Christ. And it changed his life. Now here's what he said. That was three years ago.

He says, I want to give you this testimony this year because four years later, I want you to know, I'm in a job. It's a minute field that we used to call wealth management. But we now call wealth preservation and survival. And he says, I want you to know, and a lot of you do know, because he was talking to a group of people who are mainly in that business. I have lost an enormous amount of money this year. And he had lost to the enormous amount of money and a lot of the other people had and he really had lost

an incredible amount of money. And here's what I want you to know. I've never been happier in my life. And he said, because if this had happened four years ago, if this year, if the Great Recession happened four years ago, when my justification was still in my performance, he says, I not wear the vodka bottle as I would have drink myself, I would have just driven myself right into the ground. But what has changed? His wealth used to be his justification. His wealth used to be his justification. His wealth used to be his righteousness. And now it's just wealth, it's only wealth.

And if you want to become a Christian, you've got to say, these aren't just my children, these are my justification. This is not just my wealth or my career, it's my justification. And therefore, you will not be impervious to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, but when he looked to Jesus Christ,

not just as his forgiveness, but as his crown and his glory and his righteousness, he was able to handle anything. Are you? Have you figured this out? Have you figured out what it means to be a Christian is not just to repent of your sins, but to repent of your false righteousness,

to repent of your false justifications, to transfer your trust from that, to repent of your false, your false justifications, to transfer your trust from that, to what Jesus has done. And dear Christian friends, those of you who say, well, I do believe this and I do understand this and I know what free justification is.

If you really, really believed in the heart of hearts, what you know with your head, would you really be anxious? I think, won't you admit in many of your cases that your Christian, your wealth really be anxious? Think, won't you admit in many of your cases that your Christian, your wealth is not just your wealth? Your beauty isn't just your beauty, your youth isn't just your youth,

your family is not just your family, they're your righteousness. But now, a perfect righteousness is revealed apart from the law for your performance. It's a righteousness that comes upon you. It's a righteousness that alights on you. It comes to you and it's the end of your struggle. Let's pray. We thank you, Lord God, that this gospel is so counterintuitive,

it is so different, but now, for the first time in the last time in history, a righteousness is revealed apart from the law. And we ask that everybody hearing this message would see what that means for him or her. And I ask that for the people who have known about all the other chairs in the room, all the other kind of Christian doctrines and teachings and stories, but have never understood free justification, never had the table in the center of their understanding.

I pray, Lord, that now it would be there and that they would begin to sit down and eat at it. And for all those of us who believe in free justification with our head, but it hasn't really worked into our hearts. So we're still bound in shallows and misery, miseries where we're still anxious, we're still angry, we're still running scared. I pray that the gospel would change our lives absolutely thoroughly, not just related

to you, but transform every aspect of our lives. Thank you that this is possible. Thank you for speaking to us tonight. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for joining us today. If you were encouraged by today's podcast, please rate and review it so more people can discover

the hope of the gospel. Thank you again for listening. This month's sermons were recorded in 2009 and 2016. The sermons and talks you hear on the gospel and life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.