Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans.  Tonight is study #40 of Romans 3,  and we are reading Romans 3:24-28:

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath 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.

I will stop there.  We have been looking into this in the last few studies.  It is a very important point.  We were led to James 2, so let us turn back there because God gets into the whole matter of works and faith in this passage, as it says in James 2:18:

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works…

So there is a distinction being made.  The “man” is Christ, and He is speaking to professed Christians.  And this is the reason why “faith without works is dead,” because they profess belief and say they have faith, but it is Christ that has the “works,” and that is essential.  It is absolutely necessary.  If you say you have faith, you must also have “works” to support that faith, and even with that, many are misled as they develop the incorrect notion that it is their own works that must accompany their faith.  Of course that is the conclusion man would reach because it is in his fallen nature to want to do work, but any attempted work he does immediately brings him under the Law.  A little earlier, it said in James 2:10:

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

That goes along with Galatians 2:16 and numerous other Scriptures that say that no man is justified by the works of the Law in the sight of God, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.  And that is the backdrop that supports this discussion.

So after the “man” speaks to the one who says he has faith, He goes on to say in James 2:18:

… shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Again, the “man” is Christ, and His “works” was the work of atonement performed at the foundation of the world, which certainly demonstrated His faith.  Then it says in James 2:19:

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

What would be the point of bringing up the devils in this context and at this particular time?  It is because the point Christ is making is that the devils believe.  We can go to the Gospel accounts and see where they understood Jesus to be God, and they believed who He was, more so than the Jewish leaders did.  And yet their belief does nothing for them, does it?  And that is God’s point.  So you believe there is one God, you do well because it is the truth.  Very well, but so do the devils.  So you believe Jesus is Christ, God in the flesh, and the Saviour.  Very well, you do well in believing this because it is the truth that He is Almighty God and the Saviour.  But, again, the devils also understood that truth, regarding the man who had legions, and when Jesus came, the devils were afraid, and they trembled, as it says here.  They asked if He had come to torment them before the time, and then they requested to be cast out into the swine, and then the great herd of swine (about two thousand) ran headlong into a body of water and were drowned.  So they recognized Him because they asked if He had come to torment them before the time, indicating that they understood that Christ would come at the time of the end on an appointed day to judge.  They knew He was that Judge, and, therefore, God.  But their belief did nothing for their unsaved condition.  They were still under the wrath of God after they believed and trembled.  God’s point is that Christ did not do the work of faith on their behalf.  He died for certain men, and not for any of the fallen angels.  So they can believe all they want, and they can have faith in God and Christ and what the Bible says, and they can know what the Bible says is true (and they do), but it does not save a single fallen angel.  God did not set up His salvation plan for them.  He only set it up for men.

And God’s point is that you believe like the devils believe, so your belief is of no significance without “works” along with it, and those “works” must be the works that Christ has done.  He controls them.  They were done for certain individuals, and in the day of salvation none of us knew who Christ had performed His atoning work for, so we sent the Gospel far and wide to all.  That is the reason men were to come to God humbly, beseeching Him, “O, thou Son of David, have mercy on me!  Could it be that you had chosen me before the foundation of the world and bore my sins at the point of the world’s foundation and died for my sins, and you rose to justify me by your faith?  Is it possible, O, Lord?  Have mercy!  Have mercy!” 

That was God’s salvation program that we could believe, but we also needed the “work,” because without it, where does God come into it?  It would be all man’s doing, and that was the gospel of the churches as they put it into man’s hands: “You have to believe.  You have to make a decision.  You have to walk the aisle, and say the Sinner’s prayer.  You do the work of faith.”  And that is a false gospel because a person cannot do the work, and if he tries to do the work, it immediately condemns him. 

So the true Gospel was always to wait upon the Lord: “O, Lord, I believe, but help thou me my unbelief.”  And what is that help?  It was that God would help the sinner’s unbelief with His atoning work, having paid for all their transgressions, washing, and cleansing them, and making them pure and holy, clothed with the righteousness of Christ, the pure and white linen of the saints.  That is the help that God would bring, and that is why we “looked to the hills,” as it were.  We looked for God and waited for Him to come until He would have mercy on us.  Otherwise, it is nothing but an “instant pudding” salvation offering immediate gratification with a snap of the fingers and a promise of eternal life.  You would not believe it if some charlatan came into town and said that you could have the greatest treasures, and all you had to do is take three easy steps and, “Presto!  All is yours!”  And yet that is the kind of lies that are so quickly believed in the churches by masses of people, and the Bible will not allow for it or permit it to stand.

It goes on to says in James 2:20:

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

You believe, but so do the devils.  No works were done on behalf of the devils (the fallen angels), and it could be that your belief is just as vain and empty if no work had been performed for you.

Then it says in James 2:21-22:

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?

We have discussed this numerous times in the past, but let us go quickly over it one more time.  This is a trap or snare God has set up, and untold numbers of people have fallen into it.  The trap is that they look at Abraham and they look at his marvelous “work of faith” in offering his son Isaac on the altar.  And theologians have been “head-over-heels” in love with Abraham and his great work of faith.  They go on, and on, about his work of faith, and they like that idea because it puts salvation in man’s hands, so they conclude that men must do a “work of faith.”  After all, the Bible says in Galatians 3:6: “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”  And they say, “There it is!   It is so obvious.”  In their blindness it may appear obvious in the darkness of their understanding, but the truth is that God has laid a trap, and it is a very simple trap, but at the same time, it is exceedingly complex. 

Yet the solution to understanding this passage in James 2 is to look carefully at the word “when,” which is a time-related word.  Again, it says in James 2:21:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

And the answer is that Abraham was indeed justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar.  And the same could be said of Rahab the harlot, and any other saint of God.  Was not Daniel justified by works when he was in the lions’ den?  Were not Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego justified by works when they were cast into the burning, fiery furnace?  Was not David justified by works when he slew the giant?  And we could go through the whole Bible and find those examples. 

But we could also say, “Was not Abraham justified by works when he saddled his ass?  Was not Sarah justified by works when she did the dishes?”  You can just pick any mundane activity that you please, and when it is applied to a child of God, the answer would equally be, “Yes.”   And we could update it to apply to ourselves today: Mark was justified by works when he took out the trash.  Mary was justified by works when she swept the floor. 

How can we say that when these things are “nothing,” and they have nothing to do with faith?  They have nothing to do with God’s commands, and they are certainly not great deeds!  They are normal every day things, and they cannot justify anyone.  Yes, that is true, and neither does offering up your own son, and neither does Rahab the harlot hiding the spies, and neither did Daniel in the lions’ den.  David was not justified by his works when he slew the giant Goliath.  And Abraham was not justified by his works when he offered up his son Isaac.  But was he justified by works?  Yes, by the works of Christ, and the atoning work of Christ had been applied to him through the Word of God, and his sins were washed away, thereby justifying him.  And when you are saved, you could make a statement like this at any time.  And this is why the word “when” is an important word.  You could say, “Mark was justified by works when he did this or that.”  If you are justified in salvation, you are justified thereafter in any activity that you do. 

In other words, God took a “snapshot” of Abraham at a time when he had already been justified by the works of Christ, and then He tied it to an amazing thing, which was a good work that God had ordained for Abraham to do after he had been saved by grace through faith (not of himself), but of Christ.  He was ordained to that that wonderful, earthly work, and yet, it had nothing to do with his justification.  It was only by the faith of Jesus Christ.