Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast. My name is Kosti Hinn, and I have the pleasure of being your host. For the Gospel is all about providing sound doctrine for everyday people. And on today's episode, I want to explain justification by faith. Maybe that's a doctrine you've heard of, maybe it's a doctrinal teaching you've not heard of, but every Christian should know what justification by faith is and what it isn't, and why it's a huge deal for Christianity. And so, as usual, uh our team is committed to having you covered. And we want to grow together, learn together, and equip you with doctrinal understanding that you can retain and then share with others. Before we jump in, I do want to thank you. Uh, I can't go in another episode and not thank you for the way that you guys have partnered with us. It's been incredible to watch God work through you and to use our little effort here to equip and bless people and support local churches. Uh, a couple of quick things. First, we asked you from day one to partner with us in three ways and have been blown away by the response. We asked you to pray, we asked you to share, and we asked you to give if the Lord has given you the ability to do that. And uh, we have watched as people have sent us messages and shared with other people, and we are now receiving testimonies from people who have been growing and believe some of them that they've actually been saved and now they have a better understanding of the true gospel, while other people are recovering from false doctrines and churches that were abusive, and then other people are just getting fired up, to be honest, uh, and being reminded to share the gospel every single day, every single opportunity they get. And so thank you so much for your prayers. Prayer is the power source behind this ministry. We believe that. So please keep praying. And as well, thank you for sharing. Our social media team uh gets blitzed with notifications all day. I hear about it sometimes, and they're floored at how much people are sharing and being blessed by the material. That's the whole point is to serve people with this. And then lastly, uh, thank you for giving. So many people have been generous with our ministry, and that has allowed us to acquire excellent media gear, uh, ways that we can keep putting out resources. We have another big series coming this fall. Uh, we'll actually do an in-person event. So look for more information on that in Southern California as we put out a dating and courtship resource, similar to the fused series, but specific for those who are preparing for marriage. And so, whether you're a teenager, college student, young adult, uh, that event is going to be specifically for you. We'll record it professionally and put together a production, but we'll also host it live. And so there'll be plenty of seating. And though it will be limited, we'll have a good amount of seats for those of you who want to join us. And so look for more information on that. We'll announce it here more formally as the summer wears on. But I wanted to put it on your radar, and that's because people have been giving and they've been generous, and now we're able to put out more uh resources. And so thank you, thank you, thank you. Uh, testimonies have come in. I want to share with you one or two here. Uh gentleman named Carlo, 55 years old, said this uh ministry has brought so much clarity to his life. Another young man, 14 years old, wrote in and said uh he listens to the podcast every week and is growing stronger every day. Uh wonderful sister in the Lord named Megan wrote in and said she's a prosperity gospel survivor, and this ministry has helped to equip her as she heals up and gets a good grasp now on the true gospel. And then another one that came in was from a wonderful sister named Ariel. And Ariel has said she's been so encouraged by the podcast, the blog articles. She reads them, takes notes on them and applies them, and has noticed that our ministry in particular, our writers and the different videos we've been putting out are very clear, very easy to understand, and yet deep and theological. And so she thanks us for that. Um, all of this gives glory to God. He is the power source and the reason that this is all possible. So thank you for partnering with us, and our team is committed to continue in this effort. Well, let's jump in. Justification by faith. What is it? Why is it important? I think if we're going to talk about justification by faith, we have to go back to the Reformation. Justification by faith is not some ho-hum doctrinal truth. It ultimately is what caused the Protestant Reformation and the split of the Protestant Church from the Catholic Church. So without diving too deep into Catholicism versus Protestant beliefs, we'll do another episode on that here in the coming weeks. I want to look a little bit at what the Reformation involved and why it began. The core matter was the issue of justification by faith. There really was no great disagreement prior to that between the Roman Catholic Church authorities and Protestant reformers in general. It all started when justification by faith came into the picture. All of the parties involved agreed that Jesus was divine, that he was the Son of God. They all believed in the virgin birth. They all believed that Jesus lived a perfect life, was perfectly obedient, that he died on the cross, an atoning death, that he was raised. There was no argument over the resurrection, any of the other core tenets of the gospel. But the battle of the Reformation was over the second part, if you will, of the gospel. Um, the benefits of Christ that are applied to the believer, which are essential. The Reformers believed and taught that we're justified by faith alone, not by works. Faith is the sole cause of our justification. It is by faith that we are justified. And I'll explain what justified even means here shortly. And so they meant this: that we receive all the benefits of salvation, all the benefits of Jesus' work on the cross by putting our faith in him alone. That's why you might hear by faith alone or in Christ alone. That is what the Reformers believed. Now, Roman Catholicism taught that faith is certainly a necessary condition for salvation, but there are other elements. And so there the difference begins. And there is a split. Basically, Roman Catholicism adds in works to justification. There's things you have to still do in order to be justified. That's a radically different view on salvation than faith alone. If it's faith alone, it's faith alone. If it's faith alone plus these works, well, now you have a fundamental difference. And the Protestant Church splits, the Reformation explodes, the Catholic Church is now different, and it is at odds, I believe, and most Protestants do, with Romans 3.28. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. So in order in order to understand justification by faith and why it's a big deal, you need to realize this is the stuff of Reformation. And that's where it really began. Now, that leads us to the question: what exactly is justification? In a theological sense, not justification by faith, but I just want to hone in on the word justification. It's what we would call in theology forensic or a legal justification. It's really a legal term, not justification by faith, but just justification. Now, when applied to a theological view, which is God and the knowledge of God and what he is behind, in the case of justification of a believer, this is God making a legal declaration about the believer. This is not him changing the believer from the inside out. This isn't sanctification, which is you being cleansed and you've been saved and now you're growing. No, this is positional. It is God saying they are justified. This is you being a sinner and you're a mess. And God still says justified. You don't have to be perfect or do works to get justified. He starts the process. He says justified. Justification is like a divine edict in the courtroom of heaven. He says not guilty, they are justified. And you might think forensic decrees sort of seems really, really out there, sort of a big term or something that's a little overstated or too deep to understand. It sounds like I'm getting technical, but you know what forensic decrees are. You experience them all the time. Every time you go to a wedding, this is what happens. By the power invested in me, by the state of California, Arizona, pick your state. I now pronounce you man and wife. And what happens? Someone is legally married. What happens when they're legally married? Their status changes. They're not single. The state, the world recognizes that individual as legally married. That is what a forensic decree is. Same thing when you own a house. Legally, you own the house. When you get the keys to the car, if you will, legally, you have if you have the title, you've paid it off. It is yours. So it changes the position of a believer. When God says that you are justified, do you ever have to worry about your marital status once the license is signed and the minister has said you are man and wife? No, he is hers, she is his. And now you might think, well, there's still, you got to still be married and live together and grow together. Absolutely. That would be the same thing as sanctification if we're using that analogy. There's growth and there's trials and there's discipleship and there's knowledge and confessing sin and patience and all those things. That's sanctification, the process of God growing you after. But justification is different. It is a single moment, a decree, forensic, legal, justified. The believer's position has changed. You don't need to wonder if you are his, you are his, and he is yours. Now, we'll talk about this in a future episode when we answer the question what is sanctification? But I'll give you a little hint. We don't ever divorce justification and sanctification. And here's what I mean by that. You aren't ever justified, and then God doesn't sanctify. He doesn't leave us the way we are. You understand that I do too, that God loves you, yes, the way you are and saves you the way you are. But then we'd say it this way: He also loves you too much to leave you the way you are. He grows you. He what? Sanctifies you. So justification, though, theologically speaking, is a decree. When God saves you, he saves you. Nothing can stop it. You don't need to do any works to get saved. And then if you are truly justified, sanctification will follow. So even if it's slow and agonizing and painful, God is growing you. This exposes works-based systems like Catholicism, like Mormonism, as not the true gospel. Mormonism teaches you aren't saved by grace. You're saved by grace after all you can do. Catholics teach that you need to still do some of the right things in order to be justified. Not that you're justified and then you're sanctified. But when God decrees you justified, that's it. And that's a great encouragement to the believer that he'll finish the work he began. And so you and I keep, according to Galatians 5, striving to walk in the spirit, not according to the flesh. And what Paul means there in Galatians 5, that word walk means literally in the original language that you are preoccupied with the things of the spirit, which means you fill your life, you fill your calendar, you fill your mind, your heart, your relationships, all of life with the things of the spirit. You prioritize what is spiritual and what is most important. And God certainly uses that as you walk in the spirit and he sanctifies you. So understanding the history behind the Reformation, understanding that being justified is a legal term, it's forensic. We can now understand what is justification by faith and what that looks like. This will further prove why the doctrine of justification by faith is a huge deal for you to know about. So here we go. You are not justified by any works you do. So how are you justified? Well, God decrees it, but what does he see? What pleases him? What does the Bible teach? Well, how are how do you know you've been justified? How you know you're saved is you have faith in Christ. So you're justified by faith alone in Christ alone, not by works. God isn't interested in your works as a motivation to save you. He only accepts faith in his son in order for you to be saved. We often judge as human beings what is good and what is pleasing to us and what is acceptable by the merits of works that people have accomplished. That's why we give people gold medals when they win at the Olympics. That's why we give out trophies, that's why we give out job awards and we give scholarships to people. It's all merit-based. Well, God judges based on Christ. If you have faith in Christ, that's how you are justified, not because of works. And so you can put aside any notion that your own self-righteousness and you being such a moral person and you helping old ladies across the street, or you going door to door to give people toilet paper when Costco ran out of it during the early days of COVID. None of that is impressive to God in order to be saved. You are justified by faith alone. The Bible teaches this so clearly. When Paul says in Romans 1, 16 to 17, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God unto salvation. Then he goes on in verse 17 to say, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. He says, the righteous shall live by faith. If you're righteous, God has justified you. He sees Christ as your merit, if you will, the reason that you're gonna be saved, because of Christ. Well, he sees you as righteous. That's because of faith. So many false versions of the gospel promise that the gospel will, you know, provide you with a little bit of coverage, but your works are really gonna take you to the ultimate level you need to be at. You know, prosperity gospel theology promises that you know you get stuff and healing, and faith healers do the same thing, and you know, mystical kind of new agers will promise you an experience and anxiety relief, and you'll have even sort of seeker-driven churches offer you a feel-good entertainment, and we're gonna help you be a better you and feel better about yourself and all these things. It's spiritual bankruptcy, all of them. They're houses of cards, they're empty. There's nothing that will make you righteous outside of Christ, nothing that will take you to whatever there they're talking about. There's no there in their world, in that theology. The only there is Christ. So faith in him is what justifies you. Habakkuk 2.4. Great reminder. As the Word of God declares, behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous shall live by faith. That's what Paul is quoting. He's borrowing from uh Old Testament prophetic literature, Habakkuk 2.4. When we're proud of who we are and our self-righteousness, when we think we we've got it because of what we're doing, our soul is not right within us. The righteous, they live by faith. The one who stands before God as not condemned is not guilty of their sin in the sense that they're gonna pay for it eternally. That person is a humble person. They're not filled with pride, saying, Look at all the things I've done. God is probably so pleased with me. The one who is justified before a holy God is justified because of their faith in Christ alone. That is what God provides. That's the doctrine of justification, and that is tier one essential. You need to look at the Bible. I need to look at the Bible and see the basics of the gospel as Romans 118, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and the unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. So basically, God's holy wrath is pointed at the unrighteous sinner. Romans 3 10 and Romans 3 23, there's none righteous. Everybody has fallen short. So I am and you are, before being saved, helpless, unrighteous sinners. And then Romans 4, now to the one who works his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due, but to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. Basically, you can't earn righteousness with your own works. You can't earn the wages of salvation, if you will, by working for it. But Romans 5, 6 to 9 says that faith in Jesus Christ justifies you and reconciles you to God. That's why Paul says, For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for us while we were still yet sinners. He died for us. Much more than, he goes on to say, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. Without believing in Jesus Christ and trusting him as Lord and Savior, you are exposed. You are defenseless. You are in the courtroom of heaven, spiritually speaking, guilty as charged, you have no coverage, you have no legal defense, and no merits before a holy God. Christ is your merit. God is holy. You're filthy, but Christ is righteous. And so in this very moment, every sinner who dies, having never confessed Christ as Lord, having not placed faith in him, stands condemned before God. And claiming good works isn't gonna work. Only by repenting of sin and turning to him in faith are you forgiven. There is the most beautiful illustration of justification in the ministry of Christ when he tells a parable in Luke 18, 9. This is my favorite parable because it is always humbling. As so many times in the Christian life, we can reach a place where we feel real good about ourselves spiritually, and then we're reminded that God opposes the proud and he gives grace to the humble. Jesus tells a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector. They both went into the temple to pray. The Pharisee stepped forward with his pompous robe, phylacteries, and his chin held high, real spiritual looking with all this flair. God, I thank thee, he prayed, that I'm not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, even like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all I get. He was basically saying, Look at all I do, God. But the tax collector, the Bible says, stood some distance away. He wasn't able to even lift his eyes to heaven. He beat his chest and he says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Jesus asks the question, which man went home justified that day? You and I both know the answer to that. Everyone exalts who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. I asked the question of you, and I asked the question of myself here. Which one do we pray like? Are you, am I justified? If tonight the final verdict is called upon your soul, have you the righteousness of Christ or not? Not your works, not all that you've done. No. Do you have faith in the one who can save you? Are you justified by faith? I want to end this episode by praying for you. And no matter where you're at, I want to pray that the Lord would help you take the next step. If you will uh join me in prayer. Father, if there's anyone in our audience who you are drawing to yourself, I pray that you would do a mighty work in their heart today. You would cause them to be born again. You would guide them to the right church, that you would illuminate Scripture, the light bulb would go off in their mind, they would be reading your word and they would see this is true and this makes sense. Save your people today and work in their heart. Send people into their life who will disciple them and help them and cause them to grow in their faith, Lord. If there's anyone in our audience who needs to be convicted or spurred on to share the gospel and to be a greater witness for you on this topic, perhaps to a Catholic friend or a Mormon loved one or just the person at the grocery store checkout this week who needs to hear about Christ, give them boldness, give them wisdom, and give us all courage to stand as light in this dark world. Thank you for justifying us by faith. Thank you for humbling us to remember our works don't work. We need Christ, but also to know that if you have justified us, you will sanctify us. We are going to grow because of you. So help us to walk in obedience, to love and embrace obedience, and to be faithful and humble before you. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Want to thank you for joining me on the For the Gospel podcast today and digging in. A reminder that we have video teachings going out every single week, short videos that you can learn from, grow with, and share as well. And then if you want to uh partner with us by giving, you can do that tax-free at forthegospel.org. And you can sign up for reoccurring giving if you'd like. It continues to help us produce free resources. To read more articles and check out what our team is putting out there, go to forthegospel.org and click on blog, and you can learn more about our ministry and our team there as well. We'll see you on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter. And don't forget this fall, another wonderful video teaching coming via YouTube channel on dating and courtship. We will be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.