The True Foundation

The text

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Romans 3:28 KJV

At a glance

Summary of the sermon

Lloyd-Jones now turns to the most fundamental cause of all: a great many unhappy Christians have never really understood the doctrine of justification by faith. This is especially true of people brought up in Christian homes who have always assumed they were right with God. His classic example is John Wesley before 1738 — ordained, disciplined, a missionary, a man who could have passed any examination on the doctrine — and yet a stranger to its power until he grasped that righteousness is received, not achieved.

The root of the trouble is a shallow view of sin. We measure ourselves against particular actions, or against other people who have done worse, instead of against the law of God which commands us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Measured that way, no one is good enough, and a person who has never felt condemned has never really needed a Saviour. There can be no rising, he insists, without a fall.

The cure has two sides. The first is honest conviction of sin: seeing oneself guilty before God whatever one's respectability. The second is grasping God's positive provision — that Christ's perfect obedience and atoning death have satisfied divine justice, so that God can be both just and the justifier of the one who believes. The tell-tale symptom of continued unbelief is the phrase 'I am not good enough'. Of course you are not; nobody is. The moment a person stops looking at himself altogether and rests on the finished work of Christ, joy and release follow.

Key points

• Many miserable Christians lack clarity about justification, not about some higher stage of sanctification.
• Conviction of sin must come first; there is no rising without a fall.
• True conviction comes from facing God's law, not from comparing ourselves with other people.
• Christ's propitiation satisfies God's justice: He is just, and the justifier of him that believeth.
• 'I'm not good enough' is a confession of unbelief — righteousness is imputed, never earned.

Illustrations the preacher uses

• John Wesley's religious zeal before his heart was 'strangely warmed'.
• A woman from a devout home who envied converts with dramatic pasts because she had never felt herself a sinner.
• The pastoral conversation in which someone affirms every doctrine yet hesitates to call himself a Christian.

Related Scripture

• Romans 1:16–17
• Mark 12:30–31
• Luke 18:9–14
• John 17:3
• Romans 3:24–26

For reflection and discussion

1. Have you ever assumed you understood the gospel simply because you grew up around it? What might have been missing?
2. Why does the preacher insist that conviction of sin has to come before genuine joy?
3. In what quiet ways might you still be relying on your own goodness rather than on the righteousness of Christ?