Job 25:4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? I. WHAT JUSTIFICATION IS. The being accounted righteous though we are not so. When brought into a justified state we are treated as if we were altogether righteous. Whose is this righteousness? Whence is it derived? Not from ourselves or any remaining excellence in human nature. We must be accounted righteous, and justified with God, by other merits than our own. It is to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that we are indebted. II. HOW A MAN CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED. 1. Not by repentance. 2. Not by amendment of life. 3. Not by our sincerity. 4. Not by any works whatever of our own. III. HOW ALONE HE CAN BE JUSTIFIED. We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Why does faith alone, faith without works, justify us? Because faith is the only medium by which we can receive Christ. IV. WHY A MAN CAN BE JUSTIFIED IN NO OTHER WAY THAN THE WAY IN WHICH HE IS JUSTIFIED. 1. It is God's determination that "no flesh shall glory in His sight." 2. God has determined that His Son alone shall be exalted in the justification of a sinner. 3. It is God's determination to magnify His name and word above all the philosophy and traditions of men. 4. It is a merciful God's gracious determination to afford grounds of the most abundant consolation to the humbled and believing sinner. (W. Mudge, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?WEB: How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean? |
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