Justification, a rest...

“If thou feel thy sins, and the burden thereof, look not them in thyself, but remember that they are translated and laid upon Christ, whose stripes have made thee whole (Isa. liii. 5). This is the beginning of health and salvation. By this means we are delivered from sin, justified and made inheritors of everlasting life, not for our own works and deserts but for out faith, whereby we lay hold upon Christ…
And we are, ‘justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. iii. 24). Wherefore it is a great matter to lay hold upon Christ by faith, bearing the sins of the world. And this faith alone is counted for righteousness….Wherefore God doth accept or account us as righteous only for our faith in Christ….
But where Christ and faith be not, there is not remission or covering of sins, but imputation of sins and condemnation. Thus will God glorify His Son, and will be glorified Himself in us through Him.” Martin Luther, Commenting on Galatians 2:15,16.

We are most prone to forget the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone. I have been sweetly reminded of it hence from reading through Luthers commentary on Galatians. Truly it is the most freeing doctrine of all, and hurling oneself headlong therin, sweet refreshment shall come from the pure waters of Zions heavenly stream.

The Doctor on Romans 4:23-25

"That is the final word-Abraham did not stagger at the greatness of the promise. The devil will come to you, and voices within you will say, 'How can I possibly say a thing like that? Look at this life which I am entering as seen in the Sermon on the Mount, the lives of saints, and the life of Jesus Christ. I am so weak, I am constantly falling- how can I?' You must just say, 'I believe this word of the resurrection, I believe the old word spoken unto Abraham. That man was dead, as it were, physically, and so was Sarah's womb. But God told him that they would have a child. He believed God, and I believe God. I believe that though I am weak and helpless and hopeless and vile and without strength, I believe this God of the resurrection, this God who can "bring to life" the things that are not, "who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were". I believe He can call into life within me a new man and a new nature and give me strength and power.' That is Christian faith That is justifying faith. It is faith that enables the believer to dare to believe on the bare word of God, that one day
he will be 'faultless and blameless, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing'. Though this faith he can believe 'that which hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ'(Philippians 1:6), and can stand confidently and defy everybody and everything Possessing it he not longer fears death and the grave. Indeed, he no longer fears the final judgment because he knows that he has 'passed from judgment into life' in Christ Jesus." -D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans 3:20-4:25, p249.