4. The fourth part of the answer to the question how men are justified we find in Rom. 3:26, +"For the showing, I say, of his+ (i.e., God's) +righteousness at this present season: that he+ (i.e., God) +might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus."+ Here we are taught that _men are justified on the condition of faith in Jesus_. If possible, Rom. 4:5 makes this even more plain, +"But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness."+ Here the Holy Spirit, speaking through the Apostle Paul, tells us that to those who believe in Jesus their faith is counted for righteousness. In other words, _faith makes ours the shed blood which is the ground of justification, and we are justified when we believe_. All men are _potentially_ justified by the death of Christ on the cross, but believers are _actually_ justified by appropriating to themselves what there is of justifying value in the shed blood of Christ by simple faith in Him. In other words, the shed blood of Christ is the sole and all-sufficient ground of justification: simple faith in Jesus Christ who shed the blood is the sole condition of justification. _God asks nothing else of the sinner than that he should believe on His Son, Jesus Christ, and when he does thus believe he is justified._ When we believe we are justified, whether we have any works to offer or not; or, as Paul puts it in Rom. 3:28, +"We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law."+ Or, as it is put in the verse already quoted, Rom. 4:5, +"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness."+ A man is justified entirely apart from works of the law, i.e., he is justified on condition that he believes on Jesus Christ, even though he has no works to offer as the ground upon which to claim justification. When we cease to work for justification and simply "_believe_ on Him who _justifieth the ungodly_," that faith is reckoned to us for righteousness, and therefore we are counted righteous. The question then is not, have you any works to offer, but do you believe on Him who justifies the ungodly. Works have nothing to do with justification except to hinder it when we trust in them. The blood of Jesus Christ secures it, faith in Jesus Christ appropriates it. We are justified _not by our_ works, _but by His work_. We are justified upon the simple and single ground of His shed blood and upon the simple and single condition of our faith in Him Who shed the blood. So great is the pride of the natural heart that it is exceedingly difficult to hold men to this doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from works of law. We are constantly seeking to bring in our works somewhere.
5. But we have not as yet completely answered the question of how men are justified. There is another side to the truth and if our doctrine of justification is to be complete and well-balanced, we must look at that other side. You will find part of this other side in Rom. 10:8, 10, +"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."+ God here tells us that the faith that appropriates justification is a faith with the heart, i.e., a faith that is not a mere notion, or opinion, but a faith that leads to action along the line of that faith, and it is therefore a faith that leads to open confession with the mouth, of Jesus as our Lord. If some one has some kind of faith, or what he calls faith, that does not lead him to an open confession of Christ, he has a faith that does not justify; for it is not a faith with the heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself tells us that heart faith leads to open confession; for He says in Matt. 12:34, +"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."+ Faith in Jesus Christ in the heart leads inevitably to a confession of Jesus as Lord with the mouth, and if you are not confessing Jesus as your Lord with your mouth you have not justifying faith and you are not justified.