You got two choices. You can bear your condemnation or you can believe that God

condemned it in his son. Those are your only choices.

So what must we believe to be justified by faith in this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper opens Romans 4,

22 to 25 to examine the fundamental truths we must embrace to be justified.

The sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on October 3rd, 1999.

If our faith is going to be credited to us as righteousness, in whom or in what are we to believe? What do we have faith in? And to answer that, we pick

it up in verses 23 and 24 here and notice how Paul gets toward it.

Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also,

let's start there. Here's the point of that little phrase.

Don't miss it because it is directed to everybody in this room.

What was written down in Genesis 15-6,

it was credited to Abraham as righteousness was not written just for Abraham. It was written for

you. So please give heed. This is the apostle Paul speaking to you saying when God inspired Moses to write, it was credited to him as righteousness. He had you in mind this morning.

So the point so far is God saying through this text trust me, rest in me, come to me, lean on me,

bank on me, hope in me, don't bring me your righteousness, you don't have any, I bring you my righteousness.

Receive, receive, receive, don't work, don't work.

Now to him who does not work, but trust in him who justifies the ungodly.

It will be credited to him as righteousness. Don't work, receive, rest, count on, lean, hope. That's the word coming through here for every person in this

room. Now verse 24, believe what? Believe what, believe in whom? So let him define it for us. Namely, middle of

verse 24, him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. And then he says something about this

Jesus.

V. He who was delivered over for our transgressions and was raised because of

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