Wesley's classic exposition of the Protestant doctrine of justification — how the ungodly are accounted righteous by faith alone, not by their own works.
Sermon 5 of 44 · 1746 · Romans 4:5
Justification by Faith
A passage from the sermon
The plain Scriptural notion of justification is pardon, the forgiveness of sins. It is that act of God the Father, whereby, for the sake of the propitiation made by the blood of his Son, he 'showeth forth his righteousness (or mercy) by the remission of the sins that are past.' This is the easy, natural account of it given by Saint Paul throughout his epistle.
The condition of this, is faith; not faith in general, but a particular sort of faith. It is not only the faith of devils, who 'believe and tremble'; but the faith of a 'Christian' — a sure trust and confidence which a man hath in God, that, through the merits of Christ, his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of God.
The full sermon is in the public domain and freely available from CCEL and other archives.