Justification 2 Why Do We Need To Be Justified

Overview

Why We Need to Be Justified

Justification is God's legal verdict declaring sinners "not guilty" on account of Christ's perfect obedience, suffering, and death in our place. But the verdict only matters if we understand the charge. In a culture that increasingly denies moral absolutes—where some say, "I don't believe in sin, I believe in choices," and where right and wrong are decided by statistical majority rather than Scripture—the very category of sin is fading. When sin is no longer a problem, a Savior is no longer a need. That is precisely why a clear understanding of our sinfulness is essential to the gospel: we cannot treasure Christ's justification of us until we recognize what we need to be saved from.

Scripture is unflinching about the human condition. Ecclesiastes 9:3 says the hearts of all are full of evil; Jeremiah 17:9 describes the heart as devious and perverse. David confesses in Psalm 51:5 that he was a sinner from conception. This is the doctrine of original sin: by nature we are oriented toward evil, born in rebellion, with no impulse in us that desires God. And God does not grade on a curve. Matthew 5:48 commands perfection, and James 2:10 warns that to fail at one point of the law is to be accountable for all of it. If God required only decency, we might manage. But He requires holiness—and so we stand as hopeless sinners in need of a Savior.

Because we cannot meet that standard, we live in a world full of self-justification—humans declaring themselves "not guilty" apart from God. Four patterns recur. We rationalize, as Eve did in Genesis 3:1-6, telling ourselves the sin is small, common, deserved, or even good. We deny, refusing to call sin what God calls sin and trusting our own hearts to decide right and wrong. We blame others—Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and both ultimately blamed God. And we compare, pointing to those who sin worse than we do, as if relative goodness could satisfy an absolute standard. Each is worth honest reflection: What sins am I rationalizing? Denying? Blaming on others? Excusing through comparison?

There is only one true justification, and Romans 3:23-25 names it plainly: all have sinned, and all who are justified are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, received through faith. Christ's blood buys us back. His atonement makes us "at one" with the holy God from whom our sin had severed us. This is wonderfully liberating. The bondage of constantly defending ourselves, managing our guilt, and propping up our worth gives way to the freedom of honest confession and full absolution. We can say each day, "I am a sinner who deserves nothing but judgment—and yet the Judge has declared me not guilty in Jesus Christ." From that secure place we no longer need to extract meaning from our relationships, jobs, or accomplishments; we bring meaning to them as children of the King. And because we already know this gospel, we are already equipped to share it—lovingly speaking the law that exposes sin so that the sweetness of Christ's justification can be heard for what it truly is.

Transcript

Father, we confess how difficult it is to see our own sin and unworthiness. 1s

Pride runs deep in our sinful hearts. 7s

The devil works tirelessly to convince us that we're not desperate beggars before you. 11s

In the world, exalts men and women as their own God in countless ways. 18s

Break down our pride with your law. 23s

Invite your spirit lead us to humble repentance so that our confidence may be in Christ alone. 26s

In his holy and precious name, the name of Jesus, we pray. 34s

Oh, man. 39s

Well, what a joy it is. 40s

Isn't it to be in the Lord's house gathered around Word and sacrament to be fed and then to be sinned forth 42s

in ministry. 51s

It is such a glorious rhythm of life, isn't it? 52s

And we started this little eight-week class on justification last week. 56s

This is an honor, of course, of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. 61s

This is a particularly good year to be a Lutheran. 67s

You know, it's just really a good year. 71s

And so it's going to be a glorious time and just a little glimpse ahead 73s

of the month of October. 79s

We're going to focus on the great tenants of the Reformation. 81s

Each week, I'm going to preach on a different tenant. 84s

And then it's going to culminate in an absolutely glorious Reformation service. 87s

You know, one of the advantages of being married to the director of music is I get sneak peaks. 94s

I tell you, this is going to be glorious celebration on Reformation Sunday. 102s

So it's just a wonderful time of celebration. 107s

We talked about last week what justification is. 111s

And remember, we talked about the fact that justification is a legal term. 114s

It was adopted by the Apostle Paul. 118s

It was a legal term used in the day where a judge would declare someone not guilty. 121s

Could I ask somebody just to close that back door for me if you would? 127s

Thank you. 130s

We need to be justified in order for us to be righteous before God. 131s

And God has provided the righteousness. 138s

We talked about that last week. 140s

Jesus' perfect life of obedience. 143s

He suffered and died in our place. 147s

He took the punishment that should have fallen upon us. 148s

And that righteous act of the Lord Jesus Christ 152s

enables God to justify us, to declare us not guilty. 156s

We talked about how we can be sure of our justification. 161s

The fact that Jesus Christ came out of the tomb, 166s

we can indeed be sure that the sacrifice for sin has been accepted. 168s

Well, today I want to focus with you on the subject of why do we need to be justified? 175s

Why do we need to be justified? 181s

Biblical beliefs with regard to sin 186s

have fallen increasingly by the wayside in churches and in our society. 190s

There is widespread acceptance of the belief that there are no such things as moral absolutes. 198s

And you can even hear it in a phrase of this one fellow who said, 207s

I don't believe in sin. 211s

I believe in choices. 214s

I don't believe in sin. 217s

I believe in choices, he said. 219s

And so today many believe that something is not sinful. 222s

If it makes them happy, if it doesn't hurt others, if it's simply common. 226s

A couple of years ago in a sermon, remember I mentioned what some folks are calling statistical morality. 237s

Where morality is now determined by statistics. 245s

That you'll sometimes hear X number of people think that this is immoral or wrong. 249s

And you'll see that many of the things in Scripture where God says, 257s

there's only one vote in I meant. 261s

God says, no, this is wrong. 265s

People will say, well, the majority of people say it's right. 269s

Therefore, it is right. 274s

It is statistical morality that the majority will determine right and wrong. 278s

We live in a day in which fewer and fewer people are convinced 284s

that the Bible is indeed the word of God. 289s

And that is increasingly infecting the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 294s

Where folks in the churches are unable, as we talked about last week, 301s

to discern that which is biblical and that which is not right. 306s

This is a really, really serious problem. 312s

It's incredibly serious problem because if we believe that sin is not a problem in our lives, 316s

then that means that we don't need a Savior. 324s

Because if sin isn't a problem, what do you need to be saved from? 329s

And so as there's an accrucing acceptance even in the churches of a 334s

church, we need a lessening understanding and definition of sinfulness. 339s

That gives rise to no pressing need for a Savior. 345s

And if we don't believe in the Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ, 349s

then we perish forever. 353s

Remember, we are all eternal beings and we have one of two destinies, either the destiny of heaven 355s

or the destiny of hell. 361s

So it's a very, very serious problem. 365s

We live in a world of justification. 369s

And that's the main point that I'd like you to take away from the study this morning. 375s

We live in a world of justification. 380s

Not gods, but human kinds. 385s

Where humankind declares to itself. 390s

I'm not guilty. 394s

I'm not guilty. 396s

And humankind announces unto themselves an absolution if they feel like there is a need for 398s

absolution. 407s

So I want to take a look with you today about in distinction between how scripture defines 408s

of justification, how the world defines justification, and how the world attempts to justify 415s

themselves. 422s

Remember, the undercurrent of all of our classes, as we get into witnessing based on personality 423s

types and in a couple of months and and and heresies of the old and how you hear them in common 431s

language today and how the early church addressed it, how we address it, in the tail end of our time 437s

together in in May when we talk about various ways that we can bring comfort and minister to people 443s

who are going in difficult times. The undercurrent of everything is witnessing. 449s

Remember the premise? 456s

We already know enough to witness, right? 457s

We already know. You know the gospel. You hear it every week. 460s

If I say, what's the gospel? You'd be able to articulate that back to me. 464s

We know the gospel. We already know enough to be a witness. 467s

The undercurrent of all these classes is to further equip us in our articulation. 471s

Perhaps our confidence of reaching out. But as I shared last week, the last thing I want you to 477s

take away from is in May of 2018, I'm hitting the streets with the witness of the gospel of Jesus 484s

Christ, because then I'll be ready. No, you're already already. So don't wait until May 2018 when we 493s

get done with all this, all right? Okay. 500s

How is it that the world attempts to justify themselves, to pronounce justification for themselves? 504s

One way that we see is to rationalize. 511s

Is to rationalize. This of course goes all the way back to the garden. 517s

Let's go to Genesis chapter one. Please, Genesis chapter one. 524s

Genesis one, verse 29. 542s

And we read there, God said, see I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face 548s

of all the earth. And every tree with seed and its fruit, you shall have them for food. 555s

Notice what he says in chapter two, verse 17. 565s

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 570s

In the Lord God commanded the man, you may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but 575s

of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die. 581s

Hear the rationalization in chapter three beginning with verse one. 592s

The rationalization for sin. 597s

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. 602s

He said to the woman, did God say, you shall not eat from any tree in the garden? 607s

The woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 615s

you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, or shall you touch it 620s

or you shall die. But the serpent said to the woman, you will not die. 624s

For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, 631s

knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a 635s

delight to the eyes, here what's happening, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, 644s

she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate. 653s

And the eyes of both were open, they knew they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together 660s

and made loin clogs for themselves. So here's the rationalization, right? The tree is good for food, 666s

their physical beaks, they need to eat. Fruit was pleasing to the eye, how could something that looks 676s

good be bad? The fruit was desirable for gaining wisdom. Oh God was good and would not withhold 684s

good from them, if the fruit could make them grow in wisdom, then how could God be against eating it? 693s

And what were they doing? They're rationalizing themselves. What were they doing? They were 701s

pronouncing upon themselves because they clearly knew that it was wrong. They were pronouncing upon 708s

themselves, they're justification. They were declaring themselves not guilty. 713s

Think on how we can attempt to rationalize our own sins. I'll do it just this once. 721s

Everybody does it. My environment and upbringing forces me to do this. 732s

No one will know. It won't hurt anybody. I deserve to cut loose a little every once in a while. 742s

There's too much peer pressure. I'm just a victim. I'm a victim. 760s

At least I'm not doing something really bad like others. I know. 766s

You see, God says this is justification, the declaration of not guilty through the cross of the 775s

Lord Jesus Christ. In our sinfulness we have our own justification. And we want to justify ourselves. 782s

We want to declare to ourselves the not guilty verdict. So here's reflection. 793s

What sins have I been attempting to rationalize? What sins have I been attempting to rationalize? 802s

Another way we try and justify ourselves is by denying. 817s

So we will rationalize the okeness with regard to sin. Also the second is we can be a people that 827s

try and deny our sin. Let's go to the book of Ecclesiastes, please, in the Old Testament. 836s

Find the book of Psalms right in the middle and then start turning right toward the New Testament. 845s

Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and then you land in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 3. 850s

Ecclesiastes chapter 3. There we read, this is an evil and all that happens under the sun. 871s

That the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of all are full of evil. 878s

Madness is in their hearts where they live. And after that they go to the dead. Notice how the 890s

heart is described. The hearts are all full of evil. Madness is in their hearts. Let's go over to 897s

the book of Jeremiah. Keep going towards the New Testament. You're going to cross over Isaiah. 910s

Then you hit Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9. 917s

Jeremiah 17 verse 9. 934s

The heart is devious above all else. It is perverse. Who can understand it? The heart is devious 941s

among all else. It is perverse. Who can understand it? The sinful human heart by nature denies 951s

the actions where God calls sinful things, sinful things. And what comes naturally to us is to 964s

trust our own thinking, to determine for ourselves that which is right and wrong. 974s

Now, that goes back to the Garden of Eden, right? God said, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge 982s

of good and evil. You do that, you die. Why did he say that? Don't eat of the tree of knowledge 987s

of evil because the minute we determined God said what is right and what is wrong, we die. 993s

Because that is reserved unto God. We don't understand the sinfulness of our hearts. 1001s

We're our standard. And so we try and deny it because what we like to hear are, 1013s

and you can fill in whatever motivational speaker will tell you how wonderful you are. 1023s

You see, Scripture does not say that, does it? 1028s

It's Scripture births the honest confession of Paul when he says, oh, wretched man that I am. 1032s

We don't understand the evilness of the heart. People will say, why is the world like it is? 1044s

Why is the world like it is? In fact, one commentator on a show the other day was saying, 1051s

I believe that in the heart of people, she said, in the heart of people, people are good. I said, 1056s

wrong. Wrong. So we're not. Our heart is evil. Is evil? Why is the world like it is? The church 1063s

has the response to that sinfulness. It's our heart. And we want to deny that we're constantly 1073s

trying to deny it. But yet, Scripture reveals to us the truthfulness. This is what's called the 1082s

doctrine of original sin. We are by nature sinful people. We're unable to be holy. We are oriented 1088s

toward evil in our thoughts and in our desires. Psalm 51, David says, I was a sinner since my mother 1095s

what? Conceived me. Conceived me. You see, it goes all the way back. But there are common 1105s

misconceptions with regard to the evilness of our heart. You'll hear it in phrases like this. 1116s

What people need from religion is practical help with life, not the gift of eternal life. 1122s

Okay, here, what's the premise to that? The premise is, yeah, okay. I'm okay. You're okay. 1129s

I'm okay. You're okay. What I really need help with are the struggles I have at work. 1138s

Right? So it becomes psychologized instead of the church dealing with what is the fundamental 1145s

base problem and that is the sinfulness and wickedness of our heart. In our sinfulness, we try and 1153s

rationalize it. That's how the world justifies. We try and deny it. That's how the world justifies. 1164s

How about this? We have the ability to make a decision to become believers. What is that deny? 1171s

Why? It denies as we talk about in the sermon that we are born blind, enemies wanting nothing to 1179s

do with God. We don't have one impulse in us that desires to be in relationship with God. We are 1187s

born in rebellion against God. Rationalize, deny, and in denying our sinfulness, we're trying to 1194s

pronounce justification upon ourselves to declare ourselves, not guilty. Here's the reflection. 1208s

Have I been in denial about any sin in my life? Have I been in denial about any sin in my life? 1218s

Here's the third way. We try and justify ourselves by 1230s

blaming others. We try and justify ourselves. We try to declare ourselves not guilty by blaming 1238s

others. For the sake of time, I won't turn there. But remember back in Genesis 3 that we talked about 1247s

last week. Remember what was the response? Who did even, or already smiling? You're already, 1253s

oh, I remember they all went like this. Everybody in the scenario. It was, it was Eve's fall, 1262s

it was the servants fault, and then it was who else's fault? It was God's. Remember the response? 1267s

You know the woman you gave me? You know, can you believe it, God? You know, you've plopped me in 1274s

the garden with her? You know, well, of course we're going to wind up in this situation, right? 1281s

Right? And there it is. It's the blaming of others. So here's the reflection. What sins of my own? 1287s

Have I been blaming on others? What sins of my own? Have I been putting a blame on others? 1296s

Here's the fourth way. We try and justify ourselves by comparing ourselves with others. We try 1309s

there's always someone that we know, right? Who's sinning more and in worse ways in our mind. 1325s

Always somebody, right? It's also a lot more easy to focus on somebody else's sinful behavior than our 1332s

own. And so we look at things and we say, well, at least I'm not like, 1339s

and we point the finger, right? Look at Matthew the fifth chapter. 1348s

Matthew chapter five. 1356s

Verse 48. 1366s

There we read. Jesus says, be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 1380s

Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Or over in James the second chapter. 1392s

Good way to find James just go to Revelation. Turn left. When you start crossing over the 1404s

the Peter's slow down. If you hit Hebrews, you're too far. James chapter two verse 10. 1412s

Here we read for whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable 1428s

for all of it. Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point. God demands from us then 1439s

perfection. Only if God desired something less than perfection, only if God desired, let's say, 1452s

for example, decency, then we could perhaps try and justify ourselves, right? How does the world 1458s

justify that he, they're decent people. But the see, God doesn't establish the criteria of 1468s

decency. He requires of us absolute holiness because of that we find ourselves as hopeless 1479s

sinners in need of a Savior. As the church, we need to be a people that lovingly confront with the 1488s

law as we witness because there's never an understanding of a need for a Savior until we understand 1503s

what we need to be saved from. And that is our sinfulness. So we try and rationalize, we try 1512s

and deny, we try and blame others and we try and compare. There's only one right way to be justified. 1523s

Let's go to Romans the third chapter. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 1535s

Acts and then Romans. Romans chapter three, verse 23, and following. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 1538s

Acts and Romans. Romans three, picking up in verse 23. There's no distinction since all have 1551s

sinned and full short of the glory of God. Why is it all because it's a matter of perfection? 1571s

All of sinned and full short of the glory of God. We confess that we have sinned against you in 1579s

thought and word indeed, what we've done, what we've left undone. All of sinned and full short of the 1583s

glory of God. They're now justified. They're declared not guilty. It's the legal pronouncement. 1590s

They're now justified by his grace as a gift. Remember what is what is grace? It's the undeserved 1596s

love of God for us. We're now declared not guilty by God's grace. Through the redemption, 1605s

remember what that word means? It means to buy back. So when Jesus went on the cross, he was 1615s

buying us back. He's purchasing us through his blood. He sheds his blood because the wrath of God 1620s

for sinfulness falls upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're purchased back. We're bought back 1628s

through the blood of Christ by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus 1635s

whom God put forward as a sacrifice of a tome. Remember all of the blood sacrifices, all the 1642s

sacrificial system and the Old Testament that was simply a pointing ahead to the one great sacrifice 1649s

for Lord Jesus Christ, a sacrifice of what of a tomement by his blood. You break that word down 1656s

that the sacrifice for Christ brought about and at onement with God. We're severed from him because 1664s

of our sinfulness. We can't spend forever in the presence of a holy God because we are unholy. 1672s

What we deserve is hell itself. We can't save ourselves. There's no amount of good works that we 1678s

can do and contrary to what the world wants wants to say. We can't justify ourselves. We can't rationalize 1683s

our sin. We can't deny it. We can't blame any others and we can't say, well, at least I'm better 1690s

than them. God, right? Is there a curve here? God says no. I demand perfection. It's either perfection 1695s

or failure. And we have all failed. Through the sacrifice of his blood, we are brought back into 1706s

relationship with him. Then it says effective through faith. In the sacrifice of Jesus Christ 1716s

and across the world is declared not guilty and that great victory is received by faith. 1725s

So if a person comes and says after we make confession, after the service or maybe even during the 1736s

service and leans over to you and says, wow, that confession was awfully negative. 1745s

What do you say? 1758s

Right. Yep. It's truthful. And what it reveals is our need for a savior and how glorious and 1761s

beautiful is that word of absolution. Dealing with our sin by repentance and faith is so 1772s

wonderfully liberating. Is it not? It is wonderfully liberating. This is bondage. 1783s

If you are living with a sense of trying to rationalize your sin, denying the reality of it, 1795s

blaming others, comparing yourself with others, always trying to justify yourself, always trying 1804s

to deal with whatever assemblance of guilt might be roving around in your mind from your own 1811s

perspective of that which is right and wrong. This is just bondage. I mean, what a terrible way 1817s

to live. When we come and we admit our sin freely every single day, when we say, I am a sinner 1828s

and my heart is wicked and what I deserve is the eternal fire of hell itself. 1839s

But God in His grace, the judge has said not guilty through Jesus Christ. 1851s

That means I can live each and every day in the reality of knowing that when life this 1864s

side of heaven ends, and remember how the Bible describes it, it's a vapor. When it just vaporizes 1872s

away, then we are transitioned onto eternal glory. I mean, that's a glory. 1882s

Is it not? When we say the meaning that I get out of life is to serve the very one who has 1892s

declared me not guilty, that means we bring meaning into our relationships. We don't try and get 1900s

meaning out of our relationships. We bring meaning to our jobs. We don't try and get our meaning 1908s

for our existence out of our jobs. As I talk about in the sermon, so if you haven't 1913s

been there yet, act, act, act, surprised, right? When I get, when I get to the point and I say, 1919s

we can't go higher than the position we have as a child of the King of Kings and Lord of 1925s

Lords, you can't go higher than that. I mean, how liberating is this? We don't have anything to prove? 1933s

We don't have to tell ourselves how wonderful we are. We say how wonderful a God is that claimed 1941s

to me and is in the process by His grace of making me more and more like Jesus Christ. 1948s

Each and every day it's wonderfully liberating to say, I am a sinner in need of the grace of God 1952s

and God has provided that grace for me in the Lord Jesus Christ and we live in that grace. 1958s

This bondage, God says, 1966s

live in the freedom of the justification that I have given to you. 1971s

And so we gather on the Lord's day, we receive word and sacrament, we minister to one another 1983s

and we're sent forth as that justified people with the greatest message that can ever be shared 1993s

with someone, right? 2005s

you 2027s