Justification 1 What Do We Mean By Justification
Overview
What Do We Mean by Justification?
Martin Luther famously said that justification is the doctrine on which the church stands or falls. When the clear teaching of justification is abandoned, the church begins to collapse. So what exactly do we mean by this word?
Justification Is a Legal Term
Justification is not a medicine that gradually makes us better people. If it were, we would be reminded daily that we are still sick with sin, and we could never have confidence before God. Instead, justification is a courtroom word. In the ancient world, "to justify" was the verdict a judge delivered when declaring an accused person not guilty.
Picture the scene: we are the accused, the charge is sin against a holy God, the Judge is God Almighty, the prosecuting attorney is the devil, and the evidence is our own thoughts, words, and deeds. The verdict, astonishingly, is "not guilty"—on account of Jesus Christ. As Paul writes, "a person is justified… not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ" Galatians 2:16.
We Need to Be Righteous
God created humanity in His own image—righteous, holy, and sinless Genesis 1:27. But Adam and Eve fell, and that fall fractured the relationship between God and humankind Genesis 3:6. Sin produced guilt; guilt produced fear; fear produced hiding, blame-shifting, and excuses. We bear the marks of our first parents.
Scripture leaves no room for self-flattery: "There is no one who is righteous, not even one" Romans 3:10. Our deepest problem is not low self-esteem—it is a lack of the righteousness required to stand before a holy God on the day of judgment. The law silences every mouth and holds the whole world accountable; "no human being will be justified in his sight by deeds prescribed by the law" Romans 3:19-20. Be wary of statements like "God forgives those who make amends," "God forgives good people," or "God forgives anyone who first asks." Each of these wrongly locates the cause of forgiveness in something inside us. If sorrow alone secured pardon, the cross would be irrelevant.
God Provides the Righteousness We Lack
Here is the gospel: "the righteousness of God [comes] through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe… they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" Romans 3:21-25. Jesus perfectly obeyed the law in our place and bore the punishment our sins deserved. The Judge declares us not guilty because Christ's righteousness is credited to our account through faith. The size or type of our sin is not the issue—the issue is that we have sinned. And the answer is never something within us; it is always Christ for us.
Blessings and Assurance
The fruit of justification is breathtaking: "since we have been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God" Romans 5:9. To be justified is to be forgiven, given eternal life, brought to peace with God, and assured of His love no matter what life brings.
How can we be sure? Because Jesus "was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification" Romans 4:25. Easter is God's public validation that the sacrifice for sin has been accepted. The empty tomb is our assurance that the "not guilty" verdict truly belongs to us. Live each day in light of who you are in Christ: declared righteous, washed in His victory, and held secure in His grace.
Transcript
We give you thanks, O Lord, that all throughout this your house now and this hour, people from 0s
the youngest among us are gathering to receive your word. 6s
And we know that when your word is sent forth, that word does not come back empty, but that 12s
you use that word to your glory and to your praise. 19s
We pray, Father, that you will now edify us through your word, strengthen us in the faith, 22s
in send us forth with clear proclamation in Jesus' name. Amen. 31s
Well, welcome. Rally Day is always a great day in the life of the church. We rally a new 38s
around the word of God and I am particularly excited about this year's cycle of classes that are 44s
an extend until we get to Memorial Day of 2018. Our second class in the cycle is going to be 53s
witnessing in your personality style. That's going to start in November, mid-November. 62s
God has created all of us uniquely. Some are extroverts, some are introverts, some are 69s
combinations thereof. You can come up with your own percentages as you analyze yourself. 75s
We're going to spend several weeks in terms of how it is that we can witness in affirmation of 81s
the personality style that God has given us. And so that starts in November 12th in January, 87s
near the end of January. I'm going to have a class. It's called Heresies of Old and Responses of 95s
Today. We're going to take a look at some of the ancient Heresies that the early church had to 101s
deal with. And we're going to hear the modern-day version of those Heresies. I think you are going to 109s
be shocked to hear some of the language that is commonplace nowadays. And you'll say, 116s
that's an ancient Heresy. That's my hope. And so we're going to take a look at the ancient 126s
Heresy of Old. We're going to take a look at its modern translation today. And we're going to 132s
say, how did the church witness to that? And how can we witness it? Witness to it. And then in the 136s
later part of April, I'm going to do a little class called Comforting Others. How it is that we 143s
can bring the Word of God, the Word of the Gospel into situations where people are hurting. 149s
I hope that you're going to hear underneath all of these classes. There is a strong 158s
undercurrent. And it's being established today in the sermon. And that is of casting the seed. 163s
And so I hope that as you move with me through these various classes, you're going to hear the 170s
equipping stream for evangelism. And how it is that we can witness to others, whether it is 178s
through the topic that we're going to talk about for the next eight weeks, whether it's through 186s
the unique personality that God has given us, whether it's discerning the language that we hear 190s
and how we can address it and how we can bring the Word of comfort amidst times of hurting 195s
situations. The undercurrent or the river is equipping for evangelism. Let me say this. 200s
We all know enough to be evangelist without one more class, without one more class. The church 208s
throughout the centuries, as one author puts it, likes to spend more times in taking classes on 215s
fishing and never go fishing. All right? So while these classes, I hope, with the undercurrent 222s
of being equipped for evangelism, is indeed going to aid us in terms of reaching out. 228s
The last thing I want you to take away from the undercurrent is, okay, then when we come to 235s
Memorial Day 2018, I'm hitting the streets with the gospel because I'm finally going to be equipped. 240s
Nope, you already know enough. You know enough. You hear the gospel leeching every week. You know 247s
law and you know gospel. You know enough to witness. My prayer is this is going to just further develop 253s
our understanding of what it is that we already know. Well, that's what's going to be coming 259s
to focus on these first eight weeks. I've chosen in honor of the 500th anniversary of the 267s
Reformation, the topic of justification. I want to take eight weeks with you and explore this 273s
from several different perspectives. So at the end of eight weeks, my prayer is that you're going 280s
to be able to articulate and understand justification in a in a greater way than when we started. Luther 286s
said that justification is the doctrine upon which the church rises or it falls. Now, the words, 293s
when there is an abandonment of the clear teaching of the doctrine of justification, 302s
the church can begin to collapse. And so in these eight weeks, I want to explore with you 308s
the fullness of this doctrine. So we're going to take a look at topics such as, why do we need to be 316s
justified? What moves God to justify us? Who does God justify? Who benefits from justification? 321s
How long does it take to be justified? What's the connection between justification and sanctification? 328s
What's the current and final status of the justified? So we're going to get into some meat here 334s
in the weeks, weeks ahead. But today's topic is simply this, what do we mean by justification? 340s
What do we mean by justification? One of the things why it's so important and I so commend you. 348s
For being an adult class. Because it communicates that we are all in the process of being a lifelong 358s
learner. And it's true. Is it not that the more you know, the more you realize you don't know? 366s
Right? So we are constant students. When you look at the great reformers, that was a theme. 372s
They were, it was constantly being a student of God's word. And one of the benefits of 380s
delving into God's word, one of the benefits of it, is indeed you're able to then to analyze 387s
what it is you hear. Because if we don't know the truth, we're not going to be able to discern 395s
that which is false. And that's the problem in so many quarters of the church nowadays. 400s
That this falsehood will come out and there's an inability to discern that which is true from false. 407s
Because because you don't know the truth. And so let me give you a couple of statements here. 414s
And just internally evaluate them. These are statements about how God forgives. So someone might say, 423s
God forgives those who make amends for the sinful things they've done. God forgives those who 433s
make amends for the sinful things they have done. Okay, so if you hear that statement now, that 440s
doesn't sound right. Does it? Doesn't sound right. Because how can anyone ever come close to making 449s
amends for their sins? Right? Or this? God forgives good people. God forgives good people. 455s
I don't sound right either, right? Because the question is, who's good? Right? And the scripture says, 465s
none of us are righteous. No, not one. This one. God forgives all sins except ones that are purely 474s
evil and destructive. God forgives all sins except the ones that are purely evil and destruction. 483s
And destructive. Well, what sin isn't purely evil? What sin isn't purely destructive? What sins 493s
don't dishonor? God. This one, a little bit more complicated. God forgives any one of any sin 501s
if that person first asks for forgiveness. God forgives any one of any sin if that person first 511s
asks for forgiveness. That's not right, is it? Because is asking for forgiveness a condition of the 520s
forgiveness? If asking of forgiveness is a condition of forgiveness, then being sorry is the only thing 531s
that you need to say in order to be forgiven, that means then that the cross of Jesus is what? 539s
It's irrelevant. It's irrelevant. No, we ask for forgiveness because we are, because we believe we 546s
are forgiven through Jesus. In all of these statements here, what it is that we hear is an 554s
improper focus on something in us that causes God to forgive us. And when the focus is on something 563s
in us that causes God to forgive us, we have the wrong focus. God forgives us based upon the 574s
perfect life of obedience of Jesus Christ, that He is the substitutionary lamb for us and the payment 585s
of our sins that He made on the cross. Well, the first thing then that we can say is justification 594s
is a legal term. It's a legal term. It comes from the word to justify. And in ancient day, 604s
it was a term that was used in the courts. And so this was a very familiar term that when the 616s
term justify was expounded on, it was the judge that was giving the verdict of not guilty to the 622s
person who was standing trial. So Paul just simply borrowed that term because it was a perfect 630s
term to communicate what it is that happens through Jesus Christ. Well, let's apply the term. 638s
Let's apply the term. Let's look at it in its legal sense. The accused 648s
that's us. Right? The charge is sin against the Holy God. 660s
The judge is God Almighty. The prosecuting attorney is the devil. The evidence 673s
is our thought and word and deeds. And the ruling is through Christ. What's the ruling? 698s
Not guilty. Right? Not guilty. Whoops. Not guilty because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Take a look 715s
with me please at Galatians the second chapter. Galatians is in the New Testament. Matthew Mark, 729s
Luke John, Acts and Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, and then Galatians. Galatians chapter 2, 737s
verse 16. So justification then here, the first point, it's a legal term. It's the declaration of 748s
not guilty of someone who's charged with a crime. Galatians chapter 2, verse 16. 760s
Yet we know that a person is justified in words declared not guilty, not by the works of the law, 769s
but through faith in Jesus Christ. We know that a person is justified declared not guilty by 779s
not by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. Many will look at justification and 788s
understand it medicinally. They'll look at justification and they'll talk about it medicinally. 799s
In other words, they understand justification as a medicine that God gives to give us the power 806s
to become better and better people. So it's this act of grace that God gives us this power to 815s
overcome sin so that we can become better and better people. And justification is put in the 824s
guise of medicine. Well, if justification is a medicine to which you have to keep getting doses, 831s
you're reminded then, right, that you are still sick with sin. We're reminded of that each and 843s
every day. So there can never be a confidence in our justification in our being declared not guilty 850s
if justification is regarded with a medicinal understanding. No, instead justification is a legal 858s
turn. It is a declaration of a status now of not guilty. And it rests not on ourselves, it's not 868s
on the inward turn. It rests upon the act of God through the Lord Jesus Christ and which we are 879s
declared as the judge comes down with the gavel in which the judge, the Lord Jesus Christ, 888s
God Almighty declares to us that we are forgiven through Him. That is an incredible word of comfort. 895s
Is it not when we see our weakness, when we see still that which we confess our own sinfulness 906s
and thought in word and indeed when it's a legal term, not a medicinal term. There is comfort. 913s
So the first thing then we say about justification is it's a legal term. The second thing 922s
that we can say about it is we need to be righteous. We need to be righteous. 930s
Remember God created Adam and Eve in his own image. In fact, let's turn there to Genesis chapter 1 944s
verse 27. Genesis chapter 1 verse 27. 951s
So God created humankind in his image. In the image of God, he created them male and female, 977s
he created them. To be made in the image of God then or the image of God is one of righteousness, 986s
it's one of holiness, it's one of sinfulness. So when you think of God, righteousness, 993s
holiness and sinfulness, Adam and Eve sit against God and they lost the image of God. They lost it. 998s
Jump over to chapter 3 verse 6. 1006s
Chapter 3 verse 6 of Genesis. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, 1015s
that it was the delight to the eyes, that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. She took 1020s
of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate. 1025s
Then the eyes of both were open. They knew that they were naked and they sowed fig leaves 1031s
together and made loin claws for themselves. They heard the sound of the Lord, 1035s
God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze and the man and his wife hid 1040s
themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 1045s
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you? 1050s
He said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid 1056s
myself. He said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I 1060s
commanded you not to eat? The man said, the woman whom you gave to me gave to be with me. She 1067s
gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it. Don't you love that? Don't you love it? It's not my fault. 1074s
It's the woman that you gave to me. There's only one woman here. 1084s
Eve is getting it and also who else is getting the blame. God. Adam here says, I'm going to 1092s
shoot off all my guns right at the beginning here. I'm going to blame you, God, because of the 1101s
routine and the Lord God said, the woman, what is this that you have done? The woman said, 1111s
the serpent tricked me and I ate it. See? There is. It's not my fault. Notice what happens here 1115s
in the relationship between Adam and Eve in the relationship with God. Sin creates guilt. 1126s
Guilt creates terror in Adam and Eve when they thought about facing God. What were they doing? 1134s
They're hiding. Guilt and fear led to lies and excuses about what had happened. They blame God 1141s
and there's a separation now because of sinfulness from a holy God. Sin has fractured the relationship 1152s
between God and humankind. We are the descendants of Adam and Eve. We bear the marks of our parents. 1161s
We have the same problems in our relationship with God. Same problems. 1171s
Guilt causes fear in our relationship with God. We're afraid of God's judgment on our sin. 1176s
We can have uncertainty about the love that God has for us because God is omniscience and knows 1184s
all about us. We can attempt to hide our sin or deflect the responsibility for it to others 1190s
even to God and sin creates a distance between us and God that can't be bridged by any human 1198s
attempts to deal with sin. Let's look at Romans now, the third chapter. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 1205s
Acts and then Romans. Romans chapter 3, 1216s
verse 10. 1225s
So justification is a legal term and we need to be righteous because we are unrighteous because of 1228s
sinfulness. Romans chapter 3, verse 10. As it is written, there is no one who's righteous, 1237s
not even one. There's no one who has understanding. There is no one who seeks God. 1252s
All have turned aside. Together they've become worthless. There's no one who shows kindness. 1263s
There is not even one. Okay, verse 19. 1268s
Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every 1278s
mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For no human being 1284s
will be justified in his sight by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge 1292s
of sin. We need to be righteous. Robert Schueller said that the greatest problem humankind has is a 1301s
lack of self-esteem. Do you hear the triteness in that? 1316s
And the glass cathedral of which thankfully has crumbled. The glass cathedral was built upon the 1325s
premise that the greatest need that a human being has is their self-worth. Nope. Self-worth is the 1337s
biggest problem that humans have. Where we esteem ourselves higher than we ought. Where we don't 1351s
understand the depth of our sinfulness, where we don't understand the depths of our holiness, 1360s
where we don't understand that our problem is not a lack of self-esteem. Our problem is a lack of 1366s
righteousness to be able to stand before a righteous God on judgment day. That's the problem. 1374s
Is it not? It's a legal term and we need to be righteous because we are sinners, 1383s
justly deserving of condemnation. Look at verse 19. Now we know that whatever the law says, 1395s
it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world 1406s
may be held accountable to God. For no human being will be justified in his sight by deeds prescribed 1412s
by the law for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. It is nothing that we can do to make our 1423s
selves righteous. We are in a pickle, aren't we? It's a legal term and we need to be made righteous 1437s
before God. So evaluate the statement that I know that my aunt is in heaven. She was so good to me 1451s
and she went to church every Sunday. I know my aunt is in heaven. She's so good to me and she went to church every Sunday. 1467s
It's a problem with that. God demands perfection, not just general goodness and religious observation. 1481s
He demands absolute perfection or this phrase. I heard that a serial killer and rapist supposedly 1493s
repented and believed in Jesus before he was executed. Well, I don't want to be in heaven if a guy like 1503s
that is going to be there. Okay, I'm so glad you're laughing. That's good. I'm glad you're not sitting 1510s
there and saying, isn't that true? You know, nudging your partner absolutely. I heard that a serial 1524s
killer in a rapeist supposedly repented and believed in Jesus before he was executed. Well, I don't 1532s
want to be in heaven if a guy like that is going to be there. But you see the type or size of our 1536s
sin is not the issue. The issue is that we have sinned period. That's the issue. We've all fallen 1540s
short of his standard of perfection. If justification is a legal term of which it is in which we are 1548s
declared not guilty and we need to be righteous, then how do we get the righteousness that we need? 1556s
Look back, please at Romans chapter 3, verse 21. 1566s
But now apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the law 1572s
and the prophets. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe 1580s
for there's no distinction. Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 1588s
they are now justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that word means to buy back 1595s
through the buyback that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his 1605s
blood effective through faith. God has provided the righteousness or the perfection that we lack. 1614s
You know, there were some folks that were traveling from our congregation. They went into a church 1624s
and you remember a couple of weeks ago where I told you about the parable there in which Jesus calls 1632s
the woman a dog and I said in the Greek it means puppy, Jesus is talking tongue and cheek there. 1640s
Heard back from these folks that were visiting in a congregation on their vacation and the pastor 1648s
was preaching that very same text. This is what the pastor said. The pastor says, this shows here 1655s
of Jesus's need to repent of the sin of being a male show venest to this woman. 1663s
Okay? All right? Now, why is it that you've grown there? 1674s
Because you know the truth from your study of the word of God so that you can be able to do 1681s
discern it when falsehood is lifted up. Jesus can't be a sinner. If Jesus is a sinner, 1686s
then Jesus isn't God. If Jesus is a sinner, then Jesus needs a savior, right? 1696s
And so Jesus is the perfect righteousness that is ours. Jesus perfectly obeyed the law. You'll 1703s
see some folks getting up if you're new to adult class. This is when the choir sings at 11 o'clock, 1714s
they have to go in for a rehearsal. At least that's what I'd like to believe every year. 1719s
And thankfully they didn't sing at the first service so this looks justifiable to me 1725s
that they're getting up. In Jesus, he perfectly obeys the law so that we indeed can receive the 1730s
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Jesus Christ, that he perfectly 1742s
obeys the law, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that he was perfectly obedient to the Father 1750s
in going to the cross. That righteousness enables God to justify us as an act of his grace, right? 1755s
Because where's the justification for the Father justifying us? Well, the justification for the Father 1764s
justifying us is because of the righteousness of Christ. So the judge says, 1771s
Jesus has taken the punishment. Jesus lived the perfect life. I credit that now 1780s
through faith to your account. And so the judge is the one that justifies based upon the perfect 1791s
righteous life of Jesus Christ. What's the blessings of justification? Let's go to Romans the 5th chapter, 1803s
so next point is he's provided the righteousness to us. And now we have incredible blessings. 1824s
Romans the 5th chapter, verse 9, much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his 1836s
blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God? So for friends, says, where are you a 1846s
Christian? Let me tell you the joy of being a Christian. I'm justified. In other words, I'm 1857s
forgiven. I've received the gift of eternal life. I'm at peace with God. God has restored me into 1866s
a right relationship with him. And I know that God loves me despite what occurs in my life. 1872s
I know he loves me. See, that's one who understands the glory and the beauty of justification. 1882s
How can we be sure of our justification? 1893s
Lastly, let's take a look at Romans the 4th chapter. Romans chapter 4, verse 25. 1899s
Speaking of Jesus, it says, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our 1914s
justification. That means then that Easter is the validation that the sacrifice for sin had been 1927s
accepted. And because Jesus Christ came out of the tomb, that's the assurance to us that, indeed, 1933s
that not guilty verdict that God gives to us indeed can be given to us. 1941s
What an incredible blessing. We can approach each and every day living in light of the legal 1947s
term of justification, who we are in Christ Jesus. We can see that our need to be righteous has 1953s
been provided for in Jesus Christ. We've been washed in the victory that was won through the cross 1960s
and the empty tomb in our baptisms. And we can live in the surety of that each and every day. 1967s
We just got a glimpse, knowing of why Luther said, the church rises or falls on this doctrine. 1979s
Rises or falls on it. Because if there's a wrong understanding of justification, church 1989s
grumbles, the church grumbles. I want to explore with you ways that we try and justify ourselves. 1995s
So we're going to look at rationalizing a way sin, denying sin, blaming others, comparing ourselves 2006s
with others. We're going to look at that under the banner on the topic of, why do we need to be 2012s
justified? And how is it that we can be tempted to, even in the tiniest of ways, to try and justify 2018s
ourselves? Well, that's next week. And so we'll continue at that point. Wonderful to have you in the 2028s
plus movement. 2037s