Looking at your phone one day, your news feed tells you there has been another gruesome murder. This time it isn’t far from where you live, or it occurred at a place where you once spent some time. So your interest is piqued, and over the next few weeks you follow the details as they develop. Eventually, a man is arrested, and from what you have heard there is little doubt that he committed the crime. But then – out of the blue – he is released, walking away a free man. Somehow, he has been granted immunity. He has avoided prosecution. It makes no sense. While there is no logical explanation, off he goes into a society which hopes he will never murder again.
I am here to tell you, “I am that man” – or at least, I am somewhat LIKE that man. There may be no LOGICAL explanation for my immunity from prosecution. But there is a BIBLICAL explanation. I have not committed murder or even robbed a pot shop, but I am a sinner in the sight of God. AND yet, I am a free man, exempt from any future prosecution.
About sixty times the Bible uses a word which causes a great many eyes to roll back into their heads. Many ordinary, non-church going, people think that it is nothing but religious gibberish – gobbledygook. They think that it is a useless word – or one which doesn’t have any place in the daily affairs of life. I am referring to “justification” and its cousin: “to justify.”
While “justification” may not be well-used outside the doors of a Bible-believing church, “to justify” is. In the past, I have illustrated “justification” with the margins of type on a sheet of paper – center justified, full justification, right or left justified lines. That may not be really common terminology. More commonly – “justification” speaks of “making things right,” or making things appear to be right.
For example, Adam tried to justify eating the fruit of the forbidden tree by saying that his wife urged him to do it. He tried to tell God that he wasn’t really guilty of disobedience, because someone tempted him. And Eve tried to justify her sin by passing the responsibility to the serpent.
On another occasion, a lawyer tried to tempt Christ into sin by asking a perfectly reasonable question. “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” To get him to see the correct answer, Jesus asked him to summarize Moses’ law. “He answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” But then – “willing to JUSTIFY himself, (he) said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?” The man had no intention of loving his neighbor, trying to justify – or explain away – his negligence by implying he wasn’t sure who his neighbors were.
Six chapters later, in Luke 16, a group of self-centered, covetous Pharisees, after listening to Christ Jesus, began to disrespect Him. Jesus said, “Ye are they which JUSTIFY yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” Those Pharisees were doing things which made them look good to each other. But in the sight of the omniscient God, they were still self-centered, covetous sinners. Their self justification wasn’t working with the great Judge of heaven and earth.
To “justify” is to make things right – or more often – to attempt to make things APPEAR to be right. Biblically, justification is the state of BEING right. And the justification which is taught by Christ and the apostles is being right – or “RIGHTEOUS” – before God. It is not exactly the same thing as salvation from sin. But “salvation” and “justification” are relatively synonymous and quite often interchangeable.
Before we get to my simple outline, listen to some of Paul’s statements to the Romans about “justification.” Approximately a quarter of the Biblical references to “justification” are found in Romans. Romans 5:1 – “Therefore being justified by faith, we have PEACE with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:9 – “Being now justified by his blood, we shall be SAVED from WRATH through him.” Romans 5:16 and 18 – “And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the FREE GIFT is of many offences unto justification. Therefore as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the RIGHTEOUSNESS of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” And speaking about the Saviour, Paul said, “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also JUSTIFIED: and whom he JUSTIFIED, them he also GLORIFIED.” And “who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that JUSTIFIETH” – Romans 8:30 and 33.
Again, what is the Biblical kind of justification? What is it that Paul is trying to tell us? In justification, God – the Judge over all men – the judge of all crime, and all sin… In justification, the Judge declares those people whom He saves, to be righteous in His sight. Biblical justification is God’s declaration of righteousness in someone who in reality is NOT righteous. It is made possible by the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ – the sacrificed Lamb of God. Justification provides peace with God, paving the way for eternal life and ultimately glorification with Christ. Because of divine justification, I have avoided punishment for my sins; I am immune from prosecution. Despite being a sinner and worthy of eternal death, I will never be tried. And the same can be for you as well.
Now let me briefly share with you five important points in regard to this justification.
First, it is INSTANTANEOUS and EVERLASTING.
Justification is an act of God; it is not a process by either God or men. In our opening illustration, the guilty man is in jail, worried to death that is going to be executed. But along comes the Son of Judge with paper-work from His father, setting the guilty man free – if he will have it. He is free, because the Judge has declared him to be righteous, despite the fact that he is not righteous in any personal sense.
How is this possible? How can this be? The Son shows the guilty man the explanation at the bottom of the page – chapter 5 of Romans. There the guilty man reads that the Son is not only willing to pay – but actually paying – the penalty for murder. The moment the sinner believes that document, he becomes “justified” – righteous in the sight of the Judge. There are no degrees of justification – it is either full and final or it is NOT. There are no stages or steps for the condemned man to climb. There is no way for the man to earn justification or to make himself righteous. He is fully justified the moment he puts his faith in the Judge’s Son and in the good news He brings. There isn’t a hint anywhere in the Bible that justification is some sort of continuing process.
Not only is justification immediate, but it is EVERLASTING. When someone is justified, he becomes righteous in the sight of the justifier for all eternity. By the will of the immutable God, this declaration of righteousness can never be revoked or reversed. Again, Romans 8:33 asks the rhetorical question: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” Christ paid the full ransom, and made a complete satisfaction for every one who believeth. If that was not the case, He’d have to die over and over again for every new sin we commit. Hebrews 10:10 tells us that Christ’s offering was “once for all,” and the believer “shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life” – John 5:24.
So far as the believer’s standing is concerned, he has already passed the judgment. He is immune from further prosecution, because Christ was prosecuted AND executed on his behalf. The sinner once stood ready for trial, but he’s been acquitted – because his guilt was laid upon the Saviour. Heb. 10:14 says, “By one offering he (Christ Jesus) hath perfected FOREVER them that are sanctified.” “Them that are sanctified” are those people whom God has justified – declared righteous.
Justification is instantaneous and everlasting, because it is GRACIOUS and absolutely FREE.
In our illustration, the incarcerated, accused murderer is guilty. He knows that he is guilty. There is no doubt about it. This is what makes his justification so unbelievable – both to the world and even to himself. The sinner deserves nothing at the hands of God, except condemnation – the lake of fire for all eternity. Nevertheless God has forgiven that sinner and declared him to be righteous in His sight.
What is it that enticed this holy Judge to declare the murderer “righteous?” Why did He permit His only begotten Son to usurp the sinner’s place in judgment and eternal death? There is no reason whatsoever in the sinner himself. Justification is wholly of God’s grace. Romans 3:20 – “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.”
Romans 4:1 – “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
Titus 3:5 – “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace we should be made heirs of the hope of eternal life.”
Even though justification is declared on the basis of Christ’s atoning work on the cross… Still, God was under no obligation to pardon, forgive or justify any of us. Every bit of our salvation comes through free and unmerited grace. And yet, there were still divine, eternal principles which had to be met.
That atoning work of Christ and the justification it produced, required the SHEDDING of JESUS’ BLOOD.
In Leviticus 17 the Israelites were forbidden to drink blood or to eat meat still saturated with blood. God explained: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Sin can be covered – atoned – by only one substance – blood – pure, righteous, sinless blood. “For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” BUT “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin.” There is only one blood source pure enough to fully atone for our sins – it must come through the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that brings us to some of the most blessed words in all the Bible – Romans 5:6. “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
It is the blood of Christ which makes justification possible.
But still – that justification must be ACCEPTED by FAITH.
Here is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. Going back to our opening illustration: the jail cells on either side of our accused murderer are filled with sinners of various kinds. Some of them stubbornly refuse to admit they are guilty of any crime or sin. Some of them want to blame everyone else but themselves. Some of them know they are guilty, but pride keeps them from accepting the pardon of the Judge. And then there is our subject – the guilty man who knows that he is worthy of death, but who willingly believes the offer, accepting its grace.
Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” How is it that people are justified by faith? What is saving faith?
Justifying faith, involves total self-renunciation. To obtain the free gift of God’s righteousness, there must be the relinquishment of all our own merits and any attempt to make ourselves pleasing in His sight. The truth is, we have no righteousness of our own, and until we recognize that fact, we’ll never be able to put sufficient faith in the Saviour. We might call this self-renunciation “repentance.” Without repentance there will never be salvation.
Second, there must be utter reliance – DEPENDENCE – on our Substitute the Lord Jesus Christ. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” – it must be on the Lord Jesus. Some people hope for heaven based on their faith in their faith in Christ. That is not “saving” faith. Others have faith in their prayer for salvation. That is not saving faith. Christ is the Saviour, and only the blood of Christ is grounds for our justification. In order to be justified, we must admit, one hundred percent, to our guilt. And we must believe that what Christ did on the cross is the means of our deliverance.
And then comes faith’s APPROPRIATION – the application of the blood of Christ to our souls. Until we reach through the cell bars of our condemnation, grasping the pardon which the Son of God offers, we will never be freed.
To put it another way, we have been bitten by the serpent of sin. That venom is flowing through our veins, poisoning every part of us, and guaranteeing our death. But there are at our bed side are packets of rich, red blood – the blood of the Lamb of God. It is not enough for our insurance to bring that curative blood to our bedside. It is not enough to believe that blood will cure us. It is not sufficient to believe the words of the emergency team, the gospel preacher. If we are not willing to have that needle plunged into our arm… If we are not willing to drink in the blood of the Saviour, it will do us no good.
Faith doesn’t justify us as something we must DO to be saved. That would make faith our Saviour. Faith justifies simply as it forgets all about itself and lays hold of the Saviour – the Lord Jesus. There is no merit in the faith itself; the justification comes through grasping hold of Christ.
Conclusion:
There was a period of time in my life when I was as guilty as sin – any sin and every sin. I was in a spiritual jail cell, under the condemnation of the righteous Judge. I am still not righteous in myself – in my actions, in my thoughts, in my life in general. But I will never be prosecuted for my crimes against God. I am immune from prosecution. Because Christ Jesus was prosecuted on my behalf. He was charged with my sins, and He was found guilty of my sins, after which He was executed. He received my execution, and in that I have been set free. How was that applied to me? It was received by grace through faith, when I acknowledged my sin and put my trust in Christ.
And any one of you can have that same salvation and that same sort of testimony. Repent before God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. “That being justified by his grace, (you) should be made (an heir of God) according to the hope of eternal life.” Will you not put your faith in Christ this morning?