Sermon Tone Analysis

*"Understanding Justification"*

 

/prayer/

Heavenly Father,

today we come before you and consider this word /justification/.

In your mercy we pray that you open our minds to the truth of your word, fill us with your Spirit, teach us your ways and lead us into righteousness.

Amen.

/a court room setting/

Lawyers should never ask a grandma a question if they're not prepared for the answer.

In one trial a prosecuting attorney called his first  witness, an elderly woman, to the stand.

He approached her and asked, "Mrs.

Jones, do you know me?"

She responded, "Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams.

I've known you since you were a young boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me.

You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs.

You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher.

Yes, I know you."

The lawyer was stunned!

Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs.

Jones, do you know the defense attorney?

"She again replied, "Why, yes, I do.

I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too.

He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem.

He can't build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state.

Not to mention he cheated on his wife and one of them was with your wife.

Yes, I know him".

The defense attorney almost died.

The judge asked both lawyers to approach the bench and in quiet voice said, "If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you to electric chair".

In the first century they had courts and judges and the Apostle Paul enters into this legal world so that we can understand the gospel in all its splendour and fullness.

Today we are invited to understand the gospel from the perspective of the court room.

The legal term "justify" is a word that come from the court room.

/the meaning of justification/

What does justification mean?

Going back to our "sleepless nights" principle room last week (and if you weren't here last time you'll need to ask someone), I am happy to inform you that the Greek verb is *δικαιόω* and it carries the idea of "declaring righteous" – to declare that a man on trial is not liable to any penalty for breaking the law – but rather is entitled to all the privileges of those who keep the law.

Justifying is the act of a judge setting a person free – the ideas of acquittal and legal immunity.

The Apostle Paul uses this idea more than any other writer – the verb "justify" occurs 29 times in Paul's writings.

And simply because the idea of justification captures the gospel in all its fullness.

Paul picks up a legal idea from the first century and uses it to describe how sinners who are guilty before a just God can amazingly come into a new relationship with God.

Luther calls justification, "the article of a standing or a falling church".

Our claim as Christians stands or falls on our understanding of justification – so it’s a concept we must get right!

/the need for justification/

            /we are people who break the law (Mk 12:30; Rom 3:11-18, 7:7)/

Now the Bible is quite clear about who breaks the laws that God has put in place.

Those laws are summarized by the ten commandments but are laws which define the nature of loving relationships – our relationship with God and our relationships with one another.

So in Mark 12:30 Jesus tells the teachers of the law which is the most important commandment, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

The second is this: Love your neighbour as yourself.

There is no commandment greater than these".

The law then is like a litmus test that indicate how sin has marred our capacity to love.

The litmus paper turns from white to black when dipped into sin.

The law has a diagnostic role: its brings sin to the surface and expose its corruption.

Paul says this much in Rom 7:7, "Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law".

Our unregenerate condition, our natural condition as sons of Adam – as daughters of Eve - is one of sin and the law exposes this spiritual sickness and begs that we do something to remedy the situation.

"There is no-one righteous, not even one ... (there is no-one who lives rightly under the law) ... All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God".

(Rom 3:11-18).

We are born as people with a natural disposition to break the law.

We have an inbuilt propensity to sin, before we were saved we were guilty of making our own laws – constructing our own world without God and for this we deserved condemnation.

/God is our Judge (Acts 17:31; Rev 20:11-15)/

Now Paul is speaking to the Athenians in Acts 17.

And he says to them that God "will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.

He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:31).

The Book of Revelation gives us vivid imagery of judgment in a court room scene.

John  says in Rev 20:12, "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

Another book was opened, which is the book of life.

The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books ... (verse 15) If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire".

God is our Judge who reveals his righteous inflexible anger against "all ungodliness and wickedness of men" (Rom 1:18).

And he will judge the world for it belongs to Him, created with purpose, fully accountable to Him.

 

/the ground of justification/

/            the justness of God (Rom 3:25-26)/

It sounds almost contradictory, but this same God who pours out his anger upon men and women also justifies the ungodly.

God the just Judge – God the one who acquits sinners.

It's almost shocking that the just Judge frees sinners who deserve a custodial sentence.

The gospel appears to violate God's sense of justice because it lets sinners totally off the hook.

This problem doesn't go unnoticed by Paul who says in Rom 3:25, "God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

He did this to demonstrate his justice .... (verse 26) he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus".

The gospel is how a just God can justify (or acquit) believing sinners.

The gospel shows how a just God can release sinners from the penalty of sin and still remain a just God.

 

 

 

 

 

/            justification explained ( Rom 5:18; Gal 3:10-14)/

I seem to remember John Chapman telling this story.

Imagine that your summoned to court for a serious speeding offense.

And you turn up to court shaking at the knees, but when you walk into the court room you see the Judge is Uncle Bert.

"No worries", you think to yourself.

The court proceeds and the police prosecutor says his piece and you mount a dismal defense about listening to Shane Warne's farewell speech on the radio and you were so emotional you didn't see the speed sign.

It's a weak defense, but hey, you're uncle is the Judge.

The time comes for the verdict.

You stand with a wry smile on your face.

Uncle Bert reads the charges and declares you "guilty" and a $5 000 fine.

You are gob-smacked.

You can't believe it – your Uncle has thrown the book at you.

At that moment, the Judge says to the court he'll be back in a minute.

Fine with you!

He does come back and he's holding an envelope in his hand and he gives it to you.

You open the envelope and there's $5 000 in fresh notes.

It's a sight too good to be true.

The Judge has done what the law demanded, but he has gone one step further and paid the penalty on your behalf.

It's a special moment.

The only way a just God can set sinners free is by taking the initiative and satisfying the DEMANDS of the law on behalf of the ACCUSED.

A loving God sent the Lord Jesus Christ, "born under the law" (Gal 4:4) so that he might stand in his PEOPLE'S STEAD.

Jesus became LIKE US, born UNDER the law and subject to the REQUIREMENTS of the law.

And his life of RIGHTEOUSNESS climaxed in his dying the death of an UNRIGHTEOUS man.

Jesus bore the CURSE OF THE LAW in our place.

PAUL says in Gal 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, 'cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'".