JUSTIFICATION: HOW SINNERS ARE MADE SAINTS
The Baptist Faith & Message • Sermon • Submitted
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· 134 viewsA sermon examining the Baptist Faith & Message on the doctrine of justification with applications for the pew
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JUSTIFICATION: HOW SINNERS ARE MADE SAINTS
JUSTIFICATION: HOW SINNERS ARE MADE SAINTS
We turn our attention this evening to the doctrine of justification. This doctrine is one of the most wonderful truths of Scripture, as we come to learn through a study of this teaching.
Justification is defined as “The act of God in bringing sinners into a new covenant relationship with himself through the forgiveness of sins.” (Baker’s Encyclopedia of the Bible, justification) Consider the wonders of those words, that God, of His own free choice and perfect will, brings sinners, those who have violated His unimaginable holiness and rebelled against His perfect and just rule, into an intimate and eternal covenant relationship with Himself by forgiving their sins!
Brothers and sisters, is there a doctrine sweeter to the believer? Does there stand a doctrine more comforting and practical than the forgiveness of our sins and the establishment of a relationship with the incomprehensible God of heaven?
No, there isn’t! But we will explore this soul-nourishing, life-changing doctrine this evening. The Baptist Faith & Message, continuing to unpack the wonders of our salvation, discusses this doctrine, saying,
Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.
We learn several truths about this incredible doctrine, which will form our outline of study.
I. JUSTIFICATION IS THE FORGIVENESS OF ALL OUR SINS
I. JUSTIFICATION IS THE FORGIVENESS OF ALL OUR SINS
Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal…of all sinners...
In the glorious book of Romans, Paul displays the Gospel of God in a wonderful way. Beginning in chapter one, Paul uses argument and Scripture to show how all people, Jewish and Gentile alike, stand guilty before the infinitely holy God awaiting their just judgment. Every verse provides another weight in the scale point to our wickedness and right deserving of judgment. About halfway into chapter three, however, Paul begins to offer the good news of the Gospel: human beings can be made right! The argument culminates in Romans 5:1:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first point brought into focus in the BF&M concerning justification is the forgiveness of sins, or the acquittal. Like a judge who declares a defendant “not guilty,” through justification the Judge of the universe declares sinners (who repent and believe the Gospel) “Not guilty.”
We are sinners, by our nature and by our actions, and as Paul constructs the argument in Roman chapters 1-3 that all people stand under the righteous wrath of God. Consider the fearful words of Paul in 2:5, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” There is coming a judgment, as revealed to us in Revelation 20:11-15:
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
That is the judgment awaiting all who are not justified. But praise be to God that we have justification! It is ours through faith, a point which we shall consider in a moment. But for now let us dwell on the wonders that sinners can be made right.
Consider the glories of this truth in Psalm 32:1:
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
He is blessed, happy, blissful, like the young man on his wedding day when he realizes that he has married quite beyond his capabilities. It is sheer and utter joy! The believer, when realizing that the sins with which he has offended a holy God are forgiven, cannot be anything but joyful.
Christians should be walking around singing the third verse from Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Thou art giving and forgiving,
Ever blessing, ever blest,
Wellspring of the joy of living,
Ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother,
All who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other,
Lift us to the joy divine.—Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Or consider the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 71:23:
My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.
Justification is the forgiveness of all our sins, not one sin is outside the forgiving grace of God.
II. JUSTIFICATION IS BASED ON THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST
II. JUSTIFICATION IS BASED ON THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST
...upon principles of His righteousness...
Here we come to the important teaching of the substitutionary death of Christ. By substitution we mean the fact that Christ took our place under the just judgment of God to provide forgiveness.
Because you and I are sinners, we are helpless and hopeless. We cannot, on our own, cover our garden-nakedness (Gen. 3). We stand before the God of heaven, completely naked and exposed in all our sin-riddled filth, awaiting His righteous and fearful judgment. Yet, as the prophets foretold, the Gospels describe, and the epistles look back to, Christ took our place. The Scriptures say that 2 Cor. 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Christ took our place. 1 Peter 1:19 tells us that we were ransomed by Christ’s precious blood. The blood that should be shed is ours, and yet Christ took our place, facing the righteous wrath of His Father and completely satisfying His justice. Returning to our primary text, we have been justified through Jesus Christ.
This is exactly Paul’s point in Romans 3:21-26:
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and 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, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Jesus took our place and satisfied the righteous wrath of God. You and I, on our own, had no hope of appeasing (satisfying) the wrath of God. But through Jesus Christ you and I can enjoy justification.
“In Christ’s death, God was glorified, our salvation was accomplished, and Jesus finished the work on earth that Father gave Him to do (John 19:30).”--Mark Jones, Knowing Christ, 159
In the passage of Romans, which we just examined, we notice that God is just in that sin was still punished (in Jesus), and He is also the justifier in that the work of Jesus Christ is imputed to all who believe by faith.
III. JUSTIFICATION IS RECEIVED BY FAITH
III. JUSTIFICATION IS RECEIVED BY FAITH
In Romans 3:20 Paul excludes the possibility of our works saving us, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” And for the remainder of that chapter (and the rest of the book) Paul emphasizes faith.
Concerning this another Confession writes,
Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ, and his Righteousness, is the alone instrument of Justification: yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving Graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh love.
Romans 3:22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31 all mentioned faith as the conduit for justification. Our glorious God, in offering justification, did so in His eternal and infinite wisdom, in such a way as to glorify His goodness and free us from any potential of boasting.
Ephesians 2:8-9:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
It is not a result of works that we are made right with God, it is a result of God’s gift of faith. This, by the way, is what separated the Protestant churches from the Catholic Church back in the 1500s. But that is another point for another day.
The Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation (though not as clearly as at other times) teaches justification by faith (Gen. 15:6; Hab. 2:4; Romans). Faith is essential to justification.
IV. JUSTIFICATION BRINGS THE BELIEVER INTO COVENANT WITH GOD
IV. JUSTIFICATION BRINGS THE BELIEVER INTO COVENANT WITH GOD
Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.
Our starting verse of Romans 5:1 has profound insight into this new relationship. But the chapter unfolds the benefits of this justification in this newly formed, though eternally planned, relationship with God.
We have peace, where before we had impending doom-5:1
We have access, where before we had separation-5:2
We have hope, where before we had no hope-5:2
We have growth, where before we had death-5:3-5
We have God’s love, where before we had God’s hatred-5:5
Because we are justified, we can call God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ our brother, and the Holy Spirit our comforter. We have unlimited access to the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16) where we can be ministered to by our Faithful High Priest who knows perfectly what our lives are like (Heb. 2:14; 4:14-15).
Because we are justified, we have confidence in this life and the next on the person and work of Jesus Christ. We no longer fear God as our judge but as our Father.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Justification is a wonderful teaching of the sacred Scriptures concerning our salvation. I would like to end our time with several questions that I would encourage you to separate time to devote to prayerful meditation this week.
Have I truly been justified by repenting from my sins and believing the atoning work of Jesus Christ?
Am I under the impression that what I do contributes to my salvation?
Have I thanked God for justifying me through the Lord Jesus Christ?
How often do I share the message of justification with others?
Am I taking full advantage of the glories of justification?