GUILTY YET JUSTIFIED
Notes
Transcript
HOOK
Pres. Estrada was the only PH president that was impeached
There are a total of 4 people who were impeached in the US.
There were 7 people were sentenced to death penalty in the Philippines until PGMA abolished it in 2006.
All these people were convicted of something they have done on their own accord. Some received only impeachment, others imprisonment. The worst penalty one received is death.
Do you know all of us should have also been guilty of death penalty? This is what we will study this communion Sunday. Let’s remember how we here have evaded that death penalty through the blood of Jesus Christ!
BOOK
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
TOOK
We’ll not analyze each verse but we’ll get to know the concepts first. Then, we’ll go back to the verses and apply these concepts therein.
OUTLINE
All have sinned
Guilty as sinners
Justified towards righteousness
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
All of us are sinners. This applies to both believers and unbelievers. But how did we become sinners in the first place? How did we become guilty of death?
Sin (Heb.: “chata”)
“Missing the mark” (not merely failure, but a decision to fail, a voluntary and culpable mistake)
Sin (Gk.: “hamartano”)
Sin against God, ... failure to hit the mark he has set, his standard, of perfect love of God and perfect obedience to him (M. Erickson)
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
VIEWS ON SOURCE OF OUR DEATH
Imputed sin (Federal Headship)
Original sin
VIEWS ON SOURCE OF OUR DEATH
1. Imputed sin (Federal Headship)
Calvinist view
Adam acted as a representative for the whole human race
Sin was charged to us because of Adam
Calvinists blames Adam! His sin resulted to death to all men.
They interpret this as Adam bringing sin to the world, the human race.
How can a just God penalize us all and call us sinners because of just one person’s act?
A simple illustration. The president of a country represents the country he governs. Whatever he says or do to other nations will reflect who the country is.
Free Grace Soteriology Some Hamartiology
How can men be held responsible for the actions of another, especially someone who lived millennia before they were born?
This view will not hold true. Ezekiel 18 rebuts this view.
20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son.
The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
What view do we hold on to? - original sin.
VIEWS ON SOURCE OF OUR DEATH
2. Original sin
Non-Calvinist view
Adam’s sin caused a change in a person
A corrupt, sin nature resides w/in man & is passed down
Free Grace Soteriology Some Hamartiology
This view tells us that when Adam sinned, a constitutional change took place in his person. His human spirit lost contact with God. His mind was darkened, his emotions debased, and his will degraded. And his body became debilitated and decayed.
Free Grace Soteriology Some Hamartiology
From then on a corrupt nature, usually referred to as the sin nature, was resident within him. This corrupt nature was then passed down to all of his descendants.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh;
and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
Sin entered the world through Adam. But we inherited the sinful nature of Adam (tendency to sin). Thus, we participate with Adam.
Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible Exposition
We all have to suffer the punishment for our sins ultimately, not only because Adam sinned, but because we all commit acts of sin.
OUTLINE
All have sinned
Guilty as sinners
Justified towards righteousness
Guilty
By guilt we mean desert of punishment, or obligation to render satisfaction to God’s justice for self-determined violation of law (A. Strong)
Guilty (accdg. to A. Strong)
By self-determined transgressions (Ez. 18:20)
20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
Guilty (accdg. to A. Strong)
An objective result of sin (Ps. 51:4-6)
The guilty is in debt to God (Matt. 6:12)
It demands a penalty (Rom. 6:23)
All sin is an offense against God. It is an offense against God! It is an antagonism against God’s holy will.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight
— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.
Guilty (accdg. to A. Strong)
Differs from consciousness of guilt (Lev. 5:17)
Guilty even if our consciousness doesn’t know it (Ps. 19:12)
12 Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.
What is the verdict to the sinner? Guilty!
What does a guilty get punished of?
Death
Not necessarily physical, but spiritual
Adam sent out of the Garden
Spiritual separation from God
Death
Separation from God
Eternal (quantitative): Lake of Fire
Temporal (qualitative): Fellowship w/ God
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
OUTLINE
All have sinned
Guilty as sinners
Justified towards righteousness
For us to understand justification, we need to consider these terms
Justification involves:
Court room setting
God as the Judge
Court Room Setting
OT Israel settled disputes and transgressions in the court.
1 “If there is a dispute between men, and they come to court, that the judges may judge them, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked,
So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ The Concept of Justification
What they did was examine the case and pronounce the verdict. They did not change the person’s character or actions; they announced a verdict that they believed to be true and verified.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
God as the Judge
He decides who receives eternal death or eternal life
He judges rightly without injustice or favoritism
13 For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
God’s Verdict
God decides to either:
Condemn that sinner
Compromise His holiness & still accept him
Change & announce the sinner as righteous
The default judgement is condemnation because no one is righteous and all are sinners.
God will never do the second one because He is Just.
God's Verdict
Change & announce the sinner as righteous
Make us righteousness of God
Many may become righteous
Gifting righteousness
God chooses to change a sinner to a righteous person. Only a righteous person can enter the Kingdom!
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
To receive the righteousness of God, we must believe / have faith in Jesus.
Even if God gives the gift of righteousness, He remains Just.
With these, we can now define justification:
Justification
To announce the verdict “not guilty” (C. Ryrie)
God’s action pronouncing sinners righteous in his sight (M. Erickson)
In the courtroom of God, He announces not only that the sinner who has believed in Jesus is not guilty, but that he is perfectly righteous before Him. (C. Ryrie)
So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ The Concept of Justification
The courtroom, therefore, is the stage for the concept of justification. When the judge justifies the person standing before him, he announces that the person is not guilty of whatever the charge was. In the courtroom of God, He announces not only that the sinner who has believed in Jesus is not guilty, but that he is perfectly righteous before Him.
Question: Are those who believe in Jesus Christ:
Made righteous? or
Declared righteous?
Made Righteous
Perfect, without sin, all sins gone
Salvation dependent on works
Catholic misconception
This is the misconception of the Catholics. Augustine believed that upon baptism, one is made righteous. As he grow, he must maintain that righteousness
So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ God as Judge
they think that our inward state of holiness, if enough, will cause God to rule in our favor.
So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ God as Judge
According to this misconception, justification can grow as we grow more righteous, and justification can be diminished and even lost if we become less righteous.
So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ God as Judge
Justification does not make anyone righteous
Declared Righteous
We are naturally guilty (sinners).
But God disregarded our guilt (forgiveness) bec. of the work of Christ!
Justification is more than acquittal (without penalty), but is “declared blameless and righteous” (C. Ryrie)
So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ The Concept of Justification
Justification includes more than bare acquittal. The judge is not only saying that the one standing before him may go without penalty, but he also declares that as far as the law is concerned, the person is blameless and righteous.
This is not a trial in which we are innocent until proven guilty; instead, it is a trial in which we have already been proven guilty
and must remain guilty until we are declared righteous.
Philip Graham Ryken
How can we be declared righteous?
Joining us to Jesus Christ when we believe!
Imputed righteousness
“to place to the account of”
So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ How Can Sinners Be Righteous?
Similarly, God imputes or puts on the believer’s account the righteousness of Christ, so that in His sight we are completely righteous and He can announce it as so.
Gift of Righteousness
Only receive the gift by believing (faith)
A gift is not a reward. Grace is not works (Rom. 4:4)
No commitment to obedience (lordship salvation)
Unconditional
Implications of Justification
Freed from the penalty of sin (eternal death)
Leads to freedom from the power of sin (sanctification)
Leads to freedom from the presence of sin (glorification)
Summary
Guilty but Justified
All sinned - our own fault (sin nature/flesh)
All are guilty deserving eternal death
Opportunity to be acquitted: faith in Jesus
God gave the opportunity through the plan of salvation
Guilty but Justified
God declares as righteous those who believe
The gift is free - no strings attached
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
The justifier of those who believe - he will declare them righteous
Passed over - let go
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. ἀνοχή
ἀνοχή, ῆς, ἡ (s. ἀνέχω; X. et al.) lit. ‘a holding back’.
① a state of respite from someth. onerous or disagreeable, relief (
