It is God who Justifieth, Window

It is God Who Justifies

Romans 8:31-39 (8:33)

Series Slide

Welcome to worship on this beautiful summer day… OK, it’s supposed to be getting closer to Fall, but right now, all I know is that it feels like Summer!  I am so looking forward to next week as the Women take over our worship!  Next week will be First Methodist Women’s Sunday, and you are in for a treat as Sandy Martinez comes to bring our message.  Sandy is an author, speaker, and firecracker; she is also the wife of my friend Rev. Stephen Martinez, the pastor of Blooming Grove and Frost Methodist Churches.  While she brings the message, the women of the various circles will lead us in all aspects of worship.  All I have to do is give the benediction.

The women taking the lead in worship one Sunday every year is a tradition that goes back deep into the history of this church.  The active women’s ministry has been a vital part of this church since the very beginning.  We see it exemplified in the upper windows there at the back of the Sanctuary, as we have discussed in weeks past, but today we are talking about the window below those windows. It is the window that states “It is Christ the Justifies” and has the reference to Revelation 8:23. 

Sermon Slide

This is quite possibly the most iconic window in this place, but not for reasons you might think.  Unlike many of the other windows, there is no historic name attached to the window's origin.  There isn’t a name from the late 1800s or early 1900s attached to it like the windows we talked about last week.  In one of the historic writings of the windows that was published in the Centennial celebration in 1996, we read simply, “The First having a crown with colored jewels and is inscribed ‘It is God the Justifieth’ Rev. 8:23. The crown is symbolic of the King forever, and the Crown of Life denotes we have eternal life through Him.’

What we can say historically about this window is that it was among the first windows installed during the 1896 construction and that it was restored between 2011 and 2012, being restored in honor of Dick and Marge Sharp by his mother Katherine Beaton Sharp.  I can say honestly that it was Kay Sharp who made the restoration of all these windows possible and has put us and our descendants in a position of being able to enjoy their beauty for generations to come.

Sermon Slide

Now that we know the history of this beautiful window, let us turn to the passage it references.

I know we just heard from Romans, but this window references a passage from Revelation… So, I want you to all take out your Bibles, or your Bible Apps, or grab the pew Bible in front of you, and I would like to ask for a volunteer to stand and read out loud, for all to hear, the words from Revelation 8:23…

<Pause>

Now you know why it is the most iconic, or maybe ironic window we have.  That’s right, there is no Revelation 8:23. How in the world does a window manufacturing company that builds windows for churches get that wrong?  And, how does this window get installed without someone noticing that it is wrong?  I don’t know either, but I am sure it has been a topic of conversation for about 130 years.

Since Rev 8:23 doesn’t exist, let’s look at where we do find that passage, Romans 8:33 and the surrounding verses.  I believe these verses we just heard have to be one of the most lyrical passages Paul has ever written.  It carries us from the question of accusation to the reality of God’s presence never leaving us nor forsaking us.  And so, let us dive in, but first let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.

<PRAYER>

There you sit, in the seat of the accused.  At the defense table, you sit alone; there is no defense attorney; you are all by yourself.  Your failure becomes a witness… your regrets become evidence… the accusing voices seem to come from every corner of the courtroom, pronouncing your verdict.  Is that accusation from another person?  Is that indictment from the enemy?  Is that allegation from one you thought was a friend?  Maybe, but more often the charge comes from within… We tell ourselves:

“Your sin is too much.”

“You’ve gone too far and God will never accept a sinner like you.”

“You are a failure, a hypocrite, a liar, a thief, a scoundrel… why don’t you just give up!”

Our passage today answers those claims, not with judgment, but with the Gospel… the good news, the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.  In verse 31, we are reminded, “If God is for you, who can be against you?”  The verse before reminds us that “those he calls he justifies, and those he justifies he glorifies.”  Friends, we do not stand before the Judge, before God, without a defense.  The judge himself provides our defender; our defense attorney is our Savior Jesus, who sits, not at our table, but with the judge… he sits at God’s right hand… and our evidence is the Holy Spirit.  You and I aren’t saved by the works we do or the things we accomplish; we are saved by grace, through faith.  It isn’t our work; God has already done the work!

Then, those next words harken back deep into the recesses of our minds as we remember the story of Abraham and Isaac.  If you turn to Genesis 22, you find the familiar story… Abraham hears God tell him to sacrifice his son. 

Let me chase a little rabbit here, because this is a passage that atheists will use to attempt to discredit God’s Word.  You have to remember that Abraham lived in a society, at a time, in a culture where child sacrifice was common.  It was the norm of those around him that he would sacrifice his child to the god that he worshipped.  Except our God is not like the other gods of the region… Yet, Abraham obeyed, and they walked into the wilderness as Isaac carried the wood upon which he was to die, and Abraham carried the knife, the tool with which his son would die.  You know the story: the altar was built, the wood was prepared, and Isaac asked the question, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” and Abraham’s statement of faith, “The Lord will provide for Himself the lamb to be slain.”  And God did provide.  Abraham proved his faith, but God also separated Himself from the gods of the region. God would not let Abraham sacrifice Isaac, and a ram caught in a thicket became the sacrifice.  Where Abraham was following the custom of those around him, our God, Jehovah Jirah, provided another way.  Life was too precious to be sacrificed.  We are made in the image of God; we are not to be sacrificed; we are to live and to love.  We are to be the very presence of God in the world around us, so Jehovah Jirah, God provides.

As he wrote, I can only imagine that Paul was thinking back to Genesis 22:12, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

Those are the very words Paul uses when he talks about the fact that God did not withhold his son from us.  In William Barclay’s commentary, he puts it this way:

Paul seems to say: “Think of the greatest human example in the world of a man’s loyalty to God; God’s loyalty to you is like that.” Just as Abraham was so loyal to God that he was prepared to sacrifice his dearest possession, God is so loyal to {humanity} that he is prepared to sacrifice his only son for them.  Surely we can trust a loyalty like that for anything. (William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans, rev. ed., The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), 116.)

With that understanding, we come to the words emblazoned on this beautiful window…

Sermon Slide

At the center of this passage stands verse 33: “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.”  In John Wesley’s sermon, The Scripture Way of Salvation, this justifying grace is part of the gracious work God begins before we are aware of Him.  It leads us to saving faith and new birth, and it continues in us and through us as God makes us holy in heart and life. The sermon walks us through Prevenient Grace to Justifying Grace, and on to Sanctifying Grace.  In much the same way, this passage in Romans moves from no condemnation to no separation, and both assurances rest on God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

The question doesn’t ask us if there will be a charge.  It doesn’t suggest that there will be no accusation.  The blame is coming.  The accusation is coming. We are not free from sin, and the enemy knows it.  Earlier in Romans, we are reminded that “all have fallen short of the Glory of God.”  You are not good enough.  I am not good enough.  Paul was not good enough.  Name the church leader from history, and the story is the same… Origen, Polycarp, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Arminius, Wesley, Edwards, Moody, Sunday, Billy Graham, and Mother Teresa… none of them were good enough.  They all sinned… they all were convicted of sin.  But here is the difference… They were not condemned because of their sin.

We will remember who we once were.  The enemy will constantly throw our sins, current and past, into our mind.  Long after we have owned up to our sins and confessed them to God and others, our own conscience will continue to replay those sins over and over in our mind like a B-Rate Horror movie from the 1950’s.  We will convict ourselves over and over and allow the enemy to condemn us to a life of despair.

Conviction VS Condemnation

We as fully devoted followers of Jesus need to get a handle on this.  There is a huge difference between conviction and condemnation.  Conviction is from the Holy Spirit.  Condemnation is from the Enemy!

Through God’s Prevenient Grace, we are drawn into God, awakened to our need for God and enabled to respond in faith… it is in that process that the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, that it may be exposed and draw us closer to Christ.  It is specific and it is redemptive.

Conviction on the other hand is comprehensive and hopeless.  It doesn’t just say that what you did was wrong… it says YOU ARE Wrong.  It says that you are beyond God’s grace.

Conviction draws us to the Savior,

Condemnation drives us away from the Saviour.

Our hope is not in the fact that the prosecution has no case… you and I are sinners.  The evidence is there.  We have not lived up to the life we were called to.  We are convicted!  But, it is so good to know and remember the words that came a few chapters before in Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!  That is our Hope!

Here is the crazy thing.  The judgment is in.  Our guilt is secured, and yet it is God who justifies us. I love the little definition I learned decades ago about Justification.  Simply put, Justification means that “I have been made just as if I’d never sinned.”

In the act of Justification, God declares us righteous.  We can’t do it ourselves.  It is like a verdict at a trial.  The judge can hear the evidence, but nothing changes in his hearing.  The accused is still accused.  It isn’t until the verdict that the accused is acquitted or sentenced. 

The beauty of what God has done is that we do not deserve acquittal.  Our sin, our falling short of God’s glorious plan for our life is real.  We deserve to be sentenced.  But God justifies us before him… not because of our own work, but because of what Christ has done in our place.  Verse 34 reminds us that Jesus died, rose again, and is now seated at the right hand of God, interceding on our behalf.  He is telling the Father that we are his, that he has already paid the price for our sins.  It is his work, not ours.

Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians that:

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

I recently read that Justification is God’s gracious act of pardoning sin and receiving as righteous all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ.  Grace is not free.  Our justification came with a price… Jesus gave himself for you and me that we might be restored as the children of God. 

Sermon Slide

Here is where we will wrap up today.  I want you to know that your salvation, the justification we have in Christ, is secure.  There is nothing we can do that will ever separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Paul gives us a long list… life, death, angels, demons, height, depth, or any created thing… that’s a pretty comprehensive list.  There is nothing that can separate you from the Love of God!

That isn’t a fictitious list… it is a real list; it is a list of the things that will come against us and come at us… We will experience death and life… There is a spiritual world battling for and against us… There is distance from east to west, north to south, and high to low that seems to come between us… We are constantly inventing new things to drive us away from God, but it is God’s prevenient grace that continues to draw us close. 

In all these things—not outside them, but in them—we are more than conquerors through the One who loved us.

You can and you will overcome!  Through the work of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Cross, you can overcome all that comes against you.

In all this, we must remember, God’s purpose isn’t just to make us feel secure… God’s justification isn’t just to make us feel good about ourselves… it is to transform us into the very image of Jesus Christ, his Son… We are to take on the name Christian… Christ-like…

That is the purpose of the work of God in our lives… Prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace!

Salvation isn’t the goal of the life of a follower of Jesus… Sanctification is the goal.  To be made perfect in love of God and neighbor.

My question for you is this… Are you letting the accuser convince you of condemnation?  Are you convinced that you can not be made perfect in this life because of the sins of your past, whether it was 10 years ago or 10 minutes ago?

Satan will do whatever he can to condemn you so that you will not continue your journey in this life toward perfection.

So, when the enemy comes at you and condemns you and causes you to ask, “Who do you think you are?” know that you have an answer: “I am one whom God has justified.”

When fear asks, “What if you are abandoned?” answer, “Nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”

When accusation asks, “Who will defend you?” answer, “It is God who intercedes for me.”

We do not stand looking for a defense; we belong to Jehovah Jirah… it is our God who provides… Just as he did for Abraham and Isaac in the wilderness… today God provides the lamb that takes our place, that redeems us… that justifies us and urges us on to sanctification.

Let us pray.