Justification: God is Just AND the Guilty are Justified by Faith in Jesus

Greg Wood / 28 March 2021 / NCC, Macon

FCF:

Short Big Idea:

[Engage (Introduction, has a question)]

Can I confess to you that I’m looking for a sense of validation on my life?

I think we are all looking for it - a sense of validation, something that shows we are somebody, we are not worthless waste. Even John Mayer shows he’s looking for the verdict on his life in his song “Why Georgia” where he says:

I am tempted to keep the car in drive

And leave it all behind

Cause I wonder sometimes

About the outcome

Of a still verdictless life

Am I living it right?

Am I living it right?

Am I living it right?

Why, why Georgia, why?

— John Mayer, “Why Georgia?”

In our heads, Christians know we should be rooting our identity and value in Christ Jesus and his work to redeem and restore. But often we – just like non-Christians – turn to other things, like work, romantic relationships, how our kids are doing, and we fill out our resume with thing after thing. And we review it to see if we’re alright. “Am I living it right?”

Even when we say, “I don’t care what other people think about me, I don’t need their validation!” it is quite possible we say that because we are trying to self-validate. “I’ll review my own resume and be the judge.”

[Tension (Pull the tension chord, what problem are we solving today?)]

This is a struggle, isn’t it?

God has designed us with an intuition to know that things are not okay. Things around us, and things internal to us – those thoughts, desires, and fears we have in the quiet moments with the earbuds out, radio off, TV off, and the room is empty – something in us is broken.

And that leaves us with a sense of uncertainty. “Am I okay? Is life going to turn out okay? Will my kids be okay? Will the work I’m giving my life to have lasting value?”

This morning we are going to be talking about this desire to be validated, which is just an expression of the desire to be acquitted of our guilt and found valuable.

The fancy theological term would be justification, which you may have seen on the screen or bulletin this morning. Meaning, to be declared by the judge to be in the right. Given the status of being righteous.

Then Mayer’s question… Have I lived it right? Is there something valuable?

No, you’re not. You’re a sinner! We all are. And we all deserve eternal separation from our holy Creator God.

But!

But if the judge acquits your charges, and can make you righteous, then yes!

That’s what the Bible shows us we can have. That’s what we’re looking at.

But it does leave us with the question, “is that judge righteous? Is there justice with this judge?“

I. Justification as related to atonement

Justification isn’t just an isolated topic, but fits within this whole framework of what the Bible calls atonement, which we studied last week in Leviticus 16, Hebrews, and Romans 3.

Allow me to briefly sketch that framework for you spoken of last week, then we’ll look closely at Romans 3: Last week we saw:

· This Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, was a holy day on which:

o In order for a sin-stained people to live in fellowship with their holy God, they were to first send their representative, their high priest

o Aaron, the first high priest, first sacrificed a bull for his sin and that of his household, so he could then intercede for the people in Holy God’s presence.

o Expiation – one of the 2 goats for the people was selected to have the sins of the people laid upon it and led out into the wilderness so that it would be lost and could not return.

o Propitiation – the other goat was slaughtered, and its blood substituted for the people, and God’s wrath was averted.

Here is how the text summarized the whole Day for us:

Leviticus 16:6–10 ESV

6 “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. 7 Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. 9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

But then there was the uncomfortable conclusion of the passage that showed us there was no end, and this version of atonement, this foreshadowing was never complete.

Leviticus 16:29–31 ESV

29 “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. 30 For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. 31 It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever.

So, it has to be repeated, endlessly.

And as Keith mentioned last week, their sins were covered – sort of!

Really, these sacrifices year after year could only point the people forward to a better sacrifice that would be once and for all time, forever dealing with our sin, satisfying God’s wrath, and removing our sin for all people in God’s camp, in covenant with him.

And we saw that it is in Jesus that we have the perfect lamb, who takes away our sins and appeases God’s righteous anger, his righteous indignation.

What we have not talked about yet this Easter is this yearning in us to be in the right with God, declared by God to be righteous. So, I want you to see that…

II. Justification –beyond forgiveness to loved and welcomed (Rom. 3:20-26; 5:1-2, 18-19)

At best, the removal of sin, and covering with the propitiating blood has given us the picture of being set NEUTRAL. The negative is removed, but where is the POSITIVE?

That’s why we need this concept of justification, which so many of us miss out on, even many who have been around the church and familiar with some of the Bible for many years.

But the Bible does give us the concept of a gift of the POSITIVE being credited to us. It’s not a righteousness earned, but it is credited.

All the other religions at some level have humans earning righteousness in order to appease their god and be judged righteous and worth.

imputed righteousness here?

[Truth of the Text (Teaching it, illustrate it, apply it)]

Open your Bible to Romans 3:20-26.

This very condensed description of the gospel! This is like heart of the heart of the Bible.

Here, Paul is discussing the Righteousness of God. And the first 2 verses, vv.20-21 show us that the righteousness of God was longed for but not realized in the times of the Old Testament.

The Righteousness of God…

A. … was Longed for in the Old Testament (Rom. 3:20-22a)

Romans 3:20–22 ESV

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

v.20a So the law and good works (anything humans can do) can justify no one, can merit nothing, in God's eyes

v.20b because it instead can only make us aware of sin.

v.21a Now we have more revelation of the new covenant: God has made it clear that we are given the declaration of righteous apart from the law –

v.21b - granted, it was in the Law and Prophets the whole time and is supported by them –

v.22a this declaration of being in the right with God comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

B. … is Needed by and Available to All (vv.22b-24a)

Romans 3:22–24 ESV

22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

v.22b It's the same for everyone:

Everyone is in the same boat.

[move to D.?]

And justice should be available to everyone. Now we’ll talk more about God’s just-ness in a moment, but let me say this now. Israel’s concept of God’s just-ness, which Paul is leaning on here, was radical!

ANE societies gave different punishments for different offences. This can be seen for example in the code of Hammurabi, where it was tooth for tooth of a fellow citizen, but if “it was only a vassal’s tooth, it is sufficient for him to pay a third of a mina of silver, a small price, not worth a tooth.

The point is, justice was not even handed, equal, or even present in the society. And this is just the ideal, and injustice was probably even more rampant.

“Over against this kind of practice the observance of strict justice was a consummation devoutly to be wished. A firm administration of even-handed justice looked to people in that situation very much like mercy does to us. We tend to be critical of a regulation like 'life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot' (Dt. 19:21). But to the people of the day this must have seemed a wonderful advance. It meant that the wealthy and the powerful could not get away with crimes against the lowly.” – Leon Morris

]

v.23a Jew and Gentile are all sinners in need of salvation,

v.23b and “fail to exhibit that ‘being-like-God’ for which they were created[1]”,

v.24a and all must find their justification comes by grace as a gift,

Understand that “justify” doesn’t mean “to make righteous in an ethical sense” (now they’re suddenly sinless/perfect. But it means “to treat as righteous” – “to declare to be in the right”. The decision is never to be revisited?

But how and when is this going to happen? How is righteousness to be provided?

C. … is Provided in God’s Gracious Gift of Christ (vv.24-25b)

Romans 3:24–25 ESV

24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 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.

v.24b How? It is through the price being paid by Christ Jesus for our freedom

v.25a God sent Jesus to be the wrath-bearer of our sins by dying in our place

v.25b the propitiation is to be received and counted as yours by faith.

D. … Shows God’s Just-ness (vv.25c-26)

Romans 3:25–26 ESV

25 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. 26 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.

v.25c Therefore, God has shown He is just and righteous

v.25d this was necessary because he had not yet dealt with sins, but passed over them.

v.26a The purpose being to show God is just

v.26b showing him to be both just

v.26c in the midst of justifying guilty ones who have faith in Jesus.

And just in case it wasn’t clear enough already in this densely packed gospel description, we have this:

E. … Brings us Peace and Hope (5:1-2, 18-19)

Romans 5:1–6 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:18–19 ESV

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

So you see, the atoning work of Jesus is HUGE! He is redeeming that which has been cursed by Adam’s rebellion and the fall. Jesus takes our place, our sin, our hell upon the cross, and this gift of justification by faith in Christ gives us the positive: the very righteousness of Christ is counted to us.

So then, what about in everyday living? What about in the courtroom of life?

III. Justification in the Courtroom of Life

[Application (Zoom out and consider it for all of life, shepherd's taxonomy)]

Now, if we get this, then we have a very firm foundation under us. Think about it, what can really shake you if the verdict is already in?

When we are trying to determine our worth, value, we try to measure up, boost our value.

Our hopes are that we will measure up, our work will have lasting value. Our dreams are to be successful and rewarded for our efforts. We dream of rewards in this life more than we do other awards in the next We actually do fear still that Jesus will not except us, saying that we could have done a little more. We fear that the father will say we were a disappointment to him. So we settle with busying our minds and our hands and never fully resting in the completed work of Jesus. And we go on filling out our resumes.

But, the text shows the gospel creating a different culture – making a difference in our approach to life and our motivations, because not even a smidgen of our works are brought into this description of how the gospel is applied to us. There is not even an ounce of our sweat, whipping ourselves scarred.

Think of what this does for us in a few of these areas [elaborate on each]:

· As friends

When we’re not firmly grounded by God’s declaration over us, we can. expect it from our friends, hiding from them our struggles, or demanding too much from them.

But, when we’re rooted firmly, we can be more honest about our lives and they have freedom to enter in and bless you like they couldn’t otherwise.

· As spouses

Similarly with spouses, we can drag them through so much of our running ragged lifestyle if we’re seeking to build our resume of worth. We can make demands from them they were never designed to be able to fulfill.

But the gospel of free justification changes that. God is the one who justifies, and if you trust in God’s promise that Jesus’s righteousness will be counted to you, you won’t pursue perfection in relationships at the cost of everything else.

· As employees / servants

Let’s say your boss comes to you this week and evaluates your performance. “You’re doing great!” or “You’re really struggling to get it done.” I’ve experienced both, and my response it both scenarios has been to double down and give work more attention. I want more approval, more justification! It’s endless just like the sacrifices. There’s nothing wrong with doing good work. But there is something wrong with sacrificing everything to an idol of work, making everything bow down to it.

Coaches, you may have it the worst. Perfection is demanded for something that is largely out of your control. But, the pool of employees is viewed as rotate-able, so your job can feel like it’s always on the line.

Instead, if we remember our justification has been pronounced already when we believed in Christ, then the work won’t have to try and take the shape and fill that roll. The ultimate judge has made a declaration over all who are in Christ – it is finished.

· As parents

Attempting to justify our existence and the job we’ve done raising children. We say, I want to leave a legacy. So everything bows to whatever the kids want. After all, if I don’t get their approval when they’re older, what good am I?

But the gospel frees us from that enslaving mindset of turning over our calling to the kids and people who don’t have their best spiritual good in mind. We have the courage to do the hard things for the kids and show them an example of following the Savior instead.

· As students

First quarter grades are out, the first semester will wrap up soon. Are you looking to those grades to say you’re valuable? There’s nothing wrong with studying hard. But there is something wrong with replacing the work of Christ with your own effort to prove you’re valuable.

Justification by grace through faith reminds us that grades and having a job later are not ultimate. Studying can be done to the glory of God and in proper alignment with other parts of this redeemed life.

· Missionaries

I’ve heard of the implicit and explicit demands placed on missionaries to win souls. If it isn’t happening, funding may get pulled to some other more worthy person who is getting the results.

But justification as a free gift reminds us that we scatter the seed to all, but the work of justification is not done by us. That was done by Jesus. So we’re free to not manipulate people or misrepresent the results.

Caveat:

I am not saying that we should not do things with excellence. But I am saying that we can end up pursuing excellence so hard that we turn good things – gifts from God – into God things. These idols then compete for our greatest affections, emotions, our time and attention. They become all -consuming.

One indication that a thing has become an idol is that we look to it for our significance and worth. We look to something other than God to give us our justification.

It’s all over the place in our culture. Falcon and Winter-Soldier. CA says, “I just don’t want to let people down.”

[5. Inspiration (Another passage, or story of someone applying it)]

One more way I want you to show the Scripture apply this to all of us.

· As children of God

The bible uses the picture of adoption to show that our sin had us outside of God’s family, but by God’s grace and making us born again, we’ve been adopted into God’s family.

How does justification impact us as children of God?

Think for a moment about the parable Jesus told about the man with two sons in Luke 15. Jesus said that one son told his still-living father, “I’m ready for the inheritance you planned to give me at your death.” He left his family as if they were nothing and he wasn’t a son. He went off, and squandered the money, lost everything and wound up hoping he could come back just to be a servant in his father’s house. Would his father first beat him, then let him perhaps stay in the barn?

Here is how it turns out:

Luke 15:20–24 ESV

20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

He put a new robe on him, a ring on his finger, and started a party. Hear me – the father declares, “This is not a servant, this is my son!” And he pulls from his own storage, his own merits, and gives them to the son. That’s justification!

Nothing to earn, nothing to pay back. The penalty was paid by God himself in the eternal Son when he died upon the cross. The relationship is restored.

But not for the older brother. The older brother says, “Father, you’re not righteous. This son of yours squandered what you gave him, and you welcome him back?! I’ve been here all along. Where’s my party?” You see, this son thought he would be justified by working for the father. The father owed him. He didn’t really want the father, just his stuff. But he hadn’t yet gotten to the point of living by faith, treasuring the Father.

Where are you? Believer, are you trying to earn it like the older brother? Or do you know your need?

Any younger brothers here? Ready to be at home with the loving and just Father? Look to Jesus. Simply repent and believe. Know that in turning to the greater pleasures of God, you can hear Him say, “Not guilty.”

I have experienced that, and have a restored relationship with God. It happened for me as a freshman in college, when God opened my eyes to seeing I was seeking pleasure in the world and was not really a Christian. Some people did some bible study with me and God used it to breath His life into me. He declared me “not guilty, righteous in Christ.”

I still drift into looking for validation elsewhere sometimes, but God graciously brings me back to Himself.

[6. Action (one step someone can take)]

New City: Go this week, set free by the “not guilty” verdict pronounced over you by the holy and righteous judge. This week when you are given the opportunity to find validation in your community, spouse, work, grades... instead turn your gaze to Jesus. Remember that by faith in Him you have all the righteousness imputed to you, credited to you. Now you are free to act in a way that actually honors God the gracious Father, and Jesus as Savior, as your life shows off that your righteousness is a gracious gift. That will change you. Talk about it and work it out in your MCs this week.

Let’s pray.

Leftovers:

C. S. Lewis explores the same idea more imaginatively in the first of his children’s novels, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Because of selfishness and greed, a little boy has fallen into the hands of a wicked witch. Aslan, the God character, cannot, for all his immense power, rescue the boy; for he must acknowledge the “magic,” the law of nature, that has given the witch power over the boy. But there is a “deeper magic from the dawn of time” that enables one who dies willingly for someone else to take on that person’s punishment and let them go free. Thus, Aslan allows the wicked witch to execute him. Romans 3:25

[1] Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (The New International Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), 226.