Justified, Alive, Sent Series

TheIntroduction – The Verdict We All Need

Every courtroom in history tells a story of justice sought, justice delayed, or justice denied. Yet behind every earthly trial lies a deeper, eternal question: How can guilty humanity stand before a holy God?

Paul gives us the answer in words that throb with gospel power:

> “Just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.” (Romans 5:18)

That is the good news. What Adam broke, Christ restored. What Adam lost, Christ regained. Humanity’s guilt was spread wide in Eden; humanity’s hope was secured wide at Calvary.

This sermon is about justification—God’s act of declaring the sinner righteous in Christ. But it is also about life—the new existence that flows from that declaration. And finally, it is about mission—what it means to be sent into the world as witnesses of that grace.

Justification is not an optional side doctrine. It is the heart of the gospel, the point where assurance, transformation, and mission all meet.

Today we will see how Jesus’ miracles, His death, and His resurrection reveal a God who justifies the ungodly, gives life to the dead, and sends the forgiven to serve.

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1 – Christ Teaches Justification

Justification may sound abstract, but Jesus painted it in vivid colors. Every miracle and parable of His ministry is a window into the gospel.

Consider the leper. Outcast, untouchable, condemned. He came as he was, diseased and hopeless. But the word of Christ made him whole. He did not clean himself up first; he simply came. That is justification: the sinner received as righteous because of Christ’s power, not his own merit.

Or the blind man. He had no sight, no ability to see Jesus until Jesus touched him. Our faith is like that—weak, faltering, often blind. Yet the miracle comes not from our perfect seeing but from Christ’s gracious touch.

Think of the paralytic lowered through the roof. He could not move toward Christ, so his friends brought him. Jesus said, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Healing followed forgiveness, but forgiveness came first. That is justification: God declaring the guilty clean before transformation takes root.

And what of the parables? Jesus told of a shepherd who searched for a lost sheep, of a woman who swept her house for a coin, of a father who ran to meet a prodigal son.

In each story, rescue comes from outside, not inside. The sheep did not find the shepherd; the shepherd found the sheep. The coin did not roll itself into the woman’s hand; she stooped to seek it. The prodigal rehearsed a servant’s speech, but the father clothed him as a son.

Justification is declaring righteous, not making righteous. But God does not pronounce the leper clean and leave him a leper. He does not pardon the rebel and then leave him to carry on his rebellion. The fruit of the Spirit is the evidence we have been born of the Spirit.”

Christ’s miracles and parables are sermons in action. They show us that justification is a gift, received by faith, that inevitably leads to transformation.

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2 – Christ Has Justified Us

Miracles and parables point to the cross, but it is at Calvary that justification was secured. Paul writes:

> “Just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.” (Romans 5:18)

Here we see humanity summed up in two representatives: Adam and Christ. Adam’s sin brought condemnation to all. Christ’s obedience brought justification to all.

Justification is the reception of the sinner just as he or she is, for Christ’s sake. Sanctification, or transformation, is the result.

The essence of justification is that God does for us what we could never do for ourselves. He accomplished our acquittal through Christ’s life and death, which were not only substitutionary, but representative.

When Christ died, God counted it as though the entire human race died. His perfect life, given on the cross, was credited to the entire human race. As Paul says:

> “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

This is not mere sentiment; it is substitution. Christ became what He was not—sin—so we could become what we are not—righteous. That is justification.

And yet, it is not cold legality. It is personal love. The cross was not a mathematical transaction; it was a Father giving His Son, a Son giving His life, for a world of rebels. To see that is to see justification not as a doctrine but as a love story.

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3 – Justified Through Faith Alone

Abraham is our model. Paul cites Genesis: