Scripture
Today, we resume our study in “Romans: The Good News of God.”
The Apostle Paul wrote this magnificent letter to the Roman Church. He did not plant this church, and he had not yet visited the church, though he knew people in this church. He wrote this letter because he wanted to clarify how God saves people.
Paul started this letter with the usual greeting (1:1-7). And yet, even in his greeting he already stated several themes that he would cover in this letter.
Paul stated the major theme of this letter in Romans 1:16-17, which is that God provides his righteousness to sinners.
Paul began the body of his letter by expounding upon the universal sinfulness of mankind (1:18-3:20). Paul made it clear that Gentiles (1:18-32) as well as Jews (2:1-3:8) are sinners. Indeed, all people are sinners (3:9-20). As he so eloquently stated in Romans 3:10-12, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
The result of the universal sinfulness of mankind is that God is righteously angry with each person. Paul said that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18).
Recently, I heard Dr. R. C. Sproul say that he heard a well-known television evangelist (whose name I do not know) say that he did not preach God’s wrath. He felt that people were attracted to God’s love and mercy and grace, but were put off by the idea that God is angry towards them. The evangelist said that talking about God’s wrath was not good “bait” to catch sinners.
Friends, if we think of God only as a God of love and mercy and grace and kindness, and not as a God of wrath and holiness and justice, we will not have an accurate view of who God is.
Paul is crystal clear in teaching us that God is righteously angry with our sin. We are unrighteous, we are sinful, and we deserve God’s wrath. And worse, there is nothing we can do by ourselves to remedy the situation. If God does not act on our behalf we are without hope, except for his sovereign mercy.
But, thankfully, God has acted. God has provided a way for sinners to be saved. The Apostle Paul explained how God himself has provided his own righteousness for sinners. Let’s read Romans 3:21-26, keeping in mind that today’s text is Romans 3:25b-26:
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: 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, 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. (Romans 3:25b-26)
Introduction
In Romans 3:21-26 the Apostle Paul deals with the subject of justification. In these six tightly packed verses are “the centre and heart” of the whole letter, according to New Testament scholar C. E. B. Cranfield. Another New Testament scholar, Leon Morris asserts that this may be “possibly the most important single paragraph ever written.” That is quite a statement, isn’t it?
The Bible uses a number of different words to describe how God saves sinners.
For example, the word propitiation, which is very important for our understanding of salvation, is used only 4 times in the entire New Testament. (One of those references is in Romans 3:25).
The word reconciliation is also used only 4 times in the New Testament.
The word redemption is used 9 times in the New Testament, although it used much more frequently in the Old Testament (17 times) and in contemporary culture.
The Greek word for justification and righteousness come from the same Greek root—dike. Remarkably, these two words are used hundreds of times in the Bible. Therefore, the frequency of the words indicates that justification is the central idea in salvation.
Preachers throughout history have come to the same conclusion. For example, John Calvin, the father of our Presbyterian and Reformed churches, called justification “the main hinge on which salvation turns.”
Thomas Cranmer, the architect of the Church of England, believed that justification is “the strong rock and foundation of the Christian religion.” He declared that “whoever denies [this doctrine] is not to be counted for a true Christian man . . . but for an adversary of Christ.”
Thomas Watson, one of the greatest of the Puritan Divines, said, “Justification is the very hinge and pillar of Christianity. An error about justification is dangerous, like a defect in a foundation. Justification by Christ is a spring of the water of life. To have the poison of corrupt doctrine cast into this spring is damnable.”
And finally, the great German Reformer, Martin Luther, wrote, “When the article of justification has fallen, everything has fallen. . . . This is the chief article from which all other doctrines have flowed. . . . It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God; and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour. . . . Justification is the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines.”
As James Montgomery Boice says in his commentary, from which I am drawing much of today’s material, “these statements are not exaggerations. They present simple truth, because justification is indeed God’s answer to the most important of all human questions: How can a man or a woman become right with God? We are not right with God in ourselves. We are under God’s wrath. Justification if vital, because we must become right with God or perish eternally.”
Lesson
But what is justification? The word justification comes from the law courts and describes the act of a judge in acquitting an accused person. As Leon Morris says, “Justification . . . is a legal term indicating the process of declaring a person righteous.”
It is important to note that justification does not mean that a person is actually righteous. It simply means that a person is declared to be right as far as the law is concerned. The person who is justified may have broken the law but the law has been satisfied, and so the person is declared to be right with respect to the law.
James Montgomery Boice helps us understand this concept when he says:
Let me put it another way. Justification is the opposite of condemnation. When a defendant is found to stand in a wrong relationship to the law, he or she is condemned or pronounced guilty by the judge. Condemnation of that defendant does not make the person guilty. He or she is only declared to be so. In the same way, in justification the person is declared to be just or in a right relationship to the law, but not made righteous. A person could be declared righteous on the basis of his or her own righteousness; such a one would be pronounced innocent in a court of law. But in salvation, since we have no righteousness of our own and are not innocent, we are declared righteous on the grounds of Christ’s atonement.
Let me illustrate the concept of justification. I heard this illustration years ago as a student at the University of Cape Town when my pastor, Bishop Frank Retief, shared it with us.
Imagine that I die and I am now standing in the courtroom of God. I am on trial before God. The charge against me is that I have broken the Law of God. God is the Judge. He asks if I understand the charge against me, namely, that I have broken each one of the Ten Commandments.
I answer, “Yes, I understand the charges against me.”
Further, God wants to know if I understand that if I have only broken the Law at just one point I am still guilty of death, which is that I will be sentenced to hell for all eternity.
Again I answer, “Yes, I understand.”
God calls for the first witness. The witness is in fact the Law.
The Law testifies that I have broken each one of the Ten Commandments many times. In fact, in my 51 years (and today is my 51st birthday!), I have broken each commandment thousands of times. And as each infraction is presented, I have to agree to my shame and embarrassment that I have indeed broken the Law thousands upon thousands of times in my life.
God then calls the next witness against me. It is Satan.
Satan testifies against me how often he got me to break the Ten Commandments. In fact, he is quite pleased with how easy it was to tempt me to break the Ten Commandments. Again, I have to admit that all of Satan’s accusations against me are true. I cannot lie. I am in the presence of God.
Finally, God calls my own conscience to testify against me.
I am shocked. My own conscience testifies against me. My conscience testifies how sometimes I would listen, but more often than not I would reject my conscience and do what pleased me. I would then break yet another of the Ten Commandments. This happened thousands of times, more times than I could count.
Things don’t look good for me. I have clearly broken the Ten Commandments thousands upon thousands of times. If God used the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” rule, I would have been sentenced to hell 51 years ago! I realize how patient God is. But, I have discovered to my horror that the longer I live, the worse things are for me. The pile of charges against me is enormous!
God asks me what I have to say in my defense.
“God,” I answer, “I know that I deserve nothing but condemnation and hell. In fact, I have no merit with you. I have only demerits are far as you are concerned. But, I do have one who is willing to testify on my behalf.”
God asks who that might possibly be. After all, there is absolutely no question as to my guilt and condemnation. My sentence to hell seems to be a sure thing.
“God, when I was 19 years old, I realized that I was a sinner deserving condemnation and hell. I realized that there was nothing that I could do to save myself. And so I asked the Lord Jesus Christ if he would pay the penalty on my behalf. To my amazement I discovered that he would not only pay the penalty for all of my sin, but that he would also credit to my account his righteousness. God, I truly and sincerely believe that Jesus did that on my behalf. In fact, I am staking my eternal destiny on Jesus’ work on my behalf. So, I would ask you to hear Jesus on my behalf.”
God calls for Jesus to step forward to testify on my behalf.
Jesus steps forward and testifies that when I was 19 years old I asked him to pay the penalty for all of my sin. He indeed paid the penalty for every single sin of mine. All my past sins, all my present sins, all my future sins, all of them, every single one of them, he paid for by dying on the cross. Moreover, he credited to my account all of his righteousness.
So, God the Father then looks at me and he says, “You have indeed broken the Law. You deserve to be condemned. You deserve to be sentenced to hell for all eternity. But, because you have asked Jesus to pay the penalty on your behalf, and because he has done so, I therefore acquit you of all charges. In the eyes of the Law you are no longer condemned; you are justified by my grace because of Christ’s work that is credited to your account. Instead of sentencing you to hell, I am sentencing you to heaven for all eternity.”
And with that sentence, God stamps JUSTIFIED on the charge sheet, and I am set free to enter into heaven for all eternity.
Theologian J. I. Packer says, “Justification is the truly dramatic transition from the status of a condemned criminal awaiting a terrible sentence to that of an heir awaiting a fabulous inheritance.”
Friends, that is what justification is. Question 33 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is justification?” And the answer given is, “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.”
Conclusion
Let me conclude with a simple question. Are you justified?
Are you justified by God’s grace through the work of Christ, which you have received by faith?
If not, you simply need to recognize that you are a sinner with a massive pile of sins against your name. Ask Jesus to pay the penalty for all your sin, and to credit his righteousness to your account. Amen.
