“WHEN JESUS COMES: JUSTIFICATION”
(Advent 2010, Week #3)
Rev. 11:18-19
Sermon Objective: The coming of Jesus brings justification by faith to all who believe.
Supporting Scripture: Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:22-26; Romans 4:5; 1 Corinthians 1:28-31, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:6-9; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:4-8a;
Rev. 11:18-19
Rev 11:18The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great—and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
Rev. 11:19Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
SERMON INTRO
There are certain and specific matters that always accompany an appearance of Jesus. It does not matter whether it refers to his first Advent (The manger through the resurrection), His intermediary Advent (Pentecost and the filling of His people), or the final consummation (His Second Coming).
Some of these accompaniments are illustrated in Revelation 11 and 12.
Two weeks ago (the first week of Advent) we discovered that anywhere and anytime Jesus comes – JUSTICE follows. Justice means God sets things right. It is not as much about some people getting what they deserve as it is everybody getting what they need.
• When Jesus was with people they were simply better off.
• When Jesus’ Spirit-filled followers are with people, their “right-ness”, “right conduct”, (righteousness) will touch people
• And when Jesus returns all things will be set right.
Last week we discovered that a visitation of Jesus brings JUDGMENT. Sin must be addressed.
This week we will explore this a little more with “WHEN JESUS COMES: JUSTIFICATION.”
Justification is the act of pronouncing a person or thing acquitted (discharged of a debt) of guilt. The root word for justification is the exact same word used for “justice” and “righteousness.” It, as you can see, falls in line with our thought for Advent. If justice gives us what we need, and judgment takes care of the barrier of sin, then justification naturally follows; it means that through Jesus, God declares us righteous and releases us from debt.
THAT is Good News!
Justification has a unique and powerful place within Christian Theology. It comes at no small cost. Being released from sin’s debt and declared righteous required the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And as you know … that is the reason we celebrate Christmas. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Isaiah 53:6 says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Righteousness, or its act of declaration (justification), come from the same DNA. Remember what I told you about justice? “Justice and righteousness are a lot like a tree. It does not matter whether I am looking at a leaf, the bark, or the trunk it all has the EXACT same DNA. It’s the same stuff just different expressions of the same DNA.”
The coming of the coming of Jesus was essential for the debt to be paid. It was necessary for justification to be declared. The time has come … for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great.
Your justification:
1. IS BASED SOLELY UPON THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST.
It is his “right conduct” (which is the definition of righteousness) not yours.
Titus 3:4-8a says: 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy saying.
Your justification:
1. Is based solely upon the character of Christ.
2. HAS PRACTICAL IMPLICATION WITHIN YOU – “RIGHT-NESS” EMERGES!
Unger’s Bible Dictionary says, “A justified believer emerges from God’s great court room with a consciousness that Another, his Substitute, has borne his guilt and he stands without accusation before the bar of God.”
Romans 8:33-34 says “33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
Let me repeat it again this week. In the work of Jesus Christ you are FULLY equipped for Heaven. There is nothing you can do (or that is expected of you) that qualifies you to inherit the Kingdom. In fact, if anyone else tries to tell you that “X” is expected of you (even if it be right living) in order to go to Heaven it is “another Gospel” and they are … “accursed” (Galatians 1:6-9).
This is not my opinion – it is God’s. Galatians 1:6-9 (KJV) says: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
I am not suggesting a born-again believer can live in sin. You know me better than that and you heard what I said last week. Being transferred from the Kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light means you ARE different and it will show in your character and conduct. That is what the HOLY Spirit brings you – the power to live a holy life.
BUT THIS HOLINESS IS A PRODUCT OF FAITH NOT THE CATALYST FOR GOD’S APPROVAL.
Your justification:
1. Is based solely upon the character of Christ.
2. Has practical implication within you – “right-ness” emerges!
3. COMES ONLY BY FAITH.
Your salvation is the act of God … it is what happens when Jesus comes. It is not your actions. Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Many throughout the years have struggled with this. They want … almost need … their standing before God to be somehow determined by their behavior. Martin Luther is a perfect example.
Martin Luther died nearly 500 years ago but his writing still speaks to us. He was awakened to the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and the effects of his renewal quickly spread through Germany. His testimony to justification through faith alone continues to spread around the world.
In his longing for freedom of conscience, Luther was advised to read the Scriptures for himself. He did this, and lectured on it also. During AD 1515 he lectured on Romans, and, in the next two years, on Galatians. Somewhere in this time the passage “The just shall live by faith” brought personal assurance to him that he was accepted by God—through faith alone. He wrote: 'I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise'.
One day he was climbing upon his knees the Sancta Scala [the “Holy Stairs”] which still stands in Rome. To this day poor souls go up and down those stairs on their knees in the belief that it is the very staircase that our Lord descended when he left Pilate’s house, and certain steps are said to be marked with drops of [Christ’s] blood; these the poor souls crawl on these steps and kiss them most devoutly hoping to find Divine favor. Well, Luther was crawling up these steps one day when that same text which he had met with before in the monastery, sounded like a clap of thunder in his ears, “The just shall live by his faith.” He rose from his prostration, and went down the steps never to grovel upon them again. At that time the Lord wrought him a full deliverance from superstition, and he knew that no work that he could do regardless of what it was, could justify him. He must live by his faith [in Christ] – that meant he had to trust Jesus and Jesus alone.
YOU SEE, FAITH PLUS ANYTHING IS NOT FAITH.
YOU SEE, GRACE PLUS ANYTHING IS NOT GRACE.
Others have discovered this too.
I read about John Wesley’s conversion experience, in which Wesley said, “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt that I did trust Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and had saved me from the law of sin and death (John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, third edition, Baker Book House, 1979 reprint, volume I, p. 103) .
There is no more simple yet radical truth in the world than the truth that Jesus and Jesus alone can and will make you right (give your “right-ness”, “Righteousness”) before God. Luther, Wesley and others are powerful examples of the freedom and forgivenss that comes to a human heart when it fully rests in God’s acts of righteousness rather than attempting to “help” God save them.
Romans 3:22-26 says, “22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
Romans 4:5 (KJV) says “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
WRAP-UP
WHEN JESUS COMES: JUSTIFICATION
1 Corinthians 1:28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
A text from Revelation tells us, in no uncertain terms, that our salvation comes from God.
It is God’s temple … His dwelling that is opened to man.
It is God’s covenant … God’s oath and promises that are offered to man.
Never does the Bible teach that you make it possible. Always the Bible teaches it is a gift you receive. To imply anything else – to imply that you or I have a role to play is a “damnable heresy” (c.f. 2 Peter 2:1).
As our Advent meditation said earlier, “The Good News of Christmas is that Salvation is God-given, God-driven, God-empowered, and God-originated. The gift is not from man to God. It is from God to man.”
Again, Unger’s Bible Dictionary says, “A justified believer emerges from God’s great court room with a consciousness that Another, his Substitute, has borne his guilt and he stands without accusation before the bar of God.”
WHENEVER JESUS COMES – JUSTIFICATION.
Isn’t that Good News!?
Maybe you cannot identify with the testimony of John Wesley. “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt that I did trust Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and had saved me from the law of sin and death.”
Well, as Wesley, Luther, myself, and millions of others can testify … you can, even today leave with an assurance that you stand before God justified … made right. All you need to do is come to Jesus Christ and trust him and him alone for forgiveness of sin.
Let’s sing about the privilege we have as justified souls by singing the Christmas song, “Go Tell It on the Mountain!”
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This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
Advent Week #3 Meditation
When Jesus Comes: Justification
Luke 1:76-79
>> LIGHT THE 1st, 2nd, and 3rd CANDLES OF THE ADVENT WREATH <<
Luke 1:76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
Luke 1:77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
Luke 1:78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
Luke 1:79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.
The conclusion is unavoidable: self-salvation simply does not work. Man has no way to save himself.
But the Bible tells us that God has a way. Where man fails God excels. Salvation comes from heaven downward, not earth upward. As it sais in Luke 1:78, “A new day from heaven will dawn upon us” and again is James 1:17, “Every good action and every perfect gift is from God.”
The Good News of Christmas is that Salvation is God-given, God-driven, God-empowered, and God-originated. The gift is not from man to God. It is from God to man.
Grace is created by God and given to man.
On the basis of this point alone, Christianity is set apart from any other religion….Every other approach to God is a bartering system; If I do this – God will do that. I’m either saved by works (what I do), emotions (what I experience), or knowledge (what I know).
By contrast, Christianity has no whiff of negotiation at all. Man is not the negotiator; indeed, man has no grounds from which to negotiate.
As you encounter the Gospel anew this Advent season take some time to allow God’s gracious gift to overwhelm you … to swell within you and burst into praise and adoration.
“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
Adapted from Max Lucado’s “In The Grip of Grace”
