Sermon Brief
Date Written: October 18, 2012
Date Preached: October 21, 2012
Where Preached: OZHBC (AM)-Homecoming Sunday 2012
Sermon Details:
Series Title: A Homecoming Sermon - OZHBC
Sermon Title: Justification – What it Means!
Sermon Text: Romans 5:1-11 [HCSB]
Introduction:
Today is homecoming Sunday, & as believers when we think about Homecoming… I know our minds gravitate to think about the most GLORIOUS of homecomings: HEAVEN!
Isn’t it a great though that we have the promise of God that there is gonna be a day when ALL of God’s children will be gathered HOME to be with our Lord in heaven…Oh what a day that will be!
We sing about it all the time… you know the songs!
We sing songs about crossing the river Jordan …
We sing songs about going home…
We sing songs about getting to heaven! You know the hymns like…
When we all get to heaven…
When the roll is called up yonder…
Shall we gather at the River…
On Jordan’s Stormy banks I stand…& then there is…
That great Southern gospel song… Beulah Land…
We even sing about heaven when we extend an invitation for those who do NOT know Jesus to receive Him as their Savior!
We sing… Come Home, Come Home… You who are weary come HOME… Earnestly tenderly Jesus is calling… calling OH SINNER Come home!
In the Bible we READ about a great homecoming day…
In our fellowship we talk about that great homecoming we will experience one day…
In our worship, we sing about the great homecoming we will have with Christ one day…
But I want to ask you a question this morning… Why is it that we can, [with such great confidence], read about, talk about or sing about this great homecoming when we shall see & be with Jesus for all eternity?
How is it that, as believers, we can say things like… When the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there… & we can sing it with such strong conviction & assurance that it is absolutely TRUE?
Well this morning I want to give you some scripture that reveals just how we can read, say & sing about such things with such confidence!
You see, we can do this because it is a promise that comes directly FROM God… it is a promise He has made to ALL those who know Him as Savior! BUT I want to share something with you that you may not know or fully understand!
Did you know that this wonderful promise that God has offered to us has been given… it has absolutely NOTHING to do with who we are, what we have done, or what we WILL do in the future…
But preacher what about my decision to follow Christ, to surrender my heart, to accept Him as Savior… I have to do that don’t I?
Well the answer to those questions is YES you have to do those things… but the other answer is that those things… those decisions you make… they do NOTHING to save you! YOU can do NOTHING to earn or deserve salvation from God!
But instead, this promise that says we can have salvation is a promise that based SOLELY on the Work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
We could surrender our hearts ALL day long - all of our lives, but if Christ had not done, what Christ has done… it would be useless & we would be hopeless!
We find that this promise revealed throughout Scripture & Paul makes it clear in this passage…
Thru the pen of Paul we can see what God has promised & know that one day we will have a great HOMECOMING with our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ!
So I want you to turn with me this morning, & I want you to stand in reverence to the reading of God’s Word as we read Rom 5:1-11.
I will be reading from the HCSB; the verses will also be on the screen… [Read Scripture here]
1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, & we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4& endurance produces character, & character produces hope, 5& 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. 6For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. 7For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! 9Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. 10For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! 11& not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him.
Paul begins this chapter proclaiming this wonderful gift of justification from God, but we have to ask the question…
Just what does it mean to be justified before God? What is Paul telling the believers here in this passage?
Looking back to ch4, Paul wrote about Abraham & how he was justified thru His unwavering faith in God. Abraham had great faith in God & God credited unto Him righteousness…it was a gift from God!
Paul’s example in ch4 was that Abraham was granted justification as a gift because of His faith in God’s promise of a son! This was NOT because Abraham had some special faith or was more spiritual… but it was God’s gift TO Abraham…
Paul’s point here is that just as Abraham was granted justification… So too can we be justified before God… We can know God’s favor through our faith we have in Him! We can experience the justifying promise of God!
BUT that still does not answer the question, “What does it mean to be justified by faith?” Well let’s look to our Scripture & find the answer to that question!
This morning my focus will be on v10 to answer this question… so let’s look at the 1st part of v10 where Paul writes that…
We All Have A Past [v10a]
10…while we were enemies [of God]…
Paul’s point here is implied, but still fairly obvious. Paul is implying that BEFORE anyone can be justified there has to be a starting point… a point in your life when you are outside of God’s grace & separated from Him. We all have that starting point. Scripture tells us that ALL of sinned & fallen short of God’s glory! [show Rom 3:23 here]
Oscar Wilde was quoted as saying that “every saint has a past…” which simply means that there IS once a point & time within every believer’s life when they were outside of God’s grace & not saved!
People, we are NOT born as saints of God, but we are born into this world separated from God’s mercy & grace & on our way to hell. Scripture this when we read what King David wrote: [show Ps 51:5 now]
Ps 51:5 [HSCB]
Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
We are ALL born into sin…We ALL have a past…We all have things in our past we wish we could just wipe away! There was a time in all of our lives when we were an ‘enemy’ of God…
So to attempt to answer the question, “What does it mean to be justified by faith?” The 1st thing we must understand is that we all have a past…we all are sinners & based on our own merit, we WILL ALWAYS fall short of God’s kingdom & His perfection.
But there is wonderful news in what Paul is saying here…Paul is revealing a glorious promise… he’s telling us that even tho’ we’re born outside of God’s grace & even tho’ we’re ENEMIES of God…Paul tells us here that we can be justified before God!
This means that even tho’ there was something against us [our sin] in which we are guilty of sin… & even tho’ we cannot not escape the penalty of that sin… & even tho’ we are DOOMED for all eternity…
Paul tells us that in Christ we are now justified! This is Paul’s exclamation point for the believer that what was against us… IN Christ it is no longer held against you…
When we look justification up in the dictionary it is defined as the Christian belief that the grace of God absolves people from all of their sin.
I know that we SAY we understand this, but I don’t know if we really do! Because if we DID truly understand what Christ has done… then we would act more Christlike, live more Christlike lives & serve Christ in a more diligent & intentional manner!
Imagine yourself standing in a courtroom & then imagine that all evidence that has been presented against you is proven true & they have an airtight case against you.
The jury has deliberated & the judge has cast the verdict… you are guilty & you stand waiting on the Judge to pass sentence on you! However, before judgment is passed down… the judge speaks up & says that even though you are guilty & deserve judgment…
THAT you are no longer going to be guilty, but that as of that moment you have been justified & everything they had against you has now been wiped away!
Here you stand in the middle of the courtroom & you KNOW you are guilty of these crimes, but now you have been declared NOT guilty. Now you know that you will NEVER be charged or punished for your crimes… you stand as a FREE man or woman because the court issued justification to you!
Spiritually speaking, this is what Paul is saying… this is what happens when we receive Christ into our lives… when we surrender to Him as Savior. In Christ, we are made right before God and we stand before Him innocent & blameless…In Christ we are justified in God’s sight!
So the 1st thing we KNOW about justification is that BEFORE we can be justified… we are OUTSIDE of the grace of God & we are guilty & condemned with no hope of being saved on our own merit!
So in asking the question, ‘what does it mean to be justified?’ We must first understand that it means that we were once guilty & condemned… We were once hopeless to rid ourselves of that guilt or condemnation!
WOW! Preacher you paint a bleak picture about who I am! Surely I can’t be that bad? After all I haven’t killed anyone, I don’t rob banks & I am a decent person.
Well that is a humanist line of thinking, and it would be so much easier in life if only that were true… The humanistic worldview says that humans are basically good & will always gravitate to the right thing…
This humanistic viewpoint believes we are all good so it insists that we do NOT need a Savior… we do NOT need saving because we are basically good & we will end up doing the right thing…
BUT when we look around at the world we see a MUCH different picture than the humanist worldview presents! Sure there are unselfish moments by humans, but being good (by God’s std) is NOT in our nature!
The truth of the matter is this! We are all GUILTY as charged! We ALL have a past that condemns us to an eternity separated from God!
But knowing this and then reading what Paul says in 5:1 when he writes, “…you have been declared righteous [justified]…”
This means you have been taken from guilty of sin to justified FROM sin… from the condemned to being free in Christ… & that leads me to my 2nd point this morning!
When we ask the question, “What does it mean to be justified?” The 2nd thing we need to understand is that we have been delivered FROM sin and its grip on us, and now…
We All Have A Future [v10b]
10…we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son…
Paul says that even though we were God’s enemies… We were reconciled by Christ on the Cross of Calvary!
Focus in on this truth…because many of us simply don’t realize the magnitude of what God has done for us! Again I ask the question, “What is justification?”
Like I previously have stated, the term ‘justification’ simply put: is the act of being made right [innocent] when legally you are in the wrong [guilty]…
But, legal or secular justification is not what we are here about today…is it? Our focus is spiritual justification!
The 1st thing we must understand is we ALL have a past & we ALL have a starting point where we were OUTSIDE of God’s grace & salvation!
But the 2nd thing we need to grasp is that where there was NO hope in our own ability… Christ stepped in and He brings hope! Look at what Paul says here in the 2nd part of v10… ‘thru the death of His Son…’ meaning Jesus on the Cross of Calvary!
Reconciliation to God only comes about by the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ! His death on the Cross is the redemption of your soul! It IS for the remission of your sin… Because of Jesus & what He did on the Cross, you can stand justified & blameless before God…
Now we must understand that this blameless standing that we enjoy before God is NOT given because of our actions or words, but it is given because Christ offers it & gives it freely!
We could surrender our hearts to Christ all day long… but without Christ offering Himself on the Cross… this justification would never be available to us!
So often, believers fail to appreciate the fact that salvation is IMPOSSIBLE on our own merit… We take Jesus & His death on the Cross of Calvary for granted!
Many won’t admit this but there are MANY in the pews of our churches today who think they DESERVE the salvation they have… that they deserve the grace, mercy & forgiveness of God! Hey I’m a GOOD person, and God loves me for that…but that is NOT true!
God’s justification of our soul would be a hopeless cause if it came down to what we DESERVE! If we had to rely on our good works or our own righteousness… what we DESERVE is HELL!
We deserve an eternity separated from our Creator based on our works, but that is where the GRACE of God comes into play… The Grace of God is us getting what we do NOT deserve!
We all have that past and we are condemned by our own actions, but BECAUSE of Christ we can obtain mercy, grace & forgiveness! In Christ we can have justification before God!
Oscar Wilde said, “…every saint has a past…” but he went on to also say, “…every sinner has a future…” Now I don’t know what Oscar Wilde meant by this, but when I look at this quote it carries with it a great meaning for believers!
As believers, we all have a past, & even though Christ saves us we still sin & we are still sinners, but because of the blood of Jesus we have a future… we have hope… we have redemption… IN CHRIST JESUS! This is what Paul meant when he wrote that we are justified by Christ on the Cross!
We were headed to destruction but now our future has changed… it changed on a hillside named Golgotha just outside of Jerusalem some 2000 yrs ago… when Jesus spread His arms wide & gave His very life for our sin!
We have a better future now… one that has us spending eternity with God in heaven…one that sees us standing before God on the great day of judgment & God looking at us & saying, “Well done my good & faithful servant…enter into the Joy of YOUR Lord!”
We all have a past, but now that Jesus is in our lives we all have a future IN HIM! What sort of future do we have to look forward to? Well Paul elaborates about this a little in this verse…he writes:
10…then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!
Paul is saying here that if we think reconciliation & justification from sin in THIS life is good… you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! How awesome is it going to be to be in heaven with Christ & know God’s full & total peace!
What a glorious position we enjoy IN CHRIST! We are justified & freed from the guilt & punishment of sin, & delivered into the wonderful love, grace & mercy of our Creator God… who loves us in this life, but who has prepared a place for us in the next life! A place that our minds cannot even comprehend…
JUSTIFIED before God means:
We had a past… sinners & condemned, but also
We have a future… heirs to the throne of Grace!
So now that we have answered the question of Justification… what does that mean for us as believers today? We HAD a past that we have escaped… We have a GREAT future and hope in Christ to one day be with Him in heaven, but I want to ask you… How does knowing this affect our lives here in the present?
Well let me try to give you a contemporary comparison that may help you to understand what it means for us today! What it should mean to us each and every day we serve Him!
I want to ask all of you to close your eyes & let me share with you…
I know that this subject touches all our lives, but I want you to imagine that you are in the doctor’s office and you have just learned that you have been diagnosed with terminal cancer. You have been told that you have some time left, but that there is NO cure…thus no hope!
You ask the doctor, ‘what if I change my eating habits?’ or ‘what if I begin to exercise on a daily basis?’ but the doctor tells you it does not matter what you do… YOU will not survive this cancer.
You may go out & try to find someone who can give you some hope… you try herbal remedies & you try exercise, but the more you try, the sicker you become…
It doesn’t matter how many things you try, the cancer is still there & the end is still the same, you are going to die. You are hopeless & begin to go into a depression…
One day a man walks up to you and begins to speak with you. There’s something about this man that’s different, he has a nice demeanor & kind eyes, & he speaks to you about a lot of things.
Then he tells you that he once had cancer & now he is cured. You look at him in disbelief… How can you be cured? I was told it was a death sentence!
This man looks at you & says something that you will never forget! He says, “Where the doctors find no cure & give no hope, I know of a cure & can guarantee you hope and life!”
The man takes out a bottle of pills & says, ‘I have been taking these & my cancer is gone… the doctors don’t know what to think, but they admit the cancer is gone!’
Take these pills & you TOO will be free from your cancer! You look at this man & blindly blurt out, “but how much is this going to cost me?” To your surprise the man says it won’t cost you anything…BUT there is one catch, you must share it with others who have cancer!
Now I want to ask you a question… if someone offered you that pill that guaranteed your healing, what would do? You would take it wouldn’t you? You would take an you would promise to share it with everyone!
You may be skeptical, but what if you tried it & it worked? What then? What would you do then? Would you take it & hide it in your bathroom cabinet? Or would you go to the people you knew had cancer & share it with them?
I know what the answer is… I believe everyone of us here would take it to 1st those we loved who we knew had cancer… then we would begin to share it with ALL we could find…
We would share it gladly & proudly… we would not keep it to ourselves & we would not be ashamed that we had found this cure…we would want to tell everyone about it & we would NOT hold back!
Can you imagine what the reaction in the world would be? People being cured of cancer… left & right by a simple pill… can you imagine?
Well I want you to see sin as a spiritual cancer… a cancer that cannot be cured by anything we do as humans. This is something your preacher cannot remove…NO loved one can take away…it is a cancer that will eat at your soul & leave you with no hope!
Imagine someone to you & telling you that there is a cure for this spiritual cancer and that cure is Jesus! If you will accept Him them the spiritual cancer will be cured! The only catch is that you live for Him & serve Him & share Him with others who have this spiritual cancer!
People… Paul is saying in these verses that God has come into our hearts & He has CURED us of our spiritual cancer! We now stand JUSTIFIED in Christ & fully CURED before God…without a stain of sin on our soul! All because of Jesus!
So what does this mean FOR us today? It means that we should be sharing this CURE… we should be sharing this FREEDOM with anyone & everyone the Holy Spirit places in our path!
Today is the 1st day of Old Zion Hill’s homecoming revival… A revival is where the people of God seek out the will of God & make their lives RIGHT with the Lord so that they LIVE as God desires them to live!
Today… God has revealed His HOPE to you… He has shown you that you are JUSTIFIED… that even though you had a past & you were lost in SIN… He has given you a future where you have eternal life with God in heaven!
Are you going to hoard that in your own life? Are you going to sit idly by as others DIE in their spiritual cancer? Or are you going to EMBRACE the life God has called you into… Are you going to take hold of the calling God has placed upon your life?
You have been given a gift SO glorious & valuable, it is FAR too important to NOT share… YOU MUST SHARE what God has blessed you with! I am going to open these altars this morning for YOU… so that you can come & make things right with God!
Give evangelistic invitation here…
Don’t let shame, or fear of what others may think, or pride stand in the way of confessing your sin of apathy & neglect… don’t stand idly by as this time of confession is offered! Step out as Bro Price comes to lead us in our hymn of invitation, won’t you come?
