NTRO.- ILL.- A new York Divorce Lawyer died and arrived at the pearly gates. Saint Peter asks him "What have you done to merit entrance into Heaven?" The Lawyer thought a moment, then said, "A week ago, I gave a quarter to a homeless person on the street." Saint Peter asked Gabriel to check this out in the record, and after a moment Gabriel affirmed that this was true.
Saint Peter said, "Well , that's fine, but it's not really quite enough to get you into Heaven." The Lawyer said, "Wait, Wait! There's more! Three years ago I also gave a homeless person a quarter." Saint Peter nodded to Gabriel, who after a moment nodded back, affirming this, too, had been verified.
Saint Peter then whispered to Gabriel, "Well, what do you suggest we do with this fellow?"
Gabriel gave the Lawyer a sidelong glance, then said to Saint Peter, "Let's give him back his 50 cents and tell him to go to Hell."
Many lawyers think they are right, but that doesn’t mean they are generous. They are in the business of making money. And they certainly can’t argue their way into heaven. In fact, I don’t think they can even try. I think once a person dies and passes from this life into the next life, there won’t be any pride or arrogance or arguing. It will be done a deal. A person’s destiny will be sealed.
Hebrews 9:27 “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”
We humans want to justify ourselves, that we know what we are talking about, that we are right. And it doesn’t make any difference who you are or what you’ve done for a living.
It doesn’t make any difference what it is, or who it is, we all want to justify ourselves as being right or justify ourselves in what we’re doing. When it comes to being justified before God, there is only one person who is right and knows the way to justification. Our text is clear about justification before God. He knows best. We play by His rules only.
PROP.- Paul defines how we are justified.
1- Justified through faith
2- Justified at the right time
3- Justified by His blood
I. JUSTIFIED THROUGH FAITH
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
ILL.- A man named Jack was walking along a steep cliff one day, when he accidentally got too close to the edge and fell. On the way down he grabbed a branch, which temporarily stopped his fall. He looked down and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for more than a thousand feet.
He couldn't hang onto the branch forever, and there was no way for him to climb up the steep wall of the cliff. So Jack began yelling for help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and lower a rope or something. “HELP! HELP! Is anyone up there? HELP!" He yelled for a long time, but no one heard him. He was about to give up when he heard a voice. Jack, Jack. Can you hear me?" "Yes, yes! I can hear you. I'm down here!" "I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?"
"Yes, but who are you, and where are you? "I am the Lord, Jack. I'm everywhere." "The Lord? You mean, GOD?" "That's Me."
"God, please help me! I promise if, you'll get me down from here, I'll stop sinning. I'll be a really good person. I'll serve You for the rest of my life."
"Easy on the promises, Jack. Let's get you off from there; then we can talk." "Now, here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully."
"I'll do anything, Lord. Just tell me what to do." "Okay. Let go of the branch." "What?" "I said, let go of the branch. Just trust Me. Let go." There was a long silence. Finally Jack yelled, "HELP! HELP! IS ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?"
Our salvation or justification still a matter of faith.
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Faith is how we become justified before God. Salvation or justification starts and ends with faith.
It was faith that led you to believe that God existed. The starry universe, plus plant and animals, newborn babies, and perhaps other things led to believe in our Creator God. And it was faith in God that led you to believe the Bible. It was faith in the Bible as God’s Word that led you to believe in Jesus. It was faith in Jesus, who He is and what He did, that led you to trust Him for your salvation.
It was faith in God’s Word that led you to confess your faith in Christ. It was faith in what God said about sin that led to repent of your sin (along with the conviction of the Holy Spirit).
It is faith in the Lord and His Word that leads you to daily prayer, Bible reading, to live a clean life, to witness, to give, and leads you to church on Sunday. It is faith in the Lord that leads to live for Him as best you can.
As you age, it is faith in the Lord that keeps you going when you don’t feel like it. And as you near death it will be faith that will cause you to trust the Lord for your salvation and say, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”
It will be faith that may cause you to pray, “Lord, you can take me home any time you want me.” IT’S ALL A MATTER OF FAITH. A faith that will cause you to trust and obey Him.
II. JUSTIFIED AT THE RIGHT TIME
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Our God is a “just at the right time” God. There are times perhaps when it doesn’t seem like it, but He is.
ILL.- Three days after my son was born, he started vomiting after every feeding. In fact, he started projectile vomiting after every feeding. It was just like clock work. You could almost count the minutes after each feeding that he would start vomiting and it was something like only 5 minutes and you’d better be ready. That went on for 5 days after every feeding. We called the doctor on the Monday (8 days after he was born) and the doctor said to get him to the St. Mary’s Health Center where he was born days earlier.
He was given a barium swallow, that is, it was put in his bottle and he took it that way. Then they did an X-ray on his little body and it showed that his small intestines only went to a point. Oh my goodness! What to do? What next? The doctor said, “We’re going to do an exploratory surgery to find out what the problem is?” Oh no! But it was oh yes! But he was only 8 days old.
The nurses stripped him down and there he lay with nothing but what God gave him. Soon he was taken into surgery and all we could do was weep and pray. “Was he going to live through the surgery?” “Would they be able to find out what was wrong and repair the problem?” “What if he didn’t make it ?”
After three and a half to four hours, the surgeon appeared and explained what he found. Shane was born with adhesions which were wrapped around his small intestines causing the main problem of vomiting. He simply cut those.
Some of the milk was going through but not all of it and so his body just expelled it. The surgeon said he also removed Shane’s small intestines to examine them. He said that he found a piece of pancreas in his small intestine so he cut it out. I asked, “How did you know?” He said that the small intestine is pinkish in color and this was a yellow spot.
He cut it out, sewed up his small intestine and put his small intestine back in and on the right side of his body. He sewed him up and laid him on his right body. Then he said, “We’ll let nature take its course.”
Was that doctor correct in what he said and what he did? Apparently, he did right because my son is now 33 years old and has not had any abdominal problems other than normal stuff.
I would say that both our Pediatrician and surgeon stepped in at just the right time and saved my son! AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME. Isn’t it wonderful when someone/anyone steps in at just the right time to save us, to help us, to guide us, to protect us, to provide for us???? And God stepped in at just the right time in history to send Jesus into this world to save us.
Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” I like to read this text this way: AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME, GOD SENT JESUS INTO THE WORLD TO REDEEM US. And He did! God’s timing is perfect.
We may not always think His timing is perfect, but often when we look back, we can see where He was working and that He stepped into the picture of our lives at just the right time. Aren’t you glad that God knows what time it is?
III. JUSTIFIED BY HIS BLOOD
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
ILL.- Joe Kerkofsky is America’s blood-donor champion (perhaps at one time.) The American Association of Blood Banks will honor the 62-year-old retired security guard at a special presentation in Chicago.
Mr. Kerkofsky lost an arm in an accident when he was six. He was thence rejected for military service in World War II. Since then he has donated nearly 31 gallons of blood. The human body contains 10 or 12 pints of blood. Joe has donated more than 20 times that amount. “Giving blood makes you feel like contributing life itself,” he says. “There’s no more precious a gift than life. Money can’t buy the joy of giving blood to help someone who needs it.”
Kerkofsky may have given more blood than most, but Jesus gave the best!
Hebrews 9:12-14 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Hebrews 9:22 “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Why did God make the shedding of blood a law for the forgiveness of sin? I don’t know but He did. I’m just thankful that it was Christ’s blood and not my own. And there isn’t enough animals in the world for their blood to take away the sin of mankind. It’s only through the blood of Christ than man can be saved!
I Peter 1:18-21 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
ILL.- A Calcutta paper relates that a young Hindu came to the house of a missionary for an interview. In the course of the conversation, he said: “Many things which Christianity contains are found in Hinduism, but there is one thing which Christianity has and Hinduism has not.” “What is that?” the missionary asked. His reply was striking: “A Savior.”
Thank God that He sent Jesus into the world to save us by His blood, by His perfect sacrifice on the cross! There is no one better and no sacrifice better than Jesus.
CONCLUSION--------------
ILL.- It seems that there was a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and went across to the continent to go on a holiday trip. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the motor of his car. He cabled the Rolls-Royce people back in England and asked, "I'm having trouble with my car; what do you suggest I do?" Well, the Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over! The mechanic repaired the car and flew back to England and left the man to continue his holiday.
As you can imagine, the fellow was wondering, "How much is this going to cost me?" So when he got back to England, he wrote the people a letter and asked how much he owed them. He received a letter from the office that read: "Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls-Royce."
And this is what we have in Christ. In Christ it is as if there was never anything wrong with us. It’s called justification. It’s called salvation. AND IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF HIM!
Steve Shepherd, Cape Girardeau, MO
shepherd111@hotmail.com
