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:
> “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)
Abraham was not justified by works. He had done good works, yes, but they did not count toward his justification. He was not justified by ritual.
Circumcision had not yet been given when God declared him righteous. He was not even justified because of the strength of his faith. His faith was far from perfect—he lied about Sarah, he doubted God’s promise, he took Hagar into his own scheme.
Yet despite his failures, God credited righteousness to him because of the coming Seed, Christ.
Abraham was not justified as a result of his fragile faith. He was justified as a result of the coming Seed, Jesus.
Faith was no more than an outstretched hand. Faith is not the basis of God’s gift. Everyone is justified by means of faith, that is, through faith; but not because of, or as a result of, faith.”
That is the key: faith is the empty hand that receives the full gift. It is not the ground but the means.
Justification is through faith alone because justification is through Christ alone.
This is liberating. If my justification depended on the strength of my faith, I would never sleep in peace. But justification depends on Christ, and He never fails. My faith may tremble, but His grace stands.
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4 – Righteousness Through Christ
Justification and sanctification must be distinguished yet never separated.
Justification concerns our standing—perfect, complete, finished.
Sanctification concerns our state—always imperfect, always in process.
To confuse the two is to lose assurance. To separate the two is to excuse sin. The gospel holds them together.
Paul writes:
> “One has died for all; therefore all have died.” (2 Corinthians 5:14)
“Be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)
Potentially all men are saved; all that individuals need to do is accept so great a salvation and by that act of acceptance, lay hold of eternal life.
Faith has no virtue in itself. It is merely the hand by which we receive the One in whom is all virtue.
Thus righteousness does not come through faith in our faith; it comes through looking at Jesus Christ and believing what He says.
This means that justification is an objective reality accomplished outside of us.
Christ’s death reconciled the world to God. Our personal faith is the subjective response that receives that reconciliation. Potentially all are saved; actually saved are those who receive by faith.
And here we find the balance: God’s verdict is perfect and final, yet His Spirit begins the work of renewal. A justified person may still stumble, but he is no longer a slave to sin. He belongs to Christ. His life is no longer his own.
By surrender we consecrate our all to Christ, and by faith we receive His all.
That is righteousness through Christ: His life credited to us, His Spirit living in us, His mission entrusted to us.
