Romans 3:24
Justification
Woodlawn Baptist Church
November 27, 2005
Introduction (see footnote)
As we get started, I want to read to you four verses from Paul’s letter to the Romans. First we’ll read Romans 3:24,
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 4:5 says,
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
Romans 5:1 says,
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Last of all Romans 8:30 says,
“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
I want to speak to you tonight on this subject of justification. What is it? Why is it important and what does it mean to us? Perhaps of all the great doctrines of our faith, what the Bible teaches about justification must be among the most important. In fact, it has been said that “a right understanding of justification is absolutely crucial to the whole Christian faith…If we are to safeguard the truth of the gospel for future generations, we must understand the truth of justification. Even today, a true view of justification is the dividing line between the biblical gospel of salvation by faith alone and all false gospels of salvation based on good works.”
There are four facts about justification I want to remind you of tonight.
Justification Is A Legal Declaration By God
What exactly does it mean to be justified? I think in some ways we have so dumbed down the Bible and biblical terminology that we are frightened by words like this one. Webster’s Dictionary defines justification as being pronounced free from blame or guilt. Vine’s Expository Dictionary says that being justified is the legal and formal acquittal from guilt by God as Judge. In his book Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem defines justification as an instantaneous legal act of God in which he thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us. In this legal act God declares us to be righteous in His sight. The justification Christ offers frees one from the penalty of sin, and will keep one free from that penalty. Someone once said that justification means, “Just as if I’d never sinned.”
I want us to read Romans 3:9-23 together.
In this passage Paul, by the inspiration of God, lays out for us the scene of a court room in which a trial is taking place. Paul has argued the guilt of every man and woman, whether Jew or Gentile, as they are seen in the eyes of a holy and righteous God. The Gentile, even those who have never heard the gospel, is guilty due to the witness of the creation. The good or moral man: the “good old boy” is guilty due to the witness of his conscious. The Jew is guilty because of the Scripture he possesses.
All the elements of a court trial are present. In verse 9 we find the charge. We are all under sin: both the Jew and the Gentile. To say that we are all under sin includes all that goes with it: its guilt and its condemnation. Then in verses 10-18 we see the indictments against man. He is a totally depraved person. Our character is hopeless. “None are righteous.” Our speech is corrupt. Our conduct is ungodly. Sure there are different degrees to our depravity, but we are all guilty of sin. Remember the two mountains I have illustrated for you before. No matter how morally upright a person might be, if he is on the wrong mountain, whether on top or on bottom, he is on the wrong mountain. In this letter to the believers at Rome, Paul has masterfully demonstrated that there is not a single person who can stand before God as righteous and holy.
After bringing the indictments against man, verse 19 indicates man’s defense, “Every mouth may be stopped.” Think about the day of judgment. There will come a day when every one of us will stand before God alone. Just the thought of standing before God alone makes me shudder. Many think that they will somehow argue their case before the Lord or will put God on trial for what He did or allowed in their lives, and for those, I would agree with a statement I found somewhere that says “an attorney who would represent himself before the Lord has a fool for a client.” You see, when we stand before the Lord, the evidence will be so overwhelmingly obvious to us that “every mouth will be stopped.” There is no defense before God. Because we have no defense, verse 19 also gives the verdict against every man, including us: “and all the world may become guilty before God.” Why will every mouth be stopped? Because all are guilty!
You cannot understand justification apart from these facts about man’s sin and guilt before God. Because we are guilty sentence has been passed upon us. All of humanity stands condemned to die. The wages of sin is death. However, in justification God, who sits on the throne as Judge, legally declares that we are not guilty. In fact, He declares us to be righteous. But let us make a distinction here. In justification God does not make us good or righteous. Nor does He change what we are internally. To say that He justifies us is simply to say that He has declared us to be free from the penalty of our sin. God has simply issued a legal declaration about us.
A good example of this is found in Luke 7:29. Luke says that “all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.” You can see here that no one can make God righteous. They were simply declaring that God was righteous.
Now, if in justification God can legally declare us to be not guilty and also to be righteous, then two things take place in justification. The first thing is this: even though we have sinned terribly and stand before Him condemned, God declares that we are not guilty: that we have no penalty to pay for sin, including past, present and even future sins. That is why Paul could later say that there is “no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus.” Every sin you have ever committed or ever will commit has been fully forgiven.
That is one part of justification, but it is not enough, because now we stand before God forgiven, but somehow short of what we need. That is why we can say that not only have we been declared to be not guilty, but also to be righteous. You see, in the mind of God we are considered to be perfectly righteous before Him. In justification God sees me as having the merits of perfect righteousness. I am not just forgiven; I am actually righteous.
We Can Be Justified Because Of Christ’s Imputed Righteousness
Let’s read Romans 3:24-26.
Now go to Romans 4:1-5, 8.
In Romans 4, the words “reckon,” “count,” and “impute” all come from the same Greek word. When we say that God imputes Christ’s righteousness to us it means that God thinks of Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, or regards it as belonging to us. He “reckons” it to our account.
We have no righteousness of our own. Paul made that point in Romans 3:10. There is none righteous. Romans 4:5 says that I am ungodly. The only way God could look upon us as being righteous is by considering Christ’s righteousness as belonging to me: He justifies the ungodly by forgiving my sins and by declaring me to be righteousness.
If we reconsider our court trial, imagine that the charge has been laid against you. You are a sinner and deserve death. The various indictments are carefully laid out. You are given the opportunity to defend yourself, but there is nothing to say. You are guilty. Your adversary Satan grows excited knowing that you are guilty, but before the Judge passes sentence, an Advocate comes forward and tells the Judge that He has enough righteousness to take care of your crime. That is what Jesus has done for you.
Think about this: When Adam sinned, his guilt was imputed to us. In other words, God the Father viewed Adam’s sin as belonging to us. When Christ suffered and died for our sins, our sin was imputed to Christ; God thought of it as belonging to him. He paid the penalty for it. When He died on the cross He paid your sin debt. Now in the doctrine of justification we see Christ’s righteousness as being imputed to us, and therefore God thinks of it as belonging to us. It is not our own righteousness but Christ’s righteousness that is freely given to us.
Justification Comes Entirely By God’s Grace Through Faith In Christ
The question now comes up, “How do we receive Christ’s righteousness and the forgiveness of sins?” Christ’s righteousness is not simply given to everyone, though it was offered for everyone. Romans 3:20 tells us that “no flesh can be justified by the deeds of the law.” In other words, we cannot be justified by any good doing or by our own efforts. We are absolutely corrupt. Verse 24 gives us the answer. How can we be justified? It is by His grace!
Someone read Ephesians 2:8-9. We are saved by God’s grace. God did not have any obligation to impute our sin to Christ or to impute Christ’s righteousness to us; it was only because of his unmerited favor that he did it. That is grace! But how does God determine who will receive this grace? Again, verse 26 gives us the answer: he is the “justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
Romans 5:1 says we are justified by faith, but you must understand that there is nothing inherently good about your faith as though your faith had merit with God. What we learn though is that in exercising faith in Christ we are essentially saying to God the Judge that we cannot do for ourselves what is necessary to escape the punishment that comes because of our sin. Imagine the foolishness of the man who is on trial when Jesus steps forward on his behalf and tells the Judge that He will share His righteousness with that man, only to hear that man say that he does not need it, that he has tried to live righteously, or that he had more righteousness than unrighteousness. What a fool!
God demands payment. He demands satisfaction. Only the perfect sacrifice of His Son can satisfy. Only the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ can free a man from the guilt of sin, and the only way to receive that perfect, imputed righteousness is by believing.
Justification Results In Some Wonderful Blessings
Now, when God justifies a man, He says, “I pronounce you a righteous man. From now on I am going to treat you as though you had never sinned. All sin is passed and gone: wiped out. Your sin is not just forgiven, not just pardoned, but the slate has been cleared, it can never be written on again, and you have been set before God as a righteous man or woman.
We have already read some of the blessings of being justified. Romans 5:1 says that we have peace with God. We are not at enmity with Him. I am no longer offensive to Him because He does not see my sin; He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ.
Read with me Titus 3:7. “That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” This is not a “hope so” salvation. Because many people think they must earn God’s favor for salvation, they “hope” they can go to heaven. But because my salvation is not dependent on me and I have bet all my salvation on the righteousness of Christ, I have genuine hope in God.
I am reminded of the verse in Hebrews that says our hope serves as an anchor for our soul, both sure and steadfast. There are plenty of days when I don’t feel saved. My sin and feelings of unworthiness can begin to act like the wind and waves on our lake. If my security were based on those feelings or on my deserving salvation I would drift away, but I have an anchor – my hope – not in myself but in Christ’s righteousness which has been considered to be mine.
Not only do we have a genuine hope, but understanding the doctrine of justification gives us confidence that God will never make us pay the penalty for sins that have been forgiven on Calvary. That is not to say we will not reap what we sow. The drunk driver may still go to jail for running over someone, but he can be forgiven and justified. God will discipline us for our sins, but the fact is we will never, and that means never have to pay the penalty that is due our sins. “There is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.”
Conclusion
Let me ask you something: Are you confident that God has declared you “not guilty” forever in his sight? Do you know when that happened in your own life? Think back in your mind to the time you trusted Christ to save you. Can you remember a time when you realized that you stood before God absolutely condemned and guilty? Can you remember repenting of your sinful condition and trusting in what Christ has done to pay for your sin? If you are not sure you have ever been justified: completely forgiven for all your sins and declared to be righteous in God’s sight, what is keeping you from receiving that today?
There is no greater joy than to realize what He has done for us and to stand before Him with complete confidence that we are accepted by Him as “not guilty” and being perfectly righteous forever.
*I found Wayne Grudem’s chapter on Justification in his book Systematic Theology to be helpful in studying for this message.
