St. Paul's United Methodist Church
“The Meaning of Justification”
Rev. Richard W. Gray
August 7, 2005
Romans 9:5-11
We have been doing a series on key words of the Christian faith. We have looked at faith, grace, sanctification, and this week we will look at justification. This is one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith. It is what Christianity is all about, and it is what makes Christianity different from all other religions of the world. And it is why we celebrate the Lord's Supper this morning.
Romans 8 says that before the world was created God knew about us and He chose us to be His. He did not wait to see what we might be like. Before we had done anything good or bad, before we even existed, God chose us and justified us.
What is justification? Justification is that act by God whereby we are declared by God to be right in His sight, to be sin free. It is a work of grace that we are made right in God's sight. Grace is the unearned, unmerited, undeserved, unconditional love of God. Romans 11:6 says, “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” If we have to do something to earn God's love, then His love is no longer an unconditional free gift.
We are made right with God, not by anything we do, but by faith, by our acceptance that Christ died to take away our sin. Anyone who teaches that we must do something to earn God's favor is corrupting the truth of God. They are not giving the Christian message. They have corrupted the love of God.
Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been
been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast.”
In other words, sinners are forgiven and pass from death to eternal life by the work of Jesus on the cross. Romans 5:9 says, “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him.”
There is a good way to understand this. Reach into the pew rack in front of you and take out a hymnal. Place the hymnal in your right hand. This hand represents you. The hymnal represents your sin in God's eyes. The weight of these sins is upon you. God hates sin and He must do something about it.
Look at your left hand. That hand represents Jesus, sinless Jesus. That hand is empty because Jesus had no sin.
Now, turn your right hand over and let the hymnal fall into your left hand. The burden of sin is gone off of you and put on Christ. 1 Peter 2:24 says of Jesus, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.”
Look at your two hands. Where is your sin? In your left hand, that is, on Jesus. What does the Bible say? He bore our sins. Whose sins? Our sins. Where are they now? On Christ.
Isaiah 53:6 says, “The Lord has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity (sins) of us all.”
Where are our sins? On Christ. How do we know? Because God says so.
Now put the hymnal back in the pew rack and take out the Bible and put it in your left hand, which represents Jesus. Your right hand represents you, the Bible represents the sinless life of Jesus. Now transfer the Bible from your left hand to your right hand. When our sins are placed
placed on Jesus, the sinless life of Jesus is placed on us. This shows how, as our sin is placed on Jesus, the sinlessness of Jesus is placed on us. When our sin passes from us to Christ, it is gone forever. When the sinlessness, or righteousness, of Christ is passed to us, it is ours forever.
I have just described justification. How can a holy God allow sinners to get away without punishing them, us? Because the offense, the sin, has been transferred to Jesus and He took the punishment in our place. God hates sin and He must deal with it. He does, through the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. God's holiness is still intact. God does not overlook sin. He deals with it through the death of Christ on the cross on our behalf. Someone has to pay the price for our sin. Jesus did!
Justification is not the same thing as a pardon. A pardoned criminal is still a criminal. There is still a record of the crimes in his or her file. When we are justified by God, the record of offenses is wiped clean, as if they never happened. God not only forgets our sins, past, present, and future, He even forgets that we were ever sinners.
Warren Weirsbe tells the story of a man in England who purchased a Rolls Royce car and put it on a boat to go across the English Channel for a vacation in Europe. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the engine of his Rolls Royce. He cabled the Rolls Royce people in England and they sent over a mechanic who fixed the car, and the man continued on his vacation. When the man arrived back in England, he contacted the Rolls Royce people to ask them how much he owed them. He received a letter back from Rolls Royce that read, “Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls Royce.” That is justification.
When God looks at a Christian, He says, “There is no record in my files that this person ever did anything wrong.” If God has wiped our record clean, then what are we doing living with guilt? Is it not time that we forgave ourselves? Is it not time we forgive others?
Justification is that act of God whereby we are declared by God to be right in His sight and sin free. The penalty for our sin has been paid. Justification is by our faith alone, not by faith plus our good works. God did it all. It is an accomplished fact and act.
It is finished, not unfinished for us to finish with sacraments, good works, penance, and a waiting period after death.
Acts 16:31 says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.” The only thing that makes any sinner acceptable in the sight of God is the work of Jesus on the cross for us, and our accepting by faith that work of Christ.
The Lord's Supper is a reminder to us of the death of Jesus on the cross to take away our sins, paying the full penalty of them, that we may be right with God. That is justification.
As you come to the altar rail for the Lord's Supper, surrender all efforts to justify yourself before God and accept by faith the finished work on your behalf.
335 Smyth Road
Manchester, NH 03104
Sunday School; 9:00 a.m.
Sunday Worship: 8:00 a.m. and 10:15 a.m.
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