justified.
Reading: Romans chapter 3 verses 21-31.
Joke:
There was a man, approaching middle age:
• Whose life was comfortable, but he felt an emptiness inside, a longing.
• So he decide to join a monastery.
The head monk told him that the road ahead would be difficult,
• He would have to give up all earthly possessions, pray constantly,
• And he would have to be totally silent.
• In fact, he could not speak at all, to anyone.
• He would only be allowed only to say two words every five years.
So the man joins and becomes “brother John” a silent monk,
• Five long years goes by,
• And he is sent for, and is interviewed by the senior brother,
• The senior brother looked at brother John and asked; "So, how is everything?"
• Brother John replied; "Bed hard".
• The senior brother responds, "Oh, I’m so sorry, we didn’t know”
• “We’ll take care of that right away”. And the bed is fixed.
Another five years goes by:
• Brother John is remains true to his vow and silent all this time:
• Then the senior brother sends for Brother John for his five year interview:
• He again asks "How are you, my son, is all OK?"
• Brother John replies, "Food cold",
The senior brother responds:
• "Oh, that is no good, we will take care of that problem right away”.
• And true to his word there is no more cold food."
Again, five more years goes by:
• Brother John is the ideal monk, he prays, he is silent.
• Again its time for Brother John’s five yearly interview.
• The senior brother asks him "How are you, are you OK?”
• To which Brother John replies "No, I quit".
The senior brother, shook his head and says:
• “This comes as no surprise,
• You’ve been here for fifteen years and all you’ve ever done is complain!"
Now I have been given license tonight:
• I can speak on the whole passage.
• Or I can choose one phrase or word and speak on that.
• So I am goining to be sparing with my language,
• And just choose one word
• The word I have chosen is “Justified”.
• You find it in verse 24, 26, 28, 30 of chapter 3.
• It also both starts off chapter 4 (verse 2).
• And finishes the chapeter (verse 25).
• The word also plays a key part in understanding chapter 5,
• Verse 1, 9.
Ill:
Justified or justification is a thread woven through the next three chapters.
Question: What does it mean to be justified ?
Answer: By way of an illustration:
In a court of law there will come a time in the proceedings:
• Especially if it is a serious case and there is a jury involved,
• There comes a point towards the end of the trial,
• When the foreman of the jury is asked a question,
• He or she is asked, "Is the prisoner guilty or not guilty"
• If the foreman of the jury says not guilty:
• What that man or woman is doing is, justifying the person in the dock.
That’s precisely what the word ’justify’ or ’justified’ means:
• It is to tell out, to declare that;
• A person is not guilty, that the person who has been on trial is innocent.
• The foreman of the jury declares we have previously judged them to be wrong, guilty.
• But now we have discovered that they are right, they are innocent.
Now in the Bible, the teaching of justification means just that.
• But it also means a whole lot more.
• The book of Romans and other parts of the Bible teach that:
• Every human being who has ever been born,
• Apart from Jesus Christ was born guilty - guilty of sin.
Quote: Chapter 3 verse 23
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
ill:
Granddad and the naughty kids and cheese.
ill:
• Archer aiming at a target.
• Miss by an inch or a meter or 10 meters you have missed the mark.
• We have failed to meet God’s standards (the law).
• If we are honest we fail to meet our own standards.
• That’s why the Bible pronounces every person “Guilty”.
• We are sinners by nature and sinners by practice.
Now note this:
• In a court of law.
• A person who is guilty can never be made not guilty!
ill:
Suppose you commit a crime (ill: Woolworth’s),
• Perhaps you steal something and you are caught and you have to go to court,
• And your found guilty.
• But because it’s your first offence,
• Instead of sending you to prison, they decide to fine you,
Now just suppose you cannot pay the fine, it’s to much for you:
• But somebody else (Auntie Mable or ??????) comes along
• And pays the fine for you.
• Now you can leave that court room,
• And you can walk right past the policeman who arrested you,
• And he cannot touch you because the fine has been paid,
• The penalty of the law has been met, and therefore the law has been satisfied.
Now Christians often use that sort of situation as an illustration:
• To describe Jesus has done for us when he died on the cross.
• We say He has died as a substitute for us (He has paid the penalty for our sins).
• Now that is true.
• But it is not the whole truth!
You see if you are fined in a court of law:
• And that fine is paid by yourself or by someone else:
• The law has been satisfied,
• But you are still guilty of the crime!
• The guilt has not been taken away.
And if you commit another crime six months later and are caught again,
• You will probably find at the end of the trial,
• Someone will get up before the sentence is proclaimed, and they will say:
"This person has already committed an offence six months ago,
They were found guilty,
and the record of that guilt is still on the statute books".
• Although your fine was paid, you are still guilty of the crime.
• And you can never get rid of your guilt !
Yet the Bible teaches:
• That men and woman who have been declared guilty by God:
• Guilty because of their sin, can be justified.
• Just as though they had never done it (Committed their crime).
• Being justified is a recognition of innocence, Not guilty.
Never in a human court of law can someone guilty of the crime can be made innocent.
• Some one may be granted a pardon because of a mistake.
• But that is different.
• But a person whose guilt has been established,
• Can never be declared innocent.
And Yet, this is precisely what God has done:
• And it is so important,
• From both a theological stand point, and from a practical stand point.
When Jesus died on the cross it was for far more than pay the penalty for our sins:
• He took our sin on himself,
• And, "He bore our sin".
• He actually took the guilt of our sin,
• And bore the guilt of our sin.
The death of Jesus:
• Is far more than there just being a price to pay,
• And Jesus paying that price, far more:
• Jesus has not just met the demands of the law ,
• But he has actually made it possible for guilty people (law breakers).
• That is you and me:
• To be declared completely innocen in God’s sight.
• The word the Bible uses to express this Justified;
• "Just as though we had never sinned".
We are told in the book of Romans that there are 3 ways we have been justified;
(1). "By Grace" (Romans 3 verse 23-24).
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ".
Grace is not just a girls name or a prayer said before meals:
• It’s a biblical expression,
• A biblical doctrine, concept.
• It has a special meaning,
• Which expresses great truth,.
• The expression ’grace’ simply means:
• “The Love of God in action”.
Ill:
Billy Graham caught speeding.
• He was taken before the local judge who recognised him;
• In fact he said he was a big fan and admirer of the preacher.
• Billy Graham thought to himself, “Great he likes me, I am going to get let off!”
• Then the judge announced the fine.
• To his amazement the judge fined him the maximum, not minimum amount of money.
• Billy Graham was shocked.
• Then something happened that amazed him even more,
• The judge reached into his pocket and pulled out his cheque book.
• And he wrote out a cheque paying the whole of the fine.
• Billy Graham comments; Both the law and grace were demonstrated that day.
Quote:
“Love that looks up is adoration.
Love that looks across is affection.
Love that looks down is grace”.
In other words we can be justified, declared innocent because:
• God saw our need,
• And even though we didn’t deserve it,
• God because he loves us, did something about it.
• He sent to us his son Jesus Christ.
2nd way: "Trough Faith" (Chapter 5 verse 1):
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith”.
Question: What do we mean by the term "Faith".
Answer:
• Another word we could use is trust.
• Confidence in another.
ill:
• Now you don’t trust anyone:
• Lift to the church.
• What you know about that person, affects how you react to them.
• Whether you will trust, exercise faith in them or not.
Faith in Jesus Christ:
• Is not blind, It is not willy-nilly.
• It is certain because it is based on a knowable person, the person of Jesus Christ.
• And a little faith in the right source makes all the difference:
ill:
2 folks on an aeroplane
• One a seasoned flyer.
• The other a nervous novice.
• It matters very little how they feel.
• What counts is the quality of the plane & pilot.
We are justified by faith when:
• We trust in the unique person of Jesus Christ.
• The one who is one hundred per cent trustworthy!
(3). "By his blood" (Chapter 5 verse 9):
"Since we have now been justified by his blood,
how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Jesus Christ)"
• We are justified through the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.
• Substitution is an idea we can easily understand.
Ill:
• Trevor Sinclare may well be Kieran Dyers substitute.
• Someone able to replace another person.
ill:
Charles Dickens: ’Tales of two cities’.
• Set in the French revolution, it is he story of two friends:
• Charles Darnay & Sydney Carton,
• Darnay is a young Frenchman:
• Who has been thrown into a dungeon, & faces the guillotine the next morning.
• Carton is a wasted English lawyer,
• Whose life has been one of loose living.
• Carton hears of his best friend Darnay’s imprisonment:
• He manages to slip into the dungeon,
• And to exchange clothes with the prisoner,
• Allowing Darnay to escape.
The next morning, Sydney Carton makes his way up the steps that lead to the guillotine.
• His final words of triumphant:
"I see the lives for which I lay down my life,
peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy,
in that England which I shall see no more.....
It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done;
it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known".
• And Dickens says, as he writes of this,
• "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends".
We are justified, forgiven because:
• Jesus Christ clothed himself in our sinfulness,
• So we could put on his righteousness and be free.
• He stood in our place,
• He became our substitute,
• The Price of our freedom, our forgiveness,
• Was his blood shed on the cross.
• Forgiveness is free,
• But never cheap!
Ill:
Dr. C. Campbell Morgan was trying to explain “free salvation” to a coal miner,
• But the man was unable to understand it.
• “I have to pay for it,” he kept arguing.
• With a flash of divine insight, Dr. Morgan asked,
• “How did you get down into the mine this morning?”
• “Why, it was easy,” the man replied. “I just got on the elevator and went down.”
• Then Morgan asked, “Wasn’t that too easy? Didn’t it cost you something?”
• The man laughed. “No, it didn’t cost me anything;
• But it must have cost the company plenty to install that elevator.”
Then the man saw the truth:
• It doesn’t cost me anything to be saved,
• But it cost God the life of His Son.”
3 Ways a person is justified:
• 1st way: We’ve been justified is "By grace".
• 2nd way: We’ve been justified is "Through Faith".
• 3rd way: We’ve been justified is "By his blood"
And because we are justified chapter 5 verse 1 informs us:
"We have peace with God"
