How Can a Man Be Right Before God?
Genesis 15:6, Romans 4
How can a person really be right before God. How can a person be justified before God. We use the word Justify all the time. You are just trying to justify your actions? What do we mean?
Explain, Excuse, Blame, etc. When we are caught with our hand in the cookie jar, or red handed, we usually try to justify why we did it, so it doesn’t sound so bad. We have become experts as a culture at justifying our actions. If you shoot your parents with a shotgun in their bedroom like the Melendez brothers, it was justifiable homicide because they had been abused by their parents when they were younger. A friend of ours in Kentucky was called to testify in a court case, because he had dated a woman who had shot her husband in the head with a pistol while he slept on her lap. She said she was justified because he had been abusive. When Jim Bakker was caught with a prostitute, they tried to justify it, saying his wife Tammy had health problems and hadn’t slept with him in a long time. It is so rare to hear someone say, “It was my fault I was wrong.” It is one thing to try to justify ourselves to other people, it is quite another thing to try to justify our selves to God. Because we might lie, deceive, get their pity with a sad story, and get away with our guilt. But not with God. He knows everything we have ever done, (not just what we did last summer (movie) ). He know everything we ever said. He knows every thing we ever thought. He knows everything we wanted to do, but didn’t get to. He knows every bad attitude we had and every evil eye we have given. So “The question of the ages is "How can sinful man be made right in the sight of a Holy God?" Can we work for it ?
I The Problem (Our mounting Sin)(Shoes on a card table for each sin showing visually our mounting sin)
-You tried to look up a woman’s dress when you were 6
-You lied to your mom when you broke her lamp.
-You hit a boy with a cup and broke his teeth off at 7
-You looked at Playboy and Penthouse when you were 8
-You stole a candy bar at the store at 9
You pretended to be sick to miss church and watch the ball game.
-You stole dad’s whiskey and got drunk at 11
-You stole moms cigarettes many times
-You watched an adult porn film at 12 at a buddies house
-You hated your dad for abandoning the family
-You began to cuss and swear whenever you got mad using God’s name in vain.
-You went to porn sites on the internet
-You tried marijuana, speed, etc. to get high
-You hated God for allowing your grandpa to die
-You shook your fist at God for allowing you to be abused
-You begin to work Sundays by choice for more money instead of going to church.
-You decide to believe God is not real anyway, evolution explains it all
-You fantasize about romance with someone other than your spouse.
-You tell your wife to lie and tell your boss your sick, so you can play golf.
-You get paid cash under the table so you won’t have to pay taxes on it.
-You get arrested for illegally downloading songs off the internet in college.
-You were angry with your spouse without a cause
-you told off your boss
-You gossiped about your boss because you don’t like her/him
-You wrote the girls name and number on the bathroom stall for a good time because she dumped you.
-You drive well over the speed limit most of the time
-Your DUI’s
-Your activity in the back seat of a car
-Your parents said not to go to that party, so you snuck out the window
II Our Justification of Our Sin
A. Everyone else is doing it too
B. I’m not as bad as most people.
C. I’ve never killed anyone, or raped, etc.
D. Denial - Sin is an old understanding of ignorant people.
E. I’m a good person.
F. My parents, spouse caused me to do these things.
As long as we justify ourselves God won’t justify us. When we quit justifying ourselves and admit our guilt we become a candidate to be justified by God. But HOW?
III Man’s Way to Be Right With God -EARN IT
a. I’ll quit doing the bad things- But not all of them - Find out we can’t quite quit.
-quit drinking, smoking, drugs, prostitutes
b. I’ll start doing good things-
-Going to church, read bible, pray,
-Make up for my bad, by restitution, telling others not to be like me
-help widows across the street,
c. I’ll study religions
-Give money to church, and charities
d. I’ll settle down and be a family man/ woman.
IV God’s Way to JUSTIFY People -by Faith
“Justification” is what is needed to bring about a right relationship with God. It is a central teaching of Paul that needs to be understood by us today.
To be “Justified” is to bring our lives into a right standing with God--to be declared righteous--to be acquitted.
On the Becky’s paper I pushed the SELECT ALL button on the computer which highlighted the text. Then I found the RIGHT JUSTIFIED button and pushed it. In a moment the uneven lines were brought into perfect alignment on the page. The computer worked a miracle for setting the text right and it looked good when I printed it out.
How does justification change things in a spiritual sense for us? We bring our out of whack messed up lives to the Lord by FAITH in the work of Jesus on the cross.
If it took money -many would be left out
If it took intelligence -some would be left out
If it took popularity - many would be left out
If it took some physical feat -some would be left out
If it took good behavior -many left out
If it took a spotless past -many would be left out (Todd Pate -Dui-State Trooper)
If it took good looks - most left out
If it took good intentions - most left out.
If it took sacrificing your children -most left out
If it took being faithful to your marriage vows -some left out
If it took being obedient to your parents -most out
Lets look at the example the Bible gives -Abraham Genesis 15: , Romans 4:
Genesis 15
1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."
2 But Abram said, "O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Romans 4
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about--but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
A. Abraham was a polygamist, worshiped many gods, lied, but how was he justified?
Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness Gen 15:
-Before he done any good things
-He believed what God had revealed.
B. Justification - Is a judicial act of God on our behalf in the records of heaven. God declares us to be righteous based on our believing on his truth. It is something God does for us.
Our Sin is primarily against God, only second to people. God is your creator, owner and his books in heaven have recorded everything you have ever done. So it is in his sight you need to be justified most of all.
(Here I dumped the card table of shoes to show what happens when God justifies us.)
C. Sanctification - Is what God does in us. He imparts righteousness in us by his Holy Spirit. Because God’s Spirit lives in us we begin to want to do the right things.
God doesn’t just view us through Christ, fool himself, and see us holy, when we aren’t. He makes us holy. Sanctification is a process in the child of God.
This is where the word “sanctification” comes in. It is the continual growing process in which our lives are continually being shaped and we are being formed in the image of Christ. God sees our value and our potential. Over our lifetime he chips away at our rough edges and never gives up on us. It reminds me of this story:
The Golden Buddha
In 1957 a group of monks had to relocate a large, clay Buddha from their monastery to a new location in order to free up some land for highway construction. The monks brought in a giant crane to lift the giant Buddha from the pedestal where it had sat for centuries.
When they tried to do this, the weight of the Buddha was so tremendous it began to crack. What’s more, the rain began to fall. Concerned about damage to the sacred Buddha, they decided to lower the statue back to the ground and cover it with a large canvas tarp to protect it from the rain.
Later that evening they went back to check on the Buddha. They shined a flashlight under the tarp to see if the statue was staying dry. In the flashlight beam, they noticed something gleaming back at them and thought this was strange.
Taking a closer look, they wondered if there might be something underneath the clay. They got a chisel and hammer and began to chip away at it. The gleam grew brighter. Many hours later, the monks stood face to face with the solid-gold Buddha.
Historians say that centuries before as the Burmese army was about to invade Thailand, the ancestors of those monks covered their precious golden statue with clay in order to hide it. The Burmese slaughtered all the monks and their secret went to the grave with them. Only in 1957 was the gold Buddha rediscovered.
When we see ourself with just an old rough clay exterior and give up on ourselves, remember that God sees our value and our potential. That’s why he sent Jesus in the first place to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. His desire is that we give him permission to do His work in our lives--to justify us and bring us into right standing with God and to draw us closer to Him through sanctification. ( From Pastor of Illiff UM Church Dr. Marilyn S. Murphree)
D. BY FAITH -Not Works
“The question is asked: How can justification take place without the works of the law, even though James says: ’Faith without works is dead’? In answer, the apostle distinguishes between the law and faith, the letter and grace.
The ’works of the law’ are works done without faith and grace, by the law, which forces them to be done through fear or the enticing promise of temporal advantages. But ’works of faith’ are those done in the spirit of liberty, purely out of love to God. And they can be done only by those who are justified by faith.
An ape can cleverly imitate the actions of humans. But he is not therefore, a human. If he became a human, it would undoubtedly be not by virtue of the works by which he imitated man but by virtue of something else; namely, by an act of God. Then, having been made a human, he would perform the works of humans in proper fashion.
Paul does not say that faith is without its characteristic works, but that it justifies without the works of the law.
Therefore justification does not require the works of the law; but it does require a living faith, which performs its works.”
Augustus M. Toplady, wrote included the following in his hymn.
Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Conclusion:
Jesus Paid It All
Imagine a man before a judge who has been given the choice of paying $100 or serving 90 days in jail. The man doesn’t have any money, but does have a invalid wife and five hungry children at home who are depending on him and him alone. He tells such a heartrending story that the courtroom spectators are moved with pity and take up a collection to help pay the man’s fine. Although it is unlike him, even the judge chips in. Altogether they raise $99.95. Even though they are only five cents short, the judge declares that the entire $100 must be paid, and orders the bailiff to take the man to jail. He dejectedly walks out of the courtroom, thrusting his hands deep into his pockets...where he finds—A nickel! Elated, he rushes back into the courtroom and slaps it on the bar before the judge, declaring “I’m free, I’m free!” In his mind, what saved him"? The $99.95, or the five cents?
If we did anything to merit our salvation, we would be forever boasting about it in heaven. The fact is that we could do nothing, so Jesus paid it all.
- C. Ryrie
Diana grew up in a strict Islamic family in Pakistan. Her life was pretty typical until she met a girl named Mary who was a Christian. Now Diana is also a Christian and on the run.
When Diana’s family learned that she had become a Christian, they repeatedly beat her and insisted she return to Islam. But Diana refused. She was then forced to a local canal where her uncle put a pistol to her head and gave her one last chance to return to Islam. Diana replied, "You can kill me if you want. I will not leave Christ."
It was then that Diana’s uncle noticed an extremely poisonous black cobra swimming in the canal. Believing he could escape any prosecution for his niece’s death, he threw her into the path of the cobra. He also knew she could not swim.
Diana miraculously escaped from the canal and is in hiding today. She is a new Christian but has already learned what it means to suffer for Christ. She recently told The Voice of the Martyrs, "Jesus was crucified for us. Can we not endure some of the same for Him?"
