Sound Doctrine: Justification

(Applause) The prosecution and defense have rested their case. (Laughter) The jury has retired to deliberate for a verdict. There's tension in the courtroom as the parties await a decision. Hours pass. (Knocking) There's a knock on the door. The jury foreperson tells the court deputy that a verdict has been reached. All the parties are summoned back to the courtroom. The jury enters the courtroom and has a seat, and the court asks the foreperson, "Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?"

"We have."

"Have you signed and dated the verdict form?"

"I have."

"Please hand the verdict form to the deputy."

The deputy then presents the verdict form to the court. It is reviewed. The court then hands the verdict form to the court deputy, or the trial deputy, and says, "Please publish the verdict." And the trial clerk reads, "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of all charges."

With the publication of the verdict, there remains only one matter to be adjudicated, and that is the imposition of sentence.

What I've just rehearsed for you, as you obviously know, happens every day, of course, in our earthly courtrooms. This morning, as we look at the doctrine of justification, we are actually going to go into the heavenly courtroom. And in the heavenly courtroom, God is the one who is sitting on the throne. God is the one who is sitting on the bench. And His judgments are sure, and they're true. And the standard, the only standard in God's courtroom is righteousness.

Everyone who's here this morning, everyone who has ever drawn breath, will receive a summons to God's courtroom. The Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment.

And so, this morning, as we consider the doctrine of justification, we are fundamentally considering righteousness. I know you have your Bibles open to Romans chapter 3, and I believe I informed you a few minutes ago, we're going to begin reading in verse 19. Anytime you get into the middle or even any place but the beginning of an epistle, it's good to have some context and know what's come before it. And so, while we're not going to read all of chapters 1, chapters 2, and chapters 3, if we were to begin with Romans chapter 1, verse 18, and work right on through the Scriptures up into chapter 3, verse 19, what we have is a presentation of evidence. And that's the first point this morning. We have the presentation of evidence. What do we see in verse 1 about humankind? What do we see about people? We see, first of all, that they suppress the truth of God.

We see also that they substitute false gods for the one true God. We see that they exchange the truth of God for a lie. And then as you continue to go and you read through chapter 1, you see all the implications that come when people suppress the truth of God, that come when people substitute false gods, that come when people exchange the truth of God for a lie. And it's a picture of wickedness. It's a picture of sin. It's a picture of guilt.

And then when we get to chapter 3, verse 10, and you can go ahead and look there, it's just above the verses we will focus on this morning, we have a complete indictment of all of humanity. We have an indictment, first of all, of man's character. Look at verse 10. "There is none righteous, no, not one."

Now remember, the standard in God's courtroom is righteousness. Verse 10 says, "There is none righteous, not one." Verse 11, "There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one."

And then beginning in verses 13 and 14, we see an indictment of man's conversation, man's speech. Right out of the mouth, the heart is revealed. Look what it says in verse 13. "Their throat is an open tomb." "With their tongues they have practiced deceit." "The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." It speaks of man's mouth as an open tomb. One of the reasons they sealed a tomb, of course, in the first century, was of course for the dignity of the deceased, but it was also to keep all the stench and all the filth away. And that's the description of man's mouth, full of deceit.

And then in verses 15 through 17, we have an indictment of man's conduct. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes, and there you have the motive, because there's no fear of God before their eyes.

And so what we have in chapters 1 verse 18, all the way through chapter 3 verse 18, is a presentation of a mountain of evidence that all mankind is guilty before God.

As we pick up with our text in verse 19, we move beyond the presentation of evidence, and we move to the publication of the verdict. Let's read it. It says in verse 19, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that what? Every mouth may be stopped."

You know what a good lawyer tells his guilty client? Keep your mouth shut. One reason is you have absolutely no defense. That's what this Scripture is telling us. Keep your mouth shut. You have no defense. There is no defense. Every mouth may be stopped. And then it says, "That all the world may become guilty before God." Everyone is guilty before God.

Unless you think there's an exception, look what it says in verse 20. "Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight." For by the law is the knowledge of sin. By the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified. You cannot behave your way into the righteous standard which God demands.

See, what the law does, it gives us the knowledge of sin. God's law is diagnostic. It's not curative. It's one thing to be in a bad spot. It's another thing to have no means of extrication. No way out. And in what we've read thus far in Romans, all of mankind is just put into this corner that is inescapable. We are all guilty before God.

Now turn the page.

Remember, when the verdict is guilty, the only matter to be adjudicated is the punishment. Unless, unless there is some legitimate means of a pardon.

Beginning in verse 21, these words — underscore them — "But now." "But now." Who is it that's writing these words? Someone? Who's writing? Who's the author of Romans? Paul the Apostle. Did you remember last week when we looked at the way of salvation in Ephesians chapter 2? Man is spiritually dead in his trespasses and sins. What does a corpse need? A corpse needs God. And it says in Ephesians 2, I believe it's 4, maybe 5, what does it say? It says, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love for us, has done what has made us alive in Christ Jesus." Paul wrote those words. Here Paul writes these words: in the light of man's guilt and seemingly inescapable dilemma, he says, "But now."

Paul had a "but now" kind of life, didn't he, if you think about it? Let's just take a little sidetrack here. This is Paul the Apostle. Do you remember what he was doing when he was Saul of Tarsus? He was persecuting and seeking to kill Christians. And then he met the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, and he was converted gloriously, and everything changed. You have a before-conversion Saul, and you have an after-conversion Paul. Now he has a brand new view of Jesus. Before he hated Him, now he loves Him.

He had a brand new view of God's people. Before he wanted to kill them, now he wants to worship with them and fellowship with them. He has a brand new view of himself. Before he thought, because of his religiosity, he was righteous. And then what does he do? He calls himself the chiefest, the chief sinner, chief of all sinners.

We may not have had that Damascus road experience with the blinding light, but if you've been saved, you've changed your mind about who Jesus is. You've changed your mind about God's people, and you've changed your mind about yourself. Alright? But God. And so with those words, "but now," in this particular chapter, "but now," the window now is opening to God's grace and the possibility of pardon and the possibility of salvation. Look what he says. "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed."

Now he's going to be talking about a righteousness that is provided. The righteousness of God apart from the law. And that's the first point here. As we study the righteousness of God, as we study the righteousness that you and I need, the first point is this: it's apart from the law. So if you're writing it down, that's point number one. Apart from the law. What does that mean? It means your stellar behavior is not going to meet the standard. So for all of you who are always acting in a stellar fashion — I don't see too many folks out there — you come up short.

It's apart from the law. Now notice what it says though. It's apart from the law, but it's revealed by the law. God's righteousness was revealed. It was witnessed by the law and the prophets. You see, the Old Testament is very important. It showed us the righteousness of God. Just generally it shows us His righteous character. That's why we have the Ten Commandments. Alright.

We see His law in the judgments. You think of Sodom and Gomorrah. We see His righteousness, of course, in how He blesses those who obey Him. But not only His righteous character, but look what it says in verse 21. The righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Even the gospel that was going to be revealed and manifest before everyone on the cross was pointed to by the law and the prophets. Go back to Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. Right after the fall, there's the promise of a Redeemer.

The Levitical system, the system of sacrifices, where the penalty for man's sin was executed on a substitute, on an animal, there was the shedding of blood. That animal blood, it didn't remove sin, but it pointed to the one who would. You go to Isaiah and the prophets, you can go to Isaiah chapter 53.

I kind of want to do it now, actually. You go to Isaiah chapter 53, and you read very precisely about what took place on Calvary six, seven hundred years before it happened. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of His peace was laid on Him.

And so the Old Testament and the prophets served a purpose, and it pointed to the righteousness that would be revealed at the cross. But it is a righteousness, number one, that is apart from the law. Now, number two, if we're keeping notes about this righteousness, look at verse 22. "Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ."

This righteousness is apart from the law. Where is it? It is by faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ. That was last week in the way of salvation. Faith, of course, involves the whole person. It involves the will, when presented with the gospel, when one turns from sin and trusts in Christ. It involves the intellect. How could they hear without a preacher? And so it involves understanding the gospel. That is what Jesus did. My condition, my hopeless condition, and the fact that Jesus bore my penalty on the cross and offers the righteousness that He lived, to me. Alright, and it also involves, of course, the heart, where I wholeheartedly embrace Him as fully suitable for salvation, for forgiveness of sins. He's my counselor. He's my Lord. And so this righteousness comes by faith in Jesus Christ.

And notice, too, this is a faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. This is number three. This is a righteousness that is for all men. It is proclaimed for all men without distinction. Jesus said, "I will in no wise cast out he who comes to Me." Actually, I got that back. "I will cast out in no wise he who comes to Me." And so this righteousness is for the prostitute, for the murderer, for the homosexual, for the religious hypocrite who's been coming to church their entire life, but they've never been saved. This is a righteousness that is for all. And it's just to say that there's no one good enough to earn salvation. There's no one bad enough who's beyond God's saving grace. This is a righteousness that is available for all. Do you see that? All who believe. "For there's no difference. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." You see, we all have the same malady, and there's only one remedy, and it's faith in Jesus.

Now look at verse 24. There's that word justified. Okay, and here's where we get to the heart of our doctrine — justified.

I have asked Brother Mike up there to put something up on the screen. I want to explain what this is exactly. If you've been coming to our Bible studies, you know that there are some good, helpful, reliable Christian resources that we can use as we study our Bible. I'm talking about concordances and dictionaries that help us understand the Hebrew and the Greek. Very important. Never be so proud or, you know, egotistical to think, "Well, I've got my English Bible. I'm good to go." Alright, we have things that can help us with the original language. One of the helps that we have in our Sunday school class is the Holman Bible Dictionary. This week I looked up a few dictionaries, Bible dictionaries, and several available definitions, but I think this is a very good one. It's from the Holman Bible Dictionary. And I want us to look at this together. Now this is not Scripture. This is not the Bible. Alright? This is a definition, though, that is drawn from the truth of Scripture, that we're studying now, and that we're going to continue to walk through this morning. One moment.

Justification. Divine forensic act of God, based on the work of Christ on the cross, whereby a sinner is pronounced righteous by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ.

Now there are three components that I just want to touch on because they're important to understand the nature of this doctrine of justification. The first is this. Notice it's an act. Do you see that? A divine forensic act of God. We are not talking about a process here. We're not talking about sanctification. We're talking about legal standing, whether one is right before God. And there are no degrees of justification. One Christian is not 40% justified. Another one — oh, you come on Wednesday night, you're 70% justified. I am either right before God or I'm not. There are no degrees. Alright? And so this is an act that we're talking about. This is something that, united to Christ, that conversion — you are justified. Alright? It's an act. Number two, it's an act of God.

You don't return your own verdict. Alright? This is an act of God because no man justifies himself. Only God can justify. And so it's an act. It's an act of God. And then lastly, the particular part of this definition I want to highlight is that it's a pronouncement or a declaration. Many definitions call it a declaration. Notice, "whereby a sinner is pronounced righteous by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ." And so it's a declaration of righteousness. It's not an infusion of righteousness. In other words, at conversion, I don't suddenly become a righteous superhero, never to err again. It is a declaration of righteousness.

Go back to that courtroom. Go back to the earthly courtroom. Let's say that the verdict was not guilty. Immediately the legal standing of that defendant changed. Does that mean that the defendant didn't commit the crime? No. Does it mean he won't commit anymore? We know that's not true, don't we? Alright? Brother Ken, Brother Ken in law enforcement liked that one. Alright?

Understand this is God's gracious declaration. It is His acquittal. It is His "not guilty." He is not calling us to produce this righteousness. It is a righteousness which He graciously promises and provides. And so this is a very helpful, I think, definition of justification by faith. It's an act of God.

Alright, now there's a basis for that and you see it in that definition, and we'll get to it as we move through our verses. This is not a legal fiction. In other words, does justification have a real foundation, or are we just talking of legal fiction here? No, it is because of the righteousness by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. There's a real righteousness that is imputed to our account.

Alright, let's go back to our text. In verse 23 it says, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace." Alright, if we're taking notes, there's another point. Number one, this is a righteousness that is apart from the law. The law doesn't provide it. The law points us to the need. Secondly, it is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Third, it is available for all men. And number four here, it is by His grace that we just read about, being justified freely by His grace. What does that mean? Freely by His grace. It means there's nothing in me that merits this righteousness.

It is the gracious gift of God. Absolutely nothing in me that merits this righteousness.

Brother David Parker is going to be bringing a series of messages on the attributes of God. God has attributes that are absolute. One of those is love. God is love. But you see, how He relates those attributes to us is through what? Mercy and grace. In mercy, He doesn't give us what we deserve, condemnation. And in grace, He gives us what we don't deserve, the righteousness of God — because of what Jesus did on the cross. And so it is freely by His grace.

And now as we continue through verse 24, we get into the deep stuff. Just say a little prayer for me. Listen. Freely offered, but at great cost to God.

There are three terms in here that help describe the great cost of our salvation to God. By grace, the first word we encounter in verse 24 is "through redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Now, if you were in the first century and Paul was writing this letter, you immediately understand that word redemption. It was a word from the slave trade. And what it refers to is a price. It was an adequate price that could be paid and the slave or the prisoner could then be set free.

That's exactly what Christ did when He went to the cross. He paid the penalty for your sin and my sin that we might be set free. You see, God is just. Every sin will be punished. God is gracious. There's no sin that cannot be covered by Jesus. He is supremely just, supremely gracious. But it was at great cost. He paid the price. Jesus Himself was the ransom. And you know what? He's the only one that could be. You and I are unfit and unqualified to be that sacrifice. It was redemption, and it's redemption through His blood. He was slaughtered on the cross. He was crucified on the cross.

Redemption in His blood. And then the next word that we have: "freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood." Oh, there's that word again — propitiation.

I'm going to get a second shot at propitiation today. That's a very important word, propitiation. We don't use it every day, do we? I bet you woke up this morning hoping we'd talk about propitiation. Well, we should.

Propitiation here in the biblical context means to fully satisfy. To fully absorb, to fully satisfy. And in this case, in this context, it is to fully satisfy God's justice by enduring the wrath on the cross that you and I deserved. Propitiation. In other words, Jesus fully satisfied the wrath of God. And God's wrath isn't irrational — He's not lashing out unreasonably at folks. It is His settled disposition against sin because He's a holy God.

And in a way that we can't fathom, in three hours on the cross Jesus fully, fully took on the torments of hell in those three hours. And so His sacrifice was a wrath-averting sacrifice for all of those who believe in Him, because He took God's wrath on our behalf.

Who needs to be propitiated? Not us. It's the offended one who must be propitiated. We need to be cleansed, and we're cleansed by the blood of Jesus. God is the one who must be propitiated because He is the one who has been offended and aggrieved. And here's the deep thing. God needs to be propitiated. And who did the propitiation? God.

He sent forth His Son. Look what it says in verse 25. He needs to be propitiated. "Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood." Jesus didn't die in a closet. He died publicly. He was sent forth and He was presented publicly, and He was set forth by God as a propitiation. And so He endured the wrath that you and I deserve. You see, every sin will be punished either by the sinner through eternal punishment, through the eternal second death in hell, or that sin will be paid for by Jesus Christ because of the saving faith one has put in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. And so every sin will be punished, but Jesus — He was sent forth as a propitiation by His blood.

Alright? And so the next point — this righteousness that is provided came at great cost to God. Next point: this righteousness that was provided to us was provided in such a manner that it was in perfect keeping with God's justice.

It's not a legal fiction. It's a reality and it is in perfect keeping with His justice. Let's continue to read verse 25. "Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith, and why? To demonstrate His righteousness. Because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. So to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness." What does that mean, to demonstrate His righteousness? You know, in the Old Testament, you remember how you hear sometimes the prophets — Habakkuk comes to mind — and they're crying out, "Oh God, how long?"

The psalmist, he sees the wicked seeming to prosper and God's people having a tough time, and so many of the psalms are crying out, "Oh God, how long?" You have the imprecatory psalms where they're crying, "Oh God, do something about this. Are you doing anything?" "Oh yes, God is doing something." You see, forbearance there is a withholding of judgment.

God wasn't ignoring sin or condoning sin, but His forbearance, or withholding of judgment, is part of His mercy. When Adam and Eve sinned they could have been struck down rightfully, and the whole human race, but God showed forbearance.

In the flood, God was not obliged to save Noah and his family, but that was an example of His forbearance. You see, God had a plan and the plan was the cross, and it was always the plan. Don't ever let anyone tell you the cross was plan B. The cross is plan A from eternity past. Do you think that when Adam and Eve sinned, God said, "Now I'm befuddled, what will I do?"

Calvary was always God's plan to demonstrate His glory, to demonstrate His righteousness, to demonstrate His love, to demonstrate His justice, to demonstrate His mercy.

And so at the cross His righteousness is demonstrated. It's actually demonstrated — "to demonstrate at this present time," now that He's gone to the cross, "His righteousness, that He might be just and justifier" of who? Of the one who behaves really well? "That He might be just and justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." When He justifies the believer who puts his faith in Christ, He is acting justly. It's consistent with who God is.

And so He's acting in conformity with His righteousness and with His justice. And then we have verses 27 through 31. And here Paul the Apostle — he likely has many of the Jewish people in mind — he points out to them that the cross of Calvary actually established the law. It did not nullify the law. Can you imagine? Some Jewish people are beginning to accuse Paul of teaching a different gospel, of teaching antinomianism — a big word. But basically they're saying, "Wait a minute, Paul, you're saying the law never mattered. You're saying the law was useless. The law had no place. You're saying there are two different kinds of salvation. There's salvation for people in the Old Testament, behaving as good as you can, and salvation in the New Testament by faith." No, no, no, no, no. There's one salvation. It's always been by faith. Look at verse 27. "Where is the boasting then? It is excluded. By what law of works? No, but by the law of faith." Verse 27 should humble us.

We should never think that we're saved because we had the good sense to put our faith in Jesus while our neighbor is — he's just an idiot, he doesn't get it. Nope. You know in Ephesians 2:8–9, it says, "For by grace have you been saved through faith, and that not of your works." It's the gift of God, lest any man should boast. He's referring there not just to His grace. He's referring to faith.

Your faith is a gift from God. It didn't spring forth from a spiritual corpse. It came from someone whom God made alive in Christ Jesus. And so there's no room to boast.

I'm out in the ocean. I'm flailing away. I'm going under. Water's getting in my lungs. And a lifeguard comes to the rescue and he drags me to shore. He resuscitates me. And then I go back home and I brag about how I held on to the lifeguard. That's pretty foolish, wouldn't it be?

Jesus saves. Jesus saves. We have no flesh, no works, no merit that had anything to do with it. "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law of works? No, but by the law of faith." And look what he says in verse 28, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law."

"Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. So there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised by faith." That's explicit right there. There is one way of salvation and it is by faith. In fact, in chapter 4 — we're not going to get there, don't worry — but in chapter 4, he spends the entire chapter showing, "Look, Abraham, the father of the faith, was saved by faith." And that was before his circumcision. It was before the giving of the law. The law wasn't given until many, many years later. But it said, "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." Alright? And so a man, a woman, has always been saved by faith.

Now, surely the people in the Old Testament, they were looking forward to the promise of the Redeemer. Salvation is about believing the promises of God. Think about it. Abraham didn't have a Bible. He didn't have a church family. He just had the promise of God, and he believed, and he was counted righteous. So we are saved through faith. There's not two plans of salvation. There's one.

And then in verse 31, Paul the Apostle writes, "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not." A thousand times no. "On the contrary, we established the law." And what he's responding to is those Jews that might have said, "Well, then the law's been nullified. It was no good." And he says, "No, no, no. Jesus fulfilled the law." You see, He fulfilled the law not just because He met the demands of the law in His life, but what He accomplished through His death. He established the law. Why? He paid the penalty for sin. He established the law. The second reason for the law, which we find in Galatians, was to point men to Christ. And so when He went to Calvary, He was fulfilling the law. You know what else? When we're saved, He actually writes His law in our hearts. He actually enables us to live for Him. For the first time ever, we can choose not to sin when we rely upon His Spirit.

Justification by faith and by faith alone.

Now I want to go back to the courtroom as we close. You're standing in God's courtroom. The standard is righteousness. If you're standing on your own, you've got no hope. At that point, you're guilty, and the only matter to be adjudicated is the imposition of sentence.

But if you're not standing alone, but — may I say — you have an advocate, and that advocate, that lawyer, is the Lord Jesus, you've got a great lawyer. Because not only is He your advocate, but you're covered with His righteousness. And so there is a real foundation and a basis for a righteous acquittal. And you're not guilty.

And that leads to a couple of promises as we close in Romans chapter 5 verse 1. Listen to this passage. It says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." You know what? Pardon and peace go together, don't they? Pardon and — in fact, there's a song for that, Jimmy. I just thought of it. "Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth." And I'll stop.

And then we jump over to Romans chapter 8, the last verse that we'll read together. And this is a declaration of thankfulness for what Jesus has done for us. It says in chapter 8 verse 1, "There is therefore what? No condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."

My prayer today is that you would put your faith in Christ Jesus. Turn from sin, understanding the gospel and what Jesus has done, and wholeheartedly put your faith in Him. Rely upon Him. Depend on Him. Forsake all of your efforts. That's what Paul the Apostle was doing before he met Jesus. And just place your life and your death in the custody of the Lord. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for a wonderful salvation. We thank You for our Lord. Lord, we thank You for the Word that reveals these truths to us. Help us to live for You, Lord, to depend upon Your Spirit day by day, that we might be a living witness for You in all that we do. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.