Martin Luther said that justification is the cornerstone of Christianity.
In recent weeks we have looked at the cost of our salvation, how redemption actually works, and also the process of propitiation. These are not just fancy words, but when we grasp these principles, our faith in Christ is strengthened.
When Christians are asked why they believe in Jesus, a response you sometimes hear is, “it works for me, and I am very comfortable in my faith.” (Or something along those lines). That is actually a very bad response, and a dreadful defence of Christianity, because it ignores the facts and the historical narrative of the Christian faith. You cannot defend your beliefs based on your opinions or how you feel about something, because the logical conclusion then is that all belief systems are of equal value, and you just need to pick the one that suits your purposes the best.
You don’t need to have a doctorate in Biblical theology, but all Christians need to be able to defend or share their faith based on the facts of who Jesus is, and what He has done. It’s all very well for us to say we are forgiven and saved, but we have to know just how we are forgiven and how we are saved, and the doctrine of justification deals with these questions. When we understand what God has done for us and how He has done it, our understanding of the Christian faith is strengthened, and we will find it much easier to share the hope of the Gospel.
I cringe when I hear people say we need to be the Gospel or we must live the Gospel. The Gospel is not about us. It is for us, but it is not about us. It is about what God has done for us through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is an announcement and a proclamation of what God has done in order to save the lost.
If you have been to Church for any length of time, you will be very familiar with the word justification, but I wonder if we really know just how central this doctrine is to all that we believe?
Question 70 of the Westminster Larger Catechism is the same question we are asking this morning: What is justification?
The answer provided in the Catechism is what we will be exploring today: “Justification is an act of God’s free grace unto sinners, in which He pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in His sight; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone.”
There is today’s entire sermon in just one sentence, but we’ll be taking a closer look at each of the 5 phrases and the Scripture references that explain them.
- Justification is an act of God’s free grace to sinners
Verse 24: We are justified by His grace as a gift. Remember that we have nothing and cannot do anything which somehow compels God to forgive us. Jonathan Edwards, one of the great revivalist preachers of the 18th century once famously said, “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”
Justification is a gracious gift that God extends and offers to those who repent and believe. It has nothing to do with our own merits, our own good works, no matter how wonderful we think they may be. Paul writes in Romans 4:5, “To the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” There is the same principle: We don’t work for our salvation, but we believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, and when we do, God justifies the ungodly - the rebellious sinner, who turns to Him in faith.
2. In which He pardons all their sins, accepts and accounts their persons righteous in His sight
All of our sins - past, present and future - were paid for by the atoning death of Jesus on the cross. Hebrews 10:10, 12 and 14 says, “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Key phrases in these verses are “once for all, for all time a single sacrifice and for all time.”
You’ll remember from last week as we looked at the doctrine of propitiation, that the Old Testament sacrificial system fell short, because the sacrifices of animals are not enough for us to be saved. It is only the blood of Jesus Christ that will do, and on the basis of His once-for-all sacrifice, God (as the Westminster Catechism puts it) pardons all their sins, accepts and accounts their persons righteous in His sight.
What we need to bear in mind is that we are not righteous in and of ourselves. Even after turning to God in repentance and faith, we still lack the righteousness we need, which is why God accounts or imputes the righteousness of Jesus to us. That’s what makes all the difference, and is the answer to the often-asked questions, “But what about the sins I commit after being saved? Does this mean I have lost my salvation?” God makes a legal declaration over us, whereby He accepts us based on the perfect righteousness of Christ. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:19 and 21 - “In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
This leads us onto our third point:
3. Not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them
Titus 3:5-7 says, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” And Ephesians 1:7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”
The catechism here reinforces the points we have just been looking at, by reminding us that we bring nothing and we contribute nothing to our salvation. It is all by grace. As Paul wrote to Titus, God saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness - how could He, because we have no righteousness - but all because of His mercy, and as Paul stresses in Ephesians 1:7, we have redemption in Christ, and through His blood.
As I said last week, we have this mistaken idea that God must see at least something in us that makes us worth saving, but we have nothing. I love the way the Westminster Catechism puts it: not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them. This flies directly in the face of the lie that although we do make the odd mistake here and there, we are essentially good people. Now of course, we are certainly capable of doing good. We see acts of kindness and compassion all the time, but at the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. No matter how kind and nice we try to be, we will always fall short of the glory of God, as Romans 3:23 puts it.
Just before the Great Flood we find these words in Genesis 6:5, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” You don’t see these verses on too many T-shirts and fridge magnets, do you?
Yet they are true, and they paint a far more accurate picture of human nature than we realise. Part of the problem is that we make far too light of our sin. About a thousand years ago, Anselm, the archbishop of Canterbury wrote “You have not yet considered the heavy weight sin is.” Until such time as the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, and drives us to the cross in repentance, we will never understand the extent of the depravity of our hearts.
But when we do, how then, can we possibly be saved, if our hearts are as desperately wicked as the Bible teaches? The next part of the catechism has the answer for us.
4. But only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them
In the words of that wonderful old hymn Rock of Ages, “Not the labour of my hands can fulfil Thy law’s demands. Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone: Thou must save, and Thou alone. Nothing in my hand 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, Saviour, or I die.”
The only thing that saves us is the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus, in full obedience to the Father’s will, satisfied the perfect, righteous wrath of God at our sin. Romans 5:17-19 explains how we are all under condemnation and an eternal death sentence because of the Fall in the Garden of Eden, but also spells out how we are saved through the obedience of Jesus. “If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”
Because of the obedience of Christ, the wrath of God at human sin is fully satisfied. This is just one of the reasons why there is no more need for sacrifices. We no longer have to pay for our sins, because Jesus has done that for us and on our behalf. That phrase from the catechism again: “only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them.” God accepts and forgives us, based on what Jesus has done on our behalf. Because we have no righteousness of our own, now the perfect righteousness of Jesus is transferred or imputed to us by God as an act of mercy and grace. This is how we receive the gift of justification. As we saw last week, it is at the cross where wrath and mercy meet. It is there and only there where the doctrine of justification makes sense to us. It is only at the cross where we find forgiveness of our sins. Without faith in Jesus Christ, and His saving work on the cross, we remain lost, and this brings us to our final point on justification:
5. It is received by faith alone
The closing statement on the question of justification is that we receive it by faith alone, so now we come to another vital question in the life of a Christian. Just what is faith, and where does it come from?
Faith is the means - it is the instrument that God uses to bring salvation to His elect, however, faith is not something we have. It is a gift that God gives us. He makes it possible to believe His promises and He gives us the gift of faith to keep believing.
God gives us faith because of His grace and mercy, and because He loves us. So not only is our salvation a gift, but the faith to believe we are saved is also a gift.
Saving faith is a gift because God is the one who deserves the glory for our salvation. If we, the recipients of faith, could do anything to deserve or earn the gift of faith, we would have every right to boast, something which Paul addresses in Ephesians 2:8-9. “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Not only have we done nothing to earn our salvation, but we also have done nothing to receive the gift of faith to believe in Christ. The eternal plan to save lost sinners is God’s plan from start to finish.
We often hear of some Christians described as men or women “of great faith.” Now of course, we can be and are inspired and encouraged by the faith of those who hold onto God through tremendous trials and sufferings. As the Church, we are to encourage one another, but we do need to be careful here. We are not to put other Christians on pedestals. Rather, we should thank God that He has been so faithful to them. Paul writes in Romans 12:3, “By the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
The best Biblical example is the apostle Paul, by human standards almost certainly the “greatest Christian” (although there really is no such thing) who ever lived. He was very quick to stop others from praising him for his great faith. He even called himself the worst of sinners. In 1 Timothy 1:13-14 he wrote, “Formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”
You’re probably familiar with the story of John Newton, the former slave trader, who was saved by the grace of God. His life was so radically turned around that he spent the last 43 years of his life as an ordained minister in the Anglican Church. He is best remembered for writing the hymn Amazing Grace, yet towards the end of his life he said, “I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Saviour.”
Like Paul, John Newton understood that the faith he had to believe in God was a gift given to him.
But how do we receive this gift of faith? What is the means that God uses to give faith to people?
Romans 10:17 has the answer. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” It is the Word of God that produces faith. Some receive faith while hearing a Gospel-centred sermon being preached. Some have their hearts convicted by reading the Bible as the Spirit convicts them of the enormity of what God has done for them. Others receive the gift of faith while a Christian accurately and Biblically explains the Gospel to them.
The point is that any time the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed or communicated, there is a potential for faith. Saving faith comes through the message about Jesus. This is why we must share the Gospel, not live it or be it. Tell people about what God has done for them through the saving work of Jesus Christ. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Justification is at the very core of the Christian faith. Those who are in Christ are declared righteous by God, and are no longer regarded as sinful enemies of God, but righteous just as Jesus is righteous. And all of this comes as a gift of grace. Even the faith to believe is a gift from Him.
The question you need to ask yourself is this: Where do I stand before God today? The truth is, that in God’s eyes you are either righteous or condemned in sin. You are either saved or you are lost. Jesus has provided the means of your justification through His great sacrifice for your sin, and He is the only way, the only truth and the only life. We are saved through Christ, and through Christ alone.
Homegroup Study Notes
Question 70 of the Westminster Larger Catechism asks, “What is justification?”
The answer provided is, “Justification is an act of God’s free grace unto sinners, in which He pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in His sight; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone.”
Discuss each point in your group.
Why is it so important for us to have an understanding of the doctrine of justification?
The final point in the statement above is that justification is “received by faith alone?”
What is faith? (See Hebrews 11:1)
Read Romans 10:14-17
Most Christians believe that our faith is something we need to “work at,” and that it fluctuates, depending on the circumstances of our lives at any given time, but Romans 10:17 gives us a very different answer.
Discuss in your group the Biblical teaching that the faith to believe in God is as much of a gift as our salvation itself.