I would first have you to turn
with me this morning to Romans chapter five in your Bible. Romans
chapter five, turn there with me. We won't very far from there. And I want to ask you while you're
turning, what does being justified mean? What is justification? What is it to be just before
God? What is it for God to be justifier? This past Wednesday evening out
of 1 Samuel chapter 12, I preached a message that very much followed
the points that were preached by the prophet Samuel there in
chapter 12. And that shouldn't surprise us. There's only one message. How
many times have we said that? Only one message. And it's the
same gospel message that saved sinners in the Old Testament
as in the New. Now, Samuel was a prophet of
God, but he was also a preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But some might ask, how did Samuel
preach Jesus Christ before Christ ever came into the world? How
can that be possible? Well, that's a fair question.
Samuel could preach Christ the same way as all the Old Testament
prophets could. He could preach Jesus Christ
because Jesus Christ, God the Son, was the Lamb, the substitute
that was slain from the foundation of the world, according to Revelation
chapter 13, verse 8. Christ was the King of Kings
before there ever was a king in Jerusalem. Before Israel ever
had a king, Christ was their king. And he was the sacrifice
and the substitute and the surety for his people as the Lamb slain. And being no different than it
is today, the Lord Jesus, King of Kings, was rejected then by
the masses just as he is rejected now by multitudes in this world. Israel wanted an earthly king,
and that's what men still want. In most cases, that earthly king
they desire is themselves. They want to be their own king.
They want to be their own God. Just as in Christ's day, the
people did not want this man, the Lord Jesus, the God-man,
to reign over them. And when you think back on it,
that was Adam's temptation from the serpent. The serpent tempted
Adam and said, you shall be his gods. You see, friends, when
Adam sinned, the law demanded that his sin be punished. And
you might say, well, there was no written law at that time.
Oh, yes, there was. And it was God's law. And it
had only one commandment. In Genesis 2, 17, it says, And
the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the
garden thou mayest freely eat, but Here's the exception, but
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest, therefore thou
shalt surely die. Only one commandment with one
consequence. The commandment was of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. And
the consequence was, if you did, he said, if you do, you shall
surely die. Man ate and man died. Yes, Adam lived 930 years physically,
but Adam died spiritually the very second. that he ate. And this is what a lot of folks
today don't understand. Adam was the representative of
the entire human race and God punished man because they fell
in their representative. Now, don't be quick to declare
that's not fair. Look here in Romans chapter 5
at verse 12. It says, wherefore, as by one
man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. That's very
important. Sin is the wages of death. And death by sin. Sin entered
into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men. How many? All of them. for they
have all sinned, for all have sinned. Now look at verse 13,
for until the law, that's speaking of the law of Moses, before the
law of Moses was given, sin was in the world, but sin is not
imputed where there is no law. Now, you can't break the law
if there's no law. There has to be a law before
it can be broken. If there was no speed limit,
forgive me, given by the law, you could legally drive down
Main Street 70 mile an hour, but you can't because there's
a law that says 35 mile an hour speed limit. You can't break
the law if there's no law. Verse 14, nevertheless, that
means in spite of this, Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses,
now look at these next three words, even over them that had
not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who
is the figure of him that was to come. Though the law of Moses
was not yet given, but the one commandment God had given brought
about sin and death, and both, sin and death exerted and extended
itself its dominion over all the sons and daughters of Adam.
Even before the law was given to Moses, during this interval
of time between Adam and Moses, death reigned and it reigned
into all because of sin. Death reigned over us, though
we had not sinned, after the similitude of Adam's transgression,
who is the figure of him that was succumbed. By the sin of
Adam, death came into the world, and verse 12 says, so death passed
upon all men. This was the result of Adam's
sin. And it reigns over you, and it
reigns over me, though at the time Adam disobeyed, you and
I were born. It reigns over us because Adam
was our representative. Adam was this one man that caused
sin to come into the world. But the scriptures speak of another
man. Adam was the first man, and this
other man was the second. Verse 15, but not as the offense,
the offense of Adam against God, so also is what? the free gift. Well, what does
that mean? While Adam, in one sense of the
word, is a type of Christ, is man's representative, there's
a great difference between the Lord Jesus and Adam. You see,
one kills and the other makes a life. Through the sin of the
one, Adam, mankind died through the
gracious gift of God, that being the Lord Jesus, God has given
life to many. For if through the offense of
one many, all of Adam's posterity be dead, much more Don't you
like that? Much more. The grace of God and
the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many. Not all, but many. You and I
being punished in Adam may not think it to be fair, but it certainly
was just. To those who believe it was not
fair, I've got to ask you right here, was it fair that these
same ones who sinned in Adam and also in themselves, we can't
blame it all on Adam, we too are sinners. Do we think it's fair to be redeemed?
You see, being condemned was just and being redeemed is grace. That's the difference. After
all, verse 12 also says, by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. And look at verse 16. And not
as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment
was by one to condemnation, that being Adam. But the free gift
is of many offenses unto what? Justification. That's what we're
talking about. What is the meaning of justification? What does it mean to be justified? What does it mean to be just?
The guilt of one man, Adam's sin, was imputed to all men to
condemnation, but the free gift, that being the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, stands opposed to the guilt of Adam's sin, and
Christ's righteousness is imputed to all Christ's offspring, all
those that are born of God. This is the believers justification. Christ doing for them what they
could not do for themselves. Oh, a believer loves to say that.
And they are quick to acknowledge they can do nothing in and of
themselves to be saved. Their justification is not only
for the particular offense of Adam, but it's also the justification
of many other offenses that they themselves committed and would
commit against God. all the actual sins and transgressions
committed thereafter, Adam's sin, were accredited to the grace
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only are God's chosen
people forgiven of the sin of the one man Adam, but also their
own sins, being many sins, the sin, many sins of many believers
were, are, and would always be forgiven in Christ. Now we could
stop right there, but I said all that to say this. If you
and I are to be saved, to be redeemed, and reconciled to God,
then our justification must be accomplished justly. and God
is the only just one who can justly save us. God cannot and
God will not save us apart from His holy and strict justice. I was in religion, false religion,
for many years. I was convinced by harling preachers
that everything was A-OK with me and God. I was told that I
had done everything that was necessary for me to be saved.
But you see, that's the real problem today with preaching
and teaching of salvation. If salvation is according to
what men do and what men have done, then it's not according
to justice. Men can't do what is necessary
for them to be saved. They're unable and incapable. That's a fact. Paul did not tell
us, or he didn't tell us through Titus that salvation was not
by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to
what? His mercy He saved us. And what
a disservice such teaching and preaching to sinners today is to sinners who are by God's grace
seeking forgiveness from God. What a disservice it is. This
would cause God to be unjust. If God could be anything less
than just, then He's not God at all. And this is not only
important, but imperative to know. So I will say it as plainly
and simply as I can. This is one thing of the few
things that God cannot do. God cannot save sinners. apart
from his justice. God cannot redeem sinners apart
from doing it justly. God can do anything and everything,
but he cannot do that which goes against his nature. He cannot
lie. He cannot sin. He cannot be unjust. He cannot
change his mind. God can do nothing that would
contradict His holy and perfect righteousness. And friends, it's
life and death to know that God can by no means, meaning cannot,
clear the guilty. And He cannot in any way condemn
the innocent. If you're guilty of sin, then
God must punish you. His holy and strict justice demand
it. But if you have no sin, God cannot
punish you. The dilemma for us is how do
we become innocent? How then can God save any when
all are guilty? Well, I know this much. It must
be done justly. God is a just God, and He's also
something else. He's a just God and a Savior. Very frequently in my preaching,
I refer to those words found in Romans 3, verse 26, that God
is both just and justifier. And an enlightened student of
the scriptures knows that our salvation requires not only justice,
but also mercy. And it's absolutely crucial,
critical, a matter of life and death, to have an understanding
in a spiritual, biblical sense, what the words just, justice,
justified, justification, and justifier means. Why? Because God ceases to be God
if he puts the way of a sinner apart from his justice. If he
puts the sin of a sinner apart from his justice, then he's not
God. Both God's justice and mercy
make God who and what he is. Never forget that God is just
and at the same time merciful. The Greek word just, as it's
used in the scriptures, means holy, innocent, and righteous. To be just is to be holy, innocent,
and righteous. And to justify is the act of
making one innocent, and righteous, and holy. To be justified is
to be made holy, innocent, and righteous. And justification
is the act of being made holy, innocent, and righteous before
God. And we know that the justifier, being Christ alone, is the one
who renders and makes one holy, innocent, and righteous. God
is just, dear friends, and also justifier. That's our only hope
of redemption. Justification is the only way
a sinner can be saved. Now turn back just a few pages
with me to Romans chapter three. We looked at many of these verses
Wednesday night. And that's what brought my mind
back once again to the subject of just, and justification, and
justice, and how we were justified. It's absolutely vital to know. Romans 3, look at verse 23. For all, how many? All? have sinned and come short
of the glory of God." That means exactly what it says. We have
all, every one of us, sinned. We have all, every one of us,
come short of God's glory. And to come short of the glory
of God means that we've come short of glorifying God. You
see, in and of and by our actions, we bring reproach to God's glory. Man was made to glorify his God,
not because of sin, now because of sin, we come way short of
doing so. We fall short, so short of glorifying
God. made in the image of God we were
once holy and innocent and righteous but because of our sin we have
all become guilty before God and we have come short of glorifying
Him." According to verse 19, every mouth is going to be stopped.
None will boast of their innocence. None can boast in their works.
We're guilty, guilty before God, forever coming short of His glory
unless God does an eternal work of justification, making us holy,
innocent, and righteous in His eyes and in our hearts. And thank Him, bless His holy
name, because for some He does. God doesn't justify those who
hate His Son. People say God loves everybody.
He doesn't love those who hate his son. No, sir. Verse 24, being
justified. Now there's the word. Declared
and made righteous, holy, according to divine justice in the sight
of God. How? It tells us being justified
freely. by His grace, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, were justified in three distinct ways. Freely, by His grace, and through
the redemption in Christ Jesus. Verse 25, whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation God sent forth, God sent His Son. God
Himself became flesh and blood. God made Christ God the Son. God the Father made God the Son.
Sin for us to be a propitiation. That word means an appeasement.
It means to pacify. It means to satisfy. It means
to make peace with, to amend and reconcile the fallen sinner
to his God. This justification, this act
of being restored to holiness, innocence, and righteousness
is something that God has done for chosen sinners through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And next notice that it is through
faith in His blood. elect sinners are saved by grace
through faith, not by works of righteousness that they've done,
but through faith in Christ's blood. In other words, by believing
that Christ died, the just for the unjust, in order to bring
them to God. And that's exactly what Peter
wrote in 1 Peter 3 18. He said, for Christ also hath
once suffered for sins the just for the unjust he the just one
took the sins of the unjust ones you and i upon himself that he
might bring us to god that's the only way we're going to be
brought to god it's the only way we can be brought to god
being put to death in the flesh but quickened made alive by the
spirit Blood was shed. It was God's blood. God died
so that the unjust sinner might be justified, made just by God. Paul said, this is all I want
to know concerning you. You remember what it was? Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Do you know who Jesus Christ
is? Many claim they do. But the question is, the issue
is, does He know them? He said to those who profess
to know Him and call Him Lord and did this and all that in
His name, He said, I never knew you. Do you know what God the
Son Jesus Christ did? He died the death of the cross. He was murdered. Let's don't
sugarcoat this. The innocent was condemned, that
being Christ, and the guilty, you and me, were set free. That's
divine substitution. And the truth of the matter is
this, I should have been executed by God. That's what crucifixion
was. It was an execution. It was like
in our day, the electric chair. You, yes, you should have been
executed by God too. But God killed His Son in the
place of those He loved and gave to Christ before the foundation
of the world. And that is why, my friends, Christ is the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, before the foundation
of the world. That's being justified. That
is being made just. That is, in Christ alone, being
restored to the holiness, the innocence, and the right standing
before God that we lost in Adam. God, verse 25, God has set forth,
God has set Christ forth to be a propitiation through faith
in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past. through the forbearance, the
long suffering of God. It doesn't have anything to do
with our righteousness. And thank God because we don't
have any. Pay close attention to what Paul
is saying here. Christ is our propitiation, meaning
that Christ is the one who appeases and pacifies and satisfies God's
holy wrath against us. Christ appeases God by the shedding
of His blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. His blood is the only blood that
prevails. And when we have faith in His
blood, His blood being shed, God's judgment against us is
pacified. Oh, by believing and trusting
that Christ died for us, our sins are pacified in the mind
and heart of God. They're satisfied. We now declare
His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past. We declare,
we preach, we proclaim, one thing is the grounds for the chosen
sinner's redemption, and that is the righteousness of Christ.
Not something that we did, not something that we decided, not
something that we determined. Our righteousness is filthy rags.
Our righteousness before God is now His righteousness and
His righteousness because His righteousness is our righteousness.
We're righteous before God because of His righteousness. That's
what we preach. That's what we declare. He took
our sin and gave us His righteousness. That's our message, plain and
simple. That's what we declare. We declare His righteousness.
We declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are past. Do you remember what that word
remission means? We talked about it last week. It's worthy of mentioning again.
Remission is the cancellation of a charge, a debt, or a penalty. We're charged with sin. We owe
a debt we cannot pay. The penalty for our charge is
debt. And the shedding of Christ's
blood cancels all three. He is charged with my sin. He
paid my debt of sin, and He took my penalty upon Himself by dying
in my place. And all my past sin, canceled. And all my present sin, canceled. And all my future sin, canceled. All my sin, gone, gone, gone. All this through the forbearance,
the patience, the long-suffering of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. God, by and through his own patience,
long-suffering, and forbearance, deferred, he suspended the executing
of his holy justice on elected sinners, and he saved them by
his grace. Again, verse 26, to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness. Paul reminds us again that it's
Christ's righteousness imputed and given to us that justifies
us before God. It's a righteousness of Christ
that enables God to be just. Did you hear me? It's Christ's
righteousness that enables God to be just and God executed his
holy justice on sin while it was on Christ. God remains just
because he punished the sin of his people on his beloved son. His holy justice punished the
believer's sin, and it's forever put away. And God in all His
wisdom devised a way to be both just and the justifier of him
which believeth in Jesus. That's amazing grace. That's
amazing love. We sing amazing love. How can
it be that thou, my God, should die for me? God is just and justifier. That's the same as saying that
God is right and merciful. This is how God can be merciful
to chosen sinners and still be just. This is how God could be
merciful to me and His justice still be satisfied. Do you see
that? Do you rejoice in that? Justice
and mercy are the pillars of God's throne. Justice and mercy
are the grounds for our salvation. The wise man Solomon tells us
a great deal in just a few words concerning the justice of God.
The words are found in Proverbs 17, verse 15. We've looked at
them many times. They precisely describe why no
sinner can justly receive salvation imparted apart from holy justice.
Listen to him. Proverbs 17, 15. He that justifieth
the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are
an abomination to the Lord. Very simple. One who justifies
a wicked, guilty man is an abomination to the Lord, and one who condemns
a just man or woman, one holy and innocent and righteous, is
also an abomination to the Lord. Now, the words abomination and
abominable are very strong words. It means to be morally disgusting. We've all heard of crimes committed
that just disgust us when we hear them. Well, our crimes disgust
God. Nothing disgusts God more than
the offense of His justice. If one who is guilty of some
horrific wickedness is pardoned, it's morally disgusting to us,
yes, but even more so with God. And on the other hand, If one
who is just and innocent and holy is condemned, that too is
morally disgusting to us, but even more so to God. Christ's
crucifixion would have been disgusting to anyone who had seen it, had
it not been disgusting to God. Had it not been that he was dying
for the guilty, And that being His elect and chosen people,
you see, Christ was perfect. For Him to be crucified was disgusting,
especially to God. But He was dying in our room
instead. He was dying with our sin put
upon Him. Even you and I who are unjust
in and of ourselves have often been disgusted when someone who
is guilty is not required to pay for their crime. They didn't
get what they deserved, we say. And there have also been people
who were found guilty and condemned of a crime that was later exonerated
and proven guilty after spending years in prison for a crime they
did not commit. And I even dare to say that some
innocent men and women have died for crimes that they did not
commit. And that equally disgusts one
who desires true justice. And friends, that is what makes
justification such a wonderful, glorious thing. Back in our,
back in verse 26 of our text in Romans chapter three. The
gospel of God's grace is the preaching of the righteousness
and justification found in believing in and on Jesus Christ and the
rejoicing that he brings in doing for us what we cannot do. How are we justified? Freely. Freely by God's grace through
the redemption that is where? in Christ Jesus, according to
verse 24. God has sent forth Christ to
be propitiation, that appeasement. And He's made peace with us because
of what Christ has done. This justification, this act
of being restored to holiness, innocence, and righteousness
is something that God has done for repentant sinners through
God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's through faith in His
blood. Through faith, not by words of
righteousness we've done, but through faith in His blood. In
other words, the believer believes that Christ died that just for
the unjust to bring them to God, and we wouldn't have it any other
way. God's blood shed, God dying, made the unjust sinner justified
and just, and we live. We live forever. Paul said, this
is all I want to know concerning you, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He was the innocent one condemned
for the guilty, and we were set free. That's divine substitution.
I should have been executed by God, and so should have you. Where is boasting then, verse
27? It's excluded. Nothing for us
to boast in, Christ did it all. What law do we keep in order
to be justified? The law of works? He says, nay,
but the law of faith. Verse 28, therefore, we conclude
that a man is justified by what? Faith, faith in Christ's finished
work without the deeds of the law. You and I can do nothing
to make ourselves acceptable, only Christ can and did. So in
my closing statements, I want to make it as brief and yet as
clear as I can. Because of our sin and our debt
to sin, you and I could never satisfy or justify ourselves. We by nature are wicked and separated
from God. It's our iniquities that have
separated, alienated us between us and our God. It's our sins
that have hid his face from us that he will not hear us. Isaiah
59 too. So how then are we justified?
We always come to the same conclusion. The Lord Jesus died in our room
instead. Christ took the place of truly
guilty ones, and he was made sin, though he knew no sin, that
we, the guilty ones, might be made the righteousness of God
in him. Have you ever heard such good
news? The innocent was condemned and the guilty was set free. The innocent died in the room
instead of his people and the guilty ones were justly made
free. Well, preacher, doesn't that
make this an abominable work? Not when God himself is the substitute. He voluntarily was made sin for
his people. And being the God-man who was
without sin, being the only one who, as God and man, could rightly
and justly pay sin's debt, put it completely away. And Christ,
as God and man, has the right to voluntarily give up His perfect
righteousness and freely give it to those He desired to save. And in doing so, the justice
of God is appeased, God's laws perfectly kept and completely
satisfied, and this, my friends, Again, meaning to be repetitive,
makes God both just and justifier. This is what makes God a just
God and a savior. Nothing else would suffice. So
do you believe this gospel? I know many of you do. It's the
only gospel there is. It's given by the only God there
is. And always remember that sin is not just simply forgiven. God's justice won't allow it. God's justice requires that sin
be paid for. And Jesus Christ is the only
one qualified to pay for it. So I leave you this morning with
five familiar words, five words you can trust your soul upon.
Salvation is of the Lord. May God be pleased to make it
effectual to your heart and mind. And may God bless us until we
meet again. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your
redemption, your work of righteousness that you've done for us justly
before a holy, just, and righteous God. Amen.