Open your Bibles back to Job
chapter 25. The title of the message this morning
is, How can a man be justified with God? Brother Henry said, This is the
question of questions. How can a man be justified with
God? I'd say he's right. This is the
question of questions. It would be a good idea for us
to know the answer. How can a man be justified with
God? This question is asked three
times in the book of Job. Turn back to Job chapter 9. Here's
the first time. Verse 1, Then Job answered and
said, I know it so of a truth. But how should a man be just
with God? In chapter 15, Job, verse 14, what is man that he should be
clean? And he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous. How is he going to be righteous?
How is he going to be justified? Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh
iniquity like water? And then here in our text in
Job 25 verse 4, how then can a man be justified with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Back early this summer, I saw
a man I used to work with. Worked with him for a number
of years and hadn't seen him in a number of years. We saw
one another and got to talking, and over the course of the conversation,
he told me, he said, I got saved two years ago. He said, two years. I haven't cussed or drank a beer.
I thought, well, I reckon that's good, you know. But is that justified? Is that
justified before God? Maybe that's justified for me
or you. I don't know. But is that justified? As I read scripture, I think
justified before God is more than I got saved. And if we're
going to understand the answer to this question, how can a man
be justified with God? We've got to understand how hard
it is for a sinful man to be justified before God. Now, to
hear people talk today, preachers and, you know, you wouldn't think
it's hard. All they tell you is, you know,
you've got to clean up your act a little bit. You've got to say the sinner's
prayer. You've got to start giving a little money to the church,
you know. It's harder than that. If we're going to understand
how hard it is for a man to be justified with God, we've got
to understand three truths before we answer this question. First,
we've got to understand this truth. God is holy. Second, we've got to understand
that man is sinful, completely sinful. And third, we've got
to understand the scriptural definition of justified. We'll
see, is being justified not drinking a beer, not cussing, or what
is it? What's the scriptural definition of justified? Now,
the first truth, God is holy. All of our children have known
this and been taught this already. God's chief attribute is His
holiness. God is holy. If you could just
use one word to describe God, that word would be holy. Someone
would say, well, I thought God is love. Well, He is. But it's
a holy love. All of God's attributes hang
off the one attribute that God is holy. Someone would say, well,
I thought Jesus saves. Well, He does, but it's always
done in a manner that's consistent with His holiness. Whatever God
does, it must be done in a holy manner. God cannot violate His
holiness. Can't be done. God is holy. His very name is holy. Holy and
reverend is His name. Go home and look it up this afternoon.
How many times throughout Scripture, His name is called the Holy One
of Israel. God's holy. The Spirit of God,
what's His name? The Holy Spirit. The seraphims,
who never sinned, now they never sinned, they don't look on the
face of God. Isaiah said he saw them as six
wings, with two they covered their feet. With two, they covered
their eyes so they didn't look on the face of God. They'd never
sinned. And with two, they would fly. And what's their cry? Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. So holy, those seraphims who've
never sinned won't look on Him. God is holy. David said in Psalm
2, Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill, Zion. David, when he described the
temple, he said, the Lord, where is he? He's in his holy temple. And I will worship toward thy
holy temple. Wherever it is God dwells, whether
it's on his holy hill Zion, whether it's in his temple, whether it's
in his people, wherever that is, it's holy because God's holy. On the day of atonement, the
high priest wore those glorious high priestly robes. And over
those robes, He had a breastplate that he wore over his heart with
the twelve tribes of Israel inscribed on that breastplate. But what
was written on his forehead, on the mitre, the preeminent
place, what was written across his forehead as he crawled under
that veil into the Holy of Holies? What's the first thing that crawled
under that veil? What was on his mitre? Holiness to the Lord. Without that holiness, you cannot
enter into the presence of God. God will smite you dead. Because
without holiness, you can't enter into his presence. If you're
going to be in the presence of God, you've got to be as holy
as God is. God is holy. When God spoke to
Moses out of that burning bush, what did he tell Moses? Moses,
take off your shoes for the ground on which you stand is holy because
God's there. Moses, up there on the mountain,
wanted to see God, wanted God to show him his glory. God told
Moses, you can't see my face and live. Why? God's holy. Now, what does it mean when we
say God is holy? Now, that has a meaning. That's
God's character. He is holy. And that has implications, that
has meanings to you and me. God is holy. How holy is God? I was looking over my notes this
morning, although that's not a good question. There's no degrees
of holiness. God is holy. There's not, you
know, holy and less holy. God is holy. And a sinful man
like you and me can't fully understand what it means to be holy. We
have no concept of holiness because we've never experienced it. We've
never seen it. We've never thought it. Holiness is the opposite
of our experience of who we are. So while we can't understand
what it means to be holy, let's look and see what Scripture says.
We read it, look back at chapter 15. Here's how holy God is. Job 15, verse 15, the heavens
are not clean in his sight. That's how holy God is. Why aren't
the heavens clean in his sight? Because once, eons ago, sin entered
that place. God kicked it out, didn't he?
But once, many, many, many years ago, sin entered that place.
God's so holy, even though sin's not there now, it's not clean
in his sight. That's how holy he is. God's
so holy that he thrust Adam out of his presence and ultimately
Adam died for one sin. One moment of sin and Adam died. That's how holy God is. He will
not forgive sin. He must punish sin. In Job 9,
We read this where Job answered. He said, I know it's over true,
how should a man be just with God? Well, his answer is in response
to a question that we read in chapter eight, a question from
Bildad in verse three. He says, does God pervert judgment
or does the Almighty pervert justice? What he's asking is,
will he? And, you know, the answer is
no, he won't. Why? He's holy. Look in verse
20 there. Bildad goes on. He says, behold,
God, he'll not cast away a perfect man. Why not? If you're perfect,
God won't cast you away because he's holy. He'll do what's right.
But at the same time, neither will he help the evildoers. He
won't help the evildoers because God is holy. Look over in Joshua,
chapter 24. What does it mean when we say
God is holy? In Joshua 24, verse 19, And Joshua
said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is an
holy God. He is a jealous God. He will
not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. Now, we'll get
to this later, but let me tell you this, outside of Christ,
you cannot serve God. Because God is holy. Uzzah, going along there, bringing
back the ark. They didn't care the way the
Lord told them to. They put it on a cart. And that thing started
to shake. Uzzah did what any of us would
have done. I don't want the ark of God to fall on the ground.
All he did was touch it to steady it. God killed him instantly. Because God is holy. That unholy
man is not going to touch the holy ark of God. And true understanding,
this is important for us to understand, now God is holy. True understanding
of God's holiness will lead men to the fear and reverence of
the Lord. Now I want you to look at Habakkuk
chapter 2. If you've got the authorized version, that's page
1162. Habakkuk. right after the book of Nahum
and before Zephaniah. But the Lord is in where? His holy temple. And what's the
implication of that? Let all the earth keep silence
before Him. An understanding of God's holiness
will lead a man to silent reverence of the Lord and worship of the
Lord, because God is holy. Now, that's the first truth.
God's holy. The second truth we must understand
is man is sinful. The chief attribute of God is
God is holy. The chief attribute of you and
me is we're sinful. If you use one word to describe
man, it's sin. That's the word that most accurately
describes us. We're so sinful. We read it there
in Job 15. We're so sinful, man drinks iniquity
like water. Just iniquity. And it fits us because we're
sin. That water felt good on my throat
because this body is made of water. We drink iniquity like
water and it fits this flesh because we're sin. That's what
we are. Now man wasn't created sinful.
It hadn't always been this way. God created Adam upright in holiness,
didn't he? But man became sinful through
Adam's fall. Look at Romans chapter 5. I want
you to see this. Now we're going to look and see
what Scripture says about these things. I want you to see this
is what God says about this question of questions. How can a man be
justified with God? Romans 5 verse 12. Wherefore
is 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 that means in whom, in Adam,
in whom all sinned. In Adam, every one of us sinned. We became sin in Adam. And ultimately,
years down the line, when we're born, we're born with a sin nature. A nature just like Adam's. What
did David say? That man after God's own heart?
I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Sin. And sin is not what we do. Now, contrary to what my friend
said, sin is not what we do. Sin is what we are. And we commit
these acts of sin only because of who we are. We lie. We cheat. We steal. We hate God
because we are sin. You didn't become a sinner the
first time you lied to your mama. You didn't become a sinner the
first time you stole something. You didn't become a sinner the
first time you did something that showed you hate God. It's
because you have a sin nature. You hate God because you're born
with a sin nature. You didn't become that. You are
that. You were born that. Now, how
sinful is man? Well, just like holiness, there
are no degrees of sin. Man is totally depraved. Adam, when he committed that
one sin, was totally depraved. He didn't become a greater sinner
the longer he lived. That very moment, he was totally
depraved. And you and me were too, because
we were in him. There's not a speck of holiness in him. It's not
just that we're this black mass and you can find a speck of holiness
here and there. We're totally depraved. Not a
speck of righteousness and holiness in us. Look at Genesis chapter
6. Here's how God describes man.
You know, we see each other as pretty good. Here's how God sees
man. In Genesis chapter 6, verse 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth. And that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. It's not just that we have, you
know, a string of bad thoughts and evil thoughts and then we
have a good one. You know, we come in service on Sunday, we
have some good thoughts and then we go back to having bad thoughts.
All of our thoughts are evil continually. And man hasn't changed. I'm telling you the truth. Man
hasn't improved from the time of Noah. Look at Psalm 14. Man has not improved. I want
to drive this point home that men are sinful. And I'm not talking
about men out there now. I'm talking about starting right
here, me. And all of us here, all of us are sinful, sinful
men. Like Peter, Lord, apart from
me, I'm a sinful man. Psalm 14, verse 1. The fool has
said in his heart, there is no God. Now he talks about they
here. What he means is us. Just include
us in this now. They're corrupt. Men are corrupt. They've done abominable works.
There's none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. And there was none. They're all
gone aside. They're all together become filthy. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. Men are sinful. Look at Isaiah chapter 1. How sinful is man? Well, verse
4, a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of
evildoers, Children that are corruptors. It's not just good
we corrupt ourselves, we're corruptors. We corrupt everything around
us, everybody around us. They've forsaken the Lord. They've
provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger. They're gone way
backward. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You'll just revolt more and more. Why? The whole head is sick. The whole heart is faint. From
the sole of the foot, even into the head, there's no soundness
in it. Nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. have not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. We're a wretched, ugly
mess, mass of sin. One more scripture, Romans chapter
3. From the sole of the foot to
the top of the head. Romans 3 verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. Their throat, Isaiah talked about
from the sole of the foot to the top of the head, well, in
between there is the throat. It is an open sepulcher. With
their tongues they used to see. The poison of asps is under their
lips. Their mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace, if they not known. There is no
fear of God before their eyes." There's no love of God. There's
no fear of God before their eyes because they hate God. That's
you and me. Men by nature, we're sin. David, or Paul said in Romans
8, they that are in the flesh, cannot please God, because the
flesh is sin. In Ephesians 2, Paul described
the natural man as dead in trespasses and sins, having no hope and
without God in the world. And I'll add, happy to be that
way. That's the way we were, happy to be that way, to the
Lord called us, because we're sinful. We're so sinful that
God calls the very best things that we do, the things that we
think are our righteousness, God says they're filthy rags.
They're unclean. They're an abomination because
all they are is sin. We're so sinful that David said,
if thou shouldest mark the iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? None. Because we are sin. Just like I can't fully tell
what it means to be holy, I can't tell how sinful man is. We have no comparison. All we
are is sin. I can't fully tell how sinful
we are. And I wish I could. I wish I
could impress on our hearts that men are sin. And what that means,
what that deserves is death. Eternal death. I wish I could
tell it so fully that every one of us would be in total despair. so that we would utterly refuse
to leave this place till I can find out how can a man be justified
with God? I've got to have it. I mean,
I've got to have it. Look at Psalm 143. I can't tell you. God's going
to have to show it to you. I pray that he would. Psalm 143,
verse 2. Enter not, this is the result
of man's sin. Enter not into judgment with
thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Well, I'm glad the Bible doesn't
end there, aren't you? Because there's an answer to this question.
We're going to get to it in a minute. But I wish we'd camp right there
in fear and terror that would cause us to in silent Worship,
beg God for mercy. In thy sight shall no man living
be justified. And it's so important for us
to know this second truth that men are sin for this reason. There's no justification until
God shows us I'm a sinner. I'll show you that in Luke 18.
There's no justification until we know we're sinners. Luke 18, verse 10. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. Sounds
like those seraphims, doesn't it? He wouldn't even lift up
his eyes to heaven. But he smote upon his breast,
saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. It's like I'm the only
sinner that ever was. God be merciful to me, a sinner. And what'd our Lord say? I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than
the other. Now, what does that mean? What
does that mean? This man, this sinful man, went
back home justified. What does Scripture mean when
it says we're justified before God? You know, as long as I can
remember from the time I was a little boy, all I can remember
is the definition of justified. I remember I was a little boy.
Lindsey Campbell's the first man I ever heard say this. Just
as if I had never sinned. And that's true. But justified
is a whole lot better than that. Justified is to be without sin. Completely without sin. So that you will never sin. Completely
without sin. That's justified. Justified is
to be holy. Holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight. That's justified before God.
Justified is to be clean, spotless. Job said, how can a man be clean
that's born of a woman? Well, if you're justified, you're
clean. Even though you're born of a woman, you're clean. What's
born of a woman is not clean. What's born of God is clean.
Look at Romans chapter 5. To be justified. means to have peace with God. If you're justified, you have
peace with God. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, that's a whole lot different than the carnal mind, isn't it?
The carnal mind has declared war on God. It's enmity against
God. There's no peace in this flesh.
But if you're justified, you have peace with God. If you're
justified, It means you have eternal life. Look at verse 18
of chapter 5 in Romans. Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life. If you're justified, you have
eternal life. To be justified, means that you're
free from the curse and penalty of the law. Look over at page
Romans 8, verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. If God justifies you, you're
free from the law. The law has no claim on you.
The law, God's holy perfect law, says you're innocent. if God's
justified you. To be justified means you're
reconciled to God. In Adam, you've been separated
from God. But if you're justified in the Lord Jesus Christ, if
you're justified, you've been reconciled to God and have free
access to the Father. Well, that sounds pretty good,
doesn't it? Well, let's go back to our original question. Our
brother Job asked, how can a man be justified with God. Let me
tell you a few ways we can't be justified. Job 9 can't be
justified with words. No matter how much we say it,
no matter how much we talk about it, we can't be justified with
words. Job 9 verse 20. If I justify myself, mine own
mouth shall condemn me. If I say I'm perfect, it shall
also prove me perverse. I can't be justified with my
words. My words will prove me perverse. In chapter 11, verse
2, should not the multitude of words be answered? And should
a man full of talk be justified? Is that going to happen? And
the implied answer is of course not. We can't be justified with
our words. Look over at Luke chapter 16. We saw this in the Bible lesson
this morning. We can't be justified by comparing
ourselves to other sinners. Luke 16, verse 15. And he said unto them, Ye are
they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your
hearts. Looks to me like justification's
got something to do with the heart, doesn't it? Because that's
where God looks. That's where God deals is in the heart. But
God knoweth your heart, for that which is highly esteemed among
men is an abomination in the sight of God. Well, we're not
justified by comparing ourselves with other sinners. We're not
justified by our works, are we? What did Titus say? Not by works
of righteousness, which we've done. Not by our works. So it
can't be that. Look at Galatians chapter three.
It's not by our obedience to the law. It's not by us trying
to keep the law. It's not by us doing a better
job of keeping the law than we used to do. Galatians 3, verse
10. For as many are as of the works
of the law are under the curse, for it's written, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law
in the sight of God, it's evident. For the just should live by faith. We're not going to be justified
by us keeping the law. Well, you look at all that and
you say, well, is it even possible for a man to be justified before
God? God's holy. I'm a sinner. To be justified means to be made
holy like God. Is it even possible for a man
to be justified without sin before God? Is it even possible for
an unclean man to be justified clean before God? Is it even
possible for an unholy man to be justified and made holy before
God? That doesn't sound possible to
me, if God's holy and I'm sinful. How are those two ever going
to be reconciled? Well, with sinful man, justification is
impossible, but with God. All things are possible. Remember,
the disciples in amazement said, well, Lord, who then can be saved?
Doesn't look like to them anybody can be saved. Our Lord said,
well, with men, it's impossible. But with God. All things are
possible. A few weeks ago, I preached a
message from Daniel. Thy God is able. He's able to justify the ungodly. And not only is he able, he's
done it. Justification. I read through
scripture and I'm confident of this. Justification must be found
in one person. The Lord Jesus Christ. His very
name. is the Lord our Righteousness.
Look over in Jeremiah 23. Justification must be found in
him because his name is the Lord our Righteousness. Verse 5 of Jeremiah 23. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days Judas shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness." Jehovah Sidkenu,
he is our righteousness. Justification must be found in
him. Justification can only come through
the life through the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look back a few pages, Isaiah
53. It must come through the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 11, Isaiah writes, he
shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Now there's
going to be a travail of his soul. He's going to be made a
man. He's going to suffer under the
wrath of God, this travail. As a man, he's going to die,
but he's going to see the travail of his soul. He's going to see
the success. He's going to rise again and he'll be satisfied.
By his knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. Romans chapter four. Justification is found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 4 verse 25, who was
delivered for our offenses? They were charged to him and
raised again for what? Our justification. Our justification
must be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners can be washed
clean in the blood, the fountain that was opened for sin, and
for uncleanness. Look there in verse 9 of Romans
5. Much more than being now justified by his blood. That's how we're
made clean, justified by his blood. We should be saved from
wrath through him. Now here's how God makes a sinful
man justified. without violating his holiness.
Now, if God's going to justify you and me, he's got to do it
in a manner that's consistent with his holiness, because God's
holy. Look back a page of Romans chapter 3, verse 21. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Now, Paul is not talking here about the personal
holiness. and righteousness, the inherent
holiness of God. He's talking about the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ as a man. He's talking about that righteousness
that a man worked out. The righteousness of our Lord,
who was born as a man, born of a woman, clothed himself in flesh
and bones, born under the law, and he kept that law perfectly. He is the only righteous man
to ever live. And he satisfied the law as a man by keeping the
law. And he satisfied the law by his
life. He satisfied the law also by his death, by dying the just
for the unjust. The law is satisfied because
our sins have been punished in the sin or substitute. So the
law satisfied, all the law requires is death for sin. And our substitute
died bearing the sins of his people. He satisfied the law. Now Paul says the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. What he means here is without
the sinner's obedience to the law, without you and me having
to keep the law, which is a good thing because we've already established
we're sinful. We can't keep the law. Now we're
saved without the law. He doesn't mean we're saved by
ignoring the law and setting the law aside. Paul means, scripture
means, we're saved through the law, by the law. We're saved
by works. That's so. But not our works. The work of our substitute. That's
how we're saved. Not through our obedience to
the law, but through the obedience of our substitute. We are made righteous without
our obedience to the law. It's through the obedience of
our substitute. And this righteousness, this
justification is made manifest in the gospel. This is what the
gospel declares. There's justification, salvation,
righteousness, everything you need found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Run to him. That's how man's
justified before God. Verse 22, Paul says, even the
righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto
all and upon all them that believe, for there's no difference. for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now sinners
are made righteous through faith, through faith in Christ. Dan
read it to open our service here in Romans 4 verse 1. What shall
we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the
flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. For
what saith the That's what I've tried to do this morning. What
sayeth the scripture? I want you to see these things
from the scripture. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him
for righteousness. It was imputed unto him for righteousness
because he had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's no
difference. Now, we're all equally sinners
in Adam. Every one of us. There's not
some sinners that are better than others. We're all equally
sinners. And the only way will ever be
justified. It's through the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, through faith in Him. That's the only
way we'll ever be justified. It's through faith in Christ.
In verse 24, Paul goes on, he says, being justified freely
by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. If I know anything about God,
anything, It's easy for me to see God has the power to justify
the ungodly. Does anybody doubt that? He's
able to do whatever he pleases as long as it's consistent with
his holiness. The question in my mind is this. Why? Why would God do what's necessary
to justify a sinful man? One word. Grace. Being justified freely by His
grace. It's all of grace. We're justified
through grace. And we're justified freely. Justification,
being made without sin, is free. A free gift of God's grace. That's
how man's justified before God. Not because you earned it, because
God gave it to you. As a free gift of His grace.
Verse 25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Now,
Paul here is talking about those Old Testament believers. They're
justified the same way you and I are. Through faith in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those sins that are passed are
the sins of all those Old Testament believers that lived before Christ
came incarnate, and they're justified the same way we are. They're
washed in the same blood we are, in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They're clothed with the same perfect, imputed righteousness
that you and I are clothed in, the righteousness of Christ that
we lay hold on by faith. So, verse 26, to declare, I say
at this time, His righteousness. Oh, I wish God would enable me
to declare at this time. his righteousness, the righteousness
of Christ, that he might be just and the justifier of him which
believeth in Jesus. I cannot tell you how much I
love to preach the Lord Jesus Christ and how much I love to
hear Christ preached. It doesn't have to be eloquent.
It doesn't have to just Tell me of the Lord. Just make it
simple. Tell me of Christ. Christ is the message. We preach Christ the righteous. I don't want to just preach the
righteousness of Christ. That's too much like doctrine
to me. I want to preach Christ the righteous. Jehovah said,
can you? The Lord, our righteousness. He is our righteousness. And
Christ the righteous enables a holy God to be just and the
justifier. And I'm telling you the truth,
it has to be in that order. Scripture didn't say the justifier
and the just, did it? It's always the just and the
justifier. It must be in that order. God
must be just and remain just and holy when he saves his people
from their sins. And he can do that. God can be
just and holy and righteous and still justify the ungodly through
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how a man can
be justified before God. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, God is not only merciful when he saves his people. God
is just when he saves his people. He's just because if our sin
was laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. And He put that sin away through
the sacrifice of Himself. My friends, the debt's gone.
And we're made righteous in Him. And that is an act of justice.
And now God can deal with us in love. Because He dealt with
Christ our substitute in judgment. So how can a man be justified
with God? It's in Christ. The answer to
every question is Christ. That's how man can be justified
with God. Through faith in Christ. Justified
through the blood of Christ. Justified by grace. Look at Titus
chapter 3 and I'll quit. It's by grace. Titus 3 verse
5. Not by works of righteousness
as we've done, but according to his mercy, he by the washing
of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that, being
justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. That's how a dead sinner has
life.