It Is God That Justifieth

Q: What does the Bible say about justification?

Justification is the act of God declaring a sinner righteous based on Christ's imputed righteousness, as seen in Romans 8:33. Justification is a central doctrine in the Bible that refers to God's act of declaring a sinner righteous. It is not based on the sinner's own works but on God's free grace through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Romans 8:33 states, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies". This means that justification is entirely God's work, accomplished through Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection. The Scriptures illustrate that we are justified by God's decree from eternity, through the blood of Christ, and through faith, thus affirming that our legal standing before God is secure in Christ alone.

Q: How do we know justification by faith is true?

Justification by faith is confirmed in Scripture, particularly in Romans, which states that our righteousness is based on Christ's obedience, not our works. The truth of justification by faith is extensively supported in the Bible, particularly in the book of Romans. In Romans 5:1, it states, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ". This underlines that faith is the means through which we experience the justification already accomplished through Christ. Furthermore, Romans 10:4 declares, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes." This emphasizes that our justification is grounded not in our works but in Christ's perfect obedience. The doctrine is validated through the historical narrative of the resurrection, where Christ's resurrection serves as assurance of our justification, allowing believers to have peace with God.

Q: Why is understanding justification important for Christians?

Understanding justification is crucial for Christians as it establishes our right standing before God and the basis of our salvation. Understanding justification is vital for Christians because it defines our relationship with God and the foundation of our salvation. Justification assures believers that they are declared righteous in the sight of God, not based on their works but through faith in Christ's redemptive work. Romans 4:8 illustrates the blessedness of the one to whom God does not impute sin, emphasizing the grace bestowed upon those justified. This doctrine reveals the profound truth of God's grace, underscoring that our salvation is wholly contingent on Christ's sacrificial work. Without a proper understanding of justification, Christians risk falling into the trap of self-righteousness, misunderstanding the nature of grace, and the assurance that comes from being in Christ.

Q: How does the Trinity relate to justification?

The Trinity is integral to justification, with the Father devising the plan, the Son executing it, and the Holy Spirit applying it to believers. The doctrine of justification is intimately connected to the work of the Triune God. The Father is described as the one who justifies, as seen in Romans 8:33, and He devised the plan of redemption, sending His Son into the world. The Son, Jesus Christ, is the one who accomplished the work of justification through His death and resurrection, which fully satisfied God's justice, as depicted in Isaiah 53:10-11. The Holy Spirit plays a crucial role in applying this justification to the hearts of the elect, convincing them of their sin and righteousness, as referenced in 1 Corinthians 6:11. Therefore, the work of justification encompasses the entire Trinity, highlighting the unity and purpose of God in saving His people.

In the oldest book of the Bible,
the book of Job, chapter 25 and verse 4, a question is raised. And when all is said and done,
when everything is finished, and you're about to leave this
world, you're going to have to stand before God Almighty face
to face. I must breathe my last breath
and go out into eternity to meet the Holy Lord God when all said
and done, this is the only thing that will matter. I mean the
only thing. My works, my feelings, my experiences,
my good name, my good reputation, my acquirements in this world,
My strong health, strong mind, my riches, all of those things
will be utterly insignificant. Just one thing on that. I want
to know one thing. How can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? Now the answer to that question,
or to those two questions, is found in Romans chapter 8 and
verse 33. I want you to turn there and
look at it carefully. Romans chapter 8 and verse 33. The Apostle Paul raises this
bold challenge and says, Who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. If babiestus is to be clean before
God, if you are to be justified before God, God has to do it. It's got to be God's work, only
God's work. Now, last week I tried to give
you a brief summary of the fourfold declaration of justification
given in divine revelation in Holy Scripture. In the book of
God, we are said to be justified in these four ways. First, we're
justified by God's decree from eternity. We were justified in
Christ before the world began, Romans chapter 8 verse 29. And
secondly, we were justified by the blood of Jesus Christ when
he died for our sins and rose again for our justification in
Romans 8, or Romans chapter 4 rather, and verse 25. And then we're
said to be justified by faith, many places in scripture, The
teaching of that is that we are justified in the experience of
justification, not the accomplishment of it. Our faith has nothing
to do with the accomplishment of justification, but rather
in the experience of it, we are justified by faith, looking to
Jesus Christ the Lord. And then we who profess to be
justified, we who claim to be the children of God, justify
ourselves not before God, but before men by our works, according
to James chapter 2. Now tonight I want to speak to
you about this matter of justification, in a very strict sense. I'm talking
about our justification before God. Justification, as it is
revealed and taught in the Word of God, is the imputation of
Christ's righteousness to us. Now, please understand, when
we use the word imputed or imputation, we're talking about a legal forensic
term. It has nothing to do with experience.
It has nothing to do with feeling. It has nothing to do with personal
holiness. It has nothing to do with us
being born again, has nothing even to do with our faith. But
our being justified, having the righteousness of Christ imputed
to us, is the result of God's free grace through the blood
of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. The blood of Christ and his righteous
obedience to God as our substitute has been imputed, laid to our
account. laid to our charge. It was done
long before we knew anything about it. It was done long before
we experienced it. We came to know about it in time
and rejoice in it in time. But it was done when Jesus Christ
died for us and rose again as our representative. That shouldn't
be difficult to understand. If I should find out that Mark
Henson has a large indebtedness at the bank, and I go down to
the bank and I have the ability and the willingness to do so,
and I say I want to pay off Mark's bill. I want to pay what he owes.
I want to take care of his house, his car, his mortgages, all the
bills he owes. I want to get his name cleared
off these records. And I pay the bill. Get it right out of
check and it's done. And next time the month rolls around and
the bills are due to come in, Mark looks in the mailbox and
where's the bill? He calls the bank up and says
there must be some mistake, I didn't get a bill. There's no mistake,
your bill's been paid. Now that shouldn't be too hard
to understand. He didn't have anything to do
with it. I went to the bank, I paid the bill, and in time
he came to understand, appreciate, and rejoice in the fact that
the bill was paid. Now that is exactly what happened
when Jesus Christ died for us at Calvary. He paid our debt
to God in full! And in the time of God's grace
and mercy, when the Holy Spirit gives us eyes of faith to look
upon and behold the Son of God, when we look to Him as our only
Lord and Savior, then we come to rejoice in the blessed experience
of justification, but it was done back yonder at Calvary.
Indeed, done from eternity. Now, when we talk about justification
then, we're not talking about the imparting of righteousness
or the infusion of righteousness. That's sanctification. That's
the new birth. That's what happens when the
Holy Spirit gives us a new nature. That we come to know and appreciate
by experience in time by God the Holy Spirit giving us a new
nature. That's the infusion or the imparting
of righteousness to us, the very nature of Christ. But in justification,
it is purely a legal term, and it is never spoken of as something
that is done presently. It's something that was already
done. Understand that. Sometimes we use the term in
the present sense, but God's imputation of Christ's righteousness
has already been done for his elect. And our justification
always is spoken of in this manner in the Scriptures. in the Old
Testament law as well as in the New Testament revelation of the
Gospel, we find that justification is constantly spoken of as that
which God has done for His elect in Jesus Christ the Lord. So
the teaching of Scripture is just this. We are justified freely
by the grace of God through the blood or through the redemption
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 3 and verse 24. We are justified freely without
a cause in us through the blood of Jesus Christ on the foundation
or the merit or the basis of Christ's shed blood, his accomplished
redemption, and this is in its totality the work of God's free
grace. Now listen carefully. We who
are by nature sinners, guilty before God, guilty of every offense
against God. There is not a word written in
this book about sin, iniquity, transgression, of which you and
I are not guilty. There is not a law given by God
that we have not broken inwardly and in the past and in the present,
and most of them we've broken outwardly. There's not one law
written in the book of God of which we are not transgressors.
We've broken God's law. We've violated God's law. We
have continually lived constantly in defiance of God Almighty and
thus we are guilty before God. being guilty of violating God's
law, being guilty of trampling under our feet the blood of the
Son of God all the days of our rebellion, being guilty before
Him we deserve eternal wrath. We are born under the condemnation
of God's law. We are children of wrath, even
as others by nature, so that the Scripture declares that even
God's elect, living in this world until they come to Christ in
faith, live as children of wrath under the condemnation and curse
of God's law. We have no right to encourage
anyone to believe that they are free from the curse of God's
law until they personally believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You
who are yet without faith in Christ, understand me, the wrath
of God is upon you, and nowhere in this book is there a word
spoken to you outside of Christ except condemnation, wrath, and
judgment. But we are now in Christ Jesus,
acquitted from all charges. cleared of all accusations by
the blood of Christ and by the grace of our God, we are absolved
of all guilt, freed from all condemnation. And not only that,
blessed be his name, we are made worthy of eternal life in Christ
the Lord. Now look at scripture, let me
show you. Romans chapter 4 and verse 8. Romans chapter 4. If you want
to understand the doctrine of justification, go to the book
of Romans and study it carefully. In Romans chapters 3, 4, and
5 particularly, the Apostle Paul declares to us how it is that
God justifies the sinner. In Romans chapters 6 and 7, the
Apostle declares to us the result of that justification in the
lives of chosen sinners. In Romans chapter 8, The apostle
declares plainly to us the everlasting result of that justification
in our everlasting salvation. All right, look here in Romans
chapter 4 verse 8. Let's back up to verse 6. Even
as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, under
whom God imputed righteousness without works. saying, blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not include sin. Will not include sin. That's
the word for justify. We have the righteousness of
Christ imputed to us and no sin imputed to us. Nothing is laid
to our charge except perfect righteousness. Look in chapter
eight of Romans, verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation. Oh, how I love that word. No. No condemnation. Not to any degree. Not at any time, not for anything. Past, present, or future. No condemnation. There is therefore
now, now no condemnation. Not there shall not be if we
continue and hold out and persevere, but there is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not
after the flesh but after the spirits. Let's skip over to Titus
chapter 3. Titus chapter 3. Listen to what
the Apostle says. Verse 7, being justified by his
grace, we are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Being justified by his grace,
if we will now do right, and live right, and give, and support
the church, and support the ministry, and attend church, and read our
Bibles, and pray, and live like we ought to, then we are made
heirs of eternal life. No. He says being justified by
his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life. What is it? The hope of eternal
life is free grace justification in Jesus Christ the Lord. Now
this doctrine of free justification by the imputed righteousness
of Christ is the very essence of the gospel. Every other doctrine
of justification, every man Every creed, every church, every religion,
every individual who believes that justification is somehow
accomplished in some other way has a false gospel and no justification
at all. That's exactly what Paul says
in Galatians chapter 1 verses 6, 7, and 8. There is no justification
except justification by grace through the blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of true Christianity. Martin
Luther was exactly right when he said that justification is
the article of the church by which it stands or falls. It
was the preaching of justification by grace, the free grace of God
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. which broke
the arms of papacy in the days of the great Protestant Reformation.
And it is the preaching of justification by grace, by the free grace of
God through the redemption of the sin Christ Jesus that will
break the bondage of religious darkness and superstition and
tradition in this day. Only the declaration of free
grace sets me and free and gives us hope and peace before God.
Therefore, I am intending by God's free grace to continually,
constantly, wherever I go, declare this message to men, it is God
that justifies it. If my justification or yours
in any way depends upon what we do, if it in any way depends
on us even Having a good, holy thought. A good, holy feeling. If it depends on anything done
by us, or determined by us, or anything felt by us, then we
must be all together without hope. But blessed be God, justification
is by God, and by God alone. Now this great work is the work
of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I want you to
follow me through the scriptures. And I want to show you how that
all three persons in the Godhead are involved in this matter of
our justification. We are Trinitarians, I keep stressing
that, because in this day there are multitudes who simply have
no grasp or understanding of the teaching of Scripture in
this regard. We worship one God in the Trinity, or triunity of
his holy persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We do not worship
one God with three manifestations, or one God under three names.
We worship one God in the triunity of his sacred person. There are
three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Spirit, and these three are one. Now I have no, I have
no pretense of understanding, much less explaining, the doctrine
of the Trinity. But I'm here to tell you that
God our Father, and God the Son, And God the Holy Spirit is one
God. Here, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord. And He, being one God, is one
God who subsists in three distinct persons, and all three are involved
in our salvation in every aspect of it. First, I want you to see
that God the Father is specifically called, in the Word of God, our
Justifier. In our text this evening, it
is God that justifies. Come back to Isaiah 45. Isaiah
chapter 45. We read last week in Romans 3
how that God is just and the justifier. Here in Isaiah 45,
the Lord God speaks and says, assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nation. and have
no knowledge to set up the word of their graven image and pray
unto a God that cannot say, come near to me, I'm a just God and
a Savior. A just God and a Savior. There's
none like me. There's none else except me.
A just God and a Savior. So the Lord God himself is described
as that one who justifies us by his own word, by his own work,
by his own decree, according to his own will. It was God the
Father who in Scripture is represented as having contrived the scheme
and the plan of justification from eternity. In Job 33 verse
24 he says, I have found the ransom. He found the ransom for
us. Had it not been God who found
the ransom, no ransom could have been found. Had it not been God
who contrived the way of grace, no way of grace could have been
found. No man would ever have imagined it. histories of pagan
religion, Gentile religion. You read about all the gods that
Gentiles throughout the ages thought of. Back during the days
before the gospel came to the Gentile world, during the days
of the New Testament church, and in this day, wherever Christianity
has not been established in truth. Think of the gods that men have
imagined. Nowhere in history Did anyone devise a notion that
somehow God would assume responsibility for the saving of those who have
themselves sentenced themselves to condemnation by sin? Nobody
ever devised such a thing. This is purely a divine idea. God formed the plan. God pitched
himself upon his dear son as the ransom for sinners and said,
deliver his elect from going down to the pit. I have found
the ransom. He is the one who lays help upon
one that is mighty, exalted one chosen out of the people, choosing
our Lord Jesus Christ as our mediator, our savior, our representative,
the one in whom his soul would delight from forever. So that
in Proverbs chapter 8, the Lord Jesus says, I would buy him.
as one brought up with Him and I was daily His delight. I was
daily His delight. He was constantly the delight
of the Father as our representative from everlasting. Do you understand
that? From forever unto forever. There is no redundancy in my
language. He is the eternal God who from
eternity delighted in His Son as our representative. Now the
Lord God is that one who accepted us in the beloved as the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. It was God the Father
who in the fullness of time sent his son, his only beloved son,
his well beloved and only begotten son into the world to execute
his great scheme of grace. Look again at Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth his son. You see that? God sent forth
his son, made of a woman, made under the law. Now look at Romans
8 verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Now let me pause a minute and
tell you exactly what that means. He shall say, was no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus who who live a holy life, who
are contrite, who are broken, who keep themselves in subjection,
who believe in Christ and continue to do good. That's not what it
is to walk in the Spirit, Rex. Somebody says, well, walking
in the Spirit, that's when you get that second blessing. Some
silly preacher slaps you on the head and says, you've received
the Holy Spirit, and you fall out now and roll in the floor
and bump with the mouth, and that's silly. That's nonsense. This religious world is an absolute
spiritual lunacy. But what is it to walk in the
Spirit? To believe on the Son of God. That's what it is. That's what it is. To walk in
the Spirit is to believe on the Son of God. See, that's not what
the context teaches. Verse 2. For the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was
weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and foreseeing, condemning sin in the flesh,
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Do you
see that? How is the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us? We
walk not after the flesh. To walk after the flesh, Bobby,
is to attempt to justify yourself before God by what you do. That's
what carnal religion teaches. That's what all men by nature
presume. That's what it is to walk after
the flesh. Men are continually in bondage because they continually
keep trying to do something to win God's favor. You can't do
it. To walk in the Spirit is to believe
on the Son of God. To fulfill the law is to offer
God what God requires. Did we make void the law by faith?
That's Paul's question, Romans chapter 3. No, we established
the law. Those who pretend to keep the
law bring it down here to our level and thus make the law void. The believer says, no, I can't
keep God's law. But Christ did. I can't satisfy
God's justice. But Christ did. And thus we walk
in the spirit and are freed from condemnation. Not only did the
father plan this and send his son to execute it, but God the
father accepts us and is well pleased with us because of the
righteousness brought out by his dear son as our representative
and substitute. Once the Lord Jesus had magnified
the law and made it honorable, he came before the father and
he said, father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy
son also may glorify thee. I finished the work which thou
gavest me to do. He hadn't finished it. Oh, but
he had. Yes, he had. Two chapters later
again he says it's finished. No contradiction. When he comes
in John 17 and says I finished the work, he's saying I have
lived in perfect obedience to God in all things to the full
age of a man. And now righteousness is established. And now he comes in John 19 and
says it's finished. And he declares that having suffered
all the wrath of God, he has now finished the work of addiction.
And he gave up the ghost, said, Father, into thy hand, I commend
my spirit. And so our Lord Jesus has magnified
the law and made it honorable. And the father has received. He looked on his son and he said,
I'm pleased. His sacrifice is called a Sweet
smelling savor. I go in the house and Shelby's
cooking almost anything. Just almost anything. The flavor,
the aroma, the scent just floats through the air. And you can
smell that roast beef, those onions, the gravy. You can just
almost smell those potatoes and carrots in there. pleasing, a satisfying, delightful,
appealing, attractive aroma that is suited to my taste. Will you
listen to me? Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
in his righteousness and sacrifice, in his obedience and death, is
a sweet-smelling aroma to God Almighty. He is to God Almighty
that which is attractive, delightful, and pleasing. For God looks on
him and says this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And I'm so delighted that he
didn't say this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. That certainly is true, but that's
not what he's saying. He says this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. That means, Bob, he's well pleased
with you and me. He's pleased with us in him,
with all who are in his Son. He's well pleased. Our Heavenly
Father has imputed and forever imputes the righteousness of
Christ to believing sinners. I said in introducing the message,
this matter of imputation is something that was done in the
past. And yet there is a sense in which it is continual because
the Father continually imputes and continually lays to our account
and continually lays to our charge the righteousness of Jesus Christ
so that no sin is ever laid against us. It is that which he imputed
to us. David also describeth the blessedness
of that man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without
works. Scripture says but of him of
God the Father. Are you in Christ Jesus, who
of God is Maiden to us? Righteousness. Righteousness. Now secondly, let me remind you
that God the Father could never have justified us without or
apart from the sacrifice of his dear Son as our substitute. And
therefore God the Son is said to justify us. Turn back to Isaiah
53. Isaiah 53. You're familiar with the prophecy.
In verse 10, we read, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath
put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. Now look at verse 11. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. What on earth does that mean?
He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Now the travail of his soul is
what is spoken of in verse 10. when he was made to be an offering
for sin, and made to be sin for us, and endured the wrath and
justice of a holy God, even his father, against sin as our substitute. But as a result of this now,
since he has gone through this travail, he shall see the result,
he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. What satisfaction? Read the next
line. By his knowledge. It does not
read by knowledge of him. It's not how it reads. Now we are justified in the experience
of it by our knowing him. But this text is saying by his
knowledge. That is by his knowledge of us. By his knowledge of what he has
done. By his knowledge of his obedience. By his knowledge of his blood. By his knowledge of his sacrifice. By his knowledge of him being
accepted with God. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes
to suffer and die, he pays the price of our redemption, and
he ascends up into heaven, and he takes his blood and sprinkles
it upon the mercy seat, and he obtains eternal redemption for
us. Because he knows whose iniquity
he bore. He knows. He knows for whom he paid the
ransom price. He knows the price of their souls. He knows the ransom of their
souls. And by his knowledge, he has obtained eternal redemption
for us and justifies many. The question was asked, how then
can a man be just with God? It is answered by the apostle.
It is God that justifies. And it's answered again in Romans
chapter 10 and verse 4. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes in him. The end
of it. We are now justified by his blood. By one man's disobedience, we
were made sinners. By the obedience of one, we have
been made righteous. God made him to be sin for us,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And thus we are
made the righteousness of God exactly as he was made to be
sin, only by divine imputation. And yet this righteousness, which
is ours in Christ, is truly ours in Christ. Look one more time
at Jeremiah 23. Hold your hands in Jeremiah 23
and turn your Bible over to Jeremiah 33. One of the hymn writers said, Near, so very near to God, nearer
I cannot be, for in the person of his Son I am as near as he. Dear, so very dear to God, dearer
I cannot be, for in the person of his Son I am as near as he. Another said, with his spotless
garments on, I am as holy as God's own son. Now do we have
any basis in the word of God for saying that? Any basis in scripture for saying
that? How dare the man say I'm as holy as God's own son? Only if God says it. Only if
God says it. Look here, Jeremiah 23 verse
6. In His days, talking about Messiah,
the Prince, our Savior. In His days, Judah shall be saved. And Israel shall dwell safely. Now that's not talking about
those folks over in Palestine, that's talking about us. Talking about
God's Judah, God's Israel. And this is the name whereby
He, He shall be called. Jehovah Superior, the Lord our
God. Now look in chapter 33, verse
16. In those days, these same gospel
days, in those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem, the
city of God, the church of God, shall dwell safely. And this
is the name wherewith she shall be called. What's your name? The Lord our
righteousness. What does that mean? It means
exactly what you think it means. The Lord God looks on us in His
Son and just as really and truly as He made His Son to be sin
for us, He made us to be the righteousness of God in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ has the
right and the power to justify because He's God. He speaks And
this is a sermon in itself, but our Lord. Did you ever notice
when he when he spoke forgiveness, when he spoke pardon, not one
time did he say now in the name of my father, I forgive your
sins. Not one time. He called on the
name of his father for healing. He called on the name of his
father to give thanks for food. But when it came to healing,
or it came to forgiving sin, the Lord Jesus said, Thy sins
are forgiven. Thy sins are forgiven thee."
On his own authority, in his own name, because he's God. He
said to the woman who was taken in adultery, neither do I condemn
thee. Well shoot, that doesn't mean
anything if he's just a man. That doesn't mean a thing. Oh,
but if he's God Almighty and he says neither do I condemn
thee. Now that means something. And this one who is our Redeemer
is God who forgives sin on the merit of his own divinity, but
on the merit of his own divinity as it is attached to our humanity. Did I say attached to? No, one
with. As the God-man mediator, he was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification
as the son of righteousness with healing in his wings. And now,
as our legal, divinely appointed head and representative, our
Savior was made himself to be justified from our sins. And we are justified in him. Let me see if I can show it to
you. Turn to Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah 50. You can drop down
1 Timothy 3.16 and look at it later. But in Isaiah chapter
50, The Lord Jesus says, and no question, you read the context,
it's talking about Him. He says, I gave my back to the
smiters, my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. It's talking
about Him. The Lord Jesus said, He is near
that justifies me. Well, why did He need to justify?
Because He was made to be sin. And to be justified is to be
freed from sin. He is near that justifieth me.
The Apostle Paul speaks of the mystery of godliness and says
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit. How was Jesus
Christ justified? The Lord God laid on him our
sins and he punished him for our sins to the full satisfaction
of And three days after he was laid in the tomb as a dead man,
dead under the curse, dead because of condemnation, dead because
of sin, three days later, he came up out of the grave justified. Justified. Had he not put away
the sin that was put on him, he'd still be in the tomb. He
was justified. and we were justified in him.
Our Lord Jesus is portrayed then as that one who is the angel
of the covenant before whom Joshua the high priest stood with his
filthy garments on. And Satan accused him. And the
Lord Jesus said I'll take away his filthy garments and put clean
raiment on them. And that buddy is exactly what
he's done for us. He took away our filthy garments,
those polluted garments of sin, He took them away. He didn't
just wash them and clean them up. He took them away and He
put on us the garments of salvation, even His own righteousness, robes
of white, beautiful and acceptable to God Almighty Himself. Let
me wrap this up. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
6. God the Father devised the way of justification.
God the Son came here and justified us. But the work of our justification
is also ascribed to God the Holy Spirit. Now I got to looking
at this in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 11. I know the Holy Spirit did not
pay for our ransom any more than the Father. paid for our ransom.
That was the work of God the Son. And yet it is the Holy Spirit
who graciously, effectually brings to our hearts the free pardon
of sin applying to us the blood of Christ. And we're told here
in 1 Corinthians 6, 11, and such were some of you. But you are
washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified. in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. How is
it that the Holy Spirit justifies? He is the one who convinces chosen
redeemed sinners of sin, righteousness, and judgment. This is what it
is to be convicted of the Spirit. People have strange notions about
conviction. Somebody has said, I don't believe
men, women ought to wear shorts in the summertime. I don't believe
you ought to do that. The Spirit of God convicted me
that it convicted me of it, it convicted you of it. I don't believe I don't believe
he fell all the way, sideburns down below his ear. The Spirit
of God convicted me of that. If He convicted me of it, He
convicted you of it. We're not one another's Holy Spirit. We are not one another's Lord.
But what is this conviction? It's not a feeling. What is this
conviction of the Spirit? It's not some ambiguous thing
everybody decides for himself. Our Lord tells us plainly what
it is. when he is come, the spirit of truth, he will reprove, convince,
convict the world, not everybody in the world, but his elect throughout
the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Now this is
what that means. When God the Holy Spirit comes to Paul Wendell
in saving mercy and power, he makes you to understand your
sin. You're guilty as hell. Guilty
as hell itself before a holy God. Got no excuse. What my dad was, don't matter.
What my mama was, don't matter. But I was raised, don't matter.
You're guilty. Guilty. And your sin is your
doing. Your choice. And the man who's
convicted by God's spirit falls before the throne of God. And when you put yourself in
hell, God lifts you up. Not only does He convict the
world of sin, He convicts the world, His elect, throughout
the world, of righteousness. Not yours, yet God in it. Of
righteousness. Righteousness accomplished by
the God-man mediator, Jesus Christ the Lord. I'm guilty. I am sin. God demands righteousness. There it is, sitting on his throne.
God demands righteousness, and Jesus Christ is in. But still, sin's got to be paid
for. Okay, what else it convicts you of? Oh, blessed, blessed, Here I stand before my God, convicted of my sin, and thus convinced that I deserve
eternal damnation. Convicted of God's righteousness,
but more than that, convicted not only of his righteous character,
but of righteousness accomplished by Jesus Christ's obedience as
the sinner's And I am just flat convinced,
Mark, I'm convicted in my inmost soul. I'm absolutely convinced
judgment is done. It's done. It's done. Richard, don't you think there's
some sense in which we're going to have to answer for our sins? Who shall lay anything? That's
a pretty big word, right? Who shall lay anything against
God's command? It's God's justified. Who is
he that condemns? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
than have risen again, who's even at the right hand of the
Father? And therefore, standing here, On this earth, in the midst of death, anticipating
eternity, before the bar of God himself, and in the teeth of
all my sin, I rejoice to declare who shall separate us from the
love of God. which is in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Nobody in heaven, nobody on this earth, and nobody in
hell are revived. It's God that justifies them. Vincent, will you come lead us
in the hymn, please? This will be our benediction. I ask you to pray for me as I
leave tomorrow to go to Wichita Falls. I'll be back, Lord willing,
on Friday afternoon, very late.

It Is God That Justifieth

What does the Bible say about justification?

How do we know justification by faith is true?

Why is understanding justification important for Christians?

How does the Trinity relate to justification?

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It Is God That Justifieth

What does the Bible say about justification?

How do we know justification by faith is true?

Why is understanding justification important for Christians?

How does the Trinity relate to justification?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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