Justified In Christ

Q: What does the Bible say about justification?

Justification is the judicial act of God declaring a sinner not guilty, accomplished through Christ's atonement. Justification is a central doctrine in Christianity, defined as the judicial act of God whereby He declares a sinner not guilty of sin. This declaration is in harmony with His righteousness and holiness, and it is solely based on faith in Jesus Christ. As Romans 5:1 states, 'Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' It is important to understand that justification is not merely forgiveness or pardon; it involves a legal declaration of innocence before God. This is accomplished through the substitutionary atonement of Christ, who bore the sins of His people, allowing them to be seen as righteous in God's sight.

Q: How do we know Christ's atonement is sufficient for justification?

Christ's atonement is sufficient because He bore our sins and fulfilled the law perfectly on our behalf. The sufficiency of Christ's atonement for justification is rooted in the belief that He bore the sins of His people and satisfied God's justice. As 1 Peter 2:24 teaches, 'He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree.' This means that Christ not only paid the penalty for our sins but did so as our representative, taking our guilt upon Himself. By His righteous life and sacrificial death, Christ fulfilled all the requirements of God's law. Therefore, anyone who believes in Him is declared justified, because their sins have been transferred to Him, and His perfect righteousness is imputed to them. This doctrine assures believers that their justification is complete and irrevocable.

Q: Why is substitutionary atonement important for Christians?

Substitutionary atonement is important because it ensures that Christ took our place, bearing God's wrath against our sins. Substitutionary atonement is crucial in Reformed theology as it highlights the nature of Christ's sacrifice. It teaches that Jesus took the place of sinners, experiencing the penalty for sin that they rightfully deserved. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 elaborates, 'For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.' This doctrine reassures believers that their guilt has been placed on Christ, allowing them to stand before God as justified. Because of substitutionary atonement, Christians can have assurance of their salvation and peace with God, knowing that they are accepted in Christ.

All right, back to Romans chapter
5. Romans 5. Now, the last few words
of chapter 4 says that Christ was delivered for our offenses. Christ was delivered into the
hands of wicked men, delivered to be crucified, to be slain
for our offenses. And he was raised again for our
justification, therefore being justified. Now when you speak
of justification, and when you talk about a man or woman being
justified, just exactly what do you mean? Just exactly what do you mean,
justified? Well, I imagine most of you,
going through your mind right now, you're thinking about forgiveness.
A man's justified, he's forgiven. In a sense, that's true. Well,
a man or woman who's justified is pardoned. Well, that's true
too. God said, I will forgive their
sins and remember them no more. However, that is not justification. That is not what it is to be
justified. To be justified, now listen,
justification is the judicial act of God, a legal, judicial,
actual transaction, an act of God. In accord with his holy character,
in accord with his righteousness, whereby a sinner, if he's justified,
is actually declared not guilty or innocent of all charges."
That's the reason Paul said, who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? No charges. He's innocent. He's not guilty. Now, immediately
you're going to say, and this is what I said as I prepared
this message, arguing with myself. Boy, that's
justification. Now, you can write that down.
Right, John? See something? It's not guilty. It's innocent
of all charges. Well, how can this be? I am guilty. The scripture says, let every
mouth be stopped and the whole world become guilty before God.
I'm not innocent. There's none good, no, not one.
There's none righteous, there's none that understand it. There's
none that seeketh after God. God looked down from heaven and
he said, they altogether become unprofitable. There's none good,
no, not one. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. How can it be? How can a man
be not guilty, innocent? Well, I'll tell you this, it
can't be. It can't be that I am not guilty and innocent as long
as I stand personally before God. Now, this is ridiculous,
but say I'm God and you're Mike Belprate. There's no way you
can be innocent as long as you stand there in yourself, personally. That's true. If our Lord shouldest
mark iniquities, who shall stand? You stand before God. I don't
care whether you profess in religion, whether you say you believe in
Jesus, whether you say you've got faith, whether you've been
baptized, whether you join a church, you stand before God, you can't
be not guilty, not in yourself. Never, never, never. You can't
be innocent. When you stand before God Almighty, considering His
holiness, His absolute, immaculate holiness, you have to cry. Whether
I'm in the church or out of the church, whether I've been baptized
or hadn't been baptized, I'm undone. Isaiah was a prophet,
and he saw the Lord in his holiness, and he said, I'm cut off. He
was standing before God, himself, personally. And when it's you
and God, there's trouble. And there can't be anything but
trouble. When you stand before God and consider his law, just
you that would be under the law. Don't you hear the law? You just
let your mind run over God's law for a few moments, his perfect
law. And you have to say, O wretched
man that I am, and just fall down in the dust. You can't.
You're guilty. You're not innocent. There's
no way you can be innocent or not guilty. When you stand looking
at death and judgment, the eternal last great day, that throne of
God, when he shall bring every work into judgment, what are
you going to do? You have to cry like David, Lord,
don't bring me into judgment with thee. So what I'm saying,
no matter our profession, no matter our works, no matter our
morality, no matter the efforts of our flesh, no matter our so-called
righteousness, any sinner standing individually, personally, before
Almighty God is guilty, and God will not clear the guilty. And
that's the reason, listen to me, that's the reason that today's
religion offers no peace. I know they're crying peace,
peace, but there is no peace. It offers no peace. Modern religion
offers no rest. Here's a sinner. I don't care
if he's a preacher, fire leader, deacon, Sunday school teacher,
whatever. If he stands before Almighty God, he's guilty. And there can be no peace. And
that's why religion has to constantly be rededicated. Constantly. There's no security. There's
no rest. There's no safe refuge. They
have to keep rededicating. They have to keep reconsecrating.
They have to keep reviving the stuff. They have to keep renewing
it, reassuring it. When it's me and God, that spells
trouble. I don't care how you spell it.
It's me and God. It can't be. In the flesh, no man can please
God. Someday I'm going to stand before
God. I hope I don't. I hope I don't. I hope I don't. Because I tell you this, now
or then, at any time, no flesh can stand in his presence. No
man can look on God and live. It just can't be now. Just forget
it. Yeah, but I've joined the church and I've been baptized
and I'm living a pretty good life. Pretty good ain't good
enough. God demands holiness. Perfection. So that's what I'm saying, not
guilty, innocent, can't be. Right here this morning we're
all sitting here before the Lord Jehovah. Thank God it's Jehovah,
God my Savior. But we're not innocent, not in
ourselves. We are guilty. That's why we're
pleading for mercy. And let me tell you this, listen
to me here. Maybe this is why some of you can't find any assurance. Maybe this is why some of you
don't have the comfort and the joy and the confidence of the
loving. I know, I know, though you believe
the Word of God, you say, I believe the Word of God. I do believe
the Word of the Preacher. I know that Christ is the only
Redeemer. He came into this world to redeem
sinners and He's the only Redeemer. I know that. I believe that.
God help me, I believe that. And I know that he obeyed the
law perfectly, imputing to us a holiness, and he died for our
sins on the cross, and he's at the right hand of God as our
only mediator. And yet here's your problem.
You believe he did all that representatively, but you still have yourself standing
before God. You're still trying to do business
with God yourself instead of letting him do business with
God for you. You still have yourself before
the majesty and holiness of God, hoping that his wrath and his
judgment will not fall upon you because you believe these things.
And so, now wait, watch, I know what I'm talking about. I've
been here. So when your faith weakens, your position is in
jeopardy. If you're standing before God,
you're still doing business with God, and your faith weakens and
your position's in jeopardy, you're embarrassed and you're
ashamed. And when you speak, think, or
do something contrary to holiness, you feel a cloud and a danger
and a frown from the throne. And when you're more natural
than spiritual, you just say, well, maybe I'm just not saying
Maybe I'm just not saved, maybe I'm going to die and go to hell. What we've got to do is get out
of that place we're standing. And have somebody else stand
there and face God. Somebody who can take the judgment.
Somebody upon whom God can smile. I'm telling the truth now, true
justification, now listen to me, true justification and true
peace with God at all times is accomplished by substitution. Get out of there and look upon
him who's there by the will of God, by the purpose of God, in
your place. You know what substitution means?
We do in a basketball game or a football game, a fellow comes
in and substitutes. Well, when he comes in, what
do you do? Get out. But we can't do that. We say
he came in and we're still there. He came in and our substitute,
isn't that what we say? Our substitute took our place,
died in our stead, and we're still there. We're still there
trying to do business with Almighty God, trying to justify. I thought,
well, you know, Lord, I just think these things and I can't
help it. You better get out of there. Am I telling the truth? That's his business. He's the
intercessor. He's the mediator. A substitute takes the place
of the sinner and the sinner leaves that awesome, awful place
of the presence of God. It says, he who knew no sin was
made sin for us. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. Sin can't be, the same sin can't
be two places at the same time. If he bore it, I do not bear
it. If he took it, I don't have it.
He bore our griefs and our sorrows. And what these verses are saying
involves more than just an offering for sin, it's more than just,
I know we say He paid our debt, sure He paid our debt, but it
involves more than that, He paid His own debt. Because my debt is where His. Do you think Jesus Christ, when
He died on that cross and God turned His back on Him, that
He was just an offering? That He was just a representative. He was more than that. He was
guilty. He was guilty. He's the guilty
one. This is called a transference
of guilt, and that's what the scapegoat is all about in the
Old Testament. It took two goats, and one of
them just slew and roasted and put his blood on the mercy seat.
The other one, the high priest stood over that goat and put
his hands on the head of that goat and confessed the sins of
his transference of guilt. And they took that goat, and
a man led him out into the wilderness, and the people stood and watched.
And he went way off in the distance, and all they could see was two
little dots on the horizon. He kept going, kept going. Finally,
after a long, long, long time, here's one dot, and here he comes. And it's the man that took the
goat. The scapegoat's gone, and with him, my sins. That's what that's all about,
the scapegoat. Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree.
It's a transference of guilt. It's an actual Christ. Let me
tell you something. It's what the Word of God teaches.
And this is the only way God can be just and justify. I'm
not guilty. He is. Can you believe that? That's
so. if you're a believer. I'm not guilty. He is. God literally
took my sins. There are very many, very heavy,
very black between me and God, separated me from God. Christ,
who knew no sin, has made sin for me. He took my sins. I'm
not guilty. He is. I'm innocent. He's the guilty one. I didn't
commit the sins. He did. He's got them. And that's
the only place you're going to find any comfort now. If you've
still got sins, you haven't got God. If you're still guilty,
you'll be damned. But Christ Jesus took our sins.
God doesn't deal with us at all in the matter of sin. He dealt
with Christ. He dealt with Christ, Jesus, my substitute. And listen
to me, this is not only true of redemption, it's true of righteousness. I'm dead to the law. I'm not
under the law, I'm under grace. I'm under the grace of Christ.
He obeyed the law for me. He died for me, bore my sins.
Now, I'm telling you this, if you, by the grace of God, through
faith, can see the good news of substitution, then you can
rejoice at all times with joy unspeakable, even at your lowest
point or highest point, it's still Christ. I'll tell you what we're like.
We stand there and we get in our low point, we're going to
run out and bring Christ in. And then when we don't really
feel our particular need of Him, we'll praise the Lord. You know,
I just feel so spiritual and I feel so wonderful. You don't
belong there at either time. Whether you're low or high, you're
still a low-down sinner. That's right. And you need to
just get out of that place, that awful place. and the substitute
come in and take your place. And then at all times, knowing
that God Almighty deals with Christ in our stand and in our
room and in our place as our substitute, you can rejoice with
joy unspeakable, you can enter into the joy of the Lord, and
you can stand at all times and say, free from the law, O happy
condition, Jesus has bled and there is remission. Passing from
death to life at his call, blessed salvation. once for all. What are you saying, preacher?
Go over it slowly one more time. All right, I will. And I tell
you this, this is what makes the gospel good news. And this
is the only gospel, the only gospel that can lead God to be
God reigning in majesty, righteousness, and holiness, and power. And
me being what I am by nature, by nature I'm a sinner. And I'm
going to remain a sinner until this old body is put in the grave
and goes back to the dust from whence it came, and that new
man, that spirit given by God, will go back to God who gave
it. And Jesus Christ took my place. Now here's what I'm saying,
slowly and positively. Every believer, every believer
chosen of God, And I'll tell you, it's not in us, it's by
his grace. Every believer chosen of God, given to Christ Jesus,
called to repentance and faith by the Spirit of God, and represented
by Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, and that blessed
surety of the covenant of grace, every believer is right now,
in Christ, holy, perfectly, spotlessly holy, innocent of all charges,
Not guilty, not of one sin, either past, present, or future. That's
what the Word of God says. That's the reason I can be accepted.
That's the reason I can be embraced by a holy God. That's the reason
I can call Him my Father, because I'm holy. He says that, listen
to the Word, Ephesians 1-4. He chose us that we should be
holy and without blame. You say, that's what takes place
when we go to glory. Now what does it between here
and there? Oh no, it was done at Calvary.
There's no magic ozone out here somewhere that I go through that
washes me and cleanses me. The reason I'm going to be with
the Lord is because I've been washed and cleansed by His blood.
And then Ephesians 5, 27 says he loved the church, a glorious
church, not having a spot or a wrinkle. When are we a church?
We're a church right now. And we're going to be the church
in glory. And there was a church in the wilderness. And there's
a church of the firstborn whose name's already written in heaven.
And this church right now is a glorious church. He said it
doesn't have spots or blemish. It's holy. Now, I know we're
embarrassed to say Somebody says, well, are you holy? In Christ
I am. In myself I'm not. I'd like to
be, I want to be, I expect to be. But I'll tell you this, in
Jesus Christ, because I'm out of there. He's in the presence
of God and He is holy. He kept God's law perfectly as
a man. He was tempted, tried, tested
in every point, yet without sin. Without sin. And He's my representative. As in Adam I died, in Christ
I made alive. By one man's disobedience I became
a sinner, by this man's obedience I became what? What's the word?
Righteous. And that doesn't mean better
than the average. That means as good as God. Righteous. See, God only has one righteousness,
and that's perfect holiness. That's what it says. I read on.
Colossians 1.22 says, "...he will present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in his sight." When does he do that? He's already
done it. He went into the presence of
God and obtained eternal redemption for us, past tense. He's already
glorified us. "...whom he foreknew, he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son, whom he predestinated
he called, whom he called he justified, whom he justified
he..." what? Past tense, glorified, already. And Jude 24 says, He will present
you faultless. Now then, I have a problem for
you. I have a problem for every preacher
in this town. You tell me how this is done. You tell me how
this is done. You tell me how that the Church
is now holy and without blemish, without spot. You tell me how that every believer
is holy and without blame. You tell me how every believer
is unreprovable, unblameable in God's sight. Well, we join
the church. I've never made anybody holy.
I baptize a lot of folks here, and I'll tell you this, it did something for them spiritually,
but not a whole lot naturally, some of them, because there's
a lot of spots been recognizable afterward. How does a man become
holy? Well, it's just one way. Now
listen, it's done by substitution. It's done by exchanging places.
Fairly, completely exchanging places. He suffered the just
for the unjust. He bore my sins, he took my place.
He became me. Guilty. And God dealt with him
as me. God dealt with him. He was a
man of sorrows, acquainted with great, despised and rejected
of men. He took my sins. He took my sorrows. He took my grief. He was wounded
for my transgressions. Almighty God wasn't playing games! That was an actual transference
of guilt and exchange of places and a substitute coming in and
literally being identified with the transgressors. He was numbered
with the transgressors. Am I telling you the truth? He became me, guilty, and I became
him. I'm in Christ. I was crucified
with Christ, buried with Christ, and risen. And when Christ Jesus
went to Calvary, he went there as the guiltiest sinner who ever
lived. In himself? No. God-man, holiness
personified. God had the fullness of it bodily. But by imputation and representation,
he became the greatest sinner who ever lived. Judicially, before
God, he was guilty. That's why he died. God doesn't
punish the innocent. Death has no power over holiness. Jesus Christ, had he not been
the guiltiest sinner who ever lived, as our representative,
he would have never died, not such an awful death. He went there with every sin,
every transgression of every believer who ever lived, took
our sins on him. And I'm telling you, he stood
before God for me. Myself, my person, my guilt,
my sin, my blame, all laid on Him. And Almighty God literally
poured out the wrath of hell on Him. You say He didn't hang there
very long because of who He is. Infinite wrath can only be satisfied
by infinite holiness and an infinite blood and an infinite person. And He gave me His place. Mine
gave me it. Now watch this. Turn to 1 John
chapter 3. Now listen to this. This will
mean more to you now. You get out of that awful, awful,
awesome place of holiness, standing before God trying to defend yourself,
you've got no defense. And I've got no defense. I've
got no defense. Guilty! That's your defense. Because if you're guilty, He
died for the guilty. Ungodly! He died for the ungodly.
Move out of the way and let him take over. 1 John 3, listen,
verse 1. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons
of God. When is this? Right now. Sons
of God. A son of God is in the nature
of his Father, and he's holy like his Father. That's exactly
right. Son of God. Therefore the world
doesn't know us because it didn't know Him, beloved. Now we're
sons of God. God's sons are holy. God's sons
are pure. God's sons are perfect. God's
sons are princes. That's right. Son of God. I'm not just a church member.
I'm not just a professing Christian. By the grace of God, through
the blood of Christ, I'm a son of God. A perfect Son of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but if we know this, when He shall appear, we're going
to be like Him. Whatever gave you that idea? Because He took
my place and gave me His. That's what gave me that idea.
He became like me, that I might become like Him. He became what
He was not, that I might become what I'm not. That's right. And he got the job done. He got the job done. And we're
going to see him. I tell you, the only people who
are going to see God are people who have perfect eyes and perfect
holiness. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. See, this
verse tells us that doesn't lead to licentiousness. You say, listen,
Preacher, you're giving people an excuse for sin. No, I'm not.
Every man that hath this hope in him He strives and dedicated. He wants to be like Christ. He
fights the flesh. He wants to be. He doesn't always
win, but he fights. He gets his head bloodied, but
it's not bad. He's cast down, but he's not
destroyed. He's distressed, but he's not in dismay. Because he's
not standing there. Christ stood there. And he always
has a mediator. And it's not some silly statue
of Saint Jude or Mary or some silly thing like that. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 4, Whosoever committed
sin transgresseth the law. Sin is a transgression of the
law. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins. And in him there is no sin. What
was he manifested for? To take away our sins. Did he
do it? Why are we so heavy laden? Why
are we so discouraged and blue? He took them away. Why you won't
keep bringing them back? In Him there is no sin. I don't
have any sin if I'm in Christ. Payment God's justice cannot
twice demand. First at my bleeding shirt, His
hand, then again at mine. He was manifested, what, about
to take them all? And in Him there is no sin. Whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not." I know that may mean practice
sins, but it just means flat what it says. They don't sin
if they're in Christ. Whosoever sinneth has not seen
him, neither knoweth him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as Christ is
righteous. In him there is no sin. Oh, I tell you, go back to my
text and I'll quit. I wish, I know we preach it,
I wonder if I've ever preached it as clearly as I see it this
day. But there's an exchange of places, there's a transference
of guilt like the scapegoat of old. And all of God's people, every
believer, Christ took our place and bore our sins. And actually,
my forerunner has entered within the veil now. He's there as our
representative. He'd ever live it to make intercession
for us. What is his intercession? What's
it based upon? Christ visualizes him at the
right hand of the majesty on high, and he's praying for you
and for me. Now, what is the basis of his
intercession? Even his presence is his intercession.
Well, old Mike's trying hard. No, that's not the basis. Well,
he's confessed me. That's not the basis. The basis
of His intercession, His very presence, His very being there,
is that I took His place and went to the earth and worked
out a perfect holiness and I died for His sins and there ain't
no charge against Him. That's the basis. Right? And we accept Him the Beloved.
Now, I'm not going to try to Safeguard that and keep folks
from abusing it and misusing it. They always have and they
always will. And if they don't find that excuse, they'll find another.
But I'll tell you to comfort God's people. And that's who
I'm interested in comforting in anyway. I can't do anything
for a goat except throw him a can at once in a while so he'll have
something to gnaw on. But the sheep's food is precious
to my heart. Sheep's food. This is sheep's
food. Perfect. How can I be damned
I'm not guilty? You know I could, I've talked
long enough, but I could go down here to the police station in
the morning and walk right in. I'm out there in my car, my city
sticker's up to date, my tag's up to date, my driver's license,
let's check, boy I'll make a right, is up to date, I paid my water
bill, Martha, you did, didn't you? All right, thank you. I
don't have anything to fear. I'm innocent. I can go in to
judge whatever his name's office, say, Hi, Judge. How are you this
morning? But now some folks can't do that.
There's some folks in this town that don't hang around down there
too often. They don't even park their cars down there. Why? Guilty. But I'm innocent. Let me tell you. If you've got
one spot or one stain or one taint, don't come into the city
hall. That city hall, don't come. He
won't clear the guilty. But preacher, how can I come
before God? In Christ, my representative. And in Him, I can walk right
into the presence of God this morning, my Father, my Lord,
and my God. And I can face death without
fear. Can you face death without fear? Not if you're guilty. Not if you're guilty. You've
got a right to be scared. You've got a right to be scared.
So there's no other way. And I challenge, I throw out
the gauntlet, I throw out the challenge to all religion around
you. Prepare people to meet God. Put them in your pools or bring
them down here and let them pray all day. Walk them up and down
this aisle, dedicate, rededicate, do all these things. Pray the
sinner's prayer. You're not fixing them up. Somebody's got to take
their place. Somebody's got to be the substitute.
Somebody's got to take an actual transference of guilt upon himself
and satisfy the holiness of God. And that somebody's Jesus Christ.
Now, if you can do business with him, don't come down here because
I'm not Christ. But you can go home and do business with him.
You can go home and lay it out before him, Lord, be my substitute. Be my mediator. Be my representative. Be my strong and mighty fortress. Stand in my place. Move me out
of the front of the awesome God. I don't want to be there. Don't
bring me into judgment with God. Take my judgment for me. I believe
you. Now, you can go to sleep tonight.
And when the doctor says you've got terminal illness, you can
say, well, I'm going home. I'm already there anyway in my
substitute, so I'm just going home. Okay.

Justified In Christ

What does the Bible say about justification?

How do we know Christ's atonement is sufficient for justification?

Why is substitutionary atonement important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Justified In Christ

What does the Bible say about justification?

How do we know Christ's atonement is sufficient for justification?

Why is substitutionary atonement important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book