"JUSTIFIED!"
Written and preached by David P. Nolte

ROMANS 5:1-11


Have you ever been accused of something? Maybe you did it and were 100% guilty. Maybe the accusation was trumped up, or sincere but based on faulty evidence. You were falsely accused and were innocent of the charge. We have all been on both sides of that issue, I am sure. We have sometimes suffered the consequences of being so charged, and sometimes we have enjoyed the benefit of being acquitted. I want to deal with some significant Biblical concepts in the next few sermons. Today let's consider the concept of Justification. The Greek word translated justification is closely akin to the word we translate righteousness. The idea of justification is to declare someone righteous. Many times we try to justify ourselves: "I was righteous (or justified) in doing that because of this or that factor." We may not, in fact, be justified but we want to put ourselves in the right for actions for which we have been accused of wrongdoing. For instance: My daughter gave me a couple of tapes of really old radio programs.  In one story a doctor would regularly poison people.  They'd insult him, he'd poison them; they'd wrong him, he'd poison them; he didn't like them, he'd poison them.  When he was apprehended and tried, he said, "No human court has a right to judge me for what I did.  They all deserved to die and I was simply an agent of justice."  See how he justified himself but was dead wrong?  As we consider the Biblical concept of God justifying he guilty sinner, let me first relate the story of a boy who, when he was 12 years old, was accused by his sister of a wrong-doing. And, indeed, he had done wrong. She came to him with the proposition that if he'd do her chores, she wouldn't let his secret out. He was in her power because he was guilty. That brings me to the first implication related to justification:
  1. WE NEED TO BE JUSTIFIED BECAUSE WE ARE GUILTY:
    1. Note the terms Paul uses to describe our unjustified condition:
      1. V6 We were helpless and ungodly.
      2. V8 We were sinners.
      3. V10 We were enemies.
      4. V11 We were alienated, unreconciled.
    2. David hit the mark when he said, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge." Psalms 51:4. When God says, "All have sinned" He is right. When He judges sin, He is just.
    3. We may sin in different ways:
      1. Sins of commission: Godless words, deeds or thoughts.
      2. Sins of Omission: Leaving undone the things we ought to have done: "Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin." James 4:17. 
The boy had done a wrong deed and his sister smugly accused and taunted him. She called him aside and said, "I saw what you did. If you don't offer to do the dishes tonight, I'll tell Mother." The next morning she gave him the same warning. All that day and the next the frightened boy felt bound to do the dishes. He fell into line with her demands because he was not only guilty but his sister knew it and was accusing him of it. That brings me to the second consideration as we think about justification.
  1. TO NEED JUSTIFICATION IMPLIES AN ACCUSATION:
    1. Why would anyone worry about justifying themselves or being justified if nobody accused them of being or doing wrong? There would be nothing to justify and no need to be justified.
    2. Now, when it comes to our lives we need to be justified because we are guilty and we are also accused:
      1. First, we are accused by Satan:
        1. He is called the accuser of the brethren in Revelation 12:10.
        2. He accused Job of being good only because he was so blessed in Job 1:9, 2:4, 5.
        3. He accused Joshua the Priest in Zechariah 3:1-3.
        4. The poem says, "I sinned, and straightway, posthaste, Satan flew before the presence of the Most High God, and made a railing accusation there. He said, "This soul, this thing of clay and sod, has sinned. 'Tis true that he has named Thy name, but I demand his death, for Thou has said, 'the soul that sinneth, it shall die.' Shall not Thy sentence be fulfilled? Is justice dead? Send now this wretched sinner to his doom. What other thing can righteous ruler do? And thus he did accuse me day and night. And every word he spoke, o God, was true! Then quickly One rose up from God's right hand, before Whose glory angels veiled their eyes, He spoke, "Each jot and tittle of the law must be fulfilled; the guilty sinner dies! But wait! Suppose his guilt were all transferred to Me, and that I paid his penalty! Behold My hands, My side, My feet! One day I was made sin for him, and died that he might be presented faultless at Thy throne!" and Satan fled away. Full well he knew that he could not prevail against such love, for every word my dear Lord spoke was true!"
      2. We are also accused by our peers:
        1. "It's your fault!"
        2. "He hit me first!"
        3. "I saw you do it!"
      3. Then we are accused by our own conscience:
        1. John wrote that sometimes our own hearts condemn us 1 John 3:20.
        2. Joseph's brothers were stricken with guilt for selling him into Egypt: Genesis 42:21.
        3. Isaiah's conscience smote him when he sensed his unworthiness in Isaiah 6:5.
        4. Peter's conscience accused him when he realized his sinfulness in Luke 5:8.
        5. Paul's conscience convicted him and he confessed himself the chief of sinners in1 Timothy 1:15.
      4. Most damning of all, we are accused by God Himself:
        1. Romans 3:10 "There is none righteous, not even one;" 
        2. Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
    3. Somehow, somewhere, sometime, somebody will point that accusing finger and we will want to be justified.
The boy was guilty and his sister accused him unmercifully. He had killed one of the family geese by throwing a stone and hitting it squarely on the head. Figuring his parents wouldn't notice that one of the 24 birds was missing, he buried the dead fowl. His sister took advantage of his culpability and got him to do her dishes. The following morning, however, he surprised his sister by telling her it was her turn to do the dishes. When she smirkingly quietly reminded him of what she could do, he replied, "I've already told Mother, and she has forgiven me. Now you do the dishes!" There's something liberating about being justified.
  1. TO BE JUSTIFIED IS TO BE ACQUITTED!
    1. Vine defines justification in this way: it is "the legal and formal acquittal from guilt by God as Judge, the pronouncement of the sinner as righteous, who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ." In a court of law, when a defendant is acquitted, he/she may in actual fact be guilty of having done the crime for which they were tried. But as far as the court or the law is concerned, when the verdict of "not guilty" comes in, the defendant is acquitted and cannot be held to penalty for the crime.
    2. Being justified is not the same as God saying, "You were right or justified in doing that." It is not God putting His stamp of approval on our sins and wrongs. It is the same as being declared "not guilty!" in a court of law.
    3. Acquittal, justification, has nothing to do with guilt or innocence in an empirical manner: that is, not only innocent people are justified. Justification is no more nor less than being declared acquitted by some system or person who has the authority to do so. Here's what happens when God justifies you -- though you are, indeed, guilty:
      1. Jeremiah 31:34 "And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
      2. Isaiah 38:17 "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is Thou who hast kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back."
      3. John 1:29 "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
      4. 2 Corinthians 5:19 "... God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." 
      5. 2 Corinthians 5:21 "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Mother forgave the little boy and he didn't have to worry about discovery; he didn't have to do his sister's chores; he didn't have to dread the glance of his mother. Now, under the present circumstances, think about what would happen if that little girl had gone to her mother and said, "I saw him kill your goose with a rock!" Mother wouldn't be surprised. Mother wouldn't say, "What? My goose? Why, wait until I get my hands on that little goose killer!" Mother wouldn't say, "I know all about it and I forgave him yesterday, but now that you remind me of it again, I think I'll whack him good anyhow!" We need to understand that justification doesn't work that way!
  1. JUSTIFICATION MEANS THAT NO ONE CAN CHARGE US AGAIN FOR THAT SIN: 
    1. There is, in law, a nice point that denies double jeopardy. That is, if one has been acquitted in a court of law, for that same crime no further criminal charges may be brought to bear.
    2. People may still hold it against you; may try to blame you and put you down, but
      1. Micah 7:19 "He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, Thou wilt cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea."
      2. Psalms 103:12 "As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us."
      3. Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins."
      4. Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
      5. Romans 8:31 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"
      6. Romans 8:33, 34 ho will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us."
    3. If God justifies us, He forgets the sins, removes it from us and will never, ever under any circumstances throw it back up to us.
If we are in Christ, we are justified: acquitted, forgiven, cleansed. But justification doesn't mean there will be no consequences: the painful results of our sins may remain; scars in terms of wrecked relationships, lost trust, forfeited opportunities may remain. But the guilt is absolved. Do you want to be justified in God's eyes?  Then don't deny your sin; don't ignore your sin; don't excuse your sin; don't indulge your sin; don't blame others for your sin!  Forsake and turn from your sin!  Confess your sin!  Be buried in the watery grave of baptism for the forgiveness of your sin!  God will remove your guilt and pronounce you "Not guilty!"  That's the what of justification. The how is that He gave His only Begotten Son to die on the cross, the just for the unjust; the sinless for the sinner; the righteous for the unrighteous. The why of justification is that God loves us. He is merciful and withholds due punishment; He is gracious and freely gives forgiveness and eternal life. He withholds from us the punishment which is our due, and extends to us salvation which we do not deserve. That's acquittal!  That's forgiveness!  that's mercy!  That's simply amazing grace.
 
Story from Knight Book of Illustrations


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