THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION

Luke 18:9-14

Morning Meditation 10/5/14

Luke 18:9-14, "And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 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, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

This is a great passage of Scripture illustrating Justification. A parable is an illustration of a divine truth. Here Jesus uses two men. The one was a Pharisee. This means that He believed the Bible and was committed to it. Easton's Dictionary says, "They were strict separatists (Heb. persahin, from parash, "to separate"). They were probably the successors of the Assideans (i.e., the "pious"), a party that originated in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes in revolt against his heathenizing policy. The first mention of them is in a description by Josephus of the three sects or schools into which the Jews were divided (B.C. 145). The other two sects were the Essenes and the Sadducees. In the time of our Lord they were the popular party (John 7:48). They were extremely accurate and very small in all matters appertaining to the law of Moses (Matt. 9:14; 23:15; Luke 11:39; 18:12). Paul, when brought before the council of Jerusalem, professed himself a Pharisee (Acts 23:6-8; 26:4, 5)."

"There was much that was sound in their creed, yet their system of religion was a form and nothing more. Theirs was a very lax morality (Matt. 5:20; 15:4, 8; 23:3, 14, 23, 25; John 8:7). On the first notice of them in the New Testament (Matt. 3:7), they are ranked by our Lord with the Sadducees as a "generation of vipers." They were noted for their self-righteousness and their pride (Matt. 9:11; Luke 7:39; 18:11, 12). They were frequently rebuked by our Lord (Matt. 12:39; 16:1-4)."

"From the very beginning of his ministry the Pharisees showed themselves bitter and persistent enemies of our Lord. They could not bear his doctrines, and they sought by every means to destroy his influence among the people."

Then there were the publicans. "A publican was one who farmed the taxes (e.g., Zacchaeus, Luke 19:2) to be levied from a town or district, and thus undertook to pay to the supreme government a certain amount. In order to collect the taxes, the publicans employed subordinates (5:27; 15:1; 18:10), who, for their own ends, were often guilty of extortion and peculation. In New Testament times these taxes were paid to the Romans, and hence were regarded by the Jews as a very heavy burden, and hence also the collectors of taxes, who were frequently Jews, were hated, and were usually spoken of in very opprobrious terms. Jesus was accused of being a "friend of publicans and sinners" (Luke 7:34)." --Easton's Bible Dictionary.

Now that we understand something about them, we see the self-righteous Pharisees were sticklers for adhering to the Bible in their belief and practice. So the Bible reveals the Pharisee in his prayer. The Lord was totally unimpressed with his prayer. Then the Lord tells of hearing the hated publican and describes his despair and confession of being the sinner. Jesus was impressed with his prayer and said in Luke 18:14, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

It is clear that the Pharisee was not justified and the publican was justified. Let's look first of all at,

THE MEANING OF JUSTIFICATION?

Paul preached in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia on the subject of justification by faith. Acts 13:38-39, "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."

Justification is a judicial word used by judges. God is the supreme Judge of all men. Justification is what describes the condition of a sinner who has been declared righteous by God because of his faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. In the courts of this world, a judge cannot both forgive a man and justify him at the same time, for if he forgives him, then the man must be guilty, and therefore he cannot be justified; on the other hand, if he justifies him, he does not need forgiveness. God, however undertakes both to forgive the sin and to justify the sinner; that is, to forgive the guilty and condemned sinner, and to place him in a new position where there is no charge against him at all. This is brought out in Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

HOW ARE WE JUSTIFIED?

The Word of God makes it clear that no one is justified by his own effort of works. This is clearly stated in Romans 3:20, "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

Galatians 2:16, "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

Galatians 3:11, "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith."

Keeping the law or the articles of faith declared by a church or denomination is self-righteousness. This is clearly brought out in Philippians 3:9, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:"

Justification is more than forgiveness. In the New Testament there are several aspects of justification. First,

1. We are justified by God. God is the Author of justification. Romans 3:26, "To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." The words "to declare" translates "endeiknumi" and means, "to point out, to show, demonstrate, prove, whether by arguments or by acts." Whose righteousness is God declaring that He might be Just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus? It is the righteousness of Christ that God puts to our account. Romans 5:17, "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ)."

Romans 4:5 says, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." This verse makes it clear that one who is not working to obtain salvation, but, believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. If we could be perfectly righteous in God's sight, He could conceivably count our righteous acts as the righteousness required by Him, and that would mean eternal life and heaven for us. But we cannot obtain perfect righteousness by our own effort. So Paul says in this text that "faith is counted for righteousness." The word "counted" is a book keepers term and it means that God counts faith as perfect righteousness. God is the Author of justification.

2. We are justified by grace. This is the principle of justification. This means that we are justified without any merit on our part. This is brought out in Titus 3:7, "That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Grace cannot be grace if there is an attempt to mix works with it.. Romans 11:6, "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." Grace is the unmerited favor of God.

3. We are justified by blood. This is the ground of our justification. A holy God must have a righteous basis on which to justify ungodly sinners, and this is found in the blood of the cross. Man, as a condemned sinner, can only atone for his sin by paying the death penalty; Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The way man's sins are paid for is by the death of Jesus on the cross. Isaiah says a marvelous thing in Isaiah 53:6-7, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."

Have you ever wondered why Isaiah was inspired to say of Christ that, "he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth?" I discovered early in my study of this passage that sheep do not open the mouth when being sheered. I always thought there had to be more to the meaning of this than Jesus just acting like a sheep. Then over the years as I continued to meditate on this statement, all of a sudden, God turned the light on for me. He didn't open His mouth because He was not on trial for His sins. He was on trial for mine!!! And there was no defense that could be made for me. The wages of sin is death, and no one can avoid paying this price, except the ones who believe in Jesus who paid the penalty of sins for us in full. My friend that's grace. Someone hold my mules!!! Hallelujah!!! What a Saviour we have.

Think about it. What if He would have opened His mouth? In His own words we learn in John 8:46, "Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?" Had He opened His mouth, legions of angels would have come to His rescue, and carried Him off to glory and we would have been left in our sins to spend eternity in hell. But since He was on trial for our sins, the angels had to agonizingly hold themselves back, and watch God in human flesh, die for the sins of the world. I believe heaven was in tears when Jesus died. I also believe that there was a commotion in heaven, the like of which has never been seen on earth, on the third morning, when Jesus walked out of the grave with the keys of hell and of death hanging on His side (Rev. 1:18).

Romans 5:9, "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

4. We are justified by faith. This is the condition of Justification. Romans 3:24-26, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

5. We are justified by His resurrection. This is the guarantee of our justification. Romans 4:25, "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." Romans 5:10, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life (resurrection)." Parenthesis mine.

6. We are justified by works. This is the evidence of our justification. God sees the inside. He knows if we are saved. Man sees the outside. Justification by works is not what gets one to heaven. It is what gives us a testimony with man. He sees by our works that we belong to God, and our faith is justified in his sight by works.

James does not contradict Paul. Paul is speaking of justification in the sight of God and that is by faith alone. James is speaking of justification in the sight of man and that is not by faith alone. James 2:24, "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only."

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White