THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE BELIEVER EXPLAINED
Rom. 5:16-18
Morning Meditation 9/23/2012
"And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 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) Therefore as by the offence 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."
Webster says that justification by faith in Theology is, “the act of God whereby human- kind is made or accounted just, or free from guilt or penalty of sin.” This is justification by faith. Faith has to be exercised on the part of the sinner. It is not the act of God whereby humankind is made or accounted just, or free from the guilt or penalty of sin without repentance and faith.
THE NEED FOR JUSTIFICATION CAME ABOUT BY ONE MAN AND THE POSSIBILITY OF JUSTIFICATION IS PROVIDED BY ONE MAN
First of all Justification is between two men. Adam who sinned created a need for justification. He could not justify himself. None of his descendants could justify themselves. No matter how hard they tried they fell short so that when God diagnosed the human race He said in Romans 3:10, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" Then again in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
Man’s plan is “I can save myself. I can be good enough. God can’t send me to hell because I’m as good as His church members are down at that church.” That is how lost people feel as a whole. What is God’s response to this attitude? 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." Every lost person who sets this verse of Scripture aside and attempts to do what God says he can’t do, is trying to prove God a liar. God is not a liar but man is.
What is God’s plan for man to be justified. Remember there are two men in our text. The first is Adam and his descendants and then there is Jesus. This is what God says in Romans 3:24, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" Jesus redeems the sinner. The sinner has been sold into sin. Jesus pays the price and buys him back. Now, I want to repeat this so that we will lay hold to this truth firmly. Jesus paid the price to buy us out of the slave market of sin.
This is not universal salvation. When Adam sinned it had a universal effect. Every man and women born to Adam and Eve inherited their old sin nature. Sinners do not have to do anything to be sinners. They are sinners born into a sinful family and have no way of escaping that fact unless they accept God’s act of love toward the whole human race. What is His act of love? John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
While sin is universal because of one man’s sins, salvation provides the potential salvation for the whole human race. But all sinners do not want their sinful way of life interrupted. They would rather take their chances against God and live a sinful lifestyle and refuse His offer of help.
Now do you get what I am saying? When Adam sinned, he involved the whole human race without one exception. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Sin is universal in that it has brought the penalty of sin upon every man, woman, boy, and girl that will ever be born in this world. Salvation is not universal although Jesus died for all men, all men will not be saved because they reject God’s way. Therefore while all men can be saved, and Jesus paid the price for all to be saved, all will not be saved because man is a stubborn rebel and refuses to allow God to save him. Is God failing because of this? Absolutely not. The man who rejects Jesus as God’s way of redemption is the failure. It is a failure to act on the information that God gave him. This is the reason Jesus built the Church during His personal ministry. He established an institutional witness where they (the church) would visit in the community of their residence, and send missionaries around the world, and they are doing a lot better job than most people give them credit for. Missionaries are going around the world to win the lost and build churches where a gospel witness will be maintained after the missionary is gone. After this introduction to justification let’s look at some simple points that the Bible makes on this subject.
SELF JUDGMENT IS THE FORERUNNER
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." The publican in this parable came before the Lord in humility agreeing that he was a sinner and needed mercy. This is the attitude of one that is repentant. There is an honesty and an admission that one is guilty. It is when we quit trying to cover up our sins and come before God with a confession of guilt. The verse here is the conclusion to the parable. These words are Christ’s own words. He says, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” So this passage clearly teaches that self judgment is the forerunner of justification.
GOD IS THE AUTHOR OF JUSTIFICATION
Romans 8:33, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." Paul is answering the heretics who would accuse the saved but imperfect believers before God. Paul says by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? You see, when we are saved, we are His. We are God’s elect. Paul says, “It is God that justifieth.” If it is God who justifies, it would be he who reversed His declaration of justification. And He promises not to do that.
Why do we write like this? Because Satan is the same old Devil that he was in Paul’s day. Maybe it would be good to look at this verse at this point. Revelation 12:10, “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” Satan accuses the believer to God day and night. Satan will get you to violate the will of God then he will go tell on you. He will tell God that He should not let a believer remain saved and safe when he continues to sin after he is saved. He urges God to cast us out and disown us as His children. Will God listen to that? No! A thousand times no. God will not abandon one of His children because we do wrong. He will chasten but not abandon us to Satan. That is Paul’s argument in this text. When God justifies it would take the reversal of that act of justification to cause us to be lost. But until one learns that as a Christian Satan can cause you some emotional problems and unnecessary fear. First, the emotional problems come from believing Satan’s lie that you might not be saved because of a particular sin you have committed. That can create some real problems for the believer. Second, it can bring unnecessary fear, because we are tormented by fear that is unfounded. John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." This is not only a promise to you when you come to the Lord for salvation but it is true of you after you have come for salvation. God is not going to cast one of His children out after He has been saved. Someone hold my mules!!! Hallelujah!!!
God is the Author of justification. “Who can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect. It is God that justifieth.” Next,
GRACE IS THE EVER RUNNING SPRING OF JUSTIFICATION
Romans 3:24, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:"
Justification is free. It is by His grace. It is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. There is no charge for justification. It is not by works and it does not happen with your help. It is by His grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. That means you don’t have to be good to be saved. This is good news for bad people. God specializes in taking the chief of sinners and making him a saint. It is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Redemption means that there is a price and that price is the one Jesus paid when He died on the cross. To be redeemed we must come to the cross and see the seriousness of sin. God spared not His own Son. He delivered Him up for us all. He took our place and that makes it free to us. But He died a horrible death and suffered unimaginable pain to pay the penalty of sin. Lost men go to hell. Jesus did that on the cross. I don’t understand why the sinless Son of God would die for a wretch like me. But He did. I have trusted Him and He saved me even though I must say like the song, “In my hand no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.”
Grace keeps the flow of salvation coming in an everlasting flow from the throne of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST IS THE PURCHASER OF JUSTIFICATION
Romans 5:9 says, "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
This verse tells believers that they are NOW justified by his blood. One of the things I love about the Word of God is that it is verbally inspired. That is the reason I study words. That is the reason that I use nothing but the King James Bible. I believe it is the most accurate translation since translations have been in existence. Do you know what? The word “now” is in the text from which our King James Bible was translated. That is a little word. But it is filled with meaning. Some people say that you cannot have the guarantee of ultimate salvation until after the judgment. If that is true, tell me why Paul used the word “NOW” in this verse. We are either saved or lost NOW. If you are saved now, you have everlasting life now. If you have everlasting life now, the words of Scripture have no meaning unless we still have that life a million years from now.
The next thing about this text is that “being justified” is an aorist passive participle. The aorist tense is a point of time divorced from time and perpetuated forever. It has already taken place in the past and is never to be repeated. It is permanent. It is a passive voice which means that the subject was acted upon. It did not act itself. What is the subject of this verse? The words “We shall be saved from wrath through Him.” Paul includes himself by the use of the personal pronoun “we.” All those to whom he is speaking which was the church at Rome, so they are included. We are safe to say that all the saved have been the objects of God’s salvation. It was a once for all act. And it will never be repeated since we were “Justified by his blood.” That blood will never run out. It has saving power and keeping power.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
