THE AUDITORIUM SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS
FEBRUARY 27TH, 2005
OH, TO BE JUSTIFIED!
I. What does
“justified” (or Justification) mean? (16).
A. To justify means to “declare righteous.”
1. Humanly speaking, a judge can only “declare
righteous” a person who is innocent.
2. Justified means “Just-as-if-I’d” never
sinned.
B.
The Bible declares that Justification is major problem with man.
1.
Job asked: “How can a man be Just with God.” (Job 9:2)
2.
Solomon declared that if an unjust man is acquitted, it is an
abomination (Prov. 17:15).
3.
Paul stated in Romans 3:10 that “there is none righteous, no, not one.”
4.
So, the Bible declares that the entire human race is unjust,
unrighteous, and unjustified.
II. Paul prefaces verse 16 with some
all-inclusive words in verse 15.
A.
In other words, Jews are by nature the possessors of the truth, but they
are also spiritually unjustified.
B.
Gentile are by nature sinners (pagans), and they are also spiritually
unjustified.
C.
Paul lumps the Jews and Gentiles together in verse 15 in order to set up
his argument in verse 16.
III. How can unjust people be “declared just”
by a just God? (16)
A.
The works of the Law cannot justify any man, Jew or Gentile.
1.
Three times in this verse Paul states, repeats, and then repeats again,
that keeping the Law does not justify.
2.
We already stand guilty of breaking the God’s Law, and we stand
hopelessly guilty without a remedy.
3.
So, the negative is that the
Law condemns us.
B.
Positively, we are justified (declared just) “by the faith of Jesus Christ.”
1.
This fact is also repeated three times in verse 16.
2.
When a sinner places his/her total dependence on Jesus Christ, he/she is
declared righteous and just before God.
3.
Look closely at the following verses:
I Corinthians 1:30, II Corinthians 5:21, and Philippians 3:9.
C.
In order for God to declare us righteous we must be made righteous.
1.
Since we cannot make ourselves righteous, our justification must come
from beyond us.
2. By placing ourselves under the total
dependence of Jesus Christ’s work on the cross, our sinfulness is replaced with
His righteousness.
- This is the practical
application of what is called The Substitutionary Death of Christ.
- We are totally dependent
on Him for our righteousness.
3.
Before we are justified, we are as bad as we can be; after we are
justified, we are as good as we can be - yet it’s not our goodness that is
making us good, but His.
IV. If a saved person is placed under the
Law after salvation, they will again be found guilty, and this would have
impossible consequences:
A.
Consequence 1 - We will be found unjust after we have been declared just
through Jesus Christ (17).
B.
Consequence 2 - Christ would be made the minister of sin, because His
work on the cross would be insufficient to save us.
C.
Consequence 3 - If I try to
stay saved by keeping the Law, the same thing will happen after I am saved that
happened before I was saved - I will come short.
D.
We are saved, and kept saved, totally by the work of Christ on the
Cross.
Conclusion - Our standing is
not based on our works but in who we are in Christ Jesus.