Justification

When God calls a person;-

- that person repents and believes
- God justifies that person ( Rom 8 vs 30 ) .........

• Justification is a declaration.
  • It is something the sinner is said to be : something pronounced concerning him.
  • It is NOT something DONE to the sinner : something which HAPPENS to him.
    Look at Deut 25 vs 1.
  • When a judge justifies a man, he is declaring that innocent man to be righteous. The opposite is condemnation.
  • But we are guilty ( Romans 3 vs 23 ). How can the righteous Lord declare the guilty to be righteous ? The answer lies in imputation.
• Imputation.
  • Imputation means that God has reckoned or credited to one person what originally belonged to another person.
  • for instance, the sin of Adam is imputed or 'laid to the account' of all Adam's race. We receive from him. He receives nothing from us.
  • in the case of Jesus Christ and His elect people there is a double imputation :-
    • my sin is laid to His account - and He is treated as if He had sinned my sin. Read 2 Cor 5 vs 21.
    • His perfect righteousness is laid to my account. God treats me as if I had never sinned. I am treated as if I had lived Christ's perfect life. Read 2 Cor 5 vs 21 again.
• GOD is the Author of justification.
  • "It is GOD that justifieth" (Rom 8 vs 33)
    HE declares us to be righteous.
  • do not think that it is your faith which makes you righteous.
  • Faith is not a 'good work' which commends us into God's favour.
    Faith is not the ground of righteousness.
  • The work of Jesus Christ alone is the ground of righteousness. Romans 3 vs 24.
• There is no other sin-bearer.
  • Faith is an INSTRUMENT ONLY - the hand by which we receive the righteousness of God - NOT the source of that righteousness. Romans 5 vs 1.
• Some other important points to grasp.
  • Justification is an ACT completed in a moment, NOT a process which is only gradually completed.
  • you are either justified or you are not.
  • once justified you cannot be UNjustified! You are legally righteous in God's sight, forever - and free from wrath and condemnation. Romans 8 vs 1.
  • Nobody is justified until he repents and believes the Gospel..
  • it is God's plan to justify His people, but they are NOT IN FACT justified until they are united to Christ in effectual calling. Until then, they are lost. Gal 2 vs 16. Col 1 vs 21-22
  • Justification is not yours until you believe, but becomes yours as soon as you believe. Acts 13 vs 38-39. Romans 3 vs 22
  • We are justified by faith alone - no law-keeping is necessary ( Romans 3 vs 20-22 ). But the faith that justifies is never alone - it is always accompanied by good works. James 2 vs 26.
  • these works do not commend us to God : they are the fruit of faith.
  • but whoever God justifies He sanctifies (as we shall see), and so their lives just cannot be the same as before.
  • the very faith we have is God's gift, so it is clear that justification is an act of God's free grace. Romans 3 vs 20-24, 4 vs 16.
• This doctrine of justification by faith is the VERY CENTRE of the Gospel.
  • It is "the article of a standing or falling Church" (Luther).
  • in which the power and glory of the grace of God brightly shine.