This is Vision for Christ World, Toledo, Ohio, USA. My name is Tim Taylor. Ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed the clear instruction of God concerning eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, sin came into our world. Sin is doing whatever we want to do instead of what God commands. In the New Testament we read in Romans 6.23, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. When you sin, you get the death penalty from God, but you also have immediate access to the antidote for the poison of sin, which is placing your complete faith in the sin-removing redemption of Jesus Christ when he died on the cross of Calvary to take away the penalty of sin for everyone who would ever sin. When you place your faith in Jesus, really and truly, without any holding back in your mind, you will then have been justified, which is the name of our broadcast program today. Justified. It is like being found guilty in a court of law and the judge sentences you to death, but as you place your total faith in Jesus, God, the judge of the universe, accepts your faith as sufficient payment for all of your sins and removes the charge against you, as though you had never sinned in the beginning. That is what justified means, just as if I had never sinned. I know that is an American English idiom, but the point, in any language, is that true faith in Jesus, along with true repentance for your sinful past, equals forgiveness from God. Father God, let me show everyone who you really are, and reveal your only Son, Jesus Christ, to those who are listening. Praying in the name of Jesus, Amen. The key Bible verse of this ministry is from Matthew 24, 14. This gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come. You can find more about us at vision4christworld.com Simply put, to justify is to declare righteous. Justification is an act of God where He pronounces a sinner to be righteous because of the faith of that sinner in Christ. Properly understood, justification has to do with the statement of God about the sinner, not any change within the sinner. That is, justification or being justified by itself does not make anyone holy. It only declares him to be not guilty before God, and so to be treated as holy. The actual change toward holiness in the sinner occurs with sanctification. That means becoming more holy, which is related to justification, but for the sake of defining these terms is separate from it. Several important facts about justification are, justification is made possible in the sacrificial death of Christ. It is based on the blood of Christ when he bled to death on a Roman cross of crucifixion in 33 AD. Justification is the free and gracious gift of God placed on those who receive the sacrifice of Jesus Christ by faith. This is not an external action, ritual, or ceremony. Justification demonstrates the righteousness of God. We are justified, declared righteous, at the moment of our salvation. Jesus Christ finished the work required for our justification on the cross. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? That's Romans 5.9. He was then raised to life for our justification, Romans 4.25. So, since God is holy, how can God forgive a guilty sinner? The answer is that justification does not excuse our sin, or ignore our sin, or endorse our sin. Rather, our sin is fully punished. Christ took our penalty for us, as we believe in him. He was our substitute, 1 Peter 3.18. Because the wrath of God is satisfied in Christ, we are free from condemnation, Romans 8.1. And God remains both fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus, Romans 3.26. Because God justifies us by grace through faith in Christ, we now have peace with God, Romans 5.1. Like Joshua the priest, we have been stripped of our filthy clothes, Zechariah 3.4. And like the prodigal son in the parable, we are now clothed with the best robe, Luke 15.22. God the Father sees us as perfect and unblemished, and we are to be devoted to doing what is good, Titus 3.14. In Romans 3.10-26, We see, as it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away. They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves. Their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in the sight of God by obeying the law. Rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. In his letters the Apostle Paul warned the believers in the churches in Rome and Galatia not to place their hope for salvation in the works of the law. To the Roman Christians he said, for by works of the law no human being will be justified in God's sight. Romans 3 20. To the Galatian believers, he said, we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. That's Galatians 2.16. To justify is to declare righteous or to be made right with God. The works of the law are the actions performed to fulfill the law of Moses found in the first five books of the Old Testament. Keeping the Sabbath, being circumcised, eating clean foods, and other ceremonies are powerless to justify us in the sight of God. In addition, following the morality of the law, not murdering, not committing adultery, not stealing, is insufficient to make us right in God's eyes. No act on the part of sinful creatures can result in God's declaring them to be righteous in his sight. The works of the law cannot save us. This basically means trying to keep the Ten Commandments. First, because the works of the law can never be done completely. The standard is perfection, and that means good enough will not pass the test of God. Paul explains to the Galatians, all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. As it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law, Galatians 3.10. James further explains that anyone who offends in just one point guilty of breaking the whole of the law." James 2 10. No one but Jesus ever kept the law perfectly. Second, the law was never intended to justify anyone. It was given to show us our sinfulness and to reveal the perfect holiness of the lawgiver. Romans 3 20. Without the law we would not know what sin is. See Romans 7 7. The law is holy because God is holy. The law of God exposes our lack of holiness. No one can measure up to the standard of God. The law cannot justify it, can only condemn. No one can stand before a holy God on the basis of his own efforts, even if those efforts include a hearty attempt at keeping the works of the law. If the works of the law justify no one and serve only to reveal our own sinfulness and our desperate state, what are we to do? The Bible offers the only solution to the problem of sin. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testified. This righteousness is given through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe." Romans 3, 21 and 22. This is why we say the just shall live by faith. Romans 1 17. We can only be declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law. Romans 3 28. And that faith must rest in the only Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. That's Acts 4.12. So to continue to attempt to earn a place in heaven through the works of the law is to ignore the sacrifice of Christ. If righteousness could be gained through the law, doing good things, Christ died for nothing. Galatians 2.21. Titus 3-7, because of the grace of Jesus Christ, He made us justified, that is, right in His sight, and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. Galatians 2.16 We know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be made right with God, which means justified, because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. Now that you know that without faith in Christ, the all-powerful wrath of God is waiting for you with certain judgment, will you place your genuine faith in Jesus Christ today? I hope you will. Romans 10, 9 and 10 states clearly, if you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. Now, let me pray for you. Father God, in the name of your one and only unique Son, Jesus Christ, I ask you to send your Holy Spirit to touch the heart and mind of every person listening to me right now. Cause them to desire to have their sins taken away, to pray and ask to be granted repentance that leads to life by God, and to repent of their sins. truly turning away from sin, to have that penalty for sin removed from their life, so that through the faith you give them, they may believe in you, Jesus, and have eternal, never-ending life, starting today by having personal, saving faith in you, Lord Jesus. Amen. Listen to us online at vision4christworld.com. Until the next broadcast, this is Tim Taylor, praying the great blessings of God with joy and peace upon your life as you embrace Jesus Christ in personal saving faith. I will leave you today with this text from Romans 5-9. Since we have now been justified by his blood, the blood of Christ, much more shall we be saved by Jesus Christ from the wrath of God.