00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Welcome to the Power For Life.
This broadcast brings to you a message of life-changing revival
in the Holy Spirit. We pray that today's program
will help to spur you on to experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
in your life. Now here with today's message
is Tom Hill. Today I want us to examine a
great biblical doctrine called the doctrine of justification. Now that's a big long word to
describe a process that goes on in the life of one who becomes
a Christian. Perhaps that has happened to
you. Perhaps you today are one who does trust and believe in
Jesus Christ. Then our study today will reveal
to you what Christ has accomplished on your behalf and how that works
and functions and operates in your heart and life. It's possible
today that you cannot say that you have ever been justified. You have never trusted in Jesus
Christ. Then I encourage you to follow
our study today and see what provision God has made for people
like you in Jesus Christ. For you see, today there is great
confusion that abounds on this particular concept that is taught
in the Scriptures, the doctrine of justification. There are many
people today who are ignorant of its meaning at all. They have
no concept whatsoever of the term. Perhaps they've never even
heard of it. And that might be your case today.
You're not familiar with the doctrine. You've never heard
even of the term. Well, for you today, this might
be a time for some enlightenment and some teaching from God's
Word on a very crucial, important truth that God's Word teaches
us. There are others who deny what the Bible teaches about
justification. Oh, they're familiar with the
term. They have some passing knowledge of the doctrine, but
they reject it. They deny what the Scriptures
teach concerning justification. For you as well, perhaps today
the Spirit of God would open your eyes to understand the truth
of God's Word, that it might become a living reality in your
life. Well, I want us to look at it
because there is this confusion. There's this misunderstanding
of how one becomes justified before God. Is it even necessary
for one to become justified before God? This is part of the confusion
that abounds today in many people, perhaps in your life today. As
a consequence of a misunderstanding and not really knowing God's
truth, we have grieved the Spirit of God and we have, in a sense,
deified ourselves and raised ourselves up to a pedestal and
a place in our lives that only God Himself rightly deserves
to occupy. And as a consequence of that,
we do not experience the reality of God in our lives not only
as Christians, but as those who would be new Christians, those
who would come to faith in the Lord Jesus. So I want us to examine
today this doctrine, this truth called justification, for us
to see what the Bible says about it. Perhaps for you today it
might be the dawning of a new day, the experience of a transformation
in your life. I pray that that will be the
case for you. For as we examine these truths, I am trusting that
the Spirit of God will take these truths and will apply them to
your mind and to your heart and your life, that they might change
you. If you are a believer in Jesus
Christ, that it might make your faith more firm and stronger
and cause you to have great joy and rejoicing over what God has
done for you. If at the outset of our broadcast
you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, my prayer is that by
the end of our time together today that that transformation
might occur in your heart and life today that will utterly
transform your life from now and for eternity. There are many
passages of scripture in the Bible that talk about this doctrine
of justification. I want us to turn to a very familiar
one in the book of Romans. It very clearly describes justification,
what's involved, why you and I need to be justified before
God, and how God has made provision for that for you and for me and
for all who will believe. I'm reading from Romans chapter
3, and I'll start in verse number 20 and I'll read down through
verse number 26. and then we'll examine them today. Here's what
it says, 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. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that
believe. For there is no difference, for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, 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 them that believe in Jesus." Well, the first thing
I want us to notice in our passage here, and it's very critical
to lay a very simple foundation for this study today, is I want
us to get a grasp of the meaning of the word justification. What
does that term mean, to be justified? It has a legal definition, in
fact. It has its basis and foundation
in the courts, in law. Suppose, for example, that you
were to come before the judge and you were to be charged with
a crime, a violation of the law. And as you are standing before
the judge, The judge examines your case. He examines all of
the charges against you and the evidence that is brought against
you. And the judge were to declare that you were righteous. And he were to declare that you
were not guilty of the crime. And he were to publicly declare
that you were right. That's justification. It's a
legal term. It's a description of a legal
transaction that occurs when the judge declares someone who
is charged with a crime, he declares them righteous, not guilty, and
takes it away. That's justification. It occurs
in our courts virtually every day. Perhaps that has even happened
to you in a legal sense. You may have had that experience
in court where the judge has declared you righteous of all
of the charges brought against you. You were justified in that
instance. You experienced legal justification. Well, now let's take that legal
definition and let's apply it in a spiritual sense. What does
it mean in a spiritual sense? Because we notice in our Scriptures
here, in verse number 20, it says, no flesh shall be justified
in His sight. And then dropping down to verse
number 24, it says, being justified freely by His grace. So it's
talking here about some kind of a spiritual justification. Well, let's take this legal term
and apply it in a spiritual sense here. What it's describing is
someone like you and someone like me who comes before the
judge of all of the earth, God Himself. And we are charged with
violating and breaking His law. Only in this instance, we are
guilty. We are guilty of violating His
law. Now perhaps in the strict definition
that I gave a few moments ago about a legal occurrence, perhaps
in that instance you were innocent of the charges and the judge
declared you righteous. But in this instance it's a little
bit different. For you see, all of us are guilty
before God. And God yet provides a basis
for justification before Him. So that there is the potential
for you and for me to be justified before God, where He would declare
you righteous, even though you are guilty. Even though I stand
before Him guilty, I can experience Justification from God's hand. He can declare me righteous. In fact, there was a day in my
life, in my experience as a young boy, when I recognized that I
stood before the judge of all the earth guilty of violating
his law. And I experienced that day. Justification. God declared me
righteous. even though I stood guilty before
Him." That's justification. When God declares and decrees
someone righteous, even though that one standing before Him
is guilty of violating all of His law, that's justification. I want to stop here. just real
quickly and ask you, is that how you understand justification
before God? Or perhaps do you have some faint
hope that perhaps there's something you can do that will somehow
justify you before God? Perhaps you believe that someday,
somehow, in some fashion, everyone will be saved because after all,
God is love. and He will not condemn anyone
to an eternal judgment. Perhaps you believe that all
of us, somehow, by simply working things out in a little bit easier
fashion, in some way, we can make God pleased with us. Is
that your understanding of justification before God? Well, I would call
your attention to the meaning of Scripture, God's holy standard,
His revelation to us of His eternal truth. Justification can occur. You can experience it. I can
experience it by trusting in His provision. We'll look at
that in a moment. Justification before God is when
He declares the guilty sinner righteous. In fact, we can use
just a little bit of a play on words with the word justified
by saying it's just as if I'd never sinned. That's the complete
transaction that occurs. Well, that's the first thing
I want us to notice. We must understand the meaning of the
term before we can then go on and see its other revelations
here in this passage. That's the meaning of the word
justification. Now, I want you to notice the
second thing that's very important. And that's its necessity. Its
necessity, its requirement, its demand. We notice in the Scriptures
here, I read one of the verses that I want to highlight for
you. Romans chapter 3, verse number 23. But that's just a
summation of what He began to write Earlier in this same chapter,
in Romans chapter 3, starting in verse number 10, it says,
There is none righteous, no, not one. And then there are several
verses that follow, giving a description of mankind in a sinful condition. And then verse number 23, he
kind of summarizes it by saying, For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. You see, not everyone believes
that truth. And perhaps that might describe
you today. There are many who believe that
I am merely a victim of circumstances. If I had been born in a different
family, in a different time, a different country, I would
think differently. I would live differently. I would
act differently. If I had been born into a different
family, I would not act the way I do. And we have all kinds of
explanations and excuses, don't we, for our behavior. And we
say we are merely a victim of our circumstances. There are
others who believe that we are born in a state of innocency.
And that our lives are simply molded and shaped by the events
and things around us. And so, therefore, we can just
say, well, it's not my fault. I'm merely a product of how I
was molded and shaped. There are yet others who say,
I am the captain of my own ship and of my own fate, and it depends
entirely upon me and what I do. But you see, that runs completely
contrary to what the Scriptures teach us here. For we see very
clearly in Romans 3, verses 10 down through verse 23, being
summarized in that 23rd verse, it says, all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. That includes me. I put myself
right in that verse because I don't stand before you as one who has
achieved everything. I don't stand before you today
as one who can call himself a paragon of virtue. No, I'm just like
you. I have sinned against God and
I have violated His law. The Scriptures tell us that we're
all the same. There is no difference. We've
all sinned. That points out for us the necessity
then of justification. For you see, if we have violated
God's law, which we have, if we are guilty of disobedience
against God, which we are, if we have failed to believe the
truths of His Word, which we have, then we stand before Him
today guilty. We stand before Him as one who
has no excuse. as one who has no explanation,
no rationalization for our behavior whatsoever, other than the fact
that we stand before him guilty. We have violated his law. That
means we need justification. We need to be justified before
a holy God, for a holy God cannot accept a guilty sinner only on
its own merits, There has to have some transaction occur that
can make that sinner worthy and able to stand before God. He needs justification. You and
I need to be justified before God because we stand guilty. We have broken and violated His
law. And you see, the Scriptures are
very clear about that description of you and me. We are guilty
before God. We have violated His law. And
the Scriptures tell us very clearly in many places. I'll just make
reference to a couple of spots that describe this same truth.
Ecclesiastes, for example, in the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes,
chapter 7, verse number 20, describes our condition before God. And
it says that in this fashion, For there is not a just man upon
earth. There is none that doeth good
and sinneth not. Sometimes we don't like to think
that about ourselves, do we? But that's God's description
of us. That's how we stand before Him. There is none just. There is none that doeth good
and sinneth not. And then we come to the latter
part of the New Testament where we read in 1 John, the description
of our condition before God is described in this fashion. In
1 John 1, verse number 8, it says, If we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Verse
number 10 of the same chapter says, If we say that we have
not sinned, we make God a liar, and His Word is not in us. No,
the Scriptures speak very clearly and describe us as guilty before
God. We have violated His law. We
are in need of justification. Now, I would pause here for a
moment and ask you, is that your condition today? Or like me,
have you at some time in your life recognized your condition
before God and your need of justification and come to Him and experience
that transformation and that transaction? Is it possible today
that you have never trusted in Christ? So therefore, you still
stand before Him guilty. You need justification today. You need to be justified before
a holy God. You need to have a holy God declare
you righteous. Now I want us quickly to look
at this passage that describes for us its remedy. How you can
be justified before God. Perhaps in your mind you're beginning
to grasp the truth and you can see that you are in fact guilty
before God. And perhaps there's even within
you beginning the thought of Well, if that's my condition
before God, then how can I be justified? Well, first let me
make reference to the passage of Scripture here that tells
us very clearly that it is possible. It tells us here that there is
that potential available. God has made provision for people
like you where we can be justified before God. Well, how does it
work? Notice as I read just a couple
of verses here. It says, But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Verse number 22 says, Even the
righteousness of God which is by faith and Jesus Christ. You see, God has made provision
for justification of sinners, like you and like me, through
His Son, Jesus Christ. He has sent Him, it tells us
in verse number 25, it says, whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation through faith, even the remission of sins. So
you see, God recognized our condition. He noticed that we were guilty
before Him and thus helpless to do anything about it. He sent
in grace a provision in Jesus Christ. One who lived a sinless
life. The one man who was just. The
one man who did good and sinned not. Because he was God in the
flesh. And one day upon the cross he
died and he bore all the sins of God's chosen people. And thus
he accomplished redemption for sinners like you and like me.
It's through His blood. His blood paid the penalty. So
that now we can stand before God justified. Does that mean
all mankind throughout all of history a universal salvation? No. For there is a provision
that is stated here as to how that justification is applied
in life. And it's done in this fashion.
It says in verse number 22, it says, "...the righteousness of
God, which is by faith in Christ." And then we notice down again
in verse number 24, it says, "...being justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Moving
on to verse 25, "...whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood." So how do you become justified
before a holy God, a guilty sinner? It's by simple faith in Jesus
Christ. It's by claiming Jesus Christ
and what He accomplished on the cross as being for you. As taking that sacrifice, that
payment of the penalty on the cross that the Lord Jesus did.
The Father having sent Him to make a way for people who trust
in Him to become justified before God. So that the phrase is being
justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ. There's no way you can
earn it. It says here it's by grace, freely
given. You can't earn it. You can't
deserve it. nor can you buy it, nor can you
pay for it. It's given by God the Father
in grace. I would ask you today, has that
experience come into your life? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior? And you say, yes, there was a
day when I trusted Christ. I can remember. And you can recall
the events of that day and of that time in your life. And you
remember very vividly and clearly that day when you trusted Christ. You recognized your sinful condition
before a holy God. You recognized your need of a
Savior, of someone to do for you that which you could not
do. And you saw God's provision in
Jesus Christ. And you trusted Him. Then, my
friend, you have been justified. God the Father has declared you
righteous so that you stand before Him today, not a guilty sinner,
but a justified one, one who has been made holy by God Himself
through His provision in Jesus Christ. The righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Himself has become your righteousness. And when
God looks at you, He doesn't see you as the sinner that you
once were, but rather He sees you justified in Jesus Christ. Oh, that's a wondrous truth to
grasp and to understand and to realize that that is yours because
of your faith in Jesus Christ. Now, it's possible today that
you might be watching and you have never trusted in Jesus Christ.
In fact, prior to today, you didn't even know there was a
term like justification. And perhaps even before today,
you never really came to grips with the reality of your own
sinful condition before a holy God. You've tried to explain
away your life. You've given all kinds of explanations
and excuses for why you lie and cheat and commit adultery and
sin against God and violate His law. And you've got all kinds
of explanations until today. And then today, something has
occurred in your mind and your heart that you see yourself as
God sees you. you recognize your sinful condition
before a holy God. God has made provision for people
like you. He has made provision in Jesus
Christ that all who believe the Scriptures say, that all who
trust in His blood for the remission of their sins are justified before
God. I would encourage you today to
cast your hope upon Christ. Trust Him. He's the one who paid
the penalty for sinners like you and like me. That all who
come to Him in faith, all who trust Him, all who look to His
payment on the cross as being a payment for their sin, the
Scriptures say, are justified before God. I encourage you today
that you will cast yourself upon Him and trust God's provision
in Christ, that today you might be justified by faith in Christ
alone.
We are Justified by Faith Alone
| Sermon ID | 3807212329 |
| Duration | 27:05 |
| Date | |
| Category | TV Broadcast |
| Bible Text | Romans 3:20-26 |
| Language | English |
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.