This series on the fullness of salvation, we're coming to a part where we're going to talk about the Ordo Salutis, the order of salvation. And I'm starting in the middle. I'm starting in the middle on purpose, because really justification and sanctification are the heart and soul of the whole order of salvation. And I want to get those kind of firmly planted in our minds before we circle back and talk about some of the things that lead up to that, including effectual calling, part of what we confessed this morning from chapter 10, the confession of faith, all the way up to glorification. We'll cover each of those in turn. This morning I want to talk about the doctrine of justification and really For me, I think I've said more than once when this verse comes up as one of our verses in the assurance of pardon. This is one of my favorite verses in scripture because it sums up this truth so well. And we'll use this as the basis for talking about this wonderful doctrine of justification this morning. So let me read it for us. The very word of the living God. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So when's God's word? Let's turn to him once again briefly in prayer. Father in Heaven, we come before your Word now and ask again that you would speak to us, that you would bless this portion of our worship service, that you would fulfill the promise that you have made, that your Word goes out and does not return to you empty, rather that it accomplishes everything that you have planned for it. We ask that you would fill us with your spirit, open our eyes, open our ears, so that we might see and hear what you have for us this morning. We ask also that you would make your word a lamp to our feet, a light to our path, that we might walk according to its ways. All of this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Amen. In 1973, believe it or not, 40 years ago now, which is hard to believe, I started collecting baseball cards. I still have them, most of them. 1973, every dime I found, every quarter I found on the street, and I got good at it. I'd go to the store, the little boutique, I'd buy a pack of baseball cards. By the end of that year, I had hundreds of them. A couple years rolled around and met a friend at church who had a bunch of cards, and he had a bunch of cards I didn't have. Oh, let's make a trade. Let's get together. So I got a pile of mine. He got a pile of his. He had a bunch from a year I didn't have. I thought, hey, this is a great trade. Let's make a trade. So we did. Great. This is awesome. Took him home. Went to look through him. Went to look through the cards I had. I made a huge mistake. I had a 1973 Willie Mays baseball card, the last one they ever made. And it was in that pile that I traded. Willie Mays, the Say Hey Kid, the last card. I had one. Gave it away. Worst trade I ever made in my whole life. What we have this morning is the very, very opposite of that. The best trade. The best trade that could possibly be made. You guys have been here a while, you've heard me say this before. When we come to the doctrine of justification, What we have is what Martin Luther called the happy change. Or you can go back to this old, old letter, the Epistle to Diognetus, written by a man who calls himself just a disciple, who talks in similar language and calls it the sweet exchange. This is the doctrine of justification, the happy trade, the happy change, the sweet exchange that we have by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ. What is justification? Our catechism calls it an act of God's free grace. wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone." There's that sweet exchange. Our sin put on Christ, His righteousness credited to our account, imputed to us. Received not by anything we do, not by rituals we go through, by faith. and by faith alone. What's justification? It's the heart and the soul of the Gospel. The Reformers called it the article of faith on which the church stands or falls. So again, as we start this little mini-series within a series on the Ordo Salutis, on the order of salvation, I want to start with justification. Because that's the heart and soul. of what we believe, the very Gospel itself. And this morning I just want to focus on a couple simple ideas. What is justification? Why does it matter? It's one thing to know what it is. We also need to know why does it matter? Who cares? Is it just an empty doctrine? Or does it actually make a difference? Let's start with what it is. Again, as I've already noted, At its most basic level, justification is a trade. It's an exchange. My sin, your sin, for Christ's righteousness. When He was nailed to the cross, our sins were nailed there with Him. We're going to sing about that later. By grace and through faith, his righteousness is credited to our account. Again, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 is just a wonderful summary of this truth. God made him to be sinned who knew no sin. Perfect, righteous, obedient to the whole law. Made him sin so that we might be righteous. We who were sinful, who had no righteousness of our own, now we have the righteousness of God. Christ's righteousness. God did this so that we might become the righteousness of God. Not our own righteousness, the righteousness of God. But we need to take a little step back and think about why was this exchange even necessary? Well, we started out this whole series asking what are we saved from? The wrath of God for sin. This exchange is necessary because we are sinners. Because we lack holiness. We bring nothing to the table but our own sin. Which ain't a good thing to bring to a holy God. We lack that righteousness which is essential to be in a right relationship with God. To be acceptable before Him. So a couple quick questions. Why did Christ have to be made sin? And why do we need the righteousness of God? Well, let's remember. Let's review a few things. Sin is a barrier to our reconciliation with God. Just some simple verses. Romans 3, 23. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We know that. We can't even approach His glory. We talked about the Ten Commandments in James 2, verse 10. That tells us that whoever breaks any small part of the law breaks the whole law. We saw how that is true. Exodus 34, 7, God does not leave the guilty unpunished. Sin must be punished. Because we're guilty. Romans 5, 10, part of our reading this morning, tells us that because of sin we were God's enemies. Romans 8, that we read last week, verse 7. The sinful mind is hostile to God, at enmity. We hate God. We're enemies of God. We can't even approach Him. So sin by itself is a barrier to any sort of reconciliation or right relationship with God. But taking away sin is not justification. I've said this before and I'll say it again. Just as if I never sinned is not justification. Because it leaves half of it out. If all we come to God with is a blank slate, we're not coming with what He needs. We have to be righteous. We have to be holy. A holy God requires holy people to be in a relationship with Him. So we need not just the sin taken away, but we need righteousness added. Lack of righteousness is also a barrier to reconciliation with God. Jesus tells us this in Matthew 5 verse 48. Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. He repeats it again in Matthew 19 verse 17. If you want to enter life, he says, obey the commandments. But we don't do that. So our lack of doing that is a barrier to reconciliation with God. Revelation 21 verse 27 talks about the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven and says that nothing impure will enter into it. Nothing impure. take away my sin, I don't have any sin, but I also don't have any righteousness, which is the basis for entering into that eternal city. Lack of righteousness, our own sin, barriers to having any sort of a reconciled relationship with God. Now the great wonder of salvation, as we've talked about, God who is the offended party, God who is the one who has the right to punish us. This is the one who makes everything right again. And so we can look at all sorts of verses, but let me just share a couple passages with you this morning. From Romans 4 verses 23 to 25, Paul writes, the words, it was credited to him, this is Abram, were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness. for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. I hear people say all the time, where do you find this imputed righteousness in the Bible? Well, I find it right there in Romans 4. God will credit righteousness for us who believe in Christ. A few years ago when we went through the book of Galatians, we talked a lot about this. Here's one verse, or a couple verses that summarize it very well from Galatians 3, verses 13 and 14. This is where Martin Luther got his happy change language. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus. So that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. He became a curse so that the blessing that Abraham received might come to us as well. What blessing did Abraham receive? We read it in Genesis 15. Abraham believed and God credited it to him as righteousness. God considered Abraham righteous just because and only because he believed in the promise of God. And Galatians says in verse 14, we receive that by faith. Faith is the key. Works don't work. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. By grace you have been saved. Through faith. That not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. Not of works. God does the work to reconcile us to Himself in Christ. He gives us that gift through faith. Or go back to our New Testament reading this morning. Romans 5. Just a few examples from that passage. Verse 10, Jesus' death and life reconcile us and save us. His life reconciles us, His obedience, His holiness, as well as His death for our sin, both death and life. Verse 15, many died through Adam's trespass. The grace of God abounded for many in Christ. Verse 16, the judgment of Adam's trespass brought condemnation. The free gift in Christ brings justification. Verse 17, death reigned because of Adam's trespass, but the free gift of righteousness reigns in life through Jesus Christ. Again, that gift of righteousness. Verse 18, one trespass led to condemnation for all men. One act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. Jesus' obedience leads to justification and life. Verse 19, one man, Adam's disobedience made many sinners. One man, Jesus' obedience makes many righteous. The end result at the end of chapter 5, verse 21, eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. You're either in Adam, wallowing in your sin, dead, We are in Christ by grace and through faith, made righteous and possessing eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are justified by grace and through faith. We are made right with God. We are acceptable to Him. Our sins removed, holiness covers us, credited to our camp by grace alone and through faith alone. Well, there's your quick summary of justification. Why does it matter? I heard this question asked on the floor of Presbytery many, many years ago. A guy was up there being examined, and he could answer every question by quoting the catechism answer. Brilliant. One after the other. And finally, one of the older pastors raised his hand and said, boy, you really know your catechism well. You understand these things, you're able to answer them quickly. Tell me, why does justification matter in your life? How does it affect the way you live? And that poor guy stumbled. He couldn't answer. Well, you know, I treat my wife better. But why? Why does justification matter? Who cares if we get this doctrine right? Well, let me share a few thoughts on why it matters. First, we have to go back to the very idea of salvation itself. If this is how we are saved, then we have to know it. If this is the heart and soul of salvation, then we've got to get it right. We have to understand these things so that we can teach and help and disciple others. Without justification, we are not saved. If my sins are not removed, I'm dead. If I have no righteousness, I cannot be in a relationship with God. I cannot be acceptable to Him. Justification matters so that I can have eternal life, and so that you can as well. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, God did this so that we might be righteous. so that we might become indeed the righteousness of God. God did this for us and we need to remember that and to receive it and accept it through faith. Why else does justification matter? Some of you have heard me talk about these before as well. And I repeat them because I think they're so very, very important. There's two pervasive errors that we find in the life of Christians. One is pride. Look at me. We're like little Jack Horner who sat in a corner, stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said, what a good boy am I. Look at me. I got justification right. I know how to define it. What a good boy am I. And he started acting like the Pharisees. I'm smart. We start pointing to our own works. I helped a guy on the street the other day. I helped a friend move. I gave a couple bucks to someone who asked for money. I did this, I did that. Look at me, look how good I am. A guy was trying to cut me off on the freeway and I let him in. What a good boy am I? When we went through the series on Galatians, one of the recurring themes was that idea that one of the commentators points out in the introduction to his commentary, Phil Riken. Galatians was written to recovering Pharisees. And we're all recovering Pharisees. We want to contribute something. We want to point to something in us that says, you know, I really am a pretty good guy, or gal, or kid, or whatever. And we begin to look away from what Christ has done for us and look at ourselves. Get caught up in who we are and what we've done. What makes Paul so angry in Galatians is that this is an implicit insult to the work of Christ. It's as if we're saying to God, what Jesus did for me is not enough. I've got to add something to that. How dare anybody say that? What Jesus did was not enough? His righteousness is not enough? You need to add something to that? No wonder Paul is angry. That's an insult. That's blasphemy to God. So why does justification matter? It reminds us that we contribute nothing. We bring nothing to this but our own sin. We sung about that on purpose today frequently. Not what my hands have done. Not what my guilty soul has done. It's what God does for me. Remembering justification keeps us humble before the sight of God. And instead of pride, it produces gratitude and thanksgiving and true joy and peace and comfort. Because the person who's working to add something is always wondering if they've added enough. Instead of resting in the comfort of what Jesus provides, we chase off after what we can add to it. Now the flip side of the coin, which has a lot of similar motivations, but a different result, instead of pride, despair, fear, guilt. Woe is me. I'm such a horrible sinner. I'm terrible. God would never save someone like me. God would never love someone like me. I know my sins. I know how horrible they are. I know that I keep doing them over and over and over again. I'm not good enough. God can't save a person like me. But you know, this is also an insult to God. You begin to think that way, and you're also rejecting the work of Christ. He died for all of our sins. Not for some. Not for parts. Not for the sins that we committed up until we made a profession of faith in Christ and then all the other ones we've got to worry about after that. He died for all of our sins. Each and every one of them. Past, present, and future. We're implicitly telling God Christ's sacrifice was not enough. Punish me some more. Of course, we talked about freedom last week. We are free in Christ. Christ died for all your sins. The reason you need to flip sides of the same coin is because both pride and despair are ultimately selfish. Because I'm looking at myself. Either look at me, how great I am, or look at me, how horrible I am. Look at me. We're constantly called to look to Christ, look to the cross, look at what He has done. Fix your eyes upon Christ your Savior. The person who focuses his or her attention on Christ won't be worrying about themselves. There's too much glory, there's too much beauty in Christ and what He's done. Why spend our time wallowing in ourselves? when we have all the majesty and beauty and glory of Christ. Faith again rests on what Jesus has done. It's finished. I can take a break. I can lean on those everlasting arms. I can receive what He's done and not do any more. So just those two things this morning. Remember that justification is the very heart and soul of salvation. We need to know this. We need to teach it. We need to believe it. We need to pass it on. By grace, through faith, accept the trade that He offers. His righteousness for your sin. Amazing. Wonderful. If you're tempted to add your own works, stop. Don't do it. Look away from yourself. Look to Christ and His obedience. Tempted to fear or despair or guilt, again, stop. Look to Christ. Look to His body broken, His blood shed for you that paid for all of your sins. And then remember the verse that we talked about last week. Having been justified by faith, you have peace with God. Not you will have. Not you might have. Not that you have it and then you could lose it. You have peace with God. Jesus took God's wrath so that you might have peace. Is that a sweet exchange? Oh yeah. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, we are thankful for, again, the work that you've done for us in Jesus Christ our Savior. Remind us of these wonderful truths, not by our own works, but by your mercy and grace, the gift of faith. Our sins are gone and replaced by the righteousness of Christ our Savior. But also, keep us from the dual sins, the dual temptations of pride and of despair. Don't let us get caught up in our own goodness, our own wisdom, our own intelligence, what we've done, who we are. But also don't let us get caught up in our own sin. Don't let the accuser have a word that takes root in our hearts and in our minds. Turn our hearts always to Jesus Christ, our Savior, what He's done for us, and give us hope, and give us comfort, give us peace, and grant us the joy that surpasses all understanding, the peace that passes all understanding, the hope that passes all understanding, that is ours in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. It's in His name that we pray. Amen.