Justified

Four Big Words:
Word #1: Justified


Rom 3:24 “…Being justified …”


Introductory Thoughts

* The Son of God, God the Son, the Lord Jesus Himself—the Perfect One, the Almighty Jehovah God Himself came and lived in human flesh—He walked in my moccasins.
** He lived for me
** He Suffered for me
** He died for me
** He Rose for me
** He ascended for me
** Where He intercedes for me
** He sent a man to preach to me
** He sent His Holy Spirit to convict me
** He called me, He saved me
** He leads me,
** and one day, He is returning for me…..

* How can anything I do add to that?

· The fact is, that I was lost in sin, dead as a rock, totally spiritually destitute, and without any hope—I did not want God, I did not know about God, I did not seek Him on my own, and I paid none of the price, nor did any of the work that led to my salvation. God Saved Me, and He did ALL the work.

And one fact that we must keep in our minds is this: individual justification is an event, not a process

For each saved person, the whole journey of salvation [after justification] including sanctification and finally glorification, involves a process of growth—but not so with justification: justification was, is, and shall ever be, an event.

This is the event when God Saves a Sinner.



1. Justified—A Bible Survey

a. Old Testament

(1) The Suffering Servant in Isaiah is the One who will justify His people—(Isa 53:11) "He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities."


(2) Paul’s text for the whole Roman letter was in Habakkuk—(Hab 2:4) ""Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith."

(3) Being Justified and right with God made the Old Testament saints shout—(Psa 32:11) "Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!"

(4) Being justified brings joy and praise that is called beautiful—(Psa 33:1) "Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful."

(5) (Psa 64:10) "The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and trust in Him. And all the upright in heart shall glory."

(6) But what is the basis for this righteousness? How do the upright become upright?

(7) Every human in the Old Testament who was declared to be righteous must have been declared righteous in the same way that Abraham was—(Gen 15:6) "And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."

(8) Why MUST this be?

(a) It must be, because man is evil by nature—(Gen 8:21) "… the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth…”

(b) It must be, because man is born that way—

(i) (Psa 58:3) "The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies."

(ii) (Psa 51:4-5) "…. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me."

(c) It must be, because all humans are sinners, except that One Who died for the sinners—(Psa 14:3) "They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one."

b. New Testament Survey of Justification

(1) The Law cannot justify—(Rom 3:20) "Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

(2) In the great finale that is yet to come in this 3rd chapter of Romans we see that only by faith can a man be justified—(Rom 3:28) "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law."

(3) Justification by faith removes all boasting—(Rom 4:2) "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God." When we preach and teach the Truth that God Saves Sinners, it leaves no room for boasting. When I get to Heaven, I will not speak of my decision to follow Christ, nor my sometimes obedience to Him. When I get to Heaven, my entire testimony will be that God saves sinners, of whom I am chief.

(4) Justification brings peace with God—our very minds have been at war with Him, and justification ends the war with our surrender to His Majesty—(Rom 5:1) "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,"

(5) Justification happens as Christ’s blood sacrifice justifies us and removes the sentence of God’s wrath from us—(Rom 5:9) "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."




(6) A summary of Justification is perhaps found in Galatians—(Gal 2:16)

(a) There is no process that can lead us too justification—"…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law…” the verb tense here is the present, a continuous sense, but since it is negative, we see that Justification is NOT a process

(b) What does result in Justification: faith in Christ— “…but by faith in Jesus Christ…”

(c) The experience of faith is not a process, it is an event— “…even we have believed [aorist tense] in Christ Jesus…”

(d) Saving faith results in justification at a point in time— “…that we might be [aorist] justified by faith in Christ…”

(e) Works religion cannot and will not save—“… and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified."

(7) And the grace of justification gives us an eternal hope—a certain thing—(Titus 3:7) "that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

(8) And our hope is not a “maybe” thing, it is a “certainly” thing—(Heb 6:18-19) "that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,"


2. Justified—3:24 Being justified

a. Being Justified… δικαιοuμενοι

(1) First, the meaning of the word—(Parson’s Quick Verse) “…to put into a right relationship (with God); acquit, declare and treat as righteous; show or prove to be right…”

(2) Each man or woman who is justified at a point in time, has been declared free from sin, declared righteous according to God’s Standard, and founded upon the Rock

b. The doctrine of Justification—what justification is NOT

(1) It is NOT infused righteousness

(a) In the false doctrine of “infusion,” the idea is that God gives us the ability to work good works and to become acceptable to God through those good works.

(b) This does not deal with past sin, with our sin natures, nor with the question of how I as a man can become holy by my own works.

(2) Justification is NOT God accepting my faith as a work that he decides to accept in lieu of other works.

(3) Justification does not put me where Adam was so that I can earn my salvation from here on out.

c. What justification IS

(1) It is, first of all, a legal declaration that the one justified is “innocent” of all the charges of sin against him or her.

(2) Then, it is a declaration that not only is the one who is justified declared “innocent” of sin, that same one is declared to have acquired positive righteousness, a life of good deeds.

(3) This legal declaration of innocence and righteousness is made by God the Father for each and every person who believes in Christ for salvation.

3. How Does This Event Called Justification Take Place?

a. Conviction: The Preparation for the Event—It begins with a sinner coming under conviction by the Holy Spirit—(John 16:8) ""And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:"

(1) Their hearts were convicted at Pentecost—(Acts 2:37) "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?""

(2) Paul’s example holds true—look at his sudden change of attitude—(Acts 9:5) "And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.""

(3) And the Philippian jailer came under the conviction of the Spirit dramatically, and was ready to receive the Truth— (Acts 16:30-31) "And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.""

(4) The secret to understanding salvation is that it is an act of God from beginning to the end.



b. It continues with a sinner who hears the Word of God and Responds—Rom 10:8 “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved…”

c. This convicted sinner then calls out to God and is saved—Rom 10:13 “ “…whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."

d. But, If the Word is not preached, how will they hear the Truth?

(1) If you don’t believe, you will just sit there—“…14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

(2) Before faith there must be at least a little knowledge—Christianity is a fact-filled faith. “… And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?”

(3) God’s messenger to bring salvation— “…And how shall they hear without a preacher?...”

(a) And believe me, this is not restricted to pulpit preachers, but to everyone who proclaims the Gospel.

(b) But pulpit preacher, evangelist, missionary, Sunday School teacher, jail worker, worship leader—if they are not being discipled, trained, and readied for action…God will raise up someone anyway.

(4) The preachers of the Gospel are people who have been saved, trained, and launched on a mission—and God must be the sender “…15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?”

(5) Those sent by God who respond in obedience are called “those with beautiful feet,” Why? "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!"

(6) The beauty of the feet—a Hebrew way of saying that the message they bring is welcome, as will be the message which brings the restored nation of Israel to the Messiah on that day—(Isa 52:7) "How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!""

(7) The Tragedy—not everyone listens and obeys the Truth “… 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?"

(8) But regardless, it is through the proclamation of the Word that the Gospel goes forth— “…17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

e. The Four Fold Ministry to the Church, the Gifts of Christ Himself to the churches in Eph 4:11 are apostles, prophets, evangelists and teaching pastors—(Eph 4:11) "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,"

(1) The First two have been surpassed by the closing of the Apostolic age, and the closing of the canon of Scripture but the evangelist and the teaching pastor (who are sometimes the same man), are still with us.

(2) And yet, even our ministry is not to be the sole proclaimers, but in Eph 4:12-16, God makes it plain that all in the church are to grow up able to proclaim the Truth, and able to support, encourage, and pray for those whose whole occupation is to preach the Gospel.

(3) However we look at it, we must realize that the preaching of the Cross is at the center of what we do in church.

(1 Cor 1:17) "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect."

(1 Cor 1:21) "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."

(1 Cor 1:23) "but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,"

(2 Cor 4:5) "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake."

(Col 1:28) "Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

(2 Tim 4:2) "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching."