For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Romans 3: 28 (NIV)
Sometimes, there can be some churchy words that either we don’t understand, or we don’t understand how they are applied. Justification is one of those words. This devotion, the first in the Churchy Words series, looks at what justified means and how God accomplishes it.
Nuggets
- We may or may not acknowledge that we are sinners; but we have all broken God’s laws and commandments and are in need of His saving grace.
- God’s grace provided justification through the plan of salvation.
- The only answer we can give when asked how Jesus justified us is because Jesus agreed to be our substitute and shed His blood.
- We are justified from the sins.
Justification is one of those churchy words that can trip us up. No, we usually know what justification means — evidence to show something is right or needed. It may also mean acquittal.
We might even get the biblical definition. Justification means the act of making something righteous before God. That makes it a really important concept to wrap our heads around.
The problem is we are a little fuzzy on how that is done. We are going to look at justification in this devotion to see if we can clear out some of the fuzz.
Let's Put It into Context
We may or may not acknowledge that we are sinners. Romans 3: 23 says, however: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (NLT). That means we have all broken God’s laws and commandments and are in need of His saving grace.
So, we have to be put back the way we were. We can’t be guilty as we are when we haven’t turned our lives over to God. We have to be made right.
Read that again. We have to be made right — not God has to lower His standards or change so that we can fit. We have to change.
What we want to discuss today isn’t how we are to change. We are going to look at the process more from God’s end.
Justified by Grace
“So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Ti. 3: 7 ESV)
We’ve talked about grace meaning God provided more than we deserved. Even though we don’t deserve good things, God gives them to us anyway.
God’s grace provided justification through the plan of salvation. Here is a recap of that plan:
- We are all considered sinners because the relationship with God was broken in the original sin (Rom. 3: 23).
- The consequence of that broken relationship is death. However, God has provided, through His gift to us, a way to gain salvation (Rom. 6: 23).
- Jesus came down to die and rise again to overcome sin (Rom. 5: 8).
- God doesn’t wait for us to clean up our acts to offer us salvation. He did it while the relationship was broken (Rom. 5: 8).
- We have to admit we are sinners; believe that Jesus died in the cross and rose again to save us; and confess with our mouths that we have this faith in God (Rom. 10: 9-10).
- Everyone who does that will be saved (Rom. 10: 13).
If you have not admitted that your relationship is not right with God,
have not asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior,
and have not confessed your sins,
please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
Jesus’ death and resurrection paid the whole price to redeem us. It was enough for all of us who choose to accept the gift of salvation to be able to do so. By offering Himself, Jesus allows us to be justified by His grace.
I kept thinking about Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens while I was writing this. Remember that story?
Because they looked alike, Sydney Carton changed places with Charles Darnay. The kicker was that Darnay was in prison, awaiting to be executed. By his selfless actions, Carton substituted himself and was killed for actions that Darnay’s ancestors committed.
But there is a difference between Jesus and Carton. Carton did not take on the guilt of the ancestors. Jesus did take on our guilt — because of God’s grace.
Justified by Jesus’ Blood and Substitution
"Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God" (Rom. 5: 9 ESV)
The only answer we can give when asked how Jesus justified us is because Jesus agreed to be our substitute and shed His blood. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2: 13 NKJV).
We can now ask God to forgive us of our sins — and He now can. God is the Judge who can now rule that the debt for our sins has been paid. It was paid when the sinless Lamb of God hung on the cross and shed His blood for us.
God will forgive every seeking sinner who comes to Him and truly confesses their sins.
Justified by Faith
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5: 1 NASB).
We cannot do anything on our own to justify ourselves before God. Instead, we have to believe that God took care of the payment and is waiting for us to turn from our old oath of sins and destruction.
This is called faith. Faith is the belief, trust, and loyalty in another person or thing. We don’t gain anything on our own.
Instead, we must put our faith and trust in God. We have to trust God to do what He says He will do.
We have to remember what does not justify us — our works. Because of God’s grace, we freely receive justification, not because we earn it, but because He loves us. We can’t be justified on our looks, our smarts, our goodness, our kindness, our skills — anything that starts with our.
It is only about God and His designing this plan to reconcile us to Him. It is only about Jesus and how He obediently became our Redeemer.
We have to be careful, though. We will not get the justification if the faith is not there. We cannot pretend to believe in God, and then not makes changes in our lives to live the way He requires — and expect the justification.
We must sincerely admit we are sinners, believe that Jesus is our Redeemer and the only way in which we can gain salvation, and confess God as our Sovereign Lord.
I’ve been thinking for the last couple of days that we need to add a D to the ABCs. We need to demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us.
We can’t just ABC and forget it. We have to D, too.
Justified from Sin
"Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (Rom. 4: 25 ESV)
We are justified from the sins. We are pardoned from the consequences— eternal death.
That doesn’t give us license to continue sinning. We have to try to live as God calls us.
Is it easy? No. Will we be perfect every time? No. Can we keep confessing when we sin? Yes.
Pop quiz. What is sin? Sin is when we disobey God and break one of His laws and commandments.
To read What Does Forgiveness of Our Sins Mean?,, click the button below.
We’ve talked about what some of those sins are. Paul tells us what to get rid of in Galatians 5: 19-21, Ephesians 5: 3-6, and I Corinthians 6: 9-10 (and this is just a partial list): sexual immorality, impurity, homosexuality, idolatry/covetousness, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, greed, drunkenness, filthiness, and all impurity.
But with Jesus’ redeeming us, we are no longer enslaved by sin. We have eternal life instead of eternal death.
Making the Connections
Jesus has done the hard part. All we have to do is believe.
We are justified as soon as we repent and God accepts our repentance. In that instance, God makes us righteous — when we honestly, sincerely repent. Nothing is ever going to change that.
How Do We Apply This?
When God comes to us through His Holy Spirit, we just have to listen to the Spirit’s urges. We need to follow God in all things.
Justified — where we are made right with God. Yes!
Gracious Heavenly Father. As we learn more and more about You, we are just humbled by Your love. You designed the plan of salvation so that our relationship may be restored with You. You sent Your Son to live and die to accomplish that plan, Convict us with Your Holy Spirit so that we can accept Jesus as our Redeemer and You as sovereign God. Help us to resist the temptation to sin and confess all that we do to You. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.
Pingback: What Does Propitiation Mean? – Seeking God with Elaine
Pingback: What Does Sanctification Mean? – Seeking God with Elaine
Pingback: How Can We Be Alive but Dead? – Seeking God with Elaine
Pingback: What Does Atonement Mean? – Seeking God with Elaine
Pingback: What Is Righteousness? – Seeking God with Elaine