Justification-standing in grace by faith

11. JUSTIFICATION STANDING IN GRACE BY FAITH

The lifelong transforming work of the Holy Spirit in us is closely linked with justification, the righteous standing given to us by God at our new birth.

When we are justified by faith", God freely and immediately gives us a new standing before Him. The miracle of new birth and our justification occur together, leading on to sanctification. Sanctification takes a lifetime, but justification, a moment.

Justification concerns our relationship to God who is holy. It deals with our standing before Him as sinners. If we stand before Him as the sinners that we are by nature, we are condemned and lost. But if we turn to God and accept His free and unmerited gift of salvation, He gives us a new position or standing before Him, as those who are justified and reconciled to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to be absolutely clear about this. In a moment we can be forgiven, reconciled to God and we can receive eternal life, but the transformation that God wants to work in us takes a lifetime. Although we are still sinful in our natural state or condition, we are, by Gods justifying work, His children and received by Him as such.

Let us put it this way. Imagine you are standing in the court of heaven before God who is holy, holy, holy. You should be condemned to eternal death as a rebel and lawbreaker, but because Jesus lived the perfect life that you should have lived, and because He died in your stead for your sins, you are not condemned but acquitted, declared not guilty and set free. His shed blood makes your pardon possible, and His righteous life, your acquittal. You leave the court free, free to live the new life given to you by God. You are born again.

This is what it means to be justified. Although we are still sinners, God no longer looks at our sinful state. He looks at the precious blood of Christ and at His perfect life, by which we are covered, so to speak. His righteousness has been credited to our account. This alone makes it possible for our holy God to deal with us at all.

We do well to remember this. Yes, we are His children and we call Him Father, but this is only possible because of His amazing grace, not because of any merit in us. This knowledge should save us from presumption and over-familiarity.

Take note: This amazing grace which freely forgives and justifies the sinner through faith alone apart from any virtue in him, is the great distinguishing feature of true Christianity, the faith of Jesus. Every religion, including false Christianity, requires that you earn salvation by working for it in some way. In Christ, we begin where everyone else vainly strives to finish.

Justification, as we said at the outset, leads to sanctification. One may reasonably question whether a person is in fact justified if he or she is not being sanctified. In a similar way, sanctification is only real and possible when it is the outworking of a persons justification.

There are many people who are striving to sanctify themselves, to keep the commandments and to imitate Christ, in an attempt to prove their justification. This is a serious misunderstanding. Sanctification is only possible by the Spirit's enabling, never by self-effort. It is rooted in justification.

Because we are justified by grace through faith, we willingly co-operate with the Lord in our sanctification. Justification and sanctification are inseparable twins. God never condones sin or treats it lightly. Sin is serious. God forgives and justifies us as the necessary starting point for our transformation. We must never excuse sin or rest content with our state. The Lord accepts us as we are, but not so that we remain as we are.

The blood of Christ not only satisfies the holiness of God, making our pardon possible, but it is also the answer to a guilty conscience, one of the preoccupations of modern psychology. While Christ has told us that the Holy Spirit works to convict people of their sin so that they will seek the Savior, the devil works overtime to undermine this, attempting to explain away sin so that people will not be troubled by it. God's answer to our sense of guilt is the blood of Christ. Man has no answer, and so is always trying to explain away sin and its consequences. Because Jesus died, and only because He died, there is no need to live with a guilty conscience if we surrender ourselves to Him.

Nor is there need to be troubled by the devil's accusations. Instead of fruitless arguments with him we can point to the blood of Jesus... which cleanses us from all sin. If it were not for Jesus shed blood, the devil would have an unanswerable case against us in the court of heaven. But because Jesus our Lord ... was put to death for our sins and raised for our justification, the devil has no case at all and so we have no case to answer - we are justified, we are free.

But you ask, What happens if a Christian does fall into sin? We should not, of course, and need not sin because God has provided a way of escape in the hour of temptation. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins ..." and "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Note that John is writing here to Christians, not to the world in general. Only the born-gain Christian has an advocate with the Father. It is useless for the unbeliever to confess his sins in a general way from time to time, and then expect to be forgiven without surrendering to and trusting in God's Son.

The true Christian will find that he needs a firm grasp on the wonderful truth of justification. As the Lord leads him on the path of sanctification, he will see more and more of the sin in his own heart. Take special note of this and of Gods provision in Christ, if you are inclined to introspection by nature.

Let us remember we no longer belong to ourselves but to Christ Jesus. As rebels we lived as we chose, pleasing ourselves, but now we belong to Christ and must live to please Him. We have been purchased for God with His blood ... bought with a price ... redeemed with the precious blood... of Christ...we are not our own. Christ died to possess us for Himself.

His shed blood makes everything possible, from pardon and new birth, to heaven and glory. His righteousness, His holy, righteous life, is put to our account to cover us, as the lifelong process of our transformation goes on.