The Gospel: Justification — Peter Simms

Justification in Christ and the Meaning of Righteousness

Now, tonight we're going to talk about justification. Looks like a big word, but all these words, they look big, but they're not big in content, as to their meaning, but what they teach us is awesome.

And so, tonight we're going to talk about how God can justify a man that's in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation, because God made him to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That word righteousness now is just the same as justification. Because in our language, we couldn't say God righteous of IJ, you see. And so, justification and righteousness, really, they basically are the same.

And so, when you come across that word righteousness, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And so, in Christ, that's where we find our justification. Now, let's look at some of the scripture verses before we proceed.

I want to read one found in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 7 and verse 20. For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not. So, there's not a just man upon the face of the earth that doesn't sin, that does good always, habitually, and never sins.

That man does not exist. And now, we want to come over into the book of Genesis, chapter 18. Go back, rather, not forward. Back to Genesis, chapter 18 and verse 25. Oh, it looks like I got the wrong verse.

And so, we'll just give it because it will come to my mind as we go. Romans, chapter 3. And we're reading verse 24. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So, here we find the subject of justification is associated with grace.

And then we go to chapter 5. Just go over a page and read verse 1. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then go down in that same chapter to verse 9.

Much more than being now justified by blood or by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. And now, we want to go over to James. The epistle to James. And chapter 2. And reading in from verse 21.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works? And by works was faith made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.

Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out by another way?

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. That's been a troublesome verse for a lot of people over many years. Now let's read in Matthew. Well, let's go to Genesis again first.

I might as well read all my verses now and then I won't have to go looking at them later. Genesis chapter 4. Now I'm reading this verse because I want to show as some people, some believers have suggested that an unsaved person cannot do a good work.

It's impossible for them to do anything good. Well, let's see what our verse says. God is talking to Cain. And the verse and the word well in the original language is good. If thou doest good, shalt thou not be accepted.

And if thou doest not good, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Matthew chapter 19. We'll read a verse in the New Testament. Matthew 19 and verse 16.

And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

He said unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder. And he went on. And then said to give his wealth to the poor and come follow him. And that will be all we will read. The term justification, it simply means acquittal.

It means to be set free. You come into a court case and there's a charge being laid against you. And the judge hears it. And then the judge acquits you. The judge pronounces you not guilty, innocent. And away you go.

You've been acquitted. But the word justification goes further than just being acquitted. It's got the idea of a positive declaration by the justifier or the judge. You are just. Not just acquitted and set free as innocent.

You're not guilty of the crime. So you've been acquitted. But it goes further with the positive charge by the justifier. Thou art just. That he might be, remember we read in Romans 3 the other night. That he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth on Jesus.

So God is the justifier and he declares to be just the person that believes on Jesus. Now as we've seen, if a man be in Christ, God made the Lord Jesus to be sin. He who knew not sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Sin as Guilt, Rebellion, and Criminality

Now that man here, when he sinned, he brought us into a condition of being a criminal. A rebel, we needed to be reconciled. A slave, we needed to be ransomed. A criminal, we need to be cleared of our criminal acts.

I don't know, maybe you've never thought of sin as being a criminal act. In our country, if you break the laws, you go out here and you break the laws, the speed limit or steal or whatever you might do, that's a crime.

And you are charged for a criminal act. But somehow we have it and people have it in their head, in their mind, that they can break God's laws and nothing's going to happen. We know right well we cannot live outside the laws of our country and remain at liberty.

It just can't happen. And we want it that way. We don't want guys running around that are a danger to the community. We want them put where they're supposed to be put. Now somehow we think now when we break God's law, thou shalt not blaspheme or thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

God says I will not hold him guiltless. They do it all the time. They don't think anything's going to happen. No, they don't think nothing's going to happen. Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother.

Obey, respect, honor your parents. They don't do that. They don't think nothing's going to happen. They don't expect nothing to happen. And even the laws of our country would support and measure disobedient children.

You can't spank them. You can't discipline them. Let them do what they like. And we can go over a whole lot of things. But I want to just draw your attention to this fact that, listen, to sin against God is far more serious than breaking the laws of our nation.

The most that our nation can do, and the judicial system is, the most serious thing is take our life, execute it. But then it's over. But listen, if you die a criminal, unjustified, and you meet God that way, you'll go to hell and you'll be in the lake of fire forever.

That's the difference. You must learn, we must all learn, that to break the laws of God brings the justice of God down upon our head. And we will be punished. Now, the Lord Jesus knows that. God knows that.

And God knows there's not a just man upon the face of the earth that habitually doeth good and sinneth not. That guy don't exist. We're all guilty. We're all criminals. By the acts that we have committed in disobeying Christ and God and going our own way.

But God, it says in one place in the Bible, God will by no means clear the guilty. Just let him go. He won't do that because he's just and he's holy. And his laws were given to us to be obeyed. And the human family from the very commencement of the human race, they've been breaking those commands.

And like Isaiah summed it all up and said, All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. And thank God the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. So when you think of your friends, even your own children, even my own grandchildren, we have to tell them, Look, you must learn that you have got to obey.

Obeying your parents is not just a command that come from your parents, that's a command that come from God to you children. God says, Honor your father and your mother. Obey your parents. That's a command from God.

And the havoc in our world, where's it all springing from? Well, children don't obey their parents. And the parents cannot force the children to obey without bringing in the social securities and the social system.

And then they want to interfere. And I know of them when they've come and taken the child away. She was 16, they took her away and told the parents that they had no right to spank that child. They took her away and they brought her back pregnant.

And now the father and the mother have to look after her, support her. And that's the very thing the father was trying to hinder from happening. They said, You can't do that. You can't curtail that girl.

If she wants to go, you've got to let her go. She's 16 years old. And you dare not punish her by spanking her. And so they took her. She'd gone for a few months and that's the way they brought her back.

They didn't want to pay for the thing. Well, that's up to the parents now. That's the kind of world we're living in, where there is no justice. Criminology is just a joke. If you have enough money, you can buy your way out of pretty well any predicament.

The judicial systems of our world are corrupt. But the judicial system that's divine, and as God as the judge, is not corrupt. And He will bring men and women into justice and be judged for their acts.

The Basis of Divine Justification

Now, there's four terms here. Therefore, being justified freely. Let's look at that one for a minute. If you want to be set free, if you want to be acquitted, if you want God to tell you and declare that you are just, these are the basis upon which He can do it.

He just can't just say because He's God, okay, I declare you to be just. Okay, runaway homeboy, you're free. He can't do it that way. No. No. Somebody's got to pay the price for your liberty. Somebody's got to pay for your criminal acts.

God has said, the soul that sinneth, it will die. That's the judgment against sin. It started out that way in Genesis chapter 2 when God told Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you will die. That's been the sentence upon sin from the very commencement.

And it's never been changed. And so, when we come before God as criminals, like it shows here, because of our relationship to Him and because of the criminal acts we've committed, then we're going to be brought before God to be judged.

How is God going to be able to acquit us? How could you declare a guilty man to be just? Gee, the judges of our world, they can't handle that one. Once they bring a criminal before the judge and the verdict is he's guilty, the judge can't declare him just because he's guilty.

Oh, the judge might let him go home free without being made accountable for his deed, but then he's not a very good judge. But God looks at the sinner as a criminal that has broken His laws and has come under the sentence of death.

He's guilty. He's unjust. He's unrighteous. And by rights, he should die. And yet God has a way that He can declare him just. Not only acquit him, but declare him to be just because God is both just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.

And so God comes once again now to the aid of the sinner. This time he's a criminal. Guilty of breaking all God's laws. And he comes before God as guilty. And God's going to take up His cause. And what does He do?

Well, He's going to declare him to be just. But on this basis, He will do so. First, He'll do it as a free, sovereign act of grace. Now, you have to understand this if you're going to talk to your friends, especially religious people, because every religion in the world today, basically every one of them, has a work system.

It's just something inside them that they say, God gave those Ten Commandments, and so we're supposed to try and keep those Ten Commandments. And if we do the best we can in keeping those Ten Commandments, we've got a fair chance of getting to heaven.

They all, basically every one of them, have a work system incorporated into their religious system. I don't know how many times I've had men tell me, and women too, if you do good, God will bless you.

If you do evil, God will punish you. See, it's on the basis. Now, that's kind of natural, isn't it? For the natural man to think that. Because he naturally thinks, if you go to church, you're supposed to be good.

And Christians are supposed to be good. And religious people are supposed to be good. So, if we're supposed to be good, then, if we try and be good, well, isn't that good enough? You can't be better than you can be.

And there are all kinds of people, some of them on the very edge of death, telling me, I've lived a pretty good life. I did my duty. And that's all that's necessary as far as they're concerned. We have got to rob them of that false confidence.

We have got to make them aware that there's no amount of good works that God will accept from them, that they might find favor with God and the forgiveness of their sin. It's man is freely justified. Therefore, being justified freely.

There used to be a people I used to work with, they wore a necklace and a cross on it. And I asked them, what do you wear that cross for? Well, they said, you've got to help Jesus bear His cross. You can't expect Jesus to do everything.

See what they had in their mind? They believe in their religion. And they believe they have this necklace and there's a cross on it. And that's a symbol that they're helping Jesus. Now, what is wrong with people doing good to try and get to heaven?

Listen to this verse. In Isaiah 64, I believe it is verse 6. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. See, that's one verse that shows you that the ungodly can do good works. Because God says, all our good works, or all our righteousness, all those good things we seek to do to get favor with God, God says, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

Is God against good? Well, what's He saying that for? Here's a fellow who's done his very best. Or a lady did her very best and God says it's all filthy rags. What does He say that for? Well, because on the cross, God punished His Son.

God made His Son to be sin. And His Son never knew sin. But He made Him to be sin. That you and I might receive the righteousness of God, which you find in Him. Our righteousness comes from His work for us on the cross.

He died for our sins. God made Him to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God. Where? In Him. Now, if God demands good works from you and I to find favor and to be justified through, then it's an admittance that the death of Christ, the work of Christ is not sufficient.

And that's a tremendous insult to God. God would look at it, I have given My Son to die on that cross. I made Him to be sin. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And now you are saying that that's not good enough that you have to add your little bit?

That's an insult to God. Our salvation is a gift. And you can't work for a gift. You just had Christmas just a few weeks back. Months or so. And you all gave some gifts and you all received some gifts.

And your little girl, maybe Hannah. A little girl Hannah there. She's got the whitest little hair you ever saw. Eh? We were saying last night the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin but her hair is so white.

How can it be whiter than that? It's about as white as you can get it. Now, suppose she brought Becca a little present. And in her little heart, she loves Mommy. And she brings her this Christmas present.

And then mother says, oh, just wait. I'll go get my purse. And I'll give you $10 for it. No. You give your mother a gift on any occasion. Mother's Day or Christmas or whatever or birthday. And then she came and said, here, I'll pay you for it.

You'd be insulted. It's a gift. I bought it. I packaged it. I brought it to you. And I'm offering it to you. It's a gift. You don't buy it. You don't pay for it. You don't have to work for it. It's a gift.

Grace as a Free Gift

And yet somehow, I don't know if there's one being that's cleverer than any other creature God's made and it's that devil. Because he's convinced multitudes, multitudes, multitudes religious people and all kinds of people that you've got to pay for this gift.

You've got to work for it. You've got to do something for it. Now people aren't stupid. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. By grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God. Now how much clearer could you make it? And yet when you meet your friend at school or your buddy at work or you're in those people in your own family circle we've got to convince them the gospel, the gift of God is a gift just like any other gift.

You can't make the gift of God be different from any other gift. The human language is telling us and the English and the Hebrew and the Greek they're all telling us gift is gift. It's free. So the first thing we learn is now justification is a free gift from God.

He'll declare you just freely if you will believe that Jesus Christ God's Son died for your sins upon that cross. Take your place as a criminal before God recognizing what you are and what you've done and then simply believing that the Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins and God says the minute you do that I will declare you just.

As many ways God tells us things like John 3 and 36 He that believeth on the Son. What does God say? You're saved. See, you do your part that's the believing taking God at His word and He will declare you saved or have eternal life or redeemed or reconciled.

They all come along in the same package only tonight it's coming from the point of view of a criminal who's guilty of violating the laws of God and if you'll believe that the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary died for your sins God will declare you just.

Now I know we've all done that but some of us now we want to tell others and sometimes we don't know how to go about it because these guys with all their arguments and all their foolish reasoning and things we have to have our minds equipped and trained as to how to answer that guy who naturally now it's not going to be as easy as you think because he's going to put up his argument so that means God hates good now what are you going to say now?

Is God opposed to good? You say God says all my righteousness all my good works are as filthy rags so then God don't want any good out of me anything I do that's good. He's opposed to it see the way they're going to argue?

They'll twist it all up and pervert the truth in all kinds of different ways and you've just got to have your mind trained on what the word of God says God says therefore being justified freely salvation is a gift.

God's not opposed to your good works as long as you don't attempt to use those good works to further your acceptance with God because that's an insult in doing that you're saying the Lord Jesus' death upon the cross for my sins is not good enough.

I have to add my little bit to it and when you do that the character of a gift is gone it's no longer a gift because you put something into it. So therefore being justified freely by His grace grace that word runs right through the Bible and it's a wonderful, wonderful truth.

Paul said one time he said I am by the grace of God what I am one of the greatest Christian men that ever lived and he never took no credit for what he did or what he was. He said it all goes to the grace of God.

Grace simply means the unmerited favor of God. That means the favor of God when God comes to you on no account of anything you've done it's the unmerited. You didn't deserve it. If you deserve anything you deserve His wrath but He's not giving you His wrath by grace.

He's going to show you something. He's going to show you. You are a criminal. And as a criminal you deserve to die. But I on the basis of the death of my son if you will believe that when He died for you the criminal if you will believe that I will declare you just by grace.

It's a favor. It's a favor. You know what favor means you do people a favor. I did it as a favor for the guy he didn't ask for it, you did it as a favor. Well that's what God did therefore being justified by being justified freely by His grace.

Justification by Christ's Blood

Now if we come down to chapter 5 and verse 9 Romans chapter 5 and verse 9 there we have being justified by blood now that's the basis of God's justification. That's grace, yes the favor of God toward us.

But that favor has a solid basis upon which it is offered and that is the blood of Christ. That's the death of the Lord Jesus upon the grounds of His death in His death He satisfied God perfectly totally 100

God requires nothing more. The blood of Jesus Christ God's Son. That's what cleanses us of sins. Who else could die for us if God demands the criminal die. That's the wages of sin. Is death. Is there any possible way out either I die for my own sins and go to hell or I need somebody else to die for me.

And that's what God has done. God demands death. Now when you think about the blood here's another thing you know we take so much for granted a friend of mine he's an elder up there in Canada and he grew up like I did in the gospel hall and we preach the gospel.

You know the way we do and we just assume everybody knows everything and we don't have to explain nothing. And his daughter went and married an unsaved fella and he had no religious background. He was just green.

And so they come home for Christmas holiday. And so Tom asked him if he'd come out to the gospel meeting and so fella said yeah he'd come listen to his father-in-law preach. And Tom thought what would I preach about.

He thought I'll preach about the blood of the lamb. The blood of the lamb put on the door post shedding of blood. Then it was all done. After went home had a cup of tea and the boy said I don't understand you dad.

I haven't heard so much about all this blood. What are you talking about blood. I don't want to be washing any blood. What are you driving at. The guy didn't have a clue. So you see when we preach the gospel there's people out there they used to tell me in the Caribbean.

They used to say to me where can I get the blood. Where can I get the blood. Cause they used to think they got the blood at the holy communion that's where the blood was shed. And that's the only place they knew about religion with blood.

And they used to say where can I get the blood. Well listen friend the blood represents the life. You see when you hear about the lord Jesus shedding his blood it means he gave his life because the life of the flesh is in the blood.

If a man's blood is gone he's dead because the life principle is in the blood. So when the bible talks about blood being shed or blood being put upon the altar and so on the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.

It means it's the death. So don't try and be don't be afraid of being too simple because some don't understand. And Tom found that out. His boy his son in law hadn't a clue. He thought it was ridiculous what he was talking about.

We've been justified by blood. That means we've been justified by the death of Jesus Christ who died for our sins upon the cross. On that grounds God can declare you to be just but on no other grounds only in that you believe.

Put faith in his son who died for you upon the cross. And then the other one is in verse 1 in chapter 5. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God. Faith. You know unsaved people now this is where they're at an advantage.

They don't get all hepped up about faith like people do in the assembly because we've talked about it so much and they grow up with believing the Lord Jesus Christ now shall be saved. And this believing becomes a big problem to them.

A lot of unsaved people they don't have no trouble. They know what believe means. You believe it. You believe it. And a lot of them get saved easily. In our opinion faith just means taking God at his word.

He said it. It's true. I believe it. I take God at his word. If he said it then it's right now. What did he say. A jailer one time asked the Lord Jesus he said sir what must I do to be saved. What do I have to do.

And what did the apostle Paul say. Just a simple short statement. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you're saved. Take God at his word. Or you can take John 3 and 36. He that believeth on the son has everlasting life.

Take God at his word. He said it. It's got to be true. So when we come to our friends when we try and explain to them and talk to them we must keep it simple. Justification is free. You cannot add one black scent to it.

And if you do you spoil it. It's no longer a gift. You've got your finger in it somehow. And God is determined that nobody will be in heaven and ever boast by grace. Are ye saved through faith and not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God and not of works lest any man should boast. God is determined that nobody will be in heaven bragging about anything they did there. All will all be there on one grounds. The cross of Christ is all my boast his blood my only play my passport to the realms of bless is Jesus died for me.

And nobody can have any more than that. The apostle Paul got no more than that. But you can't have anything less either. It's faith in Jesus Christ that brings you this justification. So the justification is free.

It's grounds and basis is on the death of Christ and you obtain it by faith. They can't get it easier than that. And God will declare you to be just. But what about this term in James chapter 2. Now James says something there that disturbs a lot of people.

Faith and Works in James 2

He says now and they say James is contradicting Paul. Paul said man is justified freely by grace apart from the works of the law. Paul goes back to Genesis chapter 15. I think it is in verse 6 where God took Abraham out and showed him all the stars the sky and said so shall I see be.

And Abraham believed God and God reckoned that belief of Abraham to him for righteousness or justification. God declared him just right there on the grounds of his faith. He believed what God said. Now that's where Paul is drawing all his arguments from Genesis chapter 15 and verse 6 there Paul is using faith as the means of justification.

Okay. And that's what he is building his argument on in Romans. The epistle to the Romans and the epistle to the Galatians. Abraham the father of the faithful. Now when James talks about it James goes over to Genesis chapter 22 and I forget the verse.

Now I think it is verse 18 or it might be down further. And he is using now not Abraham's faith but he is going to talk about Abraham's character the character of Abraham. And he is going to use the story in Genesis 22 when God asked Abraham to take his son up to Mount Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering.

And Abraham takes his son up and is willing to offer him there upon that altar. Now here you have Abraham obeying. Paul talks about Genesis 15 faith. He is talking about the way you are justified. And that's what Paul talks about all through Romans and Galatians faith.

Where James picks up justification now and he picks it up from Genesis 22 where Abraham was prepared to offer his son in obedience to the will of God. So in one side Abraham was justified by faith but his faith was made perfect by obedience.

Now James talks about the character of the man Abraham. Anybody can say you know I am justified. I believe in Jesus. I believe in God. I believe the Lord Jesus died on the cross for my sins. Okay. So that's the true way of being justified.

But James says that faith must be made perfect. That faith isn't complete. That faith must be substantiated by some works. What does James say. Well James says you take a body and that body dies. And as long as the spirit is separated from the body is there any life.

Well James says as the body without the spirit is dead. So faith without works is dead also now think about it. That's James declaring now that faith to be valid and to have worth must have some works to back it up.

Faith without works is dead now. I never said it and you can take all kinds of illustrations and you can find all kinds of ways people try and get out of it. You can't get out of it now. He didn't say how much works.

But there's got to be some little evidence. There's got to be something there a spark of life. Maybe so ever so small. But it's there. What did Peter say about Lot. Peter said about Lot that his righteous soul was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked every day.

What is the little thing that Peter saw there. Well Lot's conscience was stirred by what he saw in Sodom. That's what all the work was a conscience about what he saw. His righteous soul was vexed with the filthy conversation or the filthy life of those around him.