The Reality of Justification

*NOTE: On Wednesdays in 2025 we will celebrate “walking in the Word” through applying Biblical doctrine. Rightly understanding Biblical doctrine fuels doxology, delight in Jesus, and gospel centered discipleship. 
 
The first two weeks we studied justification we celebrated the joy of justification and peace as fruit growing from the roots of justification. This week we reinforce the reality of justification.
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A loving father provides a way for His children to be clean. When one of our four children was a tiny toddler, she woke up from a nap covered in the overflow of her diaper. I smelled the problem before I saw it, and not in time to stop her from attempting to clean herself up. Unfortunately, her best efforts to wipe herself clean extended the mess to other parts of her body, the crib, the floor, and somehow the wall. When I discovered the explosion while getting her up from nap, I did what any loving father would do when they see their child covered in poo- I quietly closed the door and went to tell Lisa she needed to get our daughter out of bed.

Of course not! A loving father meets their children in their mess and cleanses them from contamination (and cleans up the mess made by the child’s attempt to clean themselves). This image has limitations, but it helps us understand the reality of justification.
 
A-The diagnosis is desperate. 
 
Psalm 53:1-3, 6 describes the desperate diagnosis of humanity: We are corrupt, practicing iniquity- and there is no one who does good. No one understands. No one seeks God- we have all fallen away and have become corrupt. This diagnosis is emphasized throughout Scripture, quoted and expanded upon in Romans 3:9-20 as well as other places in Scripture:
 
We are born impure: Psalm 51:5; 58:3; We are dead in sin: Ephesians 2:1, 5; We cannot change if we want to: Jeremiah 13:23; Romans 8:7; We cannot choose God: John 3:20; Romans 8:7-8
 
Religion is a method by which people attempt to clean themselves up but our religious activity and moral performance to achieve religious merit only spreads the mess of sin. Our greatest work a filthy rag (Isaiah 64:6), meaning we are totally unable to change the diagnosis or cleanse ourselves. Like my toddler daughter, we are completely powerless to purify and cleanse ourselves.
 
Many Christians minimize the Divine diagnosis and, therefore, misunderstand the reality of justification. People magnify their performance and minimize their need for the person and work of Jesus, in the process missing the fullness of our Father’s love.
 
B-The Divine provision is sufficient.
 
Romans 5:6-11 details the depth of our diagnosis by calling people “weak… unrighteous… sinners… enemies of God” before detailing the Father’s love as the basis for justification. “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood…” we are saved from God’s wrath, reconciled to God for relationship, and free to rejoice in the reality of justification.
 
The reality of justification is centered on this great exchanged. Jesus became weak in His perfect life, took the unrighteousness of His people upon Himself in His death, graciously gives believers His righteousness through faith, thereby transforming enemies of God to children of God. (See 2 Corinthians 5:21)
 
Our Father does not leave us in our filth. Through love, our Father provides cleansing. Justification teaches that by an act of God’s free grace our sins are pardoned and we are made righteous through the work of Christ alone, by faith alone. Through Christ’s representation and imputation, God removes our sin as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:2) and remembers our sin no more (Hebrews 8:12; Jeremiah 31:34). God hurls our sin into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19) and makes us white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).
 
The reality of Justification is woven into the fabric of Scripture, helpfully summarized in Titus 3:4-7 “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
 
The invitation of justification is for Christians to live a life of gospel freedom, repenting of our religion and rejoicing in the finished work of Jesus. The chart below from Tim Keller is helpful. After working through today's reflection questions, take a moment to consider whether you are more religiously shaped or gospel centered.
 
Richly Dwelling:
-Where do you identify with minimizing our diagnosis, reducing the reality of your sin situation? How can you see your own efforts to clean yourself up has actually made the mess worse?
 
-What do you learn about the love of our Father through seeing His sufficient provision through the person and work of Jesus?
 
-How can you rejoice in the reality of justification, specifically? Look at the Keller chart above for some ideas.

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