Justification
Justification is a free gift of God that makes us perfectly holy in His sight, allowing us to come boldly into His presence without fear or hesitation.
Zac Poonen preaches on the profound truth of justification by faith, emphasizing that forgiveness of sins removes guilt but doesn't make us perfectly holy. Justification, through the perfect righteousness of Christ credited to us, allows us to stand before God as if we had never sinned, enabling us to boldly enter His presence without fear. This free gift from God, not based on our works, covers us with Christ's righteousness, contrasting with our futile attempts to cover our sins with 'fig-leaves' of good works.
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Forgiveness of our sins takes away the guilt of the past. But that doesn't make us perfectly holy. And so, we still can't stand before a perfectly holy God. And so God had to do something more for us.
He had to justify us!
Justification means that God has put the perfect righteousness of Christ to our credit. The result is that our standing before God is now as perfect as Christ's! That's an astounding fact! And its true! It's like millions of rupees being put into a bank account in the name of a beggar - money that he didn't earn or deserve, but that has been given to him as a free gift.
To be justified is to be accepted by God just as if we had never sinned in our whole life and just as if we were perfectly righteous in our life at present.
God's Word says, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand" (Rom. 5:2). Now we can come boldly into God's presence without any fear or hesitation at any time. God Himself has opened the way for that.
In the garden of Eden, as soon as Adam and Eve sinned, they felt guilty and ashamed and covered themselves with fig-leaves. God took away their fig-leaves, killed an animal and clothed them with its skin.
Those fig-leaves are a picture of our own good works. Like fig-leaves, our good works cannot cover our nakedness before God; for the Bible says that even our best works are like filthy rags in God's sight (Isa. 64:6).
That slain animal was a picture of Christ put to death for our sins. The skin was a picture of the perfect righteousness of Christ given to cover us (Gen. 3:7,21).
Justification is a free gift of God. No man can be justified before God on the basis of his own works. One extreme of error therefore is to say, "Let us seek to be righteous in order to be justified by God."
There is however an opposite extreme of error too. And that is to say, "If we are elected and justified, then it doesn't matter even if we sin now." Those who take sin lightly, because they think that God has elected and justified them, would thereby prove that they are not among God's elect at all. (Compare Rom.4:5 with James 2:24).
Once we are sure that we have been elected and justified, Satan's accusations will lose their effect on us. For if "God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31). Never again in our life need we feel that we are condemned or rejected by God.
"Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the One Who justifies" (Romans 8:33). Hallelujah!
Such is the good news of the gospel! It is not surprising then that Satan has kept many believers from knowing that they have been elected and justified by God.
Sermon Outline
- I. What is Justification?
- A. God putting the perfect righteousness of Christ to our credit
- B. Result: our standing before God is as perfect as Christ's
- II. The Result of Justification
- A. We can come boldly into God's presence without fear or hesitation
- B. We are accepted by God as if we had never sinned
- III. The Picture of Justification
- A. The slain animal in the garden of Eden represents Christ
- B. The skin represents the perfect righteousness of Christ
- IV. The Gift of Justification
- A. No man can be justified by his own works
- B. Justification is a free gift of God
Key Quotes
“Justification means that God has put the perfect righteousness of Christ to our credit.” — Zac Poonen
“To be justified is to be accepted by God just as if we had never sinned in our whole life and just as if we were perfectly righteous in our life at present.” — Zac Poonen
“If 'God is for us, who can be against us?' (Rom. 8:31).” — Zac Poonen
Application Points
- We should never feel condemned or rejected by God once we are sure that we have been elected and justified.
- We should not take sin lightly, even if we think we are among God's elect.
- We can come boldly into God's presence without fear or hesitation, knowing that we are justified and accepted by Him.