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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Dr. Wes Bredenhof > You can only be justified with faith in Christ | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) Hymn 6 Psalm 143:1,5 Hymn 35 Hymn 1 Psalm 79:5 Scripture reading: Galatians 2:1-16 Catechism lesson and text: Lord's Day 23 and Galatians 2:15-16 |
Beloved congregation of Christ,
This afternoon we’re learning about justification. To briefly define that, it is God’s declaration that we are right with him. Did you know how many ways there are to get this doctrine wrong? I’ve noticed at least 8 ways. Let me give you just a couple of examples.
Some teach that we’re justified by following the example of Jesus, the true human being. He was justified by living a sinless life. We have to do the same. That’s a form of justification by works. Others teach that justification is the possession of the church. So if you become a member of the church, you’re automatically justified. We could call that error justification by church membership.
People have been getting justification wrong for centuries. You can see it in the book of Galatians. In the churches of Galatia there were these false teachers known as Judaizers. They were teaching that to be justified, you needed to follow the Mosaic laws, including circumcision, the dietary laws, and the ceremonies of the law. Already in chapter 1 of Galatians, the Apostle Paul says that the Judaizers are proclaiming a different gospel. In doing that, Paul says they are cursed by God. That tells us how important it is to get justification right.
So this afternoon with our catechism lesson being Lord’s Day 23, we’re going to focus our attention on justification as it’s revealed in Galatians 2:15-16. We’ll learn how you can only be justified with faith in Christ. We’ll consider justification and its:
- Need
- Basis
- Means
When we think about justification and its place in church history, our thoughts often go to Martin Luther, the famous German Reformer. While in the Catholic Church, he’d been taught that justification is a process never completed in this life. You need Christ for justification, but you also need your own holy works to add to what Christ has done. That false teaching caused Martin Luther no end of anxiety. The church taught that God would not deny his grace to do those who did what they could. But what if you never really did everything you could? How could you receive grace? How could you be right with God? You see, Luther had a really good understanding of human sinfulness. But he couldn’t see the way out until God opened his eyes to the biblical truth of justification.
Anyone who has been properly taught the law of God knows their need for justification. If you have been properly taught God’s law, then you know God is holy and you’re not. You know God is infinitely holy and you’re woefully sinful. You also know that the wages of sin is death. You can’t have life that lasts forever in this condition. You can’t be right with God, you can’t be justified. This is why David in Psalm 143:2 pleads, “Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.” We sang that a couple of minutes ago and it’s alluded to in the last part of Galatians 2:16.
Our need for justification stems from who we are as we stand before a holy God. We know that in order to live with him forever in peace and fellowship, we need to be righteous. But we also know we’re not righteous, not anywhere close. The law says, “You shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Perfection is the demand of God’s law. You don’t have that. The law says, if you fall short on one commandment, you’ve fallen short on them all. Comprehensive obedience is the demand of God’s law. You don’t have that either. The law says that some way has to be found for payment to be made for the sins you’ve committed. But you can’t pay when you’re just every day increasing your debt. It’s like to try to fill a leaky bucket full of holes.
Justification is something we need, but at the same time it’s something we can’t do for ourselves. It’s something that has to be done for us. In Galatians 2:16, each time the word “justified” is mentioned it’s in the passive voice. That means it’s something God has to do for us. We can’t do it for ourselves. We need God to justify the ungodly, to justify us.
But how does God do that? Here we’re learning about the basis. In Galatians 2, Paul was addressing those who got this wrong. Everyone agreed with the need for justification, just like today almost everyone who calls themselves a Christian would agree there’s a need for justification. The big question is how, on what basis?
To answer that, Paul first notes his background as a Jew. When he was living according to the Jewish religion, he was pursuing justification by works. He wasn’t a “Gentile sinner.” By that, he means someone who’s not Jewish, who doesn’t follow the Jewish ceremonial laws about diet, circumcision and so on. The point isn’t that the Jewish person isn’t a sinner while the Gentiles are. He’s not talking about God’s perspective. The point is that from the perspective of the Jews, the Gentiles were sinners.
Now as a Jewish Christian, Paul too knows the truth about the basis of justification. He knows that it’s not by works of the law. Works of the law refers to living according to the Mosaic ceremonial laws. No one is going to be declared righteous by God on that basis. Even the best law obedience is tainted by sin, so it’s never going to be good enough to merit God’s approval.
Instead, justification comes on the basis of what Jesus Christ has done for the sinner. Though it’s not worked out in Galatians 2:16, we know from elsewhere in the Bible that there are two parts to what Christ has done for our justification. Let’s briefly look at each of them.
First, through what Christ has done on the cross we have forgiveness of all our sins. Every Christian’s sins are fully forgiven, sins of the past, present, and even the future. They’re all cleansed through the blood shed by Christ in our place. We have offended God in so many different ways, but all the offense is removed out of God’s sight. We have a special name for this part of the basis of our justification. We call it the passive obedience of Christ. “Passive” there isn’t the opposite of “active.” “Passive” means “suffering.” So the suffering obedience of Christ forms part of the basis of our righteousness before God. It does that because through it we have forgiveness of our sins.
The other part is what we call the active obedience of Christ. Not only must God be satisfied that our sins are taken out of the way, going forward we also need perfect obedience to his law. Christ provides that for us as well. He obeyed the moral law of God in our place. His obedience is transferred over or imputed to us. So now when God looks at us, he sees perfect law-keepers, just like his Son.
The passive and active obedience of Christ are together the basis for our justification. These are like the arguments brought forward in a court case. In fact, the whole notion of justification in the Bible is based on the image of a court room. We’re the accused. God is the Judge. If it was just us and him, we’d be eternally lost because of the sins we’ve committed. But there’s another figure in the courtroom. There is a mediator, a go-between, and his name is Jesus Christ. He defends us. He presents his active and passive obedience as grounds for the Judge to make a verdict in our favour.
The good news is that the Judge accepts those grounds. So he delivers the verdict in our favour. It’s important to understand that the verdict isn’t merely innocent. In an earthly courtroom, that’s the best you can hope for. An earthly judge will decide guilty or not guilty. But in the heavenly courtroom, the Judge declares that the sinner is righteous. “Righteous” is far more than innocent or not guilty. It means not only that the Judge looks at you as if you have never sinned, but also he looks at you as someone who has always in the past kept the law and always will in the future keep the law. “Righteous” is the verdict we need to live with God in friendly fellowship forever.
The good news gets even better because the Judge now becomes our Father. In no earthly courtroom does that ever happen. But in the heavenly courtroom it does. And if you’ve been declared righteous on the basis of what Christ has done, something else happens that never happens in an earthly courtroom. You’re adopted into the Judge’s family. You become one of his beloved children and he is your Father forever. It’s a beautiful picture of gospel grace. It’s there for every Christian only on the grounds of what Jesus has done.
It’s a wonderful gift. When someone gives you a gift, you need to somehow take hold of it. For example, if I were to say that I want to give you a gift of $1000, I might ask you to give me your bank details. I can transfer over the gift, but you need to supply me with the bank details in order for it to happen. It’s the same thing with justification. It’s an incredible gift, but there is a means by which we take hold of that gift. That’s the last thing we’re learning about this afternoon.
In Galatians 2:16, the apostle Paul says we’re justified “through faith in Jesus Christ.” He says that he himself believed in Christ Jesus “in order to be justified by faith in Christ.” Before we look closer at what this means, we should first be clear on what it doesn’t mean.
As our Catechism points out in Answer 61, being justified through faith doesn’t mean our faith somehow becomes part of the basis for our justification. It says, “Not that I am acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith…” If that were the case, then I’d be contributing something to the grounds for my righteousness with God. Then it would be Jesus plus my faith equals justification. Similar to our Catechism, our Belgic Confession says in article 22, “we do not mean that faith as such justifies us.” Christ alone is our righteousness. He’s our righteousness perfectly and fully.
So what does it mean then that we’re justified by faith? Faith is the means by which we take hold of the gift of Christ’s righteousness. As our Belgic Confession says, faith is the instrument by which we embrace Christ our righteousness. You could think of faith being like the hands that take hold of a gift given to you. You take the gift in your hands and it then becomes yours. Through faith, you take hold of Christ and his righteousness becomes yours so you can be justified before God.
It’s vitally important to understand what faith does in justification. To put it simply, in justification faith rests, trusts, and receives. Let me explain each of those.
Faith rests. Instead of busily trying to measure up for God, faith stops all effort at righteousness. Rather it rests in Jesus Christ and what he has done. Faith says, “I don’t have to do anything. Christ has done it all.”
Faith trusts. Instead of turning inward and thinking we have any righteousness in ourselves, faith looks outward to Jesus Christ and trusts in what he has done in his passive and active obedience. Faith trusts in what he did on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Faith trusts in what he did in his life of perfect obedience to God’s law.
Finally, faith receives. Faith says, “God has graciously given me this gift. I accept it with joy.” Faith receives the gift and we now can say that Christ’s righteousness is ours. Our sin has been transferred over to him and his righteousness has been transferred over to us. What a relief! What a joy!
So you see, in the doctrine of justification, our faith is passive. In sanctification it’s quite different. Sanctification is the process of living a Christian life. In sanctification, our faith is active and living and doing things like acting in love. But in justification, our faith is resting, trusting, and receiving. God is the one who has graciously done everything for us in Christ – so, as our Catechism says in Lord’s Day 23, all we have to do is “accept this gift with a believing heart.”
So given those truths about justification, what are we to do? Some passages have practical applications of various sorts. This is just one of those places in Scripture where it’s about what God has done for us. The focus is on him and the justification he’s provided as a free gift. Now that certainly does lead us to praise. That does lead us to gratitude – or at least it should.
But what else? There’s always a human tendency to think we do contribute something to our standing before God. I’ve preached on justification countless times. Over the years, I’ve had occasions where someone has heard me preach on it several times. But then the third or fourth time, they finally get it. It registers. At last they understand that justification is through Christ’s merits alone, and received only through faith. Maybe there’s someone here this afternoon getting it for the first time. If that’s you, I praise God. And for those who still don’t get it, I’m going to keep repeating it until you do. As Luther said, this truth has to keep being banged into people’s heads by preachers.
Loved ones, if you don’t already get it, if you think you can be righteous with God because of your own efforts, you don’t get God’s holiness and you don’t get the enormity of your own sin. God is incomprehensibly holy. And we’re not. Quite the opposite. Our deeds are never going to be good enough. You need Christ and what he did for you. You need Christ alone. You need to take hold of him by a personal faith. Martin Luther once asked, “What is it about your own miserable works and doings that you think you could please God more than the sacrifice of his own Son?”
Justification has been called the doctrine by which the church stands or falls. It’s been called the hinge of all true religion. It stands at the heart of the gospel, vital to the eternal life held out for us by the Word of God. It’s so important to understand it correctly, because when you do, it not only lifts a weight off your shoulders, it not only cheers your heart, but above all, it glorifies our great God and Saviour. AMEN.
PRAYER
Merciful God,
Thank you for the gospel of our justification. We praise you that in Jesus Christ we have all the righteousness we need. We worship you for his active and passive obedience. Please help us with your Holy Spirit that we would never look to ourselves for righteousness but only outwards to Christ. Thank you for the precious gift of faith. If there is anyone here in our midst this afternoon who doesn’t yet have this gift, we pray that you would give it through the almighty power of your Holy Spirit. Father, thank you that we who believe have the verdict of righteous through Jesus. Thank you that you are our Father and we’re your beloved children. Please encourage us with these beautiful gospel truths more and more each day, so we would always be filled with love and wonder.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Dr. Wes Bredenhof, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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