Romans 3.23-28

Pentecost 11

Hymns: 376, 399, 377, 402

The Doctrine of Justification has been called the chief doctrine of the Christian church, the doctrine by which the church either stands or falls. "If this Doctrine of Justification is lost, then the Christian faith is lost" (God So Loved the World. L. Lange. P.335). Would you agree with what I’ve just said? I trust that you would. It is, of course, helpful if you fully understand what the Doctrine of Justification is so that you can understand and agree why, if it is lost, so is the Christian faith lost.

Under the umbrella theme of First Century Biblical Doctrines for Twenty-first Century Biblical Christians, let us consider this morning this timeless truth: THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFI-CATION: COMPLETE AND UNIVERSAL What this theme is conveying is that there are some folks, some Christians, who don’t have a correct understanding of the Doctrine of Justifica-tion and, as a result, teach something that is incorrect and there-fore deprives people of the comfort and strength that this doc-trine has been providing for as long as this planet has been in existence.

This Doctrine of Justification was first established in the Garden of Eden when God promised to Adam and Eve that even though they had brought sin and death into existence by disobeying his command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he himself would do something about sin and death and their guilt. They couldn’t do anything to change what they had done. They couldn’t talk God into giving them another chance by pretending they had not sinned. You and I can count on God to mean what he says and when he says that they would die if they sinned, he meant that. But when he said that he would fix the problem of sin, we can count on God that he means that, too.

Imagine what would happen at a major league baseball game if a batter let a pitch go by and the umpire called it a strike. The batter steps out of the batter's box and says to the umpire, "I really didn't mean to let that pitch go by; may I have that pitch over again?" Would you say that the umpire is a kind, understanding person if he said, "Okay; I'll give you a new pitch to look at?" Or would say that the umpire is a heartless tyrant, if he said, "A new pitch? You've got to be kidding. You know what the rules are. Neither the pitcher or any other batter could trust any pitch I called in the future if I allowed you to have another pitch. Play ball!" Nor would God be God if he failed to carry out his threat to Adam and Eve that disobedience would lead to death. Nor would we be able to count on God's promise of free forgiveness if he failed to condemn Adam and Eve as he said he would.

The Doctrine of Justification is this that God did something about the guilt of sin and about the death in hell that all of us deserve. And what he did is what this sermon is all about. Forgiveness is free to all people, not to just a few. Forgiveness is complete; there’s nothing we have to do obtain it. But not everyone will go to heaven. Let’s explore these thoughts together.

Paul writes in our text what Scripture teaches us from beginning to end (v 23). Ps 14:3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Adam and Eve could not change what they had become, guilty of sin, nor can anyone else who has descended from them make that change. This is reality. The only way that anyone could die and go to heaven is never to have had anything to do with sin. And that’s impossible. As impossible as it is for you to live on a diet of stones and cardboard and used engine oil, so it is impos-posible for you to go to heaven when you die by being nice to people, by donating your time and money for worthy causes, or by saying your prayers every day and going to church on a fairly regular basis. Even though these are all good things that I’ve mentioned, they cannot change your nature from being guilty of sin to being not guilty of sin, anymore eating a card-board box with a picture of Cheerios on the side, or eating stones even though they came from a vegetable garden, or drinking used engine oil just because it is a liquid like milk... you get the picture.

Yet the Doctrine of Justification teaches that you will go to hea-ven when you die. How is that possible? Because God fixed the problem of sin; he took care of the reason why you and I should not be going to heaven when we die. (V 23,24). The word jus-tified means "to be acquitted of guilt," to be "declared not guilty of sin." How can God do that since we’ve just reminded our-selves that we are guilty of sin? And the answer is because Je-sus paid for the guilt of sin with his life and applied that pay-ment of sin to our life (v 24).

And this justification is complete. There is nothing we have to do to make forgiveness complete. Some Christians teach that the forgiveness of sins isn’t complete until you decide to believe that Jesus paid for your sins. Whether someone believes that Jesus paid for sin or not doesn’t change what he did.

For example, if I told you that I put $25,000 into your bank account, I wouldn’t say, "If you believe I put $25,000 into your bank account, then it’s there. But if you don’t believe it, then it’s not there." Whether the money is in your bank or not is not based on whether you choose to believe it or not. I’ve complet-ed the transaction without your cooperation.

And so Jesus completed the work of salvation without our co-operation. Jesus said to more than one person whom we read about in the Bible, "Your sins are forgiven" (Mt 9.2). He didn’t say to those people, "If you believe that I paid for your sins then I paid for your sins." Justification is complete. You don’t have do anything to complete what Jesus started or cooperate with Jesus in some way to be forgiven.

On the other hand, it’s also true that we are "justified by faith," that is, the forgiveness is yours through faith in Jesus but does not benefit someone who does not believe in Jesus.

Paul writes (v 27,28). Jesus paid for the sins of all people. "God so loved the world," Jesus said, "that God gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3.16). Jesus paid for the sins of the world. Jesus died for all. "Jesus is the atoning sacrifice...not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 Jn 2.2). The Doc-trine of Justification teaches that Jesus paid for everyone’s sins, whether they believe it or not. So you don’t have to wonder or worry about whether Jesus paid for your sins; he did. And there may be times when you do wonder because of your sinful be-havior, sinful choices, sinful weaknesses...you wonder if those sins have really been paid for. The Doctrine of Justification says that he did.

In order to benefit that forgiveness it is necessary to believe that Jesus paid for your sins, of course. And we will deal with that in a later sermon. But it is not true, as some Christians believe, that everyone will go to heaven whether they believe in Jesus or not (Jn 3.18, 14.6; Acts 4.12). Justification applies to all people uni-versally. No one was excluded from being forgiven when Jesus died on the cross and rose again. And this is what you can tell people as fact: all sin has been paid for by Jesus; there is noth-ing you can do or must do to be saved; Jesus did everything. Believe that; you are at peace with God and will be forever. Amen

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Jn 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Jn 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

2 Cor 5:19-21 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.