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Salvation: Justification · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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It's good to be with you tonight. It's always a joy and a privilege and an honor to be able to share His Word no matter what circumstance, no matter where we are in our lives.
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It's good to come here. I had a pretty rough day today. Just being honest with you guys, it's just kind of one of those rough days. A lot of stuff happened at work and I work in the IT field, so when stuff goes wrong, I'm responsible for that and we have to get that stuff working again. It was pretty tough.
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So let's go to the Lord and pray real quick so we can just praise Him for tonight and the fellowship that we get to experience together in His Word and in worship.
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Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for giving us the opportunity here tonight to hear Your Word, but not only just to be hearers, but also be doers.
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So Father, I pray that You would make Your Word alive in our hearts tonight.
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Father, that it would transform us. It would transform our understanding of You. It would transform our understanding of the cross and of this topic that's so important for us to understand in our faith.
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So Father, I pray that You would use this time tonight, that You would utilize this time tonight for Your glory.
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And Father, we would see the ultimate reality of our salvation in You. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.
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If you have a Bible tonight, and I hope you do, I invite you to open with me to Galatians chapter 2.
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Galatians chapter 2.
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And we have a great Word to study tonight.
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I know that it's great because every passage that we study in God's Word is great, isn't it?
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I love God's Word. It's just great to be able to study it.
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But tonight, I'm praying that this chapter will just come alive in this room.
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And it will come alive in our hearts.
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And that it would transform our lives and transform our understanding of the cross.
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And our understanding of our salvation.
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And ultimately, our view of our topic tonight, which is, as Nathan already mentioned, justification.
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It's very important that we understand that.
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And I want to be clear tonight that we're not just teaching topics here.
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I'm going to be primarily teaching from a singular passage, which is known as expository preaching,
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even though it seems like we might be teaching topically here on Thursday nights.
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And it's true that we have an idea of where we're going.
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We teach from God's Word. We don't teach from a topic.
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And I think it's important for us to grasp that because we find our truth in God's Word, not from man-centered ideas.
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And that's why we, as a church, have made a commitment to teaching expository messages on Sunday mornings.
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And we teach expository on Thursday nights in our Bible studies because we get our truth from God's Word,
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not from an idea where we pull an idea out of our heads and then we try to apply Scripture to it.
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That's the wrong way to handle God's Word.
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We get our ideology and our ideas because we believe that God has given us a Word that is sufficient.
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And we believe that God's given us everything in Scripture that pertains to life and godliness.
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And therefore, we get our truth. We derive our truth from Scripture and not from man-centered ideas.
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This text tonight speaks strongly toward justification.
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And Paul, as you know, is writing to a church of Galatia or the people of God in Galatia.
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And what we have here in this chapter, we're going to go through the whole chapter.
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What we have here is two episodes, essentially two episodes, and then we have an explanation at the end.
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So that's how we're going to divide the text tonight in three different ways.
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So let's dive into the first episode, Galatians 2, verse 1.
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Then after fourteen years, I went up against Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.
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I went up because of a revelation and set before them, though privately before those who seemed influential,
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the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running or had not run in vain.
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But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.
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Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ,
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so that they might bring us into slavery, to them we did not yield in submission, even for a moment,
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so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
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Verse 6.
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Verse 6.
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And when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me,
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they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me,
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that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
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Only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing that I was eager to do.
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Galatians 2, verses 1 through 10, this first episode, the first section that we're kind of looking at tonight,
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is a picture of legalism.
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It's a picture of legalism.
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If you're a note taker, this is what I want you to do, is warm up your pens and get ready for some definitions tonight.
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Legalism is a situation where there is a right behavior with a wrong belief.
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Legalism is a situation where there is a right behavior with a wrong belief.
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I'm going to explain that in just a moment.
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But here's what's going on.
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The problem in the church is that they have these Judaizers who are coming in and saying that you have to do certain things,
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you've got to perform certain laws or certain rituals in order to receive grace from God.
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And so you have these people who are trying to explain these things,
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and namely what we're talking about here is circumcision.
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They're saying in order for you to receive grace, it's only available to you if you are circumcised.
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This is what these Judaizers are saying.
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They're saying you have to follow the law of the Old Testament, the old law.
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And this is where Paul talks about how Titus, who he himself, a Gentile, wasn't compelled to participate,
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wasn't compelled to be circumcised.
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And this was huge.
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This was incredibly huge because if Titus had been compelled to be circumcised,
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then it would have been an affront to the gospel of grace that Paul was teaching.
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Because it would have made the gospel conditional.
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It would be conditional upon whether or not you were circumcised.
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And you would have had to have been circumcised in order to receive this gospel.
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Or you have to do certain things to receive this gospel.
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And so here we have legalism at its finest.
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That's what's going on in this first section of Scripture, the first section of Galatians 2.
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And legalism at its heart is working on our own rules and in our own power.
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And ultimately legalism is working to earn God's favor.
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You follow a set of rules.
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You perform these certain sacraments.
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You do things right.
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And then you earn favor with God.
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That is what legalism is.
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I'll give you an example just real quickly of my own life.
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When I was growing up, I had a brother that was six years older than me.
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And I looked up to him.
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Anybody a younger sibling?
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We have quite a few younger siblings here.
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Man, I looked up to my older brother like he was...
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I mean, I just wanted to be just like him.
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And so one day we were...
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After school, we were at home alone before mom and dad got home from work.
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And that's when we usually got into trouble.
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You know, that's when we usually did things that we weren't supposed to be doing.
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So we went outside.
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We were bored.
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We went outside one day.
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And we started to pick up the little stone pebbles that are in the landscaping...
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Like the landscaping pebbles that are, you know, in our bushes and stuff.
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And we started to pick those up and just start chunking them over the house.
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Don't ask me why.
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It's completely pointless.
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But we were having a good time.
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And so we were picking up these pebbles.
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We got a handful of them.
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And he starts throwing them.
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So I'm the little brother following along with what he's doing.
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And I started picking up pebbles and chunking them over the house.
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Well, it didn't take real long.
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I didn't take too many stones before me as an uncoordinated six-year-old.
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I take a pebble and I start to chunk it.
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And I just...
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Straight into a glass storm door.
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And this thing didn't just crack.
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This thing started in one little bitty section.
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And you could see it as if it was in slow motion.
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From that one section, millions of cracks started to spread out from there.
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And glass started to rain down from this thing.
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And I'm looking at this thinking, I'm in trouble.
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I'm in big trouble now.
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Because me and my brother did a lot of stuff that we could kind of cover over.
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We used a lot of paint in our lifetime to cover up marks on the wall and things like that.
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Where we scuffed up the walls or we were doing something we shouldn't be doing and we could cover over.
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This was not something that I could cover up.
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And so I knew that I was in trouble.
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And so I went in my room and I just started bawling.
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The six-year-old, you know, you're just like crying because you know you're in trouble.
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I said, Craig, you've got to call Mom and my brother.
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His name's Craig.
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You've got to call Mom and let her know because she's going to come home and find it anyway.
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So we've got to get out of this somehow.
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And there's no getting out of it, of course.
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The consequence, by the way, is really what we're heading toward for the story.
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But the consequence was, it must have been around fall time because there must have been leaves in the yard.
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And my dad came home and was like, okay, we've got to figure out a consequence for that.
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So you guys need to get out in the yard and rake some leaves.
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So we rake leaves.
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Not just that day.
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We raked leaves all fall.
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Anytime there was a leaf in the yard, dad was like, remember the storm door?
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Get out in the yard and start raking.
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The next year came around.
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Leaves started falling again.
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Remember the storm door?
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It's time to get outside.
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Third year, fourth year, fifth year.
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I'm not even kidding.
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It was like we kept being reminded of this thing where we had to do.
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We had to go out and rake and rake and rake.
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And we never, I mean, I'm surprised my dad doesn't still bring it up.
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For how many years he kept bringing that up.
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But in my six-year-old mind to 13-year-old, however long it lasted that we had to go rake yard,
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I felt or I thought that I had to go rake leaves to earn my father's love.
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That's what I thought.
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But the reality was that my dad's love was there for me all along the way.
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And I know this being on the other side of fatherhood, of being a father myself.
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If Joseph were to do something, yes, he would have consequences.
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I don't know if he's going to have five years worth of leaf raking, but he would have consequences.
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But my love would still remain for him.
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I know that on this side of fatherhood.
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And I know, looking back, that my dad loved me all along the way.
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Now, think about our definition of legalism.
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Right behavior with wrong belief.
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Was it wrong for me to rake leaves?
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No.
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It's absolutely not wrong for me to rake leaves.
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It was a good thing to serve my family.
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I was being obedient to my father.
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I was facing the consequences of the poor decision that I made.
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But was it wrong for me to think that I needed to rake leaves to receive my father's love?
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Yes.
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And that's what these Judaizers were saying needed to be done, to be circumcised, to follow Jewish laws.
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Needed to be done in order to receive the father's love, in order to be accepted for the father.
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Were following Jewish laws or being circumcised in and of themselves wrong?
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No, absolutely not.
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Circumcision was a huge part of God's story.
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It's a huge part of the history of God.
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It's a huge part of the old covenant.
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There was absolutely nothing wrong with circumcision.
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I want you to hear that loud and clear tonight.
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There was nothing wrong with following the old law.
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But when it became a bad thing is when it was accompanied by the belief that they needed to do these things in order to earn favor with God.
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Or in order to earn acceptance with God.
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It's right behavior with wrong belief.
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Now translate that a couple thousand years later into our context.
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We're not talking about circumcision.
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We're not talking about Jewish law.
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Most of us aren't really stumbling over that issue right now.
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But what are the good things we do?
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What are the really great things that we do in our Christian lives?
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Maybe a quiet time.
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Or maybe it's showing up here on Thursday night for Bible study.
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You check that off on your list of things that you do good for the week.
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You're serving people.
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Or maybe it's a prayer meeting on Friday morning.
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So you come to you.
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Good things.
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These are excellent behaviors to which we place, we pour our lives into.
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And there's nothing wrong with doing these things.
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But where we run into wrong is as soon as they're accompanied by the belief that doing those things finds us more favor with God.
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We've missed the point.
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Right behavior with wrong belief.
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I know some of you right now are thinking, man, what does this have anything to do with justification?
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It has everything to do with justification.
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I hope you can track with me as we continue on through God's Word.
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So we're going to look at the second picture, Galatians 2, 11.
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Galatians 2, we'll start in verse 11 for the second picture here.
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When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he was clearly in the wrong.
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Before certain men came from James.
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And he used to eat with the Gentiles.
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But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles
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because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
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And so what we have going on here right now is we have two different groups.
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It's two different segments.
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You can almost even think about it, if we want to bring it into our context,
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you can think of it as Reformed believers and non-Reformed believers.
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You have two different camps and they're believing two different things.
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And so you have people who believe that circumcision was necessary.
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Then you have those who are Gentiles who don't believe that circumcision was necessary.
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And these groups are in conflict with one another.
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Believers in conflict with other believers and their beliefs.
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And so what he's saying here is that Peter's beginning to draw back from the Gentiles
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because he's afraid of what the people who are circumcised, the Jews, with their thinking of him.
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All along the way.
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Verse 13.
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So the first part of Galatians chapter 2 is a picture of legalism.
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The second part of Genesis chapter 2 is a picture of hypocrisy.
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It's a picture of hypocrisy.
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For you note-takers, hypocrisy is right belief with wrong behavior.
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Hypocrisy is right belief with wrong behavior.
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Let me explain what just happened in Genesis 2, 11 through 14.
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It's kind of hard to follow this.
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And I believe this is one of those sections of Scripture that's hard to follow because of translation.
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It's not just because, you know, it just seems kind of wordy.
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And I think that that's how it had to be translated.
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But this is one of the most dramatic, most intense episodes in all of church history.
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And certainly in the New Testament.
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Because what you have here is the Apostle Paul is publicly confronting the Apostle Peter.
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Two big shots in apostolic history, okay?
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These two big shots in early history.
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They are apostles, which means that they're above just a regular disciple.
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They are these first major teachers.
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And you have Apostle Paul going up against the man who essentially taught the first Christian sermon.
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And he was kind of, you can kind of think of Peter kind of like the leader of the apostles in a sense.
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And Paul's going up against him in front of these people.
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And this was an intense moment.
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And there's background here that has to be explained.
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It mostly centers around Acts chapter 10 where Peter receives a vision from God
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that essentially tells him that the gospel is not just open to the Gentiles.
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That salvation is not just open, I'm sorry, to the Jews.
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It's not just open to the Jews.
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But now it's open to a whole range of people that we call the Gentiles.
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The people who aren't Jews.
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What was once available only to a small segment of the population
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is open up to a whole world of people.
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Now this is really important for us in here tonight.
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Because most of us who are in here tonight will fall under the category of Gentile.
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Most of us are not Jewish by heritage.
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So this is a great truth for us.
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Because we are now part of the new covenant.
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We are allowed to be part of the new covenant in Christ Jesus.
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And Peter was there.
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Peter knew the gospel.
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He believed the gospel.
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And he knew.
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We know from Acts chapter 10.
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He knew that the gospel was open to Gentiles.
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He knew that.
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But Peter's life wasn't reflecting the gospel.
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He knew that all men were accepted before God.
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Regardless of whether they were circumcised or not circumcised.
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But he wasn't practicing that in his life.
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Now again, we can't just keep this in the context of 2,000 years ago.
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We've got to bring this back into our context today.
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We don't normally get hung up over circumcision.
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But are there inconsistencies in your life?
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Are there inconsistencies in your life that don't line up with the gospel that we believe in?
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If we believed in a Savior that came to preach good news to the poor and to the powerless,
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yet our lives aren't entirely abandoned to teaching that and taking that message to the world,
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then our lives are out of line with the gospel.
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We're out of step with the gospel.
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They don't match up with the gospel.
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And there's inconsistency there.
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And I don't really think we have to give many examples tonight,
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because each and every one of us struggle in some way differently.
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We all have different struggles.
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We all have different inconsistencies that don't line up with the gospel.
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I struggle with stuff.
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You struggle with stuff.
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I might struggle with different things than you struggle with.
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But let us suffice to say that if your life doesn't look radically different than the rest of the world,
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then you're probably not living for the gospel, for the sake of the gospel.
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There's probably inconsistencies in your life.
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And these things are often evident, by the way, in the way that we spend our time,
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in the way that we spend our money,
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the way that we spend our thoughts as we think about things,
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even down to the way that we dress sometimes.
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There can be inconsistencies.
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And so what we have to do, as a people of God, is avoid both of these errors.
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We have to avoid legalism, thinking that we have the behaviors right,
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and everything's okay.
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We have to avoid, on the other hand,
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talking and believing in this gospel of grace,
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and then living our lives just like the rest of the world.
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So how do we bring these two things together?
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How do we fuse right beliefs with right behavior?
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How do we pull these two things together?
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And the answer, it's going to be a Sunday school answer,
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and you've got to bear with me on this one,
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the answer is faith.
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The answer is faith.
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And this is where justification comes into play.
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This idea of faith and justification fuse these two ideas together.
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So let's continue in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 15.
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We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,
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yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law,
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but through faith in Jesus Christ,
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so that we have believed in Christ Jesus,
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in order to be justified by faith in Christ,
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and not by works of the law,
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because by works of the law no one will be justified.
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But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ,
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we too were found to be sinners,
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is Christ a servant of sin?
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Certainly not.
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For if I rebuild what I tore down,
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I prove myself to be a transgressor.
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For through the law I died to the law,
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so that I might live to God.
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Verse 20.
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I have been crucified with Christ,
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and it is no longer I who live,
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but Christ who lives in me.
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And the life I now live in the flesh,
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I live by faith in the Son of God,
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who loved me and gave himself for me.
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I do not nullify the grace of God.
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For if righteousness were through the law,
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then Christ died for no purpose.
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You see the two key words mentioned throughout this section of Scripture?
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The two key words there are justified in faith.
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Justified in faith.
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And over and over and over again,
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you'll notice that justification,
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not just in this passage,
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but all over the New Testament,
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that justification is one of the amazing results of faith in Jesus Christ.
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We know that man is not justified by observing the law,
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so we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus,
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that we might be justified by faith in Christ,
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not by observing the law,
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because by observing the law,
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no one will be justified.
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So what Paul is saying here is that we are justified by our faith.
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But what is justification?
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It's translated all throughout the New Testament
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as justified, just, justify, justification, righteousness, right, or righteous.
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All those words can essentially be interchanged in New Testament terminology.
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And it's one of the most important concepts that any follower of Christ can really grasp.
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And so this is an incredibly important concept for us to understand tonight.
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If we walk away from here not understanding justification,
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then this is going to be a travesty.
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We have to understand what this justification means for us tonight.
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Luther said,
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The doctrine of justification by faith alone
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is the doctrine upon which the church stands or dies.
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Sorry, or falls.
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John Calvin said,
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It's the hinge upon which everything turns.
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So it's at the heart of the Reformation,
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and it's at the heart of New Testament Christianity.
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Luther said in another place, he said,
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The justification is the truth of the gospel.
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It's the principal article of all Christian doctrine,
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wherein the knowledge of all godliness consists.
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Most necessary it is, therefore,
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that we should know this article well,
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teach it unto others,
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and beat it into their heads continually.
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I like that, don't you?
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We're just to beat this concept of justification into each other's heads.
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Man, you trip up, you stumble, you fall.
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Yeah, you go to your brother and your sister in Christ.
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You confront them with their sin,
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but then you beat justification into their heads.
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Because the reality is that we are justified.
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We are justified.
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So we clearly see this is a very important concept,
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and it's certainly important for us to get this right.
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And we get this clear and precise in our understanding.
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I've heard people attempt to explain it in this way,
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and it's not that this is a wrong way to explain justification necessarily,
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it's just that it's an incomplete way to explain justification.
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But you may have heard this before,
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have you ever heard anybody say,
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justification means it's just as if I'd never sinned.
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And I think the problem with that is that
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in trying to find a cute way of explaining something
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so that we can remember it,
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we kind of don't encompass the whole of justification.
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So it's just as if I'd never sinned.
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But here's the problem.
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You have sinned.
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And the consequences for sin is death,
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according to Scripture.
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All over Scripture, the consequences for sin is death.
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So there's a consequence,
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and sin deserves the wrath of God.
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And God, who is just and holy,
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a God who is just and holy,
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can't just sweep sin under a rug and forget about it.
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There's a consequence that must be paid,
25:29
and somebody, someone,
25:32
has to pay that consequence.
25:36
And so the best way to understand justification
25:38
is to understand just a good, solid definition of justification.
25:42
So that's what we're going to do.
25:43
We're going to walk through this word by word,
25:46
because each word in this definition is incredibly important.
25:49
Note takers, here you go.
25:50
You're geared up, ready to go.
25:52
Justification is the gracious act of God.
25:57
So we're going to start there.
25:58
Justification is the gracious act of God.
26:01
It's something that God does by His grace.
26:07
In verse 16, at the very end of the verse,
26:09
he says,
26:10
Not by observing the law,
26:12
because by observing the law,
26:14
no one will be justified.
26:16
It's the same picture in Romans chapter 3,
26:18
where Paul also says,
26:20
There is no one who does good,
26:22
not even one.
26:25
There's nothing that anyone in all the earth
26:27
can do to initiate God's justification.
26:32
God does it by His own grace,
26:35
by His own will,
26:36
His own grace.
26:36
It's entirely from Him and by His grace.
26:41
Justification is the gracious act of God
26:44
by which God declares.
26:48
By which God declares.
26:51
The key word there is declares.
26:55
Justification is a declaration.
26:57
And the word picture that we have
26:58
with this word justification
27:01
is kind of in a courtroom setting.
27:03
You think of a judge
27:05
and how he declares judgment upon someone.
27:07
How he declares whether you're guilty
27:09
or not guilty.
27:11
He passes judgment.
27:13
And that's the picture,
27:14
the word picture that we get
27:15
is a holy judge who passes judgment,
27:18
makes a declaration.
27:19
And that's the language
27:20
that's being used here in justification.
27:22
It's not a process.
27:25
It is an act.
27:27
It happens at one point in time.
27:28
And this is huge for us to understand this.
27:31
It's huge for us to understand
27:32
that this is something that happens
27:34
as an act in one point in time
27:36
because we can't be more justified tomorrow
27:38
than we are today.
27:40
And we can't be more justified
27:42
a year from now than we are today.
27:46
Because justification happens.
27:47
It's an act.
27:49
It's not a process.
27:51
Romans 5.1, Paul says,
27:52
Since we have been justified through faith,
27:55
we have peace with God.
27:58
When we have been justified,
27:59
I want to just clarify that
28:01
if you're a born-again believer in this room,
28:05
you've been justified.
28:07
I don't want to make the assumption
28:08
that everybody in here is a born-again believer,
28:11
that everyone's redeemed,
28:12
because that may not be the case.
28:14
But God has made a once and for all declaration
28:18
over you as a believer in Christ Jesus.
28:23
Now that declaration involves next in the definition,
28:26
a sinner.
28:28
This is how it reads,
28:29
Justification is the gracious act of God
28:32
by which God declares a sinner.
28:37
This is the picture of justification.
28:38
It is God as the judge dealing with man, the sinner,
28:43
guilty before a holy God.
28:46
And this is so big for Paul to be teaching this doctrine.
28:50
Why?
28:51
Why is it so big that Paul is teaching this doctrine?
28:53
Because talk about a guy who,
28:55
before meeting Christ,
28:56
was trying to follow the rules to a T.
28:59
See, he attributed righteousness to himself
29:02
by trying to follow the law of God.
29:04
Yeah, he was persecuting the Christian church.
29:06
That was very true.
29:09
He was persecuting the church,
29:10
but why was he persecuting the church?
29:12
Because he believed that they were an affront
29:14
to the Old Testament law.
29:16
He believed that they were false teachers at the time.
29:20
But they were certainly not false teachers.
29:22
So he was attempting to be the best person that he could be.
29:25
And when he met Christ,
29:26
he was confronted not only with his inadequacy
29:30
because of his own sin,
29:31
he was also confronted with his inadequacy
29:34
to be able to do anything good
29:36
or anything righteous
29:38
that would live up to the standard of Christ.
29:42
Because there's nothing that he can do.
29:45
The best things that we bring to the table before God
29:48
are wickedness.
29:50
They're as filthy rags,
29:51
according to the Old Testament.
29:53
Nothing that we can bring to God
29:54
is good enough.
29:56
And so here's the picture.
30:00
What you have is a guilty man
30:01
standing before the Holy Judge of the universe,
30:04
and in justification,
30:05
you have a gracious act of God
30:07
by which God declares a sinner righteous.
30:11
That's the whole definition.
30:14
Gracious act of God
30:16
by which God declares a sinner righteousness.
30:19
That, ladies and gentlemen,
30:22
is an amazing, amazing truth.
30:28
That is an amazing truth.
30:30
That the Holy God of the universe,
30:32
the Holy Judge over all the earth,
30:35
would look at you and at me
30:38
as we're standing there
30:41
in direct defiance
30:43
and direct obedience to Him,
30:46
an affront to the gospel itself,
30:48
as we live in our sin,
30:50
that a holy God and a holy judge
30:52
would look down on me and you,
30:54
and He would say,
30:55
not guilty.
30:58
Not guilty.
31:00
Not guilty.
31:04
Righteous.
31:05
Accepted.
31:06
Peace before me.
31:09
It doesn't make sense
31:11
to us in our minds.
31:12
How can that happen?
31:15
Solely on the basis of faith in Christ Jesus.
31:19
That's how it happens.
31:20
That's the only way.
31:22
How can a sinner be declared righteous in God's sight?
31:24
I can tell you,
31:25
the process was not an easy process.
31:28
It required a perfect human sacrifice,
31:31
and it required God to sacrifice His Son,
31:34
and not just sacrifice Him,
31:36
but sacrifice Him in one of the most gruesome
31:38
kind of deaths that a human can experience.
31:41
But not only that,
31:44
and I may be getting ahead of myself here a little bit,
31:46
but not only did He die a gruesome death,
31:49
but He took on the sin of the world
31:51
into His body
31:53
when He hung on the cross.
31:55
We're talking about
31:56
a radical,
31:58
gruesome,
31:59
horrifying death.
32:00
The answer to the question
32:04
is that God has taken
32:05
the righteousness of Christ,
32:07
He has taken His righteousness,
32:09
and He has credited it
32:11
to the sinner's account.
32:12
This is 2 Corinthians 5.
32:16
God made Him who had no sin
32:19
to be sin for us.
32:21
And don't miss this.
32:22
God took all that was in your account,
32:25
all the unrighteousness,
32:26
all the sinful acts,
32:27
all the ugliness of sin,
32:29
and the willful rebellion,
32:30
and idolatry that was in your account,
32:33
and He placed that onto His Son
32:35
as He hung on the cross.
32:38
He didn't just sweep it under the rug
32:40
and pretend like it's not there.
32:43
See, Jesus, in His life,
32:44
He never minimized sin.
32:47
And God never minimizes sin.
32:50
In Luke chapter 7,
32:51
we have an account
32:52
where Jesus was eating
32:54
with the Pharisees,
32:56
as He often did.
32:57
He would eat with sinners,
32:57
he would eat with the Pharisees,
32:58
he would eat with whoever
32:59
invited Him over
33:00
because He wanted to make
33:01
an impact on the region,
33:03
He wanted to make an impact
33:04
on the culture,
33:05
and so He often would eat
33:06
with people who didn't
33:06
necessarily agree with Him.
33:07
So He was eating
33:08
with the Pharisees,
33:09
and word gets out around town
33:10
that Jesus is in this,
33:12
home,
33:14
and Simon the Pharisee,
33:16
in his house,
33:16
he was eating with them,
33:17
and word spreading
33:18
all over town,
33:18
and it gets to this one woman.
33:21
This woman was,
33:23
according to Scripture,
33:24
a known sinner,
33:24
possibly a prostitute.
33:28
But nonetheless,
33:28
we know that she was
33:29
a known sinner in the town.
33:32
You know, most of us,
33:32
we like to kind of
33:33
keep our sins private,
33:34
don't we?
33:35
This woman was not
33:36
keeping our sins private.
33:37
She was a known sinner.
33:39
And word gets to her
33:41
that Jesus is eating
33:42
with the Pharisees,
33:43
and I don't know
33:43
how all it spreads
33:44
and how it went.
33:45
I'm sure that Jesus
33:46
was starting to make
33:47
a stir in the land,
33:49
and so people were
33:49
talking about Him
33:50
wherever He goes,
33:51
and so this woman,
33:52
she hears somebody say,
33:53
Jesus,
33:53
He's over here.
33:55
He's in this house.
33:56
I saw Him walk in there
33:57
with the Pharisees.
33:58
She says,
34:00
Jesus,
34:01
He's eating over here
34:03
in this house?
34:05
Yeah,
34:05
I saw Him walk in.
34:06
And Simon,
34:08
the Pharisee,
34:08
went in his house.
34:10
He went in there,
34:11
and a couple other Pharisees
34:12
went in there,
34:12
and Jesus went in.
34:15
And this woman,
34:17
a known sinner,
34:20
I don't know what makes
34:21
someone do this,
34:22
but she was determined
34:24
to get in there.
34:27
She was determined
34:28
to go in
34:29
and to speak to Jesus.
34:31
I don't know what makes
34:32
a sinner do that,
34:34
but she was determined.
34:36
So she,
34:36
slips in the back door,
34:39
knocks out the cook.
34:41
I mean,
34:41
I don't know how you
34:42
get into these places.
34:43
You know,
34:43
there weren't big homes
34:45
like we have today,
34:46
so she somehow slips in,
34:48
gets to the area
34:49
where they're eating.
34:50
It says they're reclining
34:52
at the table,
34:52
which usually meant
34:53
that they all had their heads
34:54
in and tore the table together,
34:56
and they reclined.
34:57
It was a custom
34:57
that they did back then.
34:59
They didn't really necessarily
35:00
always sit in chairs
35:01
like we do today.
35:02
So they're reclining there,
35:03
and she makes her way
35:04
around to Jesus.
35:05
Remember,
35:08
a known sinner,
35:09
and she begins to weep.
35:12
She begins to weep,
35:13
and as her tears
35:14
are falling off of her face,
35:16
they're dripping
35:16
onto the feet
35:18
of the Son of God.
35:20
And as those tears
35:21
dripping,
35:22
accumulate,
35:23
she takes her hair
35:24
and begins to
35:26
scrub his feet
35:27
and to wash
35:28
his feet
35:29
with her tears.
35:30
she brought in
35:34
a container
35:35
with oil.
35:36
She anointed
35:36
his feet
35:37
with oil,
35:38
perfume.
35:42
Pharisees
35:43
had a heyday
35:44
with that.
35:45
Pharisees who were
35:46
eating with him
35:47
had a just,
35:48
you know,
35:48
if he was the Son of God,
35:49
he would surely know
35:51
that this woman,
35:53
they thought they had
35:53
Jesus trapped,
35:54
he would surely know
35:55
this woman was a known
35:56
sinner in this town.
35:57
If he was the Son of God
35:58
like he says he is,
35:59
he would surely know that.
36:00
And knowing their thoughts,
36:03
you gotta know Jesus
36:03
knew what they were saying,
36:04
he knew what they were
36:06
thinking in their minds.
36:08
He turns to them,
36:09
he says,
36:09
can I tell you a story?
36:12
Two men
36:13
owed money.
36:15
One owed a lot.
36:17
And one owed
36:17
just a little.
36:20
Both of their debts
36:21
were forgiven.
36:22
Who do you think
36:23
was more grateful,
36:24
the one who owed a lot
36:25
or the one who owed
36:26
a little?
36:28
They said,
36:29
well,
36:29
the one who owed a lot.
36:31
He said,
36:32
yep,
36:33
she owes a lot.
36:39
She sinned
36:40
in a public,
36:42
horrible way.
36:45
And her debt
36:46
is big.
36:49
She owes a lot.
36:51
See,
36:52
it's important to note
36:53
that Jesus doesn't
36:53
minimize the sin here.
36:56
He doesn't minimize
36:57
the sin.
36:57
He says that her debt
36:59
is big.
37:03
And he looks at the woman
37:04
and he says,
37:05
your sins
37:05
are forgiven.
37:09
Your sins are forgiven.
37:10
Your faith has saved you.
37:11
Go
37:12
in peace.
37:13
And even though
37:15
her sins
37:15
were never minimized,
37:16
she found peace
37:17
with God
37:18
that day
37:19
through his son.
37:20
And you'll notice
37:21
that it happened
37:22
in a declaration.
37:23
Jesus declaring
37:24
her sins
37:26
forgiven.
37:28
It's the picture
37:29
of justification.
37:30
And it works
37:30
the same way
37:30
for us
37:31
when we give our lives
37:32
over to Christ
37:33
and righteousness
37:34
is imputed
37:35
to us.
37:38
We are declared
37:39
righteous.
37:40
We are accepted
37:40
before God.
37:41
And this is why
37:42
Paul adamantly
37:43
opposes Peter
37:44
in this circumstance
37:45
and anyone else
37:46
who undercuts
37:47
the gospel
37:48
by trying to add
37:49
works
37:50
by necessity
37:52
for salvation.
37:54
Because God
37:55
has already done
37:56
the work for us.
37:58
Christ's work
37:59
on the cross
38:00
was sufficient
38:01
for us.
38:01
We no longer
38:02
have to work
38:03
for our salvation.
38:06
And I hope you see
38:07
why the doctrine
38:07
of justification
38:08
is such a beautiful
38:09
thing in the life
38:10
of the believer.
38:11
That through faith
38:12
in Christ
38:13
we are accepted
38:14
before God.
38:16
And you can see
38:16
why people
38:17
during the Reformation
38:17
were saying
38:18
man that just
38:18
sounds like
38:20
it's just too easy.
38:21
Because they had
38:22
been living
38:22
the life of works
38:23
before their doctrine
38:24
stated that they
38:25
had to do works.
38:27
They had to do
38:27
good things
38:28
to credit
38:29
to their account
38:29
to credit
38:30
toward their
38:30
righteousness.
38:33
And the church
38:34
at that time
38:34
had made people
38:35
believe this
38:36
by manipulating people.
38:37
And so Martin Luther
38:38
comes along
38:39
and Calvin
38:39
comes along
38:40
and all these
38:40
reformers
38:41
come along
38:41
and they say
38:42
no that's not
38:42
the way it works.
38:44
You get to
38:44
receive justification.
38:47
It's an act.
38:47
It's something
38:48
that God
38:48
declares us
38:49
righteous
38:50
because of our
38:52
faith.
38:54
And they're saying
38:54
no that's just
38:55
too easy.
38:57
You just trust
38:57
and that's it.
38:59
And it's the same
39:00
question that these
39:00
Judaizers were asking
39:01
in Galatians chapter 2.
39:02
Aren't you
39:03
undercutting the
39:04
obedience to the
39:05
law?
39:06
And Paul says
39:07
no.
39:08
Through faith in
39:08
Christ we're
39:09
accepted before
39:10
God.
39:10
Number one.
39:11
Number two.
39:12
Through faith in
39:13
Christ.
39:13
And this is where
39:13
it gets really
39:14
really really good
39:16
for the life
39:16
of the believer.
39:18
Through faith in
39:18
Christ we are
39:19
alive to
39:21
God.
39:24
So not only
39:25
are we accepted
39:26
before God
39:26
because of
39:27
justification.
39:27
We are alive
39:28
because of our
39:29
faith in Christ.
39:30
We are alive
39:31
to God.
39:32
And being alive
39:33
to God means
39:34
that our
39:34
life has been
39:35
transformed by
39:36
Christ.
39:37
And what the
39:38
work that he has
39:39
done in our
39:39
hearts and in
39:40
our lives.
39:40
And in verse
39:41
18 Paul says
39:42
if I rebuild
39:44
what I destroyed
39:44
I prove that I
39:45
am a lawbreaker
39:46
for through the
39:47
law I died
39:48
to the law
39:48
so that I
39:49
might live.
39:51
So that I
39:52
might live
39:53
for God.
39:56
Died to the
39:57
law so that I
39:57
might live for
39:58
God.
39:58
Paul is saying
39:59
that because of
40:00
our faith that
40:01
we are accepted
40:01
before God.
40:03
But faith is
40:04
also the
40:05
only way that
40:06
we can live
40:07
to God.
40:08
It's the only
40:08
way to experience
40:10
true life in
40:11
God.
40:12
You see Paul
40:12
is leaving no
40:13
room here for
40:15
a one time
40:15
decision that
40:16
you walk down
40:17
the aisle,
40:17
maybe you
40:18
prayed a
40:18
prayer and
40:18
you lived
40:19
your life just
40:20
like everybody
40:20
else.
40:21
There's no
40:21
room for that
40:22
in Paul's
40:23
theology.
40:24
There's no
40:25
room for that
40:25
in Paul's
40:26
doctrine.
40:27
It's not
40:27
possible because
40:28
if we are
40:28
saved by faith
40:29
and we also
40:30
live by faith,
40:32
our works
40:33
are a result
40:33
of our
40:34
faith in
40:34
other words.
40:36
And then
40:37
Paul gives
40:37
us a loaded
40:38
verse in
40:38
verse 20
40:39
and I
40:39
encourage you
40:39
if you've
40:40
not already
40:40
hidden this
40:41
scripture in
40:42
your heart,
40:43
if you've
40:43
not already
40:43
hidden this
40:44
word in
40:44
your heart,
40:45
that you
40:45
hide it in
40:46
your heart
40:46
this week.
40:48
It says,
40:49
I have been
40:49
crucified with
40:50
Christ and
40:51
I no longer
40:52
live but
40:53
Christ lives
40:54
in me.
40:56
And the
40:56
life that I
40:57
now live in
40:58
the flesh,
40:59
I live by
41:00
faith in
41:01
the Son of
41:01
God who
41:02
loved me and
41:03
gave himself
41:04
up for me.
41:05
What an
41:06
amazing verse.
41:08
I've been
41:08
crucified with
41:09
Christ.
41:10
What does
41:10
that mean?
41:11
What does it
41:11
mean to be
41:12
crucified with
41:12
Christ?
41:13
Does that
41:13
mean that
41:13
Paul was
41:14
there with
41:15
Jesus hanging
41:15
on the cross
41:16
with him?
41:16
No, he
41:17
wasn't physically
41:17
there with
41:18
him.
41:19
But it
41:19
means that
41:20
we are
41:21
dead and
41:23
we're alive.
41:25
That makes
41:25
sense.
41:26
We're dead,
41:27
but let me
41:27
explain.
41:28
We are dead
41:29
to our
41:30
sin.
41:31
We are
41:31
dead to
41:32
sin and
41:32
alive to
41:33
Christ.
41:36
And this
41:37
is why
41:37
justification is
41:38
so important
41:38
for us to
41:39
understand because
41:40
justification is
41:41
different than
41:41
forgiveness.
41:44
Justification,
41:45
they're related,
41:46
but justification
41:47
is different than
41:49
forgiveness.
41:50
And this,
41:51
that when you
41:51
commit something
41:53
wrong, you
41:54
have to ask for
41:55
forgiveness, and
41:56
then you go out
41:56
and commit another
41:57
wrong, you have
41:58
to come back
41:59
and ask for
42:00
forgiveness again.
42:02
Forgiveness is
42:02
kind of a one-time
42:03
thing.
42:04
Justification is
42:05
all-encompassing.
42:06
In justification,
42:07
you're justified.
42:09
You're declared
42:10
not guilty.
42:11
You do something
42:12
wrong, God's still
42:12
looking at you
42:13
saying, not
42:14
guilty, accepted,
42:17
peace with me.
42:20
There's no
42:21
condemnation for
42:22
those who are in
42:23
Christ Jesus, for
42:23
the law of the
42:24
spirit of life has
42:25
set you free from
42:26
the law of the
42:27
spirit of death.
42:29
And over and
42:29
over and over and
42:30
over again, in the
42:32
New Testament, you
42:32
see this justification.
42:34
You see not
42:35
guilty.
42:36
You see accepted
42:38
before God.
42:39
Accepted before God.
42:40
Not guilty.
42:42
Do we believe that
42:43
in our lives
42:44
tonight?
42:46
I mean, do we
42:47
really believe that?
42:51
That we're accepted
42:52
before God?
42:52
God, some of us,
42:53
we might just need
42:54
to just let that
42:55
soak in to our
42:57
hearts right now.
43:01
You, despite your
43:04
sin, despite all the
43:05
things that you've
43:05
done in your life,
43:08
you're found
43:09
acceptable before God.
43:10
That you are
43:11
accepted by the God
43:13
of the universe,
43:15
a perfect and holy
43:16
God.
43:17
God, I think
43:20
sometimes we
43:21
struggle to fully
43:24
believe this and
43:25
fully realize this
43:27
in our lives.
43:29
We like to hang
43:30
on to our guilt,
43:31
don't we?
43:31
We like to hang
43:32
on to that shame
43:33
that we experience.
43:36
And so often we
43:37
think of our lives
43:37
like this cosmic
43:38
lifelong game of
43:41
Simon Says, where
43:42
if we don't do
43:43
what God says,
43:45
then we're out for
43:46
the count.
43:46
We have to sit
43:47
out for a while
43:47
until we can feel
43:49
righteous again.
43:50
And we have to sit
43:50
out until we're
43:52
made right before
43:53
God again.
43:53
And that's not what
43:54
the doctrine of
43:55
justification teaches
43:56
us.
43:59
We've been bought
43:59
with a price and
44:00
we have already
44:01
been forgiven.
44:02
I used to use
44:03
this illustration
44:04
where I used a
44:05
cinder block.
44:05
Is Wes still in
44:06
here?
44:07
Wes, you might
44:07
remember this
44:08
illustration because
44:10
you're the first
44:11
person I used as
44:12
an example.
44:12
I don't know if
44:12
you remember that
44:13
or not.
44:13
But I used to use
44:14
an illustration
44:15
with a cinder block
44:16
and I was all
44:17
excited about using
44:18
this illustration.
44:18
So I went into
44:19
the hardware store
44:20
and I went in and
44:21
I was like, I told
44:23
the guy when I
44:23
walked in, he was
44:24
like, how can I
44:24
help you?
44:25
I said, you know,
44:26
this is what I
44:26
need.
44:27
I need a cinder block.
44:28
I need about 10
44:29
feet of the
44:30
heaviest duty chain
44:31
that you have.
44:32
And I need a
44:33
bolt cutter.
44:35
And the guy
44:35
looked at me
44:36
really strange and
44:37
he was like,
44:39
almost like with a
44:40
worried look.
44:41
He's like, I need
44:41
to ask you
44:42
something.
44:42
You're not
44:43
planning on sinking
44:45
somebody in a
44:46
lake, are you?
44:48
And I could look
44:50
back on that and
44:51
see this does look a
44:52
little bit suspicious.
44:53
You could chain
44:54
somebody to a
44:55
cinder block and
44:56
sink them alive if
44:57
you wanted to, I
44:57
guess.
44:58
But no, I wasn't.
44:59
I was trying to use
44:59
a sermon illustration
45:00
so it was kind of
45:01
cool because I got
45:02
to explain that to a
45:03
guy who was probably
45:04
lost in a hardware
45:05
store.
45:06
But the illustration
45:07
was this.
45:08
Before Christ, we
45:10
were bound up in
45:10
our sin.
45:11
That's what the
45:12
chains resemble.
45:12
You're chained to
45:13
this weight and
45:14
this guilt that you
45:15
carry around before
45:16
Christ.
45:18
You're chained to
45:18
it.
45:19
And the picture there
45:21
was after Christ.
45:22
And what I had, I
45:23
actually had Wes,
45:24
because he was in
45:24
the student ministry
45:25
where I was teaching
45:26
this.
45:26
Do you remember
45:26
this, Wes?
45:27
You don't remember
45:28
this at all?
45:29
Amazing.
45:29
It had no impact
45:31
on the students who
45:32
were there.
45:32
That's good to
45:33
know.
45:34
All right, so
45:34
anyways, you take
45:36
the cinder block and
45:37
you put it on to
45:39
Wes.
45:39
And he basically
45:41
at the very
45:41
beginning or toward
45:42
the beginning of
45:42
the sermon, through
45:43
the whole sermon, you
45:44
had him sitting up
45:45
there.
45:46
You remember it
45:47
now?
45:47
Because you remember
45:48
you didn't just stand
45:50
there the whole time.
45:50
He sat down on the
45:52
cinder block because
45:52
that's the best that
45:53
you can do.
45:53
You can't stand up
45:54
there the whole
45:54
sermon.
45:56
And so in the
45:57
sermon, the reality
45:58
is that Jesus, because
46:00
of the work that he
46:01
did on the cross, you
46:02
are broken free from
46:03
that guilt and that
46:04
shame, from that sin,
46:05
the reality of sin.
46:06
You're broken free
46:07
from that.
46:07
You no longer have
46:08
to be chained to
46:09
it.
46:09
You're no longer
46:10
bound up in that
46:11
sin that you are
46:12
before you're a
46:14
believer in Christ
46:15
Jesus.
46:16
And so that was the
46:17
visual picture there,
46:19
that you no longer
46:21
have to carry the
46:22
weight and the guilt
46:23
of sins.
46:23
That's where the
46:24
bolt cutters came
46:25
in.
46:25
And as I recall, I
46:26
was very careful to
46:27
avoid your Achilles as
46:28
you sat there and
46:30
pinching that thing
46:31
down.
46:31
But the reality of the
46:32
whole thing is, the
46:35
reality is that we are
46:36
free from that sin.
46:38
And ultimately, we
46:40
can pick it up and
46:43
we can carry it.
46:43
I brought something
46:44
over here.
46:46
The best thing I
46:47
could find.
46:48
I had a cinder block
46:49
in my crawl space
46:50
underneath my house,
46:51
but it was dirty and
46:52
it wasn't real good.
46:53
You can pick up the
46:56
weight and you can
46:56
carry it around with
46:57
you.
46:59
Potentially for your
47:00
whole life.
47:01
You can carry around
47:02
this weight of guilt
47:04
and shame.
47:07
And it's going to be
47:07
really hard because
47:08
it's hard to walk
47:09
into a building like
47:10
we're in right now
47:12
and to be amongst
47:13
other believers and
47:14
to worship God,
47:16
holding the weight of
47:17
the guilt and the
47:19
shame that you carry
47:20
around in your life.
47:21
And you find it hard to
47:25
share with unbelievers.
47:28
Because you're sharing
47:29
with them and you're
47:30
saying, you know,
47:32
and Jesus is the best
47:33
way to life.
47:35
Ignore what I'm
47:36
holding here.
47:37
But Jesus is the best
47:39
way to life.
47:40
He's the best way to
47:40
live.
47:42
All the while you're
47:43
holding this guilt and
47:44
this shame.
47:46
Don't truly believe in
47:47
the justification that
47:49
Christ, this Christ's
47:50
work on the cross that
47:51
justified you.
47:53
You go on a mission
47:54
trip and you say,
47:56
I don't know how I'm
47:57
going to get this
47:57
through the TSA,
47:59
the metal detectors,
48:02
the airport security,
48:03
but I'm going.
48:04
I'm getting on an
48:04
airplane.
48:06
I'm going to have a
48:06
lot of explain to do
48:07
when I get to customs
48:09
in China.
48:10
But I'm going.
48:11
I'm going on a
48:11
mission trip and I'm
48:12
carrying this with me.
48:16
The reality is we
48:17
don't have to carry
48:18
this anymore.
48:21
If you want to pick
48:22
it up, you can pick
48:22
it up.
48:24
But I'm here to tell
48:25
you tonight that it
48:28
was endaled to the
48:29
cross when Jesus died.
48:31
And you can pick it
48:33
up and carry it if you
48:34
want to carry it.
48:35
but it was nailed to
48:37
the cross and you
48:38
no longer are bound
48:39
to the weight of
48:41
guilt and shame in
48:42
your life.
48:43
And let that speak
48:44
truth over you right
48:46
now.
48:47
Because some of us
48:47
came in here tonight
48:49
laden with guilt and
48:51
laden with shame.
48:53
And maybe you came in
48:54
here tonight thinking
48:55
that you are out of
48:55
the game for a little
48:56
bit because you sinned
48:58
earlier, maybe right
48:58
before you came.
48:59
Maybe you sinned at
49:01
some point this week
49:02
and you know that
49:03
you're carrying around
49:04
that guilt and that
49:05
shame and you brought
49:06
it in here with you
49:07
tonight.
49:08
And I'm telling you,
49:09
this doctrine of
49:10
justification should be
49:12
made real in our
49:13
lives.
49:14
And whatever we
49:15
brought in here, we
49:16
no longer have to
49:17
carry that with us
49:18
because Jesus carried
49:20
it in him on the
49:22
cross.
49:23
This is what God's
49:24
word tells us in
49:25
1 Peter 2.4, that he
49:26
himself bore our
49:28
sins in his body on
49:30
the tree that we
49:31
might die to sin and
49:33
live to righteousness.
49:36
For by his wounds
49:37
you were healed.
49:41
By his wounds, by the
49:47
sacrifice of Christ, you
49:49
were healed.
49:51
And that's the picture
49:52
of justification.
49:54
And it's so important
49:55
that when we approach
49:56
the text of Scripture
49:57
that we see, when we
49:59
see these tough
50:00
commands in Scripture,
50:01
these commands that
50:02
are sometimes hard for
50:03
us to follow, that we
50:04
don't walk away saying,
50:05
if I do these things
50:07
and I'm accepted before
50:08
God, why?
50:10
Because that's
50:10
legalism.
50:11
We don't walk away
50:12
ignoring these truths
50:13
because that's
50:15
hypocrisy.
50:17
Instead, we walk away
50:18
with our hearts running
50:19
toward Christ saying,
50:21
Jesus, you are
50:21
everything that I need
50:24
and I need more of
50:25
you and more of you
50:27
each and every second
50:28
of my life.
50:29
and I need you to
50:31
show me the places
50:32
in my life where my
50:33
life doesn't line up
50:35
with the gospel.
50:36
Show me the places
50:37
where I need to be
50:38
more conformed into
50:39
the image of your
50:40
Son.
50:42
I need more of you.
50:44
And in doing so,
50:45
we honor God with a
50:46
life that's not just
50:47
justified by works.
50:49
It's justified by the
50:51
grace of Christ that
50:53
comes through faith,
50:54
only through faith in
50:56
Christ Jesus.
50:58
And it's for this
50:59
purpose that we are
51:00
saved by grace alone,
51:02
through faith alone,
51:04
and in Christ alone.
51:06
Let's pray together.
51:07
Amen.