In a nutshell, to be justified is to be declared righteous by God through Jesus Christ. When one is saved, instantly they are given a righteous standing before God. It gives us a new standing before God. We were sinners condemned by God. But when we are justified we are declared righteous by God. God no longer see me as a sinner, but in His Son, Jesus Christ, He sees me without sin. He not only forgives our sin. He forget them as well.
Wiersbe tells the story of a man that was driving through Europe in his Rolls-Royce. The car broke down on him and he cabled the Roll’s Royce Company about his problem. They flew a Rolls-Royce mechanic over; he repaired the car and then flew back to England. As you can imagine, the man wondered what it was going to cost him. So when he got back from his holiday, he wrote the company and asked them how much he owed them. He received a letter from the company that read: “Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Roll’s-Royce.”
When we say that we are justified, we are saying that there is no record with God anywhere of any of our sins!
Let me describe the day I was saved by using a courtroom scene. Picture in your mind a courtroom. A thrice holy God the judge is seated in the judge’s seat. I was being arraigned before him. He said to me, “Rick, have you loved me with all your heart?” I replied, “No, Your honor.” God said, “Have you lived for Me and honored Me?”
“No, Your honor.”
“Have you obeyed Me and kept my Word?”
“No, Your honor.”
“Rick, do you believe that you are sinner?”
“Yes, Your honor.”
“Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins?”
“Yes, Your honor.”
“Will you accept Him now as your Saviour.”
“Yes, Your honor.”
Then God said to me, “Then you penalty has been paid by Jesus Christ on the cross and you are pardoned and forgiven of your sin. Because Jesus is righteous, and you believe in Him, I now declare you legally righteous.”
Being justified doesn’t mean that we have stopped sinning or that we will never sin again. We do sin and when we do, we need to get forgiveness for those sins. But when we are justified, it means that God has dealt with our sin problem once and for all in Christ, declared us righteous and has given us a right standing with Him. We are justified!
The Bible says in Romans 5:9 that we are “justified by his blood.” How can a holy God accepts sinners? Someone has to pay the price for sin. God cannot ignore, condone or overlook sin. His holiness demands that He deal with sin. That is what Calvary is all about. Jesus died on the cross paying the price of sin for us. He bore the penalty of sin. He shed his blood as the payment for sins penalty.
The Bible says in Romans 3:28 that we are “justified by faith.” Justification is not based on what we have done for who we are. Justification is based on what Christ has done and Who He is. We read in Titus 3:5-6, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; [6] Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.” Jesus paid the price for sin on Calvary and all we have to do is to accept what He has done for us by faith. We could never be saved by our works. No matter what we do or how good we are, it would never be enough. Salvation is always through Christ, plus nothing, minus nothing, and it is accepted by faith.
Titus 3:7 says that we are “justified by His grace.” If it were not for God’s grace Christ would have never died for our sins. If it were not for God’s grace, God would be demanding justice, rather than inviting us to accept by faith what Christ had done. Friend, it’s all because of God’s amazing grace!
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