The Doctrine of Justification

Text: Job 25:1-6

The doctrine of Justification is an important doctrine for both the saved and the lost. It is a foundational doctrine of Christianity. In Job 25, Bildad the Shuhite asked an important question.

Job 25:1-6 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places. Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise? How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?

The reason he asked Job that question in verse 4 is because of something Job said back in chapter 13.

Job 13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.

Job claimed that he knew he would be justified before God. Bildad could not understand how he could say such a thing. People are not much different today. If you were to walk up to the average person today and tell them that God the Father sees you as perfectly sinless, how do you think they would react? Probably like Bildad. They would think you are crazy, but in the eyes of the Father it is true. That is what the doctrine of justification is all about – understanding how a man can be justified in the eyes of God. Let’s consider several points concerning justification and see what we can learn from the Word of God. This doctrine teaches us why we are saved and why lost people need to be saved.

The Definition of Justification

What is justification? The simplest and easiest definition I have ever read, which also helps us to remember what it means is this – Justification means to be justified, which means just as if I’d never sinned. That’s an amazing condition to be in – to be seen by God as sinless, especially when the Bible teaches that all men are sinners before God.

Romans 3:10-12 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Bildad knew that all men are sinners and so did Job. In fact, man has known he was sinner since the garden of Eden. But now we are introduced to a doctrine of the Bible that teaches men can be declared righteous in the eyes of God, the eternal judge of the universe. But how can this be? Does God have to ignore our sin? Certainly not. The Bible says:

Genesis 18:25b … Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

God cannot break His own law to pardon our breaking of His law. Instead, He has provided a way whereby those who have broken His law can be declared and treated as though they have not broken His law. In a word, sinners can be justified as though they were never sinners. That sounds impossible, but it is very possible. I am not preaching sinless perfection. No, I am preaching about something else called justification.

The Demand of Justification

In order for sinners to be declared sinless, to be justified in the eyes of God, He requires that His law be kept 100%.

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

There was a young man who came to Jesus and he thought himself to be a pretty righteous man.

Matthew 19:16-22 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

What was his sin? Where did he fail the law? Was it because he was rich? No, it is not a sin to be rich. His sin was covetousness. He was snared by his own possessions.

1 Timothy 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

God’s requirement is for a person to meet every obligation of His law in order to be justified. So then, do we set out to keep the law like this young man did? No, because we would all eventually fail. Besides that, we have already broken the law. In fact, seeking to fulfill the righteousness of the law is impossible for us to do. Let me state that again. Keeping the law 100% is impossible for you and me to accomplish.

Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

If we cannot seek to be justified by keeping the law, where do we seek justification? We seek justification from the only one who has ever kept the law 100%. His name is Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:3-4 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Since there is only one man who has ever met that requirement, we must look to His righteousness and not our own if we are to have any hope of being justified in the eyes of the Father.

Romans 10:3-4 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Now we see where the fulfilling of the law comes from. Since we cannot fulfill the requirements of the law, we need the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the only one who fulfilled the law 100%. That is the demand of justification. That demand is met in Jesus Christ.

The Debt of Justification

We have seen the definition of justification. It means to be just as if we had never sinned. We have seen the demand of justification. To be justified we must be seen by God the Father to have fulfilled every point of the law without fail. But what about our sin debt to God? Before we can be justified, our sin debt must be paid for.

Romans 4:4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

This is something that every lost person needs to understand. Every human being owes a debt to God they cannot pay on their own and make it to heaven. The wages of sin is death. The payment is death in exchange for violating God’s law.

Romans 3:23-26 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

That word propitiation in verse 25 is a fancy word that simply means payment. We have seen already that Jesus Christ is the only one who has kept the law 100%. We are the ones who owe the debt but he is the one who has made the payment. There is a phrase to a song that goes like this:

He paid a debt he could not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay

The payment for sin is death. That is why Jesus died, to pay the debt of our sin. In fact, He has paid the debt for all sin that has ever been committed against God or ever will be.

1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

It is sad that millions of people die and go to hell to pay a debt that has already been paid by Jesus Christ. What can be done to have that payment for sin put to our account? That is the subject of our next point.

The Decree of Justification

Picture if you will a line drawn in the sand. On one side of that line is Jesus Christ. He holds in His hands a document that is a decree of God that He is justified in the Father’s eyes. On the other side of that line are sinners – you, me and every other person who has ever lived. We also hold in our hands a document that is a decree of God, only that decree is a declaration of guilt and sin. We are all found guilty before God.

Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

In order to go to heaven when we die, we must have that decree that Jesus holds in His hand, but how do we get it? How do we get the decree of justification from Him? The answer is simple. Jesus Christ offers His decree of justification to anyone who will hand Him their decree of guilt in exchange. In other words, a man must be willing to admit he is guilty before God and in need to have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. To this end Jesus spoke a parable.

Luke 18:9-14 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

These verses illustrate repentance. Repentance is an acknowledgement to God that we are sinners and have no hope of saving ourselves. It is an agreement with God that we are helplessly lost without Christ. It is an admittance to the Father that we hold the document of condemnation.

2 Corinthians 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

Luke 13:1-2 There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?

Jesus said, suppose the Galilaeans were the worst sinners of all time. Does that make us any less sinners?

Luke 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

You hear people compare themselves all the time. They say, “I’m not as bad as so-in-so.” That doesn’t matter does it? It only takes one sin to make a person a sinner. Remember if you break one point you are guilty of breaking the whole law.

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Acts 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God is longsuffering. He wants all men to be saved and come to the acknowledging of the truth. Let’s go back to our simple illustration. Here is Christ on one side of the line and the sinner on the other. The sinner looks down in repentance and acknowledges to Christ that he is condemned. But that alone will not remove the decree he holds in his hands. The next step is for him to look to Jesus and believe that He alone holds the decree of justification the sinner needs to get to heaven. He must put his faith in Christ and no other.

Acts 4:10-12 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

To be justified, one must put their faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone, not in works or being a good person or trying to impress God. The only mediator between man and God the Father is God the Son.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

So there stands the man, the woman, the boy, the girl who realizes they are lost and have been condemned by God’s law. They then stare at Jesus and truly believe that He holds something that no other has and they need it. They need His declaration of justification. How then do they obtain it?

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

That’s the wonderful gift of God. Jesus offers to every repentant sinner a trade. He will give them His declaration of justification in exchange for their declaration of doom.

1 Peter 2:21-24 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

To repent, believe and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all that is needed for a sinner to hold the decree of Justification. Those who refuse to do that will die holding on to their sins and the debt that must be paid to God for those sins. Our last point deals with those who now hold what was given to them by Jesus Christ.

The Deliverance of Justification

1 John 5:11-12 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

That decree of justification did not belong to us, nor did we earn it ourselves. It was the sole work of Christ. The amazing thing about justification is this – when we have the righteousness of Christ, God sees us as being just as righteous as His Son.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Romans 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

That is how a sinner can be declared righteous in the eyes of God. That is also how we make peace with God.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

So many people today still hold onto their sins. Jesus said:

John 5:39-40 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who can justify us in the eyes of God the Father. The question today is this: are you justified in the eyes of God the Father? If not, what are you waiting for?