Amen. Let's turn to Luke chapter 18. We'll begin here this evening. Welcome you in the Savior's name. Lovely to see you. in the house of prayer tonight. It is a tremendous encouragement to us to see so many gathered this evening, and we're glad of that. We know that we'll be out tomorrow night as well, and so we're glad of your fellowship in the gospel. So it's Luke's gospel, the chapter 18, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the speaker here, and it says from the verse number one, And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to fain say, there was in a city a judge which feared not God neither regarded man and there was a widow in that city and she came on to him saying avenge me of mine adversary and he would not for a while but afterward he said within himself though I fear not God nor regard man Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God judge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth. 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 on to heaven that 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 everyone that exalted themselves shall be a beast and he that humbled himself shall be. We'll conclude our reading at the verse number 14, and may God even bless the public reading of His holy and precious word. Having spent three Wednesday nights considering that the Christian is one who is united to Jesus Christ, I want to move on in our studies on Christian identity by considering another way that we can think of ourselves as believers who are in christ jesus this evening we want to think about the christian as one who has been justified one who has been justified it is a word that jesus christ uses here in luke chapter 18 concerning a certain man who went up to the temple to pray having acknowledged his own unworthiness by standing afar off and having confessed his own sinfulness to god by declaring god be merciful to me the sinner jesus christ said concerning that publican concerning that sinner that he went down to his house verse number 14 i tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other being justified is therefore something that jesus christ himself spoke about and therefore because he spoke about it i believe it is worthy of our consideration Now the patriarch Job asked a question many, many years ago that took hundreds of years to be answered. And that answer came via the Apostle Paul. Job's question you find in Job chapter 25 and the verse number 4. Job chapter 25 and the verse number 4. And Job asked the question, In this particular chapter, Job 24 and 25. I probably have the wrong verse. No, I haven't. Sorry, this is Bildad. Bildad asks the question in verse number 4. How then can a man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? And Paul gave the answer to Bill Dadd's question over there in Romans chapter 5 and the verse 1. The question is asked, how can a man be justified with God? How can a man be right with God? And the answer is given. Hundreds of years later, a man can be right with God, a man can be justified. That occurs by faith, by faith in Christ, and as a result we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to consider our justified state this evening as we consider the reality that every Christian is a justified person. There are no degrees to justification or justified state. You're not more justified than I am, and I am not more justified than you are. But all are justified to the same degree by God. The sinner's justification is the very heartbeat of the gospel. The Protestant reformer Martin Luther called this truth the article or the doctrine by which the church stands or falls. John Calvin called this doctrine the main hinge. on which salvation terms. So important did Calvin view the doctrine of justification. Now there are a number of very basic questions that we want to answer this evening as we consider our justification by which we are justified. The first question that we want to answer is, what does it mean What does it mean to be justified? Define your terms. That's always what we're told in theological class. Define your terms. What do you mean? And whenever you speak to even those who professed to be Christians, those who profess to know Christ, you should always ask them what they mean. What do they mean by being saved? What do they mean by being born again? What do they mean by being a Christian? you'll soon find that what they believe a christian is and what they believe being saved is is completely foreign to biblical truth and so don't be gullible but always ask leading questions and so we must define our terms what does it mean to be justified whether those who believe and there are those who teach that a person who is justified is a person who has been made righteous they have been made righteous That teaching is incorrect. To be justified means to be declared righteous. To be declared righteous, to be counted righteous. Thayer, in his little book, defines the word justified in the following way. He says, to be justified means to declare guiltless one accused. or to pronounce one to be just, or to pronounce them to be righteous. Whenever you drill down into the word justified, you come to find that it is a forensic term. Now, don't worry about that statement. That simply means that it is a legal term. It is a term that comes out off the law courts with regard to a person who has justified. It has the idea of pronouncement of innocence. A pronouncement of innocence. When a sinner is justified, God legally declares that sinner to be just in God's sight. God legally declares that sinner to be righteous or just in God's sight. The Greek term for justify is the word dicalio. That doesn't mean anything. We don't need to remember that this evening. But it is a word that is and has a rich Bible history. For example, the Apostle Paul That New Testament theologian, he uses this term 27 times in his letters and in his epistles. And some of those verses are familiar to us. Let me quote just a number of them. Romans 3 verse 20, For by the law is the knowledge of sin. And so Paul here, he's unfolding the great doctrine of justification, how a man can be right with God. And he says that by the deeds of the law, by adhering to the law of God, no man can be justified. Romans 5 verse 9, much more being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath. through him this is how we are justified through faith in the redemptive work of jesus christ romans 8 verse 30 moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified that's the golden chain of the gospel those whom god predestinates He will call, and those whom He calls to salvation, He will justify, and those He justifies, He will glorify. And He must, He must, He must keep all of those links. He must keep them all. If He doesn't do that, then He can no longer be God. This is what God has pledged to do. This is what He has promised to do. And therefore, thank God, those whom God has justified, he will then also glorify. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 11, and such were some of you. Remember that list of all the ungodly people that had come into the Corinthian church, and God had dealt with, and God had saved and redeemed, and God had regenerated their hearts and brought them to faith? And he says, and such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. by the Spirit of God. And then 1 Galatians 2 verse 16, knowing, and this is really emphasizing what Paul says in Romans 3, 20, 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. And so we need to remember that to be justified means more than being pardoned. A man might be pardoned, but yet not justified or declared innocent. To justify is to pronounce a man guiltless. It is to acquit the man from all charges brought against him and to declare that man as a righteous man. As a result, The justified man is freed from all condemnation. And that is why there is none who can lay anything against the charge of God's elect in the court of divine justice. And this is why Paul writes in Romans 8, in the verses 33 and 34, what we sang this evening in our paraphrase, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. who is he that condemneth. It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. And therefore all charges against us that would be brought against us by our accuser find no basis, because God has declared us righteous. God has pronounced us righteous. And so for clarity's sake, The term justify is a legal term taken out of the court, the law courts, and it describes a verdict passed. When God justifies, The verdict passed is that he declares or he pronounces a person to be righteous. And he can do that because Christ's perfect righteousness has been credited, reckoned, imputed to the trusting sinner. You imagine a burglar steals a painting from an art gallery. That burglar is arrested, but the painting can never be found. Well, the case comes to the law court, but there's not enough evidence in order to convict the burglar. He did it, but the prosecution cannot really prove it. And so then, Judge, he acquits the man of theft. Whenever the judge says not guilty, that does not mean that the man is innocent. Of course it doesn't mean. It is simply that he has been given by that judge a standing in society of one who is innocent. His actual condition is that he's guilty. And yet his standing, as far as the law is concerned, is that he is innocent. Justification does not change us inwardly. We're not made righteous inwardly. rather it is a statement, a declaration about our standing before God and his law we are declared righteous and this is what we have here in this very parable because christ is making a declaration about this man this man wasn't made righteous but rather god declares this man righteous or he says this man went i tell you here's my declaration this man went down to his house justified rather than the other If we were made righteous, brethren and sisters, we would never sin again. But we do sin. The old man, the old nature is still there. And yet God declares us on the grounds of Christ's righteousness made over to us, we are declared righteous. We are not made righteous, but declared righteous. Let that settle down into your heart and your soul this evening. But let's think about a second question. How are we justified? How are we justified? How am I declared righteous before God? Well, the Word of God is very clear in this matter. We're not justified because of anything that we do. And we're not justified because of anything that we are. When Paul wrote to the saints in Galatia, we've already quoted the verse, but we'll quote it again, Galatians 2.16, knowing that the 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. What stands out from Paul's teaching very clearly is that a man is not justified by the works, they're not justified by adhering to the law of God, but simply by faith in Jesus Christ. Martin Luther, in his Roman Catholic days before he came to Christ, he attempted everything in order to be right with God. He would climb the steps in Rome on his bare knees, and at the top he found himself as big a sinner as he was when he found himself at the bottom of those stairs. He came home from Rome disappointed. discouraged, despondent. He thought that he could do something in order to make him right with God. And then one day when reading in Romans, he would read those tremendous words, the just or the justified, the just shall live by faith. And it dawned upon him, it is not my works, but it is by faith in Jesus Christ, the one who has done the work, On my behalf at the cross of Calvary, He has lived the life I could never live. He has adhered to the law, something that I could never do. He has honored the law and satisfied it in its entirety. And He has died the death that I deserve to die. And He's risen again. And on that basis, and on faith in that work, I am justified because the just shall live by faith. You see, there's nothing that we can do in order to justify ourselves, but rather it is God who freely, freely, now underline that in your mind, it is God who freely justifies the sinner. As Paul puts it in Romans 3 verse 24, being justified freely by His grace through Here's the way through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The short of catechism puts it like this. Justification is an act of God's free grace, whereby wherein he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ. imputed to us, reckoned to us, received, made over to us, and received by faith alone. God and His sovereignty. Justifies whom he wills he doesn't look ahead of time to see how we would respond to the gospel He doesn't even look forward to see whether we would be obedient children and with regard to our future obedience But rather he justifies us as Paul puts it in Romans chapter 3 24 as Paul puts it He justifies us freely by his grace and because it's grace that excludes all human merit And because it's freely, that excludes all conceit and pride on our part. The word freely, there in Romans 3, 24, it literally means without a cause. Without a cause. Without any initiating cause in us. God justifies us by His grace because if there was something in us, brethren and sisters, it wouldn't be grace. It would be merit. We would have merited it. Salvation, but it's not. It's of grace. We are justified without a cause. It is by His grace, which means that there is no merit on our part, and that deals with our pride, and it quells any foolish thoughts that we might have that we deserve, that we deserve to be justified. This great fact that we are justified freely by God's grace, should deliver the person who's always looking inwardly, always looking towards and inwardly to their spiritual state, their feelings, or maybe even their prayers as the ground of peace. You have been justified because God and grace has worked in your life, brother, sister. And that's it. You played no part in it, in your justification, except in your sinning that made it necessary. That's the part you played. That's the part I played in the sinning that made it necessary. But we have no part to play, but it is an act of God's free grace. Oh, what a wonder. What a wonder. You see, the biggest problem that we have is that God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. How can holy God be just and at the same time the justifier of the sinner? Well, that's the great conundrum from our viewpoint that God solved in the great plan of redemption. God can be just and at the same time He can justify the guilty sinner If the broken law is honored and satisfied by another, and the penalty of sin is paid for by a suitable substitute, and such a suitable substitute was found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, just God had to punish sin justly in order that He might justify the sinner justly. He poured out his wrath upon his son in order that he might and could grant forgiveness to his people. And having done that, He is able to freely offer salvation to all men because the law has been satisfied. The penalty of sin has been paid. I want you to remember, beloved, that God did not set aside His justice. He didn't waive His justice when it came to justifying the sinner, but rather He upheld it. As one preacher put it, God provides what sinners need to be righteous in His sight without compromising His justice. When we are accounted righteous in Christ, justice is still done, but we do not feel the punishment our sin deserves. Instead, Jesus suffered it in our place. Paul, in his great treatise on the doctrine of justification that you find in Romans chapter 3, he speaks of this in verse 24. Verse 23, 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 has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins past through the forbearance of God declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. God can be just and at the same time he can justify, he can justify the person who believes in Christ because of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, a redemption that took away our sin and not only took away our sin but also imputed to us his perfect righteousness. And thus, when the sinner comes to believe on Christ, when they come to trust in Christ, when they exercise faith in Christ, when they place confidence in Christ, they are justified, they are declared righteous by God. Is it no wonder that the gospel is termed good news? The good news that is in Christ Jesus. You know, it's really, when you think about it, it's almost mind-blowing It's certainly heart-stirring and soul-thrilling to understand that tonight I am declared righteous before God on the basis that Christ's righteousness has been made over to me. But let's think about a third matter. What are the blessings that flow from being justified? What are the blessings that flow from being justified? Our justification is the fountainhead of every gospel benefit that flows to us. Let me give you a number of the blessings that flow from our justification. The first is the forgiveness of our sins. Intimately bound and issuing forth from our justification is the pardoning of our sins. We read that in the shorter catechism's definitions, whereby he pardoneth all our transgressions and all our iniquities and all of our sins. In the context of explaining justification, the apostle Paul quotes David, that Old Testament king, in Romans chapter 4 with regard to the matter of justification and the forgiveness of sins. In Romans chapter 4, the verses 5, it says there, Romans 4 verse 5, that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without work, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. As soon as the sinner is justified, As soon as the repenting sinner is justified, he is pardoned of all of his sins. The moment he believes on Christ, he is pardoned at once, and his sins are no longer his, for they have been laid on Christ. And thereby we know the pardoning of our sins. The justified one is the forgiven one. The second blessing that issues forth from the fountainhead of being justified is that we have peace with God. Romans chapter 5, we've already quoted the verse, Now that word, therefore, whenever you see it, it's like a hand that reaches back and pulls everything forward. So all that you have already read must be pulled forward In order for you to understand what is being presently said after the word, therefore, and what is being talked about with regard to this matter. Well, again what is being talked about is that Christ was delivered for our offenses and He was raised again for our justification. And so Paul is speaking about justification. He's speaking about the reality of it, how it has come about through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. And on the basis of that, therefore being justified by faith. By faith in what? By faith in the finished work of Christ. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, everything that was between us and God or sin or guilt or condemnation, that has all been dealt with by the work and by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. By faith in Christ, we have peace with God right now. Paul says it, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God. We're not waiting for it. We are at peace with God. We are at rest with God. Peace with God. I think, brethren and sisters, sometimes we're too long saved for this to thrill our hearts as it ought to. No longer are we under condemnation. No longer are we under wrath. No longer is there enmity between me and God, but now I am in one who is at peace with God, and I am at peace with God because I have been justified by faith, and therefore being justified by faith, I have now peace with God. and it's all through the Lord Jesus Christ. With sins forgiven and with righteousness impuret, why should we not be at peace with God? for all that hinders peace has been dealt with when we are justified because we are at peace with God then Romans 5 it goes on to speak about another blessing that flows out of this being justified by faith namely we have access to God notice verse 2 by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God we have access to God because we are justified have access to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. A soldier from the American Civil War had been freed from a prison camp because he was too wounded to return to active duty and when he was released he sought access to President Abraham Lincoln to intercede for his brother, who was also in a prison camp and was the sole support of their mother. However, the White House guards would not allow him in to talk to President Lincoln. One day, the president's young son, Tad Lincoln, was walking near the White House and he saw the wounded soldier crying on a bench just outside. The boy went up to him and asked him what the matter was. The soldier explained that he wanted to see Mr. Lincoln to tell him about his brother, but the guards would not let him in. The president's son took the veteran by the hand, led him past the guards who all saluted, and brought the man into the presence of his father. The story really illustrates for us what Jesus Christ has done for us. We were desolate and wounded by sin. We had no way into God's presence. However, on the cross, Jesus Christ, he tore away the veil into the holy of holies. And when we come to faith in him, he clothes us in his righteousness. And in prayer, it's as where he takes us by the hand and he leads us into the presence of his father. It is only because of the Son that we have access to the Father. Just in the same way that it was only because of Tad Lincoln that the veteran was allowed access into the President of the United States of America. Through the Son, access to the Father was gained and granted and given. And through Christ the Son, we all have access now into this grace wherein we stand. We have access to God in prayer. And because we have, brethren and sisters, we have unfettered access to God through the Son. Oh, to improve on that privilege and that blessing when we come to prayer in a few moments' time, because you have been justified, you have access to God. A fourth blessing that issues forth from being justified is that we are saved from wrath. We're saved from wrath, Romans 5 again in the verse number 9, much more than being now. We're not going to be justified. We are presently justified and being now justified by His blood, we shall, future, we shall be saved from wrath. through Him, through Him. God's wrath against sin will never be experienced by the person who has been justified. And the reason is because divine wrath was exhausted against, and divine wrath was exhausted on the Lord Jesus Christ when He died for sin upon the cross of Calvary. And through faith in that work, we are saved from wrath to come. What a blessing. What a blessing that is. Because we are justified, we shall be saved from wrath through him. The fifth and final blessing that I have for you this evening, because we are justified, is that we are made an heir. We're made an heir. Writing to Titus, in Titus chapter three, in Titus chapter three, in the verse number seven, The Apostle Paul, he wrote these words, I trust you're looking it up, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. When God justifies the sinner, he then goes on to make them an heir. You see, our heirship goes with our sonship because we're sons, we're heirs, and because we're daughters, we're heirs. Romans 8, verses 16 and 17, Paul writes, the spirit itself bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God, and if children, brethren and sisters, then we're heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If so, that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Brethren and sisters, I am not an heir of Bill Gates. I am not an heir of Elon Musk. I'm an heir of God. I'm an heir of God. Heirs of God himself, for he himself is our inheritance. We're an heir of God. In other words, God is the inheritance. He is our inheritance. God with all of his immense wealth and power and glory and majesty is ours. As a joint heir with Christ, we shall enjoy then the same inheritance as Christ does, for Christ and his people are one. Christ and his people are one. James Smith put it like this, we inherit in Christ. as a member in the head. We inherit through Christ as the wife through her husband. We inherit with Christ as the family with the Father, as heirs. we will come to inherit all that awaits the justified in heaven because moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified our glorification naturally follows on from our justification those who are justified are and will be glorified. It's as sure as if it already has happened, child of God. It's all part and parcel of God's redemptive plan and purpose in all of our lives. God called you, God drew you, God justified you, and God will. glorify you it's spoken in the present tense or the past tense as if it already has been done because it has been done in the mind of the eternal god you are you are already glorified now there's something to bamboozle your mind tonight in the mind of eternal god it's as if it already has taken place because in his mind it already has in his purposes it already has as a christian if you're asked who am i who are you as a christian well here's one way to reply i am one who is justified i'm a justified one I am declared righteous by God in heaven's high court. And thus, I enjoy all the blessings that are the justified through, through Jesus Christ and through him alone. Oh, may this be thrilling. May this be encouraging to your heart. And may all that has been said may have encouraged your heart and soul tonight. Let's bow in prayer. We've went on too long, as always. So let's briefly pray. Bring you a few announcements. Loving Father, we come before thee. We thank thee, O God, that thou hast been so gracious to us. We thank thee for every child of God who is found in a justified state. For every child of God is found in that state. Oh God, we thank Thee that we have been declared righteous before God. We marvel at it. We know our sin. Lord, we know it well, and yet God has declared, oh God, that we are righteous. Oh, that does not deal and do away with this daily battle that we have. But Lord, this is our legal standing in Christ. We rejoice in this. And we thank thee, O God, that that which has been declared by God, he can never take back what he has spoken. That will forever stand. Oh, how thrilling. Bless, my dear brethren and sisters, and give us understanding in these matters, we pray. We offer prayer in and through the Savior's precious and lovely name.