JUSTIFIED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH

"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.” Gal2:16

The phrase ‘works of the law’ is used seven times in the New Testament in Rom9:32; Gal2:16; Gal3:2, Gal3:5; Gal3:10. All of these scriptures discourage us from engaging in them.

The question then is what are these works of the law?

Anything that we do, any rule, command or law that we obey in order for God to justify us, to accept us and to be pleased with us is a work of the law. In other words, ‘works of the law’ are things that we do in order to produce righteousness on our own which we then offer to God so that He might accept us and be pleased with us and bless us.

This could be through dress code, behavior, what we eat and drink, who we talk to etc. This is what Paul in Philippians3:9 calls ‘. . . having mine own righteousness which is of the law. . ."

No person can ever be justified by doing something or obeying a command or law. We cannot become righteous on by performing holiness or living a holy life. Righteousness (justification) can only be by God’s grace through our faith.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Rom1:16-17

There is a righteousness that belongs to and comes from God. It is the righteousness of God which is sometimes referred to as the righteousness of faith or faith righteousness. This righteousness is totally different from self-righteousness which comes from our own performance. This one is according to the nature of God and the obedience of Christ on the Cross. We can only get it by faith.

'For therein is the righteousness of God revealed...' The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Being skilled and well acquainted with the gospel of Jesus Christ will lead to being skilled in the word (doctrine) of righteousness.

If you want to be established, well balanced and rooted in the foundation of Christ you have to start with faith righteousness because it is what establishes us upon a sure foundation.

Everything we believe must be held together by the doctrine of faith righteousness. Faith righteousness is the cornerstone that holds the whole foundation together and consequently the whole building is able to stand.

"But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets" Rom3:21

Note1: There is such a righteousness that proceeds from God and is entirely based on His work. It is called the righteousness of God. This righteousness is not based on any obedience to any law. As a result it can’t be earned since there is no law you can obey to obtain it. This righteousness is the very nature of God. It is the holiness and perfection of God. This is the righteousness that the gospel of Jesus Christ reveals and it is the only one God wants. No other righteousness is acceptable to Him.

Note2: The righteousness of God is manifested (shown clearly, revealed) unto us. God has revealed it to us by the gospel. When we hear the gospel, we are shown and exposed to this righteousness. 

The righteousness of God is freely given to those who believe and receive it by faith.  It cannot be earned, it can only be received. God’s righteousness is revealed and received by faith. Not worked for and earned by works.

"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; For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Rom3:22-23

Note1: The righteousness of God is by the faith of Jesus Christ.

This verse does not say that the righteousness of God is by faith in Christ. It says that it is by faith of Christ. In other words, God did not even wait for us to believe before He declared us righteous. He gave His righteousness to the whole world according to the faith of Christ. 

Now this is where many of us begin to stumble upon the stumbling stone. We are not willing to believe that God has declared everybody righteous including those who don’t believe. But we shall look at a number of scriptures that make this point. But first, what is the faith of Jesus?

The faith of Jesus Christ is the trust that Jesus had in the Father that if and when He went to the Cross God would make all men righteous. In this way Jesus accomplished justification for all men. His righteousness was given to everybody. To the whole world.

Jesus had faith that if He went to the Cross and died for all mankind, God would declare all men righteous! He would justify all men. The prophet Isaiah saw this and spoke about it;

"...By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities." Isa53:11

Jesus the Lamb of God died for the sins of the whole world, not only for the Christians. As a result God gave His righteousness (the purity of the lamb) for the whole world, not only for the Christians.

Because God knew that it is impossible for mankind to perform perfectly according to His high standards, He has provided for us a righteousness that belongs to Him, He has fulfilled His high standards in Christ and at the Cross provided for mankind the finished results through Jesus. All of mankind have been given this finished righteousness and are forever pleasing and acceptable to God.

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1Jn2:1-2

This verse makes it very clear. Jesus is the propitiation (atoning sacrifice) for our sins and not for ours only but also for the whole world. When He died on the Cross He died for the whole world, not for Christians only. 

Therefore God has forgiven and reconciled the whole world to Himself, all of mankind. Not the Christians only. God has given His righteousness unto all mankind.

Note2: This righteousness is unto all!

In other words it has been given to everybody, to all mankind. Whether Christian or not. As far as God is concerned He has provided His righteousness to everybody. This is why this scripture ends by saying that ‘for there is no difference’.

When Jesus died on the Cross and rose again, God declared every man righteous. Every man. This is the stumbling stone. That God has declared everybody righteous. That there is no difference! This is what got Paul into a lot of trouble. Does this mean that everybody is saved and going to heaven? NO!

Note3: This righteousness is upon all who believe.

Much as God has provided His righteousness and justification unto all mankind through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, only those who have believed on Jesus have received it. It has come upon them. God has availed it unto everybody, but only those who have believed have received it upon themselves. It is unto all people but only upon all who believe.

In other words, God has done His part and given His righteousness to everybody. But not everybody has received it. The heathen, the unbelieving and the religious have refused to receive it. But God has given it unto all. Therefore not everybody is saved and will go to heaven. Those who have refused to believe on Jesus even when God has given them everything will not make it. And they will have no excuse. Because God gave His righteousness and justification unto all. Jesus died for all. His faith was for all.

Paul makes this point very well in Ephesians 2:8-9

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

God by His grace made Jesus the sacrificial offering for the whole world’s sins but grace alone doesn't save. There has to be faith in this grace. We have to put faith in what God has already provided for us by grace.

Therefore, although the price has been paid for the sins of the whole world, and God has given justification and righteousness to the whole world, only those who receive it by faith will benefit from this salvation that Jesus offers. We are saved by grace through faith.

The whole world was guilty before God, He therefore provided one solution for the whole world. That solution was Jesus Christ. Just as everyone was guilty, in the same way everyone has already been justified freely by God through the Cross of Christ. It is finished already.

God doesn’t compare us to other people. He compares us to Jesus His glory. And compared to Jesus all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But there is good news in the next verse;

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” Rom3:24

Because all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God which is Jesus Christ, God has justified all of us the same way through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. He put all of us in the same category as sinners and provided a sacrificial offering for all of us in this category. The sacrifice was for all of us corporately and for each one of us individually.

Justified freely;

The word justified means to declare or pronounce one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be to be. In other words it simply means to be made righteous and perfectly acceptable to God.

We have freely (without earning it) been justified (made righteous, declared righteous, pronounced righteous and made perfectly acceptable to God).

We are not offensive to God anymore. We are well pleasing to Him and fully accepted, loved, adored and cherished. We are the beloved of God. And this justification is not something to be earned, but a gift to be received. It is a gift from God. It is through Jesus Christ

“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” Rom3:25

Paul now goes to the sins that were committed under the old covenant, before the sacrifice of Jesus was made and makes this amazing statement. He says that those sins were also paid for by the blood of Jesus.

You may be wondering how possible that is yet they didn't believe in Jesus. Actually they did, but in types and shadows. The sacrifices that God commanded them to make for the forgiveness of their sins were a picture and a type of the perfect sacrifice Jesus who was to come. Even they had to have faith in the sacrifices they were offering to God so that they would be forgiven. That is why they laid their hands on the head of the sacrifice, confessed all their sins and then slaughtered it. It was an act of faith that their sins were being transferred into this innocent, sinless sacrifice and the innocence and righteousness of that sacrifice was being transferred into them. God was showing a picture of what He would do in Christ.

Hebrews 10:4 tells us that the Old Testament sacrifices were only types and shadows of the true sin offering that Jesus would make later. It was impossible for the blood of bulls and of goats to ever take away sins. ‘For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.’

So if the sacrifices they were making weren’t taking away their sins, then how was God dealing with them? Was He just ignoring their sins? Was He just pretending that He had taken away their sins and forgiven them? How was God reconciling this if their sacrifices weren’t really taking away their sins? We know that God is a holy God, He cannot just ignore sin.

The answer to all this is one word; ‘through the forbearance of God’

The word forbearance means self-restraint or tolerance. A delay in enforcing rights or claims or privileges. Refraining from acting or doing something.

God dealt with sins under the Old Testament through His forbearance. The Old Testament sacrifices were like a bank cheque, or a promise that all those sins committed would be paid for at some point in the future. The animal sacrifices that He commanded the people to offer represented the perfect sacrifice of Christ that they would offer later at the Cross. Another common term used was 'slow to anger'. 

He postponed the payment for their sins so that He would have mercy upon them and not consume them with His wrath and judgment.

When Jesus came, the payment was made, the cheque was cashed in, the promise was fulfilled, the perfect sacrifice was made, and the debt was settled. Jesus paid for the sins of all people past, present and future, including those that had died even before he came. This is an amazing truth.

There is no sin that escaped the judgment of God on the Cross. None whatsoever. No past sin, no present sin, no future sin escaped God’s wrath. At the Cross God gathered every sin and punished Jesus for it all. One sacrifice was made for all sins for all time. See Heb10:4-14

Jesus was that one sacrifice that was offered for all sins for all people for all time. God has forever dealt with sin.

“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Rom3:26

Note1: The sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross declares the righteousness of God for us now, ‘at this time’. God has given us ‘his righteousness’ now. Not sometime in the future when we die and go to heaven. Right now, at this time. We have it. It is finished.

Note2: ‘…that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.’

God is a holy God, a just God. His holiness would not allow Him to ignore sins and let them go unpunished. Sin has got to be paid for. On the Cross He declared that He was a holy God. He punished all sins including past sins that He had not yet punished. Jesus was His eternal sacrifice. This is what it means when it says ‘that he might be just’.

In the same way, He is now the justifier of whosoever believes in Jesus. His holiness now demands justification for us. Because He has punished Jesus for our sins already. His holiness demands that we be made righteous. Because Jesus took on our unrighteousness and sin. God’s holiness is now on your side, not against you.

“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.” Rom3:27

Note1: Boasting is excluded, it is useless. We cannot boast when there is nothing we do. We just believe. All the work is God’s. Only God can boast about what He has done. Only God can brag about His work.

Anybody that boasts about their commitment to God, their performance and their service to God lacks revelation. They have not been established upon the foundation of Christ. They do not know faith righteousness, the righteousness of God.  They are still in works righteousness, self-righteousness. Only God has any accomplishment worthy of boasting. It was the accomplishments of Jesus that saved us, not ours.

Note2: We are no longer under the law of works, so we cannot boast about our works. We are under the law of faith. Now we boast about God’s works. About what He has done, which we have believed. Now what is demanded of us is to believe what God does.

Note3: Laws are constant. As long as you meet their demands and conditions they work exactly the same. The law of gravity is a good example. It doesn’t matter who you are, how educated you are, how beautiful and smart you are, how rich and powerful you are. If you climb on top of a building and jump you will fall. It will always pull you down. That’s what it does. It’s a law.

The law of works demanded that to get results you had to perform, to keep the law. As long as you performed accordingly it always worked. As long as you kept the law perfectly, you got God’s blessings. Unfortunately nobody ever met it's conditions. Nobody ever kept the law. Ever.

The law of faith is the same way. It demands that you believe what God has done through Christ. As long as you believe what God has done through Christ, you will get the results of God. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are from, what you have done, how terrible and wicked you are, how unworthy you are. How uneducated you are. What you are addicted to. As long as your faith is in what God has done you will get the results of God. The grace and blessing of God. All that is required of you is that you believe. 

This is the reason many of us struggle to get the results of God. To enjoy the blessing of God. We don't accept that all that is required of us is to have faith. We think this is too simple, there must be something I must do first, some work to perform, something more complicated, something that will make me suffer, I have got to pay the price, I have to live holy etc. We keep breaking the law of faith by refusing to have faith in the work of Christ.
This is the mathematical equation for this law;

Jesus + Anything = Nothing. 

Jesus + Nothing = Everything.

In summary, JESUS IS ENOUGH

The Pharisees came to Jesus one time and asked Him what work God wanted them to do so as to be pleasing to Him and get His results. This is what Jesus told them;

“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” Jn6:29

These people must have been shocked. Only that? Surely Jesus is mistaken. No wonder they called Him a false prophet. Jesus was clear, this is what God demands from us. This is what the law of faith demands. That we believe on Jesus whom He sent. That our faith be in Christ.

“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Rom3:28

This is the conclusion of the matter. We are justified (made righteous, declared righteous, made perfectly acceptable and well pleasing to God) by faith in what He has done. By faith in Christ. By the faith of Christ.