Justified

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

What do you think of when you hear the word justified? Webster defines justified as “having or shown to have a just, right, or reasonable basis.”    We use the term in case of justifiable homicide.  The taking of another life in self-defense or trying  to save the life of another would be ruled a justifiable homicide. You might be justified in a  civil proceeding where you were sued, and the judge finds it in your favor.

However, there is a much more important use of   the word when it comes to your eternal security. If you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you stand guilty before a Holy God, and He will     cast your soul into hell at the Great White Throne Judgment. But, God, in His great mercy, made way for you to be made right with Him. Paul writes, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

When Jesus went to the cross, suffered, bled, and died, He appeased the wrath of God against our sin. When He rose from the dead three days later, He   defeated death once and for all. Now anyone who makes Jesus Christ Lord and Savior of their lives has been justified before God. You have been declared righteous before God. You are no longer slaves to sin, but you are now slaves of righteousness.

God the Father sees us as perfect and unblemished,  and He sees us justified. Because God justifies us by grace through faith in Christ, we now have peace with God (Romans 5:1). Like Joshua the priest, we have been stripped of our “filthy clothes” (Zechariah 3:4), and, like the prodigal son in the parable, we are now clothed with “the best robe” (Luke 15:22).

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark