Welcome to all my beloved brothers and sisters.
The Justification
By Pastor Juan Avellaneda
The Gospel reveals three things:
Gods’ ability to develop a salvation plan for men. The power of God not only to save, but also to destroy Satan’s power, this power is for all who believe.
The offer of God is salvation by faith to everyone who believes, for all have sinned, declares and establishes a path in which all can be saved without distinction. He who believes will receive justification of God by faith and for faith.
The punishment of God for those who refuse to believe and accept his fair plan.
Justification by Faith
The great majority of those who have believed in Jesus Christ today don’t understand what Justification by Faith is; however, after redemption it is the most important doctrine of the New Testament. Because without Justification there is no salvation and because we ignore what this is, the believer lives struggling with his own strength and ability to stop doing what God says that he should not do and this is something that he will never accomplish… Why? because if an individual has believed in Christ Jesus and does not understand that he has been Justified, he continues to believe that he is a sinner, and as long as he believes that, he will never be sanctified.
There is a passage that is repeated four times in the scriptures: one is found in the Old Testament (Habakkuk 2:4) and three times in the New Testament (Galatians 3:11), (Hebrews 10:38) and (Romans 1:17) “The Just shall live by Faith”
Many believers think that the meaning of this has to do with God providing them with many things that they need but do not have the sources to buy them, and this is true for those who have faith, but the true meaning is that he who has believed in Christ Jesus shall live the new life according to what God has attributed to him through the Holy Spirit when he first came to believe.
Romans 3:21-26
“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law of 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. For all have sinned, and have 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 from the remission of sins that are past, through that 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.”
The apostle Paul says these words after stating in verse 20 that by the work of the law no human being will be Justified, this means that he closes the verdict of God for the man: GUILTY and in the followed verse ha says: “But now” what a word this is! Here Paul opens a door of hope, for everybody who has faith in the consummated work of Christ on the cross.
Paul says that besides the law, the Justice of God has been demonstrated, that is to say, that the law does not stand annulated, the law has to do with the work of man; but here Paul says that God has done something new: The court of heaven has met and God has declared righteous every person who has believed in his plan of salvation.
Justification means to change position; before we were sinners and now, we are righteous. The word: JUSTIFY is taken from the judicial which also means ABSOLUTION that is to say that the person is declared free of guilt and charge. Now, this is something that no man can grant to another mortal like him. We give an example: somebody kills a person and then he is arrested and taken to court to be in front of a judge. The jury meets to pronounce the verdict against the murderer and while they study the case, they determine that the crime wasn’t premeditated. Then they analyze his behavior, his family, and the jury decides to declare him innocent, and they set him free. But for the family of the person which he killed; he is still a murderer. The judge declared him free, but what he couldn’t do is declare him righteous, because he had killed.
But Paul says that now the righteousness of God has been manifested and testifies, this means the law and the prophets are witnesses of this. What Paul declares is in accordance with the rest of the scripture. Now let’s see, Paul says that we are freely justified, this means that God hasn’t found any other way to justify man that isn’t by grace and faith, as we were found without any merit to obtain this salvation. So, then we see that man is justified by faith and not by his works that is why in order to seize this glorious truth, men must believe, the same way he believed and accepted the verdict of God: guilty, now that he has been washed in the blood of Christ, he must believe what God says about him, that because he repented and believed that Christ has paid his debt and that he has given him a position in Christ which has attributed his justice. This is something that is obtained only by faith. Do you know how many people are still teaching today that we are sinners? The devil has deceived thousands so that they don’t take this blessing, because he has power over the old man, but never over the new man; He tries by all means so that people don’t believe the truth of the word of God, because whoever declares himself righteous like God says, the devil has no authority over him, because the new man who is in Jesus Christ has defeated him forever.
As we said before, the doctrine of justification is of vital importance, however is being taught very little about this in the congregations and because of this the church can’t show Christ with their conduct. Now, how does God see the person who believes that he has been justified? For God it’s as if that person had never sinned and what is more tremendous yet God sees him as if he will never sin again, this is something that the ones who live in the flesh instead of rejoicing when they hear this, they get frightened, because this way they don’t have any more reasons or excuses to continue sinning and they start to argue that this is not so. But it is the glorious truth of the word of God, and if God has given us a position in his son Jesus Christ, everything that Christ is, we are for God. God sees us in Christ, and Christ never sinned nor will he ever sin, he is our head, our representative before God and his justice is our justice; formerly Adam was our representative and now it’s Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul says that we are saved by grace. Grace is a state of acceptance where one can only go in by faith. Grace is an unearned favor from God to man. only by the grace of God and by faith can the man be conformed to the image of his son (Ro. 8:29)
Let’s see then, if we have been justified and we are the new man, we look at ourselves and we see that we have two natures: one in the flesh, the “old one” and a spiritual one, the “new one”. We look at ourselves and apparently, we are the same person as always, but for God we are the new man. He in Christ has executed all of the Adamic race, so we by faith have been buried with Christ in the baptism and we are resurrected for a new life (Ro. 6:3). So, as I have said, we have two natures: one in the flesh and one spiritual and God commands us to live the spiritual life that he has gifted us with. We were spiritually dead, but we have been revived by his spirit. As a new man we want to do God’s will, we want to obey him, love him and serve him; but we learn that we have a great opposition in the flesh.
The apostle Paul says: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16), this means that the flesh will try to enslave us again because it doesn’t subject to the law God nor it can (Romans 8:7). When the believer understands that he has two natures and that he isn’t the old man anymore he dissociates and looks and realizes that the old man goes with him everywhere and tries by all means to make him obey and fulfill all his desires, but because we have faith, we believe that we are the new man, we don’t obey our flesh, in other words it is not a sin to have a bad desire, sin is when we obey desires of the flesh. If we believe that we have been born again we have freed ourselves of the guilt of sin, because the one who is born of God does not sin, because God’s seed abides in him, he can’t continue to sin, because he is born of God (1 John 3:9)
Do you know how many have believed and because they don’t understand these things, they are still slaves? Today in church we report the bad, but we don’t teach what is the solution to stop doing wrong, the ones who don’t understand that we have two natures live their lives blaming themselves; however, God has freed them; but they are like that one prisoner whose jailer announces to him that he has completed his sentence and that he is free to go, but he doesn’t open the door of the jail cell. Like this man, there are Christians who don’t understand this, and because of this there won’t be a true revival in the church. The true revival starts inside the believer, when he understands this glorious and wonderful truth of the word of God.
If you ask a brother or sister if they are righteous, they answer with an absolute no, however the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21 say: “For he hath made to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
Here the word teaches us clearly that the righteousness of God was attributed to us, but this is revealed by faith and for faith (Romans 1:17), this means that when we believe in the word of God it is revealed to us and we can take possession of this blessing. He who doesn’t believe, can’t receive the light to understand this and how the righteous will live by faith, the new life cannot be developed in those who don’t believe.
Galatians 5:19-21
“Now the work of the flesh is manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, rebelling, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Here the apostle Paul clearly demonstrates the two natures: the one in the flesh and the spiritual one, and he says that those who practice the works of the flesh don’t inherit the kingdom of God, and he shows us the fruit of the spirit which are the virtues of the new life that God has given us. Now, if we don’t believe that we have this new life, his virtues won’t be developed and we will live a life without spiritual growth, making an effort trying to sanctify ourselves, something that we will never accomplish because the sanctification is not the work of man but of God’s spirit.
WHY HAVE WE BEEN JUSTIFIED?
The question is: how could God justify us even though we were sinners without his throne and his justice receiving the slightest stain? That God has forgiven us is one thing, but that he has justified us is something that the natural mind can’t understand. In ancient times God forgave his people who having sinned offered sacrifice according to the law, they would offer an innocent animal and when it was consumed, they received forgiveness, but never justification. That is why every year the high priest would go inside the sacred place to offer the blood of the animals in remembrance of his and the people’s sins. (Hebrews 10-3), but nonetheless the bible says that Christ by a single sacrifice made the sanctified forever perfect, in other words those would have believed. (Hebrews 10-14).
So, then we see that God has not only forgiven us, but he has also justified us, the justification goes beyond forgiveness, God has not justified us because he had looked at his creatures and seeing them ruin; he has forgiven us, making use of his mercy; if this were so the devil would also present himself to be forgiven by Gods mercy, but nevertheless this is not so. God has justified us because his wrath against sin was quenched in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ went to the cross disguised as Adam, Adam was the culprit but Christ in the cross was the substitute of Adam and of all men. God put on Him all the sin of the world and when the sin was on Him, God made Him THE SIN, that is, that Christ died as the culprit of all the evil in this world and this is true, the blessed was made damned. So, we see that Gods plan to save man is perfect and nobody can object to it, if this task had been entrusted to all the wise men and philosophers of all ages, they would still be united without being able to do it, but salvation for men is a perfect plan of the mind and the infinite wisdom of God.
Romans 3:27-31
“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is He not also of the gentiles? Yes, of the gentiles also: seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
The apostle Paul asks: where is the boasting? anyone who has been justified must understand that there was not one merit in us to attain this. Paul says that the boastfulness of men is excluded. The apostle Paul asks another question: By which law? By the law of the works? The answer is no, but by the law of faith. What is he referring to when saying “the law of works and the law of faith”? The law of works is when men say: “because I went, because I prayed, because I invested, because I did it”, this law exalts men and excludes God.
The law of faith is when we say: “God did it, God sent it, God raised it, God healed it”, the law of faith excludes men and exalts God.
The apostle Paul also claims: “therefore we conclude”, as saying to us “let’s put an end to all of this”, the man is justified by faith without the works of the law; but this doesn’t mean that the law is excluded, it means that we confirm the law because in the new man is where all these virtues of the life of Christ are, because we love Him, we can obey the law of Christ and do so much more.
He who doesn’t accept grace as a gift of God for his justification remains under the law. The source of justification is the grace of God and the foundation is Jesus Christ. God treats the sinner like a righteous person; the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished this for the sinner in the cross of Calvary. Having this knowledge, that the source of justification is the grace of God and the foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ, those who have believed have the assurance that all this blessing will be a reality in our lives, if we want it, that is to say, if we desire and yearn for it, we know that God will develop all this in us.
Those who believe they are righteous will carry out and live a life of justice; this is the formula to stop sinning. When we do everything that God commands us to do which are the works of the new man: to love each other, to help each other, to be humble, etc…, the works of the flesh remains without exercise and its passions die off, when we try with our own strength to stop doing wrong to try and do right that’s when we fail, because the men can’t regenerate himself, since this is the work of the Holy Spirit of God. When the works of the flesh become evident in us such as: jealousy, quarrels, bad intentions or any of the ingredients that Paul lists in Galatians 5:21 we must reject them because they are not ours, as the new man born of God can’t have bad desires or evil thoughts. This is our defense: God says that the new man does not sin and we must believe him, here’s an example: when you have bad thoughts whose is it? Is it the new man’s or the old men? if you attribute this bad thought to yourself, you’re either saying that: the new man sins or that the old man is alive. And the bible clearly says that the new man does not sin (1 John 3:9) and that the old man died (Romans 6:3), that is why the righteous will live by faith.
It is written in Romans 12:21 “… be not overcome of evil, but overcome the evil with good.”
Here is something that we must understand: God has left us in the flesh, if we look at ourselves, we perceive that our flesh is there with all its characteristics; however, God says that the old man died. When we understand these things, we realize that the church doesn’t live by faith. Faith is to believe what God says regardless what our eyes see, it is not by sight, but it is by faith. God has left us in this flesh and His glory are that being in it, we can still live the way Christ lived, in other words, the system of life of heaven. Our wish and prayer are that anyone who reads these words, the Lord Jesus enlightens him in such a way that he understands that his trust should be in the consumed work of Christ on the cross, and this way, obtain the glorious freedom that God has given to all who have faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. “So, if the son makes you free, you will truly be free” Amen.
The Example of Abraham and David
Romans 4:1-8
“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham, we justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God for what said the scripture? Abraham believed in God and it was counted unto him righteousness. Now to him that worked is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt? But to him that worked not, but believeth on him that justified the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputed righteousness without works. Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered? Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
At this point in his letter, the apostle Paul stops in his argumentation to call two great men of the bible to testify: Abraham and David, because they are an example of grace in the plan of salvation. They were both given special promises regarding Christ. Abraham, as the seed through which all nations would be blessed and David as the King, the seed that would reign among nations.
1- Abraham was called God’s friend (James 2:23)
2- David was called the heart to be after God’s heart (Acts 13:22)
If any man had what to boast about for the sovereign and wonderful treatment of God with him, Abraham and David would surely have it; that’s why their testimonies are very important. Abraham is the first to be called to testify, what does he have to say concerning his justification in front of God? If he was justified by his works, we wish to know it, because he had something to boast about in those days; Paul said. But what do the scriptures state?
“Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Romans 4:3
As we can see, Abraham was justified because he believed and not by his works, this shows us that the justification is by grace and by faith. This is the problem of the churches today; it is difficult for the believer to believe that God has justified us only by faith. This is because this doctrine of the justification has been practically excluded from church, but the justification by faith doctrine is the most important after our redemption.
The follows David, courageous with firm disposition exclaims in his testimony: “… blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Romans 4:8
When I didn’t have the understanding of the doctrine of the justification, once I read this passage on Psalms 32, I asked myself: who are the ones that the Lord will not impute sin? And I didn’t know that I myself was one of them. When I understood this, I cried in front of the Lord and I thanked him for the consumed work of Christ on the cross. I understood that I had been justified not by my works, but by the work of Christ, this brought me freedom, joy, peace and safety. When we believe this glorious truth of the word of God, we experience the joy that the freedom from the guilt of sin produces. So, we can understand the true value of having been justified. Let’s honor God believing what he says about what we have believed: that now we are his children and that the heavens are opened to receive all spiritual blessing with which he has blessed us in the heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3) With certainty this is enough to convince anybody that God would have never had a better way for salvation that wouldn’t be by the grace and by faith.
Genesis 15:6- Romans 4:16- Psalm 32:1-2
The justification follows immediately the faith, it is given not to the one who works, but the person who believes.
NOTE: WE RECOMMEND TO READ ROMANS, CHAPTER 4 COMPLETELY
I EMBRACE YOU IN THE LOVE OF JESUS
Pastor Juan Avellaneda