by God's Little Boy
© MakeshiftDarkroom.com 2015
Posted 7/9/15

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:24)

Justification /ˌjəs-tə-fə-ˈkā-shən/ n. Theol. 1 The divine act whereby an infinitely Holy God judicially declares a believing sinner to be righteous and acceptable because of the atonement of the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ. To make right in position by imputation.

In the classroom, a chalkboard is used for the teaching of lessons. So let us begin, by analogy, at the chalkboard with a simple lesson on the important subject of JUSTIFICATION. The seasoned Christian who has been properly instructed in the scriptures knows, very well, the significance of this weighty theological term. Justification is of keystone importance with regards to the salvation and redemption of man.

The chalkboard analogy is simple yet profound. Picture in your mind a chalkboard and imagine that the chalkboard has written on it all manner of corrupt, evil, and sinful things - layers and layers of unspeakably base offences written by the hand of human depravity. In this example, the chalkboard represents our "account" of sin; and only serves to condemn us. This is the heart of man's spiritual dilemma, imputed sin. The universal imputation of Adam's sin to man's account. This is only verified further by the evidence of a sin nature that produces sin (original) in our life.

The good news is that there is forgiveness with God. Through faith in Christ we receive forgiveness. If God kept a record of our sins, guilt would ruin our fellowship and incapacitate us from walking with God.

“If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, That thou may be feared.” (Psalm 130:3-4)

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7)

When a lost sinner puts his faith in Christ then God the Father, who has power to forgive through the blood of Christ, takes an eraser and wipes the chalkboard clean. This is forgiveness; pardon for the guilty, the cancelation of all debt, the washing away of all sins.

"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:12)

To ensure even further that the vile account has been fully purged, God also washes the chalkboard. This eliminates the discovery of any possible latent trace. There is to be no remembrance or searching out of past sins, so the former account is not merely crossed out, but blotted out. Forgiveness in the mind of God is full and complete. Those who are of the household of faith are protected from accusation and spared from condemnation by the “Finished Work” of their great Advocate - Jesus Christ the righteous. This is forgiveness indeed!

But now we come to JUSTIFICATION. As beautiful as forgiveness is, forgiveness alone would be incomplete in the redemptive plan of God. It is not enough to be merely forgiven; we must also be righteous - made righteous. The God who saves to the uttermost takes our salvation to the highest level. After clearing our account with his eraser of forgiveness, God then takes a stick of chalk and writes on the chalkboard all of the righteousness of Christ as imputed, or credited, to our account. All that Christ is is transcribed to our record as a free gift of grace. This is the full measure of the great exchange; our sin for his righteousness. Imputed righteousness! The righteousness of God imputed not because of works or because of any merit on our part, but because we trust him. Declared righteous by God! Justification by faith! Alone!

"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." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Written on our chalkboard and transferred to our account is the very righteousness of Christ. This JUSTIFICATION, is God’s legal declaration upon all that are his. Declared righteous in our position even while still unrighteous in our experience. He calls those things which are not as though they were. (Romans 4:17) God always and only sees believers through the lens of his finished work of redemption.

Once again:

Our chalkboard is defiled with sin. When we come to Christ by faith, God wipes our chalkboard clean and then writes his righteousness on our chalkboard as a credit to our account.

There is a safe haven from the winds of accusation and condemnation. The knowledge of justification is spiritual armor to the child of God. It is the Christian’s breastplate of righteousness that protects the heart from the accusation of the enemy. (Ephesians 6:14) Our righteousness would not be enough to protect us from the charges that come against us, so Christ gives us his righteousness instead. Condemnation can come from the outside or from within our own heart. But there is now no condemnation in Christ. The heart that is fortified with the knowledge of the doctrine of justification is a heart that has peaceful confidence in God and is free from condemnation. For there is now no condemnation in Christ.

“For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved if our heart condemns us not, then we have confidence toward God.” (1 John 3:20-21)

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1)

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2)

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