How can a man be justified before God? More and more in our society mankind has lost touch with the reality that God is pure and holy, undefiled, whereas we are not. Those who really study God's Word (like Job) understand the disparity, that He is holy whereas we are sinful. The modern day legalist preaches that we can attain the holiness of God. Yet, does not even the Scripture teach that we are sinful, unable to attain righteousness apart from that lent to us from our association with Jesus on the Cross?

Romans 3:21-25 "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and 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 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 for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"

We were and are, even now, unable to produce righteousness within our own power that will be acceptable to our Father. We are as helpless as children in the sea of misery, unable of our own to produce that which God would look at and call "good". So few, even Christians, understand our incredible helplessness to justify ourselves. Job understood, Abraham understood, yet often we fail to understand how deep is our inability. Our righteousness must come from the Source of purity, must come from God, or it will fall short.

Act 1, Scene 1: Sin and try to justify yourself.

Genesis 3:6-7 "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."

Adam knew better than to eat of the forbidden fruit. Eve, Paul tells us, was tricked into eating, but Adam well knew that his act was one of disobedience. Right after Adam did eat both he and his mate fell into spiritual death (eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked). Here was a new experience, a terrible new experience. In the Garden up to this point both Adam and Eve were at peace with God, carrying on conversations with their Creator in the cool of the evening like old friends. Yet by his actions Adam introduced imperfection into perfection, sin into a sinless world. If the first sin was disobedience, the second sin of mankind was surely an attempt at self justification. On sensing their fall both Adam and Eve immediately thought, "Hey, we can fix this thing. Let's just sew a few clothes together. And the Bible says they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Never once did Adam think, "I messed up. I'd better go and tell the Father and see if He can help me out of this mess". The legalist, creative man that he was thought, "I can fix this".

Genesis 3:8-10 "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.  And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?  And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. "

I can hear you thinking, "That Adam, what a bonehead! Why hide from God?" Yet how many times have we tried unsuccessfully to hide our sins from the Father? Rather than confess our sin to the One who can fix it, we make excuses. "Lord, I sinned, I know, but...". "Lord I was tempted, but I'm only human..". "Lord, I didn't meant to, but he made me...". Hiding rather than confessing, staying in babyhood as Christians because we will not admit our fault to Him who already knows.

Genesis 3:11-14 "And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?  And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:"

Those wheels start turning as soon as we get in trouble: Who can I blame? How can I shift the blame while just looking like I was fooled? The man blamed the woman, but he also blamed God. Note that he told God, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me . It wasn't really my fault, Lord. You gave me a defective model, a poor helpmate. It's all her fault. If you had given me a better wife I wouldn't have done this. Self justification comes in all forms. The man blamed the woman and God. The woman blamed the serpent (The serpent beguiled me). The only one here who didn't blame someone else was the serpent, who kept quiet throughout the whole ordeal. Even the devil has better sense than to make excuses in the light of being caught. At no time did anyone stop and say, "God, I sinned. I fell short, it's my fault, and I need your mercy".

Genesis 3:20-21 "And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them."

God looked at Adam and (perhaps) said, "Your self justification sickens me. Get rid of those fig leaves, I'll make you the proper clothing". And with this God performs the first blood sacrifice in human history, killing two innocent animals in order to cover man's sin. With this action God showed man several things. First, your alleged righteous works are useless in His sight. Second, in order to cover sin someone must pay the penalty. Third, God cannot cover sin until it comes in the light. Had man remained hidden would he have been covered with the atoning sacrifice? Man should have learned, we all should know better, yet he refused to learn. We cannot attain righteousness on our own, we cannot cover our own sins.

Galatians 3:10-11 "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith."

Romans 2:12-13 "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."

Justification by the Law was an all or none proposition. There was no "oops" allowed in following the Law. If you broke one point of the Law you broke the Law, and were unjustified. Every year at the beginning of the Jewish New Year all Israel would go to the Temple and atone for their sins. Every year man dragged himself back to the Temple, no matter where he was living, no matter how far away he came from, and told God "Look, I blew it again this year. But maybe I'll get it right next year!". The Christian who believes he can lose his salvation fails to understand the Law and it's curse. The person who thinks he's good enough without Christ misses the point of the Law. The Law was a curse because it could not be fulfilled by sinful men. God didn't give us the Law as an alternate means to Heaven, nor as a means by which we could maintain our salvation. God gave the Law as an object lesson to those who would seek self justification. It was a wall without handholds that we tried to climb, but failed. It was a pit with slick walls that we fell in and couldn't get out of. It was God's way of saying, "Admit you can't do it, and I will provide the righteousness. Admit your way is wrong and I'll show you justification".

Justification was a plan set forth by the Godhead in eternity past.

Romans 3:26-28 "To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 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."

Romans 8:32-33 "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth."
 

Man saw the Law and said, "Oh goody, a way I can prove that I'm good enough to go to Heaven". God made the Law and thought, "This will prove to them all that they must walk by faith, not by sight. They must learn to admit their inability and allow Me to justify." Why did Jesus come when He came, why did He die when He did in time? Jesus said "(Matthew 5:17-18) Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." God waited for centuries while man tried and failed under the Law. He waited until even man, in his hardheadedness, could see the utter futility of self justification. When that best time in history came so came Jesus, born of a virgin, ready to fulfill or complete what the Law could never do because of our inability.

Year after year the High Priest, on the Day of Atonement, set forth an animal without blemish to be sacrificed for our sins. Yet the Law and the Sacrifice was imperfect because we are imperfect. If it were perfect then the sacrifice would not be needed year after year. In the fullness of time, on a dusty day around 33 AD, God set forth His Son as the one perfect Substitute. This Perfect Lord was made a criminal for us, took and paid the penalty for our sins. How terrible a sacrifice! Twenty One times in Scripture Christ addressed the Father, yet during the courtroom penalty phase of the Cross He referred to the Creator as "My God", not "My Father". Such was the alienation, such was the sacrifice. How beautiful and yet terrible our salvation!

Romans 5:8-9 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

The grounds for our Justification, our imputed righteousness, is the shed blood of Christ. How dare we think that we can be good enough to merit favor in God's sight? The blood which streamed down our precious Savior's body, trickling to a puddle on the ground beneath the instrument of His torment, this blood remains in the mind of God a testament that we who believe are justified. How laughable that we think we need to "maintain" or struggle to retain that which was so preciously bought. Can your blood purchase my redemption? Can your blood purchase your redemption. No, no, a thousand times No! Forsythe said, "Christianity is not the sacrifice we make, but the sacrifice we trust". We stand justified because He hung and poured out His life for us.

Romans 5:1-2 "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 3:27 "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith."

Salvation and justification comes to man only when he says, "Father, I can't. I am unable, I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for me, and I claim your promise of salvation because I believe". Faith in God, saving faith, is self renouncing. Faith that saves says "I really can't justify myself, so I need your provision, Lord". Faith alone saves, and maintains salvation.

James 2:21-26 "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

The Legalist who believes salvation must be maintained by "good works" often uses these verses to justify his position. Yet they forget that long before Abraham offered Isaac for sacrifice (Genesis 22) he was justified by faith in God (Genesis 15.6 "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness."). The saving faith came first and, once Abraham was saved, he gave evidence of that salvation by seeking to obey his Lord. Yet let us not forget that this same Abraham offered to give his wife to another man, and slept (in adultery) with his own slave woman. The true believer in Christ will show outward evidence of his inward salvation. But let us never forget that we are human, prone to sin. We, like King David, are capable of falling into sin. Does this make us less saved? No, it only proves we're humanly fallible. If you, however, from the point of salvation have never shown any outward evidence that you are saved, then you probably aren't saved. Those who are justified show it's evidence in their lives, it's that simple.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 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, and by the Spirit of our God."

If you were to poll the Christian Church in Heaven you'd see a literal rogue's gallery. If you think you're not good enough to be a Christian, read the above list very slowly. Look at the sins listed: sexual sins, homosexual sins, theft, greed, drunkenness, kidnappers, rioters. I had a man come to me one time who was abused as a child and grew up to become homosexual. He wanted to know if the Love of Christ extended to him as well. Absolutely and particularly! Once you're saved I believe God will lead you away from that lifestyle (those who are Justified will exhibit it's effects in their lives), but, absolutely, Christ died for the homosexual too. He died for the smug self righteous people who condemn those who are "beneath their station". He died for the hater, the liar, the hider of sins. He died for the goody two shoes who, as my momma used to say, "Sugar wouldn't melt in his mouth". He died for the murderer, the molester, the self important. He died for us all, and, yes, Justification applies to you if you would only accept Him.

So, what's the big deal? Why make an issue of it? Does it really matter whether you think you can work your way to Heaven or not? Oh yes, it makes a big difference. If you think you can work your way to Heaven you're missing the salvation boat, my friend. There is only one way to get to Heaven, and that's through faith in the completed work of Christ. If you have already been saved by faith in Christ and yet feel that you must maintain your salvation by works, you rob your Father (as well as the Son) of the glory in salvation. They did the work, not you. Stop relying on your own feeble works to be saved and start relying on God's Gift through Christ and His empowering Spirit. God Bless!