20260920 Romans 5 / Justification Sunday Sermon Tim Dickmann

So, we're in chapter 5 of Romans this morning.

We'll be in Romans for a little while now, beginning

here. Is this loud enough? So, the last couple

of Wednesdays, we... briefly dealt with the first

four chapters there. We talked about the gospel

there in chapter 1, 16 and 17, that Paul is not

ashamed of the gospel for its power of God and

salvation. And then we talked about what he goes

on to say then from verse 18 through chapter

3, verse 20, and his point being there the condemnation

of all men, Jew or Gentile, without distinction,

are all condemned in the sight of God. And then

we talked... A lot about justification there.

Beginning in chapter 3 verse 21. 21 through 31.

Paul there deals with justification. Apart from

the law. There is a righteousness of God that

has been revealed. And then he goes on in chapter

4 there. Talks about justification by faith.

That this justification is by faith. That this

is nothing new. Gives us the example there of

Abraham. And then in chapter 5 here, he is going

to begin where some would say the blessings of

justification. Others would say the assurance

of glory or the hope of glory that we have because

of our justification. The same thing, I would

say. Some would make a distinction there, but

I don't know how you really separate those two

things. So Paul here is going to begin to say,

what are some of the results or the blessings

of this justification that we have? And he's

going to deal with that through chapter 5, and

then he gets into 6 and 7. And Dad mentioned

this when he was preaching a couple weeks ago,

that chapter 6 and 7 are kind of a parenthesis

here where he deals with some issues that he

has created based on the things that he said.

And so he explains those things in chapter 6

and 7, and then he picks up really this same

thing in chapter 8. So chapter 5 and chapter

8, they go together. If you left out 6 and 7

and you read from chapter 5 to chapter 8, it

would flow. There would be a natural progression

there. And he deals with some of these same things

in chapter 8. If you read it, if you read 5 and

you read 8, he doesn't word it the same. There's

some different words there that he uses for the

same ideas that he talks about in both chapters.

And you'll see that if you read that. And we'll

get to that. But that's where we're going here.

In chapter 5. The blessings of justification.

Now before we deal with those though. I want

to be clear. And so we're going to deal with

justification. One more week. Because we've talked

about justification. But we really haven't said.

What is justification? We've said some of it.

But I want us to be sure. That we all understand.

What is justification? What does that mean? We

use that term. Paul uses that term. What is it

to be justified? Jake, was it two weeks ago,

talked a little bit about this. Talked about

justification. And so, what he had to say was

good. I think I'm going to say some of the same

things Jake said the other day. What is it to

be justified? What does that mean? When we use

that term, what are we saying? We all need to

be clear on that. We all need to understand that.

So the word justification, it is a statement

of fact. So when it's used here, it is a statement

of fact. He says in verse 1 of chapter 5, having

been justified by faith. And he goes on, we have

peace with God and so on. Justification is not

a feeling. We are not justified and we feel that

way. This is a statement of fact. What does it

mean? It means that we have been declared righteous.

To be justified is to be declared righteous.

It's not to be made righteous. Okay? Understand

there's a difference there. We're not made righteous

because we are justified. We are declared righteous

because we are justified. Now, we are made righteous.

Okay? And you can't really separate these things

per se. But we would speak of regeneration, being

made new in Christ. There's the new, the making,

being made new. But justification is a declaration

by a judge, God being the judge, that we are

right. We are righteous in his sight. Now, if

you want, I wrote down here Luke. Luke 7, 29.

It speaks there of God being justified. And so

we see there that that word justified, it's not

making God righteous. And so the same applies

to us. It's not being made this way. It's being

declared. So, statement of fact, statement of

truth, being declared righteous. To be declared

by the judge, God, that we are righteous. Now,

if we want to read a couple of verses here. I

think relate to this, obviously, is chapter 4.

Isaiah 4 · chapter mention

Again, Paul is dealing with it here. Chapter

4, 6 through 8. He says, Just as David also speaks

of the blessing on the man to whom God credits

righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those

whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose

sins have been covered. Blessed is the man who

sinned, the Lord will not take into account.

That's what we're talking about here. The Lord

does not take into account. He does not credit

us what we have coming. This idea of being credited,

that's what he's talking about here with justification.

It is not credited to our account. What is credited

to our account in our justification? We talked

about it on Wednesday, the righteousness of Christ.

That is how God is able to declare us righteous,

is because of Christ's righteousness. Verse 3,

I skipped it here, but this is the positive side

of it. In verse 3 he says, Abraham believed God

and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Those are the two sides, not crediting to us

our sin, but crediting to us the righteousness

of Christ. The positive and the negative side

to look at those things. So God, they're declaring

us to be righteous, not taking our sins into

account, not holding our sins against us. This

is what I think this is what Jake said the other

day when he was speaking. He says it's so when

we're justified, it's not that we just get a

blank slate. Right. God doesn't just say, I'm

wiping your sins away. That's not that's not

what we're talking about. That's part of it.

But God doesn't just wipe the slate blank. So

you think of it, you think of just the whiteboard,

right? Maybe we've got all of our sins listed

on there. God's got his whiteboard and he's got

everything that we've ever done. And then justification,

he wipes that board clean. Is that justification?

Yes and no. He does that, but what does he do?

Writes on there the righteousness of Christ.

That's justification. He fills the slate with

the goodness, the righteousness of Christ. That

is our justification. Not holding our sins against

us and crediting to us the righteousness of Christ.

That is justification. He doesn't make us righteous

as Christ. He credits us. That righteousness.

That is our justification. Again, it's not a

feeling, right? This is a reality. This is a

truth. You can feel the weight of your sin. You

can feel that. That's irrelevant. We are clothed

in the righteousness of Christ. We are justified.

Know that. Understand that. Live in that. Clothed

in the righteousness of Christ. Christ's righteousness

imputed to us. 2 Corinthians 5 .21 We read this

the other day. I'm going to read it again. Because

this is what we're talking about. This is part

of what we're dealing with here. 2 Corinthians.

If I can get there. 5 .21 He made him who knew

no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might

become the righteousness of God in him. So we

are declared. We are credited. This is a reality.

It is not a feeling. What is the opposite then?

I always think this is helpful. The opposite

of these things, right? Here's what it is. Here's

what it's not. What's the opposite of justification?

Condemnation, okay? So Romans 8 brings in this

exact same point, right? It said these two things

are parallel to one another. What's the first

verse of Romans 8? There is therefore now no

condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

To those who have been justified, there is no

condemnation. That's the opposite. So we are

no longer condemned. We were condemned. We dealt

with that, right? Chapter 2, chapter 3. Part

of chapter 1, all men condemned. What's the good

news of the gospel? There is no condemnation

for those in Christ Jesus. For those who have

been justified, there is no condemnation for

us. So, condemnation is the opposite. I want

to read a couple of verses I think that are good

in pointing this out. In chapter 8, verses 33.

And 34. Who will bring a charge against God's

elect? Who's going to say we're guilty? Who's

going to say we've done whatever? Who's going

to say, no, they can't enter heaven? God is the

one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns

Christ Jesus as he who died, yea, rather was

raised and is at the right hand of the Father?

Justification, condemnation. God has justified.

Who can condemn? No one. The judge has declared.

He has declared us to be righteous. He has made

that statement and that declaration. That is

the truth. Can you condemn yourself? No. Can

Satan condemn us? No. There is no condemnation.

Will God condemn? No. We've been justified. God

is the one who justifies who can condemn. So

the opposite of justification is condemnation.

How are we justified? That's the next question

I want to ask. How are we justified? Okay? If

we wanted to use another term, how are we saved?

Justification, salvation, these things are the

same. How is a man saved? How is a man justified?

Well, Paul says here in chapter 5, verse 1, Therefore,

having been justified by faith. Okay, so our

justification is by faith. But what else does

Paul say here? If we were to continue reading

here in this chapter, we get down to verse 9

and he says, much more than having now been justified

by his blood. Okay? So, Paul is saying we're

justified by faith, but we're justified by blood,

by the blood of Jesus. What else does he say?

I'm going to read a couple more here. Titus 3,

7. Paul says that we are justified by grace.

Titus 3, 7. I'm going to start in verse 5. He

saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have

done in righteousness, but according to His mercy.

by the washing of regeneration and renewing by

the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly

through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being

justified by grace, we would be made heirs according

to the hope of eternal life. So Paul uses three

terms here, faith, blood, and grace, that we've

been justified by these things. What does this

mean? Is this the exact same thing? What's he

talking about here? Which one is it? Ephesians

2 .8. I think he sheds some more light on it

for us here. For by grace you have been saved

through faith, and that not of yourselves, it

is the gift of God, not as a result of works,

so that no one may boast. He goes on there. So

Paul, he links all of them here. Saved, justified,

by grace through faith. By grace you have been

saved through faith. All of these things are

a part of our justification or why we're justified

or how we're justified. Why? How does a man have

faith? It's a gift of God. Paul tells us that.

It's the grace of God. It's the gift of God.

Not of works, lest any man should both. So our

faith is by grace. The grace of God. And all

of these things are only possible through the

blood of Christ. Charles Leiter says that the

blood of Jesus Christ is the grounds of our justification.

The way or the means in which we are justified

by His blood. He has met the penalty required.

Something needed to be given. We talked about

that Wednesday. In order for God to be just,

payment had to be made. There needed to be payment

for this ransom that he talks about. Jesus Christ,

His blood, satisfied that. His death. So, these

things, the blood of Christ, the grace of God,

faith. They're not different in the sense of

different ways of salvation. It's one way, by

grace through faith. Now, I want to make a couple,

I want to be clear here. What do we mean by faith?

What is this faith that Paul says? How are we

justified by faith? It's not just this faith

in something, alright? It's not faith in my faith.

Well, I've got faith. I've got faith to believe

enough, and so I'm saved. No, that's not saving

faith. It's not faith in your faith. It's not

faith in just a good God out there. Oh yeah,

God is good. I believe God's good. He's a good

God. I believe in this good God. I'm good. I'm

good to go. No. What is this faith in? In Jesus

Christ. It's in His work. In His shed blood.

Our faith is in Him. So it's trusting in Him,

in His death, in His resurrection, in His life.

Trusting that He has done what is necessary.

That I don't deserve it, that I have nothing,

and I'm resting and trusting in Him. If you've

read the book, Bridge Co. So it's Bruce Olson

down in the... maybe not the Amazon, it's down

in South America. And he's with all these Indians

and he's trying to tell them what faith is. They

don't really have a word for that. But they,

the way they sleep is they hang their hammocks

way up in the trees and they tie their hammocks

on the trees and they sleep in there to keep

them safe. And so he said, faith is tying your

hammock on Jesus. Right? What are they doing?

They're relying upon this tree. They're resting

on this tree to keep them safe, to keep them

secure, to keep them from falling. That's faith.

We're tying all of our hope upon Christ, upon

His work, resting in Him and in what He has done,

not anything of ourselves, tying upon Christ

there. I think that's a good example, a good

illustration. So, it's faith in Christ. True

faith looks outside of oneself and looks to another.

So we're not looking in. Am I good enough? Do

I have enough faith? No, we're looking at Christ.

Has Christ done enough? Yes, I'm trusting Him.

So faith in Christ. Grace, a gift. Of God. So.

Saved by grace through faith. I want to say this.

And I'll just jump to it now. How are we not

saved? Okay. So here we have. We're saved by

faith. We're saved by the grace of God. We're

saved through the blood of Christ. We're not

saved in other ways. That are proclaimed today.

Right. So I already mentioned one. We're not

saved just because we have some faith. In ourselves

or something out there. That's not saving faith.

We're not saved by works. That's why I wanted

to read Titus 3 .5. Not by works of righteousness

that we have done, he says. So not some good

deeds. All of our deeds are what? Filthy rags,

we're told. So we are not saved by some kind

of faith in something. We're not saved by good

deeds. And Paul, we've dealt with that. He says

that multiple times, not saved by works of the

law, not by doing or keeping these certain things.

How else are we not saved? We're not saved by

baptism. Baptism doesn't save us. We're not saved

by keeping the sacraments, as the Catholic Church

would tell us, that we need to do these certain

things. We're not saved by walking an aisle,

saying a prayer. We're not saved because we asked

Jesus into our hearts. Right? That's not saving.

We're not saved by repenting. By saying, I'm

sorry. I'm sorry, God. That's not salvation.

Now, some of those things we may do. Once we

are saved, we are going to repent. We are going

to, you know, maybe when we're praying, ask Jesus

into our heart that we would be saved. Give me

faith. Change my heart. But that doesn't save

us. Signing a card. And saying I made this decision

on this day. That's not salvation. Those are

all works of man. It's something we do. And it

doesn't save us. So. Know that. Acts. I wrote

this down. In Acts. What must it be? what must

I do to be saved? I can't find the verse. Is

that in chapter 6? I want to say 631 maybe? 16?

Okay. What must I do to be saved? Paul and Silas

were there in the jail and the jailer says, what

must I do to be saved? They say, what? Do these

things. Believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you shall be saved. Faith in Christ. Tie

your hammock on Christ. And you will be saved.

Believe in him. He is the only way. So. We are

not saved in those ways. We are saved. Only through

Christ. Faith in Christ. Through his blood. I

mention this also. On Wednesday, I'm going to

say it again here. We are not, our justification

is not a pardon. I want to say that clear. We're

not pardoned in our justification. Okay? Understand

the difference there. It's not that we're guilty,

but we've been pardoned and set free. That's

not it. Okay? So the judge didn't come to us

and say, yeah, you're guilty of everything, but

I'm a merciful judge and I'm going to let you

go. That is not justification. Right? How is

God just and the justifier? How can he be just

and justify us? Because someone else has paid

the price. Someone else has taken our sin. And

so God is just. So it's not a pardon. It's not

a pardon. We've been justified. We've been declared

righteous because one has taken our place and

God is satisfied. The wrath of God has been satisfied.

Alright. What else about justification is important

for us to know? Justification is not temporary.

It's not ongoing. Alright? So, Paul says here

in verse 1, having been justified. This is a

past tense. It's not a future or an ongoing thing

that he's saying here. This is a past tense thing

that has happened. You have been justified. That's

it. It's done. One time. It's not a continual

thing. We're not justified once, and then we

sin, and now we're unjustified. That's not it.

Nowhere will you find that in Scripture, because

what does that mean? We're no longer covered

by the blood of Christ. We no longer have His

righteousness if we've lost our justification.

So we're going to hell. That's what that means.

If we lose our justification, we're going to

hell. Impossible. Impossible. How can that be?

What does Romans say? It is God who justifies

who condemns. How can Paul say that if he doesn't

know that once we're justified, we're going to

reach glory? Everything he says is just a kind

of a, well, if you happen to get justified just

before you die, maybe you're going to probably

make it. Makes no sense. Scripture's clear that

what? When we have been justified, well, Paul

tells us in Romans 8, those who he justified,

what did he do? He glorified. Paul makes it clear.

Those whom he has justified, he will also glorify.

So, that's Romans 8, 29 and 30. Let's just read

it. Romans 8. He goes through here. For whom

he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed

to the image of his Son, so that he would be

the firstborn among many brethren. And these

whom he predestined, he also called. And these

whom he called, he justified. And these whom

he justified, he also glorified. Paul doesn't

say he will glorify. Paul speaks of it as it's

a matter of fact already. Right? That's the surety

of it. That's the surety of our justification

is that we are glorified. One day we will be

perfect with Christ. So. It is not a temporary

thing. It is not an ongoing thing. We don't work

out our justification. We don't do certain things

to become more justified. Alright? What do we

call that? Perhaps, if you want to think, doing

things, sanctification, working out our salvation,

being cleansed, as Dave was talking about there,

I think, was Dave was saying something about

that. Right? Tried to remember properly here

what all everybody said. So, right? A cleansing

process. Being more conformed to the image of

Christ, we would say, right? Sanctification.

That's not what Paul's talking about here. He's

talking about justification. Declared righteous.

One time for all. So he says that in Romans 8.

Ephesians 2. We've read Quite a bit this morning

from Ephesians that I was hoping to read as well.

So we don't have to read it all here, but Ephesians

2, 6. What does Paul say here? That we are seated

with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

How can Paul say that? How can Paul say that

we are seated with Christ in heavenly places

now if we're going to lose our justification?

How can that be? It can't be. When you read through

Paul's writings, Paul speaks of these things

as realities now, not just as something future.

Yes, he speaks of our future glory and our being

with God in glory. But he speaks of these things

so often as realities now. This is the reality

of who we are. Not just what will be one day.

We are seated now with Christ in heavenly places.

We're not going to read it because somebody already

read it this morning. Ephesians 1, 7 -14. We

have obtained that inheritance. Not going to

obtain. Again, only through, only through our

justification in Christ. So, we'll leave it at

that. But this is a sure thing that never changes.

Once we've been justified, we are justified forever.

Unchanging. What does this mean for us? Why do

we need to hold on to this? Why do we need to

understand this? We need to view ourselves rightly.

Not only ourselves, but we need to view God rightly.

We need to view Christ rightly. These things

that we mentioned this morning are justification.

It is central and essential to our walk in this

world. We are right with God. So often, what

do we feel? We feel unworthy. We feel sinful.

We've fallen. We feel this guilt or this condemnation.

We feel these ways. Right? Our emotions. These

are not truths. These are not realities. Guilt.

Condemnation. All of these things. Unworthiness.

Yeah, in and of ourselves. But what are we? Justified.

What does God see when He sees us? A wicked,

vile wretch? No. You don't find that anywhere

in Scripture. Those of us in Christ, what are

we? Sons. Sons and daughters. Righteous. Clothed

in the righteousness of Christ. Walk through

this world knowing the love of God for you. Because

of Christ. God is for us, not against us. Right?

God is not against us. When we sin, now God's

against us. Right? No. He's still not against

us. Why? Because He's not taking that sin into

account. He's credited that to Christ. He's credited

us Christ's righteousness. View these things

rightly. It should be a joyful thing to remember

these things. It shouldn't get old and boring.

I remember feeling convicted of this years ago.

My brother was preaching and I was thinking,

brother, we've heard this. We've heard this already,

right? And then I got to thinking, I'm like,

how terrible is that to think we've heard this.

Why are you telling me again? We're justified.

We should be able to rejoice in that weekly.

That's the Lord's Supper, right? Our justification.

That's part of what we're celebrating. Every

week. Every moment. Every day. Here's a thought.

Wrap your mind around this. This isn't my thought.

This isn't some great thought that I had here.

We are no... No. Christ is no more justified

than we are. Have you thought of that? As righteous

as Christ is, is as righteous as we are. We are

as righteous as Christ is. However you want to

think of it and however you want to say it. Have

you thought of that? Is that how you think of

yourself? That's not pride, folks, to think of

yourself in that way. Because that is what God

has told us. We are as righteous as Christ. Christ

is as righteous as us. Have you ever thought

of that? Have you ever thought of it in those

terms? We think of clothed in the righteousness

of Christ. We glory in that. Just as righteous

as Christ is what that means. When God sees us,

we are credited with the righteousness of Christ.

That's what has occurred. That's what it means

to be justified. That is a glorious truth. That

is how we are to live. That is how we are to

view ourselves. It's sinful to view yourself

as some wretch. To view yourself as some wicked

person. That's wrong. So much of the teaching

that goes on today, what is it based on? It's

based on a weak God and a powerful man. Salvation.

Losing our salvation. What does that mean? Well,

Jesus said, none shall pluck them out of my hand.

And yet people say, yeah, well, nobody will pluck

them out, but we can get out of his hand. I mean,

I can make that decision to run away from Christ.

Who told you that? Who told you that Christ is

not powerful enough to hold on to you? Who told

you that you're more powerful than Him? The power

of man and the weakness of God, that's the gospel

today. The power of man to make the decision

to save themselves and God can do nothing about

it. Arrogance. The power of God. Paul's not ashamed

of the gospel because it's the power of God.

We're going to go on in chapter 6. Really? Chapter

5, 6. We're going to hear about the power of

God. God is powerful. We say that. Do we believe

it? Is He able to keep us or not? Is He able

to keep us from falling? Well, according to the

Gospel today, no, He's not. You've got to be

strong enough. God is the power. We are the weak

ones. He has done this for us. We can't undo

it, and He won't undo it. Should we say He can't

undo it? Because He would deny Himself there.

God is powerful. Know the power of God in our

justification and rest in that. Joy in that.

Live in that. As righteous as Christ. Amen.